Dry embossing is an easy technique, yet it produces the most fabulous results. I like to emphasise the gorgeous deep embossed designs you can get now with white pigment ink. Nowadays, you can also get embossing folders with matching dies to highlight the design further. Today’s blog post is part of a blog hop, and you can find all the details below.

I’ve linked all supplies with compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

how to highlight dry embossing to be the star of the show

First off, an excellent background for an embossing folder isn’t too fussy. I chose to use an ink blending combination, and the queen of colour combinations is Kristina Werner. So I hopped over to her blog, looked up Distress Oxide ink blending combinations, and picked this one with Evergreen Bough, Uncharted Mariner and Black Soot. I thoroughly blended the inks over a piece of Neenah Solar White card, and then while the ink was still damp, I ran it through my die cutting machine with the sandwich set to embossing, and I used the Gilded Ornamental Embossing Folder. I then brushed over the embossed design with white pigment ink. I kept the angle of the ink pad level with the card so that the ink only brushed over the raised bumps and not the whole background.

I created a second panel of ink-blended card, ran it through with the embossing folder again and then die cut with the matching die. I foam-mounted the pieces over the top of the first panel. I splattered everything liberally with Amsterdam Titanium White ink. 

This angled photo really shows the deeply embossed design and how the white pigment ink has lightened the colour of the raised bumps. The white does blend in with the Distress Oxide colour so you don’t have white bumps but rather light blue/green ones. Light enough to show the design while still being cohesive with the colour combination. 

For the sentiment, I die cut the Flourished Merry Christmas die from Ivory card and added tiny pieces of foam adhesive to the places that the greeting touched the foam mounted die cut areas.

This photo shows the deep embossing and that swiping the white pigment ink across the design can still leave marks on the background, but I’m OK with that. I think it adds to the softening of the card design with all the splatter. 

I added tiny diamond jewels to the flourishes on the die-cut frame to accent the design further. After all, it is Christmas, and you must have at least a little sparkle!

more inspiration

Here’s another card I made using the Flourish Merry Christmas die. Again another card using only dies for DieCember! I painted transparent layers of vellum and glassine paper and then die cut the Winsome Branch and Aidan Snowflake to collage together an ethereal winter scene. You can find the original post for this card here.

blog hop

As mentioned above, this post is part of a blog hop to celebrate the DieCember release from Simon Says Stamp. Hopefully, you’ve arrived here from Laura’s blog, but if not, an excellent place to start is Simon’s blog. As with all good hops, there are offers and giveaways.

• Use code MERRY to get the Merry on a Line die FREE with a purchase of $25 or more!  Offer valid while supplies last or until 04 December 11.59pm EST.
• Simon is giving away a $25 coupon from comments left on each hop stop. Winners will be announced on the Simon blog on Wednesday 07 December.

Now it is time to hop on over to Alberto’s blog. Here’s the complete hop list to keep you on track.

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Laura Bassen

Debby Hughes

Alberto Gava

Miriam Prantner

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Amanda Korotkova

Mindy Eggen

Emma Williams

Cheiron Brandon

Heather Hoffman

Emily Midgett

Lea Lawson

Sandi MacIver

Kim Hamilton

supplies

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or shop icon to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Items marked with an asterisk (*) provided by a store or the manufacturer. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I genuinely appreciate your support.