Pretty Peonies and Embossing

I recently got the supplies needed to start heat embossing – a Ranger heat tool, Ranger craft sheet, Versamark ink, and WOW embossing powder. Heat embossing is something I’ve wanted to try for ages but it also felt a little daunting, so I’ve been holding back until now.

Distress ink backgrounds are a real favourite of mine at the moment. Having a heat tool to dry the background quickly has been very useful.

For this birthday card, I wanted to try layering flowers over a watercolour background.

How I made the card:

I stamped the flower and leaf outlines from the pretty peonies stamp set, then painted them in using water and distress ink. This gave a softer, watercolour look than if I’d stamped all three layers of the building stamps. I then die cut them out using the coordinating dies. I made more than I needed as, at this stage, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to lay them out on the card.

For the background, I stamped a greeting with Versamark and then heat set with white embossing powder. The embossing resisted the watercolour distress ink so shows through the colour. I spritzed it with perfect pearls mist for some beautiful shimmer.

I used some patterned paper behind my watercolour piece, to ground it to the card and help the flowers stand out. Finally I placed the flowers and leaves, and some sequins for added sparkle.

Products used to make this card: