Stepping Out as a Tonic U.S. Ambassador

I am very proud to share that my first tutorial as a Tonic U.S, Ambassador was posted on the Tonic blog today. Here are the steps and pictures showing how to make this card.

I started with a black card front and stamped the Juliet Butterfly stamp with Versamark ink randomly and heat embossed those butterflies with gold embossing powder. Then I filled in the rest of the card front with silver embossed butterflies. I used gold crystal drops and silver glitter drops to show the flight of the butterflies on the card background.

My step out pictures show the process I used to create the deeply impressed butterflies attached to the top of the card using melted embossing powders. When I first learned the Deep Impressions technique as taught by Fran Seiford of Stampendous, we used ultra-thick embossing powders and specialty embossing powders mixes. But I wondered if someone only owned regular clear, gold and silver embossing powders, could the same beautifully embossed results be achieved? The answer is yes. One key to success with this technique is to choose a die that is not too intricate with a matching stamp. I chose Tonic’s Juliet Butterfly die and stamp. I used the outside edge of the die and trimmed off the small antennae and body pieces when I die cut it out of chipboard three times. The embossing powder layers need to be melted from underneath, so I used an electric griddle heated to 300 degrees. I placed the butterfly chipboard piece on a heat resistant craft sheet and covered it with Tonic clear embossing powder. A glass cover can be placed over it to speed the melting.

Once the clear layer was melted, I added gold and silver embossing powder and let that melt thoroughly. After the gold and silver embossing powders were melted, I moved the piece over on the craft mat to remove any excess melted embossing powder, then used a large spatula to remove the craft sheet and butterfly from the heat. I quickly stamped into the molten butterfly with the matching Juliet stamp. If the stamp used is a good quality rubber stamp, stamping into the molten embossing powder does not damage the stamp.

  

Once the molten embossing powder cools just a bit, the stamp can be removed to reveal the lovely deep embossed gold and silver butterfly. I repeated this process on two more butterflies. I attached one of the butterflies with a glue dot and a pop dot to the side of the black card front. I attached two of the butterflies together with pop dots and then to the card front with glue dots. 

Here is the completed card again:

I had fun playing with Tonic's embossing powders in this unique way and hope you will try it for yourself sometime. The "flights of the butterflies" on this card were made with Tonic's gorgeous Nuvo Bright Gold Crystal Drops and Silver Moondust Glitter Drops. Both of these drops are self leveling- they really do level out evenly without the "tails" you can get with other brands. I love them and both kinds are very reasonably priced here on the website. You can also go to Create and Craft and check out all the specials on many of Tonic's dies, cutters, glitters and drops. Today is the last day for FREE SHIPPING! 

I am entering this card in the Use a Critter challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create.