My Papercraft Addiction

Last year when I purchased my first Cricut (I now have two; it was a sale I couldn't pass up, plus I wanted one at each home) and then there's the Gypsy which I had to have so I could create designs on the go and all the other hundreds  thousands of tools, papers and gadgets I needed so I could create some nifty papercrafts....needless to say, I acquired an addiction to papercrafts.   It was challenging traveling back and forth and toting what machines and materials I needed to work on a project so I am so happy to finally be in one spot!

Still have some unpacking and organizing to do but at least I can craft and create a lot easier.

One of the techniques that quickly caught my attention when I first discovered the art of papercrafting was Embossing.   There are two methods - dry embossing which can be accomplished manually or with a little machine with templates where you run the paper material through and a template of your choice imprints/embosses a design on the paper.

The other technique is heat embossing which is a bit more involved but the results are eye-catching and professional looking.   The materials needed are a heat gun, embossing powder and the embossing medium which you stamp on the paper and the powder sticks to this - then you heat the powder with the heat gun and it reacts by melting and hardens into the stamped design.

Not sure if you can see the raised surface from the heat embossing here.   I used a copper powder so the effect is striking.   I have two birthdays in the family this month so I need to spend some time creating birthday cards and I definitely will be using these techniques.   Such fun!!!