Dry Embossing - Three Ways!

I have had so much fun playing with this month's Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart, "Life in Pictures". You saw it in my last post about the embossing resist technique. This week, I am going to use it to show you three different ways to showcase your dry embossing - so let's get started!
First, you will gather your materials - a machine that you can crank your embossing folder(s) through, embossing folder(s), white-core cardstock, a piece of sandpaper or sanding block, and a coordinating ink pad.

I have gathered three different CTMH dry embossing folders for the three different techniques - Dot, Chevron, and Quatrefoil. Place a piece of your cardstock inside of one of the embossing folders, place the folder between the proper plates (according to your machine's recommendations), and crank/run it through.

How beautiful! (I love dry embossing.) Do this for each piece of cardstock.

Nice. Now we're going to kick it up a notch! First, let's use the sandpaper/sanding block. This is where it becomes really important to use cardstock with a white core, which is a special feature of CTMH cardstock! Simply rub the sandpaper across the top of the embossed piece:

Wow! That sure does make the design POP! A very simple way to really bring out the pattern of your embossing - much less subtle.

Speaking of less subtle, let's try a different way of accentuating that embossed pattern - ink. This direct-to-paper technique takes a very delicate hand and some trial and error, but with a soft touch, it can work really well for you. Otherwise, you will simple have a very shabby-chic looking piece - nothing wrong with that! Simply swipe your ink pad across the top of the dry embossing to transfer the ink to the raised portion of the design only (hence, the light touch needed):

I used Honey ink on Honey cardstock. This technique is not even or perfect, so don't expect it to be! What might be fun is inking sections of the design with different colors of ink...oh, I just might have to try that next.

So, now that I have three pieces of very different dry-embossed/sanded/inked cardstock - let's see what I did with them! Straight dry embossing first:

As I stated earlier, the stamps are from "Life in Pictures", April's Stamp of the Month, and there's just a hint of the "La Vie En Rose" paper pack snuck in there. Now the sanded piece:

Oh, how fun! I used the same pattern of paper from "La Vie En Rose" to match the Quatrefoil embossed pattern, along with a strip of Silver Shimmer Trim. And lastly - the inked piece:

What a great accent piece that makes! And did I mention how much I LOVED this stamp set?! I am about to do another post right after this one (unheard of!) that will simple showcase more cards that I created with the "Life in Pictures" stamp set - so stay tuned for it!!

I hope you enjoyed learning new ways to ramp-up your dry embossing. If you want to have as much fun with this stamp set as I have, you'd better HURRY! There's only two more days to get your set - pay full-price of $17.95 OR pay only $5 with a $50 purchase! Go to http://funforyou.ctmh.com to order directly online. And if you have other fun dry embossing techniques that you've tried, please share!