Heat Emboss Experiment with Art Cards

Hi Blog Land!! I am here with a fun heat emboss experiment while creating an art card. It is Thursday so time for my Topflight Stamps blog post. I wanted to play with white emboss powder and was questioning what goes first the powder or the paint? 

Art Card Therapy

First off here is my art card. My father is older and has been ill. I have been feeling worried & stressed about it so I thought what better way to help deal with all that, then an art card. This is a photo of me & my dad when we were both much younger. We have had a complex & tumultuous relationship but this photo suits the situation today. 

Next, let's talk about the Carabelle Studio stamp set by Zorrotte. You can find it here. I was actually surprised that I made the whole card with this set. I really like how the hearts ended up being a main component while the other images created the background. 

Time To Experiment

I started by heat embossing the circle stamps with 2 different powders. I used white on the lower & Emerald Creek (EC) Iridescent Shimmer on the top. As I added the layers I wiped off the embossed circles using a paper towel with some water. The paint is Fresco Finish by PaperArtsy and it has a nice chalk finish. I used the layering technique by Seth Apter. I have been playing with this lately & it is a great way to make backgrounds. You can see me play with this technique in another project as well as Seth's video here. 

I decided the background was too light so I added a layer of Smoked Paprika. You can really see the water droplets on this layer. 

Here is my paper that I used with the technique to pull up the paint- kinda cool. Like how the embossed areas create a pattern -hummmmm. 

Continuing with the experiment I added the triangles on the left with the white emboss. I added the triangles on the right with the EC emboss powder. Let's look more closely.

Experiment Results

Here are the 2 different white embossed images. Quite a difference, but both are valid. The one on the top which was done after the paint dried is crisp and clean. The one on the side which was done before the paint layers were put down, & wiped clean in between, is slightly discolored and looks more embedded in the page. I like the results and can see there are uses for both. I realized the reason the upper image is crisp & white is because acrylic paint dries permanent, therefor there is no color transfer. 

Iridescent Shimmer Powder

Let's try with our other emboss powder by EC .   This was quite a drastic difference. It was my first time using this powder but it sets clear with glitter. The one on the right side which was put down before the paint & wiped off in between layers, is slightly discolored. The circles take on the color of the index card which is a cream color. The image on the bottom was embossed after the paint. It takes on the color of the paint and much more of the glitter shows. This is kind of cool looking. I outlined the images with a pen so you could see it better. Again both ways are valid & look totally different. 

Lastly adding background images using the other stamps in the set created interest. I stamped the hearts on blue scrapbook paper & on a sheet from my stash that was covered in shimmery Glimmer Mist. They added a wonderful embellishment to my project. 

That is it for this week. My photo and word chips on the tab were the finishing touches. The sentiment says " every detail of their journey" perfect for this card. That is it for this project. I have to say I really love how it turned out. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial & you get to try it for yourself.