Velvet Christmas!

This is a technique I love - it produces a rich and sumptuous effect with the right velvet (one with some synthetic fibre is better than a pure cotton one), perfect for a luxury, touchy-feely Christmas card!

Embossing velvet is really easy – just mist your stamp with water, place the velvet pile side down on the stamp, mist the back of the fabric and then place your hot iron on top for 15-20 seconds. Don’t move the iron around or you’ll end up with a blurred impression – if your stamp area is bigger than your iron, just pick the iron up and place it down on the next spot rather than sliding like you would if you were ironing a shirt.

A stamp with a reasonably bold design will give you the best embossed effect - tiny details will tend to get lost in very finely etched designs (so leave your Kinkades in the drawer if you reach for the velvet!). A deeply etched stamp is best.

Here's a detail shot so you can see the texture even better.

I've been asked if this technique harms your stamps. The answer is no! I'm not sure I'd try it with clear polymer stamps but natural rubber will take a lot of punishment before you do it any harm. The iron is never in direct contact with the surface of the stamp (if your fabric does not cover the entire stamp you can put a sheet of paper over before you place the iron on top). The only thing I've noticed is that the cling-mounted stamps will tend to feel a bit "floppy" just after you've done your embossing. Just as soon as it cools down to normal temperature, it's back to the normal rigidity.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Double Damask backgrounder
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Raisin)

Paper:
Smooth white

Other:
Velvet
Mini Mister filled with water
Iron
Sewing machine and thread
Corsage pin and beads
Krylon Leafing pen (copper)
Flower by Prima Marketing
Vintage lace and button
Sheer ribbon dyed with Copic marker

If you've arrived as part of the WCMD blog tour, please make yourself at home! The discount code for PaperCrafts/CK is in the sidebar to the left of my blog if you would like it.

Oh, I finally caved and added the Followers widget to the sidebar on the left so if you use Google Reader it's now easy to follow my blog without having to know the technicalities of doing it for a blog without the widget! If you prefer not to have your profile pic on display on other people's blogs, just choose "private" rather than public when you become a follower.

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed the card!