March CAS Stencil Card Challenge - Heat Embossing

The March CAS Stencil Card Challenge has just been posted!  Viv is our creative Hostess this month and she would like us to use heat embossing with our stencils.  There are links to technique videos to give you some ideas over at CAS Stencil.

Here is the card I created for the challenge!

A close up to show you the shine on the embossing.

I laid the Wildflowers stencil  from Stencil Girl, over a smaller panel of watercolor paper.  I actually found an Emboss It Dabber in my drawer (bought in some long ago past, put away and promptly forgotten!)  It works wonderfully over a stencil, being a little more fluid than a Versamark pad and giving great coverage - I highly recommend you purchasing this little treasure if you think you are going to use this technique more often! 

 (The dabber can also be used in the traditional way of Versamark on your stamps when heat embossing but is recommended for larger stamps as I think you'd lose detail on smaller stamps given that the dabber is more fluid)

Here you can see how wet it is - getting into all the little spaces of the stencil.  I lifted the stencil carefully off the watercolor paper and put the stencil aside to wash later 

(it stays wet longer so don't lay anything over it while you continue to create!)

I used two new embossing powders.

(I purchased them quite some time ago so the NEW is relative meaning never used yet!) 

They are from Seth Apter/Emerald Creek - Baked Velvet in Aegean Sea and Lime.  I wanted the Aegean Sea (blue) on the top half where the flowers are and the Lime on the bottom half where the stems are.  So I poured the Aegean Sea over the top first, cleaned up the powder and put it back in the jar.

And then poured the Lime over the bottom half, cleaned up the powder on the paper and heated the panel with my heat tool.  I didn't worry about a little overlap where the colors joined, that just makes it look more blended!

Hopefully you can see some of the resulting shine on this photo.

To finish the panel, I sponged the edges with Antique Linen Distress Oxide, layered it to a card base cut with a scalloped edge die (no longer available from PTI), added the sentiment from Big Hugs and the die cut from Big Hugs Die - both from PTI.  I layered two hugs die cuts together to make it thicker.

(For those with eagle eyes - I actually made a couple of embossed panels while working on this - so the piece shown in my 'how to' photos above was made from a slightly different spot on my bigger stencil than my card shown below!  Just thought I'd mention that for those who may have noticed.)

So please join us this month and show us how you use heat embossing with your stencils!  You'll find links to technique videos, the challenge rules and description and lots of inspiration from the team as well as our talented March Guest Designer Cat (Cat Luvs Paper) over at CAS Stencil!

I'm also linking my card to:

The Paper Players

Happy Little Stampers

Heat embossing

The Flower Challenge

Stamps: Big Hugs - PTI
Paper:  Water color paper - Canson, Tropical Teal, Rustic Cream - PTI
Ink: True Black - PTI,  Emboss it Dab On Clear - Ranger, Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories:  S666 Evans Stencil - Stencil Girl, Big Hugs Dies - PTI, Baked Velvet Aegean Sea and Lime Embossing Powders - Seth Apter/Emerald Creek,  Noted A2 Vertical Die: Scalloped - PTI.