Group of Seven Cardmakers - Creative Heat Embossed Backgrounds

Every month, for the past couple of years, a group of us has been meeting on  Zoom to try out new techniques, revisit older techniques, as well as to discuss art products we might not have used before, or that we have but don't remember what to do with them?! 

We decided to share our experiences on a blog and that blog is called,

 Group of Seven Cardmakers.

This is our Group of Seven!

Bonnie (Stamping with Klass)

Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp) 

Christine (It's a Card Day's Night)

Darnell (djkardkreations)

Julia (Create with Me)

Loll (Stamping with Loll)

Susan (Cardmaker's Garrett)

For our first post - we are showcasing the Creative Heat Embossed Backgrounds technique.  You'll find the full tutorial over at Group of Seven Cardmakers but I will show you how I made my cards below.

I made two cards using the same powder for each background.  First I'll show you the cards and then I'll walk through a few steps on how they were made.

For my background, I used Frantage Embossing Powder - Shabby Blue which is already a mix of fine sparkly blue, thicker white and gold bits. (there are some Frantage powders still available on Amazon)

I applied my Versamark with a crumpled up piece of Saran Wrap, pressing it into the Versamark pad and then dabbing the Saran Wrap on the cardstock - I found that gave a better smooth random pattern than using a piece of sponge (which I tried first!).

Because this embossing powder has some light and some heavy bits, I heated the card from underneath so it didn't just blow all the powders off the panel.   Once the powders were starting to melt, I finished melting the powders with the heat tool facing the front of the card.

I made two panels -  as you can see, when you dab randomly you get different coverage each time.  I used the one above on the birthday card and the one below on the butterfly card.

The Butterfly card

I die cut this (large) beautiful Perspective Butterfly from TH/Sizzix out of Robins Egg Bazzill card, randomly dabbed Versamark over it and embossed with the same Frantage Shabby Blue Powder.  

The larger pieces of powder didn't stick to the small areas of the butterfly, so I just used my heat tool on the front to melt the powder as it would not blow away.

I adhered the butterfly over the embossed panel and clipped off the pieces that went over the edges of the card.

The Birthday card

I die cut the sentiment out of a bronze paper and the 'happy birthday' from the Robins Egg Bazzill used on the butterfly.  I die cut 3 balloons, embossing one with the Frantage Shabby Blue and two with Frantage Shabby white for contrast.  Two of the balloons and the sentiment are up on foam dots.

This close up shows the thin gold threads I tied onto the balloons and laid beneath the sentiment.

Then I tried embossing on a black background with Frantage Shabby White Embossing powder and created this card using the same technique as above for sponging the Versamark on the card and heating up the powder.

The snowflake and skate are both from Sizzix and they are up on foam dots.

Close up of the mix of colors and textures in the Shabby White Frantage Embossing powder.  

It really sparkles as well!

You'll find a complete tutorial for the technique as well as beautiful creations by the rest of the Seven Cardmakers using Creative Heat Embossed Backgrounds over at the Group of Seven Cardmakers blog!

We'll be posting a new technique on the 28th of each month!  We hope they will inspire you to try the technique out every month as well!

I'm linking my Birthday Balloon card to:

Seize the Birthday

I'm linking my Ice Skate card to:

Shopping our Stash

Winter Fun

Double D Challenge

Snow

Butterfly and Birthday Cards

Stamps: unknown
Paper: White - Papertrey Ink, Robins Egg - Bazzill, Bronze from stash
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Perspective Butterfly die - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, Happy Birthday die - Simon Says Stamp, Birthday Balloons die - Papertrey Ink, Saran Wrap crinkled up, Frantage Embossing Powder in Shabby Blue and Shabby White - Stampendous, gold thread from stash, foam dots, heat tool.

Snowflake Skate Card

Paper: Mixed Media Black - Strathmore white - Papertrey Ink.
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Ice Skates Bigz Die, Snowflake 3D Embosslits Die - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, Frantage Shabby White Embossing Powder - Stampendous, silver embossing powder on skate, black marker (coloring sole and heel of skate), foam dots, Metallic Stickers Holiday Talk - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, red/white twine