You Asked for it...Here it is! - Partial Embossing

I've had several people ask about my partial embossing with the oval center that I did on my orchid card found here, so I thought I'd try to put together a little tutorial of how I did it.  There are several tutorials on the web for this technique, but here's how I do it.  You'll need some thin cardboard. I use the cardboard from a cereal box.  I just cut one side of the box off, then cut that piece in half.  Nothing exact here, just eyeball it.

Figure 1

Figure 2

After I cut my cardboard into two pieces (they're about 5.25 in wide and about 6.5 in long - in figure 1), I decided which Spellbinder die I wanted to use for my middle.  You could use any of the dies as long as it leaves enough room around it to emboss the card.  The die I chose is the next to the largest one in the petite oval set.  Position the die in the center of one piece of the cardboard and cut it out with your Cuttlebug. (Figure 2)  Then position the die on the other piece of cardboard and cut the same way.  It's important to keep your die facing the same direction each time you cut, because I've found that the die might not be perfectly shaped.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Once you've cut both pieces of cardboard, adhere the two pieces together with a strong adhesive, making sure you've lined up the ovals in each piece.  You'll also want to glue the two ovals together, making sure they're lined up too. (Figure 3)  After adhering the pieces of cardboard together, I traced around one of my card bases to get an idea where the oval would be on the center of the card.  As you can see on Figure 4, I was a little off-center, so I just cut a little outside the lines.

Figure 5

I trimmed the edges of my cardboard template until it was about the same size as my embossing folder (Figure 5) which is approximately 4.25 x 5.5.  The most important thing to remember is that the oval must be centered in the cardboard.

Now it's time for the embossing.  Use a fairly heavy weight card stock if you're going to emboss directly onto the card and not just making a layer to add to a card base.  Here's the recipe for the embossing stack using the Cuttlebug:

A plate

Folder with the card front inserted in the direction you want (either embossed or debossed)

The negative template we just made

C plate

a few pieces of card stock as a shim (I use 3 pieces - of printer weight card stock) cut the size of my C plate)

 

Roll it all through the Cuttlebug one time.  There you have it...everything is embossed except the center oval.  Now, to finish it up, let's make an oval frame inside the embossing.

You need to make sure that the oval nestability is perfectly centered in the un-embossed oval on the card front.  Then, layer the cardboard ovals (that we glued together earlier) from the cardboard embossing template we made.  Here's the recipe for stacking:

A plate
B plate
Rubber mat (I use a Spellbinder mat)
Card front (embossed side facing up)
nestability (facing down)
cardboard ovals (centered on the nestability)
B plate

Roll it through the Cuttlebug

And, there you have it! Your card base if ready for you to add your stamped image or sentiment...or both.  I will say that when I did this on my orchid card, I practiced a few times on scrap paper before I stamped on my embossed card.  You want to make sure you get your image and sentiment just where you want them, so practicing first is always a good idea.  I know I had to rearrange my sentiment several times on my orchid card to get a good balanced look.

Hope this little tutorial is helpful and that you make lots of pretty cards!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love to see what you do with the tutorial...so give me a shout when you've posted a card.  Until next time.....

Hugs!