HEAT EMBOSSING TUTORIAL

Last week, I showed you how I package my Holly Would Press products. One of the things I include in my packaging is a heat embossed "thank you" gift tag which I make myself. I thought today I would share a heat embossing tutorial for those of you who would like to learn how to do this. Heat embossing is really easy and dresses up a simple stamp into something really special.

You'll need:

- Stamp

- Ink pad (high pigment colors work the best)

- Paper

- Embossing powder (This comes in all different colors and even glitter, but I just used clear. You can get it at any craft store.)

- A heat tool (I got mine here - no, a hair dryer won't work unfortunately because the air has to be released in a more concentrated space. They're about 20 dollars, but you can use them forever on so many projects.)

1. Firmly press a well-inked stamp onto your paper.

2. Sprinkle the embossing powder onto the wet ink (think of the way that you put glitter on something - it's the same method).

3. Cover the ink completely with the embossing powder:

4. Dust off the excess powder onto a paper and give the back of the stamped paper or tag a flick to make sure you got all of the excess off.

5. Pour the excess back into the container (embossing powder lasts forever because you really don't use very much for each project):

6. To save time, if you're doing multiple tags or cards, repeat that process for however many you need. I do those 5 steps several times and then lay all of my tags out like this:

7. (The fun part!) Hold your heat tool closely over the stamped tag or card and just watch! Embossing powder is basically a fine wax, so when the heat hits it, the wax melts creating this really cool effect. You can see the embossing powder melting in this picture:

That's it! You're left with a stamp that has a nice texture and a pretty, shimmery look.