Embossed Hot Glue for Christmas

Happy Friday...TGIF!!  The first week of school is done and we are that much closer to June!  It is a scorcher here today and my classroom is, quite literally, like a sauna.  We have no A/C in most of our building and weather like this makes life extremely uncomfortable.  Not much will get accomplished today! 
So, to cool off, let's think about Christmas!  Today I have another project to show you that we will be making at my monthly techniques class next week.  It uses the  Embossed Hot Glue technique...I've taken to using my iPhone to photograph my projects, since I can't get my camera to cooperate.  Not the greatest picture, but better than I've been getting lately with my camera!

Christmas card featuring the Christmas Bliss stamp set and using the Embossed Hot Glue technique.

Cool, huh?  I love the look of this!  It really is easy to do, though I would recommend practicing your hot glue gun teachnique on scrap paper before trying it on DSP or card stock.  It takes a bit of practice to get the bead of glue uniform and to get the shape of the tree.  I actually used my silicone craft mat to practice on...it wasted a couple of glue sticks, but it helped me get a look I am happy with. 

Even with the practice, I did still have a couple of little strings of glue that got embossed.  They aren't terribly noticeable and I camoflaged one with a rhinestone :)
The DSP I used is from the All Is Calm pack...love that stuff!  The colours and patterns are so perfect for Christmas and winter projects.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Bliss photopolymer set, which has lots of great sentiments, both for the front and the inside of your Holiday cards.
I decorated my tree with rhinestones and a glimmer star on the top.

I think my class attendees are going to find this technique as much fun as I do...at least I hope so!  Have a great weekend...be sure to check in on Sunday for my first project as a part of the Sunday Stamps Design Team!

A New (to me!) Technique!

I am SOOO excited about the project I have for you today!  It uses a new technique I just came across and it is such fun!  It's called Hot Glue Embossing and boy did I go to town on this card...check it out:

Any-occasion card featuring the Hot Glue Embossing Technique

Isn't that cool??  Here's how I did it:

• Starting with a piece of watercolour paper, I spritzed it liberally with water.  Then I splashed drops of reinker, in the following order:  Hello Honey, Pear Pizzazz and Lost Lagoon.  I let the ink do it's thing...helping it along with a small paint brush in spots to ensure the entire piece of paper was inked.
• Once the paper was dry I squeezed strings of hot glue all over it.  I worked from a height of about 12" above the paper to get thin strings of glue.  I also at times added a couple of large daubs for interest.
• While the glue was still tacky I sprinkled the whole thing with gold embossing powder and shook off the excess.  Then I heated the glue with my heat tool, melting the glue and activating the embossing powder at the same time.  The glue strands smooth out nicely and also move around a bit during this process.
• I then mounted my masterpiece on a piece of gold foil paper and matted that with a piece of Lost Lagoon card stock.  
• The background is embossed using the Pretty Print (retired) TIEF.
• The sentiment is from the new Work of Art stamp set.

On the inside I stamped the sentiment from the Best of Greetings set (retired) and added a bit of Watercolour Wonder Washi tape.



I love the simplicity of this card...and the technique?  Well let's just say I'll be experimenting with it a whole lot more once I get finished with my report cards!

Now for some fun news!  I am FINALLY getting my very own craft studio!!  A room in our home has recently been vacated by a gal who had been living with us and it is soon to become stampin' heaven on earth!  I can't wait to get started on it.  I have a design in mind and I'm getting some fantastic (free!) shelving and cabinets to make it happen.  It will take some work and  a whole lot of creativity, but I am so looking forward to the challenge!  I am going to document my progress here during the month of July.  I won't have time to get much done till then, as I am swamped with end-of the-school year craziness.  I also likely won't have much time to stamp while this project unfolds, so I hope you'll bear with me.  I can't wait to share this dream-come-true with all of you and, who knows...maybe I'll give you an idea or two for how you can improve your little corner of stampin' heaven ;)