Guesting at Virginia's View!

I am so honored that Virginia asked me to be a Guest Designer this month at her Virginia's View Challenge!  Her theme this month is All Things Embossed, and also, she's celebrating her 1-year anniversary of her challenge blog!  

I love embossing in all its forms, so I've made 3 cards today.  My first one incorporates an inlaid die into my dry embossed background.

supplies: Darice Flower Frenzy embossing folder, one of Simon's Stitched Rectangles dies, Hero Arts 3 Dotted Flowers and Hello Sunshine Daisies (sentiment), stamped in Hero Arts Bubble Gum ink, Penny Black's Painted Blooms paper pad, Doodlebug Cupcake Assortment sprinkles 

I cut a panel slightly smaller than my card base, and from that I centered and die-cut the stitched rectangle.  Then I embossed the "frame" that was left after removing the rectangle, and then, after stamping my sentiment, reinserted the stitched panel back into place before securing it all onto my card front.  The flowers and leaves were white heat embossed, fussy cut, and then attached to the front, adding some enamel dots.  

On my next one, I chose some of my favorite spring colors and brought an embossing strip into the mix.

supplies: Core'dinations sandable cardstock, Darice Simple Patterns: Checks embossing strip, Li'l Inker Spring Flower dies, white, yellow, and aqua cardstock,  Doodlebug enamel dot, Wplus9 leaf die from Folk Art Florals, green cardstock, Simon's Happy Birthday die

After trimming my Core'dinations cardstock panel, I embossed the check strip along the top edge and down the left edge.  I chose this strip because it overlapped nicely.  Then I sanded the cardstock lightly to bring out the embossed design even more.  Finishing the card was just a matter of affixing my die-cuts in a pleasing way.  

And my last card uses gold embossing powder for all of the stamping, and some vellum over the flowers.

supplies: pink shimmer cardstock base, watercolor paper panel, Technique Tuesday Two Steppin' flowers and leaves, and the sentiment is a mix of Hero Arts Luscious Patterned Flowers (sentiment) and Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold You small words, Ranger Super Fine Detail gold embossing powder,  spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, and mowed lawn distress inks, gold sequins

I stamped and heat embossed my flower and leaves in gold, masking as needed.  Then I used distress inks mixed with water to paint in the flowers.  Even though the watercoloring took the colors down a shade, I still thought they were too bright, so I embossed the flowers again on vellum with gold embossing powder, fussy-cut them out, and popped them above the main panel.  They give a kind of stained-glass effect now and I like this much better!  I sprinkled some gold sequins to finish.  

I hope these give you some ideas of your own and that you'll join us at the All Things Embossed challenge at Virginia's View this month!  As always, Virginia has a $25.00 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp for the winner!