...stencil how-to, Embossing and printing with your Cuttlebug

Ed - I have since learned that if you wet both sides of the card it doesn't curl so bad - thanks to Kimberly! Also - if you are using a big shot - you may not need to dampen the paper at all, best thing is to experiment. I found that if i used dry cardstock for embossing, the image was not as sharp or detailed as when I dampened the cardstock. (I was using PapertreyInk cardstock) your results may vary depending on what type of card you use.

Scroll down for the previous two posts regarding the cards I made with this stencil.

I started with this wee thin metal stencil - you can get yours from this site. The manufacturers are called Country Stencils and tho' I bought mine at a craft fair here in Ireland, they originally come from the US. Check out their site for some real beauties!

The first thing to do with these stencils is to stencil with them - I tried it and they work beautifully. The guy who sold it to me also suggested embossing and wanted to sell me one of those wee embossing tools, you know the wee pen thingies with a rounded tip. Knowing this would take a little time, I wondered what would happen if I ran them through the cuttlebug. WOW.



I put the stencil on the B plate (which lies on the A plate)



Then I got the rest of the sandwich ready - A tan embossing mat (this is a spellbinders item from the wizard machine but they can be purchased separately) followed by 3 sheets of cardstock as shim( - I use the label cards that come with packs of PapertreyInk cardstock - they're perfect! NB you might need to vary the thickness of card that you use depending on the thickness of your stencil - my stencil is very thin, if your stencil is thicker, adjust the shim or you risk breaking your B plate!!!!!!) followed by the other B plate on top.


I dampened my cardstock - here I'm using Melon Berry from PapertreyInk.


Lay the cardstock, wet side down on the stencil, layer on the tan embossing mat followed by the cardstock shims and the B plate, Roll away!


And look what a lovely embossing this gives!! Of course you need to let it dry before use, and it will curl a little, so you might want to tape the edges to your cutting board while it dries, I don't bother, I just let them dry and then once they are trimmed out and well stuck down it's fine.

Next try Printing with your cuttlebug!!

Ink up your metal stencil - here I've used Versamark Cocoa


Layer on your cardstock (Importantly, I use dry cardstock when I am printing with a stencil!), tan emboss mat, card shims and B plate exactly as described above. Roll away!


This works beautifully for me - I love it! I must've 'printed' about 30 quilts the night I got this! Lol.

Here are a few alternative examples:


Above is what happened when I stencilled with the stencil and just decided to run the stencil through the cuttlebug before washing the ink off (I call this the first pass)- I think it gives a nice distressed look, I love how the ink lies in the depressed areas and the crisp white areas are slightly raised - it reminds me of letterpress printing! If you run the stencil through again ( I call this the second pass), without washing you get a softer image, like the one below - that's what I used on today's pink and green card.



Below is what happens when I spritzed the stencil with water before running it through on the second pass! (remember to use dry cardstock when printing with your stencil)



If you decide to add a little colour to one of your embossings, you might try rubbing an ink pad across the surface lightly - I find that the small inch cubes work best for this and I just rub them directly across the surface in any and all directions till all the wee high bits are coloured, at times a little will rub into the depressed areas but i don't eorry about that - if you find that too much comes off into the depressed bits either rub a little more gently with a lighter touch, use a less juicy ink pad or try embossing again with a slightly thicker shim, incase your embossing is not raised and defined enough. I find this works very well for me with only about one unusable image for every ten or so I chose to ink rub in this way.



And then of copurse you could always just stencil with your stencil!! Have fun!! hope this helps!