What do embossed metal & Duetica Fonts have in common?

Flowers & Butterflies!
That's what!!

After attending a CHA show I fell in love with metal embossing on a new level. Sure I had tried it several times....only to have the thin metal sheets tear. Magdalena Muldoon of MercArt used a tin coated pewter that performs magically under the embossing tools. Tearing isn't an issue now like it used to be. While looking through Ms. Muldoon's book, Metal Embossing Workshop, I found the loveliest butterflies. While the outside is full of butterflies, I just had to bring their beauty inside as well.

The butterflies patterns were copied out of the book and traced onto the pewter.
The metal embossing begins. Using a wide arrange of metal embossing tools, leather, and an acrylic mat, the butterflies came to life.

Here they are all trimmed (except for the antenna of one) and ready for color. The butterfly on the far right has inlaid blue shell, a product from New Zealand. As it's rather expensive, I decided to go another route for the color.

Mmmm, should I paint? Nah, would hide details. Then I thought of the alcohol inks by Jacquard! Perfect for this project. Intense color but had transparency I was looking for. Colors used: Sunbright yellow, Sangria, Passion Purple. The metal shines through the alcohol inks beautifully.

Now for the saying! Duetica fonts makes the customizing easy with their unique fonts! Here I've used the Floot font, making the letters wispy & carefree like the butterflies fluttering near them. If you've not yet experienced the new way of lettering with Duetica, you're missing out! Any project you're going to spend anytime at all creating deserves the best and Duetica sure fits that bill. As the butterflies dance around the happy phrase, beautiful paper flowers add punch to the whole project.

And thus the end result. A shadow box containing the precious metal embossed butterflies with the phrase: Flowers & Butterflies drift in color illuminating spring. While we're in the dead of summer, these creatures are still fluttering around. Quick Grip by Beacon Adhesives sure planted everything to the black velvet backing and is my number one all time favorite adhesive!

Let me know what you think of this project.......by the way, have you had a chance to experience the new way of lettering? Check it out through Duetica!

How Old This Year?

Week 4 of the Sizzix Scoreboard Dies Blog Hop has arrived! What a sweet taste this new CAKE DIE designed by Eileen Hull left us with. Make sure you check out all the other wonderful cake inspirations below by other very talented designers then leave a comment here or at Eileen Hull's blog to be put in a drawing to WIN a free scoreboard die!

Ok, be truthful for a minute. How MANY of you back up your birthdays? Sometimes to a point you can't remember your OWN age? Well, this is what inspired this theme for the CAKE die! There are enough numbers on this little cake to make up any AGE you wish! Just pick a number! Any number!



The first cake I "made" was with the scoreboard.....then I thought, lets take it a step further! With some scrap metal plates that were used on a printing press, I cut several sheets & run them them the Big Shot machine using the CAKE die, thus cutting out my pieces. I then used the Cuttle Bug to emboss with the numbers plate. Alcohol inks, winter green, violet, and stone wash blue, were sponged on in a random pattern to create a mottled look. A sanding block was used to sand the ink off the numbers. The side pieces of the cake were taped together with Red Liner tape. Beacon's Quick Grip were used to adhered the top & bottom of the cake. Ranger's Glossy Accents was used to glue the pearls & flowers to the top of the cake. The question mark was printed off my Cricket using the Base Camp cartridge. Heavy clear plastic film suspends the question mark off the cake as if floating.



Here is a closeup of the side of the cake. You can see the mottled look of the inks and the effects of the numbers sanded.



Top of the cake with the little purple flowers & pearls adorning it.

I was very pleased at how this little cake turned out!
This Cake die can be used as a gift box or simply as a cake gift for just about any occasion!
Be sure to check out the other CAKE designs below & don't forget to leave a comment here or on Eileen Hull's blog! Your comment just may leave you a winner of a Sizzix Scoreboard die!

Stay tuned for the Sizzix BOW die to appear in the next few weeks!

Creatively,
Veronica (Ronnie) Goff

Ann Butler

Candice Windham

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world

Debra Quartermain
Eileen Hull
Einat Kessler
Jen Goode - JGoode Designs
Just a Thought or Two
Karen Burniston
Laura Bray
Life in the Craft Lane
Lisa Rojas, Stampin' Queen Creations
Modern Surrealist Marisa Pawelko
Niki Meiners
Roann Mathias Calligraphy
Sandy Laipply
Bonnie Bruns

the Art of Metal Embossing

The Art of Metal Embossing

[ Metal Embossing is an art form that has been around for centuries. Metal embossing imparts luster, radiance, intriguing dimension, and texture to metal. A variety of easy-to-use tools are used to push flat metal sheeting from the back, creating raised designs. Other equally easy-to-use tools are used on the front of the metal to refine & define the edges of the raised areas. This is the process of embossing, known as repujado in Spanish and repoussage or repousse in French. A patina or antiquing medium can be applied to embossed designs to duplicate the look of age, giving the pieces an old world look. ] Metal Embossing Workshop ISBN: 978-1-4027-2444-2 I HIGHLY suggest this book for anyone getting started! It's fantastic!!

While at the 2010 Craft & Hobby Association this past January, I met Magdalena Muldoon who is a fantastic metal embosser! She had frames, chests, you name it she had it displayed & the metals she used looked so real and VERY expensive when embossed! I stood there transfixed when I looked down & there sat Cheryl (River City Stampers) fixing to do a make & take. I immediately sat down and Magdalena began teaching us her mini class. The tools had wonderful names like: stylus, refiner, dry points, wooden thumb, points narrow/wide wheels, dot wheel, star wheel, ball & cap, diagonal/horizontal wheels, dots, herring bone, and I could go on for a LONG while just on the embossing tools! I'm ALL about tools.....so I was hooked immediately!

She showed us different metals. The family consists of: Pewter, Copper, Aluminum, Silver, and Brass. My favorite & the one we used was pewter that was covered on both sides by tin. Because the pewter is coated with tin, the lead in the pewter does not come in contact with your hands. The feel is heavier than the regular embossing metal you find in most hobby stores. I'm now wishing I had bought several rolls of it while there. I had bought some metal embossing tools in the past from RockCandy Studios and played with them.....but now with a little more knowledge about this art form, I added more tools to my metal embossing kit!

While I'm still very much a beginner I couldn't help but try a rather difficult pattern.

The butterfly was etched on the metal through a paper pattern with a stylus. Different metal embossing tools were used to etch & emboss the butterfly until I was happy with the look. I couldn't help but buy a 2.5x5 inch piece of Mother of Pearl accent. This was rather expensive so I just bought the one sheet, but the other colors were so elegant! You have to be exact with matching the mother of pearl accent, thus I slipped up on this a little but after cutting out the same piece wrong 2 times.....I quit & used what I had. :-) I plan on using this butterfly with a floral embossed piece (not done yet) and frame it. The back of the butterfly is filled with backing paste in case anyone tries to "feel" it hard. The whole piece won't be destroyed.

If you haven't tried this & always wanted to....I highly suggest it. It's very soothing to work on while watching TV (but try to trace the pattern first or you'll lose your place or the paper will slip!)......metal therapy!!