Tribal Brick Embossing Technique

Happy Tuesday!

(And when I say "Tuesday," I pronounce it "Tuesdee," because that's how Mom said the days of the week. They all ended in "ee." Then I think of Mom and remember her fondly.)

Sorry. Back to the subject at hand: The Tribal Brick Embossing Technique.

This is another project with carpet tape, or double sided tape, or wonder tape . . . you'll need something that can take the heat.

1. Line a piece of black paper with double sided tape. (I wish I didn't have that seam in the middle. Don't be like me.)

2. Trim a whole bunch of Tribal Gold paper into 1" strips. Cut the 1" strips horizontally into 1/2" lengths. Place the strips horizontally onto the carpet taped panel in a brick-like pattern. Allow the strips to go past the edge of the paper. (If you have a seam between two pieces of tape, position it horizontally and cover it with bricks.)

3. Stamp the cool Tribal image (from the Collection UM Sheet) onto the prepared panel with clear embossing ink. Sprinkle with a generous amount of that scrumptious Hematite Embossing Powder (included in the CS Tribal Kit) and shake off excess. The powder should stick nicely to the carpet tape and inked areas. But since you've had your paws all over those little paper pieces, there may be quite a bit of stray embossing powder you'll need to carefully remove with a small paintbrush. I didn't get too picky about this . . . whatever you can remove within 20 seconds should still look okay.

4. Heat the powder to melt it. Accompany this with an occasional "oooh" and "aaaah."

5. Trim the outside edges of the panel with a ruler or craft knife. Do not try to use your tonic trimmer. Don't be like me. Just trust me on this.

6. Nest the panel with Black and Oatmeal papers and attach to a 5x7" Oatmeal card base. See here that I used a portion of that fabulous Red Matte Metallic paper (another Tribal Goodie) as a larger panel on the card. I finished with a stamped greeting and added a stamped/embossed embellishment to add balance to the card.

Less than seven steps to stamping glory.

Have fun trying this out. Perhaps on Wednesdee or Thursdee of this week?

Tricia

P.S. (If you're still reading . . . ) The original inspiration for this technique made the embossed image first, then cut it into 1/2 rows and 1" strips. After creating one row of 1" strips I thought I'd pull my hair out and needed to find a better way. You'll find these pre-stamped strips are in my circular file.