I love teaching my Big Shot die cutting classes each quarter as they're filled with lots of creative ideas and quick tips to help my customers get more out of their die cutting machine experience. So the recent class has a make and take project that focused on using the Letterpress Plates and the new Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folder set.

The Crumb Cake card stock on the front was "debossed" with the beautiful new Fancy Fan Letterpress plate. Letterpressing does "de-boss" or press a pattern into your paper just like old time letterpress printing presses did. I like to ink the plate up first with clear Versamark ink for a vintage tone on tone look. The clear ink is so easy for beginning Letterpress as it's very forgiving if you need to move the card stock a little to make sure it's straight on the plate. You can also ink the plate with a colored pigment ink -- and our Craft Pigment Inks are best. But you can imagine that red ink on the plate gives you one shot at getting the paper on straight or it will smear.

The front focal point is a piece of Naturals Ivory card stock that was impressed with the oval frame from the set of two Designer Frames (the other is a rectangle and you can see the patterns below). I then tore around it for a pretty feathery edge. The inside of this oval is a perfect match to the Extra Large Oval punch, item #119859 (once known as our Wide Oval Punch). Thanks to the punch the greeting from Petite Pairs (my new favorite greeting set) could be stamped and then punched and popped up in the frame for a nice touch. A Rich Razzleberry punched flower and bow finish this off. I like my sympathy cards relatively simple so the focus is on the heartfelt message and not the "look at me" card design.

I did put a little special touch inside -- the same frame embossed inside with the second half of the greeting from Petite Pairs and a second small flower. And of course I added some of our stick on pearls.

 
Letterpress Fancy Fan Plate - item #123129 $7.95 US

Designer Frames - set of two Textured Impressions Embossing Folders - item #123130 $8.95 US

Petite Pairs Stamp set - clear mount Item #122497 $20.95 US; Wood Mount item #122495 $28.95 US