H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y, D E A R E L L E N ! ! !
Yes, today is a very special birthday for our dear, sweet Ellen, so naturally I had to make this project into a birthday card for her! Hope you enjoy your special day, dear friend!
Recently I tried out a theory I'd been thinking about and am happy to report worked . . . I always love when that happens! I played around some more with Ellen's beautiful new Letterpress 110 lb White Cardstock and Copic markers, to see if I could achieve a traditional letterpress look with the combination and these were the results:
It's easier than you might think!
1. Simply color the raised side of an embossing folder with any combination of Copic markers you'd like. Here, I used G43 (from this year's new 2012 Copic colors) and RV55 on the beautiful damask pattern from Lifestyle Crafts Floral Embossing Folder duo set:
No need to work quickly here or worry about the ink drying too fast -- just take your time, we'll deal with that later! After coloring, have your die cutting/embossing machine and materials all set up and ready go, because now is when you WILL need to work faster!
2. Fill a Mini Mister bottle with Copic Colorless Blender Solution and generously mist your letterpress cardstock on one side -- don't be afraid to get it too wet. I suspect the high cotton content of this paper helps it to retain the moisture of the blender solution long enough for it to reactivate the Copic coloring on your embossing folder . . . yay!
3. Fold the colored side of the embossing folder onto the wet side of the letterpress paper and run through your die cutting machine with its recommended embossing sandwich.
If, by chance (and this happened to me the first time!), some of your color does not transfer to the paper, just re-mist that part of the paper, line up your embossing folder, and run through the embossing sandwich again. Wa-lah . . . quick and easy letterpress in a myriad of 358 Copic colors!!
I finished the card by stamping more of the letterpress cardstock with Hero Arts Clear Essential Messages birthday sentiment, inked with Adirondack Raspberry dye ink. I trimmed the sentiment into a banner shape and secured it to this sweet Memory Box Gothic Rosette, die cut from Bubblegum cardstock . . . lots of great dimension, as you can see in the photo above.
Hope you have a wonderful day, Ellen!! ~ Sharon
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Edited to add: Someone asked below in the comments about permanent staining of your embossing folder. Most (if not all) of the color will be transferred to the cardstock with the Copic Colorless Blender Solution. If there is some Copic marker color remaining on the embossing folder, you can wipe it off with either Copic Colorless Blender Solution, hand sanitizer (since it has a high alcohol content, it will clean Copic color) or regular old rubbing alcohol/alcohol prep wipe.
Stamps: Hero Arts Clear Essential Messages;
Dies: Memory Box Gothic Rosette die;
Paper: Essentials by Ellen Letterpress 110 lb White Cardstock; Memory Box Pea Pod Notecards & Envelopes and Bubblegum cardstock;
Ink: Ranger Adirondack Raspberry dye ink pad;
Copic Markers: G43, RV55; Copic Colorless Blender Solution;
Accessories: Ranger Mini Mister; white button;
