Sunday, November 16, 2008

wrong tools for the job?

Today's adventure turned into today's frustration but along with it ~ lots of lessons learned.
1. Hubby has always said you need the right tool for the job. When we were first together, I thought this was his way of getting a new tool whenever possible, but once again he's proven right. Lydia's tutorial specified Cuttle bug embossing folder. I used my Wizard by Spellbinders (which I love, by the way) and a Fiskar's embossing plate. She also specified Whisper White paper. I don't own this, so I used regular white card stock from an office supply store. Lastly, she used So Safron ink from Stamping Up. I don't own any Stamping Up ink pads (yet) so used what I have, which are all smaller pads which make inking the brayer a bit challenging.
2. Wax paper is fragile in a Wizard. If you use too much pressure it will fall to pieces.
3. While my Wizard works great on papers, it only embossed the center area of my wax paper (possibly operator error). I ended up using my embossing tool to manually complete the job.
4. I need to practice my brayer technique! Most of the ink unloads the first spin of the roller leaving a definite mark when the next turn begins, along with a lot less ink coming off on the paper. I ended up sponging ink on in places, using various colors, to cover this "oops" up.
The results are not nearly as stunning as Lydia's were. But I said I'd make something and share it and here it is. The background was a snowflake embossing plate but showed up so negligibly that I ended up not needing to go with a Winter theme. Note the tear drops are shiny aqua/teal but they don't show up that way from the scan.


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