Paper Garden Projects has a challenge to use your favourite type of embossing on a project. While I love the dimension and texture you can get by using embossing powder, I don’t do it a whole lot. I think this has something to do with the fact that I tend to use a stovetop burner as my heat source. I remember using the lightbulb in my desk lamp as a kid, but my current little lamp doesn’t get hot enough. I did figure out that I could use the toaster, but the toaster lives in a cupboard, and the oven is right there….

So I made a card that used my Cuttlebug, and an embossing folder, a technique known as ‘dry embossing’. I used the dotty folder to pick up the dots in the the papers, and sanded the embossed paper a little, to pick up the texture.

There is no end to the love I have for these pirate stamps by Kraftin’ Kimmie, and the text stamps always crack me up too!

I decided not to fussy-cut (cut around the very edge of the stamp) this image. Instead, I trimmed the top of her hat and sword, then got out my Nestabilities Labels 7, slipped that on to the image with the hat and sword out of the way of the blade, and cut it that way. She’s too tall for any of the cutting dies I have.