More experiments with those Ranger "Emboss It" Pens

OK, so you don't have a Cricut, Explore, or even a Silhouette Cameo, those embossing pens are still pretty wonderful.  Just print out whatever designs/images you want on whatever project you are working on, and use pens to trace over design.  Then sprinkle with embossing powder and zap with heat gun and you get the same effect.  I had previously printed designs onto deli paper and blogged it here:   see the kids on bicycles that I "printed" in gray, just to test what I would get, but now I quickly scribbled over them with the black Emboss It Pen then sprinkled it with fine clear embossing powder, and now it looks like this (I intentionally didn't fill in everything to see what it would look like),

Then I tried using Embossing Pen in Black on other Deli Paper.  I had printed butterflies in Blue and printed them onto deli paper but they were too faded so I traced a couple with the embossing pen in black and doodled on paper also and here is result:

Then I wondered if the emboss it pen would work on the fabric I printed of one of my painted deli papers and it worked sort of.  I still had the fabric on the carrier sheet and had not removed it, so I traced over a butterfly that I had printed, in these pictures you can see the powder sprinkled on the half of the butterfly I had traced with the emboss it pen, then a pic of what it looked like after using heat gun.  It left a texture, but not the smooth shiny texture you get on a non pourous surface, but I guess I could go over it again and build up layers  Anyway good for experimenting:

Learned a new trick

I bit the bullet and got another digital cutting machine.  I absolutely love my Cameo, and especially the software program which is terrific.  I use the software for more than just cutting.  It is pretty much my "go to" program when I want to lay things out, get nice crisp images and text,  and print from it, either on paper, fabric, or on transparencies that I use to make silkscreens.

  However, I was intrigued by the Cricut Explore's ability to cut thicker materials than the Cameo can cut, so I bought one.  It is a lovely machine and has many advantages, and I will use both the Cameo and the Cricut Explore.  I am not thrilled with the "on-line", software that drives the Explore not enough flexibility in personally designing images, etc.  Although I understand the Cricut has come a long way with this new machine.

Now for my discovery:  in learning the ways of the Explore, I fell upon this video as I devoured as many tutorials as I could to learn the system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2FOnbya4_g

Melody showed a neat trick which I will use a whole lot.  I love heat embossing and have several powders.  Up til now, it has mainly been something you do with rubber/acrylic stamps and therefore is limited in size, etc.  But having watched Melody's tutorial, and having bought the embossing pens she used, I proceeded to use them on "yes" some more of my deli paper.  I must have made this sheet the same time I made several recent ones, same paint colors.  On the others, I  ran through printer to get graphic images to print on top of the painted papers.  This time, I put the paper on my Explore mat, inserted the clear pen in the pen holder, changed the image from a cut to a "write" and off I went--rather the machine went!  Since the embossing pen I used was clear,  I couldn't easily see where the pen had drawn on the paper until I sprinkled on the mustard color embossing powder and voila, it was there nice and clear/clean.  I hit it with the heating gun and the areas drawn with the embossing pen  raised up from the paper.  With this bit of help, I can use virtually every image on my computer to get whatever size/placement I want.  I have a collection of stamps which I probably won't even use, glad I don't have too many, this is the way to go.    Both the Cameo and the Explore take 12" wide media, so this is an added advantage as well.  Unless you have a wide format printer, you would have had to wrap paper around a carrier sheet.  How lovely to be able to use this technique to draw/sketch and then heat emboss using the capabilities of the machine.  These pens did not fit into my Cameo holder, so had to use the Cricut Explore.  I will post this on the forum of Cameo users to see if some of the other purchased pen holders will hold these embossing pens.

More uses for full size mailing labels to print on already painted deli wrap paper

at this posting:
I explained how useful these labels are, getting two surfaces that can receive paint either from scraping or gelli printing. Plus I was able to print on both sides "after" they were painted.  This is nice, but the paper on both sides is not as thin and translucent as my deli wrap papers with which I love making envelopes.

  Now I have found another use for these labels.  I cut the protective sheet all around  to leave a layer of adhesive on the 8.5" x ll" sheet exposed about 1/2" on all the edges.  What I wanted to do is to print on my already painted deli papers to add some graphic elements.  The deli papers are too big to fit into my printer, being approximately 12" x 11", and I did not want to cut them to print on them.  Using the full page label sheet as a carrier, I stuck the painted deli papers onto the sheet leaving about 1/2" at top to wrap around feeder edge and folded in the sides that hung over the label sheet to the back.  I then added removable tape to back feeder edge to hold it down to feed into printer.  I did not have to tape the sideedges that were folded to the back, but could do so if desired.  Used the back feeder on my printer (I have a  Epson WP4530 inkjet printer) and was able to print onto the painted deli papers.  Here are some pictures some as they printed out (black designs) onto painted papers, a few already cut into envelopes.  

What to do with all that beautiful painted deli wrap paper?

Oh my goodness, I can't stop myself.  I am absolutely bonkers over how beautiful the papers are after scraping paint, or using Gelli Plate printing and I just wanted to use the paper in a way that would really highlight the artistic beauty, but still be useful.  I have loads of the paper and, of course came up with an idea to use as many of my toys as possible.

Envelope Punch Board
Cameo Digital Cutting Machine
Xyron Sticker Machine--2.5" wide
Lots of deli wrap paper
Simple white card stock
Glue (I used Golden's matte medium)
Markers, Several different ones, also used Inktense Blocks and Pencils
My Silkscreens where needed to add punch to design

Of course you can come up with other ways of accomplishing same thing.
This is the first card and envelope I made:

I was inspired by this photo of card I saw somewhere, wish I knew where:

But first I started with making envelopes from the deli wrap and giving my envelope punchboard a workout.
Here are some ---I don't know how many would start a project with an envelope and work backward, but I just had fun with the Envelope punch Board and the deli papers---

and these:

 These envelopes have such a luxurious feel, reminds me of the old airmail envelopes, only prettier/better.  Then I thought of the card I had seen above and decided this would make a lovely coordinating card.  So here is the first one I made.  The cloud was cut from my Cameo, but any type sentiment/tag shape would do fine:


The cloud was just sitting on top there, I later ran it through Xyron and stuck it down.
My next iteration was to see if I could put my name on the back of the card "handcrafted by"  and also create stickers so that the card could be used for three separate purposes based on what was needed--i.e., Thank You, Happy Birthday, or Get Well Soon.  Here is the screenshot of my layout on my Cameo, used print and cut but "without" the registration marks since the text I wanted would easily fit the shapes and with careful alignment of the printed cardstock on the mat.

Here is what came out of the printer and what I then cut as shown above on my Cameo (yes, I had forgotten to turn on the "thank you" to print so I have a gap there, but you get the idea:

 So I created this card with three separate sentiments on sticker paper using my home printer (some I tried using pen in Cameo, but home printer was easier).  Then I ran the clouds through Xyron Machine.  --Here is the second card with a sticker for mailing label and three sentiment stickers.

My deli papers had pretty much lots of paint coverage, and I realized that the half of the "leaf" motif looked best if it had complimentary or matching colors but more white space and maybe bolder patterns, but to be honest, I think any combination with this design looks pretty good.  I created some papers using markers, paint, etc on more deli wrap to have a range of choices.  Here are some of the papers in my stash.  You can tell which ones are total coverage (scraped paint and layers) vs bold hand painted doodling designs.



Now I need to get busy making some more, I have all the parts and pieces, BUT, the painting of the papers gets to be such fun, I always want to head over there.  I did make myself a quick template of cardstock with the pointed oval shape so I can preview paper combinations before I decide to cut/use.




Because of the size of the deli wrap paper, after cutting out the square I needed for envelope, I had edge pieces left with which to make the motif designs on the card like these