Heat Embossing Practice

I recently decided to try to figure out embossing.  I already had a heat tool (from my experimentation with crayon art) and wanted to put it to use!  I did research online, watched tutorial videos (this one was my favorite), and read through some troubleshooting forums.

With heat embossing, you either need an embossing ink pad OR a pigment ink pad AND embossing powder.  I decided to use pigment ink with my embossing because...

1) it would add some color while using clear embossing powder

2) I could also use it for regular stamping

and 3) I would be able to see where I stamped.

Experimenting with heat embossing was a pain...  Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't.  Sometimes I would scorch the paper, sometimes I wouldn't heat it enough.  I found out that the thicker the stamp, the better.  If you have a stamp with thin lettering, it may not work the way you want it to.  Here are a few examples of my trial runs:

Thick stamp that DID work.

Thin lettering that DID NOT work.  I also scorched the cardstock here.

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I went to Michael's yesterday afternoon to return some paint and ended up buying a stamp and some pigment ink.  I couldn't help myself!  Today I made this card with that stamp, 3 colors of ink, and clear embossing powder.

Here are my supplies:

•  Stamp ($1.50+tax at Michaels)
• Ink pads ($1.00/each +tax at Michaels)
• Clear embossing powder ($1.99+tax at Michaels.  This may have been on clearance!)

Here are the photos:

It certainly isn't perfect, but I think it looks awesome!

As with most of my cards, I did not write a message on it... yet.  That leaves it open for a thank you card or birthday card and I can decide when the time comes.