DIY - How to Emboss Your Invitations

DIY - How to Emboss Your Invitations

January 14th, 2009 @ 10:30 am by Mrs. D'orsay
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So after you’ve seen how NOT to emboss your invitations, I should probably show you how to emboss them.

We ordered custom stamps, used dark brown ink, and took the pads out of their containers to make a larger stamp pad. We also used a Stamp-A-Majig, a heat gun from Jo-Ann’s and, last but not least, clear embossing powder.

Step one: Set your Stamp-A-Majig to where you’d like to stamp.

Step two: Stamp down. Our stamps were a bit large, so it was best to use two sets of hands for this project. For the bird stamp, Mr. D’orsay would stamp down, and MOH MB would push down again using the wooden handle to make it even.

Step three: Quickly powder. Make glittering hills of clear powder, tip off, then hand them to your heat gun operator. If you don’t have a heat gun operator, then you can leave all the stamped/powdered ones until you’re ready to heat them. The important part is quickly applying the powder to the stamped area. Don’t tap the paper to removed excess powder. Wait until after you’ve embossed and simply dust the sheets with a rag.

DO NOT leave your cat alone near a hill of embossing powder…

Step four: Bring on the heat! Hold your heat gun 1-2 inches away from the paper. Be careful because you don’t want to burn the paper! You can see below when the powder begins to turn.

DIY - How to Emboss Your Invitations : wedding baltimore diy invitations stationery tutorial Dscf036011 dscf03601

Unofficial Step five: Attach the invite. We used Tombow adhesive and it worked great!

This was a fun and rewarding project once we figured out all the kinks. I highly recommend practicing on scrap paper until you work everything out.

Most important lessons learned:

Figure out the best stamping method for you and your stamps. Its very important to get a clean, equal amount of ink on the page
Use colored ink and clear powder - NOT the other way around
A Stamp-A-Majig, though $12, turns out to be worth it

Did you have to learn any DIY lessons the hard way? Do you have any helpful embossing tips?

Tags: baltimore, diy, invitations, stationery, tutorial |

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23 Responses to “DIY - How to Emboss Your Invitations”

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Bee

Mrs. Emerald (message) 1,062 posts, Bumble bee

I love embossing, it is so much fun!

1/14/09 @ 10:34 am (reply)

Bee

Miss D'orsay (message) 2,272 posts, Buzzing bee

I definitely preferred the glass cutting to the embossing. Note that I’m not actually in any of these pictures… Though it was much more fun once we figured out the kinks!

1/14/09 @ 10:47 am (reply)

Guest

Valerie

Thank goodness you posted this!!! I’m planning on embossing our invitations too. I totally would have bought the colored powder and clear ink first. Thank you!!!

BTW, from what I can see you, your invites look great!!!

1/14/09 @ 10:54 am (reply)

Guest

AmandaP

I embossed my STD cards and loved it so much that my MOH and I are planning on tackling the invites next.

1/14/09 @ 11:28 am (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Daffodil (message) 565 posts, Busy bee

wow, this is really helpful…i’ve always wondered how people emboss stuff! so you just stamp a piece of paper with regular stamp ink the normal way you’d stamp anything, and the powder just sticks to it? (and then i guess the heat gun after of course?). so cool!

1/14/09 @ 11:36 am (reply)

Guest

Leigh

I also learned the hard way on my invitations, and ended up using clear ink, with clear powder. On colored paper, the stamped area turns out a darker shade than the paper. This worked best with medium toned paper, like a blue or brown.

1/14/09 @ 11:40 am (reply)

Guest

Katie

Very nice! I would just add that when I did my STDs I not only tapped them get the excess powder off but blew on them A LOT because if I went straight to the heat gun then the excess clear powder melted on and me no likey. But it just could’ve been the brand of powder or paper I used, idk. I love embossing though! Fun!

1/14/09 @ 11:41 am (reply)

Bee

frenchbulldog (message) 7,730 posts, Bee Keeper

I think I’ve told you this before, but I LOVE your little birdie on the swirls
Thanks for the tutorial.

1/14/09 @ 11:44 am (reply)

Member

HeatherB618 (message) 62 posts, Worker bee

Looks great! Where did you order custom stamps?

1/14/09 @ 12:01 pm (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss D'orsay (message) 2,272 posts, Buzzing bee

@HeatherB618: We got them from Simon Stamp, but I like the clear ones from Impress stamp. By the time we saw the impress ones we already ordered the red rubber one.
@AliCherri1: Thanks!
@Valerie: I’m glad I posted this before you went shopping, we wasted money on those other supplies (rawr)

1/14/09 @ 12:12 pm (reply)

11.

Hostess

driftslikesmoke (message) 1,224 posts, Bumble bee

Looks great! Question, though, what on earth is a Stamp-a-Majig and what does it do?

If you have leftover clear ink and some clear powder, I find that it works wonderfully on a white or ivory envelope as a subtle little seal. We’re using ours (made the same mistake you did…grrr!) to emboss a pretty C (for our last name) on the back flap of each envelope for a little personal touch.

1/14/09 @ 12:22 pm (reply)

12.

Hostess

driftslikesmoke (message) 1,224 posts, Bumble bee

Oh, and to Mrs. Daffodil - you have to use pigment ink pads. They’re stickier and they dry slower than dye ink pads.

1/14/09 @ 12:23 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Miss D'orsay (message) 2,272 posts, Buzzing bee

@driftslikesmoke: gaaaa. good point, you can’t really see it on the photo. A stamp-a-majig is a clear piece of plastic and a little plastic thing to help line it up. Our stamp isn’t clear so we used it to see exactly where we were stamping. Here is a you tube tutorial

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zH706N8w5gU

1/14/09 @ 12:33 pm (reply)

14.

Member

onlyonelove54 (message) 233 posts, Helper bee

good job. I’m hapy that you figure it out.

1/14/09 @ 12:53 pm (reply)

15.

Hostess

Lillindy (message) 7,974 posts, Bee Keeper

Wow, can’t wait to see the whole thing, but it looks like you chose the invite I had voted for!

1/14/09 @ 1:01 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

melissa

I used a stamp and embossing powder on our STDs. Turned out great. To cut down the cost I used a toaster oven for the heat source rather than the heat gun. This seemed to work out fine.

1/14/09 @ 1:20 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Mrs. Green Tea (message) 764 posts, Busy bee

i know i would suck at doing this but you’re really tempting me to go try it out!

1/14/09 @ 3:01 pm (reply)

18.

Guest

chelsea

Hi! I wanted to inquire about your printing. Did you print using a deskjet computer or did you go to a printer for digital or offset? Did the heat impact your wording at all?

Thanks!

1/14/09 @ 3:27 pm (reply)

19.

Bee

Miss D'orsay (message) 2,272 posts, Buzzing bee

@chelsea: We went to kinkos b/c the printing was much cleaner than when we did our test run on our home printer (an HP inkjet). Plus we needed them to cut 1cm off of all the edges…not something I really wanted to myself…

1/14/09 @ 3:30 pm (reply)

20.

Guest

Colleen

Thank you for this! I know its been almost a year since you wrote it - but I have spent almost $50 buying various types of embossing powders and inks trying to fing the right brand/type/formulation and nothing was working on my DIY cocktail napkins…!! I have spent hours online trying to figure out what I was doing wrong and couldn’t come across any advice! But, after reading this - I am heading out to buy a BROWN ink pad and CLEAR powder! I can’t wait to try it!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

12/30/09 @ 10:33 am (reply)

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