The Crafter's Workshop BlogDry Embossing with Stencils

Hi everyone! It’s Lindsay here, from Crafting While Caffeinated Blog and YouTube Channel, and I am so excited to share today’s video tutorial! It’s all about dry embossing with your stencils and a few ways you can take this technique a step further! Be sure to watch the tutorial below for all the details!!

The Video Tutorial

In the video tutorial above there are products used that were sent to me free of charge for design purposes. I only ever design for companies that I can stand behind 100%!

Dry Embossing with Stencils How To

To dry emboss with your stencils you only need a few supplies

TCW Stencils – These stencils are thick and sturdy which leave a good impression
Heavy Weight Cardstock
Die Cut Machine
Craft Felt

Here’s the tricky part; everyone’s technique is going to be a little different. It’s going to depend on how thick your stencils and cardstock are, how much pressure your machine has, and so on and so forth. This is a technique that you need to play around with and figure out what works best for you and your supplies.

But let me tell you what works for me so you at least have a starting point! I use the sandwich in my Big Shot that is meant for wafer thin dies. So here’s my sandwich —
Multi purpose platform (both tabs down)
Bottom Cutting Plate
3 Layers of Craft Felt
Cardstock
Stencil
Top Cutting Plate

When you have your sandwich figured out all that is left to do is run it through your machine!

Breaking Down the Cards

Dry embossing with stencils cardmaking technique.

The technique is simple, but there are so many ways you can use it and so many more ways you can kick it up a notch, too! If you want to read more about each individual card just continue below!

Celebrate Handmade Card

A handmade birthday card with a dry embossed background. The background is dry embossed with the Waves Cake amd Cookie stencil from the Crafter's Workshop

I kept the dry embossing with stencils technique pretty straight forward on this first card. The only way I really added anything different is I embossed on a die cut. So keep that in mind as you think of how you can use this technique in your own paper crafting!

Also, the stencil I used in the Waves Cake and Cookie Stencil from TCW. So if you love the patterns of any of your cake and cookie stencils, they work for this technique, too!!

Hugs Handmade Card

For the background on this handmade card, I dry embossed with the Love Frame stencil. I strategically placed this stencil so the heart frame would emboss in the lower right hand corner. I knew this would hold my die cut sentiment on the finished card.

To emphasize the background and embossing on this card I added ink blending over the top. You could also blend on modeling paste to add a little shine or blend on paint. The options are endless with this one!

Lindsay A — TCW Design Team Member

Friends Handmade Card

Adding ink to the stencil when you dry emboss creates a letterpress look on your background!

This background is my favorite! Before I dry embossed with my stencil, I added ink to it. The ink I used was Versafine Clair which is a pigment ink. Pigment inks will work best for this because they won’t bead up when they are on the stencil and the the ink will stay wet long enough for you to transfer it onto the cardstock.

Once you run the stencil through your die cut machine and emboss, the ink will transfer to your cardstock, but it presses into the debossed area which creates a letterpress look!

I hope you all enjoyed a look at how to dry emboss with your stencils! It really is such a versatile technique that you can use whatever way fits your style best!

If you are interested in any of The Crafter’s Workshop stencils I used, you can find them listed and linked down below! Until next time, happy crafting!!