"You are like the Willy Wonka of cardmaking" laughed one of my class participants earlier this year.  At the time I was demonstrating how to attach a pearl string embellishment to a card using a little clear fishing wire.  I'd not thought of myself like that before, but I've since had a little laugh to myself when these words have come back to me, as I've been in the process of picking up an odd household item to put to use at my craft desk.  This project, featuring the lovely tree branches die from the exclusive Thoughtful Branches bundle, was one such time!

Clever Stampin' Up! bloggers from around the globe have flooded the Internet with gorgeous paper-crafts featuring this limited time special August product offer.  I wanted to try something a little different and loved the idea of doing a little dry embossing with a die from the collection.  I grabbed an old rubber mouse pad from my desk and experimented with using it in the Big Shot to cushion the die so it would imprint rather than completely cut through the whisper white card panel.  I was delighted with the result!  The team at Stampin' Up! thought it was a fun idea too and shared it on Instagram this week.  Big love to all of you who liked the post, left a comment and/or found and followed me on Instagram as a result!!

From #ArtisanDesignTeam Member Jennifer Frost (@papercraftbyjenniferfrost): "'Stretch' your dies by dry embossing with them! To do this, I’ve layered my Stampin' Up! Big Shot "sandwich" as follows: platform, cutting pad, an old mouse pad, cardstock, thinlit die, and cutting pad." (Note: Stampin’ Up! tested this tip using a mouse pad measuring 6-1/8" x 7-7/8" and approximately 1/8" thick and achieved similar results. Please note that results will vary depending on mouse pad used. We do not recommend using anything thicker than 1/8" as this could possibly damage your products or have an undesirable effect.) #ADTTipsAndTricks #TechniqueTuesday

A photo posted by Stampin' Up! (@stampinup) on Aug 23, 2016 at 12:23pm PDT