Let it Faux!

That's right folks, the terrible title puns are back! This week we are going to look at one of my favourite die-cutting techniques which is the art of faux embossing.

Faux is of course a French word meaning false or fake but there is nothing fake about the quality of the embossed effect on show today.

I am using dies from the Winter Wonderland range and as we stand on the cusp of September I can already detect a slight autumnal bite to the early morning air so I don't think it's too early to talk about Christmas cards?

The dies I have used today are.....

• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Decorative Trees (660878)
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Delicate Fall (660879)
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Winter Wishes (660882)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Proud Deer (660884)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Strolling Bear (660886)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Wonderland Bird (660887)

I started by die-cutting around a dozen snowflakes from card before attaching them to a piece of mount board using spray adhesive. Next I cut my deer using the Bigz die and primed it with white gesso, this forms a barrier to stop the acrylic paint being absorbed by the mount board.

I chose three different shades of red Distress Paint and painted my deer. Once the paint was dry ( I used a heat tool to speed this up) 

I put a little dark brown paint onto my craft sheet before diluting it with water, I then painted this wash over the deer so that the paint settled in the cracks before dabbing the deer with kitchen paper to remove excess wash. The idea of the wash is to just leave it in and around the die-cut detail to add contrast. 

The final step is to very delicately apply white chalky paint using a dry brush technique. Always start off with less than you think you will need and build it up slowly.

Before adding to the face of a simple white base card I wanted to create a craft card background. I applied Distress Inks around the edges before adding a couple of Christmas postmark stamps from Lily of the Valley. I scrunched up the card concentrating on the edges and attached a length of twine around one side finishing with a bow.

Here's the finished card, as I promised the embossed effect is pretty cool!

Next up is the bear, as you can see I used one of the Framelits Christmas tree dies to add the detail before applying them to the mount board.

 I used two shades of grey and one of blue to get a little subtle contrast adding a dark wash before lifting it all with the dry brush work.

Again, here is the finished card, I DO love this die!

 A slightly different spin, I am using both positive and negative die-cuts this time.

I chose a couple of shades of pink before using a deep red wash finishing off with the dry brush technique.

And last but not least.....