Fridays are Always Beautiful...

but THIS Friday is even more so because of this gorgeous card! I cannot take complete credit for this work of art. I had help.

While I was in Austin a few weeks ago, I was exposed to Lydia's Big Shot. I was at convention last year when it was announced that SU! would begin selling this machine. The place exploded in screams, and I had to lean over to ask Lydia what the big deal was. I had no idea what a Big Shot was. I know; this confirms what you've been thinking all along. I am so culturally unaware that I must live under a rock. More proof of this? I hadn't watched a second of American Idol before last week. How did I function in society?

Since I don't want you to have to let on that you don't know what one is, a Big Shot is a tabletop die cutting machine manufactured by Sizzix. (Follow this link to view a brief tutorial.)

Anyway, Lydia snatched one up immediately, while I still have not made the purchase. So, it was one of her goals for my time in town to convert me to a BS enthusiast.

While I am not completely converted, being able to work with the embossing folder Manhattan Flowers Textured Impressions Die to create this card made me take a large step closer toward a decision. You see, dry embossing is one of the techniques that got me hooked on card making almost 15 years ago. I LOVE that look.

The way this works is simple: cut a piece of card stock to fit the heavy-duty plastic hinged folder that has the impression molded into it. A hand crank pulls the folder through a roller press, producing this raised image. This one is designed to fit a 4.25"x5.5" card front perfectly! I used some retired copper metallic card stock for this project, and I was so pleased with the result.

I paired the image with Sage Shadow card stock and trimmed around the flowers so that they would pop even more on the card. Then I traced the top line of the flowers onto the base of my card and cut that part off the front. The little sentiment is from Great Friend, a stamp set that's in the current Occasions Mini Catalog. I heat embossed it with copper embossing powder, and mounted it the copper card stock. It is adhered to the interior of the card, although it will show when the card is removed the envelope.

This is a stunner in real life! While I may not be a convert yet, I'm beginning to consider the possibility that I may want one of these little machines. I'll keep you posted...