Zen and the Art of Cutting Stuff Out of Cereal Boxes

A few days ago, I promised (threatened)? that I was going to try Mel's technique for making custom embossing plates using old cereal boxes! Well OMG, I am hooked! I finally have a reason to be grateful for the inhuman quantities of breakfast cereal that my teen aged son eats! (Keep eating, honey).

Mel's folders were made by cutting stamped images out of cereal box cardboard and adhering them to a flat panel, also cut from the cereal box. The whole thing gets sealed with a layer of Mod Podge and then you can run it through your cuttlebug to create your own custom embossed paper! There aren't enough exclamation points in the world to get me through this post!!!!

When I looked through my stamps, I just didn't have the images that I wanted for this technique, so I turned to my trusty QuicKutz Silhouette. I selected the images I wanted and cut them from cardstock first since the Silhouette won't cut through cardboard. Then I traced my die cuts onto the cardboard and cut them by hand. Here are the four plates I have made so far:

(I know, I know. But I like cutting things out! It makes me feel very Zen) I used the paisley folder to make the Valentine's card for Kristina Werner's Color Challenge - see previous post. Then I decided to experiment a bit and I made this card.

Basically, I embossed the chandelier on black cardstock, then swiped Gesso all over it. I sanded it to make the embossed image pop, but it still wasn't standing out the way I wanted. So I used Prisma Pencils and Gamsol to colour the background area pink with yellow highlights. Then it was a bit too garish for my liking. So I gessoed and sanded again. Finally, I coloured the raised areas of the chandelier with a clear Stardust pen, which doesn't really show in this picture. In real life, it really adds some glamour! This card is a little funky (even for me) so I'm back to the drawing board to see if I can come up with more ideas for using my new toys.

So now I think I'm going to spend about a week cutting stuff out of cereal boxes until I have the biggest collection of custom embossing plates on the planet! Plus, all that cutting will practically qualify me to be a Buddhist monk!