The Frugal Crafter - Easy Embossed Stationery

I don't know about you, but in the past I've spent a fortune on stationery items of all sorts, particularly embossed notecards, which I think are absolutely beautiful. Well, I can tell you, I haven't spent one red cent on pre-packaged stationery in more than five years now. I make it myself instead.

Embossing paper is a fairly simple skill that can be mastered in an hour or so. It can also be done with very little cash outlay, although there are plenty of ways to spend a small fortune on it (as with any crafting project).

Materials Needed

• Two pieces of thick paper or card stock (trimmed to be 1/4 inch smaller than your notecards)
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• Completely blank notecards (you can make these yourself using your handmade paper), just cut it and fold it in half to fit inside whatever envelopes you have handy)
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• A very very small crochet hook, the sort that are used to crochet delicate lace doilies
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• A smooth but slightly flexible surface. I use a very very thinly cut rectangle of cork (the sort used for coaster bottoms) which I have covered completely with clear contact paper.
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• Very small stencils (you can purchase small ones specifically for embossing, but they're costly - $8-$10 each - or you can create your own with card stock and a craft knife, just draw your design, cover the whole thing with clear contact paper on both sides, then cut out the shapes. The contact paper means that the stencil will stand up to a fair bit of use and can be re-used.)
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• Elmer's (or other) white glue
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• Small post-it notes

Procedure

Lay the card stock face down on the work surface. Decide where you want your stenciled motif to be and lay the stencil in place. Secure it with the small post it notes (Note: this will not be incredibly secure, just enough so that you won't accidentally knock it aside).

Taking your teensy crochet hook in hand, press firmly but gently at the inside edge of your stencil motif. Make sure that you don't press too hard or the hook will poke right through. Maintaining a steady pressure, slowly and carefully trace the stencil edges only. Don't attempt to raise the center of the motif, unless you want a very strange looking emboss.

Continue outlining your stencil motifs until you've completed all of the sections. Lift the stencil and post-its off of the paper, turn it over, and drool over the beautiful embossing you've just done.

Turn the embossed card stock back over and apply a thin coating of white glue to the back. Then turn it over again and place the embossed card stock on your notecard, pressing it firmly into place (make sure you don't press on the raised parts of the stock!). Open the card flap and glue another piece of card stock inside the card, leaving an even 1/4 inch margin of the card paper around the edges. (Of course you can also emboss the inside card stock. I recommend limiting it to a very simple and small corner motif, leaving plenty of empty space for your message.)

You can emboss a bit of the motif onto an envelope flap to match the card if you like. Just be ultra careful, as envelope paper is far thinner and more fragile than card stock.