WOYWW #470: Dry embossed hearts on mountboard

I don't know if it's just the time of year, but there's so much inspiration out there, I find it hard to keep up. I have several projects in the pipeline to be finished or even started but I keep dropping them and even forgetting about them when something else catches my eye and sparks my creativity. It could be that I'm just scatty, but I tend to go with the flow and do whatever tickles my fancy.

Here's a photo of my desk to demonstrate my scattiness (and messiness) to share with my WOYWW readers. Oops, you can even see my long overdue mystery project there - to be unveiled later in the week. It still needs some finishing touches. I was working on some heart ornaments inspired by Sarah's Craft Shed. I wanted to see if it was possible to emboss thick mountboard with stencils to achieve similar results to using embossing folders and I'm happy to report that it works really well!

I cut the hearts from 1.5 mm mountboard (known as mat board in the US) which is pretty much the maximum thickness the Sizzix Bigz dies can handle. Then I just ran them through the Big Shot with a stencil on top and the pattern embossed beautifully. I applied black gesso as the first layer, followed by a layer of gold acrylic paint and turquoise blue or green acrylics on top. You have to wait for each layer to dry sufficiently before adding the next.

Then I took a wet baby wipe and carefully removed some of the paint to partially reveal the underlying layers. The texture will look similar to weathered bronze.

On second thought, I made an identical set and stuck two and two together with a piece of string in-between for hanging as ornaments. I painted the edges gold. 

I used the same technique to make this ATC but with die-cut shapes instead of embossing:

That's it for this week, dear Deskers! There's only one thing left to share - yes, you've guessed it right - Oreo! Here he is sleeping peacefully and contentedly in the middle of the day. Life's so hard when you're a cat!

Happy #470! I'll be around visiting soon!