AECP - Magic of 3D Embossing

What a fun class. I have had a lot of fun with my 3D embossing folders.  I have several cards to share today - a few of the cards I created were because of the teaching of Laurel Beard and a few were just ideas I had floating around in my head.  

For my first card I used Altenew's Mega Bloom stencil and with a few fresh dye inks I stenciled this beautiful flower onto white cardstock.  Then I took Peony Sunshine 3D embossing folder and ran it through so that the peony was EMBOSSED on the stenciled side.  Then I took the same inks I used to stencil the bloom I used to drag across the raised peony image.  I think this card turned out rather interesting and I will definitely be trying this again.  (stay tuned as I already have a card lined up with this technique).

Using a 3D Embossing folder packs a lot of punch for the amount of effort you put forth.

For my second card, I used the Reverse Blackout method. The reverse blackout method is done on the debossed side of the image.  The first thing I did was to apply ink with my blending brushes to the inside of the embossing folder so that the debossed image would be colored.  

Then taking a dark ink pad - typically black - you drag the ink pad across the debossed image.  This adds the black ink to the edges and to the raised areas of the debossed image creating some shading.

A close up of the debossed image

I used black for this method but in the next examples I was eager to try some other colors and see how they appeared.

This third card is using the Blackout Method on the Embossed side.  However, I chose to use blue ink to drag across the flower and greens for the leaves.  Then I used a really dark green across the rest of the cardstock.  After I had the entire image covered I used a dark green and black to ink blend the edges creating a halo effect around the flower.  I then used some shimmer sprays to splatter across the panel.  I also use some clear gemstones around the sentiment but I am not sure I like the gemstones.  I do like this combination of blue and green.

For this card, I again chose to do the Blackout Method but I wanted to see what it would look like if I used a different color that wasn't dark.  I REALLY love the effect on this one.  I really rubbed the embossed image with Navy Fresh Dye ink - this created great shading.  The edge of the card I used a mix of pinks - Rubellite and Razzleberry before ink blending the edges.  The last thing I did was to use Bold Alphabet dies for the HI - I used the woodgrain embossing folder and embossed the letters and then did ink blending with the pinks and hit the high points with navy.  You have to see this in person because it is really striking!

What do you think?  Which is your favorite?