If you've never embossed before, let me assure you that the most troubling part is finding a way to hold down the paper so your fingers don't get too hot when you're melting the powder. I like to use whatever I can grab (basically because I always forget this until I smell burning flesh. Ok, it's not that hot, but really: have something around that will hold the paper down and put your fingers away from the heat).
So you're ready to emboss. You will need:
- The watercolor tiles you already made (or any other paper)
- An inkpad with embossing ink
- Rubber stamps
- Embossing powder (I'm a huge sucker for the Martha Stewart powders. They are very fine and give clean details)
- A heat gun ('ve heard of some people using a hair dryer, but I've never had much luck with that)
- Glue, scissors, ruler, cardstock (to make the card itself)
Grab your rubber stamp and ink it up. Stamp on the tile and immediately cover the stamped image with embossing powder. Don't be afraid to put a lot on there. You want it to be thoroughly covered. Then just tilt the design over a piece of paper and let the excess fall away (you can roll the paper some and empty it back in the bottle so you're not wasting the powder). A few light taps can help dislodge the excess. Be careful, though! You don't want your design to not be covered! You may also find a bit adhering where you don't want it. Go ahead and dust that off now. If you are stamping more designs onto that one tile, continue this process. It will look boring, a bit like this:
You are allowed to secretly hate me for a minute because it won't in any way look awesome. But that heat gun will solve everything. Aim it away from the card and turn it on. Then, starting from a distance, aim it straight down at the design, gradually bringing it closer. You will reach a magic distance and moment when you see the powder start to get shiny and melt together for a solid embossed surface. Move the gun around as needed to melt the entire picture. You don't want to linger too long because you can start to discolor and even burn the paper a bit. But you should end up with something that looks like this (except even better):
After that, you're back to the regular business of gluing it down on the prepared cardstock and flashing it to your friends, declaring that you made it!