This is my take on the Family Project theme this month - my great great grandparents with their eight children. A family portrait photograph was taken in 1901, and I have used close up images of each of the family to create the miniatures. Any metal jewellery blank with a bezel edge can be used for this. The 'glass' domes on each miniature are made from WOW! Clear Gloss UH, with the hearts and roses made from a custom molten embossing powder mix featuring the new WOW! Rainbow Black embossing glitter. The background features the WOW! Brocade stamp as well as WOW! White Pearl embossing powder. This is my last post as part of the WOW! Design Team - I do hope you have enjoyed my projects over the last two years and that you have been inspired in your crafting journey :)

The beauty of winter snow can really be captured with the wide range of WOW! embossing powders and glitters - all the glisten and sparkle without any of the cold and disruption! I've put my project in a frame, but the project could be equally well adapted to a card or scrapbook layout.

You will need:
WOW! Blizzard clear stamp
WOW! Earthtone Blueberry Embossing Powder
WOW! Blue Glitz Embossing Glitter
WOW! Blue Blast Embossing Glitter
WOW! Nice Ice Blue Embossing Glitter
WOW! White Twinkle Embossing Glitter
WOW! Silver Bells Embossing Glitter
Clear embossing ink
Heat tool

How to make this project:

Ink up the WOW! Blizzard stamp with the clear embossing ink and print onto a piece of white card stock. Cover with WOW! Blueberry and tap off the excess. Heat set, allow to cool and cut to size (in the picture it is 10x10cm).Cut three pieces of heat proof acetate (suitable for photocopiers/laser printers) to the same size and then rub over with an anti-static bag to remove any finger marks.Using su…

It's that time of year where the dogs go nuts as it seems so many fireworks need test firing before either Diwali or Bonfire Night celebrations... I'm not entirely sure why, but my card for the stars and stripes theme this month ended up being inspired by this!

You will need:
WOW! Funky Border Strips clear stamp set
WOW! Deck The Halls clear stamp set
WOW! Embossing Glitters:
 - Magical Mauve
 - Red Glitz
 - Green Glitz
 - Blue Glitz
 - Princess Pink
 - Metallic Copper Sparkle
 - Blue Blast
 - Glamour Green
 - Metallic Brass Sparkle
 - Silver Bells
Clear embossing pad
Heat tool
Black card

For the fireworks, I used the dot 'stripe' from the Funky Border Strips and curved it on the acrylic block, varying the length but starting from the same point at the bottom. Ink it up each time with the clear embossing pad, stamp the image, then move the strip and repeat until all are printed. Now apply the Metallic Brass Sparkle and heat set.

For the stars, I took a sharp knife to the s…

I, to be honest, was struggling a little with this month's theme of 'Decadence' - and then my thoughts some how turned to writing letters. The oft ignored envelope then became my focus of attention and what's more decadent than a wax seal on a hand-written missive?

I've used the WOW! Vintage Wallpaper clear stamp with Versamark clear embossing ink and WOW! White Pearl to put the  border on the side of the envelope front and across the flap on the back. The clear stamp allows you to more or less exactly line up the pattern on the back, so don't be afraid to stamp each half and then powder over both sides at the same time. I've handwritten the wording with the WOW! Embossing Pen (tracing from a printout I popped into the envelope) before embossing with WOW! Metallic Gold Rich.

For the seal, I've done a few steps for your info:

Firstly, I took a ball of self-hardening air dry clay and pressed the end of a wide-barrel marker pen into the end to create the d…

During the art and design course I finished in June, I had to study the Art Nouveau period, its influences and some of the art created that defined the style. When trying to decide what to make for this month's theme, I kept coming back to the fantastic stylised botanicals, the classic whiplash shapes and the lavish stained glass. What project would be better to demonstrate the versatility of embossing powders?

I took a 6x6" deep frame (from The Range), checked it had glass in rather than acrylic, and set to work. I resized a suitable picture from the internet to fit the 6x6" aperture and then stuck the glass sheet from the frame over it with masking tape to hold it steady. Wipe down the glass with isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) to make it squeaky clean - repeat as required to remove fingerprints as you go. Then I traced the outline with 3mm self-adhesive lead, sticking down and burnishing well and overlapping 'threads' so it looks like I soldered the joins.

For …

I'm lucky enough to have a view from my studio over an established, colourful garden. That's the inspiration for my 'Summer Garden' card this month. I used the multi-colour sprinkle technique to get the green background using the WOW! Flowers clear stamp - add one colour over part of the printed image, and then tap off excess before sprinkling over the next, and so on. The rest of the background was built up stage by stage using the WOW! Embossing Ink pen to fill in the blanks, and then sprinkling the embossing powder over. I heat set between colours, or where loose powder was in the way of the next space. I topped off with butterflies from  the WOW! With Love clear stamp set, cut out and mounted on foam pads.

WOW! Shopping List
Background:
WOW! Flowers clear stamp
WOW! Earthtone Olive
WOW! Primary Evergreen
WOW! Glamour Green Embossing Glitter

Flowers:
WOW! Opaque Primary Sunny Yellow
WOW! Fluorescent Cerise
WOW! Opaque Pastel Blue

Berries/Flourishes:
WOW! Primary Apple Red
WOW! …

With the launch of the new WOW! range of silcone moulds, I thought I would show you how I embellish then further to add depth, gloss and interest to your cards and layouts on our 'Nature' theme. Oh, and I've thrown in a bit more of the embossing powder resist technique for the border, as well as some tips for turning a square card octagonal!

 I don't mind admitting that I have a one track mind at the moment, driven by the fact I'm in my final term of my Art & Design course at Leicester College and it's final major project time! I've been developing various light shades based on this paper craft 'globe' and when the blog theme called for a 3D item, it was a natural step to emboss one! I've simply used WOW! Metallic Silver embossing powder over the WOW! Brocade stamp inked up with Versamark. This shade is designed to cover a battery powered LED light - make sure your shade is away from a heat source if you make your own! The shade is designed to be decorative, and I think the stamp works fabulously in all three dimensions, with the silver embossing powder providing just enough opacity to show the pattern off nicely :)

Gluing embossed surfaces together can be tricky, as some glues aren't keen on staying put - I used an extra strong all purpose clear glue (smear both sides and leave fo…

Ok, I need to make an admission first - my intention was to use recycled beer bottle caps for this project, but I've not had bottled beer for a little while and ran out of time to collect any from the pub... So the project has switched from 'recycled' to 'altered'! Do you find pouring resin too expensive? Or takes too long to set? Me too, so I came up with an alternative: I've used molten WOW! Clear Gloss Ultra High to create the domed glazing in each of the bottle cap frames, and WOW! Earthtones to colour the stamped lettering.

It's 'Anything Goes' month here on the WOW! Embossing Powders blog, and I've decided to go with a paper craft lantern of my own design, featuring lots of lovely WOW! Metallic Brass with a hint of WOW! Verdigris, along with WOW! Primary colours for the stained glass. There's a free template available so that you can cut your own, and it's perfect for a battery powered tealight. The combination of brass and verdigris really gives an authentic aged feel to projects.

A dozen red roses, hearts-a-plenty and all just for you. Perfect for your Valentine? The roses are made from red paper, then embossed with WOW! Ruby Romance, matched by the background mounting card made in the same way. Add an embossed sentiment, and stamped hearts and leaves, and you get a perfectly romantic card.

Following on from my hanging Christmas decorations which were displayed at the NEC in November, I was commissioned to make a larger version to be taken across to the January 2013 CHA exhibition in the USA. It turns out there's quite a few differences when the project needs scaling up. I chose to keep to a palette of white, blue and silver reflecting this month's theme of snow and ice.

Christmas Stained Glass Mirror by Neil Burley
I'm not entirely sure why this month's theme sparked off this particular inspiration - I'll warn you up front it has it's difficulties! But before you wander away, I've got some top tips for creating similar glass projects using the fabulous WOW! Embossing Powders and Glitters. Make sure the glass surface is very clean - wipe it over with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any last traces of grease. The trick then is to keep your fingers off it!Make sure your self-adhesive lead strip is firmly stuck down. It will stay put during heating.Mask off areas with low tack masking tape, and apply embossing ink direct from the pad. Alternatively, colour in the areas you wish to emboss with a WOW! Embossing Pen.Try and put powder on all the areas you wish to emboss, and heat set it all at the same time - this prevents nearby areas re-melting and becoming uneven.The opaque powders (WOW! Sparkling Snow and WOW! Nice Ice Blue) need a cou…

I'm soooo excited! I've been allowed to break the press embargo on information about the new products  being released at Hobbycrafts exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham starting on 8th November. The reason I'm particularly excited is that one of them is the 'NB Canvas' clear stamp - which is my own design! The other new product featured today is the new Melt-It powder!


You will need:
- WOW! White Puff
- WOW! Bright White (Regular)
- WOW! Bright White (Super Fine)
- WOW! Melt-it Powder
- WOW! NB Canvas clear stamp
- WOW! Gratitude clear stamp set
- WOW! Flower mould
- Disposable foil pie dish for melting powder in
- Heat gun
- kraft card stock (image shows 7"x5" card)
- low-tack masking tape or Post-it note for masking

To make the card:
Start by making the mask for the middle of the card: stick down the 'Thanks' and gratitude sentiment from the WOW! Gratitude clear stamp set onto an acrylic block. Ink it up and print it onto a piece of low tack masking…

I don't normally 'do' Hallowe'en, but when you're on a design team, you gotta do what you're told! So here's my take on a card for the occasion, with a three dimensional pumpkin monster. Featuring mixes of embossing powders and a hidden prop, the card is designed to fit in a C5 envelope.

I love monochromatic themes - they take away all the stresses of what paper goes with which embellishment, do the colours match, what colours go with what... But then you run across the problem of not all reds are equal - hues and saturations don't match. How about creating your very own monochromatic pearlised custom patterned card stock, so you can be sure your projects keep a consistent colour tone? Read on to find out how you can use WOW! Pearlescent Powders to add your own pearl sheen to your creations.

Last week saw the WOW! Embossing Powders take their place at the Craft and Hobby Association's Summer 2012 Show near Chicago, USA. The stand was designed to showcase all that could be done with embossing powders, in particular featuring the two national flags - each painstakingly made by the fabulous Tania from moulded blocks of embossing powder.


I was honoured to have a piece of my own embossing creativity on display at the show - you can just see it at the right hand edge of the Union Jack. I enlarged a photo of the bus to 24" square and traced the main outlines onto white coated hardboard (12" square sections bought and cut at the local B&Q - they had to travel!) using pencil. The white board is gently textured and seems to grip the embossing powder well. I then filled in each area with WOW! Embossing Pen before adding and heat setting the powders section by section. I used WOW! Ebony and WOW! Apple Red, both in Ultra High, and WOW! Lemon Regular.

We'll be at…

Please forgive the word play for the blog post title, I couldn't resist! I've been playing with the WOW! Fabulous Flocks and this decorative vase is the result.

I punched the pink flowers from high tack double sided adhesive sheet, sticking them down onto the vase before pressing the flock firmly onto the top sticky surface. Brush off the excess flock with a stiff paintbrush.

I made the yellow centres by folding a strip of double sided tape in half so it sticks to itself before punching out the sun shapes. This time I flocked them before sticking them down to the pink flowers. The strips at the base are just different widths of double sided tape stuck down and then covered in turn with the flocks.

This project is a bit fiddly with all the double sided tape, but you'll end up with your item fabulously flocked! And the best thing? If you don't like it, peel it all off and try again - those three strips at the bottom had four different colour combos before I settled on t…

If you haven't enough to do or watch this Bank Holiday Weekend, how about getting crafty and making a commemorative card, scrapbook page or canvas featuring this suitably patriotic tag? All the elements are easily adapted to whatever sized page you're working on and use this month's theme colours. Read on for Neil's tips and techniques.

It's not long now until Father's Day (17th June 2012), and the WOW! Earthtones are ideal for making the traditionally difficult 'man card'. I've combined technique with colour to give texture and something to catch the eye - I've even added decoration on the inside, which I very rarely do! Read on for information on how to make this card and a handy shopping list!