You can purchase specialist deep or 'thick' embossing power from most scrapbook stores and also online scrapbook stores however I find normal embossing powder works just as well if not better and really makes your scrapbooking ideas come to life.



To affect this technique begin by inking a piece of card. I would recommend thicker card than your standard card stock. Use a versamark inkpad and dab the ink all over the card. It is also a good idea to cut the card to size before you begin.

Once the card is inked sprinkle a layer of embossing powder over the card. Tap any excess powder off (this can be put back into the pot). Next use a heat gun to heat the powder on the card then repeat the process over and over again until you build up a thick layer. Specialist powder may take one or two coats where as normally embossing powder will need five or six layers applied.

While the embossing powder is still hot and looking almost runny from the heat of the heat gun start inking the stamp you have chosen to use with a staz on ink pad. Press the stamp firmly into the heated embossing powder. Leave the stamp in place for a few seconds then gently lift off to reveal your indented stamped image.

This method is great for adding wording and images to your scrapbooking ideas and really makes any scrapbook page layout come alive.

Always think about your scrapbooking ideas before you start so you know what stamps you are going to use. If you do leave the hot embossing powder to long and it sets reheat it and try again

The reason it is best to use a staz on ink pad is because the ink dries quickly and you may find a normal pigment based ink pad smudges or at the very least takes ages to dry.

Using deep embossing or ultra think embossing powder is a great way of creating embellishments and 3d words to add to your scrapbooking ideas and layouts. It may be worth investing in a set of letter stamps so you can create any word or phrase you need to adhere to the page you are working on.

The technique of deep embossing works very well with simple stamp patterns however you may find you will have difficulty obtaining a clear pattern or image when using complex and very detailed stamp images as the fine lines in the stamp pattern may become smudged or blurred using this process. Therefore it is far better to use simple stamp patterns and images when deep embossing.