Embossed wax paper tutorial

I first heard of wax paper being used in conjunction with really intricate dies; placing a piece in between your card and the cutting edge of the die helped intricate die-cut piece fall out of the die really easily. However since the manufacture and production of dies and die-cutting machines has evolved over the last few years, it’s not a necessity anymore. But not to worry, there are plenty of things you can do with your wax paper. This feature focuses on how to emboss your wax paper and melt the wax onto your cardstock to act as a resist. This technique does require the use of an iron, it doesn’t have to be a craft iron though, you can just use a regular domestic iron without steam too.

Wax paper tends to be double sided (has wax on both sides) so you can use this to your advantage and get two backgrounds for the effort of one. This technique works fabulously with embossing folders, but you can also use background dies too, simply emboss or die-cut your wax paper, then sandwich it between two pieces of cardstock, and iron as shown in the step-by-step guide. I got the best results using ink-blending, however you can use watercolour effects too (as I have on half the cards), just make sure you don’t over saturate the card as the ink can seep under the resist in this case.

When working with two pieces of card, you do get a different impression from both sides of the wax paper, and this is especially evident with text backgrounds or an asymmetrical pattern. When you only want one pattern (e.g. legible text) you can just add some scrap paper on the other side of the wax paper to avoid wasting a piece of card. Whatever patterns of folders you own, just experiment with this interesting technique, it’s a fab way to get that textured look on a completely flat piece of card, and it’s also a brilliant way to give a new lease of life to your embossing folders too.