Wedding Anniversary card

Yep, this week saw our 9th Wedding Anniversary, and this is the card made for Beloved Hubby.
 It features a UTEE embossed heart, and also a sentiment die cut treated the same.

The card base is an 8" square one, and the design is matted onto some black linen cardstock, cut to size on my Rotary trimmer with a deckle blade, to match the card base.






The heart was die cut from thick card using an old Red Sizzix die of a large heart.
 I applied red pigment ink, then a single layer of red embossing powder, one from Moonglow Two Toned powders, called Hollyberry Red/Gold.
This was followed with 3 or 4 layers of UTEE, with Versamark ink being applied before each coat. It is possible to add the UTEE without the Versamark, but you have to work quickly, and it's risky, as the heated UTEE is VERY hot, and sticky.  Safer to let it cool, Versamark, then add another layer of UTEE.
 You can use normal clear EP if you don't have UTEE, but you will need more layers.

Plan A had been to include some Mica powder, which you can sprinkle lightly onto a UTEE powder layer, then carefully melt with the heat gun.

You need to hold the gun higher than normal, to let the UTEE start to melt, so that you don't blow the Mica powder off. When you are finished with the UTEE layers, the Mica seems to have drifted down through them. Unfortunately, the original heart was cut from a smooth white coated piece of thick card, and by the next day the embossing had started to shrink away, and the more I tried to fix it, the worse it got!

 This is what it looked like with the Mica powder, and some WOW! Coral Beach Sparkle Glitter added. It's much more red than the coral the name suggests..

It worked fine on the words die cut, so it was clearly the cardstock I used for the heart.

This die cut sentiment is from Tonic Studios. I can only find it available on E-Bay, so I'm guessing it's discontinued.

 Here was the original, all finished. You see the dimple on the left of the heart? If that happens, just heat again with the heat gun until it melts. You can also heat it and sprinkle a few grains of UTEE on it, then continue heating.










The 9 comes from a Tim Holtz set called Mini Numeric. Coated in Gold Pigment ink, then gently stamped into the top layer of UTEE whilst still hot. Because the UTEE is still liquid, you need to take care not to move the stamp as you press it in. Be gentle, you do not need to press as firmly as you would when normally stamping.
Leave for a few seconds, then lift off, and your number/image will be permanently set into the UTEE.
If it does go wrong, you can wipe away the ink with a baby wipe, although a little may remain, then remelt and try again.

The heart and sentiment were added to the card front with some dabs of Pinflair Glue gel. You may want to place some acrylic blocks on top whilst it sets.
The Peeloff sentiments for Happy Anniversary were added when the heart was set, 2 on each side, with a tiny peeloff heart between them.