Dry embossing is one way of embossing when scrapbooking. Dry embossing is a simple technique that creates beautiful raised designs on paper.

Embossing is a wonderful way to add 3-dimensional quality to your scrapbook pages and cards.

For home embossing you only need a stylus, a pen like instrument without the ink, and a board to press on, a piece of foam core, firm cushion, or other firm yet squishy surface works for an embossing backboard, a light box or sunny window, tape and a template.

Once you have your supplies together, you need to tape the template to the light box or sunny window, and tape the desired paper or accent face down over the template. Next you need to run the stylus along the outline of the template to transfer the design to your paper or accent.

Dry embossing works best on heavier paper like cardstock and looks great on vellum too. You can also try applying chalk to your raised designs to add more depth and detail to them.

Metal embossing is another great way to add to your scrapbook pages. Metal embellishments are very popular in scrapbooking. Sheet metal is quickly finding its way onto scrapbook pages. Sheet metal comes in gold, silver, copper and many other colors. They are available in a variety of weights.

The light to medium weight metals work best for scrapbooking because they are easy to cut and emboss.

You’ll need a few basic tools to work with metals sheets. Here is a list of the basics: A good pair of scissors designed for metal. DON’T use your regular scissors. They may end up dull, dull, dull.

Scissor blades can be made up of different blends of metals. Some dull easily others will do o.k. A mouse pad works well for a soft surface to emboss on.

An embossing stylus; I like the “old fashioned” kind that is just a metal stick with a ball end. OPTIONAL: a zinc chloride pen. A combination of zinc chloride and heat will give metal sheeting an antiqued look.

There are many places you can find templates to use for embossing.