By Tanya Gibbs

We all have it, and many of us do not know how we will use up such a large bottle of it. What am I talking about, ultra thick embossing enamel, and otherwise known as U.T.E.E. Remember that trend where we “had” to have it, even if we did not know what we would do with it. Well it is time to take it down from its dusty resting place and put it to some good use.
The technique I am about to show you is so simple, with tons of “wow” factor. What you will do is create a translucent picture with a patterned paper showing through the back of it. Now let’s get started!
First off you will want to choose your photo and print it off onto regular printing paper.

• Note: try and pick a photo with a light background so that the pattern paper can show through. Altering the photo to black and white also helps.*

Next step will be to completely cover the back of your picture with adhesive (glue stick works well here) and then place over a piece of patterned paper (the worded ones work well) the same size of your photo and adhere in place.
Then you will cover your entire photo with a clear embossing ink, and cover with UTEE and sprinkle off the extra.
Heat with your embossing gun, melting all the UTEE and making sure it soaks through the paper. You will probably have to do at least 3 layers. Your paper may curl up; all you have to do is press down on the photo to flatten out once your utee is not too hot to the touch. In this layout, I actually adhered my patterned paper and photo to chipboard, which made it not curl.
You can either crack the UTEE once cooled to give a distressed look or leave as is. If you choose to sew your photo onto a layout, take precaution, because it could crack the UTEE if you go to fast, and also clean your needle afterwards, so it does not jam up your machine later on.

Now go on, get messy, play and create.