I love cards with textured paper. Off the top of my head, I remember a card with a sheep on it. The "wool" had been run through a cuttle bug, giving it a curly look. The same for clouds.

Here is something I did today for a challenge. I ran the mermaids hair through the cuttlebug for dimension and a more hairlike look.

The number-one tip I can give you is to cut first and emboss later. You will save yourself a lot of trouble getting regular paper to stick to the mat. Embossed paper needs to be mushed onto the mat to be cut and you will lose a lot of your texture.
I will use Doodlecharms as an example because I've embossed a lot of shapes off of it. The ice cream cone- I used a 'burlap' texture folder on the cone, and swirls on the scoops. The Christmas Stocking- I left the base plain, and used Swiss Dots folder to emboss the toe, heel, and cuff of the stocking.
Another way to use embossing is to emboss the background (base) of a card, then use pop-dots to add on other embossed diecuts (use different folders).
You can diecut a shape using white-core cardstock, then over the top, lightly rub sandpaper or a nail buffer (like the ones you manicure with). It will rub off some of the color, and the white will come through. OR, emboss a shape and lightly rub a pigment ink pad over the top. Then the ink color will make the embossing pop.
Consider the fact that each Embossing folder can also be a DEbossing folder. Embossing make the texture pop up, but DEbossing pushes the design down into the paper. Just flip over your folder, and you now have two ways to use one folder.
Lots of pieces can be embossed- clothes for Paper Doll cartridges, clouds, animals, foods like cupcake or ice cream images, I like to use silhouette shapes like A Child's Year and emboss those...
The number-two tip I can give is if you are using an embossed base, then the pieces you add on need to be pop-dotted or else they will get the underlayer's texture showing through. Another way to get around this is a textured base, and layers of plain paper on top. Say, the Doodlecharms XMas Stocking, If I texture the base with dots, then add flat toe/heel/cuff, the dots will poke through the toe/heel etc. IF I use two layers of flat cardstock for those peices, the dots don't poke thru. You can also DEboss the base, and then the design won't poke out.

Scrapalette- this card's layering is so beautiful and inspiring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! Just bought a cuttlebug and I am defintiely going to play with embossing my cricut cuts.
Lisa

about a month ago there was a RAK request for baby BOY diecuts. I just did 30 shape diecuts and ran most of them thru a cuttlebug folder for texture. i made a onesie and did the diagonal lines folder then put a strip of pokadot ribbon across the front. turned out way cute. used the swiss dots one on several diecuts. big dots on a frog die cut. etc. the possiblities are endless.
the lucky recepient of these diecuts will be so surprised when she gets my envelope. Wish I could see her face when she opens it.

Edited by user Tuesday, January 01, 2013 6:32:50 PM(UTC)  | Reason: added to it.