This post will be updated regularly with all the hints and tips that I get to hear about.

1.  If your parchment scissors / tweezers become stiff to use or will not spring back easily, spray some WD40 onto the blades where they join.

2.  Tumble drier sheets rubbed over your parchment before embossing helps the embossing tools to glide over the parchment so making embossing much easier.

3. Rusty needles?  Put a small amount of sheep’s wool into the caps; the lanolin in the wool helps to keep them rust free.  If they have gone rusty, clean the rust off with some WD40; it is only surface rust so it should not have harmed the needle.

4.  If you accidentally emboss a small area, you can flatten it slightly with Zest-it, then when dry go over with Faber Castell pencil cold grayIII. The colour is very close to original parchment colour.

5.  How do you stick parchment to the backing card?

Answer – There is no magic answer to this question – parchment paper is translucent so it will always show glue or tape especially if you are mounting onto a dark backing.  There are several methods to get round this –

v  Sew the parchment to the backing.  Use a transparent thread and sew through perforations or lace holes in the parchment.  Make holes through the backing card in the correct place one at a time so that you can position the parchment in the correct place as you go.  Tape the ends of the thread to the back of the card.

v  Use tiny amounts of silicon or PinFlair glue under coloured or embossed sections of your parchment.  The glue takes a while to dry, so put a light weight on top of the card.  There is no need to press down completely as the silicon glue is better left as a lump.

v  Use brads in the corners of the card.

v  Sew beads into the corners or around lace work, so attaching the card at the same time.

v  Use corner punches which are like photo corners.