Deco Foil Stencil Card

Hi everyone I  am back again today with another card using Deco Foil by Therm O Web. I love that Deco Foil comes in all kinds of yummy colors. In fact I had a difficult time deciding what colors to buy. Also I want to mention to look to see how much is in the package. I noticed that the Deco Foil I bought at Michaels on clearance was only one 6 X 12 inch sheet for $3. The Deco Foil I bought online at Therm O Web was five sheets for $5. Yes, I had postage to pay but I was buying a lot so it paid to buy it online.

Although I've been under the weather I had to play with the Deco Foil adhesive when it arrived along with more sheets of Deco Foil.  My friend Alice said using the adhesive is a little tricky and on the background I did not get an even coat of glue. It was hard to see the glue on white card stock. The butterfly which I stenciled on black worked out a lot better. O. K. Enough yapping and drum roll please.

As you will notice the background has some places where there is no foil. I could have placed the stencil back on and applied more glue to fill those spots in but I decided to go with the shabby look.  The stencil is by Die Cuts With A View but I don't know the name. The template is 12 x 12 inches with four different patterns. This seems to be the pattern that gets used the most. Oh and don't ask me the difference between a template and a stencil because I don't know. To me a template is a drawing of pieces to cut for a project. I was trying this out on a piece of scrap card so it was not the exact length of my card base. Adhesive rhinestone trim to the rescue. This is made exclusively for Michaels but I'm sure other companies make similar trim. Oh and it was in the clearance bin for $1.  Lol! I have had to more selective going through the clearance bin but something like this trim I know I"ll use.

For the butterfly I squirted the glue in the holes and then used a brush to smooth it out. There were still places I did not get good coverage. For instance the face of the butterfly is solid but here the foil created what looks to me like a face. The glue did seep under the outside edge of the butterfly, For the most part I was pleased the way the butterfly turned out. The stencil I used is by Delta named butterflies. I"m not sure if the stencil is still available since I bought this one at a thrift store. Talking about thrift stores I just missed getting another Die Cuts With A View stencil this week as a woman spotted it in the bin before I did. The thrift store where I was buying arts and crafts supplies closed but this week I found another one.  It had one huge section just for arts and crafts supplies. Yes, I bought some craft things for me as well as for my grandchildren.

My Studio software even though it was used for another project which I hope to finish soon was feeling neglected. I decided to use it to do my sentiment in. I used the free hand feature to draw my path for my text.  I typed my text and then printed directly from Studio on vellum using my laser jet printer. Then applied my foil and ran it through the laminator. I wasn't sure how the vellum was going to work with heat from the printer as I've had some card stock curl when I have printed on it. The only thing I noticed is that some of the black shows on the lettering. The camera exaggerated that but in person you have to look really close.

The photo doesn't do this card justice as even with the flaws in the foiling it is gorgeous. I'm thinking if you could somehow tint the glue it would be easier on white card to see where the glue is or is not. I will definitely be using the glue with the butterflies stencil as well as some of  my other stencils like hearts and other simple shapes. I read on a blog where the woman used spray adhesive and will try that with detailed stencils like the one I used for the background. 

By the way just so you know Therm O Web is not paying me or supplying the Deco Foil I've been using. When I first heard about the product I wanted to try it and am glad that I did. It is reasonably priced and comes in a lots of colors. It can be used on a variety of surfaces and I'm planning at a latter date to do more experimenting on things other than paper. As well as to try out their foam adhesive and the heat adhesive for Deco Foil.

My craft room is calling me to come and clean it  up and I have pieces for a card cut out which want my attention.  I'm just trying to figure out the logistics of how I'm going to do the card.

I hope all is well with you and Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Deco Foil Printed Card

Hi everyone today I have a quick printed card with Deco Foil. I  was wishing I had a laser printer  and Deco Foil before I got married as I could have created my own invitations for a lot less. Even if you don't have a laser printer you could do something similar using laser copies from a place like Kinkos. Print your design with your ink jet and then take that copy in. :-)

This turned out better than I had expected. Here is my card.

I started by creating my design in my cutting machine software  by drawing a rectangle the size of my card and arranging my design and sentiment. Then I used my eBrush with a lattice stencil and marker to make my background.  After the background was done I put my paper into my laser printer. Then after it was printed I applied my Deco Foil and ran it through my laminator. If you don't have a laminator I've heard you can use an iron but I haven't tried it.

Now I need to buy even more Deco Foil. Deco Foil is made by Therm O Web and there are a lot of colors available. You can read more about it and  even watch some tutorials on their website on how to use it  by clicking on the image on the left.

You can also do your background and then print an image without using foil. In fact I'll be later on printing images with my laser printer and coloring.

Thank you for stopping by. My next project with Deco Foil will be using it with a stencil. Just waiting for the special adhesive to come by mail as I tried other adhesives and they did not work. :-( 

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

DCC 48 Heat Embossing Challenge

Hi everyone I'm here again with another challenge by Repeat Impressions. This challenge is the Designer Choice Challenge and the challenge was to use heat embossing. I will be honest my heat embossing tool and powders spend a lot of time on the shelf.  I decided to do something a little different with embossing powders and heat tools besides just stamping and embossing.

 I've been playing around trying to use stamps with Deco Foil. If you want to know more about Deco Foil click on the Thermo Web image on the left. I decided to see if I could heat emboss and then add my foil and then run it through my laminater. More on that later. Also I wanted to see if I could use a stencil and heat emboss the design.  The other thing I wanted to play with was over stamping. I've done it before but was never totally happy with the results. Here is the resulting card after all my playing. I only wish I could have gotten a photo which did it justice as it is beautiful in person if I say so myself.

I used two different rose stamps which I've had for ages.I don't even think the stamp companies are still in business. I took the more detailed stamp and  randomly stamped first using Memento lulu lavender dye ink. Then using the same stamp but Sweet Plum I went and randomly stamped. I only used two different inks but I've seen this technique done using three colors.

My next step was to take a scrap piece of copy paper and a border paper punch  to make my stencil. I placed the stencil on my lavender card and used my eBrush with a Spectrum Noir lavender marker.  Then I decided to go with my circles stencil. I laid it where I wanted it and stamped over with VersaMark embossing ink. Then I sprinkled Recollections Lilac Vintage embossing powder over the stencil.  Then lifted the stencil straight up and carefully tapped off the excess. Then heat embossed like normal. I'm thinking heat embossing stencil designs would be best using simple or open designs. After adhering my panel down on my stamped card base I glued sequin trim along the top of the panel..

I took the simpler rose stamp and stamped on a scrap of card stock and heat embossed with a regular embossing powder. I discovered that detail embossing powder does not work for this technique. I then covered my image with silver Deco Foil and sent it through my laminater. I found it works best if I send it through once then while still warm burnish the foil down with my fingers to insure there is a good bond and then send it through again. What was interesting was when I added clear embossing powder over my colored pencils coloring and heat embossed the foil changed from being smooth to this interesting texture. I also discovered that really detail stamps will not work as the embossed lines will spread when you sent your image through the laminater.

I then used a Spell Binder die to cut out my image. I used the same Sweet Plum ink to edged. Last but not least I pop dotted it onto my card.

There you have it my card using my heat embossing experiments. I'm happy to know that the Deco Foil works with stamps by heat embossing. When the special adhesive comes from Thermo Web I will see if I can stamp using the adhesive. I can't wait to try the adhesive with my stencils.

Do you do heat embossing? Is so how have you used it? I have a nifty heat embossing tool that one of these days I'm going to have to dust off to use.

That is all for now but do come back as I have a few other projects in the works. Plus I have some new stamps arriving in the mail soon.  I took advantage of buying some stamps I like which were over stock and flat rate shipping. Can't wait to do some over-stamping with a couple of the stamps.

Before I forget head on over to http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/ where there is a tutorial on heat embossing with more than one color. Also check out the challenges. Starting Wednesday it will be a photo inspiration challenge. Oh and keep your fingers crossed that one of my entries will be a winning one so I can buy some neat stamps.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

WWW Color Challenge Card

Hi everyone by the time you read this the color challenge will be over. Repeat Impressions will have another challenge starting tomorrow. Here is the link http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/

Here is the card I created using these colors. I just couldn't get things to turn out how I wanted. I had wanted to accent the embossing but I didn't like anything I tried out. Also I finally decided to have a border around the  lady as well as to mat her but now am thinking I should have made her a little smaller.

The card base is Kraft card stock that I must admit I seldom use for some reason. I used a Paper Studio embossing folder but I don't know the name.

I recently bought the pattern pieces stamp by Tim Holtz from a friend. Buying used stamps is a great way to get the stamps you want.  The whole stamp would not fit on a left over cutout from a frame but you don't always have to use the entire stamp. I used Stazon Jet Black ink and fine detail clear embossing powder.

I was trying to decide what to do for this card and had received a email with links to the Dover Sampler. While looking through the samples most of themI already had I realized I had already downloaded this lady in red.. Also I've been itching to use the Tim Holtz stamps I bought. After tracing the lady in the software for my Cameo I did an offset and set the machine to cut using the offset and not to cut my original tracing. I edged her with the Jet Black ink. I also had done another offset and cut that one out of a scrap of Kraft card stock. The lady is pop dotted onto the Kraft mat.

Do you ever do color challenges or challenge yourself to use different colors?

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Iris Thank You CardS

Hi Everyone I hope all is well your way. March did not go out like a lamb instead the weather is blustery and cold with intermittent rain thrown in. Needless to say my boys quickly do their business when we go out and are ready to come back in where it is toasty warm.

 It is good weather for playing in my playroom and experimenting. I won't say how long the unopened package of cheesecloth has been sitting on my desk waiting for me to use my airbrush on it. Also my inkjet printer is under used in my crafting so it was time to see what I could do with that. Alas I fell off the wagon and bought myself a monochromatic laser printer so I had to play with that as well. Since I first started doing research into laser printers they have really come down in price. In fact for some printers anymore the toner costs as much as the printer.

Here is the card I created this week:

I started out by using my eBrush (airbrush using markers) on my card base. I wanted a speckle look so used the lowest setting and held my airbrush up higher than I normally do. Once I had it airbrushed to my satisfaction I went and edged it using a blending tool and Memento Paris Dusk dye ink. 

I then cut a piece of cheesecloth slightly larger than the panel I was going to place it on.  I placed it on a piece of paper and used my eBrush to color it. I did discover that the metallic ink did not really show up until after I glued ithe cheesecloth onto my card stock and used the metallic markers again. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the metallic speckles. If you want you could spray your cheesecloth on a piece of paper and make a really neat background as the cheesecloth makes a wonderful stencil. I bought my package at a dollar store so it is an inexpensive way to add texture. Lol! I'll probably have some still around at Halloween to make ghosts from.

While organizing and putting things into my paper sorter I discovered I have tons of backgrounds I have created in the past including several scraps leftover from previous projects. The tag shape is from one of those scraps. This is card that I had directly stamped onto card stock with dye inks and then sprayed homemade color mist. While still wet I took plastic wrap and laid on top. I could have used my Cameo to cut the tag out but in this case I took a template I won as a prize and traced with a pencil and cut it out. That way I was able to cut it out exactly where I wanted to. It was a lot quicker doing it this way. As much as I love my Cameo sometimes doing things quicker becomes my priority.  Once again I edged the tag with the Paris Dusk dye ink.

The iris image is one I downloaded from Dover when it was offered as a sample. I had turned it into a  print and cut a few years back so it was quickly resizing which is simple to do in Studio. This is where the fun came in. First without using registration marks I printed the image out  using my inkjet printer then I used masking tape to tape tissue wrapping paper shiny side up on my copy paper. If you try printing on tissue paper make sure you have the paper down tight.with no wrinkles. My inkjet printer feeds from both a cassette tray and a rear tray. For this I used the rear tray which is used for printing photos as the paper goes straight through. That means less chance of the paper tearing. After it was printed but still taped down I used a Spellbinder die to cut it out. Now I also have the copy paper image to use on something else. When I was reading tutorials some people place a full sheet of the tissue paper on the copy paper folded the wrapping paper around to the back and taping it. I felt like there would be less waste by printing first and then taping just over where the printed image was. I printed in the normal mode but next time I'll print in the draft mode. Less chance of  the ink smearing. To glue on my panel I used my finger to spread glue on the backside. There was the mention of spraying a fixative over the printed image before adhering. If you are going to print  and use something like Mod Podge over it I would definitely use some kind of a fixative. 

For my sentiment I opened up my word processing program and picked my font. I'm not sure where this font came from but it was listed as AR Decode. I chose the Bold option and printed with my new laser printer on card stock. I don't know the particular brand of this card stock but it did curl some so I'm not going to be using this for printing directly onto card bases with the laser printer.  Although the video using Deco Foil stated not to re-use the foil once it had been run through the laminater I went ahead and placed the unused portion over my printing. Then I wasn't sure what setting to use so used the highest heat setting. The video never mentioned what heat setting to use. Since I was using a scrap from a previous experiment I figured I really wan't out if it didn't work. Once it was ejected I once again used a Spellbinder die to cut it out. Then I edged using once again the Paris Dusk dye ink. I can't wait to try this with line drawings and even other heat activated foils. Just so you know the transfer foils work only with a toner based printer. Some people create a dummy file so they can run the printed image again with the foil covering the printing but I did not want to take a chance of ruining my new printer. Besides for the most part my laminater just sits there gathering dust.


For some reason Michaels had the Deco Foil I bought on clearance even though it is a brand new product. If you are interested the Deco Foil can be found here: http://www.thermowebonline.com/c/new-products_icraft-deco%E2%80%88foil Yeah! The adhesive to use with it is finally available. I tried some others but they did not work. I did get some alright  stamped images using Stick and Stamp glue pad along with my laminater but think I'll try a bonding powder like what Fab Foil uses a product from the UK.

How do you use your printer in crafting? Also do you ever use kitchen things like cheesecloth. By the way do any of you remember the cheesecloth shirts which were popular in the late sixties and early 70's. I wore mine in the Summer time over sleeveless tops until it finally disintegrated.

That's all foilks! Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!