Halloween Birthday and New Foiled Overlay

My oldest granddaughter is FOURTEEN years old today - what the heck???  She can't be that old..........  Luckily she is still a sweet girl and the early teenage years have not ruined her......yet!  Although I do think she would need surgical intervention to be "removed" from her phone, but that unfortunately seems to be a sign of the times..........  I love technology and the convenience, but I don't love that we often fail to have face to face conversations and text or email instead. I am guilty of it as well and trying to improve on making REAL connections.......... but enough of my editorializing!

It is her birthday and I tend to do a Halloween theme since it falls the day before - and I have been having so much fun experimenting with the Silver Bullet and the FoilMaster that I turned once again to both. I had an idea to make a foiled overlay and just let me say - this will NOT be the last time I do this - too much fun!!

So.... I found some royalty free clip art on the internet (so grateful that others can draw) - and traced the witch and the moon in SCAL and cut out.  The witch is black luster card stock from Paper Temptress and the moon is from paper scraps.  The background sky is mica card stock also from PT that has been embossed to look sort of spooky!

Now to the overlay.  I used SCAL to create stars scattered over a rectangle the same size as the embossed rectangle and placed them around the witch and the moon so they wouldn't detract from them.  I did a print and cut of the stars, foiled them in silver with the FoilMaster and then cut the rectangle with the Silver Bullet.I placed some small glue dots under the stars so the transparency would adhere without visible signs of adhesive. I so love how this turned out.  It was super fun and super easy and looks so much better in person.

I hope she loves this special birthday witch!

The stars are really silver but reflecting the light in the photo. 

I can hardly wait to do an overlay again.

The greeting is just a font cut out of silver mica and placed over black and silver sparkly ribbon.  

The sparkle cardstock from PT pulls all of the pieces together as the card base.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KENDRA!!

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Another Positive-Negative Card Experiment AND foiling - oh my!

I needed some inspiration so returned to my favorite files from Dominic to create two cards from one - I so love that technique and it's fun to see what I can do to make them different!

I chose the calendula flower as I love the detail and it lends itself to the reds,oranges and golds of the season. I used the Sparkle paper from Paper Temptress this time and it handled these files perfectly. So thrilled with the results.

The top image is what I refer to as the positive; the bottom is the negative

A closer look...positive...

And negative...

The negative again backed with double sided adhesive - ready for a deluge of glitter!

And the designs begin to shape up and take on their own character...

Once I backed the original image on the card base (Felt Grandee from Paper Temptress) I decided it needed a little more.  So, for an added twist, I used Dominic's butterflies file (there are all sorts of silhouettes of butterflies and an additional four with beautiful wing patterns) and foiled one on acetate and cut it out.  Yes I am really loving the foiled laser transparency of late - it looks great and gives such a nice embellishment to any card. Have lots of fun ideas running through my head of things to try - if I can just remember when the time comes!

The second card (negative) card is backed in the Mica card stock from Paper Temptress and utilizes a polished stone technique with alcohol reinkers to get a mottled colorful background on glossy paper.

Dominic's files cut seamlessly on the Silver Bullet Professional.  And I hope this tempts you to try foiling laser transparencies.  It really is addicting!

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More Card Foiling on Transparencies - ADDICTING!!

Yes I am addicted - seriously addicted to foiling on transparencies, foiling in general, and print and cut.  I honestly haven't had this much fun making cards in a long time and I feel it has opened up a whole new world for me.

Before I get on with the details of the card, I have to say that I am literally blown away with the detailed print and cut that I can get with SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot). I was really timid about foiling the butterfly first and then cutting it out and even toyed with the idea of filling it all in with foil and then cutting out the detail. But as you will see, I did it the way I was supposed to and the accuracy of the software coupled with the precision of the cutter was just downright amazing.

My inspiration came from Dominic (Crafty Vectors) and his butterflies file (there are many fluttering delights to choose from) .  Playing with this one gave me all sorts of ideas for future cards - so this will not be the end of spotlighting Dominic and his talents.  I am such a fan.

I started by taking one of the beautiful butterflies, created several shadows, and welded one of the shadows to a frame.  I then printed the detailed silhouette of the butterfly on a laser transparency so I could foil and then cut it out - all using the print and cut method in SCAL.  I really was afraid that the detail would not be captured.  I just didn't think the cut could possibly be accurate enough, especially on the transparency using multi cuts - but it was!!  I was so excited to see the idea come go life.

The file laser printed on transparency

The foiled print and cut

All cut  out perfectly...

Once the foiled focal point was cut, it was just a matter of cutting out the other parts from Paper Temptress and assembling using papers from the Sparkle, Mica and Incandescent lines.
The greeting tag was also a print and cut using a reconfigured nesting shapelie from Penny Duncan Creations and the words were foiled in the same lilac as the butterfly.  The font is one of my favorites thanks to my dear friend Ducky of Ducky's Designs.  She introduced me to that font several years ago and I love the elegance of it.

Foiled greeting on Mica paper

This will definitely not be the last time foiling or acetate will be part of my cards... I really do think I am addicted and can hardly wait to develop the next idea!

 

I really love this card and hope you do too.  Hope you will try adding transparencies to your cards!

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New Cards and New Technique - Again!

You know by now that I love getting two cards out of one design, and I get excited when it works.  And this time it did.

The card stock is of course from Paper Temptress and combines the shimmery mica with the vibrant pop tones.   I totally forgot to get a picture of the negative until the card was made. As usual, I used the double sided adhesive to pull the left over (negative) pieces off the mat and filled in with iridescent glitter.

The colors used are similar of course but I think they have a different feel and stand on their one,  The card on the right uses the shimmery mica over an amethyst mica to pack a lot of soft glow.  The white flower is from my "need to use up" stash of Prima flowers with a purple rhinestone center.  The white Luster mat along with the flower and thin ribbon gives the card a touch of freshness.

But the part I am most excited about is the Happy Birthday on the ribbon.  It mimics a rub on, but it is actually a piece of laser transparency that was printed, run through the Foilmaster with purple foil, and then cut with the Silver Bullet Professional using the print and cut method.  I was terrifed the acetate would melt when it encountered the very hot temps of the Foilmaster, but it held up beautifully.  I was beyond thrilled as that opens up so many ideas that I cannot wait to try!

The second card with the glittered background was simple to put together. The multi-colored striped ribbon ties the colors together, and again - I used the Foilmaster and Silver Bullet Pro to do make the greeting overlay and pulled the background colors into the tag layers.  The white pearls hide (hopefully) the adhesive dots adhering the transparency!

If you have a Foilmaster, I hope you will try foiling a laser transparency. (I chose laser because I felt it had the best chance of holding up to the heat  of the Foilmaster -mine was set to 155 degrees for best results).


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