Hi everyone, for today’s tip and #UseYourCraftStash challenge – let’s talk about mistakes, shall we? As a crafter, as a businesswoman, as an employee, as a wife and mom – I do make a fair share of those. Today though I want to share with you my mistakes in crafting, specifically with hot foiling – and talk more about what they meant.
I love hot foiling – love how it adds a beautiful design of bling and shine to a project. If you have played with hot foiling, you know the typical mistakes:
Foiling the plate instead of the paper (Done that.)
Foiling the shim (Oh, yes.)
Not foiling at all (Missed putting the foil. Yup.)
Not smooth foiling – I think this one is not a mistake as such, but happens during the first try on most plates. These plates get better at foiling as they get more heated. What I have started doing lately, is to let the plates sit and keep getting hotter even after the green (ready) light comes on. I can definitely see an improvement with that.
But once you get past those, and start wandering into some more mixing-up-the-techniques, you get into more mixed mistakes too.
Today I want to share with you some of my cards which I didn’t particularly like and I thought they had mistakes in them. Instead of figuring out ways to fix them or simply avoid sharing them, I am going to go ahead and show them to you.
Project 1:
This one is a very old project that I simply didn’t share until now. I was trying different materials to foil on and different ways to foil. So I used a handmade cotton paper to foil on it. I did like the first attempt of foiling #HBD. So I kept going I stamped a beautiful rose flower and also watercolored it. Next I wanted to add a little foiled detail on the rose itself, so I used the matching die to do that. This is where I made two mistakes:
I didn’t securely tape the die and foil, so it shifted during foiling.
I let a long tail of my foil go over the letters a bit that made a blob of over-foiling. I also did not let the foil cool off completely (or get adhered to the paper properly), went in with my sand eraser and did not do a good job with it.
At this point, I was pretty much ready to leave it alone, but since I was experimenting with different ways to foil, I used a gold paint pen to add more lines and details on the rose itself. I think that was a mistake too.
What I learnt from this:
It is important to be careful with lining up the die or the plate and secure it.
It is best to leave very little of over-hang with the foil. Excess foil causes more over-foiling.
In the end I did not turn it into a card. I use it just as a pretty thing on my pegboard. :)
Project 2:
This one – I worked hard on it and did not like it.
Yana Smakula – one of my all time favorite crafters – has done a couple of projects mixing stamping, foiling and dry embossing and I did like her projects. So I decided to put my own spin on it and create something similar. I wanted to make one change though – I wanted the foiling on top. I did get that achieved but somehow I did not like my project too much.
Here’s what I did:
I stamped a pattern using Wplus9 Petunia stamps (the Modern Petunia and Petunia Builder sets). I used Simon Says Stamp black ink for the outlines. Altenew inks for the solid stamping.
I hot foiled on top with one of the Perfect-fir Hexagon borders form Dec 2019 Glimmer kit.
And this is what I think I did wrong.
Design wise, I think I should have added something little more delicate. This border became overbearing.
So I used matching dies and cut out this part. Then I foam mounted it at the bottom of the cut out pieces.
Then I foam mounted my sentiment on top and also added two foiled flowers and a couple leaves.
What I learnt from this:
Too much overpowering stuff, competing for attention on a single project is not my style. I cannot make it work.
I should have probably used another color for outlines instead of black. Black became too heavy in this one.
Project 3:
This one again I worked hard and still did not like it. It was too busy for me at the end.
I did something almost identical to the one above. Except I used a more skinnier foil element and I foiled before stamping. For foiling I used the non-scalloped dies from Spellbinders Fancy Edge rectangle dies.
I was liking this project a little better than the previous one, but on the spur of the moment, I decided to dry emboss on top with Spellbinders Fun Stampers Journey Inspire embossing folder.
Mistakes:
Dry embossing – for this one specifically – that one just made it way to busy for me.
Also, I rushed to do this step while the ink on the top most layer was still wet and it did stain my embossing folder a bit. :D
I should not have dry embossed at all, or dry embossed with a less busier pattern.
Project 4:
So, armed with all the mistakes and learning from the above, I made this card below.
Here is my thought process:
Instead of using dry embossing to add texture, I started with a linen textured cardstock. It came from from one of Spellbinders old card kits. I used MISTI to do my stamping on this and Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo black ink. I stamped the large floral cluster from Thankful Flowers and colored using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.
Instead of using some heavy borders, I used the delicate ones from Art Deco borders set.
And this time, I think I really liked it!
Oh and before I forget,
Today’s tip:
SUPPLIES LIST
For your convenience, I am sharing links to the supplies I’ve used for these cards – click on the picture or link to go directly to the product. Wherever available, I have used affiliate links, which means when you make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) which I use to run this blog. I truly appreciate your support!
Hugs! ~Varada
