17 December 2016

Combining Laser and Inkjet with Foil Tutorial


*Nothing to Disclose. I am not affiliated with Heidi Swapp or American Crafts.

So this Christmas I decided that if my kids wanted to hand out a bunch of Christmas cards, they would have to make them themselves!
So I thought that a foiled greeting on their hand drawn cards would look cool! And its easy to do!!!!

You will need the following-
Hand drawn picture/image.
scanner
colour inkjet printer (not laser)
laser printer
Cardstock
foil
HS Minc Machine
Software to print with and add text. (i used silhouette studio)
Manual die cutting machine/dies

1- I got my daughter to draw a pic for the front of her cards. You can see the pic she drew below. Then I scanned it into my PC.



READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP >>>>>>>>>

04 December 2016

Foiled Christmas Card Tutorial

*Nothing to Disclose. I am not affiliated with Heidi Swapp or American Crafts.

Christmas time can become quite busy and I know I always want to make my own greeting cards. It gives a personal touch when handing them to loved ones. But nearly every year I just run out of time!!
 Not this year!!!
 I decided that with some amazing files from Designbundles.net  and my Minc Foiling machine I could whip up some quick Christmas cards.


To make these cards you will need the following-

* A design to place on your cards- I used the Christmas overlays from designbundles.net As they are all ready to use in an array of colours.
* A Laser Printer (or print out your images with an inkjet and get them photocopied (as we need the images printed in toner)
* Foil in various colours.
* Heidi Swap Minc Machine (at a pinch you can get away with an iron )
* Cardstock
* Adhesives
* A frame die; I used Mama Elephant All Prettied Up Die set (you could also hand cut your images out)
*Manual die cutting machine

I am using Silhouette Studio for printing. I use this program over other programs as I have found that for whatever reason things tend to print better with the silhouette software.
It is a free program you can download HERE. And you do not need a Silhouette machine to use it.

READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP >>>>>


03 December 2016

How to Use A Zig 2 Way Glue Pen with Foil.

*Nothing to Disclose. I am not affiliated with Heidi Swapp or American Crafts.

Currently on the market are many great foiling products and some not so great.
I purchased the Heidi Swapp Minc Foiling Toner Pen a little while ago and found that after using it once, the toner just seemed to dry up after the first use. I purchased a second and the same thing happened, so I need to find a reliable alternative.



I decided to try a few different things including double sided tape, adhesive sheets and Minc paint but what I found the easiest to use and had the most success with was a Zig 2 Way glue pen.
You can buy these in many different sizes, from a tin pen nib to a thick wedge tip. You can buy them in many places but I purchase in boxes of 12 from Amazon for only $25.00 And i use them for a lot of jobs.
I decided to show you how the pen tip worked for me as this gave me the finest detail.


 The Zig glue pen has 2 functions. You can use the pen as a permanent adhesive when using it wet (blue colour) and when it is dry it is repositionable.  For this technique we need to use the pen when the adhesive in clear (repositionable)

Shake the pen and draw on your project with the glue pen. The thin tip gives you great control.


Let the glue dry. When the Zig glue dried it becomes tacky. If you try to use the foil on the wet glue it will not stick. we need a tacky layer.


Once the glue is dry we can place the foil on the glue.


Rub the foil with your finger to get the foil to adhere to the glue. You will see the foil lift off the glue when it is adhered.



Remove the foil once rubbed on. With this technique you do not need to use your Minc machine and any foil will work.



The foil is now adhered and the  glue is no longer tacky.
as long as the glue is dry and tacky it will work. you can even part foil your drawing and used several colours.



You can even put some of the Zig glue onto stamps then stamp and let dry and go tacky then foil.

Until next time ......