Merry Christmas from Foil Play!

This year, Foil Play is taking a short break over the Christmas period.

Whilst the web site will remain open over the festive period (with the chance to snap up some early bargains in the sale!), no more orders will be despatched now until Wednesday 2 January 2008. Any queries or questions over the festive period will be answered by 2 January.

Thank you very much indeed for your custom during 2007 - wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2008!

Paper Nation - new Kimono lady decoupage sheets

Paper Nation has produced the popular kimono lady special edition decoupage sheets in two new colourways, yellow and green (in addition to the pink and blue designs already available). There are also two new co-ordinating backing sheets on white, patterned with a selection of oriental objects.

The Golden Age Victorian botanicals 3D decoupage from The Crafthouse Press

I have just listed these gorgeous floral decoupage sheets, published by The Crafthouse Press. Each sheet contains a beautiful 3D floral decoupage project, incorporating a poem.

More new peel off designs

I have added lots of new peel off sticker designs to the site this weekend, including oriental, religious, embroidery, Christmas greetings and Christmas designs.

Many of the new sticker sheets are filled, rather than outline peel offs. You can of course apply these directly to your project. Alternatively, you can apply them to decorative background paper or card, then decoupage around the sticker and mount on your project, for added dimension and decorative effect.

New everyday decoupage sheets from Dufex

Dufex has recently released four new additions to its everyday 3D decoupage range. There is a wedding sheet (pictured); a medallion sheet (same pattern as a previous design, in a different colourway); an Easter chicks and bunnies sheet and a romantic 'cuties' sheet suitable for Valentines cards.

Dufex Freestyle Decoupage

Dufex has just brought out a new range of decoupage called Freestyle, which is available in both die cut and non die cut formats. The range includes 8 different everyday designs: pansies (pictured); sun and sand; fashion; flowers and butterflies; night fairies; golf and fishing; gardening and oriental flowers. Co-ordinating backing sheets are also available.

Each sheet contains a great selection of pictures, borders, panels and greetings, plus lots of extra embellishments. You can choose different elements to use together on a project, or combine them with other craft products to create your own distinctive designs.

Foil Play will send a free instructions and ideas sheet with each purchase of Dufex Freestyle decoupage.

Gallery updated

I have updated the gallery at Foil Play with more project examples.

Many thanks to Barbara for sending pictures of some gorgeous cards she has produced using Paper Nation decoupage sheets and co-ordinating papers. I love the googly eye on the fish in the Fishing Man card above!

Crafting with peel off stickers - a few hints and tips

Peel off stickers are a staple item for the crafter, and very versatile. Use them in many ways, from popping on a quick greeting or embellishment, or really go to town to produce more special effects.

Basic 'how to' instructions

To apply peel off stickers, bend the sheet and gently pull up part of the edge of the sticker (on delicate designs it may be necessary to loosen more edges).

Peel the entire sticker off the sheet and allow it to relax in the air, and regain its shape. Use tweezers, or a 'pokey tool' to hold the sticker if you prefer. Gently place the sticker onto your project (so that you can reposition if necessary). When you are happy with the placement, press down to adhere it.

If you are working with a greetings sticker, or individual letters, it can be a little tricky to get the wording straight. One way to do this is to use a post-it note as a straight edge against which you can align the message, then remove the post-it note when you are done.

If you are working with a very large peel off design, it can be sometimes be difficult to get it to lay it flat on your project, without getting any lumps or crinkles in the design. A tip here is to lay the peel off on your work surface, adhesive facing upwards, then lay your card or paper over the peel off and adhere it in that way.

How to get more out of your peel off stickers

Here are just a few ideas for using peel off stickers:

- colour in the sticker using a variety of materials - watercolour or gel pens, paints, chalks etc;

- use the sticker as a stencil - first remove some of the stickiness, by sticking to your clothes a couple of times, then place on your project and chalk over, then lift the sticker away (and repeat the process if you wish to make a background design, for example);

- apply the sticker to adhesive film (or use a glue pen), and colour it in using ultra fine glitter, rub on foil or coloured sand;

- apply the sticker to your choice of decorative background, then cut around it before applying to your project, either flat or using foam pads or silicone adhesive to achieve a 3D effect - either will emphasise the design very effectively. Transparent peel offs suit this technique particularly well. For background, you could use plain, decorative or holographic paper or card. Gold peel offs on a gold background or silver peel offs on silver look great too;

- bored with the basic colours? - change the colour of your stickers (while still on the backing sheet) using overhead projector or special peel off colouring pens;

- use the stickers as an outline for glass painting projects;

- use the 'negative' left behind after using a peel off sticker. To do this, you will need to cover the negative design with overlapping strips of Scotch magic tape, or peel off transfer sheets. Press down very firmly, then lift off the design. Place the tape / transfer sheet over where you wish to apply the negative image, then rub over very firmly (e.g. with the back of a spoon) and the design will transfer. You will need to apply a lot of pressure to achieve this successfully!

- another way to use the 'negative' if you have the same design of sticker in different colours, is to use the 'negative' from one or more different colours to fill in a design, use tweezers or a pokey tool to get the pieces in position.

New peel off designs

I've added quite a few new peel off designs and updated stock of some favourites too over the past couple of weeks. These include Christmas greetings; Christmas designs; alphabet and numbers; borders and corners; fashion, transport and oriental.

Oriental ladies 3D decoupage

Check out these beautiful oriental ladies! Cut out and layer these step by step designs with foam pads or silicone adhesive to create stylish 3D toppers for your cards and craft projects.

Glitzy glitter card and festive fabrics

Foil Play has stocked up on festive self adhesive fabrics, which can be used to add texture to your Christmas cards and projects. Six different designs are available, in A4 sheets.

Foil Play has also stocked up on glitter card, with 25 different designs (both everyday and Christmas) to choose from. These A4 sheets are 'full on' glitter, they can be used to make toppers, embellishments or backgrounds and will add texture and shine to your card and craft projects.

Dufex Christmas stickers and special offer

Foil Play has stocked up on Dufex Christmas stickers - these scrumptious stickers are sure to add a shine to your Christmas cards!

Two sheets, including the Christmas greetings above, are on special offer at only 75p per sheet (while stocks last), so if you haven't used Dufex stickers before, this is an ideal opportunity to try them.

Beautiful floral die cut decoupage

Lovely new floral decoupage sheets are now in store at Foil Play.

These sheets contain beautifully detailed designs, all you have to do is pop them out and layer to create gorgeous toppers, no fiddly cutting required!

New Morehead decoupage sheets

Some lovely new Morehead step by step decoupage sheets are now in stock at Foil Play, featuring a range of cute children and animal Christmas themed designs.

Cut out and layer the step by step projects to produce lovely 3D toppers for your cards and craft projects.

New Christmas die cut decoupage sheets

More new Christmas die cut decoupage sheets are now in stock at Foil Play.

These TBZ sheets are great to work with, no scissors are needed and they have a glossy glazed finish, embossed with gilded highlights. Pop them out and layer up with silicone adhesive or foam pads, and you can produce gorgeous 3D toppers for your card and craft projects in minutes.

New Morehead die cut decoupage

Hot off the press! Some lovely new designs of Morehead die cut decoupage are now in stock, including new Christmas sheets.

Die cut decoupage is quick and easy - just pop out the pieces (no scissors are needed) and layer them up with foam pads or silicone adhesive to create lovely 3D effects for your card and craft projects.

Hummel decoupage

Foil Play has stocked up on Hummel step by step decoupage. There are lots of different designs of this popular decoupage to choose from, with either two or three projects on each A4 sheet.

Each project is numbered for ease of completion - as these designs can be quite detailed, you may find it helpful to write the number on the back of each piece in pencil, as you cut them out.

Rubber stamp clearance sale

Check out the clearance section of Foil Play for some real bargains on rubber stamps!

On sale are some gorgeous designs from Elusive Images, both mounted and unmounted and also some clear stamp sets, with acrylic block included.

The sale will continue while stocks last, these designs won't be re-ordered, so don't miss out on a bargain!

Update on Royal Mail Strike action

Royal Mail strike action has now been suspended, whilst negotiations continue over a possible settlement.

Whilst there seems to be little disruption to mail posted within the last few days, Royal Mail is continuing to work on clearing the backlog of mail caused by the strike. Mail posted between 3 - 12 October seems to be the most likely to be delayed.

I do appreciate how frustrating it can be when your purchases are delayed by Royal Mail :-( Thank you to all customers of Foil Play for being so patient and understanding during this difficult time!

Royal Mail strike action - serious disruption ahead

Royal Mail workers have announced further strike action, to take place between lunchtime on Thursday 4th October to the early hours of Wednesday 10th October. This will be followed by an unspecified programme of weekly strikes.

Royal Mail advises that customers should expect severe disruption to all postal services during the strikes and for a significant period afterwards.

Further information is available on the Royal Mail website

Here at Foil Play I will post orders as promptly as I can, and (as ever) keep buyers informed on the status of their orders, however I'm afraid I will not be able to despatch items on strike days.

Step by step project: Foiled Christmas gift bag

Another beautiful project designed by Andrea Dipple, this time a very special Christmas gift bag, accented with rub on foils. Step by step details of how to complete the project are here.

Christmas card competition - win 100 decoupage sheets!

FGS Creative Designs is running a competition to win 100 sheets of FGS all occasions 3D decoupage.

To enter simply make a Christmas card from any of the new FGS Christmas sheets range (including Christmas Stack-Its). The first prize is 100 sheets of FGS decoupage and there is a runner up prize of 50 sheets of FGS decoupage.

To enter, send your card to:

FGS Creative Designs Ltd,
Unit 8 North Norfolk Business Centre,
Crossdale Street,
Northrepps,
Cromer
NR27 9RQ

Entries to be received by the 30th November 2007. Judging will take place on the 5th December, winners will be notified by the 12th December and the judges decision will be final.

All cards will be retained by FGS for future promotional use and may be used at shows and on television. Please make sure your name and address is included with your card.

New FGS Creative Designs 3D and Stack-Its Christmas decoupage

Hot off the press: some lovely new designs from FGS Creative Designs, a company which specialises in decoupage with a British theme. All the FGS decoupage sheets are designed and printed in the UK on high quality paper that has a satin sheet to it, giving an excellent look to the finished design.

Newly released and in store at Foil Play are 3D step by step decoupage Christmas designs and also lots of Christmas Stack-Its designs. Stack-Its are a great new style of decoupage. You cut out all the different sized shapes of the image, then layer them on top of each other with foam pads, starting with the largest at the base and the smallest at the top, to create an unusual 3D pyramid effect.

Step by step project: Christmas glittered bauble card

This is the first in a series of step by step projects to showcase different ways to use rub on foils and ultra fine glitters. This beautiful card has been designed by Andrea Dipple, and detailed instructions on how to create it can be found here.

New Dufex goodies - die cut decoupage, individual toppers, texture sheets, topper sheets and Christmas stickers

Lots of new Dufex goodies are in store at Foil Play this weekend:

- Die cut decoupage - newly released, these sheets enable you to make up stunning Dufex decoupage designs in minutes - just pop out the design elements and layer up;

- Individual toppers - lots of gorgeous Christmas designs, and some everyday ones too;

- Christmas stickers - many stunning designs to choose from, including many different Christmas motifs, borders and different styles of greeting stickers;

- Topper sheets - some gorgeous new Christmas designs, choose from traditional, nativity or fun themed motifs; and

- Texture sheets - lovely holly, tree and baubles Christmas designs.

Look out too for special offers on selected topper and texture sheets - at only 49p a sheet, why not give these a try if you haven't used Dufex with your craft projects before?

I have done a little housekeeping on the web site which should make it easier to browse and select the items you want - I've reorganised the Dufex and Die Cut Decoupage sections into several different sub-sections as both were getting rather large.

TBZ die cut decoupage sheets

Last but not least of the weekend's new additions, lots of die cut decoupage, including some lovely TBZ Christmas designs.

Die cut decoupage is great - you can produce beautiful 3D effects for your cards and other craft projects in moments, with no scissors or cutting out involved!

Christmas decoupage sheets

Also new this weekend are lots of new Christmas decoupage sheets from TBZ - I love these sheets which are embossed, with a glazed finish and gilded highlights.

New Marij Rahder designs

I've listed lots of new Marij Rahder decoupage sheets this weekend, including some lovely Indian themed 3D sheets and lots of moveable decoupage designs.

The moveable sheets each contain a 3D design that you put together with brads and thread to produce a moving 3D project - very different and unusual!

Hello!

I'm fairly new to the world of blogging - whilst I have had an ebay blog for a few months, I thought it was time to venture a little wider!

The main aim of this blog is to provide regular updates and news about what's happening on the Foil Play web site, my online craft store.

Foil Play has been in business for three and a half years now, it started as a part time venture whilst I was working full time as a civil servant in London. I left the 'day job' two years ago to work full time on the business, I certainly don't miss the daily commute!

Foil Play started out on ebay and has since grown to include a website and a store on Amazon too. I stock many items to help you to create beautiful craft projects, including rub on foils, high quality ultra fine glitters, Tonertex Write ‘n’ Rub and Sakura Quickie glue pens, a huge choice of 3D and step by step decoupage, peel off stickers for all occasions, brass charms, rubber stamps and lots of scrumptious stickers and other gorgeous embellishments.

I know that crafters like to get their goodies as soon as possible, so fast despatch is my priority!