Sparkling DT inspiration from Rachel

DT member Rachel created this sparkling project with a background of ultra fine glitter, she has also used rub on foil to highlight the die cut in the foreground. More information about how she created this beautiful card is on Rachel's blog Fisher's Cards and Crafts. Thank you, Rachel!

Bulk buy bargains at Foil Play

With Kanban die cut toppers from 35p a sheet & TBZ traditional decoupage from just 20p a sheet, check out the new Bulk Buy Bargains section at Foil Play! 

Perhaps you are making lots of cards for your own business or for charity; run a crafting group; want to share with crafting friends; resell or simply want a real bargain, there is plenty to choose from, including: 

• Kanban die cut toppers in packs of 5 or 10;
• TBZ traditional decoupage sheets in packs of 5, 10 or 25;
• Selected kit and multipack options;
• Lucky dip bargain selections; and
• Bulk packs of ultrafine glitter

As always at Foil Play, fast despatch is a priority and p&p is free if you spend over £10.00.

Ultra fine art glitters: new vial packaging

Ultra fine art glitter is now available in new, improved, packaging at Foil Play. Previously supplied in grip seal bags, the glitters are now packaged in 5ml screw top plastic vials, making them much easier to handle, re-use and store. Best of all, the glitters are still available at the same bargain prices, just 99p for individual colours, discounted further if you buy a set of several vials, or a larger amount of a single colour. 

Foil Play stocks a range of 35 beautiful, intense, colours of this high quality ultra-fine polywash glitter, a little of which will go a long way.

This versatile glitter can be heated up to 177C or 350F and suggested uses include:

• mixing with glue or embossing powder;
• coating unbaked polymer clay, and heating in the oven;
• mixing with a water based varnish to coat baked clay;
• sprinkling onto double sided adhesive tape or film;
• pick out and highlight fine details using a glue pen, such as the Tonertex or Sakura Quickie glue pens - let the glue dry until it is clear, then gently rub on the glitter;
• these are polyester glitters, so they are safe to mix with gel for use on nails, hair & body.

Card with embossing, swirls, glitter and a bit of bling

It's ages since I blogged any card samples, so it's about time I did. Here is the first of the year. I made this card for the monthly card swap on the Craft Telly forum.

The theme was either using bleach, or a card of your choice. I thought that getting involved with bleach was bound to end in tears (and lighter furniture or carpet), so I decided a bit of sanding instead would be safer.
I used a 10 x 8" card as the base card and covered it with a K&Co paper with a muted swirl pattern. I embossed some white core card using the Crafts Too daisy folder (pictured above) for the larger panel and a Sizzix folder for the smaller flower. I rounded the corners of both, as well as the edges of the card, with my corner chomper. I then lightly sanded the embossed card, to bring out a little of the white core and make the embossing pop out.

I used a chipboard flower as the focal point, which has been covered with double sided self adhesive film, then a liberal sprinkling of ultra fine art glitter. I used silver in the centre, then ice pink and rose pink working outwards. I secured the flower with a gem brad, and added a smaller, matching brad to the bow on the embossed flower bouquet.
I finished the card with some card candy on the corners, a couple of swirls cut with Ellison dies and a liberal sprinkling of Kanban pearls and bling. The finished result brought to mind QVC presenter Julian Ballantyne and his 'less is more' mantra - but I enjoyed making it, sometimes it's fun to go a bit OTT with the embellishments ;-)

Glittered stamped medallion card

I made this lushly glittered card for a card swap on the Craft Telly forum, using an Elusive Images mandala rubber stamp.

I stamped out the medallion image several times onto yellow card and heat embossed them in gold. I used a Sakura Quickie glue pen to fill in areas of the stamp design, one colour section at a time. I let the glue dry, then rubbed the glitter onto it and brushed off the excess. I only glittered sections of the medallion design that would be visible when the layers were mounted up.

When I finished glittering, I decoupaged the medallion layers and assembled and mounted it. The base card is a 6 x 6 inch card, covered with a co-ordinating DCWV paper and toning ribbon, embellished with a ribbon slide brad. As a finishing touch, I added a little bling.
I used purple, violet and lilac glitters, with a touch of green too. Foil Play stocks 35 colours of beautiful and very high quality ultra fine art glitter. The glitter is available in individual packs at the bargain price of 99p each, or in sets like the one pictured above, which offer further savings on the price per pack.

August special offer update: free gift if you spend over £20 at Foil Play

Spend over £20 at Foil Play during August, and select a free gift of your choice. There are three options to choose from:

• a pack of three Beth Hughes Christmas decoupage papers;
  
• a pack of crystal holographic ultra fine art glitter; or
  
• a set of two sheets of Dufex Christmas stickers.

If you spend over £20 in a single transaction at Foil Play, visit the free gifts section of the website, and just add the gift of your choice to your order basket.
The offer applies to website purchases only, while stocks last.

Foil Play DT Challenge: foiled and glittered projects from Mrs D

Mrs D of the Craft Telly forum has produced this beautiful selection of foiled and glittered projects for the Foil Play Design Team Challenge.

Mrs D made the card above by 'colouring' in a peel off using a glue pen and oil on water marbled foil and glittering the shape of a flower in black glitter and holographic silver. She commented that she loved the effect of the oil on water as it shows so many colours.
The second card uses plasterer's mesh tap which is sticky on one side. The foil adheres to this very well and the mesh gives a trellis effect so using the foils is a very effective way to colour it. The flower is foiled in copper and holographic silver with black glittered foam pads in the centre. Mrs D stamped a small flower shape onto black and white shrink plastic then used a glue pen to trace the shapes and foiled one in silver and one in gold. When the gold one shrank the foil really glittered.
The third card was one Mrs D really enjoyed making. She foiled several rows of small foam pads in silver, oil on water and gold then drew a shape of a sunrise and foiled the sun in a mixture of gold and copper before filling in the rest of the picture with the mosiac type effect of the foiled foam pads. They really glitter but the effect doesn't show so well on the photo. Left over pads were used to accent the corners.
The fourth card was made using the plasterer's mesh again but this time foiled only in gold and secured with 4 brads. The dragonfly is stamped on acetate and the wings are foiled in gold and silver. The background is a mixture of all the foils used in a patchwork type effect which could look quite effective on an altered art type project.

Mrs D commented that her very favourite foil was the oil on water marbled effect which actually looked different depending on what colour of card you foiled it on to. The black marble effect one was more tricky to use and didn't come out as well as the rest. She was a bit unsure about the holographic silver as it may have been a bit too blingy but that wasn't the case, when applied. She especially liked the silver and crystal holographic glitters, as they give a gorgeous subtle sparkle with so many different colours running through them.

Thank you, Mrs D for these gorgeous projects!

Foil Play DT challenge: a glittered medallion card by Little Jan

Little Jan of the CraftTelly forum has produced this gorgeous, intricate, glittered medallion card for the Foil Play Design Team challenge.

The card was made by folding A4 gold pearl card and cutting out an aperture, the corners were then embossed and stitched and gems added. Jan used a medallion stamp to stamp out and decoupage two medallions, and glued them back to back. She then glittered both sides and hung the finished medallion in the aperture. The background of the card is decorated with snowflake peel offs

Thank you, Jan for this beautiful project!

Foil Play DT challenge: foiled and glittered projects by Caramel Bunny

CaramelBunny of the CraftTelly forum has produced this delightfully delicious selection of foiled and glittered projects for the Foil Play Design Team Challenge.

Elephant card (pictured above) - CaramelBunny highlighted some of the detailing on the elephant decoupage with the Quickie Glue Pen then foiled with old gold foil. The swirly bits are adhesive rub-ons with the same gold foil applied over them.

Dragonfly box (pictured above and below) - This is a peel off sticker stuck on to a double sided sticky sheet & then mounted on acetate. The wings were then foiled using a sheet from the pearl foil kit and the body foiled with turquoise foil. The eyes are bronze glitter dabbed on with a brush. The whole lot was then mounted on a box (made by CaramelBunny) with silicone glue, so that it stands up on its bent legs a bit.
Dragon bag (pictured above) - This is a stamped & embossed image which Caramel Bunny then filled in using the Quickie Glue Pen and copper, cinnamon and bronze glitter. It took a lot of brushing over after applying each glitter to make sure the original embossing still came out!
Butterfly card (pictured below) - these are peel off stickers coloured with permanent markers then stuck to a double sided adhesive sheet & mounted onto vellum. The wings are then foiled with three different foils from the pearl foiling kit. The bodies are the bronze glitter again, applied with a brush.
Thank you, CaramelBunny for these beautiful projects!

Foil Play DT challenge: foiled and glittered cards by Little Jan

These three stunning cards were made by Little Jan of the CraftTelly.com forum.

The card above was made by matting a decoupaged image onto holographic and mirri card. Little Jan then used the Sakura Quickie glue pen and green foil to embellish and highlight the dragon's scales.
The second card is made from a printed image which was matted and highlighted with holographic foils.
The final card was made also using a printed image. Little Jan used various foils to highlight the baubles and star on the tree, and glitter for the tinsel and snow.

Thank you, Little Jan for these gorgeous cards!

Foil Play DT challenge: foiled and glittered FLAP by Wellington

Wellington produced this gorgeous FLAP (fat little art page) for a monthly swap on the Craft Telly forum.

Some of the papers and vellums are printed from the Artylicious Filigree Fusion CD with a couple of other bits from Wellington's scrapbox. Then she used a Sakura Quickie Glue Pen to write the words Autumn Leaves and glittered the word Autumn with coral ultra fine glitter from the selection of 5 pastel glitters. To finish the project, Wellington foiled the word Leaves, using a deep coppery red foil from the metallic foils starter kit.

Thank you, Wellington, for sharing your beautiful work of art!

Cards made by Corinne Bradd of Lets Make Cards magazine

Card designer Corinne Bradd made these gorgeous cards for a Foil Play advertisement in issue 18 of Lets Make Cards! magazine.

The right and middle cards above are made using Kanban Christmas foiled toppers. The card on the left above was made using a Kanban Christmas concept card.

For the card on the right below, Corinne has used foiling, glitters and ribbon to create a beautiful mixed texture card. The card on the left has a blue foiled stripe, topped with a foiled tree topper and foiled circles at the bottom of the card. Card Art greetings toppers complete both cards.

Foil Play DT challenge: It's a Wrap! - glittered candle by Rainbowwand

Rainbowwand decorated this gorgeous candle with glittered highlights and top as part of the monthly card swap on the Craft Telly forum.

The theme for the month was 'It's a Wrap' and I was the very lucky recipient, thank you Rainbowwand!

Foil Play DT challenge: a glittered card by Phree

Phree has produced this gorgeous glittered card for the Foil Play Design Team Challenge.

The tree topper is printed from the Artylicious Season's Greeting CD and Phree glittered the trees and the stamped greeting using a Sakura Quickie glue pen and green ultra fine art glitter. She also used a few tiny spots of Star Dust Stickles to enhance the falling snowflakes on the topper.

Phree mounted the topper onto some green Mirri card and chose some icy blue shimmery card, which she stamped with metallic snowflakes to make the main card.

Check out Phree's inspirational blog for a detailed step by step explanation of how she made this card, and many more beautiful projects.

Thank you, Phree!

Foil Play DT challenge: foiled and glittered cards by Marzipan

Here are some beautiful foiled and glittered cards produced by Marzipan of the Craft Telly forum, for the Foil Play Design Team challenge.

The corners of the card above are decorated with snowflakes punched from double sided self adhesive film and foiled with silver holographic rub on foil. The gorgeous centrepiece of the card has been created by paper folding - check out Marzipan's Craft Telly workshop on paper folding.
The tree on the card above was stamped using black Versafine ink, and the outline of the branches traced with a Sakura Quickie glue pen. Marzipan then sprinkled on crystal holographic ultra fine art glitter, to look like snow.
The star on the tree in the card above was covered in holographic crystal ultra fine art glitter to make it sparkle.

Thank you, Marzipan!

Foil Play DT Challenge: glittered cards from Phree

Phree has produced these two stunning glittered cards for the Foil Play Design Team Challenge. Both cards are stamped and glittered, using ultra fine art glitters.

The card above was made using the Floral Spray Themeplate from Elusive Images. Phree stamped and then heat embossed the image onto black card using silver embossing powder, then applied the glitters using a Sakura Quickie Glue Pen. The image was mounted onto silver mirror card and then onto pearlescent card in a lovely amethyst colour that co-ordinates perfectly with the colours of the glitter.

The card below was made by stamping and heat embossing the snowflake image 3 times. Phree then applied pastel blue glitter inside the embossed outline using a Sakura Quickie Glue pen to "colour in" the area and then sprinkling on the glitter. Once the glue was dry, Phree covered the snowflake with a layer of Glossy Accents to seal in the glitter and to give more dimension. The greeting was stamped and heat embossed with a stamp from Dimension Fourth. All the elements were inked round the edge using ink from a Petal Point Liquid Chalk pad and then mounted onto silver mirror card. The backing paper on the card is from a Crafters Companion CD and was also edged with the same ink as the snowflake and greetings elements.

Thank you, Phree for these beautiful cards! Check out Phree's inspirational blog for more comments on the making of these two cards, along with many other gorgeous projects that she has made.

Foil Play DT Challenge: glittered and foiled cards from Wellington

Here are two gorgeous Design Team Challenge samples, showcasing glitter and foils, from Wellington of the CraftTelly.com forum.

This stunning glittered card is 6 x 6 inches, made using one of the images from the Elusive Images Fancy Mandalas with a backing paper from a DCWV text stack and glittered using pastel and crystal holographic ultra fine art glitters. Wellington applied the glitter using a Sakura Quickie glue pen - she commented that the glue pen was great to use for detailed work, as it has a fine flow, which is really easy to control.

A detail of the mandala is below:

The foiled card is 8 x 8 inches and is made using three pages from the 6 x 6 K&Co Sparkly Sweet pad. Wellington decoupaged elements of the pattern and then used foils (from a starter selection pack), again applied with a Sakura Quickie glue pen, to highlight some details of the pattern.
Here's another close up showing more detail of the foiling:

Thank you, Wellington for these beautiful cards!

Foil Play DT Challenge: foiled and glittered cards from Rainbowwand and Marzipan

A little while ago I asked some talented crafters to produce some foiled and glittered samples, to showcase Foil Play's rub on foils and ultra fine glitters. These cards are the first Design Team challenge samples produced by Marzipan and Rainbowwand from the CraftTelly forum - thank you, ladies!

Marzipan produced the elegant card above for a card swap with a chic theme. The card features a pair of co-ordinating borders in hot pink and burgundy rub on foil, to complement the stamped evening dress image used as the card's centrepiece. The borders were made by adhering double sided self adhesive tape to the card, removing the top layer, then pressing over and rubbing on the foil, shiny side up.
Rainbowwand produced the beautiful card above for a card swap with a tag theme. She has highlighted the edge of the tag and elements of the background image with rose pink glitter, using a Sakura Quickie glue pen.
Here are two more gorgeous cards from Rainbowwand featuring ultra fine glitters. Both cards feature images stamped onto acetate using a Stazon inkpad, the acetate has then been glittered on the reverse side, before being mounted on the project.

Step by step project: card featuring die cuts with glitter accents

Here's another gorgeous card designed by Andrea Dipple. The card uses these techniques:

• creating a glitter border;
• creating a glittered greeting; and
  
• creating glittered embellishments.
  

You will need:

• ultra fine art glitter and a Tonertex or Sakura Quickie glue pen;
• shoe and handbag die cuts and die cutting machine (or ready die cut images);
• greeting rubber stamp;
• ink pad;
  
• piece of 3mm satin ribbon;
  
• 1 cm wide double sided sticky tape;
• bone folder;
• card scorer and embossing tool;
• card blank and card off-cuts;
• small adhesive gem stone; and
• 3d foam pads or silicone glue.
  

To start, using your card scorer, score a fold on the front of your card blank only, approximately 2.5cm from the spine of the card (if you do not have a card scorer, this can be quite simply achieved by using a metal ruler and scorer. At this stage, do not fold the card along this new scored line. Simple open the card up so that it lies flat with the front of the card facing upwards.
Working on a piece of spare paper, apply a piece of double sided sticky tape centrally to the newly scored 2.5cm section. Trim tape to fit. Remove protective layer and cover with glitter. Tap of excess glitter and return to bag. Adhere two small pieces of double sided tape to the inside top and bottom of the scored section. Use this to secure the ribbon centrally over the glittered section. Do not worry if the ends look untidy inside the card, as this is about to be hidden! When you close the card, the 2.5cm scored section will be sealed shut by the double sided tape.
Tie a small piece of ribbon in a bow to the front of the card.
Use your die-cutting machine to create two shoes and one handbag die cut (tip, if you turn your card over and cut from the reverse when cutting one of the shoes, you will have a left and a right shoe). Stamp your greeting onto a card off cut and allow to dry
Using your glue pen, trace the stamped greeting with a light layer of glue. Also use the glue to pick out detail on the shoe and the handbag flap. Allow to dry. Apply the adhesive gem stone to the centre of the handbag flap. Then, working on a spare piece of paper, apply glitter to the embellishments, tap off excess and collect back into glitter container.
Cut three equal-sized mats from contrasting cardstock, apply 3D foam to the reverse of the embellishments and mount them onto the mats. Apply 3D foam to the reverse of the stamped and glittered greeting.
Apply these to the front of the card to finish this project.