HI Everyone!
I had some major frustrations the other day trying to use foiling on my latest project. I made a slider money holder for my sister with every intent to use foiling on it and it turned out to be a major FAIL. But failures teach us things so I thought I would share what I did and how it turned out.
But first, here’s the money holder for my sister:
I was so frustrated with the foiling failures – I don’t know how much luck others have but everything I tried did not work and I did them just as Jennifer McGuire showed on her videos!
The first thing I tried was embossing the sentiment in Superfine Clear WOW embossing powder. I ran it through my swingline laminator twice:
The second attempt was with Stampin’ Up!’s Heat & Stick Powder. I also ran this through the laminator twice. It had better coverage, but the heat really smushed the adhesive:
The third and final attempt was using the Heat & Stick Powder. I activated it like previously with a heat tool, but I did not run it through the laminator. It worked a little better than clear embossing powder, but still inadequate coverage.
I know I’m using a standard paper laminator – but Jennifer McGuire makes it look so fool-proof! Definitely did not work for me! Please tell me if you’ve tried this with a standard laminator and if it worked well for you. OR…if you have the Heidi Swapp Minc machine and it works great for you – I’d love to hear some testimonials. The reviews on Amazon are not convincing to me that I should invest in it. GRRR…bc I have lots of foil I’d like to use up. I need to try different adhesives too, I suppose.
Anyway…after all those failures, I went with traditional heat embossing – which is fool-proof for me!
This has been a long week! My husband and I “celebrated” our 11th anniversary yesterday and my sister is getting married tomorrow. We’re doing so much for the wedding that we really didn’t have time to do anything for each other besides have dinner together…a big THANKS to my friend Jessica for watching my 3 boys!
If you’d like to watch my many failures and how I created this money slider card, you can watch my video here:
SUPPLIES:
*Disclaimer: I am not being paid by any company to promote their products. I make cards using stamp sets and materials which I love and I love to share. To view where these items can be purchased, click on the linked abbreviations below (SU for Stampin’ Up!, SSS for Simon Says Stamp, EH for Ellen Hutson, AMZN for Amazon, LF for Lawn Fawn, MFT for My Favorite Things, etc.).
Not listed is Stampin’ Up’s Designer Series Paper (called Something Borrowed).
 For The New Two |
 Sahara Sand Ink |
 Sahara Sand Cardstock |
 Neenah Solar White 80 lb EH | SSS |
 Big Shot |
 Big Shot Magnetic Platform EH | SSS | AMZN |
 Standard Cutting Pads EH | SSS | AMZN |
 MFT Stitched Traditional Tag STAX EH | SSS | MFT |
 Embossing Powder Bag EH | SSS | SU |
 Versamark Ink EH | SSS | AMZN |
 Heat Tool |
 Heat & Stick Powder |
 WOW Clear Gloss Superfine SSS | AMZN |
 WOW Metallic Gold Rich Regular Embossing Powder SSS | JOANN |
 iCraft Deco Rose Gold Foil – VP |
 3M Scotch Foam Tape EH | SSS | AMZN |
 Sticky Strip – Retired |
 Teflon Bone Folder EH | SSS |
Caly Person 
Oh, I’m so sorry you have had such a terrible time with foils! I’ve watched the videos too, and they look fairly easy…well, guess not. What a mess! But, wow, do I love your embossed money slider card! It’s elegant, and I love the pretty floral sprays around the sentiment! Sometimes, I think, the new ways are just not worth it…both in energy and the extra cost. This is clearly beautiful, and I know your sister will love it! Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Hugs, sweet friend!
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Thanks Cheryl! I’m definitely learning that it’s not worth it! Happy Labor Day weekend to you too!
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I watched a foiling technique by Julie Ebersole. she was having a terrible time with her foiling and figured out it was her laminator. I have been able to do it quite easily with a new laminator with a high and a low setting. I always use high. I think I saw Jennifer McGuire use hers on high also. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBZEq7r7cDo this will make you feel better I hope. even Julie had trouble. maybe she did some things that will help you. I hope you both get some rest and get back to normal soon. have fun crafting. oh, I thought the money holder that you ended up with was so lovely. I loved the sentiments that you used. it was so elegant. don’t you just love heat embossing?
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I’ve been playing and playing this week, Treen! It’s not working for me even with the MINC machine! I have no doubt it will work well with toner-printer images but stamping with versamark, embossing and heat and stick powder just isn’t working for me! So very frustrating!
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Hi Craftincaly! I am not sure if you have worked out your foiling difficulties (I know this was posted awhile ago), but I just saw Shari Carroll demonstrate how she uses embossing powder, foiling and the minc. Here’s a link to the video in case you haven’t seen it.. http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/wplus-9-watercolor-and-foil/
I admit that I really enjoy my minc and foiling, but I also have a laser printer. If I want to foil an image, I scan it, print it and foil. I haven’t tried using embossing powder and foil 😦 Perhaps, in the end, it would just be best to invest in a cheap laser printer (mine was fairly cheap considering I live in Europe). It is a Brother’s no frill laser and works great. I actually prefer it over the ink jet.
Thanks for sharing your videos and cards! I really enjoy them.
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Hi Heather! Thanks for referencing Shari’s video for me! I will watch it soon. I have two laser printers and I have no doubt that those will work great for foiling. I just wanted to stretch my stamps and tried those methods first which were complete fails! 🙂 I like your idea of scanning though – I hadn’t thought of that and need to try it! Thanks for the info!
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