Make your Valentines shine with colored foil
CONCORD, N.H. – Have you taken a shine to someone? Tell them how you feel with a handmade Valentine’s Day card decorated with colorful foil.
While I found instructions for more than half a dozen ways to embellish cards with foil, I narrowed them down to three methods involving double-sided adhesive, stencils and a laminating machine. Luckily, I also found crafting instructor Jennifer Mcguire.
All three methods that I tried start with thin sheets of foil – I purchased a variety pack made by Thermoweb. I downloaded free printable Valentines from Design Corral. Here’s what I found, with each method rated from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the least expensive, easiest and best results:
Stencils
This technique involves placing a stencil on the card and spraying it with a clear adhesive glue. Once the stencil is removed, the foil sheet is applied colorside up, and rubbed with a burnishing tool or butter knife. When the sheet is peeled away, the foil sticks to the design.
The first drawback to this method is the limited availability of stencil designs. I purchased a pack of holidaythemed Martha Stewart stencils but they turned out to be too small. I was able to cut a stencil out of a plastic transparency sheet using my digital cutting machine, but then arrived at my second drawback: The foil didn’t stick very well. Instead of a solid heart shape, it was more of a splattered, worn look. Cost: 7 Ease: 6 Results: 4
Double-sided adhesive
The second method appeared less messy and more straightforward: Cut a shape out of double-sided adhesive, stick it to the card, cover it with foil and then rub to adhere the foil to the shape. I had high hopes for this technique, because I figured I could use my digital cutting machine to cut more intricate designs than I could for the stencil method. But I found it difficult to cleanly cut the shapes, and only the basic heart proved easy to execute. Granted, the tutorial used a die-cutting machine instead, which would likely work better.
Once the shape was cut out, however, the foil did stick much better than it did to the spray adhesive. I don’t have a diecutting machine, but I could see using this technique with some of the larger paper punches I have to make polka-dot designs. Cost: 7 Ease: 5 Results: 7
Laminating machine
The third technique was by far the easiest and most impressive, but also involved the biggest potential investment. For this method, you need access to both a laser printer or copier and a laminating machine. Once a design is printed on the cardstock, you simply cover the card with foil, fold a blank piece of copy paper around it and send it through the laminator. The foil will stick to whatever is printed on the card.
I bought a laminator for under $30, and I think it was well worth it. Unlike with the other methods, you can achieve intricate designs, including text, with ease – anything you can print can be covered in foil. While I stuck with simple, one-color designs, it would be fun to experiment with multiple colors. Cost: 4 Ease: 9 Results: 10