This project has been designed to use any topper pad/sentiment and co-ordinating pad, and can be used for many different occasions. It is a great card for mailing as it folds more or less flat while giving a great depth when removed from its packaging. The pattern foiling technique can lift even the simplest printed design to luxury paper.
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You will need:
- Moonlight Song 8×8 Pad by Paper Boutique
- Lakeside Blooms 5×5″ Topper Pad by Paper Tree
- 3 sheets of A4 co-ordinating cardstock by Paper Boutique
- Foil Quill Starter Kit with Power Bank OR Heatwave Tool from WRMK
- ScanNCut/electronic cutter OR fussy cutting scissors
- Gunmetal and Rose Gold foil from Plannercraft
- Floral Dividers & Text Frames by Design Bundles
- Erasable pen such as Pilot Frixion or Papermate Replay
- Foam tape and PVA with a detail nozzle
Step 1: Pattern Foiling
Option 1: Using the Heatwave tool – by hand, add the gunmetal foil following the outlines of your patterned sheet. To do this, work along the edge of your foil piece to align it over the line you want to foil. Keep your strokes loose even though you have to move slowly. Skip to Step 2 next.
Option 2: Using the ScanNCut – Place your piece of patterned paper for the front of your card onto an old mat keeping a small gap on the top and left hand edge of your mat. Scan your paper sheet using “Direct Cut”, select colour setting, and select to move onto Canvas Online to trace your image. This option works much better for this technique. Do not unload your mat. Open up your image using the image scanning button online, tweak the number of colours until your lines are satisfactory (more colours will get you more lines typically). Send the design back to your machine using the big purple download button.
Set your draw speed to 1, pressure to -2 (Bold tip) and use an additional line if your paper needs more of a contrast
Foil quill settings
Screw your B adapter onto your bold tip and insert it into your machine. You could then use you metal protector under the tip of your pen if you wish (personally I don’t). Plug the other end of your Foil Quill into your battery pack. Load in your transferred image, and select DRAW. Your bold nib only needs a couple of minutes to heat, which is just enough time to fix your Gunmetal foil over the top of your sheet. Your foil needs to be the same size as your paper (otherwise it will transfer to your mat), and your washi tape edge should line up with the edge of your paper. Do a background Scan to check your design to your washi tape. You cannot foil through the wash tape as there won’t be enough direct heat. Press the START/STOP button to then foil your design.
Step 2: Your insert background
Using your other sheet, partial cut the butterfly to allow your chosen topper sheet to slot into it. I did try getting my ScanNCut to recognise this line using the black removable pen, however, my SNC couldn’t see it on the background without seeing the base of the butterfly. This is something that you could do in CanvasWorkspace instead if you have the Enhanced Image Tracing function enabled. Adhere it to the centre of one of your A4 card pieces on the coloured side.
Gently lift the cut section of your butterfly and slot in your sentiment topper and adhere using PVA. Brayer everything down firmly and set to one side.
Step 3: Your card “front” topper
Using a contrasting piece of card, we will be foiling a sentiment for the front of your card. Start by designing your topper in Canvas Workspace or other vector package. I based mine on one of the border designs from Design Bundles, adding text in Amatic SC. As Canvas Workspace couldn’t curve text at the time the project was created, I did this in a separate package: Affinity Designer, Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. Add a cut line around your design using basic shapes and weld. You want your finished design to fit according to your front page aperture.
Transfer your design to your electronic cutting machine (no scanning required, so all machines can do this step).
Load your mat with the A4 sheet and top with Rose Gold foil. DRAW your design using the Foil Quill standard tip and the adapter for your machine. Remove the foil and then CUT your design.
Step 4: Cutting your aperture
You can use Direct Cut on a ScanNCut or fussy cut your aperture from your pattern foiling piece. Use the black erasable pen to draw the cut line onto your card so long as your paper is relatively light; for dark papers use a white help pen instead. Another option is to trace your aperture onto tracing paper, scan into your machine and then move this onto your 8×8″ piece and CUT.
Adhere this piece to the centre of your last piece of A4 card. Remove the centre aperture again using the ScanNCut Direct Cut option and adding an offset.
Step 5: Scoring and folding
Score each side of your A4 cards at 1″ and 1¾” from each vertical edge. Z fold them so your outer fold folds behind your central panel (for the front). The back sheet comes in front of the back central panel. Adhere your two end tabs together and work the folding mechanism. The more you work it at this point the easier it will be for your recipient.
Step 6: Finishing touches
Add your card front topper using PVA glue.
Optional Extras:
- Add 3D elements using the foam tape to the back panel going careful to not apply tape too close to your hinge.
- Add floating elements using acetate glued between either of your two side panels – a great ideal for butterflies, fishes or moving animals.
- Decorate your end tabs using border dies or add detail using your electronic cutter or stencil designs.
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