Not going down that Rabbit Hole . . . .

BetterPress.......  Another product for card making/scrapbooking..... You need a special machine, special ink pads, yada yada.. so not going down that rabbit hole. . . but... maybe?

I have the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine and I love the way the foiled pieces look on a card, tag, or project but when I foil? I have to make the foil face... My platform sits tightly on the machine and I have to use two hands to remove it from the platform while making the foil face... but having to pull so hard can make the platform jerk or jiggle and then you get over foiling because the plate, the foil, and the card stock did not stay in place. Some crafters suggest taping the card stock to the top of the foil plate - like a hinge - and then put the foil in between the plate and card stock and that will prevent over foiling.. .. .. but not for me.....  Other crafters suggest taping the two plates you put on top of your card stock to run it through your die cutting machine will also prevent over foiling.. .. .. but not for me...

On YouTube I watched a video by Carissa Wiley where she was hot foiling her card and that was the last time I have had any foiling issues since my platform sits tightly in the machine. She shows how she foils and what she does is heat up the attached platform in the machine with the hot foil plate on it. Once the green light comes on to let you know the platform is ready she then removes the platform from the machine. She pulls it out and then puts her foil on the plate and then the card stock on top. She puts her two plates on top that come with the machine and runs this sandwich through her die cutting machine... Beautiful foiling and so simple!! So that is what I have done for a long time and her method works well for me and although I still have to make the foil face, my foiling is clear and pretty as it should be. So happy me....

A Creative Muse, YouTube, is Suzanne Hue and she does a lot of work with Spellbinders and she has even designed dies for them. She has many videos about card making, hot foiling, and also the new BetterPress. One of her recent videos she was saying that Spellbinders was having a 40% off sale and she was going over all the categories - dies, embossing folders, BetterPress plates, etc.. She mentioned that BetterPress plates can be used in the Glimmer Hot Foil machine but that you can not use your hot foil plates in the BetterPress. News to me so I checked on YouTube for other crafters that had used their BetterPress plates to hot foil and everyone seemed to have great results doing this. 

I have ordered from Spellbinders many times and whenever I go to their site I check the "New Arrivals" page to see what is out there so in the past I have seen some of the BetterPress plates.... with the 40% off sale going on I placed an order for some BetterPress plates I thought I could use for hot foiling. First is the BetterPress Spider Web Background plate. I wanted to try this out on black card stock using the silver holographic foil - both of which are in my stash. Here is a photo of that spider web plate:

Since this is a background plate and will cover the card front it is a larger plate. Due to the size I put the plate on my heated up platform and pressed the timer button on the machine. Once that turned off when the platform was ready I left the plate on there for another 30 seconds and then loosened the platform from the machine, laid the foil on the plate, and put the black card stock on top of that. Put the two plates on the top and ran this through my Big Shot. First try:

Looked like it worked but I peeled off the foil and here it is:

PERFECTION! No over foiling and the black card stock took the foiling well. I like this spider web plate because the spider web has such fine lines. IRL you can see the holographic foil on the webs. But that is a design.... how does it do with letters/words?

Next two plates are Christmas sentiment plates and both sets had the plates and cutting dies together and being on sale that is quite the deal - I bought the Merry & Bright Sentiment Strips set and the Mistletoe Greetings set. I have foiled green, red, silver, holographic silver, and gold for my strips:

and on black:

I really like the sentiments on projects on black card stock with white lettering - be it embossed with white ink or using a white ink to stamp it .... but if you use the white ink why wait forever for it to dry just so you can use it??? Seeing as these BetterPress sentiment plates had thin lettering I thought I would try hot foiling with one of these plates on black card stock using the silver holographic foil:

So I tried that and the above photo shows how that looks - with the thin letters you hardly notice the holographic on the foil and it almost looks white on black so that is a good thing. I cut out a couple of the foiled sentiments:

Will finish the rest but for now I have a great start for holiday cards, tags, gift boxes and such for Christmas and happy the BetterPress plates work so well in the hot foil machine! So happy that I was able to see Carissa Wiley with her method of hot foiling and removing the platform before she adds her foil and card stock - works like a charm... altho I still make the foil face while pulling the platform loose.... but whatever works!