Remember the Pepsi Challenge?  Well, how about the foiling challenge?

Do you remember the Pepsi Challenge decades ago? They would blindfold participants and offer them samples of both Pepsi and Coke to see if they could tell them apart. Well, I repeat this challenge with lots of things in my life – the McDonalds/Burger King Chocolate milkshake challenge, the “which house to buy now” challenge – and now, the foiling challenge!

This card is an experiment in foiling.  I decided to show you 2 different methods.  Stampin’ Up! offers a fun product – Gilded Leafing – which can be adhered to a card face in several ways.  It can get a bit messy, but the effect is beautiful.

The second method uses a product from Deco Foil.  I usually purchase this from Amazon, and it comes in a huge variety of colors.  I used Gold on this project, so that it was comparable to the Stampin’ Up! Product.  (BTW, I am not an Amazon affiliate as of this date…but I hope to be one day!)

The card cuts that I used are very standard:        

	#	Measurements	Notes
Stampin’ Up! Basic White Thick Card Stock	1	5-1/2” x 8-1/2”	I generally use the Thick Cardstock when white is the background color.  That is because there is not a need for the inner panel – which gives the thinner card stock the umph that it needs to counterbalance a multi-layer card front.
Stampin’ Up! Misty Moonlight Card Stock	1	4” x 5-1/4”	Mat for tiled panel
Stampin’ Up! Basic White Cardstock	1	3-3/4” x 5”	This is the base for the tiled panel – so it can actually be any color cardstock that you have on hand.  It will be completely covered by “tiles” and “grout”!
Stampin’ Up! Gold Foil Card Stock	Scraps		This is for the background of the sentiment tile.
Stampin’ Up! Basic White Card Stock	Scraps		This will be the sentiment tag.

The Stampin’ Up! Tailored Tag Punch is a great way to create this card.  (Sadly, this punch is retiring on May 4^th!  Order it while you can – or hoard it like you have your own reality show!!)  I have used this punch before in this post.  This card is similar – except that the “grout” in this tiled pattern is foiled, so that the background panel does not show through.

I created a bunch of punches from the Stampin’ Up! Abstract Beauty DSP.

Because the Designer Series Papers are color coordinated, you can generally find a great variety of patterns that will coordinate with each other well in a single paper pack.  That is what I did with Abstract Beauty.  I was sure to choose a DSP pack that some gold foil on it already so that the gold grout on each of my sample cards would coordinate. 

Is this really necessary?  It is just a matter of choice – but I do like the effect of the gold grout picking up the gold sparkle in the paper itself.

I had drawn two lines to give me a sense of the midpoint on each of the two card faces that I was making.  Then, I used the Stampin’ Up! Adhesive Sheets to cover the entire card face.  Apply it to the card faces and trim to size.  Just be careful because this is so sticky that it does not allow a “do-over”.

Peeling it back on each of the two card faces, I started to do the “tiling” job.

Once the tiling was complete and the excess trimmed off, I started with the Stampin’ Up! Gilded Leafing.

A lot of people complain about this Gilded Leafing product – but I find it fun and funny!  The leafing is so thin that it blows away, even if you barely breathe on it.  (Close the windows.  Shut off the fan.  And above all, don’t sneeze!!)

Take a pinch of the leafing and “massage” it into the sticky grout line.  The more you burnish it, the better.

With the second card, the gold foil sheet may be placed on top of the tiled card face and the excess foil sheet trimmed away.  Be sure to burnish the foil sheet carefully into all of the adhesive lines like this:

Then peel the foil sheet away gently.

The sentiments come from Stampin’ Up! Peaceful Moments stamp set and they are embossed with gold embossing powder and Versamark Ink. The white tag is “lined” with a gold foil tag. Punch the gold foil tag and then cut it in half horizontally. Adhere the gold foil pieces so that they frame the sentiment tile.

I used the gold cord from Stampin’ Up! Simply Elegant trim duo and just wound it onto my fingers, squishing it into an oblong “bow”.

Which card do you like better?  My jury’s out – both are beautiful.  The only reason that I have a slight preference for the Gilded Leafing is because the textured gold is so pretty to look at and is just a bit more subtle than the shinier gold foil.  On the other hand, you are not confined to gold if you use DecoFoil as it comes in a huge variety of colors. But both works well – and depend on the design and your preference.

And then my next question is whether you might like this card design in a different size?  It lends itself perfectly to both a Slimline Card and to a 5” x 7” card:

I am hoping that you are able to get the Tailored Tag punch, if you don’t have it already.  This is one of those “investment” pieces that I keep talking about!  The Stampin’ Up! quality is there, and the punch will last for ages – and the shape is so useful in a lot of designs.

Thanks for looking in on my blog today!  I have a list of the products that I have used for these cards.