When it comes to ‘new’ products and techniques I’m often late to the party. It’s not that I’m afraid to try new things, but rather that I’m not one to jump straight in. So it took me a little while to decide to get the Gilded Leafing, and a while longer to actually use it.

Gilded leafing comes in a large tub that is full to the brim with the most delicate gold flakes. Using it is essentially quite simple you just attach it to a project with some form of glue. I’ve seen various technique examples, with the most common being stamping an image or sentiment in VersaMark Ink, then sprinkling that with Heat & Stick Powder. After melting the powder with a Heat Tool the Gilded Leafing is placed onto it and then the excess buffed off once it’s cooled. But I couldn’t see why, if you already had a VersaMark ink pad and Heat Tool, you didn’t simply use gold embossing powder? Then I had an epiphany!

GILDING WITHOUT HEAT

For me the advantage of Gilded Leafing is that you actually don’t need a Heat Tool to use it. Simply stick it onto a project using Tear & Tape Adhesive (for straight lines of gilding), or Mini Glue Dots (for spots). Or how about fussy-cutting or die-cutting some Adhesive Sheet and attaching the Gilded Leafing to that? Today though I used good old Multipurpose Liquid Adhesive (Tombow) and my favourite Saran Wrap technique for a stunning background.

I began with a 2-1/4″ x 3-1/2″ piece of This Very Vanilla Card. Next, on a Silicone Craft Sheet, I squeezed some lines of liquid glue. Then I took some Saran Wrap (cling film) and screwed it up into a loose ball. I gently tapped the ball onto the liquid glue and then tapped it onto the card a couple of times. I tapped the ball in the glue again and repeated the process until I’d tapped over the whole card piece.

Now it was time to carefully open up the Gilded Leafing and cover the card with the delicate gold pieces.

TIP – don’t open the jar with the fan on, or near an open window or patio door when there’s a breeze!

Using my fingers I pressed the gold flakes onto the card and rubbed gently to remove the excess. As I did I carefully returned the little bits of gilding to the pot as best I could. After a minute or two of rubbing, the areas where the glue had been applied were covered in lustrous gold. Then I put the lid back on the pot.

Finally I punched a hole using the oval hole option on the Detailed Trio Punch to turn the gilded card into a tag.

POLAR BEAR

With the background done I was ready to work on the rest of the gift tag. I decided to make a birthday tag with a child-like feel and for that I turned to the Penguin Playmates 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP).

On one of the sheets I found this good-sized polar bear that wasn’t too complicated. So using Paper Snips I cut him out very roughly. Then using liquid glue I attached the piece of DSP to some Basic White Card. Now I could carefully cut out the polar bear and have him a little less flimsy. Once he was done I attached him to the bottom of the gift tag using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the “happy birthday” sentiment I turned to the Nuts About Squirrels Stamp Set. Using Just Jade ink I first stamped it onto a scrap of Basic White Card. Then I cut it out using the banner die from the Give It A Whirl Dies before adding it to the tag with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Finally I cut 6″ of white twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack. First I coloured the twine using a light Just Jade Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker to coordinate with the polar bear’s scarf. Then, after waiting a minute for the twine to dry, I threaded it through the hole in the tag and tied it in a simple knot. With that my gilded gift tag was complete.

Oh my goodness I think Gilded Leafing might just be my new favourite product. That tub will go a long way too and I’m already thinking of how I can use it on other projects. What do you think?

PRODUCT LIST

The Penguin Playmates DSP is part of the Sale-A-Bration promotion and so will only available until September 30th 2021. This paper is not available to buy. To get it simply place an order for $60CAD and then choose the DSP as your free product when prompted during the checkout process.

For another project using the Penguin Playmates DSP see my blog post Penguin Playmates for a simple baby card.