Friday, August 15, 2008

Heat & Stick Powder tutorial

Today on SCS, someone was having trouble with Heat & Stick powder. It can be a little tricky to use at first. That made me think I should do a tutorial. I think I already did one, but it was pretty lame. I think this one is much better! Hopefully, you will agree.
Heat & Stick powder is basically a granular glue that melts when heated. It comes in a little jar like embossing powder. The grains are larger than EP, and it tends to clump but the clumps break apart easily.
I keep all of my EP, glitter and Heat & Stick in plastic containers like the one shown above. This allows me to hold my cardstock or chipboard over the container. I use a little scoop to cover the item, and all of the excess falls right back into the container. It doesn't totally eliminate the mess, but it is greatly reduced!
Now, on to the tutorial. For this card, I will be covering a chipboard heart in glitter.
Step 1: Coat the chipboard well with VersaMark. I don't just give it one tap into the pad; I smoosh it if possible. Notice how shiny and well-coated the chipboard is in the above photo.
Step 2: Pour on the Heat & Stick powder and shake off the excess. Step 3: Heat the powder just until it melts and turns shiny. Don't overheat it! Notice that mine still looks grainy. It's okay if it doesn't melt totally. It's better to underheat than overheat.
Step 4: Pour on the glitter. Tap off the excess. Heat again briefly to set the glitter down into the glue. That's it!
Card details: I watercolored the monkey with ink and aquapainter. "Just for you" was stamped with Chocolate Chip craft ink. I used Mono Multi to adhere the twill tape.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Sock Monkey, Sanded; Paper: Confetti White, Rose Red, Close to Cocoa; Ink: Black StazOn, Close to Cocoa, Rose Red, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip craft; Accessories: On Board Basics (retired), fine cosmo glitter, Heat & Stick powder, heat tool, cutter kit, scallop border punch, aquapainter, twill tape
Happy stamping!

7 comments:

Lorien Clark said...

Great tutorial. I know I have some of this stuff, but I don't think I have ever used it.

Kathy W said...

great tutorial, it is tough concept for people to understand until they do it.

btw- I have a goal to be able to do some of the demo challenges :}

Emily said...

This card is adorable Jana! Great tutorial too! I have some heat and stick powder, but I don't know if I've ever even used it. =)

Nicole said...

I'm loving your tutorials, Jana! Great job!

Lynn said...

Nice tutorial! I have the heat & stick powder and the cosmo glitter on my next order. Have never used either, so your tips really are helpful. Adorable card too!

Suzie, the Paper Craft Lady said...

Thank you this was VERY clear and helpful!

Donna said...

Can I tell you that this is the BEST heat and stick powder tutorial I have found??? I bought some of this stuff a while ago, read a few tutorials and couldn't figure it out...now with your help I can use some of the powder, glitter AND chipboard I have accumulated :) Thanks so much!
PS I love the sock monkey card!!