Thank you to everyone who has entered my competition so far!  I figured instead of just answering the questions that I’d also make a card to go with them.  So the first question I received was from Gabbie, asking about how to use Heat & Stick Powder.  Thanks Gabbie!  I’ve been meaning to make a card using Stampin’ Up!’s new Supernova glitter with the Heat & Stick Powder but hadn’t gotten around to it as yet so your question prompted me to make this card.

This is why I love love love Heat & Stick Powder!  Because unlike glitter glue, you can get lovely fine lines and the glitter looks printed on to the card rather than traced over your image.  It’s what I call “The Hallmark Look”… which always gives me a giggle considering I don’t have the need to ever purchase Hallmark cards. LOL.

Okay, so how to use it…

Just consider Heat & Stick powder to be the same as embossing powder with the difference being that instead of it finishing smooth and glossy, it finishes sticky so you can add glitter.  Here’s step-by-step instructions:

1.  Swipe an antistatic pad over your cardstock to help keep heat & stick off the areas you don’t want it.  The reason why this happens is because the natural oils on our fingertips sticks to the cardstock which makes the heat & stick powder (or other embossing powders) stick to it.

2.  Stamp your image on the cardstock using Versamark inkpad.  For those who don’t know what Versamark is, it’s a clear inkpad that’s slighly sticky… it stays wet on your cardstock long enough for heat & stick powder (or embossing powder) to adhere to it.

3.  Pour the Heat & Stick Powder over your stamped image then funnel the excess powder back into it’s container.  I do it the other way around though… I emptied out a couple Heat & Stick powder pots into a plastic container and keep it there permanently as I prefer to dunk the cardstock into a large container – it keeps my desk free of powder.

4.  Heat the image with a heat gun so that it melts… same as you would with embossing powder – you’ll be able to see it ‘change’ from powder to a kind of sticky substance.  This only takes seconds to do.

5.  Immediately pour your glitter over the melted Heat & Stick powder.

6.  Funnel the excess glitter back into it’s container then give the image a quick shot with the heatgun again just to set the glitter.

7.  Use a soft brush (I just use a cheap make-up brush) to dust off any excess glitter.

So that’s it. It’s quite quick to do and very worth the small amount of effort.  Hope you liked my mini-tutorial.

What else have I used on this card?  Here’s a list of the Stampin’ Up! products that I’ve used:

Fifth Avenue stamp set
Chocolate Chip cardstock
Chocolate Chip inkpad (to stamp the flower all over the cardstock to make it look like background paper)
Certainly Celery cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Ribbon Originals Valet (spotted ribbon)
Photo Corners punch (I just used the small corners, applied them with a 2-way glue pen then dumped chocolate glitter over the top)
Anti-Static pad
Heat & Stick Powder
Versamark inkpad
Supernova Glitter
Heatgun
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals