Welcome to this month’s NC Demos Blog Hop! Our theme is Upcycle—taking something you’d normally toss out and giving it new life in a creative project.

I decided to grab one of the most common items from the kitchen—aluminum foil! Who knew something so simple could add so much texture and shine to a handmade card?

I brought my craft room to the kitchen and had so much fun experimenting with aluminum foil as I decided what project to create for this month’s blog hop. I tried crumpling it up for texture, embossing it, and even die cutting—so many possibilities with something so simple!

After a little foil fun in the kitchen, I knew the Beautiful Butterflies Bundle (with its hybrid embossing folder!) would be the perfect match for my upcycled project. I played around with several ideas before I landed on the final card.

My card started with a Basic White Thick card base. For the background, I ran a piece of Summer Splash through the embossing folder, then used the same folder to emboss and cut the large butterfly from a scrap of Basic White.

Next came the foil! I applied an adhesive sheet to a piece of Basic White cardstock, peeled off the backing, and pressed aluminum foil on top. With my foil sheet ready, I die cut one large butterfly and three small ones. I colored the large butterfly and one of the small ones with the Dark Summer Splash Stampin’ Blend, then die cut the butterfly bodies from Basic Black cardstock. Using Mini Glue Dots, I attached the bodies to the butterflies before adding them to the card front. To finish, I embellished them with 2025–2027 In Color Flat Pearls for a little extra sparkle.

For the sentiment on the front, I stamped the greeting in VersaMark ink, added white embossing powder, and heat set it with my heat tool. To finish the inside of the card, I stamped another greeting and added the small butterfly I had previously colored.

I also created a couple more cards using foil, and I love how it looks embossed as a background! Which card is your favorite?

Be sure to stay tuned—I’ll be sharing a video soon where I show how I created each of these foil projects, so you can see all the steps in action.

Quick Steps

• Start with a Basic White Thick card base.
• Emboss a layer of Summer Splash for the background.
• Cut and emboss the large butterfly from Basic White.
• Apply foil to cardstock with adhesive sheet, then die cut one large and three small butterflies.
• Color the large butterfly and one small butterfly with Dark Summer Splash Stampin’ Blend.
• Die cut Basic Black bodies, attach to butterflies with Mini Glue Dots, then adhere to card front.
• Add 2025–2027 In Color Flat Pearls to butterflies.
• Stamp front greeting in VersaMark, heat emboss in white.
• Inside: stamp greeting and add small colored butterfly.

I hope my project inspires you to look at everyday items a little differently—you never know what can be transformed into a beautiful detail on your cards! Be sure to keep hopping along to see what the other NC Demos have created this month. I know you’ll love their projects!

Next up is Tina! Click the link below to check out her post. She always has something awesome to share!

August Blog Hoppers

Tina Lesson 
Jo Anne Hewins 
Toni Campana 
Tracie Evans Langley – the Sassy Stamper 
Laurie Meier 
Kelly Taranto – The Late Night Stamper 
Tonya Bowers 

Beautiful Butterflies Bundle (English) [164615]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]	Summer Splash 8 1/2" X 11 Cardstock [163797]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045]	Summer Splash Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [163826]
Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [165285]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [165679]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	2025–2027 In Color™ Flat Pearls [165192]