Extreme Quickutz, Part III

Going Metal with your GooseBumpz

by Darlene Johnson Calloway, Guest Diva

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Now that we have covered paper and metal, it is time to try your hand at using fun foam sheets with your Quickutz. For those of you that aren't familiar with fun foam, it is an acid-free spongy sheet that comes in a multitude of colors. I have purchased sheets on sale for as little as 5 for $1 at Micheal's, and Walmart carries foam sheets too. The best part about fun foam is that they work great in your Quickutz tool so you can create letters and shapes with depth. Some brands of fun foam are thicker than others, the thinner sheets are easier to cut.

Some tips on using your Quickutz with fun foam sheets. If you have trouble getting the die and fun foam into the tool, try putting in the foam sheet in your tool first and then sliding in your die. You can also put the foam into the handle without the die and give it a squeeze to temporarily flatten the foam and make it easier to get in the die and foam sheet. When you squeeze your tool to cut, give it a couple of hard squeezes. If you have trouble getting out your punched foam letter or shape out of the foam, simply push from the back to the front to get it out of the foam. And this method works best with thicker Quickutz dies that don't have a lot of intricate design. For example, I just can't get my Sophie letters to work with the fun foam. They are just too skinny and detailed, but I have great success with Star, Khaki, Frankie, Handprint, etc.

Now here is the really fun part about fun foam, you can change the texture of your fun foam by heating it with a heat tool and pressing some type of texturizing pattern while it is still hot. Here is how I created the faux leather look of the Wishin I was Fishin layout with fun foam. First cut out your shapes or letters in a light tan color. I then use temporary adhesive on my Ranger non-stick craft mat (I love that thing!) and stick my fun foam letters to the sheet. (The craft mat is great because you can heat it up without worrying about burning anything with your heat tool. It took me a couple of times of melting my cutting mats to figure that out. And nothing sticks to it so it is easy to wipe off the adhesive and ink when you are done.)