Hello crafty friends! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared something with you here on the ol’ blog, but I’m REALLY excited to share this AMAZING new tool with you! The new Foil Quill Freestyle Pens are the hottest ticket in the craft industry, and I’m going to show you how to use them to create DIY foil projects.
This is a personal blog, but I am an employee and do receive financial compensation and material product from American Crafts/We R Memory Keepers. This post contains affiliate links to help support my blog. You are not charged any extra cost for purchasing supplies using those affiliate links. All ideas and opinions are my own.
I’m sure many of you have heard of the original Foil Quill pens–they’re USB powered and fit in most electronic cutting machines with the help of special adapters. They heat up and allow you to heat foil designs on your projects. You can check them out HERE.
The Freestyle Pens are basically the same, but they’re designed to be used BY HAND instead of being connected to a cutting machine.
The genius behind this is, 1) you can foil on the go without bringing your cutting machine along; 2) you can foil items too large to fit in your cutting machine; and 3) they’re shaped perfectly for drawing and writing by hand–the tips are tapered and the barrel is easy to hold/ergonomic.
Before I lose you crafters who, like me, are worried about your hand writing/drawing skills there are some really awesome options for us, so stay with me! Here are some fun ways to use the Freestyle Pens:
1. Draw or write by hand. Obviously this is cool if you have good handwriting/drawing skills but even if you don’t, having your handwriting on a handmade gift or card for a loved one is pretty darn cool!
2. Use a heat resistant stencil to draw with, like THESE from We R Memory Keepers. (Note: not all stencils are heat resistant, so be sure to test it out in an inconspicuous spot first.)
3. Print any image onto thin copy paper, and then trace over the image with your paper over the foil, which is over your material.
4. Stamp with permanent ink directly onto the shiny side of the foil, then trace over the stamped image onto your material. (I love how this option gives a whole new lease on life to my stamp collection!)
5. Use the We R Memory Keepers Reflection Tracer along with images found on the @werjournalreflector Instagram account to trace the reflection of your image onto the foil.
Now, here are some fun project ideas! (This is my favorite part.)
Handmade card
I used some stencils to draw the patterns and the hand lettering on smooth black cardstock on this handmade card with my Freestyle Pens.
I like to use embellishments from my stash to dress up my Freestyle Pen designs. I used some gold washi tape and some gold star eyelets along with my Crop-A-Dile to embellish this card.
Personalized Shaker Gift Tag
Foiling on a shaker pocket? Yes please!! I used a We R Memory Keepers Instax Photo Sleeve for the shaker pocket and added some cardstock and sequins. After sealing it shut with the Fuse tool, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile. Then I foiled on the plastic photo sleeve with the Freestyle Pen Calligraphy Tip.
If you’d like to learn more about the Freestyle Pens you can find some great video tutorials on the We R YouTube channel. I’ll also be posting another project and video here on my blog soon, so stay tuned!
