Sneak Peek - Tonic Studios Shadow Box Die Set

Well hello again :)

Today I'd like to show you some of the new dies from Tonic Studios, they're being released on Friday 3rd March and are an amazingly versatile set of frames and inserts.  The main set comes with 38 dies! the main outer edge shape die to construct the shadow box frame and 37 assorted borders, flowers, layers etc to decorate it.  There are so many combinations of the decorative edges that I've only just scratched the surface but you can go on and on with these :)  Unfortunately while I was making these my printer curled up it's toes and went to the great big printer heaven, on to a better place I think.... lol so all of my samples have alternatives to photographs as I couldn't print any but at least it gives you an idea of some other uses for them.

For my first sneak peek I'm going to show you a frame I made to celebrate my daughter's 17th Birthday.

I used the main frame shape from the Shadow Box Creation Die Set - 1635E and debossed a sentiment onto one of the long flaps which I then highlighted with some fine liner pens, using the debossed area as a guide, I also cut the ribbon slots into the other three and threaded an 8mm ribbon through each side.  Construct the frame by sticking the long sides first, then the shorter ones in place.  Cut one of the larger backing panels from flowery paper and stick into place.  Cut some of the oval layering dies, glue them together and add to the frame with 3d foam pads, cut lots of the little branch dies from green and some of the flower dies from pink and white.  I added a number 17 and my daughter's name Megan from the Postal Simple Type alphabet die sets, Upper Case - 1685E , Lower Case - 1684E and also Numbers - 1686E.   I've used one of the stands but I've also made a clear acetate slip cover for it, just for a little protection by taking a sheet of medium weight acetate and cutting it down to just over 7" in width then scoring at 3 7/8", then at 5/8", then 3 7/8" again and finally 5/8", place a strip of red liner tape after the last score line and trim off any excess, stick the tape into place and slide your shadow box frame into its protective sleeve :)

Any number of items could be put inside one of these frames for any number of occasions.  You really are limited only by your imagination (and in my case my printer).

I hope you can stick around all week for some fabulous samples made by the Design Team :) we love sharing with you ready to give you some inspiration for the live shows on Create and Craft at the end of the week.

Happy Crafting

Karen xx

Win and Tonic Challenge - Kraft and.....

Hello everyone, I had a bit of a problem posting this but finally got it together....

Here's my Design Team card for the Win and Tonic challenge blog the guidelines are basically Kraft card and another colour so I went for this

using the new Octagon Layering Dies - 1522E from Tonic studios, the Attraction Lower Case Alphabet Die - 1681E and one of the leaves from the Beautiful Blooms Magnolia Flora - 1289E  A very simple card to make using the Craft Perfect range of 216gsm cardstock and offsetting each layer of the octagons as you come down in size, then adding the letters to form the word 'thanks' onto the smallest die cuts and popping it all together with 3d foam pads.  I finished off with some Autumn Red Nuvo Crystal Drops - 683N and actually made a card without a bow!!!

This month's prize, courtesy of those smashing chaps down at Tonic Studios, is the full set of Window Box Dies!! so get entering..... winandtonic.blogspot.com

 Here's your full list of options :)

Take Your Pick

challenge, and in case you aren’t familiar with this, it’s ever so easy and here’s how it works.

There’s a list of options and you can choose any of the options.
You can also combine some of the options if you want to so.
There’s a colour option, a technique option, a product option and a theme option.

And this month they are -

Colour - kraft plus anything

Technique -  bling it up, so just add glitters, glitter drops, anything sparkly

Product - free choice so any Tonic product is fine – yes, fill your boots my lovelies : )

Theme - happy anything ie birthday, anniversary or just be happy

Good Luck and happy crafting :)

Karen xx

Tonic Studios Windsor Simple Type Alphabet and Hexagon Layering Dies - Home Card

Hello again :) I wanted to share another of the cards I made for the Tonic Studios Alphabet and Layering Die Launch on Create and Craft.

I made a base card using the Ribbon and Bow Layering Die set - 1461E, by cutting two of the largest outer edge dies, scoring one and gluing together up to the score line.  I covered the front with some old Basic Gray Aged and Confused patterned paper cut with the same die, then added a frame using the two largest outside edges which I then added some texture to with an old Tonic Studios A4 Amelia Embossing Folder, I distressed this with some Indian Gold Nuvo Embellishment Mousse - 802N.  I made some banners out of the Hexagon Layering Die Set - 1521E which I scored and glued to some bakers twine also coloured with the mousse, I distressed to edges to match the frame and added the letters HOME to each one cut from the Windsor Upper case Alphabet Die - 1688E.  I cut a few of the Rococo Petite Acorn Swirl Die - 178E, colouring one completely in gold mousse but just highlighting the others through the die with an inking brush.  I added the Rococo Quaint Birdhouse - 1292E and made some quick flowers out of some of the small hexagons by cutting them in a spiral towards the centre and rolling them from the outside with a quilling tool, securing them with some hot glue.  I also added some Nuvo Pale Gold Crystal Drops to Finish.

Thanks for popping by,
Happy Crafting

Karen xx

Tonic Live Valentines Special - Valentine Treat Mug Tutorial

Hi everyone, I hope you managed to catch the Tonic Live show today where myself and Owain made some Valentines Treat Mugs using the new Octagon Layering Dies along with the new Windsor Simple Type Alphabet.

  As promised here is the tutorial.

I used an A4 sheet of Craft Perfect Kraft Card which I cut in half lengthways.  I placed the strip of card along my scoring board and scored every 3.5cm, so that's 3.5cm, 7cm, 10.5cm, 14cm, 17.5cm, 21cm, 24.5cm and 28cm, turn the card strip 90 degrees and score at 1cm.  Place a strip of double sided tape along the 1cm scored section and also along the portion of card after the 28cm score line.  Fold along all the score lines.  Take the cover off the long strip of double sided tape and taking your scissors make a snip along this strip at every 3.5cm score line, up to the 1cm line.  Uncover the rest of the double sided tape and join the ends of the strip together, folding the small scored section over.  Take the third of the Octagon Layering Dies and cut two out of Kraft card and starting with one of the small folded sections, stick the edges of the octagon in place, shaping the basic shape of the mug as you go.  Take the second octagon, add some glue and place inside the mug, pressing down to keep the shape of the mug.

Take a small strip of card approximately 3cm wide by 14.5cm long, make a bend on either end of the strip facing either way.  Glue one end to the top of the mug, fold this over and glue the other end to the bottom of the mug to form the handle.  This forms your basic mug for you to decorate as you wish.  For this one I've decided to keep it simple and as it's for Valentines Day added some wording and hearts.

Cut two smaller red and white octagons and glue them together, die cut the Windsor Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Dies and on one of the layered octagons glue the letters to make up the words Love Is and on the other Sweet.  Using some 3d foam pads, stick the 'Love Is' octagon onto the mug, the second octagon saying 'Sweet' needs a hole punched into the top,  thread some bakers twine through this and tie the ends.

Take a square of cellophane, add some sweets and gather the cellophane together, thread the bakers twine tag over a length of heart printed organza ribbon and tie this around the gathered cellophane and tie in a large bow.  Place the sweets inside the mug and add some punched hearts as a simple decoration.

I hope you enjoyed the step by step tutorial but don't forget, should you get stuck, the youtube video that I linked at the beginning has us making this in real time so you can stop and start the video as required and make along.

Don't forget to tune into Create and Craft this evening, tomorrow and throughout the weekend for wonderful inspiration and demonstrations of some amazing projects put together by our Design Team using the Octagon and Hexagon Layering Dies along with the three different fonts on the Alphabets and Numbers.

Happy Crafting

Karen xx

Tonic Studios Woodland Buildables - Frankie Fox And Happy Birthday Banner

Good afternoon all,

I want to share another of my Buildables makes today while they are still available as the One Day Wonder deal on Create and Craft.  I made a simple layered card this time, with some pretty patterned paper I've had in my stash for absolutely ages.  It went perfectly with the colours I'd chosen for Frankie :)

I folded a sheet of 300gsm cream card for my base and topped that with the a layer of the Orange shade of card out of the Heated Hues Essential 12 x 12 Card Stock Pack - 787E.  I die cut the outer edge from the Ribbon and Bows Layering Die Set - 1461E out of patterned paper and also out of the dark brown from the Natural Neutrals Essential 12 x 12 Card Stock Pack - 789E.  I cut the brown layer in half and glued both to the patterned paper layer so they can be seen either side, I use this type of layering a lot if my layering dies are too far apart in size :)  I cut the next size outer edge from the same layering die set from the dark brown again along with the Ivory colour from the same pack and did the same again, letting the dark layer show either end.  I glued both of these layers together and attached to my card base with 3d foam pads.

I cut the fox body, snout, ears, paws and tail out of the same orange we used for the card layer, cutting the head, tummy, inner ear pieces and tail tip out of cream.  I added a little distress ink to these for a little definition, glueing them all together in their respective order, adding the nose and eyes in the matching dark brown card.  I added some 3d foam onto the back of Frankie Fox and glued him in place on the layer.

I cut the Essentials Banner - 1594E  out of Ivory and the Happy Birthday Sentiment -  out of Dark Brown along with the number 5 and the 'th' out of the Essentials Birthday Numbers - 1592E.  Layering this onto my card with 3d foam pads for depth.  I finished my card off with some bunting cut from the Rococo Celebration Birthday Bundle - 1490E layered in dark brown and patterned paper.

I hope you like this and can tune in for the rest of the One Day Wonder shows at 6pm and 9pm for lots more inspiration.

Happy Crafting

Karen xx

Woodland Buildable Animals Die Sets - Harry The Hedgehog on A Handmade Note Book

Hello, thanks for popping by to have a look at another of the fantastic Buildable Woodland Animal Die Sets.  Today I've chosen Harry the Hedgehog, for this sample I made for the launch on Create and Craft tomorrow.

I kept this fairly simple as I think the little critter is all this needs :)

To make the notebook I started off with a sheet of A3 card, as thin as you can get, about a 160gms would be perfect although I had slightly thicker here so I used it up.  I folded the sheet of card in half, opened it up, then folded in half again the other way.  Open this up again and you will have four segments, fold these into the centre line until you get this

Cut along the fold lengthways, only cutting along 3 panels, leave the last one in tact.  Fold this last panel and glue in place, this is the middle page of your note book.  Fold the rest of the pages in an accordian style either side of this middle page, starting with a valley fold, so you have valley, mountain, valley either side.  Where you have the mountain fold, you need to glue the 2 sides together to keep this in place. Once this is done you should have the second and third panels glued together, fourth and fifth glued together and sixth and seventh glued together with a single thickness sheet for the first and last! This sounds an awful lot more complicated than it should.... lol its pretty much self explanatory once you start.  Now you need to add a cover so measure the height of your book which is just under 15cm which is just under 6" in old money.... Cut down a sheet of Craft Perfect Kraft card - 9558E lengthways to this measurement and glue on to one of your single sheets, wrap it around the spine of your book to keep your pages together giving a little room so you'll be able to open up your pages and glue to the other single sheet then trim off the excess.   I distressed this with an inking brush and some distress inks.

I cut one of the layers from the Swirling Frame Layering Die Set - 1462E out of some lined papers I had in an old scrapbooking pad I had, I popped one on the front to place the hedgehog on and glued one to each of the pages inside.

I cut the body from the lighter brown in the Craft Perfect range and inked just to define the embossed detail, I cut the rest of the pieces from two shades of light Craft Perfect, Ivory White and Cream, with his nose out of the Dark Grey as well as his eyes.  Because I use a Tangerine Die Cutting Machine it easily goes through two layers of card so I found I could cut the little ears at the same time, just to save time :)  I distressed the pieces to make them stand out and glued all of them flat to the body before popping it on to the cover of my book with some 3d foam pads.  I added the word 'notes' using the Clarice Lower Case Letter Die Set -1123E and some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Autumn Red - 683N

If you have any Questions about how I made the book or indeed put the hedgehog together, please get in contact :)

Happy Crafting

Karen xx