Happy Easter

I did some crafting! At least half my craft supplies are still in boxes after our recent move but yesterday I finally found my inks and got straight into making some Easter cards before it's too late.

I used the Stampin' Up! Hello Easter stamp set to make that pretty folk art egg. Using my Tonic Studios Stamping Platform I got to restamp the photopolymer stamp a few times to get a nice deep colour. And then to repeat that 6 times so I had enough eggs to make 6 cards. 

Then I used card bases and assorted bits and pieces from the Stampin' Up! Perennial Birthdays Kit which comes in the cutest box with tabs that you can use to organise your birthday cards in by month:

That just makes my organizer heart so happy:-)

So tell me, do you make Easter Cards? Any other Easter crafts maybe?

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

You Rock My World: A Mixed Media Rock And Roll Explosion

So, how's that for a title eh? Well it is not very far off though. The number of media I used on this card is quite astounding: Watercolour, Cosmic Shimmer Sprays, Tonic Studios Embellishment Mousses, Brushos, Distress Inks, Embossing Powders and probably some more I can't remember:-) Lots and lots of layers to create a one of a kind card for my husband of 10 years.

So here's how I did it:

Knowing I was going to use many different wet mediums I started with an A3 piece of cold pressed water colour paper. I had sprayed it with Cosmic Shimmer Mist and watered down Tonic Studios Embellishment Mousses to create a shimmery water resistent base. I then cut two A5 sized pieces out of the middle and washi taped them down to my glass craft mat.
And then I took out my little Oxo tin of Brushos...

Brushos are small tubs of pigment powder. First I wet the page using a spray bottle of water and then I sprinkeld the brushos on. I have pierced a few holes in the lids of mine so I can sprinkle them rather than tip them onto my page. A little goes a long way. After I put them on I sprayed some more water on thill the colours started to flow.

I made sure I got some very vibrant and full colour on my pages before I took out a heat gun to dry it. To make sure it fully dried I then put my craft mat with paper taped to it in my trusty cardboard box that I usually use for spraying in:-)

After they had dried you could see the Cosmic Shimmer and embellishment Mousse splatters coming through the brusho layer. Really cool!

Next up I put some "hidden symbols" in using stamps, clear embossing powders and a heat tool. I used a Marianne Designs stamp of some Amsterdam Canal Houses (where we met and got married) and my recent purchase: a stamp of Clevedon Pier (close to where we now live).

When the heat embossing was set I broke ot my Distress Inks in Pine Needle, Chipped Sapphire and finally Black Soot to start covering the bright colours and create a Galaxy look. If you look closely you can see the heat embossed images coming through:-)

 I used the other piece to do some die cutting. I cut a bunch of Tonic Studios Dies: the Postal Type Lower Case Alphabet, the Rococo Music Electrical Guitar, Rococo Petite Musical Note and the Rococo Music Perfect Harmony. I also die cut the Stampin' Up! Swirly Scribbles Die and a small X-Cut Geometric Heart. 







For some of them I used black glitter card to make them stand out.

I matted the numbers on some black glitter card as well so they would stand out against the colourful background better.

And then it was a matter of assembling all the pieces. I laid out several arrangements and took pictures on my smartphone of each one so I could see whoch I liked and then start glueing everything on using the picture as a guide.

This was the present I had gotten him: An aluminium guitar pick that says: "10 years later I still pick you" S ❤ C  26-10-07. I found the pick on Etsy: Savage Moons, and the jewellery box at a charity shop and they gave it to me for free:-)

My husband was really happy with his gift and his card. And that makes me happy:-)

I'll be posting again soon with my first Christmas card. Have you started on your christmas cards yet?

x

Sonja

Layering it up. Win and Tonic Challenge September 2017

Today I'd like to share with you a card I made for the new Win and Tonic challenge over at the blog. There are several choices to choose from and I choose the Technique Challenge which is all about adding dimension to your card. 

I used several techniques to add dimension to my card:

- Heat Embossing: I heat embossed the Tonic Studios Delicate Detail - Floral Flourish Stamp in white onto the card base. I also heat-embossed the "Happy" (Darkroom Doors - Whimsical Words) onto some vellum.
- Folding the Vellum over the card base was my second technique for adding dimension. Vellum can be tricky to adhere so I cut it a bit wider than my card and folded it behind the background panel to adhere.
- My third technique for adding dimension was to add some transparent Tonic Studios NUVO Jewel drops in Grey Mist (which dries clear, like water droplets). They really worked well with my water droplet background made with my new Tim Holz Distress Inks. 

So how do you like to add dimension to your projects? Let me know in the comments.

And be sure to head on over to the Win and Tonic Blog to see the other samples and why not add a card yourself and maybe you win some lovely Tonic Studios Goodies!

Happy Crafting!

Win and tonic Challenge May: Awesome Awesome Awesome

It's Win and Tonic time again peeps! And I am so excited about the Product Theme this month: Any Nuvo Product! Nuvo products are Tonic's colour media: markers, embossing powders, embellishment mousse and...glitter and glimmer!

I decided to have a play with the fabulous Glimmer Pastes. I die cut the Rococo Sneakers Die several times from white cardstock and stacked them on top of each other. Then I put some white cardstock behind it and carefully filled the empty space with Glimmer Paste in Pink Opal and Amethyst Purple. When that was dry I die cut one more sneaker from gold glitter paper and put it on top.

To make the actual card I used one of the Tonic Craft Perfect Foiled Card Blanks as a base and added a strip of turqoise dotted paper at the bottom. I die cut the word Awesome from the Miniature Moments - Awesome, Cool & Sweet die set and used a coloured in flower from the Delicate Detail Floral Flourish Stamp Set.

I hope you are inspired to make something too. Go and check out the Win and Tonic Blog to see what the other DT-members have made and what this month's price is:-)

This month these are you choices:

Colour - neutrals ie creams, taupes etc
Technique - stenciling with your dies
Product - any Nuvo product
Theme - open theme so any occasionInternational Entries also qualify!




Happy Crafting!

Love,  Sonja

Tonic Studios January Challenge: win a set of 12 NUVO Mousses

Hi everyone!

I have some exciting news to share with you: I have been asked to join the Tonic Studios Challenge Blog Design Team and I said yes! Of course:-)

This Monthly Challenge is held at:

http://winandtonic.blogspot.co.uk/

And each month there are several categories to choose from and you have a chance at winning a prize. Now, being on the regular stamping design team I had already found out how generous they are so it is no suprise that they sponsor the challenge blog with some great prizes as well. This month you can win a set of 12 colours of Nuvo Embellishment Mousse:

This is a sample picture. Exact colours on the Challenge Blog

So to take part you need to make a new card using at least one Tonic Studios product (die, stamp, drops etc.) that fits the theme and get them onto the Challenge Blog. There are two ways to do this:

1. Make a blog post about your make and link this post at the bottom of the Monthly Challenge.
2. If you do not have a blog you can post your picture on a specific Challenge Facebook Page. The administrators there will upload your picture for you. 

All info on joining is here: 
http://winandtonic.blogspot.co.uk/p/entering-challenge.html

January's Challenge is:

Take Your Pick

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. There’s a colour option, a technique option, a product option and a theme option.

And this month they are:

1. Colour - open so please feel free to use any colour/s you want
2. Technique - layering – so nice and easy
3. Product – any Tonic Studios strip or border die or punch
4. Theme – love and marriage (Valentine’s Day :-)

I decided to go with the Colour Challenge:



I made the background using Nuvo Aqua Flow Watercolor Brush Pens on watercolour paper. I squeezed a few drops of colour from 3 colours onto a clear stamping block and then pushed the block onto a piece of watercolour paper that I had sprayed with a bit of water:



The butterfly is from the Roccoco Laura Butterfly die and stamp set. I coloured it in with the Aqua Flow Markers before cutting it out and then placed it on a second die cut butterfly in black to create some contrast.

I also added a few sequins and some glossy accents drops:



Really love how fresh and modern this looks.

I hope you can join in or at least go and check out all the fabulous entries there for inspiration. Winners are picked on February 14th, 2017 so get your entries in there well before that.

Wintry Birthday Wishes

Hello there! And a Happy New Year!

It's 2017 and I am rearing to go. I'll start things off with some wintry cards I made just before Christmas using some new Tonic Studios Sentiment Dies: Birthday Wishes and Sent with Love.

For the backgrounds I mixed three of my favourite Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry, Broken China and Seedless Preserves. Then I stamped a snowflake background (Hero Arts) onto it in Embossing ink and heat embossed with Stampin' Up! Irridescent Ice to give it some sparkle. Lastly I die cut both sentiments twice: once in white and once in black. I then stacked the white sentiment onto the black sentiment so that it overlapped a bit to create a shadow effect to make the sentiment stand out more. And then I adhered them to a thick cardstock base and sent them off to their new homes!

Thanks for dropping by and hope I inspired you to go and make something yourself.

xx

Sonja