Getting closer

We are currently waiting on completion of the garage for our new home. We need this to be in place before they install the Air Source Heat system. We now have an alleged handover date for the 7th of December. This is the garage at the end of daylight today. Still needing harling on the outside. Removal van is booked, carpets are booked, washing machine is now booked. We'll see what happens. Watch this space...

That wraps it up

 Using just dies, glue and paper, it is so easy to turn a plain box into an elegant gift box. The pattern on this Tonic Studios Moroccan screen die  is gorgeous. You don't really need much else by way of embellishment.

That just about wraps it up for me with my craft room in this house. I need to get it all boxed up now and ready for the removal men, but I will continue to blog about the progress of our house build / move, so please do pop by my blog to see how we are getting on. See you there!

Have a lovely weekend.

Candlelight with a little help from Tonic

I love candlelight. And I love the look of decorated candles, but I also have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about fire safety. I'd hate to gift a decorated candle only for someone to leave it lit unattended in a moment of distraction, and have the paper catch fire. It doesn't bear thinking about ! That is why I absolutely love these battery operated real wax candles. You can decorate these in exactly the same way and light them in complete safety. They are not too expensive to buy either, so quite viable if you are making a number of gifts.

I bejewelled and layered the Rococo butterfly (from the die and stamp set)  and layered up the flowers cut from the Simply Screens Clematis Vine die so that my decorations are quite 3D. (All Tonic Studios card of course! )

It looks pretty from the back too if you feel like a change. Or if you want to use it as a centerpiece it will look pretty at all angles.

I hope this gives you some ideas of what you can make. 

Have a lovely day

I Miss you card

Just popping by the blog with a quick card today. It's very useful the way Tonic's patterned papers coordinate so perfectly with their solid colour card packs. It makes putting a card together so much easier.

I wonder if I will be saying "I Miss You" to my craft room once I pack it all up. Just a couple more makes to show you before I do that.  Actually, I am planning on leaving my watercolour paints out in case I get the creative urge, so that should hopefully tide me over until I get set up in the new house.
Don't forget to check out the rest of my blog for inspiration and ideas.

Have a great weekend

Thanks a Million

Thanks a million to Tonic Studios for all the wonderful dies, paints, pens, papers and all the other tools and goodies so that all us crafters can have such a fabulous time making cards and so much more. 

I love this paper from the Simply Patterns pack. It reminds me very much of the Kelim patterned sofa we had in our last house. 

I'm going to make one or two more cards in the next day or so, and then I have to begin sorting out and boxing up all my wonderful craft supplies. How will I cope without them!

This is what one corner of the craft room looks like so far ! We still have a few weeks to go here, but I have so much to organise and it is amazing how time flies. We have been in our rental home for just over a year now, and I would say that we have definitely expanded to fit the space we are in if you know what I mean!

It seems that my craft room is the only place where we can stack all our packed boxes without infringing on our other living spaces.

Well, I must get on...talking of time flying, I don't know where my morning went!

Have a lovely day.

Home Sweet Home

I have used Tonic Studios Copper gilding flakes to transform this little frame. My mum and dad won this in a weekly raffle at their lunch club and were about to stick it into the charity shop, so I took it off their hands. Here is what it looked like before....

As I had been looking for a wee frame to try the gilding flakes on, this was perfect as it wasn't too big. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. It has an almost antique patina to it. I changed the inside too as you can see...I'll give it back to them now, although they may still want to put it in the charity shop, at least I know that the gilding flakes work great on a frame now. 

And talking of "home sweet home". We were supposed to be moving into our new home right now, but they are behind schedule. We are now due to move in at the end of November/beginning December. We have already packed quite a few boxes, so at least that will give us time to get really organised. You should see the state of my craft room! Boxes everywhere!

Here is our new home...the scaffolding is finally down. Now the garage needs to be built. The foundations went in for it a couple of days ago. 

Time to go out to get new welly boots for my daughter! This is the second week of school holidays here, so we have been pretty busy. Back to routine next week. 

Bye for now

Intricate Wedding Collage

 

A few posts ago I showed you a wrapped present. Now that it has been received ,  I can show you what was inside. I was commissioned to make this collage for a very lovely young couple. As you can see, I packed it full of  beautiful Tonic diecuts. 

The flowers are from the entwining trellis sets. The Mr and Mrs are the Clarice Duo cap initials. The butterflies are from the Butterfly Rococo die and stamp sets. I particularly love how they look. They were placed on acetate folded strips so that they appear to float over the flowers.

I really enjoyed making this collage and hope to do more soon. I hope this gives you some ideas of what can be achieved with your dies.
Have a lovely day

Silver gilt decorative Box

I've used Tonic Studios pretty paper to decorate a papier mache box blank.For the lid,  I've used Tonic's oval layering dies to cut 2 layers of card. I embossed the top layer then used a gilding glue size which I bought from Ebay to gild the card with their Nuvo silver gilding flakes. I then used the same glue to gild one of Tonics little cameos to decorate the top of the box. 

Around the rim of the lid, I put a strip of double sided sticky tape and stuck gilding flakes onto that for a nice neat edge. I 'll need to find (or make) some treasure to put into my little box now.

Well, it's been absolutely perfect weather today....for crafting!! Hope the sunshine comes back soon.

Copper gilding flakes to accent a card

Hello. I've been having a play with Tonic Studios new gilding flakes to add a touch of glam to my latest card. I used their glue pen to draw along the chevrons and give the glam girl a trendy copper handbag. Copper is so in right now, I have been seeing it everywhere. I might need to gild some home decor items. Watch this space ;-)

I cut the butterfly from fun foam. It adds a bit of depth and it looks surprisingly classy- (for those of you who never know what to do with your kids fun foam collection)

Don't forget to check out the rest of my blog for more crafting ideas and inspiration.
Thanks for dropping by

Under Wraps

Last week I finally finished a pressie for a very lovely young couple....I was commissioned by my daughter to make this so the gift is from her. Alas I cannot reveal what it is yet, so I'll have to keep it under wraps. Talking of wraps, the wrapping paper was made using Tonic Studios Clarice Alphabet dies which I cut into fun foam and then stuck the fun foam with double sided sticky tape onto a piece of acrylic. You have to remember to stick your letters back to front so that they will print the right way round. Such a fun way to make a stamp. You could make a stamp to say anything you wanted. Just another fun way to use Tonic's dies.

Have a lovely day

Paper Pieced Patchwork stool

I used Tonic Studios latest Patchwork papers to decorate this cute little stool for my little girl. The stool itself was a pine flatpack I had bought from Lidls some while ago. I had something Tonic in mind for it. First I painted it with chalk paint, then set to work decorating it with the lovely papers. As you can see it also makes a handy table for Esther the ragdoll to place her cup of tea.

Using the die from the Patchwork Perfection – Square Stitch Die & Emboss Set  meant I didn't need to worry about making sure I had cut the squares to the right size as they fit perfectly together. As you can see I also used the new alphabet dies to personalise this for my little girl.

Better get the kettle on.  Marissa the mermaid has dropped in for a cup of seaweed tea. 

Have a lovely day.

Rennie Mackintosh suncatcher card

This card has been made using a die from the latest Vineyard Squares die set from Tonic. This one reminds me of Rennie Mackintosh stained glass and so, using vellum, I backed the die cut. I then used my Nuvo pens to colour the vellum creating a stained glass effect.

I have placed a battery operated light behind it here, but as it was daylight you don't get the full effect, but as you can just about see, the card has a translucent window. You could also make suncatchers to put in your window with this method. Why not make a greetings card that can be used afterwards in the recipients window.
Hope that gives you some ideas. Don't forget to check out the rest of my blog for more ideas.

Have a lovely day.

patchwork perfection

This is a new range from Tonic Studios designed to mimic the age old pastime of patchworking, There is a delightful Quilted Quarters paper collection and a lovely range of dies. My favourite is the sewing themed square stitch die and emboss set which I have used in this card. I've also used one of Tonic's stamps which I have coloured with their wonderful Nuvo pens and then fussy cut her dress from one of Tonic's pretty papers. 

The sentiment is from their Quilted Quarters paper pack.

I love anything with a sewing theme, don't you?
I'll be back soon with another card made from this new range.

A summery card

I'm not quite ready for autumn yet although there is definitely a chill in the air now. However, in the Highlands the sun is shining today, so I've made a happy little card with some of Tonics cheery new papers.

I've been having great fun making flower centres using one of the punch and stamp punches and thier Nuvo crystal drops. Don't these make cute little flower centres with a bit of dimension?

I hope I brought you a little sunshine, even if it is raining where you are.