Oh yeah, I remember now, I have a blog!

Yeah, so, it's been a while since I was here. Sorry about that. It's not that I haven't been busy creating things, just that I tend to use Instagram more nowadays than the blog. However, I think I shall have a shot at getting back into the swing of blogging for a while and see how it goes.
Here is my latest endeavor. I made some cute little labels for a friend's hand knitted garments which she sells through a local craft shop.

I was able to use my Tonic Studios dies for this, it makes for a very cute little tag don't you think?

You can't really tell from the picture, but I have a strange way of doing the printing on my inkjet printer which results in a cool raised printed effect.

Unless you have a top of the range inkjet printer, the inks will run if the label becomes wet. I want to avoid this for labels and make them a bit longer lasting. I do this with embossing powder.

As my printed card is coming out the printer, I sprinkle embossing powder over the inked areas. Because the printer uses pigment ink, the embossing powder sticks to the printing. I then tip off the excess into a big plastic tray I have for the occasion and use my heat gun to heat the embossing powder as you would do normally.

This can be a bit messy and you have to be careful not to trash your printer. But it works for me anyway.

Anyone else do this?

Have a lovely day !

Pearly Pink Valentine Heart Box Tutorial

It's time for a little tutorial using some wonderful Tonic Studios products. Create this decorated heart gift box and make someones day with this special little trinket box made with love...

First you will need a little paper mache box to decorate, just like this one, plus a sheet of smooth white card for painting and die cutting. (A little suggestion -  when choosing your papier mache box, always pick one with as loose a lid as you can find to allow for the thickness of your paint and paper.)

Tonic Studios Supplies...

• Nuvo Acrylic Paints in white and metallic pearl white
• Nuvo embellishment mousses in peony pink, lilac lavender, cornflower blue and aquamarine.
• Tonic Funky Glue
• Nuvo Glimmer paste in Moonstone
• Nuvo Crystal Drops in Wisteria purple
• Paper for lining your box. I used some 12x 12 Tonic paper I had (Romantic Cottage paper pack)
• Essentials Die Set - someone special
• Verso - First Crush Die set. 

INSTRUCTIONS

Prime your box with one coat of white acrylic paint .
Once dry, mix metallic white pearl acrylic paint with the embellishment mousses and paint your box and sheet of white card alternating the colours to create a variegated pearly effect. Use mostly pink with splodges of the other colours. Once dry, smooth  some glimmer paste with your finger all over the sheet of card which you will use to die cut your embellishments.

When totally dry, diecut your embellishments and glue to the box.

To line your box draw around the base of the box and then draw a line around 2mm insidewhich will be your cutting line to allow for the thickness of the box sides. Cut two strips to fit neatly in the sides. You can either repeat this for inside the lid, or paint inside the lid as you prefer. 

Decorate the edges of your lid with Nuvo Crystal Drops. 

I also glued some of the little hearts from the die cut onto the lid of the box. 

Now all you need to do is find a suitable little gift to go inside the box. Or better still...make one! 

There are other lovely heart dies from Tonic Studios that would work just as well for this project. Why not check out the full range on their website. 

Hope this gives you some ideas.
Have fun.

What's in the box ? It' a little keepsake album

Here's what is inside the cute little oval gift box. I made a sweet little album with a message. The album features a wonderful variety of beautiful Victorian ladies.

It can be opened up in the box...

...or taken out the box completely. It was hard to show you how long it is, I have 16 photographs and two quotes.

"Be Yourself, an original is worth more than a copy", is my quote for the beginning of the album.

I would love to know each of these lovely ladies stories, wouldn't you? If only photographs could speak.

You could use this idea to make a little keepsake album with your own choice of photographs or quotes. I hope it has inspired you. For more ideas with the latest Tonic Studios products, pop on over to Blog Tonic.

Doda
x

Glass etch labelling

I said I'd be using those new Alphabet dies a lot. I've been doing a spot of glass etching with them here. I have used self adhesive vinyl and dies before to cut stencils for etching, but this time I also bought some transfer tape. This made the job a whole lot easier. You lay it on top of the vinyl that has been cut, so that once you peel off the self adhesive backing, it is easier to smoothly place your vinyl onto the glass that is to be etched.

I just use up any bits of vinyl I have left to do this. It doesn't matter what colour it is. This picture shows the letters being placed before I remove the transfer tape.

It is important to have a frame around the letters otherwise there would be no nice neat edge around the etching. You could alway use masking tape to make a frame around the letters.

The product I use is called Armour Etch but there are other similar etching creams on the market. Remember to follow all the safety instructions.

I'm delighted with the result. I think I may just have to do a few more labels on my jars now.
Have a lovely day

Doda
x

Beautiful itty bitty butterflies

The new Tonic Studios Intrica large butterfly punch cuts through shrink plastic with ease - and doesn't it make the cutest little butterflies ! I took advantage of the new pastel colours of shrink plastic that are now available and made this cute little bracelet.
Of course, it then needed a gift box. I used one of the dies in the gorgeous new Romantic Vine oval die set to cut into the lid of this box and then further embellished it with layers of paper butterflies and a few jewels.

I made a similar box for another piece of jewellery. I'll show you what's inside next time!

Jodie Johnson will be on Create and Craft TV, Tuesdsay at 9pm with the launch of the new products.

Yey...the sun is shining here....must get out in the fresh air! Bye for now

Doda
xxx

Time for tea - Tonic Studios gorgeous new tea party dies.

The Smith household has been very busy lately, but I wanted to pop by and let you see some of the things I made recently with Tonic Studios latest die sets.
As you can see there's a bit of a tea party theme going on here!

I had lots of fun decoupaging and making a whole pile of goodies.

I am sure that these will be dies that I will use again and again. 

Perfect for any occasion that calls for tea! And as a bit of a tea drinker myself, that pretty much means any occasion!

For more details on each project and for many more ideas, pop over to Blog Tonic.

Have a lovely day !

Doda
xxx

Busy, busy, busy

(I'll give you the template for this box soon...)

It's been a very, very busy time here for the last couple of weeks. We've had more viewers to see our house than at any other time so far. More viewers coming on Saturday....we just need one buyer though! Almost had one, but it didn't work out for them.

It's tricky trying to fit in tidying everything up for viewers and making a mess in my craftroom...and boy...do I make a mess when I get going in there!

These are some of my latest makes with Tonic's newly released dies. As you can see...they're great for those special birthdays and gift giving.

I especially enjoyed making this hand bound album. Every time I make books I realise I have forgotten just how much pleasure it gives me. I'll need to make another one of these some time.

I even made a tissue box slip cover, but thankfully we are all 99% better now in the Smith household, so not needing the tissues any more.

Hope the British weather improves ...especially for all those poor people who have been flooded. So sorry for you.

Take care

Doda
x

Glass Etching with Tonic Studios Dies

Something a little different for you this morning....glass etching. It's not as complicated as you might think. I purchased some self adhesive matt finish vinyl from Ebay and cut out with one of Tonic Studios new butterfly layering dies.  Then I cut a square with their scalloped square layering dies. I used these as my stencils and adhered the vinyl to the glass which I made sure was grease free first.

You then need some latex gloves and eye protection - just in case, and you apply the Armour Etch which is widely available. It says to just leave for a few minutes, but I gave mine a bit longer just to be sure. You can then scrape off the excess and put it back in the jar before you wash off the bottle under a running tap. You then peel off the vinyl and ...tada...you're done. Easy peasy. Your design is permanently on your bottle. 

Go on....give it a try..you know you want to!