Cute colouring....

Morning all..... 

Today, I've gone back to my passion for colouring and decided to share these two recent makes with you. 

I have had a lovely week this past week, I did a demo day at Mountain Ash Crafts on Bank Holiday Monday, followed by a couple of days down at Create and Craft.... ending with a lovely weekend away with the husband in Somerset. A very well needed break away from everything - no connection on my phone (does anyone else find o2 signal going downhill?!) and no TV for a few days. Just perfect. 

Mountain Ash craft shop is a lovely little shop on a vineyard, in a lovely setting and is a gem of a shop. I was using a selection of older dies combining them with newer ones, and also adding a few colouring panels in there. 

The panels I had coloured in a week or so previous. I had had a few hours spare one evening and decided to get out my pens and get creative ready for the demo. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the christmas frames die set above, but wanted to make it un-christmassy. This is what I came up with and I think it works really well. 

Here you can see the colours in better detail.  The image is from Lili of the Valley and I think it's sooooo cute! I added the Mystic Vine corner to add extra dimension to the top layer and it combined well with the little stars on the stamped panel. 

Here's my second card ....

I used the Just a Note set for the base of this card. The card itself is A5 in size, and the base layer sits perfectly on the top of the card, allowing room for the sentiment at the bottom. 

The little bunny is a stamp from Lili of the Valley and another one I thought was just perfect for a new baby card. 

And here's your little angled view.... just so you can see the depth of the card. Of course, you don't have to add depth if you don't want to, you can cut all the layers into the base and just mount your image onto the top.

So... that's it for today.... don't forget there's a new Pick of the Week going on tomorrow with our lovely Jodie.... and it's one you won't want to miss... !! It launches at 12pm, so I hope you can catch the first show.

Until next time... happy Crafting all... xxx

Shopping List

Tonic Studios New Baby sentiment die set

Tonic Studios Indulgence Just a note to say die set 

Tonic Studios Mystic Vine die

Tonic Studios Merry Christmas Verso die set 

Lili of the Valley Starry Ted stamp

Lili of the Valley Patchwork Butterfly stamp

Pink heart

Evening all..... 

I hope you've all managed to stay wrapped up snug and warm today...what a bit of a surprise it was to wake upto rain, wind and the like..... after these last few days of sunshine, I was getting quite used to not having to wear a cardi or a jumper! 

It's also been nice to spend the day doing silly little things, like shopping, and spending time at home with the Mr. Although, installing - or rather - reinstalling the fitted wardrobe left alot to be desired!!

Anyway, onto better and more creative things... and last week saw the launch of a new product range from Tonic. We bought you the Heart and Butterfly die and stamp sets. These were really pretty and I know that lots of folks loved them... so here's one of my little makes for the show. 

I have tried to keep the card quite simple, as I know sometimes that things can get a little over decorated and can distract from the main image. So here you are.... a heart!!

I chose to stamp the Rococo Paisley Heart onto the card base using a versamark pad to add a watermark effect to the background. I didn't emboss it as I wanted to keep it really simple. 

The  next step was to make the heart for the sentiment to go under, and to do this, I stamped the same heart as the background, but embossed it with white powder. I cut it out with the coordinating die and then popped it onto white cardstock and cut around the outside edge.

The card colours I chose were mainly to keep the colours fresh and zingy, and I quite liked the idea of using a little bit of twine in a button to finish it off... so I added that!

I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed creating it.... it's been a lovely set to work with!

Fluttering by.....

Howdy all....

I hope you are all doing okay this week.... isn't the weather amazing at the moment? However, I can't believe that I've been reading it's going to get snow up in the hills??!!

Whilst I've been away this past week at the Craft show in Shepton Mallet - we've been doing workshops there -  Jodie has been slaving away bringing lots of lovely stuff to your screens. We started off with the Craftinator - the layering dies and shutter dies, and also the Weekender - Tonic's new Rococo stamps and die sets.

This is the card that I wanted to show you today.... and it uses a little bit of the both of the shows.

The main part of the card was embossed with an Idyllics folder, but you could also opt to leave the background nice and plain - there is alot of detail went into the card, so I'm sure a plain background would be just fine 'n' dandy!

The other elements of the card are the central Boudoir Square base from the Indulgence collection and the VERY lovely lacey circles that have just been released.

The circles were cut from the smaller sizes of the set, so they fit perfectly into the Square base. The little daisy was from the Entwined Trellis dies, and I cut the layers from cardstock and also from felt so that there was a little texture coming into the card.

Now these adorable little butterflies, which is my main element of the card, were cut from our Weekender dies. They were the Rococo stamp and die sets, although I just chose to use the dies for these. You could of course stamp and emboss before using your outside edge to release the image.

I added a little pearl drop to the centre of the daisy, and also along the body of the butterflies. A small amount of sparkle was then added onto the pearl drop to finish.

I have provided a little shopping list below, should you want to get anything I've used...

Shopping List 

Cardstock available from PayPerBox Ltd

Tonic Indulgence Elegant Soiree Window - Boudoir Square base - 455e

Tonic Idyllics Embossing folder and die set - Garland Fancy - 22e

Tonic Entwining Trellis Die set - Delicate Daisy - 768e

Tonic Celtic Dream Layering die set - 209e

Tonic Rococo Die and stamp set - Felicity Butterfly - 1040e

Tonic Nuvo Crystal drops - Pearl White - 651n

Tonic Nuvo Glitter collection - Diamond - 705n

Shutter Die inspiration......

Hi all....

 

As promised, here is my little post to share a project with the shutter dies....

 

 

I have used them in the centre of the card to create an insert, and just added some plainer decoration to the front of the card.

 



 

 The lovely shapes that you have in the centre panels are from the extra sections you get with your dies. You also get some fabulous instructions with them too, to create a selection of different types of effects.

 

I have kept mine quite simple on this card to show the basic type of fold you can do.

 

I'm sure you will be checking out the Tonic Gold website to get more ideas and inspiration for these dies... I'm sure I will. xxxx

On a jolly.......

 Hi everyone....

 

I'm back after a busy week or so to share a little post with you all....

 

This week has seen me over in Belfast, but unfortunately not much scenery photographs to take there, but here in Shepton Mallet is a different matter!

 

Somerset is a beautiful county, full of interesting things to see, least of all the wonder that is the Cheddar Gorge. I visited it many years ago and decided as we were so near to it at the Showground here, I would have a little girly road trip with Sharon, my Tonic Workshop buddie, to revisit and grab a bite to eat.

 

 

You can see from the pictures just how beautiful it is.... simply stunning. What a view! They seem to grow up into the air for miles. It is just breathtaking!

 

 

We drove upto the top of the Gorge, then turned round and drove back down. We drove slowly, stopping on the way down in the parking areas to grab a few pictures as we went. And to talk to the little sheep... it was important to talk to the sheep!

 



 

 

Isn't it amazing? And the best bit?? There was a little pub / restaurant at the bottom of the Gorge that sells wonderful food... so evening meal was sorted too.

 

I then put the postcode to our accommodation back into the sat nav, and it took us back up the Gorge and through the little lanes back to Wincanton, which is near where are stopping.... **happy sigh** 

 

That's all for now..... I will be back tomorrow with a little project for you from this weeks Craftinator shows... hope you've been watching to see the dies in action. There are so many possibilities with them.

 

Until then..... happy Crafting! xxxx

Cheddar

A little inspiration.....

Morning all..... 

I'm just about recovered now from my busy work schedule, and I'm pleased to say that Jodie is now on the mend, and up and running. So, I can get back to sharing a few little bits and bobs with you all.

This last week has seen me fly over to Belfast with the Tonic Workshops to bring you the opportunity to create a great project, which I will share after this next weeks workshops in Shepton Mallett. The workshops are a fantastic way of having a go at using the Tonic dies, and even better, trying out the new Tonic Tangerine machine - it's fantastic!!

But, as you may have seen over the past few days, Create and Craft have had the Tonic Craftinator. This weeks Tonic release is a new three dimensional die, the Shutter card die. And this is my post for today.... 

There are a few different ones to choose from, but my favourite has to be the one I've used below - Liberty. 

As you can see, even though these are shutter dies, you can use various elements of them to create a standard flat type card. No dimension needed. So, don't feel scared of them. There are full instructions on how to create the shutter style if that's what you'd like to do, but you have options!

The centre panel of the card is a mix of new and old. I have used the newer Elegant Oval to create the outer white frame, and paired it up with the Oval Trellis to give a detailed pattern for my topper. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing working with this set, and I am sure you will enjoy seeing all the other inspiration posts that are on the Tonic Gold website and also the Tonic Blog. 

Shopping List 

Tonic Indulgence Shutter die - Liberty 1027e

Tonic Layering Die - Elegant Oval 527e

Tonic Deco Oval Trellis Base  506e

cardstock - from  Payperbox

Just a quick hello.....

I thought I would just spend a minute updating my little bloglet, seeing as the computer is whirring away updating and doing it's thing.....

I hope you have all had a very relaxing weekend, I know I have here... although finishing off the bits for the kitchen and buying a new kettle and toaster was a little more taxing than what I thought it would be!!

However, we are more or less done in the kitchen now, just a little decorating and touching up on the paintwork to be done and that's it... we can move on to another room. Slowly, slowly catchy monkey so they say!

I hope your weekend was all you thought it would be.... tell me all about it, I'd love to hear what you was upto!

Until then... Happy Crafting!

NEC weekend workshops and a little tutorial

Last week went by in a bit of a hurry!

It was a bit of a panic to start with, as you may know that my little buddy and partner in crime, Jodie, had been admitted into hospital. So, off I toddled to the NEC on the Wednesday afternoon, only to be asked to cover shows at Create and Craft. Well, anything for Jodie, so off I went and was introducing you all to the new Sentiment panel dies... they are just beautiful and I had a great day. 

On the Thursday evening, I drove back to the NEC to resume the workshops that my very lovely buddy, Alison, had taken over doing at short notice. Bless her, she drove down from Wales from the Office to cover for me. That's what Team Tonic do.... we look out for each other. And what a team we are!

Anyways... enough waffle, and here's my post for today. This is the lovely Cheremane who has been helping us out at the workshops this past couple of weeks, and as you can see, the NEC show was so busy, and we had full workshops for the days we were there. 

Can you see the new Tonic machine... I tell you, it's AWESOME!!! I love it. And this weekend, at the Excel in London, they are completely in full swing on the tables... YES! A table full of orange Tangerines for the lovely customers to play with... what more could you ask for eh? 

Doesn't it look bare without the customers? lol... it's so funny being there before and after hours.. it's very strange. Very quiet, and if I'm honest, just a tad messy! 

Now, here's one for the photo album too.... here is Sharon, Cheremane and our little new friend, Ron. He lives with Julie, who owns Art and Glitter Greetings.. but she needed us to monkey-sit whilst she was working, so of course, we had to oblige. He settled in well, if I say so myself. Haha. 

So. What did we get upto making... well, this is the sample that people used as inspiration to create their own cards. We were working with the Tonic Cameo Creatives dies, and they are really lovely if you haven't seen them. There's a little tutorial on how to quickly make the central panel, and the background is simply matted and layered up. 

Firstly, the paper packs we used are also made to coordinate with the Cameo dies.... you see the little flowers at the sides? Well, they match up perfectly with holes in the dies... and make lovely background papers too. 

The border strips in the pack come in sets of two, with two outside edges, a straight one and a scallop edge one, and also you get the cameo cut outs for the shapes. You can choose to cut the holes into the card, or into the paper and layer up on top. 

So... start by placing your strip die onto your piece of card. Run it widthways onto a piece of A4 and you will get a perfect top and bottom border. 

Once the centre panel has been cut out, you will notice the centres of the frame are still intact. The seperate dies enable  you to choose an aperture shape that you like. 

Now, put the border edge onto your strip, leaving a small border along the edge. Cut both sides the same. 

Stick your panel onto a piece of contrast cardstock. Use the border edges to recut your shaping, or simply cut a 4.2cm section of card and stick to the back of your strip. 

Choose your aperture shape from the ones in the pack. and cut out your three shapes through both pieces of card. 

You can now take your paper and layer your border over the flower shapes at the side. Trim the paper to size, and stick into place behind your apertures. Lovely eh?

Now, your strip is complete to create your layer onto the top of the card above. 

Below is another sample of the same type of card, but simply using the aperture shapes to cut your panels from the paper, and layering up on top with foam pads. 

I hope you like the two cards, and are inspired to create something similar with your Cameo Creative dies..... I personally love them. So many different things you can do with them, and indeed, many of the crafters that we had come to the workshops did just that... they changed how they did the layering, how they cut the apertures, and how the cards looked. Simply beautiful. 

Products used for the projects

Forever Moments Cameo Boutique papers

Tonic Verso strip dies - Cameo Creatives 58e

Cardstock available from Payperbox

Busy busying......

It's been a busy time here at the House of Austin. New kitchen, Painters and decorators, workshops, TV shows and project sorting...... the list has seemed endless!

However. We are now - sort of - back on the straight and narrow, and are looking onto tomorrow morning and a quickish run down to the NEC in Birmingham to do a full four days of Tonic Workshops.

Helping me over the four days will be Sharon and Cheremane. I have had Sharon with me for a while but I am sure you will all welcome Cheremane to the team, just as you have Sharon.

I thought I would leave you with a quick pic of our crazy little Shazbot that was taken at the SECC shows in Glasgow. Xxxx