Saturday 15 April 2017

Win & Tonic April Challenge: Stripe Inlay using the Best Friends die

Hello there!
I have some Spring inspiration for you and another change to win some fab Tonic Studios Goodies by taking part in the Tonic & Win Challenge this month.

The themes this month are:

Colour - think Spring, so anything pastel, greens, whatever makes you think of this season
Technique - make an Easter Treat box or bag or gift
Product – any basic shape die
Theme – open theme so any occasion
You can take one of the themes above and you need to use at least one Tonic Studios product. Make sure you have your entry posted by May 13th to be considered for a price. You can add it to the blog or post it on the Win & Tonic Monthly Challenge Facebook page.

I decided to go with the Spring Colours theme and made this Striped Cardstock Inlay card with the Tonic Studios Miniature Moments Best Friends die.



I learned this inlay technique from one of Jennifer McGuire's YouTube videos. I just used up some leftover cardstock in fresh spring colours and cut them into different size strips using my Tonic Studios 8" Guillotine. I then applied that to a piece of adhesive paper.

You can then die cut the sentiment, making sure you keep the inside bits of the letters. You die cut the sentiment one more time from regular white cardstock. You then adhere another piece of adhesive sheet right behind the die cut "window", this will allow you to put the white die cut into the striped piece. And then you can pop in the inner bits and pieces as well.

I then cut the who striped piece down a bit and matted on a piece of copper card. I adhered all that onto a white card blank.

Love how it turned out!

Hope you have fun in the challenge yourself. Make sure you check out all the other inspiration on the blog.

Monday 3 April 2017

Tonic Studios launch Belle Boutique at Hochanda

People, do I have something lovely to share with you! Tonic Studios is launching some new stamps on Hochanda today (available in the UK, US and The Netherlands:-). They are the Belle Boutique rubber stamps: 3 individual ladies in beautiful gowns and 1 couple dancing. 

They are about 12-13 cm (~4  inches) high and have a brush pen sketched look. It really reminded me of a French Boutique full of designer balll gowns so I set about making a that:


I had to do a good bit of fuzzy cutting, particularly for the open backed dress and put some acetate behind it for support. But I am so happy with the result.

I stamped the ladies on some thick white cardstock ( I Use Stampin' Up! Thick Whisper White), coloured in the dresses with the Nuvo Brush Script pens and added details with the new Glitter Markers. These are just fab and will also be launched today.

Making the card base took a good bit of measuring but it worked out in the end. The scissors at the bottom hold the front up. If you want to send the card off flat you can just fold it flat.


The measuring tape is some washi tape I had in my stash. The Blush Gold card base is from Tonic Studios and the Patterned Paper is some scrapbooking paper I had in my stash. 

I made 2 more cards that I'll share on my Instagram later as well but I hope you can check out the show. There should be some fab inspiration on there from my fellow design team members.

The first show today airs at 5 PM UK time but there will be more shows and you can always watch the last 7 days worth of shows at your leisure. But they might be sold out by then:-)

In the UK you can find Hochanda at:
  • SKY 663 (24/7)
  •  
  • FREEVIEW 85 (24/7)
  •  
  • FREESAT 817 (24/7)




  • From the 1st of February you can watch www.hochanda.com in Netherlands on SBS9 every morning at 8am, for 3 hours.