Thursday, 17 May 2012

Demo Days - coming to a town near you!


Look out for upcoming Demo Days with our very own craft television celebrity Jodie Johnson:



May

Sat 19th – MB Crafts – Cleethorpes 10 am - 4 pm
Sun 20th – Crafty Times – Skegness 10 am - 4 pm
Sat 26th – Paper N Card – Barnsley 10 am - 2 pm
Sun 27th – Paper Craft show - Lincoln


June

Sat 16th – Craft Zone- Pontefract 10 am - 4 pm
Sat 30th – B & D Crafts – Chesterfield 10 am - 4 pm


July

13th - 15th – Summer Crafting Show – Doncaster Racecourse


August

Sat 25th – Colemans Craft Warehouse – Rushden

September

Sat 22nd – Alexander Palace
28th - 30th – Exeter Papercraft show


October

Sat 6th – Harrogate Papercraft show
Sat 13th – October – D & S Crafts Worksop
26th - 28th – Glasgow Papercraft show


November

9th - 11th – NEC Papercraft show

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

I've finished those Order of Services !



Score,   fold,   print,  punch,  stick,  punch,  stick,  punch,stick...



  print insert,  fold,  measure,   punch,   punch,   punch,   punch...
(Thank goodness that wedding ring punch was so easy to use!)




measure ribbon,   thread throughtie - do the whole thing again 80 times.


All ready to post off to the Bride now.



Phew!


Tuesday, 15 May 2012

And the winner is....

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Wendy at  Spanish Crafter who is the winner of our very handy A4 Glass Cutting mat.

Wendy, we know you'll enjoy using this  and hope it will be a boon to your crafting.

Disappointed that you didn't win? You could always treat yourself with a little help from an exclusive £5 voucher from weheartcraft.co.uk...find out more here.



Enter to win one of our New A4 glass cutting mats

Tonic’s Glass Cutting Mat is an essential addition to any serious crafters arsenal. Complete with popular card size markings & angles. Not only will this protect your work surface, it is easy to wipe clean and gives a lovely smooth surface for your crafting.
With all the features of it’s ever popular larger sibling, the brand new A4 Glass Mat is bound to be an instant hit. Our  A4 Glass Mat has centimeter rulers and popular card size markings making it the ideal ‘must have’ for cardmakers!
When using a glass cutting mat  you'll find that  less pressure is needed with your craft knife and so it is easier on your fingers.  Also you'll find that your cutting blade will glide along without dragging or jumping as there are no indents left in the mat from previous cuts (as sometimes happens with self healing mats.)
Our A4 Glass Cutting Mat is particuarly recommended for use with the Shape~Mate system.

How to Enter...
To win one of these little beauties, you need to be a follower of this blog or our facebook page, then leave us a comment on this post telling us why you would like to win one of these handy sized mats.

For a second entry into this "cutting edge design" draw you can post about our giveaway on your blog, facebook or twitter and then leave us a second comment on this post telling us where you shared. (Please don't forget to leave that second comment if you want two entires)

If you'd like a button for your blog sidebar, you can use this one...

Blog Tonic
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.blogtonic.co.uk" title="Blog Tonic"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHjc9zx-iqM/T5ZtybtwtII/AAAAAAAAASE/MJ9PLF72gLk/s1600/winmat.jpg" alt="Blog Tonic" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

We look forward to reading your comments.

Prize draw will close on the 15th of May 2012

Please note this prize draw is for those living in the UK and European Union. Thanks
This competition is now closed. 
Thankyou for your entries. 
Keep your eyes on Blog Tonic and our Facebook page for more competitions. 

Saturday, 12 May 2012

Hyacinth



Good morning! What weather!! After a week of fairly constant rain, the sun is shining so I was able to get a photo of my card. On Monday our son ran 7 miles of the Belfast Marathon in the freezing cold and heavy rain and we got cold and wet just watching - that will teach me to leave the house in a hurry without a coat!

I thought a pretty floral card was the best thing to brighten things up...so here it is.
The image is Hyacinth from A Passion for Stamps and is coloured with Promarkers. I wanted to show off my new Tonic Studios Floral Border 2 punch so I kept the punched border white for effect.This one is a real dream to use as it lines up in a second and punches with no effort at all!

The papers are First Edition Sweet Owl and Papermania Capsule Collection...gorgeous!!

Thursday, 10 May 2012

What I'm working on just now...



I'm currently working on some Order of Services for a friend. I decided to try out the hot foil printer that my Dad gave me. I used to help him print business cards with it many years ago so it was a bit of a fiddle to get it working and set up right.


I found this old photo of me and my Dad using the machine in 1985, (I remember that dodgy cardigan well)- I may have aged a bit since then (who am I kidding, of course I have!),  now I have reason to avoid the camera, don't know why I always did that. I wish I'd paid more attention to my instructor when I was younger, but anyway, I think I've got it sussed now. More on that later on.

While the machine was heating up and cooling down and heating up again (so that I could test it and make fine adjustments without burning my fingers), I made this fiddly thankyou card.


I used some fine nylon beading thread and glued it with Craft Tacky Glue between two punched out butterflies. In order for this to stay in place while it was drying, I had the thread stretched straight and stuck to my glass cutting mat with tape.


Inside I used a couple of punched hearts to hold the thread in place. My thread was longer than the card, and while it was drying I again stuck the thread to the glass cutting mat on either side. I only trimmed it once it was dry.


Before the card was inserted in the envelope I gave the butterfly about 5 twists so that when the card is taken out and opened it spins around a little.

(The pretty punched designs are all from Tonic Studios.)

Tonic Tools used..


*punchetti is my word for the little bits that are punched out of the pattern punches.


P.S. Don't forget about the wonderful £5 exclusive voucher offer from weheartcraft.com ....get more details here.

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

A Quick Get Well Soon card


I just rustled up a quick card for a friend who is in hospital right now.

I am really enjoying using these recycled kraft card blanks, but this is my second card now with this colour palette. I think I'm ready for a change now!

I do love these new Simplicity Geared pattern punches, they are so easy-peasy to use.

Other punches used here are the Multi detail butterfly punch and Simplicity geared classics butterfly.

My next job is a stack of 70 Order of Services, so I better get to work!