Tonic Craft Kit #26 - Christmas Card Series Video #1

Hey Procraftinators! Today I have some Christmas cards to share with you to start my Christmas card series. I am SOOOO late on sharing some cards from Tonic Craft kit #26. However, since it was Christmas themed, I figured I would still share them with you anyways and honestly, you could do these cards with any ornament dies you have, if you don't have this kit. I actually made 5 cards, but today I am only sharing 3. The video was a little long, so I thought I would break it into 2 videos. I will share the last 2 in a few days.

The first card I have to share with you is a spinner card. I just love these cards, don't you? I started die cutting that shape out of the middle with some dies I had on hand. I don't know the name brand as I got these dies in a large lot of stuff I bought off Craigslist and they weren't labeled in any way. Then I started stamping the swirly type stamp that was included in the kit with Versamark ink all over my card front and heat embossed it with Ranger Clear embossing powder. Next I got out my Tonic Easy Clean mat and Nuvo Glitter Markers in Silver Mist, Blue Bliss, & Imperial Blue and scribbled them all over the mat. These are not included in this kit, but were included in past kits. You can also purchase them on Tonic's website. After I scribbled them all over the mat, I lightly misted the mat with water and dragged my card base through the ink. I wasn't quite getting the effect that I wanted, as the ink just wasn't getting in those small nooks and crannies in the embossed areas. So I tried putting the marker directly on the paper and spreading it with a water brush. Which didn't work so great. So, I ended up scribbling the marker on the white part of my glass media mat and picking up the ink with the water brush and then applying it to the paper. Which gave me the effect I wanted and I was able to control where the color went.

After I let my card front panel dry, it was time to attach my spinning ornament. I assembled the ornament with the Craft Perfect Imperial Mirror Card & the Craft Perfect Tropical Tide Glitter card included in the kit. I just sandwiched a piece of fishing line in between the 2 assembled ornament die cuts. To attach my spinner ornament, I used 1/2in score tape at the top and bottom of my card base and aligned my ornament in the center, then placed the fishing line in the score tape. Next, I applied liquid glue to my card front panel & to the score tape on my card base. This way, if I needed to, I could wiggle my card front into place if I did not get it aligned properly the first time. The liquid glue on top of the score tape allows it to slide a little before the glue dries, instead of the instant adhesion that double sided tape normally has.

I also added a silver flip up panel to the inside of my card. I used the same die that I used to cut the hole in my card front. I did this because I wanted to be able to hide any writing that I may do on the inside of the card. I want the spinning ornament to be the focus of the card and not my crappy handwriting. I stamped one of the included sentiment stamps, "Jingle All the Way", on the inside of the card in Stampin Up's Brilliant Blue ink under the flip up panel. I finished off the card with Pure Sheen Sequins in Let it Snow and filled the middle of them with the Crystal Drops in Wedgewood Blue. Both items were included in the kit, though the sequins were randomized between 4 different colors.

For my next card, I started off by stamping the snowflake stamps that were included in the kit in Versamark ink. I covered them in Ranger Snowflake Tinsel Embossing Powder. This was the first time I had used this embossing powder from my stash and I was a bit disappointed in it. The glitter did not stick to the Versamark as much as I had hoped. So, really, my snowflakes ended up mostly white embossed with very few glitter flakes. After heat embossing and die cutting the snowflakes, I stamped the sentiment Warm Winter Wishes, which is included in the kit. I chose to stamp this in Broken China Distress Oxide ink & my plan was to use the pigment properties of the oxides to heat emboss with the Ranger Holographic Embossing powder. However, as you see in the video the embossing powder didn't stick at all to my ink. I had my pellet stove cranked that day, as it was quite cold. So, I believe that the ink dried quite quickly because of that. So, I had to go back in with Versamark. However, I got a little too aggressive cleaning my stamp and it shifted slightly. So, it took a little bit to get my paper to line up with the stamp after that. I didn't get a perfect stamping, but it was close enough. This holographic embossing powder, is GORGEOUS by the way!

I used the Blue Topaz Glitter Paste included in the kit and a Dylusions Snowflake stencil from my stash to create a card front. Then, I fiddled around with all my pieces to figure out how I wanted them to go. I just wasn't happy with those snowflakes that I used the Ranger Snowflake Tinsel Embossing Powder on though. So, I decided to ink blend the edges with Broken China Distress Oxide ink and my Amazon Make Up brushes. Then I popped the snowflakes and my sentiment up on foam squares. I wish the camera did all the sparkle and shine on this card justice, because it REALLY sparkles!

This last card is completely out of place with the color scheme, but I just had to do something different. Again, I am using the Warm Winter Wishes sentiment stamp included in the kit & stamping it in Versamark ink. I coated this one in an embossing powder I got from a Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit last year around Christmas time. It was the advent calendar card kit. The embossing powder is a dark green with gold flakes in it. It's gorgeous!

I inked Distress Ink in Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany, Evergreen Bough, & Pine Needles through the Tim Holtz Holiday Knit Stencil using the teeny tiny brushes included in the Amazon Make Up brush set. I've seen people ask what to use those itty bitty brushes for and this is what I use them for. They are perfect to get into small openings in stencils. I also die cut the ribbon dies included in the kit in some metallic red and green papers I had in my stash and from the Craft Perfect - Blue Frost Pearlescent Card included in the kit. Next, I glued the ribbon pieces together and used foam tape to attach them on the top left corner of my card, making one shorter than the other and cutting on the excess. I also popped up my sentiment with foam tape as well. I glued it to my card base and then used a sand eraser to sand off a little bit of ink that got on the side of the card.