Creating Hat Pins Video Tutorial: Step-by-Step Beaded Stick Pin Instructions

Creating Hat Pins & Beaded Stick Pins Step-by-Step

My first ever post on this blog was a  step-by-step instructions guide entitled "Creating Hatpins - A Tutorial" and it been incredibly popular, along with my follow-up post "Decorative Hat Pins - Next Steps." This all made it a natural choice to be part of my new Youtube Video Series showcasing my most popular projects.

Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

My quick and easy video guide to making beaded stick pins shows you how to make beautiful decorative hatpins to use in card and scrapbook projects. Discover how with just a few simple items, it’s so easy to make your own hatpins that coordinate perfectly with your project and they look so pretty too! Press play below to take a peek and watch!

If you enjoy watching it, please like it and subscribe to my youtube channel too, as I will film more videos if this series proves popular.

Pin It Now!

Framed Lattice Statement Card Step-by-Step Video Tutorial Series

Framed Lattice Statement Card

The most popular card on my blog is a large, special occasion statement card featuring Tonic Studios Boudoir Square Base and Layering Dies. I called it my Framed Lattice Card (you can see it pictured right), and it has been viewed and shared thousands of times. 
So, I thought I would do a step-by-step tutorial on how to make it, but this time I've filmed a video tutorial to walk you through the process. If you enjoy it, please like it and subscribe to my youtube channel too, as I will film more videos if proves popular.

Pin It Now!

Extending Square Dies to Cut Rectangles

This is a useful tutorial on how to get more out of your Square Dies by extending them to cut rectangles.

With this method, you can extend the length or the width, but not both!

At the end of the project, you will find a downloadable PDF of these instructions.

You will need some:
Square dies (eg Tonic Layering Squares)
Die cutting machine (eg Grand Calibur)
Cardstock









Step 1
Measure the outer edge of your square die.  In my example (excuse the slight blurriness of the first photo), my outer edge measures 9.8cm and I know that this cuts a 9.3x9.3cm square.  I know need to cut a piece of card that's length is exactly 9.8cm+the extra length I want to acheive. So if I want a rectangle that is 2cm longer ie 11.3cmx9.3cm, I need to cut a piece of card that is exactly 9.8cm+2cm = 11.8cm.  The width doesn't matter as long as it is a bit wider than the die.

Step 2
Butt the edge of the die to the bottom edge of your piece of card and tape into place.  Place this on the cutting plate so that the other end of the die comes off the end of mat (below left). Cut and then emboss this piece (below middle).  You will now have a piece of card cut along thrtee sides (below right).

Step 3
Remove the card from the die, and re-allign the die flush to the opposite end of the cardstock. Manoeuvre  the die so that the cut edges slot into place (this can be a little fiddly but you will feel it when it gets seated correctly, and I find it helps if you trim off the outer flaps).  Tape into place, making sure the it is now the end that has already been die cut that is off the edge of the cutting mat.  Cut and emboss again.

You should now have a perfectly die cut and embossed rectangle.

You can download a pdf of these instructions here.

Please do let me know if you have found this helpful, I love to read your feedback.


Pin It Now!

Tutorial - Box Made Using the Verso Sentiment Square Die Sets

This is a tutorial showing how you can use any of your Tonic Studios Verso Sentiment Square Die Sets to create a favour box.

At the end of the tutorial, you will find a downloadable PDF file of these instructions.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Tonic Studios Deck The Halls Sentiments Dies, Super Trimmer, Grand Calibur 
Paper and Card: 1 sheet each of A4 and 30x30 card stock

Let's start with the box lid.  Using the cutting blade on the Super Trimer, cut an 11cmx11cm square from the sheet of A4.  Switch to the scoring blade and score on the wrong-side of your card (if your card has a front/back side) each side at 9.25cm.  I have marked the score lines in pencil on the photograph so that you can see it, but you wouldn't do that.  Now flip the card over and centralise the medium outline cutting die from the Verso Sentiment Square Die Set.  Stick down and cut, then emboss. Next, use the smaller outline square and detail insert to cut out and emboss 4 panels from the remainder of the A4 sheet.  Use masking tape to keep the two dies joined together identically for all 4 panels.

Set to one side for later.  Now cut your 30x30 sheet to exactly 25.2cm x 25.2cm.  Swtich to the scoring blade and score at 9cm on each 4 edges. Fold along the score lines and then trim the sides as shown in the center picture below.  Glue the box together as shown and allow to dry.

Return to the box lid and fold along the score lines, then cut and trim the tabs as shown below left left.  Glue the tabs create the box lid.  Now stick the panels to the box base.  Note that you are aligning the panels to the bottom part of the box.  You will appear to have too much space at the top but don't worry, this is where your box lid will sit.

Once everything has dried, your box is now finished and you can decorate the panels to suit the occasion.

You can download a pdf of these instructions by clicking here.

Hope yopu enjoyed this tutorial, have a great weekend! 

Pin It Now!

Tonic Studios Header Fold Dies Step-by-Step Tutorial

I have had so many requests for a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the Tonic Header Fold Dies, so, as I am to please - here it is!

This tutorial shows you how to score your card, where the alignment notches are and how to use both the detail and cutting edge dies to create perfect header fold die cuts.

Step 1 Trim and Score Card

Trim a piece of A4 card to 14.5cm wide.  Turn the card, and make two small score lines at the A5 score line (14.8cm).  Do not score all the way across, you need to score about 0.7cm in from each side.  For the purposes of this tutorial, I have marked (circled in red on the right)  where you need to score in pencil so that you can see it (but don’t mark it with pencil when you do this).

Step2 - Align the Score Lines to the Outer Cutting Die Notches

If you look closely at the cutting edge die from the Header Fold Dies, you will see that there is a tiny notch on each side just up from the open edge.  You need to align these notches to the score lines you’ve made.  See below, with a really close up shot of where you need to align the notches.  Tape the outer cutting die into place and cut using your die cutting machine.

Step3 - Align and Cut the Detail Die

Next remove the cutting edge die and line up the detail die, tape this into place, then cut and emboss the die through your cutting machine.  Again, don't forget the only reason you can see my score lines so clearly is becuase I've marked over them in pencil but you won't have done this.

Step4 - Fold and Trim to size

Fold the card over along the 2 scored lines.  At this stage your card will not be the same size front and back.  Trim your uneven edge by aligning the folded edge to the 14.5cm on your trimmer (note - you are aligning the folded edge, not the top of the card) and trim the uneven edges.  You now have a perfectly cut and trimmed header fold card base.  This can either be a tent-card with the header element at the top as shown or a traditional side opening card.  You are now ready to decorate your card however you wish.

You can download a printable PDF of these instructions here.  Pin It Now!

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial

This Step-by-Step Tutorial shows you how to make a larger card-in-a-box, from 2 sheets of A4 cardstock.  This card base folds flat to 20x22cm.
Card-in-a-Box Recipe:
Paper and Card:  2 x A4Stardream,  3 or 7 9.5x9.5cm card panels, 3 9.5cmx11.5cm card panels, 1 9.5cmx21.5 cm card panel, 4 or 7 9x9cm paper panels, 3 9x11cm paper panels
Tools: Tonic Studios Layering Square Dies, Tonic Studios Supertrimmer, Grand Calibur 

Using your Super Trimmer set with the score blade, score the A4 sheet along its length at 10cm and 20cm.  Then rotate the sheet a quarter turn, and socre the width at 10cm.  Repeat for the other sheet of card.  Burnish the score lines with a bone folder.  
Swap the blade in the Super Trimmer to the cutting blade and trim the A4 sheet to 22cm, making sure that the 10cm score side is at the top (see below right).  Don't throw away the little strip, we'll be using this!  Repeat on the other sheet.

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial Step 1

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial Step 2

Next, carefully cut through the 10cm long score lines as shown left.  Repeat with the other sheet.






Take one of the scored offcuts and trim down the 12cm to 1.5cm.  This will leave you with a score line at 1cm, then a 10cm space, then a score line with 1.5cm left.

Turn this a quarter turn and trim the panel into 3 strips, each about 2.5cm wide.

Trim the tabs as shown below.

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial Step 3

If this is your first time making a box, you may want to initially adhere your panels below with removable adhesive until you are certain that the are all in the right place before sticking them down permanently.

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial Step 4

First of all, stick the two big panels togther by glueing along one of the long tabs and sticking together.  The side with the tab showing will become the inside (wrong) sides of the box.

Now, I prefer to add my decorative panels to the box before fully assembling it, as I find it easier to get the panels centralised by doing it this way.  However, if you are using a decorative paper that has a right way up, you do need to keep a very careful eye on making sure your patterns are the way they need to be on the finished article (this will make more sense when I show you)!
Flipping the card base over so that the outside (right) side of the box is facing you, and the shorter 10cm panels are at the top.  Working from left to right, adhere a 9.5x11.5cm panel to the bottom longer panel. Next adhere a 9.5x21.cm panel (don't worry that this will cover the central score line) to the nextquater, and finish by adhering the final 9.5x11.5 cm panels in place (see left).
If you are decorating all the panels including the front underside, then flip the card base over again, and working now with the top section, adhere the 4 9.5x9.5cm panels.

Card in a Box Step-by-Step Tutorial Step 5

Flip the card base over again and adhere the last 3 9.5cmx9.5cm panels.

You are now ready to add decorative patterned paper.  Flip the card base over again, and locate the panel that is backed by the longer piece of card.  In my picture (middle left) this is the panel 3rd from left.  This will be the panel that is the top back of the box when it's put together.  I have added a 9x9cm panel with the decorative paper the right way up to this as I look at it in the picture. The remaining panels need to be adhered "upside-down" as these are the panels that hang down when the box is assembled.

Next I flip the card base over again.  The longer 9x11cm pieces are adhered the right way up, whilst the smaller 9x9cm panels are adhered upside down (see bottom left).

Leave to dry for 15-20mins. Then glue along the final long tab, and fold box in half and attach the tab to form the box.






Finally, fold and score the 3 little tabs into an elongated 'z' shape (see left)







Apply glue to the outside edges of the tabs, and carefully insert onto the box, taking care to align the top of the tab with the top of the box.

You can use as many or as few tabs as you like as these will act as the "bridges" to hold whatever you want popping out of your box.  




You can see I've used 3 and that they are evenly spaced out.

Leave you box to dry fully.  Once dry, you can add your decorations.  Your card will fold down flat to post, as you can see on my earlier 7oth Birthday Card in a Box here.

You can also download a PDF of these instructions here.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, before you leave, I would love to share with you news of a new blog I've started, DipsDelectus.  It's about fun things other than craft (if that's possible!) like beauty and travel.  If this interests you too, then please pop over for a looksie, www.DipsDelectus.com Pin It Now!

Creating Filigree Card Bases & Faux Laser-Cut Notelets Step-by-Step Tutorial

I promised recently to provide step-by-step tutorials on how to create a Filigree Card Base and a Faux Laser-Cut Notelet. You will find a downloadable PDF of these instructions at the bottom of this post - enjoy!

Pin It Now!

Christmas Door & Wreath Card Tutorial

As promised, I have produced a step-by-step tutorial on how to create the Christmas Door and Wreath as shown in my Red Door and White Wreath Christmas Card, using a window die and various foliage dies. 
At the end of this blog post, I have added a downloaded pdf of the instructions.

To make my project, I used Tonic Studios Domed Window Die, Window Box Die, Branches Dies and your choice of die cutting machine (I used my Grand Calibur).  Other supplies included red linen textured card, white centura pearl card, wet glue, foam pads, low-tack tape and basic craft tools.



Door Tutorial

Step 1 - Cut and emboss the top of the Door
Cut a piece of card 8cm wide by 29.7 cm long, then cut this in half so you have to pieces 8cm x 14.85.  Secure the window die to the top of the one of these card pieces with low tack tape. Place on your cutting mat so that half of the bottom "panes" are hanging off the end, then cut and emboss as normal. 

 You can see below that the die has only cut out the top arch section and the 2/3rds of the square paned section.














Step 2 - Repositioning the Die
Next, move the die and reposition it, slotting the half bottom square panes into the upper square panes - you can feel when it slots into place.  Secure with low tack tape.  Place onto your cutting mat so that now its the top of the die that is off hanging off the mat and cut and emboss.

Step 3 - Making the door
You will now have the basic door shape and the little waste pieces from the die (they are not waste though, so don't throw them away)!  Take your spare piece of red card, lay your door shape over it, trace around it with a pencil and cut out inside your pencil lines (you want your hand-cut piece to be marginally smaller on all sides).  Don't worry about making this shape look pretty, it's going to be completely hidden so you won't see any wonky cutting!

Attach a small metal brad to act as the door handle.  Now comes the fiddly bit.  Cut narrow strips from 3D foam pads and stick them to the back of the door panel (I find that tweezers can help with this).  Although it is very fiddly, you will get a better result if you can stick foam to the central sections as well as the outer edge.  Remove the backing from your stickies, and I find it easier to keep the die cut on the mat and position the backing panel over the stickies.  Only press down when you are happy that your backing panel is correctly positioned.

Finally, place a small dob of wet glue onto the back of the "waste" pieces.  Using tweezers, inlay them into the door.  Using glue rather than double-sided tape allows you to easily move the pieces around until they are exactly in place.  And, viola, your door is complete.

And, every Christmas door needs to be dressed with a festive wreath!

Wreath Tutorial

Step 1 - Cut and emboss the top of the Door
Cut a piece of card white centura pearl card into strips 3.5cm wide by 29.7 cm long, then cut this into 3 lengths, repeat until you have eight lengths and an offcut.  You will also need some more offcuts for the branch die.  Use low tack tape to secure the strips to the foliage section of the Window Box die and use the small leaf die from the Branches die (or use any mixture of foliage dies you may have).
Cut and emboss, then repeat this step eight times

You will now have eight sets of foliage.  You also need a 5cm wide ring cut from card (I used a set of circle dies but you could just trace around a shape and roughly cut it out as it will eventually be completely obscured).  Trim the foliage as shown below and shape using Floral Crafters Tool Kit.

Dab a small dot of wet glue to the front end of the stem of the branches die cuts and adhere these to the back of the ring.  This will help give the wreath a very opulent fullness when completed.  Don't fuss too much about spacing, but to help get things fairly evenly spaced, I start by placing 2 sprigs opposite each other and then work round filling in.  Next place a blob of glue to the bottom, back of the ivy sprig and stick to the front of the ring, spacing evenly and slightly offset from the sprigs already in place.  Finally add the leafy sprig, tucking the stems in behind the ivy.  Using tweezers really helps with placing the sprigs

Give your wreath a bit of a shaping tweak with your fingers to create fullness, then decorate with rhinestone crystals, glitter glue and a festive bow.

I really hope you've found this useful.  You can download a pdf of this step-by-step photo tutorial on making a door and Christmas wreath here.  

Pin It Now!

Tonic Butterflies Chocolate Slip Wrapper Step-by-Step Tutorial

Mmm, are you like me and partial to the odd bar of chocolate?  If so, perhaps you'll also like this pretty Chocolate Slip Wrapper which turns a large bar of chocolate into a very pretty hostess gift.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Tonic Studios Butterflies and Blooms Monarch Arch and Ringlet Rest Dies, Tonic Doily Border Punch, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums:  Peebles Inc Chalk
Paper and Card: Textured A4 cardstock, First Edition Glittered cardstock
Embellishments: Lace, Double Satin Ribbon, Organza Polka Dot Ribbon, rhinestone crystals, flatback pearls.

Step 1 - Cut cardstock and patterned paper to size

Trim a sheet of mid-weight ivory cardstock to 19.7cm wide by 27cm long.  Use a pencil to mark the center point along the top and 7.9cms down from the top (sorry to be this exact, but if you go to 8cm with this die, it will cut right out!). Score along the length of the sheet at 1.5cm in from the left and right edges, but don't fold those scored lines yet. Trim your patterned paper into two oblongs, 16.5cm x 9.5cm and 16.5cm x 5.8cm.



Step 2 - Die-cutting "off" the mat.

Align the Tonic Studios Monarch Arch Die to the centre top of ivory cardstock (as pictured) so that the die ends just below your 7.9 cm pencil marks.  Tape securely into place with masking tape.  Place on your cutting mat so that the die is on the cutting mat but that the very bottom of it extends beyond the edge of the mat (use the 7.9cm pencil marks to help with the lining up).  You can tape this in place to with low tack tape if you struggle to keep this alignment in place.  Cover with the base mat, hold your sandwich together very firmly so that it doesn't slip and feed through your die cutting machine.  Remove the cutting mat (and any low tack tape adhering the sheet to the cutting mat only) and carefully move the cardstock up the base mat, then use the embossing sandwich relevant to your machine.

Once embossed but before removing the die, I chalked through the die with  a pretty pastel pink chalk, to highlight the embossing detail, but this is optional but remember to remove any low tack tape before doing this.  Remove the die, you will see that you have cut through the card but it is still attached to the sheet. Run your fingers around the die cutting to remove any loose pieces, but don't worry about any small pieces that are still attached at the base, we'll be dealing with those. 

Using a craft knife and aligning the metal edge ruler to the 7.9cm pencil marks, trim away excess cardstock from either edge to the first die-cut edge (as pictured).  

You will still have a land-locked central section and this bit needs a little bit of care, so go slowly but it is easy enough to deal with.  Align your metal ruler to the cut edges and then cut away between die-cut edges (leaving the die cut still attached to the card).  I find it easiest to cut away the central section first and then decide what other sections need to be trimmed after I've done this bit.  

You will now have an oblong of cardstock with your Monarch Arch attached to the top.

  Step 3 - Creating the Wrapper

From the bottom of the cardstock, measure up 7.5cm and score across the width and at 9cm, again at this stage don't fold the score lines.  Use a Border punch to create a decorative edge at the bottom.  Chalk the edge but on the back of the cardstock as once folded the back edge will become the front (optional). 

Now fold and burnish with a bone folder the four score lines. On each side, cut up to the vertical score lines from the edge along the two horizontal score lines.  Trim away a small v-shaped wedge as shown below. I found it easier to attach the patterned card before final assembly but take care, you need to stick the small oblong to the back of the project and the wrong way up if your pattern has a top and bottom so sure the pattern top is aligned against the punched border edge.  This is because at the moment, your bottom piece is upside down and back to front - again, look at the picture and what I mean should be clearer! 

To construct the wrapper, first glue the tabs to the longer edge, you may need to just hold the tabs in place for a few seconds until the glue fully "grabs".  Then apply your glue to the shorter edge and stick in place.  You now have your basic wrapper shape to decorate as you please!

I've created a PDF download of this step-by-step of this Chocolate Slip Wrapper - please use and enjoy, but please link into this blogpost if you blog a project using this tutorial!

Here's few more shots of the finished project (have to confess that the chocolate didn't last much longer after the photos were completed!).

Here you can see some of the butterflies, flatback pearls, crystals, satin ribbon and lace that I used to embellish the wrapper.













Hope everyone has a great weekend and happy crafting!

Pin It Now!