I love everything that came in this craft kit! In fact, when I saw the unboxing, I knew I’d love it. It’s the first kit (from any brand) I’ve purchased at release instead of on sale way after the fact. LOL.
I’ll be making many more cards with this kit, but for now I have 4 cards – Flat, Layered, Interactive and Pop-up.
Tonic Studios Craft Kit #33 – White Wonderland Contents
If you’re interested in Tonic Studio’s craft kits, you can check them out on the Tonic Studios website.
My favorite item in this craft kit has to the be the iridescent mirror card. I am definitely going to buy some. And they have the same finish in multiple colors! I waited a bit too long and they’re already sold out of the darker blue tone. Blue is my favorite color, so that’s a big bummer for me. But there are plenty of pretty colors still available.
I also really love the color of the expanding mousse. It’s a really pretty shade of blue. I think I might have used it on all my cards but not for its expanding properties. The stencil details are so fine that I worried the expansion would close all that pretty detail.
Mixed-Media Techniques
These cards are more about the mixed media techniques since the actual cards themselves are pretty simple. In my showcase video, the first portion is just me playing with the media that comes in the craft kit. I often just play with the media and make panels that I can then figure out how to use later.
I used several techniques that you may already be familiar with:
- Smooshing – I put some of the embellishment / expanding mousse on a glass mat and pressed my paper down into the media. This creates very organic “veins” in the media, which you can see pretty well in my layered card.
- Glitter – I sprinkled some of the glitter that came in the kit over top of the embellishment mousse that I spread through the stencil. I did this while it was still wet so the glitter would stick and then I just left it to dry completely before wiping off the excess. It turned out really well and in real life has a beautiful hint of sparkle.
- Splatter – I took some of the sparkle spray and added a touch of water. With a small paintbrush, I flicked the media onto the card. You can also tap your paint brush downward against another paintbrush. The smaller the paintbrush, the smaller the splatter.
- Mixed with Modeling Paste – I layered the embellishment / expanding mousse with my own modeling paste. The modeling paste is opaque white and not only does it add variation in color, it extends your mousse so you don’t need as much of it. Also you can create lighter shades of your embellishment mousse by adding more or less of it and creating new colors. You can see in my flat card how the sentiment is dark (pretty much 100% expanding mouse) but in the center panel you can see some marbling.
- Paint – I didn’t want to waste any of the embellishment mousse / modeling paste because it’s so pretty. I also didn’t want to keep adding media and making more panels. That can be a vicious cycle. 🙂 Instead, I watered down the last bit that was left and I painted with it using a large, round watercolor brush. I just pounced at different angles and that made a soft, pretty background. The “paint” is very creamy and smooth because the mousse and modeling paste are both a very nice consistency. It was really nice to paint with.
- Enclosed in Acetate – I smooshed some of the expanding mousse between two pieces of acetate and just let it dry stuck together like that. This create a faux stain glass window pane.
Thoughts on Tonic’s Craft Kit
This particular craft kit isn’t available anymore. However, you may want to check out Tonic Studio’s website to see their current kit. They are each uniquely themed but generally each box comes with the same types of materials – Craft Perfect card stock, Nuvo mixed media, Nuvo embellishments (e.g. glitter, sequins, etc.), dies, stamps and even sometimes tools! It’s great value for money!