Friday 27 February 2015

17 Shades of Grey


It's just been on the radio that 50 Shades of Grey is still raking in phenomenal amounts of money, that's great to hear, a film doing so well. 

This got my mind thinking, just how many shades of grey, are there? Bear with me, there is a point to this, and it's nothing to do with the books or film.

Below are 17 shades of grey, quite easy to distinguish each shade














However, if you look at this spectrum wheel, you'll see, or least get an indication of how many shades of grey there are
























Not my image, Image from http://patternity.org/tag/greyscale/ 

Yes, yes Mark, that's all well and good, but just exactly is your point? I hear you say.
Well, What about the little understatements, lowlights, undertones and embellishments, which might just add a little something to what you're making, and finish it off quite nicely, such as a .... Letraset Pro Markers



Tada :), all this just to mention a pen which can add subtle yet massive changes to your crafted items, and nothing at all to do with the film either :o)


Ooohhhh, look, it's the weekend again

I say that like it's a surprise, Friday follows Thursday, just like it's been for the last 104736 weeks (I have just worked this out from 0 AD, or rather 0 CE (Common Era) as it's now known, and BC is now known as BCE (Before Common Era) either way, that's an awful lot of Fridays.

Which then brings me quite nicely to those of us who don't have to work weekends (I used to have to work 7 days a week, and the concept of a weekend was vague at best, I only really used to be able to tell what day it was if I the kids had to go to school, a mental flow chart of Do kids need to be up? Yes - it's a weekday, No - either holiday or weekend.

Forgive me I'm rambling somewhat, the point of this particular post is: Is there anything you'd like to see on our site, and particular designer, style, brand etc.
The reason I ask, I had an e-mail from a customer asking if we could show some bigger pictures of some of our dies, there are 160 of these dies in stock, and many many more to come from the Manufacturer, so now faced with a difficult choice, do I grab 1 of each die and take an enlarged picture of said dies, or try and grab them from the Manufacturer???

Choices, decisions etc...

Thursday 26 February 2015

I've just noticed how masculine this site looks

Doing my usual morning checks before setting off to the office, see how many orders we have, how many contacts and queries, check Facebook, Google +, twitter etc then I came here to see if there were any comments, and was truck immediately at how masculine it looks.
This is not to say that I don't have a feminine side, just that when I was looking through the templates this particular one caught my eye.

So with this in mind, a quick question, does how a site/ bog look on screen influence your perceptions of that site?

For example, if the blog had warm soft colours with a decorate border make you think that this was more of a craft thing than just a rambling blog about lots of different things?

Just found a picture which shows this perfectly, there's lots of styles on there, but all about the same thing.


Tuesday 24 February 2015

As I'm staring out of the office window, I notice ...

That today, truly is 4 seasons in one day, not the Crowded House song, but the actual weather, it's currently bright and sunny, but 10 minutes ago it was grey, sleet and miserable, before then we had howling winds.

Lunch devoured, pondering on the very British weather I started searching through our site for dies and stamps relating to Seasons, and was surprised (I really shouldn't be by now) at the vast array of choices available, and that's not to mention holiday specific ones, Christmas, Easter (just round the corner) and any others.

Have a look here at some of the season themed dies we have available.

And I have no idea who I need to mention about the picture above, cannot find any copyright information for it, whoever created it, thank you :o)

Monday 23 February 2015

Anddddd it's the start of a new week...

Which means it's a brand new week, full of  endless possibilities, opportunities and excitement.

They say a change is as good as a rest, a tonic for the soul as it were.

Well, great news we've just launched an extensive range of new products for us.

Click here to see the range





Tonic Studios Dies have Twenty Five collections including Affections, Bow, Butterflies and Blooms, Christmas, Circle, Corner, Decorative Envelope, Doily, Embossing Folder and Dies, Floral, Frame and Insert, Header Fold, Keepsake, Layering, Oval, Rings, Rococo, Round Window, Semi, Sentiments, Silhouette Scenes, Square, Strip, Tag and Topper.

Their elegant collections of high quality steel dies designed to co-ordinate with each other.

Tonic Studios Dies can be used in most leading die cutting machines; Grand Calibur by Spellbinders, Cuttlebug by Provocraft, Big Shot by Sizzix and eBosser by Craftwell.

Friday 20 February 2015

The weekend hoves into view ...



If Friday's aren't on your calendar, then they really should be!

Make a new calendar, lots of resources available to make one by hand which brings me nicely to these, a couple of dies which have Months and dates on them.



We have both of them in stock, we also have 1000's of other dies too, have a look at these and the rest of our dies.
AND!!!!!!!!!!! ignore the prices in the picture above, they're now actually only £4.95 each and all our orders are free delivery too.



And all that's left to say is....

Thursday 19 February 2015

I've been thinking ...

Whilst driving home I was listening to the windscreen wipers squeak across the screen, the car in front's brake lights dazzling me, and I thought about this new blog. We ought to have our creative customers, sharing their tips and trick, advice and know how.
I'm not a crafter, I don't claim to be, however,  sure that with some guidance I might be able to make something pretty, then again it might be an absolute mess, but I could then just say it's a modernist interpretation of a card, with an ironic twist to it.
We'll see :o)

I'm back! Well, sort of


Years ago, I used to be IconUK Idiot Web Master, a title bestowed on me by a customer who couldn't quite manage to work out how to do something, and them blamed me for their own failings.
Thus, they left a review saying ... I blame the idiot Web master, it's all his fault.

Thus a blog was born.

I've found the blog again, but can't get back to it for some reason, well it has been about 7 years since I wrote that particular blog.

But I'm back with IconUK and better than ever before, there's been some huge changes, a change in products is a complete opposite of what we used to do, from PC building, mending and peripherals, we're now a leading light in the craft die market.

Back to there here and now though.

A new site beckons, a new set of products in the shop, a new challenge and best of all, new people to connect to and with.

We source paper cutting dies from around the world, and associated products likewise.
When a delivery arrives, it's with a great amount of interest, where was this packed, who packed it etc etc etc.