We’re running to the finish line…

Yes, we’re into the last length and running towards the finishing line! Here’s our last project post for this challenge month and it’s a lovely card from Chris.

www.mycornerofheaven.com

"The new Sizzix Flora Grande flower dies are beautiful! Designed by Prima (famous for their paper flowers) they're big and bold so I guess they're aptly named. I used Flora and their new Classique scroll as the basis for this card."

Another fab’ project Chris, thanks!

If you haven’t yet entered your make then you have a few days left to complete it and link it up. The winner gets a £20 shop voucher from our host, Country View Crafts and as everything is P&P free it really is good value! 

See you soon with the next challenge. Enjoy the rest of the month. xxx

Laura’s Wedgwood inspiration

Laura is the third of our Top 3 Merit award winners and this is the second month running she’s achieved it, well done Laura! Yet again she has given us a beautiful, beautiful project.

 

 http://www.laurabomber.blogspot.co.uk/

" I am so happy to be here as a guest designer again! When I was told that the challenge was to be about die cuts I decided to make a frame  - It was made with balsa wood and I used some die cut frames as a template. I had made a few hanging frames recently and wanted a slightly different style. Well if I am making one, why not make three?! So in the end I made a triptych. I decided to make something inspired by the gorgeous Wedgwood pottery. So that is how the creation began...trying to get the die cut flowers and leaves to look like they were part of a porcelain frame.  I added in various other trinkets, pins, buttons and metal charms and covered them with pale blue paint, followed by dry brushing layers of dark brown and white paint until I got the effect I wanted - This is such a fun technique to do and the effects are wonderful"

Thank you Laura, so creative!

We still have over a week to go, there’s plenty of time to submit your entry or, if you’ve entered already, to enter another. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like provided your entry is your own work. We will be featuring Brenda’s second project in a few days so do stop by and take a look.

Have a great weekend. xxx

A box from Chris

We’re not even 3/4 of the way through the challenge yet and we have so many beautiful and creative entries – thank you! For those of you who’ve been sitting on the sidelines wondering whether to join in or not let’s see whether this box from Chris helps.

www.mycornerofheaven.com

 "I was going through my dies and came across this beautiful bird cage and I'm ashamed to say I've had it well over a year and barely used it! I've also recently bought some of the new Tattered Lace dies too which are as yet unused. This is what I came up with."

Thanks Chris, a beautiful box! (Just in case there's any confusion, Chris has gone .com and renamed her blog but you should still be able to get there using the old blogspot address too.)

Hopefully this will provoke a few more thoughts for projects you can enter. We like to keep showing you makes all through the month because the challenge isn’t over ‘til the very last second! Don’t forget to pop back in a few days for the next project post which is from the lovely Laura of Laurart.

We hope you’re enjoying your week! xxx

Up next is Nicola!

The second of our April’s Top 3 to join us is Nicola, aka Paper Profusion with this outstanding butterfly box…

    

    

http://paperprofusion.blogspot.ie/

“I had a butterfly shaped box that needed some redecoration. To meet the 'Die Cuts' theme I've used dies in a few different ways. The most obvious of course are the butterflies cut using every butterfly die and punch that I possess. Two 'on the edge' dies are used to form a rim around part of the box (with grungeboard in between the paper layers). The raised centre panel is texture paste applied through a die cut. Prior to first gesso coat I placed grungeboard die cuts onto the lid for raised texture. Some border dies feature too.

Lots of buffing with distress inks, gilding paste, glass glitter, crackle, frantage, stamping and heat embossing. Finally added pearls and other bits and bobs to make those wings pretty!”

If this doesn’t convince us how well we’re investing every time we buy a die then I don’t know what will. (Hey, let’s face it, there are few of us that need an excuse, lol.) 

Are you still wanting more? We hope so because we’re just half way through and there’s lots more to come yet!

See you soon. xxx

Jennie’s second project

We’re not even half way yet and you’re certainly buzzing!

Today we’re treating you to Jennie’s second project for this month and the first card – what a stunner it is!

http://jennie-livethedream.blogspot.co.uk/

“For my second piece I have made a layered card using some of my favourite flower and leaf dies, along with dies for the doily, flourishes and sentiment.  I really don't think I could craft without my dies!”

Thanks Jennie, a fabulous card! If you haven’t yet visited Jennie’s blog and seen her great flower tutorials then you’re really missing out. Please do go and have a look, you’ll never have to buy a flower again!

Remember folks, you can enter as many projects as you like as long as they’re your work. Every entry is another chance to win!

More in a few days. xxx

Guest DTM piece - Karen P

We love having part of our challenge community crafting along side us. Our Top 3 Merit award winners are all invited to join us and the time at which they appear is a little pot luck and also scheduling dates to avoid other commitments. Our first Merit award winner strutting her stuff is the lovely Karen P of Stamping in pINK.

http://stampinginpink.blogspot.co.uk/

"This is a mini canvas - 5"x7".  I've made it as a gift for my husband as he loved it when it was finished so a little something from me to him! I used Marianne, Memory Box and Sissix dies plus a mini Tonic butterfly punch and different inks, paints, papers and card."

This is beautiful Karen, thank you for joining us on the bench this month and sharing your creativity.

Another member of the team will shedding their overalls to display their talents in a few days time so please pop back and see us soon.

Have a great weekend,

xxx

Winner and Top 3 plus….

Wow, our 'How does your garden grow?' challenge resulted in such fabulous entries it was hard to know where to start! THANK YOU ALL so much for sharing your beautiful projects with us! A BIG  THANK YOU too, to all our guest designers - the very arty Lin Brown (PaperArtsy) of Yours artfully), Alison (butterfly) of Words and Pictures, Laura of Laurart, Alison of Craftytrog's Inky Adventures and Jennie of Live the dream for supporting our challenge community and sharing their inspiration and creativity with us. 

This month we've decided that we are going to introduce something new - the 'DTM's Special Mention'. Each month the Design Team Member who has chosen the theme gets to choose the Top 3. We want to introduce this special mention for the entry we think has shown the best creative and original interpretation of the theme. The winner will get their own special blog button and will also be invited to guest as a designer for the following month's challenge. So, let's get to it! 

The winner (decided by random.org) is:

Congratulations to #79 - Julie Owens, your £20 shop voucher and winner's badge is on it's way! We hope you'll guest for us next month.

This month, the Top 3 have been chosen by Chris:

"I have to reiterate what my colleagues have expressed in previous months - it is so hard to choose! There have been so many beautiful entries it's difficult to know where to start. My thoughts on challenges is not how much you have but what you do with it. Therefore, I've based my decisions on how well I felt the project met the theme and on composition - the creativity with which the elements chosen had been brought together to convey the theme."

In numerical order:

	#23 - Asia King
	#30 - Lin
	#73 - Craftyfield

Congratulations to all three, your badges should be in your in-tray. We hope you'll join us as guests next month too. 

Chris’s DTM's Special Mention goes to:

#39 - Rosie x

"I've chosen Rosie's entry because it demonstrated the creative thought of doing something different. Starting with a photo', then using recent techniques and stitching, but adding parchment in an unusual way. I found this piece quite refreshing."

Congratulations Rosie, our first ever winner of the DTMSM award, your button should also be in your letterbox and we hope you'll step alongside us next month! 

Well done everyone and thanks again for taking part. xxx 

A second piece from Trace

As Trace has chosen this month's theme we've asked her to clean her inky pinkies (sorry, couldn't resist the pun on her blog name) and show us her second make of the month. How fab is this!!?

http://inkypinkycraft.blogspot.co.uk/

"Another die cut hanging board...but with a very different feel, soft and vintage for this one.I just love how die cuts can be made to look so very different every time . It is also amazing how they can all be combined together."

Wow, so many die cuts! We love this Trace, thank you!

We hope you're getting inspired and working on pieces to enter. Don't forget, the lucky winner received a £20 shop voucher!

xxx

Challenge #4 - June

Woweee, where did May go? We blinked and it was gone! Well challengers, the time has come for us to close one challenge and open another, so here we GO!

The challenge for June is a topic set by Trace which is (drum roll here please)...

DIE CUTS

Die cuts is the only requirement of the challenge so the interpretation is completely down to you. Look in your tool kits and get your imaginations going because we’re looking forward to seeing how creative you can be, what you've got and what you've made with them.

As usual, our fab Design Team Members have been working hard to come up with their own interpretations which we hope will help inspire you. Gabrielle will be taking a break this month and we wish her well soon but we see Jennie from Live the dream joining us as a f/t member of the DT – we’re sure you'll make her welcome.  

Don't forget that we also have our April winner, Sam, featuring alongside us today and our Top 3 Merit winners will be featuring all through the month too. We hope you like what we've created for you.

Sam – Feeling blue

“I was so thrilled to have won a £20 voucher and to be asked to be a part of the CVC’s DT as I shop there all the time which is the main reason I was so keen to support the new blog challenges. I used the negatives of the Postage Stamp Frame, Arch Frame Movers & Shapers and Mini Cabinet Card by Tim Holtz all cut from grey board.”

    

“I made a shadow box type back also from grey board as I wanted to give the piece some depth. The images are a mixture of PaperArtsy/Lynne Perrella Rubber Stamp sets LPC022, LPC023 and LPC005. The bottom left image is a Dina Wakley stamp – Grunge tree.”

http://sam21ski.blogspot.co.uk/

Trace – Steampunk hanging

http://inkypinkycraft.blogspot.co.uk/

“I love all things steampunk and so how could I resist cogs....and more cogs... I love how die cuts can be made to look so different depending on what they are cut from, how they are coloured and whether they are embossed...the world is your oyster..So here is my steampunk inspired die cut piece.”

Brenda – Childhood album

    

http://www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com/

“I am sure dies are part of every crafters tool kit and once upon a time I rarely used them but with so many new ones coming out, I keep buying more! This is a mini album created using the Tim Holtz Vintage Cabinet Card and the Mini Cabinet Card, used together to make frames. I love the Sizzix Bigz dies as they cut through so many materials, here I have used greyboard and card.”

Jennie – Sewing room hanging

http://www.jennie-livethedream.blogspot.co.uk/

“I love the fact that dies allow you to cut lots of layers all at once which is just perfect for creating this folded paper look which works so well with the Tim Holtz Sewing Room Dress Form.

My dies are always out on the desk and so I also used the TH Weathered Clock Die and a little Cuttlebug Heart Die.  The net leaves were cut from the TH Tattered Leaves Die and then zapped (quickly) with a heat gun to crinkle them up.”

Chris – Little birdhouse

http://www.mycornerofheaven.com/

"I wanted to create something that used different sized die cuts from the BigShot Pro down to the standard BigShot or Cuttlebug and this is what I came up with. I've even included the grass strip die using the SideKick. With the exception of the 4 tiny roses and the bird everything else was cut using dies. As a crafter who struggles with dexterity more often than not it's amazing what we can create with dies! You can see more pic's and what dies I used on my personal blog.”

Thanks to all our DTMs for these stunning projects, there’s plenty of inspiration in them. So, now it’s over to you! The Linkie is open and running, the clock is ticking and we’re dying to see how you’re going to meet the challenge. (Sorry about the pun, lol.)

Don’t forget the winner receives a £20 shop voucher and the chance to join us in August along with the Top 3 Merit award winners. We’ll be posting new projects for you to see every few days so please remember to come back and see us soon.

Good luck everyone!

Your Design Team xxx