Up, up and away with Sue D...

Good morning all!

Today is our last post for the month but what a fabulous make to bring you from our clever Sue D...

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SUE D

For my second piece life is a little less hectic. I've always wanted to go in a hot air balloon, but being afraid of heights it's maybe not something I'll be doing very soon. In fact this is probably as close as I'll get...

 As always details can be found here on my blog x

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What a great project Sue, fabulous, thank you!

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just a couple of days left to get your projects finished and entered - we hope you will!  

We'll be back with you on Saturday with a brand new month and a brand new challenge so dont forget to pop back and see us again then!  In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the week and have fun!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

What a way to leave us! Bye-bye Sue!

Good Day all!

We're tinged with more than a little sadness today as we publish this post from our lovely, talented Sue B (scrumplescrunch) as this is her last post/project from her here on our team.  >:o(

Sue has always produced the most stunning makes and today's is no different...

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SUE B

A mini Suitcase worn and weathered.

This is no precut shape, you can view how it was put together on my BLOG.

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 This is gorgeous Sue, beautifully done - thank you!

We're sure you'll want to join in with us and wish Sue well for her future ventures and ask her not to be a stranger.  Thanks for all your hard work Sue and for being a fabulous and supportive team member!   GOOD LUCK!!

We'll be here again on Monday - cya then!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Gabrielle's flying over Paris...

Morning all!

We're three quarters of the way through the month and time to think about what you're going to enter if you haven't already.  This morning Gabrielle is back sharing some of her fabulous journallingwith us....

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GABRIELLE

For my second post this month I returned to my journal to make a postcard themed page reflecting the travelling theme. I love this hot air balloon stamp so it was a real pleasure to dust it off! As always, there is more details on my blog. Gabrielle x

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This is gorgeous Gabrielle and we agree, it's a great stamp and so under-used!  Thank you!

Whether you're journallng, scrapping, cardmaking, loving your tag art or 3D crafts we want to see what you're up to.  Everyone has a chance of winning as our winner is drawn at random.  We also award 4 blog badges to those we think have created great interpretations of our theme.

Nikki will be with us on Thursday so do pop back for another visit then.

Have fun!!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Pamellia's travels are where we want to go!

Good morning everyone!

This morning we're joined by a guest and one who will be known, not just as a regular contributor to our challenges but also as a previous guest and one of our crafters carving their own name for themselves out there in Blogland.  She is admired for both her creativity and originality and we're so pleased she's agreed to join in and guest with us again today - Pamellia of My Little Craft Things...

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Hello Everyone! My name is Pamellia Johnson and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wonderful husband and our two little girls, Scully (a teacup Maltese) and Pebbles (a teacup black Pomeranian). 

I have been crafting in some form or another ever since I was a little kid, thanks to my very creative and talented Mom. I've dabbled in all sorts of crafts, but I think what I enjoy making the most is handmade cards, and I really love doing shabby chic projects with tons of lace, pearls and flowers!

I have very recently tried my hand at mixed media journalling and I am pretty addicted, so when I heard the theme "On Your Travels" I just knew what I wanted to do. I have put together a journal page using lots of different mixed media products. I built a mountain range out of gloss gel and added lots of postcards and stamps. For lots more pictures and to watch a video of how I put this together, please visit my blog at My Little Craft Things.

 

Thank you so much to Chris and the Country View Challenge team for inviting me to spend the day with them. I am thrilled and honoured to be here with such a talented group of artists. I do hope I have inspired you to join in this month for this amazing and fun theme.

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Wow, this is fabulous Pamellia, you never fail to impress us - thank you!!

So folks, here is another inspirational piece to get you chomping at the bit and, we hope, ready to join in!

Gabrielle will be here on Tuesday - see you then!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Doreen's scrapping today...

Hello Bloggers!

Doreen's here with us this morning and we're pleased to see she's sharing a scrapbook page, we don't see too many of those these days...

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DOREEN

I have a Scrapbook layout for my second piece this month

Really enjoyed doing this as I haven't done one for a long time...

As always there is more info about this on my blog.

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A fabulous layout Doreen, it shouts out exactly what our theme is all about - thank you!

Come on then folks, get those crafting goodies out, we'd like to see where you've been travelling to or, perhaps, where you're going....?

Another terrific guest post on Sunday but until then, have a great weekend!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Meet our new faces...

Good morning everyone!

Last month we saw Donna leave us for pastures new and, sadly, we'll be losing Sue B (scrumplescrunch) too at the end of this month.  It's always sad to see our lovely, talented DT Members leave us but that is the way of Blogland - life, family and new opportunities call out and pull us in all directions.  The only upside to these sad times is that we have the opportunity to have new talent join us so today we're introducing THREE new team members to you - here they are, alphabetically...

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DEBS of Deborah Wainwright

Hello everyone, I'm so excited and thrilled to be here. The theme this month is 'On Your Travels' and was chosen for us by the lovely Trace. 

So for my first post I'm sharing a postcard. It is a bit battered as it's been travelling around the world. It's become grubby and difficult to read, and some of the paint, used to cover the original picture has peeled off, but it has survived. Please visit my blog to see how I created this card.

See you all soon Hugs  Debs xx

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MONIKA of Misteltoe Home Decoration

For the July Challenge of the CVC I have brought a mixed media board. It was an old chalk board in the attic and I decided to alter it for the challenge, called: On your travels.

I live in Luxembourg, in a a tiny little country that is actually a Grand Duchy (hahaha!). So from here you can easily go to London, Paris or Rome. It is not a big deal!

If you would like to know how I made this board, please go to my blog where you can find a quite detailed tutorial. Thanks a lot, Monika

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RACHEL of Fisher's Cards and Crafts

Hello there! I have been busy making a file folder on the theme of travel - when I first saw the theme I knew I wanted to use all of the stamps from the time travellers set from Stampers Anonymous so I thought a file folder was the best was to get all the the stamps in play! It reminds me a little bit of a travel document wallet complete with luggage labels. You can see the full details on my blog here. Thanks for looking! Rachel xx

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These are gorgeous projects Ladies, well done, a great debut - thank you!

We know what a great and supportive bunch of followers we have so we're sure that you will want to join in with the rest of our team and welcome our new DTMs into the fold - WELCOME LADIES - we're looking forward to working with you!  >:o)

We're half way through the month folks so if you haven't joined in yet have a think about what you might enter.  If you've entered already, well, you can still enter again, lol!

Doreen will be here on Friday, don't forget to join us then.

Have fun!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

June's winners!

Hi everyone!

Tonight we announce not just the winners of last month's challenge but also the winner to our commenting 'spot' candy too!  We're delighted to see that you are all still crafting and joining in out there but we would like to see more - is that greedy of us?

Anyways.... here are your winners...

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WINNER OF JUNE'S CHALLENGE

Our winner of the £20 shop voucher for June's challenge (as chosen by random.org) is....

#69 - Donna of Inky and Quirky:

Well done Donna, your prize voucher/email will be with you in a few days!!

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TOP 3 Winners:

Our Top 3 winners are chosen by Astrid, these are her choices and comments in numerical order....

#10 - Tracey F of Today's Beautiful Moments, Tomorrow's Beautiful Memories

"This is a stunning card, beautifully created with a great lay out. I particularly loved the beautiful flowers and leaves."

#15 - Moira of The Altered Ego

"Gorgeous textured card in a wonderful colour combination and beautiful stamping."

 #23 - Olga of Building Your World

"I loved the originality of this piece with that super tea set and amazing background."

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DT Member's Special Mention (for the most creative and original interpretation):

#5 - Asia King of Under A Creative Spell

 "I love the beautiful flowers she created and the way she arranged them around her sentiment."

Great work everyone, your blog badges and invites are winging their way to you all!

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Our Magpie Day Commenter's Candy

Our candy competition was open until the end of the challenge.  The winner, as chosen by random.org is:

#27 - Karen Petitt

Congrat's Karen, please email us using the widget on the sidebar and we'll get the candy posted to you!!

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Phew!!  There we go folks, so many prizes to be awarded!  Let's hope you get busy and join us for this month's challenge and you too could be a winner!

Have a wonderful evening!!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Lucky Jane's been crafting in the shadow of a mountain...

Hello friends!

It's a guest post today and many of you will know Jane, she's a regular entrant to our challenges as well as being a previous winner.  Jane is here to share her interpretation with us and what a beautiful project it is...

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JANE of Jane's Journal

Hi I am Jane of Jane's Journal and I work as a physiotherapist for the NHS as a musculoskeletal therapist. This is a job I love but it is busy and stressful and I find crafting the perfect way to relax. I have been a "make and do girl" since I could hold a pencil and as well as card making I am a silversmith,  jewellery maker and cake decorator.  I also adore getting out into my tiny garden when the weather allows me to. I am married to a wonderful man who not only tolerates my hobbies but actively encourages me. I have 2 grown up children and in November my darling first grandbaby arrived, Daisy Jane. I have no real "type" of card making as I love learning new techniques and I happily craft in both girlie and grungy mode. I have a garden studio lovingly built for me by my husband and Dad 2 years ago so when the weather is warmer I can disappear and craft away. We also share our home with a fab cat called Billy who regularly features in my blog. Thanks so much  for asking me to feature as one of your guest designers. 

 

Hello I am Jane of Jane's Journal. 

I am delighted to be featured today as a Guest Designer here at Country View .  I am and always will be, a make and do girl and I have an artistic streak in me which is constantly looking at new ideas and challenges, most recently art journalling.  I am also a keen photographer, gardener, silversmith, cake maker,.......the list never ends! I am also an NHS physiotherapist so my crafting is my relaxation. I love sharing my processes over on my blog, which will be celebrating it's 5th birthday later this month. I LOVE blogging and I have met so many wonderful friends.  I have a sweet little garden studio where I am lucky to sit out in the summer, when I am not at work, and craft amongst the flowers.  When Chris contacted me and told me that the theme for July's Challenge  was to be "On your Travels" I decided that our holiday in Sicily could be recorded in a handmade travel journal. I took various supplies away with me and I even crafted in the shadow of Mount Etna. If you would like to see inside my journal (I have given a sneak peek) do pop over to my blog. Thanks again Chris for inviting me and enjoy the summer everyone. Crafty hugs to you all xx

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How beautiful this is and how fabulous to have crafted your project whilst you were actually away - brilliant Jane, thank you!

What is your take on our theme?  It might be an imaginary journey, it could be real, somewhere you've been, somewhere you'd like to visit, a safari, the seaside, so many, many options - we'll leave that up to you!

On Wednesday we'll be back with several projects and some news...... join us then to find out what it is.

Have fun!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Crafting good ideas from Brenda....

Greetings all!

Brenda's here with us this morning sharing not just some terrific craft but a good idea too...

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BRENDA

I used a mix of stamps to create luggage tags for my travel bags. I'm considering laminating them and using them for real. No-one else would have anything like them and these would be easily spotted on the carousel.

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Fabulous tags Brenda and what a terrific idea too!  Why not laminate them both, one for the luggage and the other for a book mark by the pool.....?  Beautiful work - thank you!

We have another guest with us on Monday with another great project - don't miss it!

Have a great weekend!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Something a little different from Astrid

Good morning folks!

If you've not thought about recording your holidays, or even booking them yet, then this beautiful make from Astrid is sure to fire you up and put you in the mood to do so!

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ASTRID

I love to keep a journal when travelling and no travel journal is complete without the addition of a little pouch I think, perfect to keep all those little tickets and other travel memorabilia. If you want more details on how I put this together, please visit my blog for more details and a step by step.

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Absolutely gorgeous Astrid, and so useful, thank you!

How are you doing?  Have you thought about what you'd like to make and enter yet?  We do hope so because we LOVE seeing how you interpret our themes and what you're making right now.  Remember, EVERYONE has a chance of winning our £20 shop voucher, so generously donated by Country View Crafts, so c'mon, what are you waiting for?

Brenda will be back with us on Saturday with another beautiful make - hope to see you then!

Have a great day!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Still travelling...

Good morning everyone,

Phew, are you warm enough?  I've been taking a break, AND put the ceiling fans on, to get some crafting done...

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CHRIS

My second project this month is a card, one for the guys no less.  You can find the details in a step x step on my blog.  Have a fun day!!  Chris xxx

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That's our first week over and we're delighted to see you joining in already - thank you!

Astrid will be here on Thursday sharing another of her projects with us so we hope to see you then.  Keep cool and remember the SPF 50! LOL

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Trace is showing us what it's all about!

Hello friends!

Trace is with us this morning as, having chosen our theme, she is the first DT Member to share her second make with us.  Talk about setting the bar high - what a fab, fab make!!...

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TRACE

For my second make inspired by travel I created this mini travel album full of plenty of space to add details, pictures and souvenir's from your travels. I had lots of fun with my DecoArt goodies, Tim Holtz papers and dies . All the details can be found on my blog here . Trace x

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This is gorgeous Trace, beautifully crafted and such a sensational gift for those photographic memories and souvenirs - thank you!!

We're definitely off and running now!  It might be hot out and we know that the sun lounger, the garden and the barbeque are all very tempting but we're hoping that you'll grab some 'cool time' and get some crafting in too!  Join us, we'd like to see what you make of Trace's theme and your travel memories too of course!

We'll be back on Tuesday, see you then!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Kristiina is guesting today!

Hello there Crafters!

This morning we're delighted to feature a project from a guest, a previous Top 3 winner, who is sharing her beautiful make with us...Kristiina...

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KRISTIINA of paperimajuri

My name is Kristiina, and I live in Finland. I started crafting “for real” last autumn. I had of course crafted before that, but that is when I started blogging -just for the sake of taking part in craft challenges. Challenges encourage me to try out new techniques, new colour combinations or dig into new topics and themes. Sometimes that means stepping outside my comfort zone, sometimes just enjoying what I feel most comfortable with. I love all sorts of challenges, they keep my crafting mojo churning!

My project evolved from the lovely sentiment from Martin Buber. I had several options in consideration, and ended up with one of my favourite combinations: a coarse textured (homemade) background and an intricate, fussy cut image. You are welcome to check out more details on my blog :)

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Such a beautiful card Kristiina, wonderful colours, a great image and beautiful message - thank you!

Whether you're into contemporary images, vintage, retro, whatever it is you like, we'd like to see them too.  It promises to be a long hot month so we hope you'll grab some time out sometime along the way and join us!

Trace will be with us on Sunday with the first of our individual DT posts so please join us again then.

Have a fab weekend!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

July promises to be a sizzler!

Hello friends and welcome to another new challenge!

July is kicking off to a great start weather ise and we have a brilliant theme for you this month, chosen by our lovely Trace. Becaue it's the beginning of the holiday season, the kids are breaking up from school, the weather is promising to have us sizzling, what better topic could we have than...

If you're new to our blog then please read/follow our simple rules (they're pretty standard, but failing to observe them renders your entry invalid and it will be disqualified).  We will be publishing a new post every other day from today, DT Members and Guests, throughout the month and last month's winners as well as our special commenters' candy winner will be announced inbetween.

We're hoping that you'll have as much fun with this theme as we all have and to lead our team out we have a special guest,  previous winner Louise, sharing her interpretation...

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LOUISE of Crafting Mum Louise

I have been cardmaking for quite a few years now but it is funny thinking about it i have always collected pretty stationary when i was younger and i used to make my own letters and envelopes.  I am a mother to two beautiful boys and wife to my wonderful husband, he has to share a craft room with me so puts up with my stuff everywhere, but the boys love playing with mummy's crafty bits! I will have a go at most things, but my favourite is Stamping, die cutting and embossing. It was a work collugue who got me started on cards about 8 - 9 years now and i still love it. I also like Sewing, baking and collecting shells to make picture frames etc. Thanks you for letting me be Guest DT on your challenge, thanks Louise x

I have used a Lily of the Valley Digi image i got from a magazine Papercraft Inspirations some years back. And coloured it in using Promarkers. The backing papers also a freebie from Quick cards magazine a few years ago.  

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TRACE

For my fist make I had lots of fun making two mdf panels using lots of distress goodies, ephemera and distress products to create this pair of travel inspired pieces . As always the details can be found on my blog here . Trace x

ASTRID

I decided to take a different approach to the theme for this project. Sometimes our travels may involve more of an inner journey rather than an outer one and we are on the way to destinations as yet un-known. That's what I wanted to express with this little hanger. Details and a step by step can be found HERE.

BRENDA

All these people have been on their travels and I have created a travel memory card for each of them. Each piece of ephemera has a meaning for their visit, I love the idea and am going to personally adopt it for when I go off on my travels too.

CHRIS

I decided to combine all the elements I considered that the theme might be aboutconveyed to me into one project and this was the result - a canvas!  You can find details of the products and my step x step on my blog.  Chris xxx

DOREEN

Hello to you all, for my first make this month I have made a card

with a stamped scene, details can be found on my blog.

GABRIELLE

I love travelling. I love the journey itself, the anticipation of of what we'll find along the way and of course what we experience when we get there! Not too long ago we, as a family, took a trip to Brighton for the day - it should have taken 4 hours in total but took 9 and it was one of our best trips ever! This tag, using Tim Holtz stamps reminds me of the exciting trips abroad we've taken! As always, there's more on my blog. Gabrielle x

NIKKI

My tag today was quite a quick one made from a couple of tags used to mop up paint off my craft sheet. There are more details over at Addicted to Art today.

SUE B

A mini Travel Tag.

Mixed media, collage and crackle.

SUE D

I love to travel, some of my favourite times have been our family holidays. For my first piece this month I've made a London themed piece. Hope you like it.
Full details can be found here on my blog.

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There we have it dear friends, a great line up, even if we say so ourselves, and we're looking forward to a fabulous month - we're counting upon you to join in!

The winner (drawn at random) will receive a £20 shop voucher from our generous sponsor, Country View Crafts, and we'll also be awarding 4 blog badges for those projects we think have interpreted our theme the best.  All winners will be invited to join us as guests for a future challenge.

Whatever the weather, wherever you may be, HAVE FUN!!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

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