Things With Wings challenge

It's Brenda here with you again today with my second sample for the fabulous Things With Wings challenge hosted by the lovely Jane.

I have used a background I made for a technique post on my blog and added a beautiful Tim Holtz butterfly and sentiment. Although it looks as though it shouldn't have taken me too long to do, it actually took me all morning to get the butterfly and substrate right and that's with the background already made - what am I like!!!! If you'd like to see all the details do mosey on over to Bumblebees and Butterflies, I'd love to see you pop in. xxx

Wildflower heart garden

Hi Brenda here sharing my second project for our HEARTS challenge this month using an mdf heart that had been painted up eons ago but served my purpose perfectly to add Tim's wildflowers and some DecoArt media acrylics to create a dark corner of a summer garden.

I would love to see you at Bumblebees and Butterflies where there are more photos and details of the process steps.

I hope you are enjoying the challenge and have hopefully entered a project already.

Enjoy walking in a garden somewhere whether that be your own or one you are visiting.

hugs Brenda xxx

Flower Power #2

Hi it's Brenda here from Bumblebees and Butterflies and here I am sharing my second project for the Flower Power challenge and I promised you the finished journal to the covers I showed you on the 1st May. This was them.

I took the first set of panels (the design on the left) to make this finished piece .....

... and all the details of how I made the journal itself are on my blog today.

Grab a cuppa on the way over as there are lots of photos and steps for you to peruse if you have time.

I hope you are enjoying the challenge and have been able to pop over and took a look at the inspiration projects from the design team.

Have fun.

hugs Brenda xxx

Mixed Media Rust

Hi it's Brenda here with my second inspiration project for this month's rusty challenge.

This is very different for me and I'm still not sure about it, yet I really quite like, I'm in a quandary. This is a 5 x 7 canvas board created with metal and mdf embellishments and using DecoArt Mixed Media Fluid Acrylic paints. Even as I'm writing this post I'm wondering whether I should put something else on it like remnant rubs or a quote chip. So if you'd like to see more details and photos I would love to see you over at Bumblebees and Butterflies and maybe between us we can decide whether it needs anything else.

xxx

Having fun with the new Tim Holtz Oxides.

With apologies, some of you have already seen this post but it published at the wrong time - probably my fault lol. Thank you to those who have already left comments and here it is again in it's correct slot.

Hi it's Brenda here today to share a little playtime I had recently using the new Distress Oxides from Tim Holtz. I haven't completed a project as I spent time playing with a palette of three colours, spritzing, dipping and drying many layers to create these fabulous backgrounds.

If you would like to see more then pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies and also keep a watch out on the project blog over the next couple of weeks where I will be showing how I used these two pieces in a project.

Don't forget to take a look at the Challenge Blog to see the challenge details 'Inspired by Tim Holtz' and all the fabulous entries we already have. (You'll find the link on the sidebar).

hugs Brenda xxx

Masculine card in under 30 minutes?

Hi Everyone, Brenda here with a card for a man that I really did manage to get finished within the 30 minutes deadline for this challenge.

Having boxes of bits of all sorts is really handy to have when you want to get something made pretty fast and getting a man's card done has got to be an achievement as we all find them difficult right?

So pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies to see how this one came to fruition and how useful those discarded elements can be.

Have a wonderful weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

Baby, You're a STAR

Hi it's Brenda here and I'm sharing an easel card with you today to fit in with the theme of STARS which is our challenge for November.

I love adding an easel to a canvas board so that it makes a standing card to give a friend, I think it makes it kinds special.

If you'd like to see how I made it then please pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies for more details.

Hopefully with our continuous projects appearing on the blog we are enticing you to join in and enter the challenge, you can press the link Here or on the sidebar of the main challenge blog page to see more about it.

Enjoy your weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs Brenda xxx

Spooky pink shrine

Welcome to my Friday inspiration project for the Spooky challenge we have going this month.

There are some apothecary bottles with nasty poisonous things in them, a ghoulish image and a rat coming to have a nosy around in case there's anything for him. Pink you say? Yes pink for a change. There are more details and photos at Bumblebees and Butterflies for you to peruse.

Have a happy weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

Travel #2 for the current challenge

Hi it's Brenda here following up my first project for the new travel challenge by completing a couple of pages in my travel journal that I first showed on my blog here and on the Country View Project blog here.

The arty page uses a photo I took and altered in Photoshop Elements and some Tim Holtz dies and DecoArt media paints. If you would like to see the mixed media style background process steps and more photos please join me on Bumblebees and Butterflies, I would love to see you.

I hope your week is going well.

hugs Brenda xxx

Our CVC Hot Summer Days continue

I am scheduling this post so I hope the weather remains nice and warm in the UK for August!!!!

It's Brenda here with my second project for Jane's Hot Summer Days challenge and oh boy my journal pages are burning lol.

I have used DecoArt media paints and mediums on these pages ........

.... with texture through a stencil .......

.... and napkins for the main images.

I hope you are enjoying sunshine wherever you are in the world even if it might be a cold day in the southern hemisphere.

We are looking forward to seeing all your projects being lined up.

hugs Brenda xxx

Through the eye of the lens .....

Hi Brenda here with a very different piece where I have actually painted as well as created a very unusual piece of art.

This was created with three wooden boards with different sized circles cut out of them (I picked these up from the Ally Pally show some time ago). I had the idea of creating a camera lens effect with an eye peering through it. So if you want to see how it was made please pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies for a closer look.

Have a fun and creative week and don't forget the Circles challenge is still on till the end of the month.

hugs Brenda xxx

Canvas board and stencilling.

Hi it's Brenda here today to show you a media board created with stencils, texture paste and DecoArt media acrylic paints.

I love lots of technique in my backgrounds and layered two different stencils to create the backdrop for this grungy framed found relative and flowers left over from my CVC reverse canvas workshop. I've happily shown a few more photos of the process steps over at Bumblebees and Butterflies if you can make it.

Don't forget our challenge is still open for another week and the blog hop is also running with the fabulous sizzix big shot and dies as a prize, so do pop over to the challenge post to see what's going on.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

Industrial Chic?

Hi it's Brenda here and I am using canvas board today to create my second sample for our Industrial challenge (Find the quick link on the side panel if you would like to be transported there). I wanted to make something slightly different and as I like contrasts in my work I thought I would see what a shabby coloured background would look like with industrial, aged and time worn elements to embellish it.

Although I love the creation in real life the metallics I have used have made it difficult to take a decent photograph so you're really not seeing the best of it. But there's definitely a distinct contrast in the shabby and time worn colours so I guess it could be called industrial chic, what do you think?

As always there are more photos over on my blog, it would be lovely if you could come and visit at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

Woo hoo - It's our Birthday

Hi Everyone and welcome to our special birthday challenge. We start with an amazing theme from Debs who has chosen 'Industrial' for us to focus on, so we are looking for industrial images, embossing folder textures, something mechanical, metallic colours with cogs and wheels, robots or something normal made to look metallic/industrial.

Debs

Hi everyone, Debs back, and im sharing a very grungy tag with you. It was a good opportunity to get out the gears makes some flowers and stick it all together with black thick grease (metaphorically speaking). My inspiration? Thoughts of a bygone age when industry was established and man was attempting to mechanicalize everything. Have fun! You can see how this come together here.

Gabrielle

I had lots of fun creating my mechanical heart for this month's Industrial theme. Lots of die cuts, alcohol inks and paints were used! Can't remember the last time I used my alcohol inks so thank you Debs for choosing this theme! More, as always, on my blog. Gabrielle x

Doreen

Wow this was a bit of a hard one for me, I wasn't sure what do do for Industrial so I really hope you like my first make. More details on my blog.

Monika

For our March challenge I made a boyish card using robot stamps, gears and metal embossing folder  to reach an industrial effect. If you want to know more about the supplies, please jump to my blog.

Rachel

Hello there - Rachel here with my first make for the theme Industrial - I had such fun making this Debs - thanks for the challenge! You can find out how I did it on my blog here.

Nikki

When I did my version of Tim Holtz's January tag I made a mental note to try a similar idea for a birthday card! Do pop over to Addicted to Art to see the details and a second version.

Jennie

I am having great fun working with these slim pieces of greyboard and this piece was just perfect to try out some wonderful industrial techniques learnt at a recent workshop with Andy Skinner. Do join me over on my blog if you would like to see some more details.

Sue


Good morning it's Sue here with my first 'Industrial' piece. Living in the North of England our industry has always been coal mining, and this stamp reminds me of pit head winding gear which is now sadly no longer around.

Full details can be found here on my blog x

Brenda

I've a really quirky project for you this month, my inspiration was an old rusty camera but as the project grew, ideas changed and new bits and pieces got added. It definitely has an old and weathered look and the real thing would have been manufactured in a factory.  I have called this 'Through the Lens of Time'.

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So it's over to you now, create your project and link it below and let's see who wins the birthday voucher from Susan this month. To celebrate a bit more there will be an extra special prize and activity coming up for the beginning of April so stay tuned.  And don't forget to come back throughout March for more inspiration - including our January winner Karen of Karen's Crafting Obsessions who will be Guest Designing for us later this month.

hugs Brenda and the CVC team xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

DT CALL

Hi Everyone we are looking for some new members to join the Design Team.

Are YOU interested?

If so, we're looking for someone with the following credentials: 

* An experienced crafter with a good knowledge of the current craft market, genres, techniques and products, particularly those sold on the Country View Crafts web shop:
* Someone who been blogging their own craft projects regularly for at least 6 months (preferably, though not essentially, using Blogger):
* Someone who can re-size photos for the blogs and can host a challenge post and a winners post:
* Can contribute at least 2 projects per month:
* Has the time to contribute to commenting on our linked entries:
* Can commit to being part of the DT for a minimum of 12 months.

If this is you, please contact Susan at sales@countryviewcrafts.co.uk providing the name and a link to your blog and explaining how you feel you meet the credentials above and what you feel you can offer if you were to be chosen as a new Country View Crafts Design Team Member.

CLOSING DATE:   Friday February 19th 2016

Background for Valentine's day

Hi Everyone - Brenda here sharing my second background for the month and taking a real opportunity to use it to make my hubbie a valentine's day card.

I love the shabby, vintage typography of the words and the technique for achieving the distressed look using distress paints and distress inks is one of Tim's but I have described more and finished the card with the details up on my blog today. It would be lovely to see you at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Wherever you are on Sunday have a lovely Valentine's day with those family and friends that you love.

hugs Brenda xxx

February - Make your own Background

Today Sue is challenging us to make backgrounds for a project, whether that be cards, journal pages, book covers, hangings, altered boxes etc, etc or whatever comes to mind. The team have put their thinking caps on and been making a variety of different types of backgrounds and don't forget if you pop back every other day you will find as adding more inspirational pieces to whet your appetite.

Let's take a look at what we have for you today -

Jennie

Having received a lovely new set of stamps for Christmas I decided to experiment with them on a double spread journal page, making the background using as many of the stamps as possible along with stencils and distress inks. Please join me on my blog if you would like more details.

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Doreen

I have made a Monoprint background today using my Gelli Plate.

More details over on my Blog

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Debs

Hello everyone, Debs here, with a great theme for me, as I just love creating my own backgrounds, and use them in most of my art. It gave me the opportunity to use loads of layers with stencils paints and inks. Please visit my blog to see more.

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Rachel

I had such fun using my gelli plate to help create this bright background for a journal spread. I hope you can pop along to visit me at my blog to get step by step details! Big hugs. Rachel x

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Astrid

This being February I decided to make a Valentines' card for my first project. The background was made with a gelli print. If you want to see more detail, hop over to my blog and Happy February!

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Monika

For the February Challenge of the CVC I have created a wintry canvas with Tim Holtz Umbrella Man. I was inspired by a black and white photo and I wanted to make my own version with my stamps and cutouts. If you would like to see my tutorial, please visit my blog and click here.

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Alison

Well, Sue could hardly have come up with a better theme for me... it's rare that I don't make my own background, and it's also often the case that the background is my favourite part, whether of my own or of other people's projects!  For this first tag I used my favourite inky background technique, wrinkle-free-distress.  Come over to Words and Pictures if you'd like to see some more details.

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Nikki

I decided to make a card using a textured background I had previously created - incorporating scraps of text, texture paste and distress paints. I added a few flowers and sentiment to complete my arrangement.

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 Gabrielle

I was so excited to play along with the challenge this month. I LOVE making backgrounds with lots of paint, stencils and stamps. This background uses four stencils! TO see the background before this was finished, please pop to my blog! Gabrielle x

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Brenda

 I love making my own backgrounds and had great fun with stamps, crackle paste and inks to create the backdrop for my collage. I have more details on how it was constructed on my blog. 

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Thanks to everyone who took up the challenge last month to be inspired by bottles. There are some fabulous entries and the winner will be announced soon.

Have fun making your own backgrounds, we look forward to seeing them linked below.

hugs Brenda and the Team xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Blue bottles

No not those horrid flying ones but grungy mixed media ones.

Hi it's Brenda with you again today and I had great fun making a mixed media board using mainly DecoArt products media acrylic paints with a little distress.

Theres lots of colour and texture built up in layers for the background and then I added the bottles, photos and some rusty elements too. For more details and a few more photos please join me over at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

#35 January 2016 - Be inspired by BOTTLES

Welcome to our new challenge and the first for 2016. Before we venture any further we would like to wish you

HAPPY NEW YEAR

from everyone at Country View Challenges.

We hope that the new year is full of magic and promise of good times ahead.

To get us into the mood for crafting after the holidays we would like you to be inspired by bottles.  We use them every day and they are common items in our homes but usually they end up in the recycling bin without another thought. So the team have put their thinking caps on and come up with some wonderful transformations to whet your appetite. Let's take a look at what they have been creating.


Rachel

Hello there and a Happy New Year to you! Rachel here with my first take on this wonderful theme of being inspired by bottles. You can get full details on my blog here.

Rachel xx

Jennie

For Brenda's wonderful challenge I took the opportunity of  altering an old air freshener bottle with crackle paint, paints, an adhesive pearl embellishment, lace, flowers and an old button. Do please join me on my blog for all the details and to see how my bottle was transformed.

Debs

Hello Everyone Debs here; Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a wonderful time. I haven't had much time to play but this weekend is all mine.

I had fun altering this bottle, the great idea of the lovely Brenda. Combining crackle and string worked well together and it's really simple. It's about 6 inches high and perfect for this little shelf. You can see all the details over on my blog, bye for now.

Nikki

I do love Tim Holtz Crackle Paint and it is used on this MDF wall hanging to crackle some little bottles and also the flowers. There are more details today over on my blog -  Addicted to Art - it would be lovely to see you there.


Monika

The first challenge theme of 2016 was chosen by the lovely Brenda: Inspired by bottles. So I have brought you here a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans jar. On my blog the most popular blogpost is "Jar for the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" this is why I have decided to make a new version of this jar with Sizzix. More details on my blog. And happy new year!




Sue


Hi and Happy New Year! I thought I would go along with the New Year theme for my first bottle, so here's the gang wishing you lots of happiness. Full details can be found here on my blog.

Gabrielle

Happy New Year! I love using bottles in projects - as bottles, or the bodies of people or as something completely different! For my projects this month I have envisaged a bottle as a vase. This PaperArtsy bottle is a great size to hold this flower! More details are on my blog. Gabrielle x


Brenda

 

I transformed an old Starbucks bottle into a New Years Eve table decoration. It has a number of layers on it before I could say I was happy with the effects I had achieved and once displayed on my buffet table I was really rather pleased with the results. Pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies to see more.

Alison

I love bottles, so I was very happy to see Brenda's theme for January - I'm always inspired by bottles!  My first offering is a fairly simple one - an ATC, a stamp, some paints and some Glossy Accents.  If you'd like to see more, do pop over to Words and Pictures.  And a happy New Year to you all!

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 Thank you all for a wonderful 2015 with all your amazing entries to our various challenges and we are looking forward to seeing what you create for 2016. 

Have a fun and creative year.

hugs Brenda and the CVC Team xxx

An InLinkz Link-up