OMG! You have to take your hat off to this one!

With the new challenge underway we're back today with the first of our Top 3 winners' posts for this month and what a stunning start! Here is Pauline's fabulous take on our 'Bah, humbug!' theme...

Pauline's project

"Thank you for asking me to be part of Country View Crafts and it an honour for me to share some of my crafts with you.

This months 'Bah Humbug' theme had me so excited.  I have used a variety of different mediums in this project from Stickles and stickers to grungeboard and Graphic 45.  The stamps are from Stampotique and I have used 'Gooseneck', 'Smile' and 'Blah Blah Blah'.  The snow has been made with white glitter and gesso and this has been generally rubbed all over the top hat.  I loved making paper chains as a child and for me this is still something I love to do so I really wanted to include this."

 This definitely has the 'wow' factor Pauline - thank you!

What you think of Pauline's project?  All winners donate their time and projects for us so please share some love and let them know.

We want to see what you're doing now so do be sure to enter your project and you could be the lucky winner of some free goodies.

Have a fab week everyone. xxx

Whoo-hoo, it's nearly Christmas

December is upon us and it's time to start finishing the last of our Christmas cards, get the pressies wrapped and think about the festivities. Some of us love Christmas and some of us are somewhat more cynical so we thought we'd like to keep an open mind with this month's challenge with a theme of.....

Bah, humbug!

Your project can be vintage (eg Dickensian) or contemporary, celebratory or cynical, make what you will, but we must be able to see something connected to Christmas. 

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Here are our DT's makes to get you going - Brenda and Trace are both on time out this month but they'll be back with you in January...

Chris

"'Bah humbug' has several connotations for me - a feeling of a Dickensian scene, Scrooge, etc. Don't get me wrong, I lurrrrve Christmas but I'm saddened and somewhat cynical at the brazen commerciality of it all. For my first piece this month I've focused on the later and chosen one of the somewhat sarcastic sentiments from one of the Dylusions text stamp sets...

 The sentiment is on the inside and the front looks like this...

 http://www.mycornerofheaven.com

 As usual, you can find the full details on my own blog."

Donna

"Well as it's the beginning of December what better than an Advent House in some lovely muted Christmas colours? Lots of distress paint and a little die cutting went into decorating this little advent house....."

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

Gabrielle

 http://gabrielle-price.blogspot.co.uk

"My tag is a homage to a Victorian Christmas card using some of the wonderful new Tim Holtz Christmas themed stamps. I absolutely love the expression on Santa's face and the twinkle in his eye and so I added two little banners. I love Christmas and the build up to the 'big' day is always really a special time in our house!"

Jennie

"This is my first attempt at a decorated bag and tag!  I just love these Winter Wonderland papers from Pion Design and thought they would be perfect for decorating a bag rather than a card.  The tag inside is held in place by a large brad.  I might get hooked!"

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

Sue

"I love the traditional side of Christmas especially the traditional images of Santa.

The vintage gold that Fresco Finish Old Gold creates over the top of Little Black Dress fits perfectly with the traditional theme too."

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

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This month we have a special Christmas surprise prize for the winner, you can select to take EITHER a £20 shop voucher to spend on the craft goodies of your choice OR you can select a ticket for our upcoming workshop in January worth £40 (travel at your own expense) run by Country View Crafts in conjunction with our very own Brenda Brown...

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

The Top 3 and DTMSM award winners will receive a blog badge and invitation to guest alongside us in February.

Whatever you do, have fun! We're looking forward to seeing what you make!

Have a great month everyone! xxx

Last but not least...

Our very creative Gabrielle is bringing up the rear this month with a fabulous push to the end!

 www.gabrielle-price.blogspot.co.uk

"For my second project for this month's theme of Letters I wanted to use a quotation as these are my very favourite ways to use letters. This is one of my very favourite quotations that many people will recognise as being pretty truthful!

I made a hanging using my favourite Wendy Vecchi Art Parts and stamps with a little Ideaology. The quotation is one of my favourite PaperArtsy stamps and I couldn't use any other colours but chocolate brown!"

 This is fabulous Gabrielle, thank you and I think that most of us relate to the message [g]!

We hope that this encourages you to make and enter a 'Letters' project of your own. Don't forget that there is a £20 shop voucher from our generous host, Country View Crafts which would make a great Christmas pressie for any crafter! You have until 11.50 pm on November 30th to enter so please lets see more of what you've been creating!

See you in December [gulp]! xxx

Look!! We've another teamie!!!

Yes, today we're delighted to announce another permanent DT Member joining us, the very talented and creative Sue C! Here s Sue's debut project for our 'Letters' challenge...

"I'm very excited to be here at Country View Crafts with my first DT piece ! As soon as I saw the challenge was letters I knew I wanted to use my WordPlay die, love this die !

I also love to use my Fresco Finish paints, so I've indulged myself on this piece. You can find all the details on my blog."

www.stampingsuestyle.blogspot.co.uk

We have almost a week to go before the challenge closes so there is plenty of time to get your project entered. There will be another post in a few days time from our very creative Gabrielle so don't forget to pop back and take a look.

Have a fabulous week!  xxx

Introducing Donna!

We hope that today you'll join us in giving Donna a hearty welcome with her first project as a fully fledged member of the DT! Whoop, whoop! Over to Donna......

"Well here goes for my first piece as part of the DT.  Gone festive with my 'Letters' piece using dies by Sizzix and Spellbinders and lots of lovely distress paint.......love that paint!

www.donnaslittlecraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk

"Details of how it was made can be found on my blog.

Donna xx"

This is beautiful Donna, thank you! 

What a fabulous project for Donna's debut, great use of our theme and something quite different for you to think about. Let's see those entries please, we want to know how you interpret the theme, whether it's something for Christmas or something totally different.

There's still more to come so see you in a few days when we'll have something else new for you.

Keep happy, keep crafting! xxx

Bring it on Brenda!

We're over half way through our challenge so who better to add some sparkle and motivation to the pot than the lady who thought of this month's theme..... Brenda! This is her second DT piece...

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

"I had great fun playing with the melt pot and beeswax to create this little piece which is going in my kitchen. I used a variety of letters in text including Italian dictionary paper, stamping, napkins and die-cuts. I enjoyed the wax so much I will definitely have to get the melt pot out more often."

This is beautiful Brenda and will certainly look good on your kitchen wall! You can see more details by visiting her blog HERE.

We hope this gets your mojos off and running, there's plenty of time to get creative and enter! Don't forget to come and visit us again in a few days time because we have lots more to come!

Have a great week everyone. xxx

Jennie has the ball...

We're officially half way through the challenge and our clever Jennie has the ball! This is what Jennie has made for her second DT project this month...

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

"Today I am sharing a small vintage tag book made from Ranger Size #8 Manilla Tags.  I have used some old stick on letters to create an embossed surface on the covers which I then covered with gesso (they were a greenish blue!).  Recently I have been making home made sprays from re-inkers and perfect pearls and my covers were sprayed with a combination of Victorian Velvet and Vintage Photo.

The cover tags were then stuck onto some board and I added six tags to create the little book.

There are more photos and details on my blog."

This is beautiful Jennie, THANK YOU! You can see the details of what and how for this tag by HOPPING HERE and visiting Jennie's own blog.

Please keep your projects coming, there's no limit to how many times you enter.

There will be another DT piece on Tuesday. Have fun! xxx

Something special from Julie Ann

We are loving your interpretations of our theme, please keep them coming. The winner (chosen at random) receives a £20 shop voucher from our fab host - Country View Crafts.

Today we have another guest designer - Julie Ann from magpieheaven who won our DTMSM award in September. Julie Ann has created this fabulous box for us...

http://magpieheaven.blogspot.co.uk/

"When Chris emailed me to say that my tag had won the Design Team Members' Special Mention and that I would have the opportunity to Guest Design for Country View Crafts I was thrilled. ‘Letters’ really appealed to me because although I love to text, blog and email I still write and receive letters! My interpretation of this month’s theme is not letters as in ABC exactly but the letters we write expressing our hopes, dreams and feelings! A crafting friend sent me a beautiful box for my birthday and I thought I would alter this and turn it into a place where I could keep a collection of treasured letters.

Thank you so much for looking at my project and thank you Country View Crafts for giving me this wonderful opportunity."

A fab idea and a fab project Julie Ann, THANK YOU! You can HOP over to Julie Ann's blog to see more details and pic's.

We hope you like what you've seen so far but there's a lot more to come. 

See you on Saturday. xxx

It's Barbarayaya time!

Yes, it's time for another guest! Today we have another Top 3 winner, it's Barbarayaya of yaya scrap and more from Italy with this fabulous project...

http://yayascrap.blogspot.it/

"When I received Chris's mail telling me that my project was chosen among September the top 3 I was beyond amazed and very happy! I proudly and enthusiastically accepted to be GD for this month! The theme "letters" made me immediately think about using a solitary letter and since I love Christmas time, I used the letter "C". To me, "C" is for Christmas!

Those who know me, know that I have a thing for Tim Holtz from his stamps to distress inks, so for my project I decided to use materials that suits me best! I started from the middle of this project, using one of the new Tim Holtz Christmas Stamps set! I stamped it using Versamark, then I sprinkled over some sticky powder and Antique Linen glitter distress. I wanted to try a different technique and I did it light on a dark base opposite to the dark on light base that you often see around. After that I took another element that I like to work with: TAGS.

I chose a Manila tag size 12 and ripped it in half and then put it together again using what I like to call "my personal touch" : a zip! I love zips and I often use it in my projects! What came next is me playing around using a Christmas color palette: cream, red and green (I used distress inks and archival for my stamping). To finish it off I used stars that I colored with alcohol inks, different stamps (always from Tim Holtz) and merriment red tissue tape.

In order to create the word "December" on the low part, I took the letters from other words I had in my stash. To give it a little touch and to hang it I applied two tiny clips with double ribbon: same fabric that I used on the tag and crinkle ribbon to close it all.

This project is a home decor that you can definitely use to spice up your next holidays!"

What a terrific tag Barbarayaya, we love the zip! THANK YOU for joining our team this month! You can find more projects over at Batbatayaya's blog so do please HOP HERE and share your comments.

There will be another project from the team in a few days.  

We hope you're having fun! xxx

More from the Design Team

Wow, we're loving your projects! It's great to see you all joining in, there are some really novel ideas and beautiful, beautiful projects - thank you!

Today Chris is appearing with her second piece which is somewhat unique we think.... a crossword card! Read on...

www.mycornerofheaven.com

"I wanted to make something really different and, being a puzzle fanatic, this came to mind. It makes a fab card for a guy and I've put the full details together with the puzzle clues and solution in a pdf file for you to download on my own blog. Come to think of it, you could even use it to make a thoughtful Christmas card for the right person. I hope you have fun with it."

Thanks Chris, this looks like fun - it's certainly different! You can see the details and download Chris's pdf file from her own blog.

We hope you're having fun with this theme because we're looking forward to seeing more entries with more of your great projects. We will be showing you another creative idea in a few days time.

Have fun! xxx

New DTMs & winners

Before we announce the winners of last month's challenge, a little about our DT call...

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who applied, we had 18 entries which we are delighted with. Every member of the team has been involved in the decision making  - we can tell you that it was a very close run thing and we wish we could have appointed more. I'm sure you'll join in and say congratulations to our new DTMs who are:

Sue Carrington of 'Stamping Sue Style'

&

Donna of 'Donna's Little Crafty Corner'

Well done ladies!

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Now to our WINNERS of last month's 'Something spooky' challenge....

We were very disappointed that when we reviewed the entries as a few of you disqualified yourselves by either not stating what the theme was or putting the theme as Halloween which was wrong. PLEASE do read the rules - they're quite simple.

The WINNER of the £20 shop voucher (chosen by random.org) is:

Congratulations to #74 Christi Conley of Art-Without-Anxiety  -  A £20 shop voucher and blog badge will be with you shortly Christi!

Our fabulous Top 3 have been selected by Gabrielle this month and they are:

#46 Hazel H of Hazel's Creative Moments

 

#62 Pauline A of Pollycraft

#115 MaggieH of CAPRICORN CRAFTS

Lastly, our DTMSM award goes to:

#101  Laura of Laurart

 Congratulations to you all, blog badges and GDT invites are on their way!

Well done everyone that joined in,  stunning entries!  xxx

It's Terry's day!

We're off and running and first off the bench and onto the field today is the very talented Terry of TERRY'S WORK IN PROGRESS with this fabulous project!

http://www.terry2dogs.blogspot.co.uk/

"It was such a pleasant surprise to be one of the chosen "Top 3" for September and even more exciting to be offered the opportunity to be a guest designer for November! Thank you!

For my "Letters," I first started with an oversized Cuttlebug folder, which was Distress inked, spritzed and then highlighted. Distressed the edges and curled a couple of corners. The woman's face was stamped, water colored and masked, before I inked the tag, stenciled (letters of course) and some stamping. The top "Letters" panel was colored using Distress Markers and then hand torn around the edges and shaded and I added a little more stamping on that piece. I did ink and stamp the "L" in letters a second time for a little dimension. The key and journey metal pieces were colored with alcohol inks to match the metal heart (colored) with wings."

THANK YOU Terry for joining the team this month, this is gorgeous!  You can find more details and pic's on Terry's own blog so please HOP over and share some crafty love with her.

We hope this has added to your inspiration - we can't wait to see what you make from this month's theme. 

More in a few days. xxx

Challenge #9 - November

Thank you for another bumper crop of entries for last month's challenge, some of the interpretations were amazing, so creative! Winners will be announced in a few days so please watch for them.

Today is the 1st of a new month so we announce the new challenge which has been chosen by Brenda - it is:

'LETTERS'

You can put whatever spin you like on this theme but it MUST be CLEAR what it is eg entering a card that just has a sentiment on it WILL NOT COUNT as the letters. Please read the RULES to ensure that you don't disqualify yourself and if you're new to entering challenges you can find a link to help with entering (linking) your project on the sidebar.

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Here are some beautiful projects from our talented Design Team to get you started (more info' and pic's on their own blogs). We're missing our lovely Trace for the next 2 months as she's having a well-earned break but don't worry, she'll be back with us in the New Year....

Gabrielle

http://www.gabrielle-price.blogspot.co.uk/

"For my first project this month I chose to use dictionary paper to stamp the my images on to as well as to write the sentiment in large letters. The background was one I created in my journal from Dylusion inks but thought it far too bright so I left it for ages! I decided that I really should do something with it so to knock it back I sprayed layers of White Linen Dylusion Ink until I liked the colours! Sometimes giving a few days (or weeks!) to think about something you've made gives a new perspective! I really like the background now! I was then reminded of a Dylusions sentiment that I changed so I could use a Dylusions stars stencil!!!"

Jennie

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

"I love collecting text style scrapbooking papers as I feel they can usefully be used for any type of layout.  As most of you know I have avoided buying baby or child papers for layouts of my grandson and these text papers just suited this colourful photograph of him taken last year.    I used a single 12 x 12 piece overlaid on a light turquoise border for this layout and used scraps of other text papers for the embellishments."

Brenda

 http://www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com/

"For my 'letters' challenge I have used a wooden letter holder that has been sitting, unloved, by my desk holding tags and altered it into a mixed-media home decor piece which means it can now be used for what it was intended for. I have used lots of paint, modelling paste, stamps and die-cuts and had great fun with the transformation."

Chris

http://www.mycornerofheaven.com/

 "I was looking for something to hold my special documents, things like my driving license, TV license, etc and any current correspondence awaiting action or reply (ie couldn't be filed away yet). I couldn't find anything appropriate so I decided I would make something to do the job. This is what I came up with."

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As usual. we will be closing the challenge at the end of the month and the lucky winner (chosen at random by random.org) will receive a £20 shop voucher from our fab and generous sponsor, Country View Crafts. We will also be choosing our top 3 projects as well as a special mention for the entry we think has demonstrated the most originality and creativity on the theme. All winners receive a blog badge and offer of guesting with us next month.

For those of you who have responded to our DT call - THANK YOU! We are reviewing the applications as a team and will be back in touch with you shortly.

We'll be posting new projects every 3 days throughout the month, more from our permanent DTMs and some from our very talented guests (previous winners) so do come back and visit us often. We hope you will hop over to our guests' blogs and share your love and comments there too.

Thanks for your support and GOOD LUCK!