Katy's in the garden today!

As promised, we have another guest spotlight for you today and this time it's from Katy Leitch of POSTCARDS from the attic. Katy is our May DTMSM winner and she is sharing her use of stencils with us with a beautiful card...

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"I’ve been papercrafting for about nine years now and my love for it (and ability to shop for stash!) doesn’t diminish. I am totally nuts about stamping and my fave all time product is Distress Inks – I use them on almost everything (including in this card). I live in the Midlands with my beloved dog and almost as beloved husband."

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"I love the vintage style and soft colours and so I stayed in my comfort zone for this challenge. I used stencils in a couple of different ways to create a layered background. As well as adding detail with traditional stencilling, I used Tim Holtz’s monoprinting technique using the Latticework stencil, then replaced the cleaned stencil and filled the gaps in the print with a very light touch of Treasure Gold to add shimmer to my card. I love layers and I finished the card with a stamped layered tag."

POSTCARDS from the attic

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A beautiful card Katy, thank you - some terrific stencilling work here and gorgeous colour blending too!

We're now into the last week of our challenge and, although we've shown you many ways to use your stencils, we have more exciting projects to show you right 'til the end. So please pop back and visit on Friday when Gabrielle will be strutting her stuff.

Enjoy your crafting everyone!

Chris and the team xxx

Donna has her own style!

Yet again we have something very different for you. Donna has gone very contemporary today with this fabulous colourful tag combining Stampotique imagery with her stencils...

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"A fun little tag using some That Special Touch masks with distress inks and some clear texture paste through a bit of punchinella.  All the details are on my blog. Donna xx"

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We don't want to worry you but we have just 10 days left to the end of the month. If you're quick you can get at least another entry in if not two! >;O)

We hope you've also taken part in our special Magpie Surprise Draw to win our goodies? If not, you can find it HERE.

We'll be featuring another guest post on Wednesday, don't miss it!

Chris and the team xxx

Chris is being a good time girl!

I'm a huge fan of texture and layering and stencilling is such a useful tool in achieving these. Here is my second make for the challenge, a shabby card...

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"This time I have used texture paste with my stencil and left it completely uncoloured to gve this splat effect as a layer to my card. Details of the what and the how can be found on my blog. xxx"

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Variety is the spice of life, so we're told and you can certainly spice anything up with stencils! We're over half way through our challenge so we hope that you're busy beavering away getting your projects completed and ready to enter..........?

On Monday Donna will be here with something else to show you so please pop back and take a look.

Chris and the team xxx

Have you tried stencil stamping?

My second sample for the Stencil It challenge is a tag with stencil stamping.

Create your background. I used the wrinkle free technique with distress inks and then blended some antique linen in the gaps.

Using pumice stone DI I blended through the numbers stencil and then stamped through it as well.

I added some latticework and chevron framework die, a photo from the ephemera pack, a stamped nib and chit chat words.

The small pieces within the latticework framework were cut from different fabrics and textures, hessian, cork, felt and patterned paper.

Then some shabby ribbon and a tag label complete the look.

Have you entered the challenge yet? If you haven’t there is still plenty of time, so pop over to the Challenge post to check out the details.

Have fun.

hugs Brenda xxx

Julie Ann has butterflies!

Regular followers will know that we love having guests join us. We're epecially pleased today to spotlight a beautiful project from the talented Julie Ann of Magpie Heaven who is one of our regular challenge entrants...

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"When Chris emailed me to say that my project was in the CVC Top 3 I was so excited I danced around the living-room – and I’d only just returned from the Dentist! My family, a long-suffering husband, two grown-up children and a cat are used to my Craft obsession now and make allowances – although the cat is a little freaked out at the happy-dancing! I started blogging in April 2013 and since then I’ve enjoyed learning about all kinds of new craft techniques. I love anything Vintage or Shabby Chic. I enjoy experimenting with textures and I’ve really fallen for using stencils with Grunge Paste so that has found its way into this project. Anyone who follows my blog will know that I also love ‘makes’ that tell a story!"

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"I’m really thrilled to be here at Country View Crafts, especially as the challenge this month is to use stencils, which I love! This ‘make’ gave me the opportunity to share a fabulous technique I learned from a Lin Brown workshop. If you would like a detailed account of how to create stencil tiles, please hop over to my blog to see my interpretation of Lin’s great idea.

I used a Tim Holtz trellis die; PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints and my favourite Lynne Perrella stamp and some PaperArtsy Lin Brown and Crafters Workshop stencils to create this Victorian style wall hanging from an MDF butterfly shape. I think my central image might be a lady who day-dreams of writing a novel and soaring into blue skies on the wings of creativity. Thank you Country View Crafts for having me and for the inspiring challenges every month!"

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The thanks is from us to you Julie Ann for this gorgeous 3D butterfly project - fabulous!

If you'd like the opportunity to guest with us then please enter our challenge because it's not just the winner that gets invited but our 4 blog badge winners too!

On Thursday Brenda will be showing us her second project for the month - we can't wait!

Chris and the team xxx

Astrid has made field notes...

Crafting covers so many genres and if you like shabby chic and vintage then you certainly won't be disappointed today as we're featuring this gorgeous textured card created for you by Astrid...

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"For my second project I created a large vintage card using coloured Grunge Paste, Distress Paints and several dies. A full step by step can be found on my blog."

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How beautiful is this? Thank you Astrid, this is stunning!

We think you've all got the idea by now but we'd like to see more of what you can do. Our winner will be chosen at random which means that anyone and everyone has a chance of winning the very generous £20 shop voucher donated by our sponsor, Country View Crafts.

On Tuesday Julie Ann will be guesting and she is sharing one of her special makes with us so make a date in your diary please!

Chris and the team xxx

Doreen is multi-tasking...

There's everything elegant about using silhouettes on our projects. Today Doreen is sharing her beautiful birthday card and she is showing us various options for using our stencils...

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"For my second project this month  I have stenciled with texture paste and inks, you can follow a full step by step on my blog."

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Stencils are a fabulous way to add texture and interest to our projects and you've demonstrated this beautifully Doreen - thank you!

What's your favourite type of crafting? Are you a card maker? A lover of tag art? What about 3D projects? Virtually everything can be stencilled in one way or another so why not share your ideas with us and link your project as part of our challenge?

Sunday approaches and Astrid will be here with has another stunning project to show you. Join us then, we'll be here!

Chris and the team xxx

And our Magpie Day surprise is...

 ***  BLOG CANDY  ***

We told you that we would be holding ‘Magpie Days’ from time to time and we told you we thought you'd like our surprise today so here it is! To promote our new Pinterest page all you have to do is to become one of our Pinterest followers and then enter our draw below. One lucky winner will be chosen at random (random.org) to win our candy of…

these beautiful wooden backed stamps…

some autumnal ribbons…

12 vintage style buttons…

12. heart ribbon sliders…

and some twine and lace…

To give you an idea of the size of the stamps, the largest one measures 5.5”/14cm sq and stamps a pattern 5”/12.5cm sq. The text stamp has 4 stamping sides reading “Thinking of you”, “To a wonderful you”, “I’m thinking happy thoughts of you” and “You are on my mind”.

You will find our Pinterest page HERE, simply start following any of our boards to qualify then enter your details below. (If you are following us on Pinterest already, just sign up below.)

We will be holding the competition open for 1 month (closes 23:55 hrs, August 8th) after which time the winner will be announced.

GOOD LUCK!

Chris and the CVC team xxx

Winners of challenge #16

Good evening everyone, it's time to announce the winners of our last challenge, 'Only men allowed'.

Our winner of the £20 shop voucher, graciously sponsored by Country View Crafts, is chosen at random (using random.org). 

This month, our winning entry number is...

#129 Dragonllew

Congratulations Dagonllew, your voucher and blog badge are on their way to you!

As it was Gabrielle's choice of theme, she has the honour of choosing our Top 3 and DT Members' Special Mention badge winners. Gabrielle says:

"Gosh! This was tough - so many wonderful entries. So being indecisive I asked Freya to help me so this was our final four (though I could have picked dozens more!)"

Top 3 badge winners

 #6 Jenny

#33 Cec

#55 S@ndy

DTMSM

#42 Gro

 Congratulations to all our badge winners too, our emails should be with you already!

 All of our winners are invited to join us as guest DT Members next month so do watch out to see who will accept and what wonderful projects they will share.

Good luck to everyone entering this month!

Another post tomorrow......

Chris and the team xxx

Sue C is whispering very loudly!

It's Sue's theme this month and you all know that if Sue is creating then it's going to be something colourful and creative. Today is no exception as she shares her second DT make with us - it's a beauty!

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"For my second piece this month I've finally finished a canvas that I started at a PaperArtsy workshop earlier in the year. Loads of layers of Fresco Finish paints and of course stencilling !"

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Oh wow, stunning colours, fabulous composition and a terrific example of stencilling Sue - thank you!

We promised you a month of very different projects and that's exactly what we're doing but we want to see YOUR projects please and what stencilling means to you.

On Wednesday we're having a 'Magpie Day' and it's something really special so please pop back and join us!

Chris and the team xxx

Maddy, you've been framed!

Today we are delighted to spotlight one of our Top 3 blog badge winners from May - Maddy Herbison of Izzwizz Creations with this beautiful framed collage...

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"My name is Maddy Herbison and I live in a very rural area in Northern Ireland together with my hubby, a rescue cat, and hubby’s hens & bees. We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful country and I get a lot of inspiration from the nature all around us. I love to work with lots of dimension and colour and am really at home with vintage and steampunk themes. You might find me using some retro influences, even psychedelic colours at times, but it’ll never be clean and simple."

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"Thanks for inviting me to be a guest designer this month. I really enjoyed the theme and it gave me an excuse to get out the texture paste. There are plenty of bought stencils on the market, but I often make my own. The leaves in this piece use a stencil made from diecutting a piece of packaging plastic with the Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz die “Garden Greens”. After diecutting the plastic, the back is sprayed with some repositionable adhesive, and this makes it easy to stick the stencil to your artwork while applying the paste, and removing it once you’re done. Steel rule dies are best for diecutting plastic, but you can use thinner dies to make temporary stencils from card, which is how the cat, birds on branches, and flowers were made. The bricks are from a bought stencil. Layers are great; just wait for each to dry before applying the next."

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What a brilliant example to those of us that have few or no stencils to use - we can make our own! This is stunning - thank you!

So, there's no excuse, Maddy has told you how you can make your own original stencils. We'd like to see them and what you can make using them!

On Monday Sue C will be back with her second make of the month so cya then!

Chris and the team xxx

Trace is enjoying her journey...

We're off and running and we're also delighted to have our talented Trace back with us this month. Trace is taking first turn at showing us her second DT make for the month...

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"Well for my second piece I have used a Tim Holtz layering stencil with alcohol inks to get a cool faux bleach effect and combined this with texture paste for the backing tag, again through a Tim Layering stencil. for all the details please see my blog .x"

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This is gorgeous Trace and a great technique of mixing the different media for your stencilling - thank you!

You can enter as many times as you like so why not try different techniques with different media for your entries? We're hoping to see some clever and creative uses for your stencils.

We have a guest post for you next, on the 5th, so do come back and see us then!

Chris and the team xxx