Halloween in February?!

I really enjoy making backgrounds - there is something really satisfying about adding layers of interest that are a visual feast for the eye! For my second project this month I made a Halloween background because we often only use these colours and stamps once a year and I wanted to show you that you can use them for other times too!

The background has three shades of orange and several stencils to start the background. Then I added stamps (including a spider!) to give the background more interest. To find out what the funny squiggles are for (near the arrow) please pop along to my blog where I reveal the finished page. Thank you for popping by today and please join in with us this month - we love to see your projects!

Gabrielle 

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

Inspired by Bottles Winner, Top Three and DTMSM

Hello everyone!  It's time to find out who our Winner, Top Three and Design Team Member's Special Mention are for Brenda's fantastic Inspired By Bottles challenge in January.

What a wonderful collection of bottle ideas we had for the last challenge - from altering bottles, adding mini bottles to projects, die-cut bottles, stamped bottles, even to using plastic bottles to cut and change into something completely different - so as you can imagine it's been very difficult choosing the Top 3 and the DTMSM, but here we go.

__________________________

First of all, here is the winner of the Country View Crafts Prize Voucher, as selected by Mr Random Generator.

That's Dawn from Crafting Dawn Til Dusk with this beautiful dictionary page spread.

Congratulations, Dawn.  Your voucher and winner's badge will be with you very soon, and we hope you'll come and join us as a Guest Designer here at Country View Challenges in the future.

______________________________

Now on to the Top Three, as chosen by Brenda, and in no particular order...

#10 Impression Scrap

Brenda says: This little shadowbox has a selection of coloured mini bottles added to it and is a gift to the parents of a new born baby boy. The labels are so sweet and charming in the support the contents offer to the parents.

#16 Isle of Crafty Creations

Brenda says: I had difficulty choosing one of the altered bottles but this has been brilliantly and masterfully modified and disguised from a slimline, clear bottle to a chunky, textured, brightly coloured delight.

#18 Pushing The Right Buttons

Brenda says: Die-cuts are always a great way to add texture and dimension to a project and these little painted acetate bottles add to the layering of different elements perfectly.

_____________________________

And finally to our Design Team Member's Special Mention...

#6 Strangely Creative at Pinxton Craft Club

Brenda says: The post for this project is labelled 'Bottle- what bottle?' and it really had me intrigued as for the life of me I couldn't see a bottle on the card but there is a beautiful butterfly made from a plastic bottle and covered with gesso and scrapbook paper. Such a great idea.

______________________________

Congratulations to all our winners.  Your badges will be on the way to you shortly, and we hope you'll display them with pride.  Don't forget, if you'd like to take a closer look at any of the projects, you can click on the links to visit the blogs.

And thank you again to everyone who played along - fantastic creations all round.  We hope you'll come and join in with us on Sue's wonderful Make Your Own Background challenge.  There's fresh inspiration all month here at Country View Challenges, and another prize voucher on offer from Country View Crafts, not to mention the honour of being one of our special selections.

See you soon!

Alison and the CVC team x

Don't Dream it ... Be it!

Hello there! Rachel here today bringing you more inspiration in the hope you'll be able to join our challenge this month which is Backgrounds. I have done another journal page - this time using acrylic paints and a brayer, stamps and stencils.

You can see a step by step  method on my blog here.

Have a great day!

Hugs rachel x

Dreams Come True

Hello to you all, I am back with my second background project,I have found this challenge so easy as I always make my own backgrounds.I hope you are enjoying making your own backgrounds too. More details for this can be found on my blog

How You Doin

Hi it's Sue again with my second piece for this months 'Make Your Own Background' challenge. 

 I just wanted to use these guys 'cos they're new and they make me smile. I love the bright colours that you can get with Dylusion inks.More details can be found here on my blog and I hope you can join in this month.
Have a great week xx

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.

*******

Doreen

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

More details over on my Blog

*******

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.

*******

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

*******

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!

*******

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.

*******

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.

*******

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.

*******

 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

*******

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. 

*******

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

Bottle Shrine

Hello all, great to see you here. Astrid with you today, sharing my second Inspired by Bottles project.

Bottles are only a small part of this project, and perhaps don't take center stage, but they are definitely there. If you want to see more on how I put this together, please come by for a visit to my blog.
We are now nearly at the end of the month, but, there is just a little time left still to play along in our challenge. You can find all the details HERE - we would love to see what you come up with.

Thanks so much for visiting

xxx

Astrid

Antique Bottles by Alison

Hello all, it's Alison here with you from Words and Pictures with another piece of inspiration for Brenda's fantastic "Inspired by Bottles" theme.

This time, I've been altering some actual bottles... they were already vintage, and I hope I've made them look even more antique-y!!  It was quite a simple transformation, so if you'd like to see how it was done, do come and check out the details over at Words and Pictures.

There are just a few more days to enter the Inspired by Bottles challenge.  With a prize voucher from Country View Crafts on offer, what have you got to lose?  Hope to see you there.

Alison x

Words and Pictures

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

Fluttering Bottles!

Good Morning! Rachel here today bringing you some more inspiration for the current challenge here at countryview challenges. 

These beautiful butterflies are fluttering by to tempt you into joining us! Full details of how I made this canvas can be found on my blog post here.

Hope to see you over there!

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Shabby Chic Bottles

Hello everyone!

Jennie here today with my second make for this month's fabulous challenge 

 Inspired by Bottles

I was inspired to make a wall hanging, covering my die cut bottles with shabby chic paper and then adding some fabulous crackle! It was a lovely opportunity to go over the top with shabby chic embellishments and add even more crackle to the background. Please do visit  my blog if you would like to see some more details.

Thank you for joining us today and do pop back again on Saturday when Rachel is sharing her second project of the month.

Jennie x

Live The Dream

Wanna Play A Game?...

Hi, it's Sue here with my second project for this months 'Inspired By Bottles' theme.

I've always loved ships in bottles, and this is my take on one. 

It was snowing as I photographed this - definitely not bikini weather!

I hope you find time to join in with our challenge this month.

As always more details can be found at Sue The Iron.

Have a great week

Sue x