Here comes Astrid...

Astrid was our DTMSM (Design Team Member’s Special Mention) in June and we think you will see why when you see this stunning project she is featuring for us this month as one of our Guest Designers.

"When I was invited to be guest designer at the Country View Crafts Challenge site I was delighted, especially when I found out that the theme was Quotes and Sayings, as I love adding these to my projects. I decided to make a little 5” x 7” mixed media canvas; - making these is another firm favourite.

I started by adding some texture through a couple of masks and when dry added some strips of Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap and tiny scraps of leftover Scrapbook paper to the canvas with gel medium.

Next I added some Antique Linen and Weathered Wood Distress Paint using a brush rather than the applicator and spritzed with water to blend the two colours. I then added some Golden Fluid Acrylic paint in Paine’s Grey. I find the Golden Fluid Acrylics mix perfectly with the Distress paints as they are of a similar fluid consistency. I also added the eye stamp from the Tim Holtz Classic Favourites set, stamped on tissue paper with Jet Black Archival ink.

It needed something to frame it a bit so I inked around the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. I then decided it was all a bit too dark and yellow, so out came the Dylusions White Linen Spray to tone it all down a bit. As I did not want the eye to disappear I covered that with a damp baby wipe first.

When I was happy with my background, the fun of embellishing it could begin. I added some flowers, chipboard and a scrap of cheesecloth, adhering it with more gel medium. When dry, (keeping the eye carefully covered) I used various sprays and mists over my embellishment cluster and finally added some highlights with Treasure Gold in White Fire, both on the embellishment cluster and around the edges of the canvas.

Finally I stamped the Tim Holtz sentiment from his Way with Words set on to a scrap of one of his paper stashes that I had first toned down with some watered down Gesso. I stamped it in Black Archival and then embossed it with clear embossing powder to make it stand out a bit more. I cut and tore the lines into strips, added them to the canvas and then shaded around the edges with charcoal pencil for a bit more depth and that was it.

I would like to thank Country View Crafts for allowing me this guest design spot and hope you liked my project."

www.astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.co.uk

Thank you Astrid, your project is beautiful and such an inspirational make too!

If you haven’t entered yet we hope this will get your mojo into gear because we’d love to see what quotation or saying you like and what it conjures up in your crafting.

Another make soon. xxx

Jennie's second DT piece

August is flying by and we're already half way through our challenge. Today we have a beautiful make from Jennie, one of our F/T DTMs...

www.jennie-livethedream.blogspot.co.uk

"For my second project this month I have made a small (6" x 4") "meandering" Quotations mini book from a single sheet of 12 x 12 card stock creating some flap up pages and two pockets with tags.  I have decorated it with the lovely Graphic45 Edwardian Lady papers and the rest of the quotations from the Graphic45 Quotations Sheet.

There are more photographs on my blog of how I made the mini-book and all the individual pages." 

This an awesome mini book Jennie - thank you!

If this or any of our other DT projects have inspired you please let us know - better still, why not make your own and enter? We'll be posting another project in a few days, until then, have fun! xxx

Helen has joined us...

Yes, today we have a project from another of our June Top 3 awards - this beautiful (and very clever) card from Helen...

www.diningroomdrawers.blogspot.co.uk

"When I was thinking about the month's theme of 'Quotations and Sayings', this one from Tim Holtz's 'Way With Words' stamp set stood out to me. Over the past several months, we have been adapting to my daughter being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, as well as a couple of other challenges, and I really believe that everything in life truly doesn't need to be perfect in order for it to be happy!

I've loved Sizzix for several years, and have a hearty collection of dies! In particular I enjoy working with those by Karen Burniston. For this card I used her Accordion Album, and accompanying Label and Frame dies. The papers are from Tim Holtz and Cosmo Cricket. (More details are on my blog.) I wanted the card to have a gentle and pretty feel about it."

We don't think anyone could fail to be impressed by this card - fabulous! Thank you Helen!

Our design team members and guests work very hard to bring us their projects so please do share some love and visit their blogs too - you'll find LOADS of fab projects to fire your imagination.

More in a few days folks.  xxx

July’s winner and awards

What another fabulous month July was – so many beautiful and creative entries. We're all grateful that we don’t have to chose the outright winner and that it is done at random because you’re all so worthy! Right, down to announcing the winner (via random.org) is…

 

Entry #20 is Janet Morris of http://janmorrisart.wordpress.com/ Well done Janet, an email is on it’s way to you!

Next we have our Top 3 merit awards and this month they’ve been chosen by Chris…

“Another really hard choice again this month and I can see so many makes that I’d like to give awards to! It has taken me hours and hours of whittling down my list but, as ever, I feel I must give the awards to those that I personally feel have met the challenge and demonstrated their ‘sizzle’, however that might be. My choices this month are (in numerical order):

	#14 – Dagmar of http://schaerfchenskreativwelt.blogspot.de/ "This bright and beautiful tag just leapt out at me and said ‘Summer sizzler’ all the way!"
	#94 – Sue the Iron of http://suetheiron.blogspot.co.uk/ "Definitely a sizzler but fun and funky too! This one brought a big smile to my face."
	#112 – Mian of http://mianspysselhorna.blogspot.se ”This quirky flamingo sitting sizzling on the beach is just so much fun and typifies the challenge theme.”

Well done to all three of you, emails and badges are on their way!

And, finally, our DTMSM (Design Team Member’s Special Mention) award: This goes to the entry who the judging team member thinks has shown the most originality and creativity in their project.

"I took my shortlist down to two entries and could not decide – I even slept on it overnight but still I couldn’t decide. So, this month, the award is split between two worthy winners and they are:

	#66 – serafeena of http://nichtniedlich.wordpress.com/ These flip-flop boxes are brilliant, so creative and fun.
	#113 – Carmen of http://carmenscreationss.blogspot.ca/ I’ve seen bottle labels but this hanging treat box is such a fab idea, very inventive.

Congrat’s to both of you, emails and badges go to you too!

That concludes the awards for July, thank you all for taking part and supporting us. Good luck to you all for this month’s challenge.

Another project will be posted tomorrow. xxx

Brenda's 2nd project

We're a week into the challenge and it's great to see your support and that you're entering into the spirit of the challenge - thank you!

To add some more inspiration to the mix we have a second project from Brenda...

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

"Inspired by a day with Leandra at PaperArtsy I have used PA Fresco Finish paints, metal card and Lynne Perrella and PA stamps. The quote is from the HP1004EZ set."

 What a delicious tag Brenda, thank you!

This challenge has so much latitude it is constrained only by your choice of quotation/saying so please keep your entries coming. xxx

Inger's debut

We're off and running! Today we feature the first of our Top 3 Guest DTs - we have a stunning project to show you with Inger's debut.

www.ingerskortpyslerier.blogspot.ca

"The theme for Country View Crafts' challenge is 'Quotations and sayings' - I decided to use one of my favorite quotations I have on a stamp from Stampabilities. I just love this quotation and decided I wanted to make a feminine card with the quotation in focus! The dies are from Spellbinders (S4-233). Cardstock is 'Market' from MME. The flowers are all from Wild Orchid. The grungeboard/chipboard is from Tim Holtz and has been painted with white Tim Holtz distress crackle paint and cut in two to make it smaller. Also put in some doilies, lace and cheesecloth. The wooden ticket is from Recollections. I also used some stuff that I found around the house - a key and some stamps from a letter."

 A fabulous card Inger and a brilliant example of using a quote, thank you! We hope you find this piece as inspirational as we do. As long as you can quote the source or reference point of your quote/saying then you can enter what you like and as many times as you like so please keep them coming!

Have a great week, another project will be posted in a few days time. xxx

It's August and it's challenge #6 !!

Yes, it's August and we're not sure how we got here so quick! It appears that the older you get the faster the time goes which seems a little unfair to us, lol! Anyway, July was another fabulous month, lots and lots of B E A U T I F U L sizzling entries - you seem determined to make each month harder for us to choose winners! [g]

The theme for this month is:

'Quotations & sayings'

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY !! You can design whatever kind of project you want, card, scrapbook page, journal, art, altered art, even a knitting or sewing project - anything as long as you made it yourself and it complies with the rules. What we need to see is a quotation or a saying - it might be a famous quotation from a book or it might be a saying from a stamp (there are so many out there) but it has to be attributable to someone or a url reference to a web page where you found it AND we need to see the source of whatever you've used mentioned in your blog.

Okay, let's get to it and show you what our wonderfully creative design team have come up with!


Wendy - Winner of our June challenge





www.spanishcrafter.blogspot.com.es

"Hi, my name is Wendy L, know as Spanishcrafter in blogland. I am so honoured to be invited to be a GDT for August.

I did have to have a think about this one. Then I realised that the time coincided with Hollie's birthday (my Grand-daughter) and I wanted to make her a really special card as it was her 1st birthday. I made a rough template from paper for the shape and size, to tell you the truth, I had an envelope (about 11" x 5") that I wanted to use as I have to post it to her. Then I cut the shape of number 1 from a fairly lightweight white card, then cut a smaller '1' from pink card and glued on the front and just over the fold at the top. I had to stick a plain piece of white card up the back of the card to make it stand up OK. Then I looked on the internet for a quotation for Grand - daughter and found this one - author unknown. She is a gift to me after losing my Grandson and I cherish every moment I spend with her.

This is where the quote came from: http://www.quotestoliveby2.com/granddaughter/index.html"

Chris


www.mycornerofheaven.com

"There is a wealth of material for this challenge, the quote I chose is an old Danish Proverb. Having chosen the quotation I thought about the meaning and decided to make the project about a gift for a friend. If I could choose only one gift for all my friends it would be candles. They have several meanings for me, all positive, but what comes through all of them is a feeling of peace and serenity so I decided to make a gift of a candle holder. The quote is an old Danish proverb found in various craft items and can also be found HERE."

Gabrielle


www.gabrielle-price.blogspot.co.uk

"Well, I'm back to crafting after my accident but it is all one handed! Here's a page from my journal. I used Fresh Lime ink for the background and Fresh Lime and White Linen inks through a number stencil. The quotation on the right is taken from a Wendy Vecchi stamp and I used a Dylusions alphabet stamp set to spell it out. On the left is a phrenology head stamp I adore with two Dylusions stamps used to make a headpiece. The quotation on her head is from another Ms Vecchi stamp set."

Jennie

www.jennie-livethedream.blogspot.co.uk

""Just be who you are" is a quote which I am sure all parents have used, mine certainly did. So I loved this quote from a Graphic45 Quotations Sheet and wanted it to be central to my layout. I didn't want to cut into this lovely piece of kraft music paper either, so I have used it complete but with plenty of cream and brown and just a flash of orange/red in the butterflies.

This wonderful photograph of my Nana taken in 1927 matched perfectly given the colours. There are some strategically placed flowers at the top as the photograph is stuck in a frame and we daren't take it out!"

Trace


www.inkypinkycraft.blogspot.co.uk

"For me an all time favourite Tim Holtz quote is 'enjoy the journey' and so I created a piece about memories and that celebrating of life's moments and treasuring the journey...enjoying its moments, for I guess the moments are what matters and make the journey.I also thoroughly enjoyed the creative journey of making this piece. I included the quote on a word band and also using the fab rub ons...(I also sneaked in follow your heart.)"

Brenda


www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

"I have used Artistic Outpost stamps and Prima paper to create this vintage card. The two girls could be sisters or best friends and I am sure they have a wonderful story to tell.
The quote comes from the AO Paperboy set."

A massive thanks to our fabulous design team for all their beautiful makes again for this month's challenge. They will be showing second us second projects at various stages of the month as well as projects from June's Top 3 and DTM's Special Mention so please keep popping back and checking out the new posts.

Don't forget, the winner (chosen at random) receives a £20 shop voucher and all mentions (winner, Top 3 and DTM's special mention) all get the opportunity to guest as a DTM and preview their own project the following month! Have a great month, we hope to see lots of lovely projects from you all.

Good luck everyone! xxx

And we're ending July with...

Yes, we're almost at the end of this month's challenge but we hope you're still hanging in there, you have just a few more days to submit your entries. Rather than let the month fizzle out we've squeezed another make in for you and we're ending July with a pretty tag from Chris.

www.mycornerofheaven.com

You have just under 3 days to enter any remaining projects before this challenge closes but don't let that stop you - everyone is in with a chance of winning the £20 shop voucher so do keep them coming.

See you in a few days for the new challenge. xxx

Chris’s second DT piece

The entries are still coming in and that's great! Thank you! Don't forget, the winner gets a £20 shop voucher from our host, Country View Crafts.

Here is Chris's second DT piece for this month.

 http://www.mycornerofheaven.com

“This piece started out as a little wooden tray that wooden embellishments came in. I’ve been waiting to use it and it seemed perfect for this challenge as I was able to use lot’s of little pieces that remind me of summer, flowers of different hues everywhere, butterflies and ladybugs, pots of annuals and summer fruit and veg!”

This is a lovely little treasure Chris, thank you!

We still have another post to come so please pop back in a few days. xxx

Another from Brenda...

We're still without the lovely Gabrielle this month although she hopes to be back with us for August. Brenda has kindly filled in for her with this fabulous piece...

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

"I love my garden and I love the warm weather and this card represents that for me. This card, using Jofy stamps and PaperArtsy crackle glaze, is the final result using one of the samples I made at the PaperArtsy training day I was lucky enough to attend earlier in the month. Having time to play with the products and with Leandra's guidance was fabulous."

 It certainly looks as if you had fun Brenda, this is beautiful - thank you!

Well, we have a week and a half left for you to enter. There is no limit on the number of entries you can have so why not join in again. If you haven't entered at all yet then please do think about doing so. Remember, the winner receives a £20 shop voucher and the opportunity for a guest DT appearance with us in September.

We still have another make to post so please come back and visit in a few days time. Have a great week! xxx

Jennie’s second DT piece

 Wow! We're bowled over by the beautiful projects you've entered. There's still loads of time for you to enter so please let's see more.

To keep you going here is another beautiful project from Jennie...

 

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

“As much as I love living near the sea I also miss the wonderful walks we used to have alongside cornfields with poppies and daisies.  So for my second tag this month I have created a similar mixed media background but this time used green and yellow mists made from Distress Ink Re-inkers.The poppies and buds were made from the Tattered Floral Die and sprayed with Poppy Red Glimmer Mist.  They have also picked up some black spray which was in my spray box which was a very happy accident!” 

Simply beautiful Jennie, thank you!

 

We hope you're liking all these projects as much as we've loved creating them. Have a great weekend. xxx

Another beauty from Trace

Yes, today it's Trace's turn again and here is her second project for this month and what a beauty it is!

www.inkypinkycraft.blogspot.co.uk

"For this piece, I combined my love of the beautiful blues of summer, from the turquoises of the rolling ocean waves to the skies above and also the gorgeous orangey reds of poppies heads bobbing in the summer sun..using yummy grunge paste, treasure gold, vibrant Dylusions and Tim's wonderful tattered floral die."

 Blooming gorgeous Trace, thank you!

Have we tempted you into entering yet? You have another couple of weeks to put a project together and enter.

Another make in a few days time...   xxx

Lin’s guest appearance

Time for another piece from one of our guest DTMs. This time it's the turn of...

Lin - Top 3 Winner, May

www.artfromherts.blogspot.co.uk

“I was very surprised to be chosen as a top 3 merit winner so thank you. When I saw the challenge was *Sizzling Summer* I sat down with a cuppa and thought what does sizzling summer bring to mind? Well it takes me back to when I was a little girl when summers were long hot sunny days down in Cornwall or Camber Sands with my parents and sisters...lovely memories.  So I took a 4"x4" canvas and painted in a beach. I used a stampin up stamp..(I think it is from a retired set) and stamped the girl on crackly tissue paper. I painted it from the back finishing it with snowflake frescos to make the colours pop. I stuck it onto the canvas using matt medium and touched up the edges so they disappeared into the canvas. I put the canvas into a 6"x 6" wooden box frame which had been distressed. I added a Tim Holt word band with string and some shells, reindeer moss and netting to the bottom and a starfish on the top of the frame. I lightly brushed some walnut stain ink around the edge to finish it off.”

 Thank you Lin for his beautiful canvas, so inspiring.

Keep the entries coming please, they're fabulous! We'll be posting another project (from Trace) in a few days. xxx