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!

♥     ♥     ♥     ♥     ♥

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.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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."

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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!

DT call

We are looking to add another permanent DT Member to our team, if you're interested please click HERE.

Normal challenge posts continue below.

Last in our spooky line up is..... JENNIE!

Our fabulously talented Jennie is ending our spooky challenge with a fantastic tag that she's conjured up. (Can we just remind everyone that Jennie had virtually nothing of a Halloween or spooky nature in her stash, we think she deserves a pat on the back for her creativity!! Well done Jennie!!) 

www.jennie-livethedream.blogspot.co.uk

"A Halloween Damsel! Her tattered dress is made from strips of muslin, scrim and lace all dyed a wonderful orange with Dylusions sprays (and yes I had matching hands!).  Her wings are gently crackled and I managed quite a bit of embossing here and there.  Again lots of fun with limited Halloween stash"

Well done Jennie, you've been so inspiring with your creation and this is such a brilliant idea!! Please visit Jennie on her own blog to see what she's been getting up to (and see her fab tutorials, of course).

This, sadly, is our last DT post for this month. You still have 3 days to get your entries finished and entered. Good luck everyone!!

We hope you all have a great, spooky and safe Halloween! xxx

Whoooo-hoo...... Here's Debbie's project, are you scared yet?

Closer and closer we get, are you getting scared yet? lol Today it's the turn of our third Top3 GDT to show what she can do and..... oh my.... get ready..... it's Debbie aka Daqa with a VERY scarey card!

www.daqadoodles.wordpress.com

"Peek-a-BOO! When I opened my mail I was surprised, I was a winner of the August challenge! That allready is an honour, and on top of that the invitation to be a guest designer! Wauw. I ofcourse said yes, even promising I'd skip sleep to finish my cards on time. I almost had to. What a difficult subject (for me). Spooky. I thought Halloween (although it's hardly celebrated in my country). I thought ghosts, chesspieces (yes I consider those optionally spooky, don't evil masterminds always play chess?), paintings with holes for eyes, being watched, evil creatures, spooky fairytales.

This is my 4th try at spooky. It all started (this fourth attempt) with the word BOO, and remembering I had glow-in-the-dark embossing powder, which just screamed to be used. (Well it more like insisted to be used for something spooky.) The background is self-made, the result of a previous attempt for a spooky card. I stamped the Steampunk letters in black and embossed it with glow-in-the dark embossing powder. The cat peeking through a hole is originally a cute cat image which I made a bit more feral - narrow eyes, fangs and claws. The frame stamp is a bit idyllic, which adds to the horror part of my card. I also was thinking about more horror, placing a happy, unaware victim in front of the cat, but decided I'd go for a bit more subtlety. I think many cat owners (or should I say, visitors of cat owners?) can imagine a (young) cat jumping you from out of nowhere.

The water droplets, raindrops and trickling water are stamped in Festive Berries (oh the irony) and Clarinet Stazon for a bloody effect. Remember the dead mice. The mangled rats, frogs and even small bunnies. I inked the edges of the card a bit and then it was time for more glow in the dark embossing: a tiny brush, my embossing ink and quite some patience resulted in an embossed cat's eye, and embossed and enlarged fangs and claws. Yep, remember your hand after playing with them? (Oh I should have added scratches!)

Before matting the card onto the black cardstock I restamped the frame stamp on the black card and embossed the image with black embossing powder. Finished! Now all that was left, was just to take good pictures to show the effect. Right... "just"...

A more detailed description (and a lot more pictures) about the creation of this card (including mistakes) and used materials can be found on my blog. (I'll try to use less parentheses there!)"

Wow! It might not have been your first attempt Debbie but look what you ended up with! Very creative and definitely one that says "Boo!" Thank you! Do CLICK HERE and visit Debbie's blog to see what else she's up to.

We sill have another project to come and, oh my, it's definitely worth waiting for.... in a few days.... lol.  xxx

Brenda's second project...

Time is flying by and the spooky day approaches -  we have just 10 days to go! To keep you motivated we have this stunning second project from our inspiring and talented Brenda...

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com
"For my second DT sample this month I have made a textured halloween card using the Tim Holtz cobweb texture fade and paper stash and inked the embossing folder to get the ink into the recesses. Hope you have a Happy Halloween and a fun time on the 31st October."

What a great card Brenda, an unusual colour palette but it so works! Thank you!

Do please CLICK HERE to visit Brenda on her own blog to see more of what she's up to!

Here's a reminder - WE'RE COUNTING DOWN, you have just 10 days left to get your entries finished and entered. Just because we're almost there please don't think we've given up - oh no, we keep going right to the very end, bringing you fabulous projects and ideas right up to the deadline. So, keep your eyes wide open for we have another two projects yet to come and they're stunners!

Have fun! xxx

Another from Chris...

We're a little over the halfway marker so today our talented Chris has joined us with another fabulous project...

"Yes, I'm definitely in love with the Steampunk Spells collection...

www.mycornerofheaven.com

Having created the Halloween cabinet as my first DT piece I decided on something a little less ambitious for the second. I had great fun making this card using lots of new, kewl things including Ice Resin and Decolourant."

This is lovely Chris, thank you! (We notice you still managed to get Tim's ravens in there with your G45! lol)  To see more details and pictures please CLICK HERE and visit her blog.

We hope that you're loving this diverse range of projects this month as much as we are.....? As a team, we're all very different - different likes and dislikes, different styles and different genres but above all we try to make you things that are creative, inspiring and, when we can, inventive too so please let us know what you think - we love feedback!

Our purpose is to inspire and encourage YOU so please keep your entries coming!

More in a few days. xxx