Sunday, 4 May 2014

Donna's feathered friend!

As it's Donna's choice of theme this month she has the honour of being first up for our individual projects. Here, with her feathered friend, she's sharing these fabulously vibrant journal pages...



Donna
I was having a bit of a sort out and came across this small moleskine sketchbook and decided to use it as a mini quote journal.  Love this funky bird stamp and thought it would be fun to use for this Nature's Glories theme so out came various paints, inks stamps and masks to create this fun spread.  Hope you like it, more details on my blog.
Donna xx



These are gorgeous Donna, thank you! 
I love this birdie Donna, does he/she have a name?!!!

Whether you're a card maker, love your tag art, an ATC swapper, a journaller or scrapbooker, a mixed media artist or into altered art, WE WANT TO SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Lol! This is a fabulously broad theme for you to interpret so we're hoping to see lots of creative entries.

More in a few days!

Chris and the team. xxx

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Challenge #15 AND a new DT Member!

Happy 1st of May everyone - it's time for our new challenge!

First of all we have to thank everyone who joined in last month's challenge - great entries - the winners will be announced soon.

We still have a DT call out but if you're interested please hurry as the closing date is tomorrow, May 2nd. We have a new member to our team joining us today, I'm so pleased to introduce Astrid (of Astrid's Artistic Efforts) whom many of you will know already as she is a stalwart in our crafting community. You can read more of Astrid's interests on our DT page

WELCOME ASTRID!

Now to our May challenge... This month our theme has been chosen by Donna and it is:

'Nature's glories'

Please make sure you follow the rules (they're very simple) to be in with a chance of the main prize of a £20 shop voucher from our host, COUNTRY VIEW CRAFTS. The winner is chosen at random (random.org) and we also award 'Top 3' and Special mention blog badges to those we think have shown the most creativity and originality in interpreting our theme.

As usual, our DTMs have created some fabulous projects to get you thinking and they are headed by stunning projects from our two, wonderful, March (Blogaversary) winners...



Susan Janicula of

I was surprised to have been selected as one of the winners of Blogaversary challenge, and it is a great honor for me to be asked if I want to be a guest designer.

I live in Copenhagen, Denmark with my husband and I have for many years made creative things. My main interest is scrapping, being on my blog and to follow what is happening of new initiatives within scrapping. Most I like vintage and steampunk and there must also be room for humor and bright colors in what I do.

http://susanjanicula.blogspot.com/2014/04/natures-glories.html
I've always admired the boxes/drawers with collected things from nature at Natural History Museums, and I've made a mini drawer with a bit of Mother Nature. I've used the container from Tim Holtz's Matchbox die to build up the drawer.



Sue O'Connell of
I have been card making and scrapbooking professionally for 14 years but it all started when I swapped Geography GCSE for Art at school and fell in love with the subject.  I make bespoke scrap canvas, scrapbooks and cards, and love to demonstrate products for companies and teach workshops on crafting all over the North West and cannot think of a nicer way to spend my spare time. My philosophy is ‘There’s no such word as can’t’ and I love altering stuff I find on car boot sales, in charity shops and making anything out of nothing.

I am honoured to be asked to partake in this month’s challenge at Country View Crafts as a guest. I am with some very talented people.  I haven't constructed a canvas in a while and so I started off with a 20cm x 20cm deep canvas I purchased from a car boot sale for £1.

I have used cosmic shimmer mists, distress ink, old books, WOW clear embossing powder, watercolour paints, chipboard letters, Promarker pens.  The stamp sets I used are Stampers Anonymous- 'Classic Favourites 5'  Heartfelt Creations- 'Melodious Songbird' and 'Easter Lilies' and PaperArtsy- 'Jofy 09'  Some of them you can purchase from the Country View Crafts Shop.

Get the full instructions from my blog. Have fun crafting, Sue



Donna
I had a gelli print laying around that I had made using some die cut leaves as stencils and thought it was perfect as a base for this card to which I couldn't resist the temptation of adding a big floppy 'tattered floral' flower to.  More details on my blog.



Gabrielle
When I think of nature I think flowers and these fabulous Lin Brown designed flowers (for PaperArtsy) seem to fit the bill perfectly! The pages of my large journal were painted with PaperArtsy paints and the spots are Grunge Paste through a stencil. The bottles (again, PaperArtsy!) were stamped on packaging from some of Tim's new dies!



Jennie
How can you not love a challenge entitled Nature's Glories!  I recently gave in and bought the final Distress Inks I didn't have which included Mowed Lawn and I love the way it mixes so well with Vintage Photo.  If I could I would have a garden full of white flowers and greenery, so this wish inspired this tag.



Astrid
First of all, I am super excited to be part of this wonderful team, and look forward to seeing all your wonderful creations for this month's challenge.

When I think of nature, the seasons often spring to mind. Each season has its own wonderful array of gifts to bring. I created a 4 panel accordion flip card, each depicting different elements of nature through the year. For details please visit my blog.



Chris
This time of year is so special, the residual brown hues of winter being left behind by the vibrant new growth of spring and summer. Not to be outdone are the birds who, when you can't see them, you can hear. I had to add a bee to my tag as we seem to have an abundance of early honey seekers again this year! Inks, dies, stamps and Tim's Idea-ology all came together for this celebration. How and what can be found on my blog.




Now it's over to YOU! We hope these projects have added some inspiration to our theme and we look forward to seeing what you create. GOOD LUCK!

Chris and the team xxx


Monday, 28 April 2014

Sue has the last post for April

We promised you something special for the end of the month and we don't think you'll be disappointed. Our last piece is inspirational, from one of our own DTMs...


"For my second piece this month I've continued with the new home theme and created a wall hanging. I've also had a little dabble with UTEE and making my own mold. So maybe this too will be a new beginning !"



Sue, your post might be short and sweet but your project speaks volumes - stunning! Thank you!

As April ends on the 30th you have less than 3 days to finish your projects and link them up. Winners will be announced in early May - Good luck to you all! xxx

Friday, 25 April 2014

Alison's got a new home!

As promised, we have another guest today! We have just six days to go until the challenge ends and we have one of February's Top 3 badge winners to head up the final thrust towards the month end. So, over to...


"I’m Alison aka Craftytrog. I discovered rubber stamping about ten years ago, and haven’t loo ked back since. I dabble in many different crafts, including card- making, altered art, art journaling, & jewellery making. I love colour, & using mixed media."

"I interpreted this month's theme in two ways. I've recently started carving my own stamps, & I've used my hand-carved house stamps on my artwork for the challenge. I also created a new home card, which also means a new beginning.    Here's how I made my card...
I created my background, using a Gelli Plate & PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint, then cut out a 5x5" square. I stamped a Kaisercraft border from the 'Edges' plate along the bottom edge, then used Crafty Individuals CI-395 to stamp some foliage.    I painted some book paper with a thin layer of gesso, then stamped my houses. I coloured them with Fresco Finish paint, to match the background. I also added some extra details, using a black fineline pen. I used Glue & Seal matt to attach the houses to the background.    For my wording, I edged some Tim Holtz Chit Chat word stickers with black soot distress ink, then attached th em above the houses.    To finish, I edged my artwork with black archival ink, then attached it to a 6x6" kraft card."



A brilliant idea and a brilliant project Alison! Thank you! Do HOP ACROSS and say "Hi" to Alison, she'd love to have you visit.

Amazing what you are all conjuring up, both mentally and creatively, we are seeing some amazing projects being entered, thank you!

Alison's post is the last guest spot this month but we have one more post in which to tempt you and the honour this month goes to Sue, she will be here in a few days. xxx

Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Jennie

The month is passing by so quickly but we still have lots more to show you! The DT is back today, well, Jennie is, with her second creative make for this challenge...


"Hello Everyone and today I am sharing another new technique to me as part of our New Beginnings Challenge this month.  I am always envious of those who get a wonderful patina on their gadget gears, so I thought it was time to have a go myself.  I was very taken with a tutorial by my blogging friend Jenny Marples  on her blog Pushing the Right Buttons and I used this as a basis for my rusting.  It was great fun and I loved the way they came out.
As usual there are more pictures and details on my blog."



Ooooh, we're lovin' the rust Jennie - a brilliant project! Thank you!

There's just no telling what this theme means to you until we see what you've done with it. We're hoping that there are lots more projects to come because we love seeing them. There's just over a week to go and we STILL have more to show you. In a few days time we have another guest spot so please visit again soon. xxx

Saturday, 19 April 2014

It's time... for Elly!

We love having guests join us and each month we offer guest spots to our voucher and blog badge winners. Our DTMSM award (DT Members' Special Mention) is awarded to the entrant who we think has entered the most original and creative piece. Today we have the pleasure of a guest spotlight on our February DTMSM badge winner....


"Hi, I'm Elly and I've joined the crafting world as I've found a video about scrapbooking in April 2010. I asked a hobby shop owner a lot questions and borrowed my first heat embossing tool. I uploaded my first video to YouTube two month later. A few mini books and videos later, I was already addicted to mixed media because I detected the art of Michael DeMeng. Another door opened, as I found Andy Skinner and after my first online workshop with him, I was infected with acrylic paint and all the possibilities with altered art in vintage and steampunk style. Mixed Media has unlimited possibilities, creating art with whatever I can get my hands on."

 "Every day is a new beginning for me. As a lover of altered art, I want to give discarded objects a new life, too. In this case I've altered an old CD and made a clock.

I've glued some vintage LaBlanche papers to the CD's and used paper doilys behind. The cyphers on the main clock are cut outs with epoxy stickers on top and I've assembled a clock mechanism from behind.

The professor is stamped with StazOn on acetate and painted with acrylic paint on the back. The doilies had a treatment with Tattered Angels Chalkboard *orchid* and Glimmer Glaze *saffron*."

 
Such a creative project Elly and the sentiment is perfect! Thank you!

We hope you enjoy Elly's project and will visit her to share some love.

More from the DT in a few days. xxx

Friday, 18 April 2014

You can now follow us on Pinterest too!

Yay!! For those of you who are Pinterest fans you'll be pleased to know that you can now follow us on Pinterest too!  Just click the Pinterest button on the top of our sidebar (right) to find our page and boards!

We'll have another fab project post for you bright and early tomorrow morning!   xxx

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Gabrielle

We're half way! Yes, can you believe it? We are already half way though the month and half way through the challenge. We're loving what we're seeing and wondering what YOU are making! We have another DT post today, this time from...


"For my first project this month I used JoFy stamps from PaperArsty to create a spring-like garden... for my second project I used some of the new Dylusion stamps and made something a little more wild (and a lot more like my own garden!) I love the new leaves stamps and the flower becomes an explosion bursting from the tag! I adore the new Hashtag stamps from Tim Holtz and so had to include one!" 



 This is gorgeous Gabrielle, quite funky too, thank you!

We'd like to see more of what your 'New beginnings' are so please keep them coming. Don't forget that there's a generous prize for our (random) winner of a £20 shop voucher to spend at Country View Crafts!

We'll have more for you in a few days time. xxx
 

Sunday, 13 April 2014

We're flying with Donna today!

We're happy to see so many variations on our theme this month - some fabulous interpretations and really great projects. It's time for another of our DT makes today...



"For my second piece for this challenge I've made another tag featuring another quote which I thought was rather appropriate, after all new beginnings often involve us in learning new things and having the courage to run or take flight with them.....
Details of what I've used are on my blog."
 
 
This is gorgeous Donna! Thank you.

We're approaching half time folks so we hope you're all having fun in your crafty areas creating and playing. We'll be back with more in a few days. xxx

Saturday, 12 April 2014

Our March winners

It's time to announce our BLOGAVERSARY winners!

As you know, our sponser, Country View Crafts shop, very generously donated TWO prizes each of a £20 shop voucher to celebrate our first anniversary in blogland. Our winners are chosen at random using the random number generator at random.org to ensure that all entrants have a fair chance of winning. These are the two numbers of our lucky winners that it generated:

winner#1
58_thmb5321ccf4bf477

#58
Sue O’Connell
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winner#2
111_thmb53303d740bbaa

#111
Susan Janicula
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This month it is Chris's turn to choose our badge winners...

Top 3
"My top 3 consist of a mixed media project, a tag and a card, to represent a wide a spectrum of crafting as possible. 

#15 - Mary Elizabeth's tall configuration box shouted out to me as it is so tall and thin and full of paper parts. What a fabulous present for her Mum!

#18 - Doreen's tag is pretty, feminine and striking. Doreen has stamped, sanded and painted her papers to maximise her techniques and effects.

#51 - Craftyfield's card struck me immediately, so many different coloured and patterned papers which have been layered and brought together so beautifully!"

15_thmb5313f573e0a4c
#15
Mary Elizabeth
of
18_thmb531479639b974
#18
Doreen
of
51_thmb531f6583ef98f
#51
51 Craftyfield
of


Last but not least - our DT Member's Special Mention badge

"Anne has created this awesome storage box but it's actually a box of storage boxes so cleverly and beautifully done. Hats off to Anne for this creative and special project!"

127_thmb53347d946e049
#127
Anne
of


Well done to all of our winners and  a BIG thank you to all our other entrants. As ever, it was a hard choice and any one of you could have been a winner!

Another creative post tomorrow! xxx

Thursday, 10 April 2014

A new baby girl...

We're spoilt for choice this month with our theme - so many great things we can choose from. It's very much a 'family' oriented month for Chris this month - she started with weddings and has now moved on to babies - well, a baby girl actually.....



"I seem to be card making less and less these days as the little time I get to craft is spent more on tags, multimedia and altered art so it was a pleasure to take time out to make this. A friend of mine announced recently that she is pregnant and expecting the baby in July. Last week she found out that she's having a girl, hence the card. New beginnings are so very special when they involve new life."


Very pretty Chris, thank you!

It's great to see so many of you joining in, we hope you're loving the them as much as we are.

More in a few days. Enjoy your crafting! xxx

Monday, 7 April 2014

Julie Ann is playing cupid!

Every month we have the honour of publishing posts from guest designers who are the winner from previous challenges. We have a great project from one of our talented February Top 3 badge winners today...

Julie Ann
magpieheaven

"I was so excited to hear that I had been chosen as one of the Top 3 for my Painty Pleasures entry for the February Challenge at Country View Crafts. It was such a thrill to be selected, as I’d really enjoyed the fun of using paint with the new Lynne Perrella stamps: I’ve loved her detailed designs almost from the moment I began crafting seriously. That was around two years ago, although I’ve loved creating everything from little books for my toys to read to hand-sewn notebooks for the endless lists I need to make these days! I started craft blogging back in April 2013 when my blog, Magpieheaven fluttered into the unknown. I can hardly believe April is my first blogaversary! Although I started as most people do, making greeting cards, my first real crafty experiment was an exploding box which I made for a friend’s birthday using PaperArtsy stamps. I was quite pleased with the result and sent some pics to Leandra of PaperArtsy who suggested I start a blog and that was the beginning of a love affair with all things inky and painty! I live in Bromley with my long-suffering and patient family of two grown-up children and husband who’ve grown accustomed to sharing their home with ever-increasing stacks of corrugated card; teetering towers of Distress Inks and a mum, who in between tutoring English Literature paints with Cheesecake, Chocolate Pudding, Guacamole and Toffee!"

"I was delighted when Chris emailed me to say that I had been chosen as one of the top 3 in the Country View Crafts February Challenge, Painty Pleasures. I was really thrilled and privileged to be asked to do the Guest Design spot today and to have the opportunity to interpret the Country View Crafts April Challenge ‘New Beginnings’. I wanted to capture the idea of the new beginnings Spring offers so I chose to alter a little mobile wooden heart within a heart and to make its focal image a winged cherub – maybe the lady’s face on the butterfly is that of his mother, Venus, the goddess of love! He could be Cupid, the young god of Love just discovering the new delights all around him. I liked the way the mobile turned in the breeze so that I could position the cherub/cupid as if he were trying to catch butterflies on a leaf. I used Fresco Greens, blues and yellows, Grunge Paste through a Clear Scraps stencil of trees, Treasure Gold and Shrink Plastic butterflies die-cut from a Sizzix butterfly die and stamped with Lynne Perrella images and a resin figure and flower. If you would like to see in more detail how I created this little mobile, please pop over to my blog http://magpieheaven.blogspot.co.uk/ to find out more. I do hope my make will inspire you to create something and link it to the Country View Crafts ‘New Beginnings’ Challenge."




This is gorgeous Julie Ann, thank you!

Julie Ann is celebrating a blogaversary herself this month so please share some love and visit her blog if you can!

We will have more in a few days. Have fun! xxx

Friday, 4 April 2014

A mini booklet from Brenda

We're right at the beginning of our challenge and what better way to take a step forward is there than by having a post from one of our DTMs? Today Brenda is posting details of her second project on this theme...



"I have used some of the new Tim Holtz stamps to create a mini booklet and will use it as a positivity journal adding affirmative, supportive and encouraging quotes throughout the year.
The first page is a simple introduction and a happy reminder that every new day that dawns can be the start of something new. If you would like to see how I made the book and a simple way to sew your own pages to insert them into a journal you will find all the details on my blog."




How creative - it's beautiful, thank you Brenda!

We hope this inspires you along the way. There will be another post in a few days.

Have a fab day! xxx