Gabrielle always shines!

With the end of the challenge drawing near we still have several projects to show you. The old adage of saving the best until last may well be true because we have some beautiful projects to end the month with. We intend to get the last ickle bitsy tiny drop of creativity from you as we can to entice you to enter this month. >;o)

Leading the end charge is Gabrielle who has created this beautiful tag for you...

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"My second project for our Stencil It challenge is a tag. I have added layers with stencils in the background as well as the foreground and I even stencilled the sentiment! That's dedication! I have recently discovered bright colours and this pink pops off the page but is tempered by the shots of blue for balance. If you would like to see how I made the tag, there are more details on my blog! Gabrielle x"

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A stunning tag Gabrielle, gorgeous colours and great use of stencils. What a fab way to remind us that we can even use our stencils for our sentiments - thank you!

We hope you're nearing completion of your project because we keep our challenges open right until 5 minutes to midnight on the last day of the month! Please keep them coming.

On Sunday Sue B will be with us to show you her second DT piece for the month - please don't miss it!

Chris and the team xxx

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