Make most of the dies

Hello crafters, 

Today is my debut at the Allsorts challenge blog! 

I have entered their challenges many times over the years, made the Top 5 and won prizes on several occasions and now as the stars aligned I am joining the Design Team!

The theme this fortnight is Use Dies (or Anything Goes) chosen by Sarah.

My card is based on a fancy shape and I have used the instructions from Sam's blog. 

 

Supplies:
Baubles: stamps and dies set Studio Light Essentials (BASICSDC17)
Snowman: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Winter Wishes set (666717)
Centre Snowflake halves: Cards & Crafts for Christmas 2019 

Snowflake border: Die-cutting Essential Issue 58

Leaves and holly from Sizzix Christmas Shadow box set (663611)

Papers from magazine.

First the pop up card is prepared by scoring and cutting following the template. 

Then it's a matter of cutting the paper to fit each panel, of course you can choose to leave some blank to save some time or to keep it more "clean".

This is my first card with that shape and, as it is rather time consuming, not one I would do often but for Christmas, to stand out from the crowd it's perfect

Side and top views:

Hop on to Allsorts and upload your make for the chance to win 3 prizes of Oakwood dies and coordinating stamps. You can enter up to 5 times and worthy entries will earn a place in the Top 7.

Thanks for coming by,
 Craftyfield       I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday and Polkadoodles                                                                challenges

Fairy Christmas

Hello crafters!
Today my second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group is another Christmas card.

I created my own snow globe stencil with the help of a die (Crealies CLCZ08) and applied Elements inks with a smoothie.

With another DIY stencil I sponged white pigment ink to create a hill.

I then stamped the Fairy Fir Tree (LAV478) several times with Versafine ink as well a small tree from the Lavinia Tree scene set (LAV219). 

I added Mia (LAV284) holding a Mini Fairy Lantern (LAV588)

For a finishing touch I splattered some iridescent medium with a brush, more interesting than white for "snow".

2 layers of mats and voila a magical Christmas card! As I write this I am realising that this is quite similar to a tag I made last month here.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. a place on Zoe Hillman’s next workshop at the Country View Crafts shop in the new year!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the challenge Stamping Sensations, 

                                                              We Love Stamping and Lost Coast Designs

Artic Conditions

Hello crafters!
Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group. This month the theme is, of course, "Christmas"!

I created an Hexagon card (I followed the instructions from this video), which folds flat to 5"x7" for easy posting. 

I added acetate to all 3 front panels, partly to make them more sturdy and partly to allow me more decorative options. As I have been going through a "window" period, I thought the panels would be glass and of course with snow... I added some Tim Holtz/Ranger Grit paste Snowfall with the mini stencil set 43 by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous (THMST043). I got the inspiration from Tim Holtz himself, although he favours the stencil THS021 for this purpose but I think mine works well too,

The papers are from the Stamperia Arctic Antarctic collection, the snowman, snowflake and ice skates are die-cut from different colour card with the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Winter Wishes set (666717). I used thick thread to lace the skates to complete the realistic effect. 

This Arctic Antarctic collection is not available anymore and here's my advice... any Stamperia collection you like and have a project in mind don't dither! As soon as I saw this one I knew I wanted it for an album, never mind that it took me years to get around to use it (real life did get in the way) but I am so glad to have this collection on hand.

The greeting is Die'sire Words Die - Merry Christmas.

The card seen in different angle and folded flat:

Making this type of card is simple but time consuming so you might want to reserve it for your special people or when you want your card to be noticed on the mantelpiece!

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win a place on Zoe Hillman’s next workshop at the Country View Crafts shop in the new year!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday, 

                                                            Simon Says Stamp Wednesday  challenges

Snowy window

Hello crafters, 

Another Christmas themed make today. Last month I was excited to find out I could make a realistic looking window with the help of dies and I thought it would be great to make ones with snow...

I first applied a specialty paper top left with gold. 

On the right hand side I stuck down a paper with vegetal inclusions which I had stamped on with 'Vintage Ads Background (CI-461).

On the bottom left I stamped the 'Just the Ticket Border' (CI-498) 

Behind the window are paper dolls and the Crafty Individuals 'Large Christmas Tree' (CI-462).

All stamps are Crafty Individuals.

The window have has "snow" applied, a mix of thick gel medium and flocking powder,

Finally I added collaged elements, a stamp from Graphic 45 and ephemera from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Ephemera Pack (TH94396).

Apologies for the reflection in the window! A closer look at what is happening inside...

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the We Love To Create, Creative Artiste,

                                                      Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping  challenges

Snowy scene with Lavinia

Hello crafters!

I am back for more inspiration for our Country View Challenge on the theme "Winging It" Hosted by Fiona.

I stamped the Fairy Fir Tree (LAV478) several times (1st and 2nd generation stamping) at the bottom of the tag with Versafine inks. I stamped the Moon (LAV431) and masked it.

I stamped and embossed Miniatures stars (LAV152) in white.

I added colour across the whole tag also with Versafine inks and  Smoothies, then stamped Mia (LAV284) to push the moon in place...

To finish I used gel pen on the tree branches and splattered some white acrylic ink over the tag.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win all 5 of the newly released Layer It Up Washis by AALL & create from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the We Love Stamping, Stamping Sensations,  

                                                         Addicted to Stamps challenges 

Hummingbird

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month the theme is "Winging It" hosted by Fiona.

I chose this Lavinia Hummingbird for my Winged creature as it is a recent addition to my stash.

My background is alcohol inks on yupo paper.  I stamped the Hummingbird Small (LAV894) and the Open Dandelion  (LAV745) with Brilliance inks, letting them dry a full 24 Hours before colouring.

Since I didn't have small nib sizes of acrylic or Posca pens, I used water based markers to colour the bird. Those eventually dried, but, being a transparent medium, the background colours do show through.

I wanted the Dandelion in white and tried gel pen on the petals with mixed results: yes the gel ink dried and yes it added a bit of white but not enough to hide the background colours. [Add to shopping list: small nib acrylic pen...].

I then used my new favourite die (AALL & Create die set #32 Numberama) to cut both image and mat, before assembly on a white base card.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win all 5 of the newly released Layer It Up Washis by AALL & create from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the Allsorts, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, 

                                                         Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping challenges 

Layer It Up Washi

Hello crafters, 

I have been playing with some new supplies (for me) and I am quite excited!

I am talking of the Layer It Up Washi tapes from AALL & Create. 

If you are not familiar with these read on...

They come in a 2.5cm wide, 10 meters long roll, with a pattern repeat every 40cm (approximately). A 40cm length can be cut in 10cm chunks and layered one below the other to reveal a complete image. Below is the image I put together on a piece of card with the Leaf Out My Book tape (#101).

The roll will allow you to make some 25 such images, but, of course, you can still use the tape as any other washi!

As to styles, AALL & Create has large variety of tapes including themed ones for Christmas with either cute cats, dogs, foxes, bunnies and bears! (Country View Crafts has them here). Imagine securing your wrapping papers with them!!

Anyhoo, I made this card with the image as the focal point, which I had decided to die-cut with AALL & Create #32 die set to give it a more organic shape than the square I had as in the above picture. I used a partial die-cutting technique as the die is longer than the image.

The background is a Graphic 45 paper (A place in time 6x6 paper pad)  and I cut a mat from Chatsworth, a very old paper pack by Paper Artsy (a collector item, I believe Chatsworth and Thorndon Hall were the only 2 ever made). 

A stamped sentiment completes the card (Sentimentally yours SYC007).

Hope you enjoyed the read and, as usual, thanks for coming by!  

 Craftyfield              I am entering the Allsorts challenge.

Halloween Door Sign

Hello crafters!
Today I have a second make on the Halloween theme for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. Still inspired by Tim Holtz and his latest release, I made a Halloween plaque to hang on a door.

The base is a recycled piece of light wood (ready meal container). I first tore a large piece of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Halloween 2024 Collage Paper (TH94393) and glued it in place with Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte, adding smaller pieces on top (insects).

Then I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray  (now stocked at Country View Crafts... yeah!!!).

 
When dry I added Distress Crayons (Halloween  Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Pearl Crayons 2022 - Halloween Set #4)
I added Ranger - Tim Holtz® - Distress® - Texture Paste - Translucent  and sprinkled several colours of Wow Embossing powders (Violine, Grape, Chai Latte, Olive).

I added ephemera  (Tim Holtz® Idea-ology™ Halloween 2024 Ephemera Pack TH94396), a paper doll (Tim Holtz® Ideaology™ TH93555), a sticker (TH94263) a die cut number (AALL & Create #32 - Die-cutting set - Numberama)  and a hand drawn pumpkin. 

The book is made of 2 pieces of  ephemera folded and glued together, a book of magic spells maybe... 

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the Halloween Whatnots stamp set from Tim Holtzs' latest release!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the We Love to Create, Allsorts, Creative Artist, 

                                                           Simon Says Stamp Wednesday,  challenges 

An Old Tale

Jumping from Autumn to winter...

A second post today with a non Halloween make for you!

 The paper I used is from an older collection by Stamperia, Winter Tales, magical and so beautiful with its icy blue colour scheme.

The panels have been die-cut with the Shadow Frame Box die set by Tonic.

To show you all sides of the box I had my glamorous assistant's help to create a video, alas, the lighting conditions were not perfect!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday, Allsorts, 

                                                         and Polkadoodles challenges

Spooky trees

Hello crafters, 
It seems all crafting energies focused on Halloween... 

As I don't have many choices in my stash, I used non themed stamps and tried to give my scene a spooky vibe. Hope it worked!

The background is Distress Inks and the stamps are from CI-259 'Four Tree Landscapes' and CI-450 'Listen to the Trees' stamped in Versafine black. Interestingly, I had never noticed that one of the tree exist in both sets but flipped horizontally (trees either side of the moon).

All Halloween colours present, including the green supposed to give a spooky feel to the moon.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts, Stamping Sensations, We Love Stamping

                                                        and Lost Coast Design  challenges

Druggist Window

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group.
This month the theme is "Halloween"

For my card I took inspiration from a great lover of all things Halloween, Tim Holtz!

I started by applying a large piece of Botanical Collage Paper (TH93705)  to my base and gave it a Vintage look with Antique Linen Distress ink. I also coloured the flowers and leaves with Distress crayons (Halloween #4 set).

Then, I used Distress Collage Medium Matte to add pieces of the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Pack (TH94396) and a paper doll.

Inspired by Tim's windows (TH94390 Baseboards Halloween 2024), I created my own with rectangle dies and a piece of acetate. 

I finished the card by adding more ephemera, a sticker (TH94263), zig-zag sewing on one side and matted the whole onto a black card.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the Halloween Whatnots stamp set from Tim Holtzs' latest release!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday and

                                                         the Allsorts challenges 

Signs of Autumn

Hello crafters!

I am back for a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group, still on the theme of "Autumn Richness". This time I used the colours of Autumn for this whimsical scene.

I started by a Distress Oxide sprays background (Tea Dye, Picked Raspberry and Walnut Stain).

The stamps I used are all Lavinia, stamped with Versafine black:
- LAV 564 Mini Forest Mushroom

- LAV 630 Mini Seed Head

- LAV 745 Open Dandelion

- LAV 859 Scout Small

I gave a hint of a hill for the scout to stand on, and the plants to rise from, with some Distress ink. 

To mat my focal image, I made a decorative mat by cutting the same border die (Spellbinders Borderabilities Lattice Borders 2 S4-218) on all four sides of a piece of red cardstock. One way of making use of these old dies which never seem to see the light of day!

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the Stamping Sensations, Allsorts, 

                                                         We Love Stamping, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenges