City Travel

Hello crafters, 

today I have an inspiration make for our June Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group. This month the theme is "Travel" hosted by Zoe Hillman. 
I have chosen the Sizzix Vault Christmas Magic (666718) die set to drive my muse...

My background has been coloured with alcohol inks using a felt pad and the buildings have been die-cut from a piece of Gelli printed canvas textured card.

The car and lorries are fiddly to assemble because they are small but otherwise the scene was really easy to put together.
To match the naïve look of the die-cuts I used the AALL & Create #32 die set Numberama for my base.

Proof this set isn't just for Christmas!

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I hope I have inspired you to enter our challenge! To enter, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the Arden bundle pictured below.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge

Playing with Embossing Powders

Hello crafters, 

This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Gail is "What makes you happy". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

Many things make me happy in crafting but playing with embossing powders is high on the list!

The focal point are die cut flowers Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tim Holtz Alterations Thinlits Die Set - Wildflower Stems #2, coloured with Distress inks.

For the background, I used a DIY stencil (Papertrey Ink Cover Plate Circles Die PTD-0337) and Wow embossing supplies, creating an ombre look diagonally:

It is very difficult to see in the pictures but these embossing powders have a matte look to them, as opposed to the usual glossy look, but they also have glitter in them which catches the light. The photo below is the best I managed, zoom to see the glint of the glitter!

  

I used Wow foil in gold to create a border on my card with thin double sided tape, and a die-cut sentiment (STAMPlorations) finishes the card.

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Hop on over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes of a Penny Black stamp and die set from Buddly Crafts pictured below for a lucky winner!
 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Allsorts challenge Birthday!

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge celebrates its 16th Birthday! For that very special challenge we have an easy theme... Anything Goes and fantastic prize bundles of AALL & Create crafty goodness amongst others!

So of course I had to showcase one of my latest acquisition from ALL & Create... 

I used a sheet (A4) of the Ethereal Expeditions paper (#15) from AALL & Create with the die Building Silhouettes (#58) to create the card.
Steps: 
1. Place the die on the side you have chosen as the front of the card, bottom right on the long side. 

2. Die-cut 

3. Turn the card to the opposite side (the back) and place the die to the right of the sheet. 

    To get the same effect as I did, with the higher roofs at the back, place the die higher than for the previous cut. I placed mine 2.5cm (1") above.

4. This time you need to do a partial cut, and only die cut the top of the die, otherwise you going to have the back of the card cut off! In addition if you want to write on the inside, try to cut only what is visible from the front so that the rest of the card is without windows! 

After die cutting score the card in the middle and fold. The opened card in the sun gives lovely shadows:

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are four prizes from  AALL and Create pictured below for a lucky winner....

AND.... three prizes just for our US based entrants:

A $25 store voucher from Lawn Fawn

Three stamps from Colorado Craft Company

A $25 store voucher from Gina K Designs (Worldwide)

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Mr O'Neil

Hello crafters!
Today I am showing a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge on the theme "Aged, weathered, distressed or timeworn " hosted by Brenda.

For this tag I chose Paper Artsy Infusions to create the aged/distressed look in the background.

The base of my tag is thin wood cut with the AALL & Create Die set Tag It Yourself #27 and gessoed. I then sprinkled Infusions in Rusty Car, Walnut and A Bit Jaded onto the sprayed tag.

I added some stencilling with white acrylic with the Tim Holtz Mini Stencil #43. 

Bits of washi tape (AALL & Create #107), clip die-cut (AALL & Create #30 Taggletastic) embossed with a mix of Wow Embossing powders, with a note attached (stamp by Andy Skinner), Cello Sticker Tape  (TH94386) and finally paper doll (the imaginary Mr O'Neil now cast as an industry magnate!).

 

The cogs are cut from masterboards created with acrylic paints in black, and Distress Oxides sprays in Salty Ocean, Fossilized Amber and Tea Dye. Then they were die-cut with the Sizzix Bigz L Cogs .

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To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. ">There will be a fabulous prize from the Country View Craft shop, something from a latest release...

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the challenge Tag-Along (and ATCs) and 

                                                          Creative Artist.

Using up leftovers

Hello crafters,

As the new Tag Along and ATC challenge has made its debut this month, I have made an effort to create ATC's and this is the first one.

  

I have assembled the ATC from already stamped and die-cut images, die-cut waste and snippets...

The pot plants are from Crafters Companion (Sara Signature Country Lane Perennials in Pots)

The arch, Kraft corner and background vellum are waste from die-cuts and the butterfly had escaped from, I presume, a Tim Holtz field notes snippets pack.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Weather Beaten and Sun Bleached

Hello crafters!
Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group. This month the theme is "Aged, Weathered, Distressed" hosted by Brenda. 

I used rust and sun bleached wood as my weathered inspiration.

My base is some recycled lightweight wood (food packaging) cut with the AALL & Create Die set  - Tag It Yourself #27 and primed with gesso.

I applied some rusting powder (Paper Artsy) with water and vinegar as well as Distress Oxide in Patina and let them mingle.

I dove deep in my bits and bobs stash retrieving waste of die cuts (the pennants) and embellishments.

The main image, is the lighthouse from Paper Artsy set HP1202 stamped on fabric. 

Decorative chips from Stamperia, a piece of Washi #106 from Stamperia (bottom right), a snippet of card embossed with a the Mini Lumber folder from Tim Holtz/Sizzix, aged with inks and more were added as embellishments. 

 

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. There will be a fabulous prize from the Country View Craft shop, something from a latest release...

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the We Love Stamping, 

                                                        Snippet Playground and Tag-Along (and ATCs) challenges 

Paper Piecing

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Lynne is "Paper Piecing". As usual, you can also enter with an "Anything Goes" theme.

I paper pieced a boat for my inspiration make, not the most obvious of images...

The focal image is Crafty Individuals CI-559 Of the Sea, which I stamped in black ink on white cardstock and on 3 different papers from the Craft Consortium Patina paper pad (CCEPAD017B).

I paper pieced the image from 3 areas, 2 for the boat and one for the water, leaving the rest white.

I then die cut the image with AALL & Create #78 - Die Set - Roadway Vistas die set and matted it on black card.

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Hop on over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. Our prize this fortnight is a £25 store voucher from Personal Impressions (inc pps, winner meets costs of any additional spend) to win. 

Personal Impressions is one of the UK’s leading brand managers/wholesalers/distributors in the arts and crafts industry, specialising in mixed media, papercrafts, card-making, scrapbooking and journaling. PI are proud to represent over 70 brands from global, recognisable brands to small, niche and new. 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the We Love Stamping challenge

Falling Rain

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Sarah is "Inspired by a song". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

My card is inspired by the song When the Rain Begins To Fall by Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora (Youtube here)

The focal image is "Sparkle In the Rain" from Visible image (VIS-SIR-01).

I first stamped the image with black Versafine and masked it. 

The rainbow was then created with Distress Inks and a DIY mask, adding a sun (also DIY mask). 

I printed some of the song's lyrics on vellum and die-cut it with a Spellbinders die.

Finally I added dew drops to the lyrics label to hide the glue that would otherwise show through the vellum and liquid glass for the rain drops:

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are three prizes of die sets from In2Craft pictured below for a lucky winner!

 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Addicted to Stamps & More, 

                                                        Stamping Sensations and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenges

Of Layered Frames and Sticky Grid

Hello crafters!
Today I have a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group. This month the theme is "Use a frame(s)" hosted by Sue . 

This time I created several frames with dies and a hero product often overlooked!

 

Have you got in your stash some of Tim Holtz's Layer Frames?  If it were not for my extensive dithering I would have... but since I missed out on these I finally decided to make my own....

In order to make the frames I needed some shape dies, 2 to a frame, and this, underrated product from Sizzix, the Sticky grid. If you are not familiar with this product it's a double sided sheet of paper printed with imperial measurements and sticky (removable) on both sides. 

As advised by our crafting god, Tim Holtz, I use it to hold in place my cardstock on my blending mat and also in my stamping platform. These I use and re-use many, many times... 

The sticky grid allowed me to place the dies in the precise position required and kept them there whilst cutting the several layers I needed to get the same thickness as the Layer Frames.

I then glued all the layers together and voila my own Layer Frames! 

I was so pleased with the result I carried on with different pair of dies, paper etc... and used them together on a file folder.

Supplies: 

- Graphic 45 paper "Place in Time" 6x6

- Stamperia "Coffee and Chocolate" 12x12

- Prima "Reflections" A4 pad

- Ideology Folio folders (TH94370)

- Ideology Ephemera Pack TH94396

- Tissue Tape (by Tim Holtz)

- Ideology Ephemera Field Notes Snippets (TH94049)

- Ideology Paper Dolls (TH93555)

- Idea-ology- Tiny Clips (TH94025 )

- Spellbinders, Docrafts and MFT dies

- antique bits and pieces from my stash

Here's all the pages of my make:

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the bundle pictured below of a Crafty by Toni stamp set and a pack of 49 And Market die-cut elements from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Double Frame

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group. This month the theme is "Use a frame(s)" hosted by Sue . There are so many ways of adding a frame to a card... drawing with inks, adding glitter/foil on double sided tape, die cutting frames with 2 sizes of dies etc... 

For my first make I created my frame with Lavinia stamps:

I stamped the cottage first using several colours of ink and masked it before stamping the path.

With the focal image in place, I added my frame by stamping the Fairy Lantern repeatedly around it and coloured them with pencils.

For good measure I added an actual frame that I had intended to cut with 2 sizes of a die set but had to hand cut using all the maths I could muster!

Supplies: 

- Honeysuckle Cottage Stamp (LAV 687)

- Mini Fairy Lantern Stamp (LAV588)

- Fairy Path Stamp (LAV246)

- Versafine Clair inks

- Coloured pencils

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To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the bundle pictured below of a Crafty by Toni stamp set and a pack of 49 And Market die-cut elements from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the Stamping Sensations challenge 

Masculine card with stencils

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Val, is "Stencils/Masks". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

In other news there is a new monthly challenge for tags and ATCs lovers Tag-Along (and ATCs), first challege starts 1st of May.

My stencil inspiration:

The background is a Gelli print I made with a DIY stencil by die-cutting numbers into a piece of card with the ALL & Create die set #33 Numberama (in black) and bits from the #39 Infinarty set. I also used the Ledger (TCW267) from The Crafters Workshop (in white) and Imagination Crafts (MA241) stencils.

I used Paper Artsy for the paints and with the stencils, Prima Heavy gesso (white) and DecoArt Media black gesso.

 

The focal image is AALL & Create Car from the #77 Climbing Wood die set, which I die-cut in pearlescent green (I was going for a metallic paint finish). I added some silverware with foil to the bumper and other accessories.

I cut the Gelli print and a mat with the set #33 Splodazzlers.

Finally I added a clip and a label, both die-cut with the #30 Taggletastic set, also ALL & Create. [Yes I'm a bit obsessed with their dies...] 

Hop on over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There is a prize from  From Lisa Horton Crafts, Pansy Corner layering stencils with coordinating die and embossing folder as well as a prize of two AALL and Create stencils.... for 2 lucky winners!

 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Addicted to Stamps & More and Creative Artist challenge

Spring Crocus

Hello crafters,
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Ellie is "Spring Flowers". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

The focal image is the Crocus from AALL & Create stamp set #624, which I stamped with Memento inks in Grape Jelly and Pear tart. I used the words from the same stamp set around the crocus with Versafine black.

I then masked the flower and used Distress Oxide inks on a polymer plate, spritzed with water to add colour to the background. 

Some stencilling with a trellis stencil (Creative Stamping issue 111) with Distress Oxide in scattered straw, 

I used coloured pencils to fill in the petals and stalk and die cut the image and mat with the AALL & Create Numberama die set (#33 ), affixing the whole onto a white base card.

Hop over to the Allsorts blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. Prizes of stamps and stencils from AALL and Create (winners will receive random selection from those shown below) 

 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge

Floral card

Hello crafters!

Today is my second post on the theme of "Mother's Day/Use flower(s)" for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group and hosted by Cassie.

I selected vellum for this card as I wanted to use coloured pencils. 

Why vellum, I hear you ask? Well, vellum has 2 advantages when it comes to coloured pencils: the first is that the paper has a texture that grabs the pencil, allowing more colour to be applied, the second, because it is semi opaque. a second layer of colour can be applied to the back for even stronger depth of colour.

First I stamped the flowers from the AALL & Create "In The Wild" stamp set (#529) in white pigment ink . Then I coloured on top with the pencils.

The image and its mat have been die-cut with the AALL & Create Splodazzlers set (#33).

Finishing touches are some of the little "bits" from the same die set and small brads I have coloured with nail varnish (in pink) and embossing powders (the black and the white brads).

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the fabulous prize pictured below, one of the just released Paper Artsy stamp set from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the challenge We Love Stamping and Polkadoodles 

Feminine Hello

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Lynn is "Feminine". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

The focal image is an old stamp from Flonzcraft, Flower Engraving, simply stamped with blue Versafine. [I don't think this is still available as Flonzcraft don't seem to do polymer stamps anymore]

The papers are from Polkadoodles "The colour of Spring" (PD7450) and the Hello die is from Memory Box.

The die set I used to cut papers and blue mat is AALL & Create's #33 Splodazzlers.

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Hop on over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes from Stamp Addicts, stamps and stencils pictured below for a lucky winner!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Polkadoodle, We Love Stamping, and

                                                          Stamping Sensations challenges

Exquisite

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held
in the Facebook group. This month the theme is "Mother's Day/Use a flower(s)"
hosted by Cassie.

I stamped the flowers first and coloured them, thinking I would mask them before the next step. Unfortunately the masking wasn't 100% proof and a lot of my yellow, blue and orange sprays have obscured somewhat the flowers... Still the grainy effect was to my liking so I kept it!

The stamp set is CMS453 "Exquisite" Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Once dry, I die-cut the image and a mat with the AALL & Create Roadway Vistas #78.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the fabulous prize pictured below, one of the just released Paper Artsy stamp set from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield       I am entering the Stamping Sensations, 

                                                            We Love Stamping and Polkadoodle challenges. 

CAS Sympathy Card

Hello crafters, 
 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Helen is "Clean And Simple". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

I do like making CAS cards in general but they are particularly good for these hard to make Sympathy cards.

I used a stamp from the Penny Black You & Me stamp set (30-285) with Versafine Clair inks in blue and brown and added a sentiment from the Big Sentiments - Sympathy stamp set (Inspired By Stamping) in black.

It looks simple, it sounds simple to make and yet it took me an age to find "THE" placement that would make it just so...

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Your turn now... do hop to the Allsorts blog, admire my teamies makes and upload your project for the chance to win 2 prizes of Oakwood Direct, 3 stencils, A5 stamp set and coordination Butterfly stamp and die set. 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 Polkadoodle challenges