Bewitched

Hello crafters, 

Today I am kicking off the Country View Challenge on the theme of "Romance and Friendship" which I have chosen since Valentine's day is just around the corner!

If Romantic love is not your thing you can go with Friendship or any other kind of human love (children, family...)

The inspiration for this card is the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Vault set Wicked (666683), on the premise that witches do not always have to be sinister and the old series Bewitched came to mind.

It's not that I don't have any "Romantic" themed stamps or dies but I was itching to use the set, one of my latest purchases from Country View Crafts during the Advent Calendar event (every year my budget downfall...). 

For background I chose AALL & Create #15 Ethereal Expeditions paper. I say paper but at a whooping 350gsm it is very much heavy cardstock, great for card bases and boxes too!

I added some Distress inks to suggest a floor and a wall. 

To the broom, witch, cat and bottles from the Wicked set, I added heart confettis (Memory Box Heart Sprinkles 94112), and the word Love (660218 Sizzix/Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set 7PK - Handwritten Love). 

The shelf is a freebie die from Creative Stamping magazine( Issue 105) and I have printed the cauldron and fussy cut it.

There you have it, witches aren't just for Halloween! 

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win both stamp sets pictured below from the Country View Craft shop.
 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the  Simon Says Stamp Monday. 
                                                          Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Addicted to Stamps  challenges 

My Valentine

Hello crafters,

I am kicking the month of February with not one but 2 romantic cards... 

First up a card for the Allsorts challenge, where the fortnightly theme chosen by Gail is Romance/Music. As usual you can also enter with the "Anything Goes" option.

I used the Lavinia stencil (Leaf Trails) with Distress inks, Memory Box dies (Cupid with swing, Pinpoint Heart Circle, Heart Sprinkles) and an envelope die (Docrafts) to contain my heart confettis from the Heart Sprinkles die.
The sentiment is made up of a Crafter's Companion word die and alphabet die (Sizzix Monde de Blonde).

I relished using some of my antique stash in this make, maybe a little too sweet for a man but I doubt it will make a big difference to him!

*************

Hop on to Allsorts for the chance to win stamps and stencils (random selection) from AALL and Create. 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 Monday. 

                                                            Simon Says Stamp Wednesday and Addicted to Stamps  challenges

Black & White

Hello crafters, 

today a quick post and an unusual colour scheme for this card as I road test my new dies:

 

I first stamped the Crafty Individual "The Village Inn and Church" (CI-474) with black Versafine.

The other elements, including the mat, are die-cut: the trees and "fence" are from the AALL & Create #78 set (Roadway Vistas). Once die-cut, I applied black ink on top of the embossed areas to show off the details.

The base card and the black mat are die-cut with the AALL & Create  #77 die set (Climbing Woods). 

Note: I suspect the names of these 2 die sets have been mistakenly swapped but that is the way they show up in all craft websites.

It feels quite odd to create in stark black and white and I might try the same design with colours too!  

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday, Stamping Sensations,                                                            and We Love Stamping challenges

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 Polkadoodles                                                                and Simon Says Stamp Monday challenges

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

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.

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

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

Autumn has arrived

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month the theme is "Autumn Richness" and to celebrate the new season, not that it's my favourite, I chose to make a decor item. 

The base has been recycled from a particularly big wooden packaging, the lightweight kind that comes with some ready made dishes. It was round but I cut it as an Octagon and flattened it (I have worked out that an ordinary steam iron works well for that). 

For the background to the "Autumn" I used the AALL & Create die set Infinarty (#39) and the Lavinia stencil Leaf Trails (ST017) with Distress inks.

I added my title, die-cut with the Sizzix Alpha set 662228 and stamped 2 leaves (stamp from my own collection).

The 3D elements are the fantastic mushrooms moulded with the Stamperia Silicone Mould Woodland Mushrooms (KACMA502) and the fallen leaves a mix of die-cuts and punched leaves from cardstock inked with Distress Oxide inks.   

For now, I have left the knots of the twine as you can see them whilst I mull over how I am going to transform the back into a Winter/Christmas decor piece, but, if possible, I will hide them with metallic leaf brads.

To give you an idea what it looks like in situ in the house: 

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win the Paper Artsy bundle seen below from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the  Allsorts, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday

                                                        Stamping Sensations,   We Love Stamping, 

                                                        Simon Says Stamp Monday challenges 

Blast from the past

Hello crafters, 

An oldie but goodie today... both in supplies and technique!

I first smooshed bright inks all over my cardstock and applied black ink to an embossing folder (on the flat side) giving that contrast of bright against dark. The folder is an old Cuttlebug/Provocraft and if I remember correctly the one that convinced me I "needed" a die-cutting machine!

The quote is from the "Life is so much Better" stamp set designed by my crafty friend Brenda from Floral Fantasies. I then die-cut it with another oldie, possibly Nellie Snellen (anyone recognise it let me know, it's some 15 years old and I have lost all details!).

There you have it, an easy card but eye catching.     

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, 

                                                         We Love Stamping, Stamping Sensations and Allsorts challenges

Wonderful Wild Flowers

Hello crafters, 

It seems summer is here at last and to celebrate I crafted this wild flower meadow.

The focal image has been built up with stamps from the Crafty Individuals set "Wild Flowers" (CI-226), inked with watercolour crayons.

The background sky and grass is also watercolour crayons, shaved over water applied with a brush. 

I then revisited my older supplies and added several layers of papers, some die-cut, one punched and some distressed and/or torn. The many layers is unusual for me and, despite my best efforts, I still didn't incorporate as many as I had planned! It just goes against the grain.

A flower made with punches and patterned vellum and a sentiment die-cut add the finishing touches. 

 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts, Stamping Sensations, 

                                                               We Love Stamping and Addicted to Stamps challenges

National Gin Day

Hello crafters!
 I am back for a second dose of humour for the Country View Challenge held in the Facebook group where the theme is "Make Me Smile".

Are you preparing for the 8th of June world event? [1]

 Hmm... I am proposing a reschedule...  

[1] National Gin Day 2nd Saturday in June 

I used the stamp and matching die sets "Keep your Gin Up" by Visible image. 

The bottles at the back are stamped directly on the card front whilst the foreground 3 have been die-cut.  I stamped with dye inks in various colours and coloured the images with pencils. 
I created the sentiment on the computer.

So, no time to lose, create something funny and enter the challenge for the chance to win! You will find our May challenge here, in our friendly Facebook group. Our prize this month is 3 inkpads of the new release of Versafine Clair inks.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts and We Love Stamping challenges

Make Me Smile

It's the middle of the month but today is my first post for May's Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. The theme is "Make Me Smile" and I immediately thought of those Visible Image alcohol based stamp sets.

I first printed the sentiment on my base card to avoid spoiling a finished image... tip: always print a draft on cheap paper first!

I stamped bottle, glass and cork on white card and die-cut the images with the matching die set (99% Chance Of Wine). I coloured the bottle and cork with pencils.

 

I used the stencil Morocco by Daily ART to create a wallpaper impression and applied Distress inks for the table.

Finally I positioned the die-cuts on the based card.

I hope this card makes you smile and inspire you to enter our May challenge, if you do you could win 3 of the new colours of Versafine Clair inkpads, but you will need to join our friendly Facebook group here if you haven't already.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield      I am entering the Allsorts and Stamping Sensations challenges

Stepper Card and Butterflies

Hello crafters, 

A quick post as I am aiming to enter the Allsorts challenge where the theme is "Show us your folds". Paper construction is not my forte but stepper cards are within my reach, albeit with help from a die...

The die is Step Card by Presscut, the set comes with dies to cut decorative papers for each section as well as the card base and I used some old magazine freebies to decorate the panels.

The stamp in the focal portion of the card is Crafty Individuals "Beautiful Butterflies" (CI-231). I stamped and embossed it, then I applied dye powders, a blue Brusho and Cerise Infusion (Paper Artsy). I should have known better... The strength of the powders overwhelmed the piece so much I had to tame it with Distress Oxides and white pigment ink.

I will add a sentiment, probably die-cut words, when required but I am not sure if I should place it in the middle of the background or at the bottom on the pink card. Suggestions welcome!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield               I am also entering the SSS Wednesday and 

                                                                   Stamping Sensations challenges

Dapper Bunny

Hello crafters!

Today I have a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month the theme is "Mad March Hare" which also includes rabbits and anything Easter!

This time my card doesn't even sport a sentiment on the front as, ahem, it got rather busy! Last year I made a few of these "Floating frame" cards and I just love how impressive they look. 

My focal image is the bunny from the AALL & Create Set "In the Wild" (#529), which I coloured with pencils.

The frame is made of several flowers and leaves die-cut with the Sizzix Thinlits  – Floral Layers die set (664359), which I coloured with Distress inks. I could have die cut into coloured cardstock but this gave me more control over the exact shades, as I don't have all colours of cardstock under the sun! Especially greens since I don't like them and yet there are often necessary for all the trees and leaves so I always run out!!!

And another look at the height:

So, no time to lose, create something for Easter and/or with a bunny in it, to win it! You will find our March challenge here, in our friendly Facebook group. Our prize this month is this lovely bundle....

Thanks for coming by, 

 Craftyfield   I am entering the SSS Wednesday Allsorts, Stamping Sensations,

                                                         Addicted to Stamps  challenges

Mad March Hare

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month, the theme is "Mad March Hare" which also includes rabbits and anything Easter!

My first card is a Birthday card but can be adapted easily for Easter.

I created a light background of sky and grass with Distress inks and torn paper masks.

I die-cut my sentiment (a combination of 2 Papertrey ink dies and a letter from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Script set - 662228) out of cardstock and out of foam, glueing them together for more dimension.

The focal point is of course rabbits, the funny Katzelkraft Mini 114, which I stamped on kraft colour cardstock and coloured with pencils.

Those who come here often know how much I dislike fussy cutting but... one has to suffer for one's craft! Yes, I did fussy cut those 5 plus another 2 I thought I might need!

I popped them up on foam pads and, voila, hopping rabbits or one caught on a camera's burst mode...

Anyhoo, I hope I have inspired you to enter our March challenge, if you do you could win a nice bundle (see below), but you will need to belong to our friendly Facebook group here.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday, Allsorts,

                                                         Stamping Sensations, and Addicted to Stamps challenges.

Spring is coming...

And not soon enough! Today I have a Spring inspired card with a floating frame, one of last year discovery for me and now a firm favourite of mine.

The bird is "Sweet Robin Redbreast" by Crafty Individuals (CI-456). I stamped it in grey ink, coloured it in pencils and fussy cut it.

The flowers and leaves are die-cut with Crafters Companion Country Lane Perfect Peony die set, the branch from the Sizzix Thinlits Die Set "Christmas Shadow Box" by Courtney Chilson (663611) and the Spring sentiment, Chocolate Baroque - "Breath of Spring", has been die-cut with a Papertrey ink die set (Memory Clips Die).

I gave a slight hint of sky in the background of my base card with Distress Inks. Then, it was a matter of positioning all the elements and sticking them down with foam pads. You might see the dimension better in this photo:

I will warn you now... another floating frame make will be coming here soon!!!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Allsorts, We Love Stamping,

                                                      Stamping Sensations, SSS Monday

                                                      and the Lost Coast Designs challenges

Love tag

Hello crafters!
Today I have a second piece of inspiration for our Country View Crafts Facebook group for the February challenge, where the theme is "All About Love".

On a gessoed tag, I built the background using Distress Oxides sprays in Walnut Stain and Picked Raspberry, stamping partial areas of Stamperia images from the set Lady by Antonis Tzanidakis (WTKAT09). 

When all of this had dried, I added stencilling with transparent texture paste (Ranger/Tim Holtz) to which I added drops of re-inker (Worn Lipstick, Prize Ribbon and Salvaged Patina). The stencil is Lavinia Leaf Trails ST0017.

I put together a cluster on top of a doily cut with 665587 - Sizzix Thinlits Die - Heart Mandala by Eileen Hull.

I used a Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Paper Doll (TH94235) and some Field notes Snippets (TH94049)

The sentiment is in the form of 2 die-cut words (from the TH /Sizzix Thinlits words 660218 Love) and a Wooden heart from my bag of bits is the final touch.

That's all for this month of inspiration at Country View Craft group ... if you want to be in with a chance to win one of the latest Sizzix/Tim Holtz die sets, you'd better hurry and enter our challenge as it closes at 12 GMT today! 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the SSS Wednesday challenge

Love Struck

Today I am featuring over the Country View Crafts Facebook group for the first of my inspiration post for the February challenge, where the theme is "All About Love". 

Inspired by Tim Holtz release of the "Vault" I dug out some of my most ancient Sizzix dies for my make. 

Along with the old Sizzix Bigz Love Struck (657484) I used the more recent Thinlit Heart Mandala by Eileen Hull (665587).

To finish I added the sentiment from a Tim Holtz Sticker sheet.

All in all pretty simple, although I did have a job die-cutting the Mandala, which, being very intricate, needed lots of passes in my machine.

I will be back for a second make later in the month, meanwhile why don't you join the Country View Craft group and enter our challenge for the chance to win one of the latest Sizzix/Tim Holtz die sets....

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts and SSS Wednesday challenges