Eventful Journey

Happy 1st of May! 

For those of us having a bank holiday it might be the opportunity to fit in more crafting in the week and maybe enter our new Country View Challenge, hosted this month by Monika. 

She has chosen "Vehicles" as the theme and my first project features an old car:

 

I made the background with several layers of acrylic paint (a mix of PaperArtsy and Cosmic Shimmer matt paints) using a brayer and Distress foam. I added a brick wall (from Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencil Set 28) and splodges (fromTim Holtz Mini Layering Stencil Set 43). 

I stamped the old car image (from the Stampers Anonymous set CMS021) in black Versafine. Sadly I lost some of the detail of the stamp because of the texture of the paper... hey ho as Tim (Holtz) says "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit". 

 I didn't and I hope you won't either! 

Talking of accidents... I had a major one with a bottle of Nuvo Drops (A Tonic Studio product). Even though the bottle was almost unused the product had dried at the top and couldn't come out of the very small opening. But I was on a mission, so I squeezed and I squeezed... lo and behold the bottle exploded, propulsing paste on the walls, table and even my hair. You've been warned...

I did save the little blob I had planned to add to my left hand corner wheel but the rest of the (broken) bottle went into the bin.

I added the cogs from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Bigz L die - Mechanicals (665225) and the words from the Sizzix Thinlits Adventure Words set by Tim Holtz as embellishments.

The sentiment is also from the CMS021 stamp set.

Plenty of inspiration on the blog from my teamies so I hope you will join us and link your Vehicle projects to the Country View Challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop. 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the SSS Wednesday challenge

Frame of roses

Welcome to my second inspiration post for our Country View Challenges, hosted this month by Rachel who chose "Things with Wings" as the theme. 

This time I chose a real winged creature, inspired by a floating frame of flowers and leaves. 

To make it I die-cut and stamped many roses from the The Sweet Life Stamp and Dies Sets from Papertrey Ink set (quite old BTW). 

Then on a piece of cardstock the size of the finished card I placed my blooms until they created a pleasing effect, like this: 

Now I placed a rectangle die in the middle to create an aperture and lifted everything using sticky paper (removable) and run the sandwich through the die-cutting machine. [Country View Crafts stock a masking paper which is great for that.] 

Before removing the paper I put foam pads all around the roses making sure all the die-cuts had a bit of foam and enough so that the frame would be stable. 

Time to turn to the focal point, Pip, a freebie from the Papercrafter magazine issue 183, by Two Red Robins. 

The freebie robin had a die and its own stamp, but, would you believe it, unmatched, since they were mirror images of each other and therefore quite unusable!

So, I went in search of a printed Pip on their website and found a Black and white freebie file. With a bit of image manipulation I printed him in different shades so I could with pencils colour him as I wanted.

I got Pip a branch to stand on, part of the Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 20PK - Christmas Shadow Box by Courtney Chilson and placed both behind the frame, before adhering the card base to the frame and bird. I quite liked it like that with flowers uncut on the outside but reasoned that it would be a better look for a wall display than a card, since I still had to put it in an envelope...

With a pair of scissors I simply cut the overhang following the shape of the card and voilà a standard card size again!

I am thinking of several versions of this one, with different stamps and dies as frame... Watch this space.

Your turn to create a project with Winged creatures and link up your project to the Country View Challenges for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the SSS Monday, We Love Stamping, 

                                                        Stamping  Sensations and Allsorts challenges

CASe of wine

For the first time in a long time I have been able to make more than 2 projects a month!

Starting with a CAS card that is part of a series of 10  I am making for a gift. 

I will be adding envelopes, tags and will also make a box to present them.  

I have used Visible Image 99% Chance of Wine stamp and die sets for this card. 

The 2 glasses at the front are die-cut the others stamped directly on the base card, using grey and maroon inks. 

I added colour to the cork and a "table" under my glasses with pencils and the sentiment has been printed on the card. The other half of this funny quote is revealed on the inside page: 

 

Thanks for coming by, Cheers!

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

Spring gives you wings

April is the month when the weather starts to be interesting over here, well warmer anyhow! I feel the sun rays cheer me up and give me wings... And Things with Wings is the theme chosen by Rachel for our Country View Challenges. So birds, bees, butterflies and faeries are all welcome!

I started with fairie:

All stamps are from Lavinia.
I stamped and masked the moon (LAV431) before applying Distress inks for the background. I also added paper masks for the hills.
Next I stamped the Open Dandelions (LAV 745) et and the faerie (Mia) and to finish I repeat stamped the Oak Leaf (LAV760) and embossed Stars Mini (LAV152) with WOW! Embossing Glitter - White Twinkle.

I matted the image on black and orange cardstock and left the sentiment for the inside of the card!

 

Your turn to create a Birthday card for men and link up your project to the Country View Challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the SSS Wednesday and Allsorts challenges

Birthday Card for a man

Today I am showing my second inspiration piece for the Country View Challenge, where the theme is "Birthday card for a man", chosen by Corrie. I went with drinks which is more neutral than masculine but this one IS for a man so... 

I stamped the glass at the front first and masked it, stamping the bottle and the second glass over it using grey and blue inks. I added the spray from the ice cube hitting the drink in various shades of blue.
I coloured the ice cubes, glasses, lemon and bottle with pencils and stamped the words in black.

The sentiment "It's Your Special Day" is from the Essentials Sentiments set SYC007 from Sentimentally Yours.

All the other stamps are from Visible image, most from the Keep your Gin up set with the "today's forecast..." borrowed from the 99% Chance of Wine set.

Your turn to create a Birthday card for a man and link up your project to the Country View Challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

Craftyfield           I am entering the SSS Monday Challenge, Allsorts, 

                                                       We Love Stamping,  and Stamping Sensations challenges

Happy Birthday Handsome

Welcome to March and a new Country View Challenge, hosted this month by Corrie who has chosen " Birthday card for men" as the theme. Yes those difficult cards to make... but, no fear ,the DT has plenty of ideas on the blog! 

My first card is one for a young man, I'd call him a teenager but that time has passed! 

I pulled out a masculine collection, Mr Handsome and the Young and Free, both by Craft O'Clock . I had planned to use stamps and/or stencils as well but the papers did the job all on their own. 

I did, however, use a few dies to spice up the design, including the Birthday sentiments (Happy from the One Liners: Happy Die set and from Wonderful Words: Birthday Die, both from Papertrey ink.
From MFT Die-namics I used the Notebook Edge. 

[I am looking at old stash a lot recently and feeling nostalgic about the supplies we could get from the US before it cost an arm and a leg to ship over the pond...] 

Anyhoo... have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop. Just remember to follow the rules!!! 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield    I am entering the Allsorts and SSS Wednesday challenges 

Winter sentiment

No this is not an old post... Untypically for me I have started Christmas crafting early... well last year I hardly had any time to craft, resorting to actually BUYING some cards! 

This card fits our Country View Challenge blog where the theme is "Be Sentimental" (not just romance but any sentiment, phrase or inspirational quote): 

I just had to test some of the supplies I grabbed during the fabulous Advent Calendar sales at Country View Crafts (if you've never heard of it before, Susan does a special offer from the 1st to the 24th of December). 
I die-cut the Paper Panda Craft Die - Meadow Frame (Creative Expressions) and used the inside oval as a shield to my brushos when I created the background. The paper I used for the die-cut is a specialty Self adhesive paper, thin enough that it will die-cut without too many passes. This is a game changer for these detailed dies and at less than £10 for 25 sheets a bargain to boot! 
When that dried I simply stamped the Sentiment (STAMPlorations) in Versafine Black. 

Then I peeled off the backing of my die-cut and applied to the background before sticking both onto my base card. 
I am so pleased the stamp fits so well in that frame and I am planning a series so I will not be caught out without hand made cards next Christmas... 

Over to you now, visit the Country View Challenge blog for more inspiration, the DT posts every other day for the first 3 weeks. and join us by linking  your project here for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop, just make sure you follow the rules!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts (I love playing with new supplies...),   

  Stamping Sensations and SSS Wednesday challenges                                

Valentine's card - Together

Happy day! Today is the day of our new Country View Challenge, hosted this month by Jane who has chosen "Be Sentimental" as this month's theme.

Of course we expect to see lots of Valentine's cards but the main thing is to have a sentiment, a phrase or some inspiring words... so quite a lot of options.

For my Valentine card I used quite a few oldies:

First I cut a piece of masking tape the same size as my base card: 6"x6" and stamped the heart (Papermania Sew Lovely - part of a magazine freebie I believe and probably 10 years old...) on it. I then cut it out, keeping both innie (the heart) and outie to use later.

I left the heart stamp on the stamping platform so I was sure to have the stamp in the right place when I came to stamp it on the base card.

I positioned the outie on my base card and stamped a texture through the heart opening, here a Create A Card stamp by Impression Obsession with a canvas texture.

Then I stamped the heart on the base card, phew perfect placement!

I positioned the innie onto the base card to make sure the sentiment I was going to stamp was in the right place and straight... When happy I took the heart mask off and stamped on the base card.

I added a background with a stencil from the Mini Stencil Set THMST010 (Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz) and some Distress inks.
Finally I added some other words as some sort of embellishments, both by Rubber Dance, the quote by Josiah Holland and the "Always" from a very well liked Nostalgic Couples set and the Together from the Beautiful Words set.

This is taking me back to stamping at its best and, if the object of your affection is far away, perfect for posting as it is absolutely flat with no added weight!

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop, just make sure you follow ALL the rules (they aren't that many...)

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the SSS Wednesday challenge

Universal Birthday card

Welcome to my second inspiration piece for our Country View Challenge, hosted this month by Evelyn., who chose "Time" as the theme. Think clocks, clockfaces, watches...

This time I made a card :

The focal stamps are from the Visible Image Somewhere in time set, stamped in Versafine Black and Memento Summer Sky Blue,

I added a "to" with an alphabet stamp set and a die-cut word from the Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 7PK - Handwritten Celebrate by Tim Holtz, which I embossed with several layers of Frantage aged copper embossing powder.

Over to you now, link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop, but make sure you follow all the rules for your entry to be valid!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Timeless

Happy New Year! 

The new year reminds us of the passing time and would you believe it Time is the theme the lovely Evelyn has chosen for our January Challenge at Country View Challenges. Clocks, etc... 

For my first inspiration post, I had fun making this Vintage inspired tag:

To make my background I stuck a piece of Gelli printed paper on a sturdy base. I used a variety of stamps and stencils to build the Gelli paper with Fresco paints.
I added some Tissue tape and embossed all around the tag with Frantage embossing powder in  Aged Rose.
The clock and Timeless sentiment is from a Stamperia sheet of chipboard stickers (Romantic Journal collection)

The lace and flower head are from my bits and bobs box.

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

12 Days of Christmas Treat box

Today I am showing  my second inspiration piece for our Country View Challenge. 

Initially my idea was to create an advent calendar with 24 boxes but I realised the finished article would be too big and as I could only gift the calendar after the 20th of December it was a bit meaningless. So instead, I figured a "12 days of Christmas box" would be an adequate replacement. 

I used Graphic 45 papers to make 12 match boxes and covered 2 sturdy pieces of cardboard to serve as top and base for the box tower.

Before assembing the boxes I added a brad through an eyelet to create a draw knob and die-cut numbers from 1 to 12. 

Finally I glued a first layer of boxes on the base, alternating the position, which create a square shape, with an empty square in the middle. Then I stuck the other layers on top and added the top cardboard to finish.

 I am planning to fill each box with an array of treats, mixing the traditional chocolates with dried fruits all wrapped in tissue paper.

Your turn now to create something on the theme "Christmas" in our Country View Challenge. You could win a £ 20 voucher if you link your project...

 Plus there is still 4 more days of Advent offers at the Country View shop!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts challenge

Tri-fold card for Christmas

Welcome to the 1st of December and our new Country View Challenge! 

An easy one for you... the theme is "Christmas". You can enter any projects with any supplies on this theme, as long as you follow ALL the rules! 

I made the Z fold type card shape using an old die (Presscut) but it is an easy one to make with 4 scored lines and 2 cuts out of an A4 piece of card. It has the advantage of offering lots of surface for decorating... 

For the front I stamped trees and snowflakes in black ink and the big tree and baubles in coloured ink with the Bottle Brush Trees Paperbabe Stamp set, on white card. 

On the sides I added white card stock with velvet effect stickers from my underused crafting supplies. 

A merry Christmas die-cut serves as the sentiment.

On the reverse , I simply added patterned papers and a piece of white card for the message.

And the beauty of the shape is that, when folded, it fits a standard envelope!

There you have it, something that will stand out on the mantelpiece...

I hope I have inspired you to enter the Country View Challenge blog, if not have a look at my fellow teamies projects and don't forget if you link your project you are in with the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Paperbabe and SSS Wednesday challenge