Shabby chic Christmas

Hello all and thanks for dropping in! Today it is my turn to show a project over at the Countryview Challenge blog. I have made another Christmas card, this time more shabby chic in style.

I had actually planned to just make a tag, so this card started with a size 10 manilla tag.
I stencilled three snow flakes using the Tim Holtz snowflake layering stencil using texture paste. Once the paste had dried I coloured the tag with Shaded Lilac and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks.

I deepened the colour with some Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain Spray and inked around the edges with Ground Espresso DI then did some background stamping with a text stamp.

At this point I decided I was going to turn the tag into a card, so I took a piece of scrapbook paper, cut it somewhat larger than the tag, inked around the edges with Blueprint Sketch and then adhered my tag. I also glued two bit of lace along the side.

Next I selected some flowers, leaves and berries from my stash and gave them a coat of gesso. When the gesso had dried I used a hot glue gun to create a cluster and arranged it over the lace

I also adhered a little resin bird over the hole in my tag and added a little red berry sprig for a patch of colour.

Here is a close up of the flower cluster.

I added a little sentiment by stamping and fussy cutting a ticket from the Tim Holtz Odds and Ends set, then all I needed to do was mat and layer my card and it was done.

Well, it's only just over a month until the big day, so I am glad I can tick another card of my list.
Thanks so much for visiting today, and don't forget, there are still a few days left to enter our challenge at Countryview Crafts!

On your travels for Countryview Crafts

Hello everyone and happy July!
This month the lovely Trace has chosen the theme of "On Your Travels", - perfect of course for this time of year with school holidays and many people off on their holidays no doubt.

I decided to take a somewhat different twist to the theme and created a hanger that symbolises more of an inner rather than an outer journey. After all, not everyone can go travelling and sometimes inner journeys can be even more important than outer ones.

I started with a small paper mache hanging from my stash, and covered it with some scrapbook paper to have a good surface to use inks on.

To add a bit more interest I adhered a couple of strips of book paper with gel medium and also added some texture by pressing some paper down in the gel and then lifting it up.

I then inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink Below you can see a close up of the texture, the photo was taken when the gel medium was still wet. It will dry completely clear but the texture remains and you can bring it out with sprays and inks.

I decided to add more texture with the help of one of Tim Holtz's layering stencils and some modelling paste and then added more depth of colour with Walnut Stain  Distress Ink Spray.

I love how the spray seeps into the textures created with the gel and modelling paste.

Time for a focal image. I stamped a ship stamp (Sheena Douglass) onto tissue paper and adhered it in position on my hanger with gel medium. I also added the word Explore with the Tim Holtz Thinlets word dies.

As you can see, I added some white highlights to make the words pop a bit more and  also stamped the word Journey from the same Sheena stamp set.
The final touch was to add a few Tim Holtz remnant rubs.

Well, I hope you like my somewhat different "On Your Travels" project, please hop over to the Countryview Challenge blog to be inspired with what my talented teamies have created. And if you can, please join us in our challenge!

Enjoy your travels where ever they take you! Thanks for visiting

A Simple Scene

Hello everyone, so happy to have you drop in here today and welcome like always to you all!
I am showing a card I made as my second DT piece for Country View Challenges where the theme is "Something Scenic" this month.

I decided to dust off some of my Sheena Douglas stamps again and create another scene with the beautiful St Paul's stamp. This is actually a Christmas stamp set, but has many other uses besides.

I created a circular aperture mask and adhered it to my base card. I then stamped the main St Paul's image in Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I masked the main image with masking fluid, punched a circular mask, put that in place over my masked St Paul's and then inked around it with Faded Jeans and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. When I was happy with the result I removed both the masking fluid and the moon mask and added a bit more colour with my inks and a blending tool. With the main circular aperture mask still in place I then stamped some little trees in the foreground, inking them up with a brown Big Brush pen.

I removed the main circular aperture mask, added a sentiment and because there seemed to be so much white space I then did some light stenciling still, using a Tim Holtz layering stencil and the same two colours of Distress inks.

After that I matted and layered my card and my simple scene was done.

Well, that's it from me for today but there are still some days left to join in our challenge. So if you have not done so yet, we all hope to see you there

Thanks so much for dropping by here today and see you next time!

Something Scenic

Hi everyone and happy first of May, yay, a month without an r in it, should mean warmer weather here in the Northern Hemisphere....
It's the start of a new challenge over at the Countryview Challenge blog and our theme this month is "Something Scenic".
Loved this theme as it gave me a change to ink up some of my scenic stamps, that so often get forgotten about.

The stamps I used are from Darkroom Door and I used some simple masking techniques to create it.

I cut a piece of smooth stamping card and then made a mask using some masking material and die cut a rectangular aperture.

I inked through the aperture with 3 colours of Distress Inks: Weather Wood, Stormy Sky and Vintage photo. I then punch a circular mask, adhered it and darkened the colours around it, to create a moon. The picture above shows it with the circular mask in place and the one below with it removed.

The fact that the moon has a little colour stops it from looking too stark.

Next I stamped my chosen image with the main aperture mask still in place, and then two further images from the same set with the mask removed.

I stamped the main image in Watering can archival. I made a bit of a mess of it, so stamped an extra tree and hand drew some little birds, to cover up my mess. Embrace imperfection like usual.....

The two additional images were stamped in black archival. I coloured the box with some red Distress inks (Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany) and added a bit of extra light around the lamp post with water brush.
Then all I did was mat and layer it, and voila, all done.....

Here are a couple of details still:

A little bit of shading helps to add a bit of extra depth.

Hope you'll decide to play along with our challenge, but whatever you do, make sure to check out the wonderful different interpretations from the design team here and I am sure you'll feel inspired!

Hope you'll have a creative month of May! I'll be back later in the day with my project for Mixed Media Monthly, so hopefully see you then.

Thanks for visiting like always

It's a Drippy Droppy February

Hello everyone, welcome and happy start to February to you all!
It being the first, time to start new challenges of course. First up, my project for the Countryview Crafts Challenge blog, where the theme is Drips and Drops. Here's my make:

It being February, I could not help but have hearts come into my project, but this is not your ordinary Valentine's card, - it's for someone who recently had their heart broken, but this is to show her that somewhere down the track there may still be hope....

I started with a piece of 6 x 6 Prima paper and added a stencilled heart using Decoart Crackle Paste. When dry and Distressed it all with Decoart Media Antiquing Cream.

This splatty heart seemed perfect for the drips and drops theme, and of course as it was all about broken hearts, these larger size cracks (achieved by adding the paste quite thickly through the stencil with a palette knife) seemed perfect.

To add some further interest, I took another scrap of paper and cut out a cupid with the Tim Holtz mini movers and shapers die. Rather than using the actual cupid itself, I used the piece of paper with the cut out, added some black card to the back and then did some shading with a white Stabilo All pencil to add some depth and shadow to my black little cupid. After all, cupid is breaking hearts here....

Both elements were first mounted on a piece of 7.5 by 7.5" paper and then on an 8 by 8" folded Kraft card blank.

I scruffed the edges, added drips and drops with some Distress Spray inks, some word stickers and tissue tape to finish the card and that was it.

Here are some closeups still:

Some hand scribbling and an Industrious Sticker arrow to tie the different elements together

Some letter stickers mounted on another little scrap of card

The final message, hopefully lifting it all out a bit from the doom and gloom.

I had great fun putting this card together. Do hop over to Countryview Challenges to see what my wonderful talented teamies have created, and of course we all hope you will play along with this fun challenge!!

Thank you so much for visiting like always and I'll be back with another project for Countryview on the 9th.

Nostalgic Victorian Christmas

Hello all and thanks for taking the time to drop in here at this busy time of year!!
As you may know the theme this month at the Countryview Crafts Challenge blog is Nostalgic Christmas and today is the time to show you my second design team piece, - a little mini book.

Regulars will know that I love making mini books, and this time I thought I would share in more detail one of my favourite ways to make these little books, just out of one piece of 12 x 12" card stock. I used Kraft card, but any card can be used, though it's best if it is two sided card stock.

Here is how to do it:
1. Take a piece of 12 x 12 and score horizontally at 6".
2. Turn the card 90 degrees and score at 4" and 8".
3. Turn the card back to its original position and cut along the line between 1 & 4 and 3 & 6 up to the middle score line as shown on the diagram above.
4. Start folding like this: Fold panel 1 up to panel 2, then fold both behind panel 3, then fold them down to 4, then behind panel 5 and finally up to panel 6.
5. Turn it sideways so the spine is on the left, - panel 1 is single and will form part of the cover; 2 and 3 are together and can be glued at the top to make a little pocket, or glued together completely for a thicker page; panel 5 and 4 are together and can be glued at the bottom, to form another pocket, or be glued down complete again, finally panel 6 is single again and will form the back cover. If you want you can do exactly the same again to make a fatter book, but I left mine just with one piece of card and made two pockets for tags as described.

This may all sound very complicated, but really when you do it its very easy

Now to the cover:

The outside cover was made separately out of 3 bits of card:
2 bits cut to 4.25 by 6.25 for the front and the back, and a piece for the spine. The spine needs to be the same height as the book, so 4.25, and needs to be scored with about a quarter of an inch gullet to fit comfortable around the booklet, the outer ends can be as wide as you want and you can even give them a decorative edge. As this whole little book was quite ornate, I decided to keep the spine simple, it was cut to 4.25 by 2.25 and scored 1" from each side along the 2.25 side to leave a quarter " channel.

Right, that's the basic construction done you'll be glad to hear. I'll show now you pictures of how I decorated my inside pages, using bits of paper from my stash, vintage images (for the nostalgic feel) and lots of stenciling and background stamping.

Most of the stamps I used were from Tim Holtz and are all available at Countryview Crafts.
Here is the back cover still:

The little book is a gift for a friend who requested one and will soon be on its way to her.
Here are a couple of little tags still to fit inside the pockets:

The booklet closes with a ribbon that I glued down before adhering the covers to the end panels (1 and 6). I embossed the actual spine with a snow flake  embossing folder and then highlighted the raised bits with Treasure Gold.

Hope you'll pop over to Countryview Challenges and play along with us, and of course make sure you check out the fantastic projects from my team mates too!!
Have a good rest of the week and don't get too stressed, Christmas is meant to be a time of peace and joy!

xxx