Quoth The Raven

Good morning and a very happy Tuesday! We're well into Halloween season now, and so here's my second piece for the Country View Crafts challenge, 'Halloween or Harvest'

I've had this 3D embossing folder for ages. I bought it just because I liked it, but Halloween seems the perfect time to use it!

I always think embossing folders show up well when used on black card.

I've used gilding waxes to add some colour (I've always been a bit heavy-handed with these lol)

Then I've just added some Tim Holtz Paper Dolls, die cuts, ephemera, and a little bit of stamping with a Carmen's Veranda stamp.

You'll find all things Halloween here in the store.

I hope you like my card, and that you join in with our fun challenge!

Have a great day, and thanks so much for looking x

What's That Coming Over The Hill...

 Good morning and a very happy Monday, I hope you had a lovely weekend! I'm back with the second of my projects for the Country View Crafts Spring challenge.

As usual, this is a combination of some of my oldest stash with some of my newest.

I started by brayering my background with some Amsterdam paints. I guess I should have cleaned my brayer better before I started lol.

Then I added some stencilling and foliage with the end of my paintbrush (which I then dropped hence the "red sky in the morning"

I've had these Tim Holtz dies for years and they've never been out of the packet, so it was quite a shock to see that the hand was cut into the card rather than cutting it out!

I LOVE my new Sam Poole alpha dies. They're the perfect size.

And what's not to love about these grumpy sheep!

My favourite uncle is 75 this year, so guess which card he's getting lol.

Susan has a great range of Tim Holtz goodies here, and Sam Poole here.

Have a very happy day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking x

Happy New Year

Good morning, happy Saturday, and a very Happy New Year. I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and New Years Eve, and that you've got over your turkey and chocolate coma.

Of course, a new year calls for a new challenge at Country View Crafts, and this month's,  chosen by the lovely Jo, is Your Year To Sparkle And Shine. For my first project, I've made a journal page.

There's nothing fancy here, just lots of glitter card, mirri card, and a fair bit of die cutting. I've had this glitter card FOREVER. It comes out every Christmas as you can never have enough bling at Christmas.

I really like this Tim Holtz die, and should definitely use it more often.

 Susan has a great range of Tim's dies here in the store.

So please join in with our challenge and show us lots of sparkle and shine.

Take care, and have a very happy 2022 x

 

Merry Christmoose!

 Good morning and a very happy Thursday. Today I'm over at Country View Crafts with the second of my Christmas projects. 

In real life I'm actually in Spain with Neil and my Mum and Dad chasing some sunshine! Today will be spent looking into clinics so that we can come home next week. We had a frantic week before we came out arranging Covid tests, and then the guidelines changed again on our first day out here. Oh what fun!

You may remember that my first card was a snowy night scene, well today's are the daytime versions!

Once again I've used some of my newest, and some of my oldest Tim Holtz stamps and dies. I can't believe how old some of these are, and I love that they fit in so well with the new ones.

I'm not sure why the Merry Moose isn't in the photo as he lives permanently on my desk every Christmas. When you have a son called Chris you can guess who's on his card every year lol.

Susan has a wonderful range of all things Tim Holtz here in the store.

Have a very happy day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking x 

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. So, 1st of December, choccie calendar at the ready, Christmas is on it's way! All this AND the start of a new challenge at Country View Crafts. I don't think that it will come as too much of a surprise to hear that this month it's 'Christmas - Anything Goes'

Every Christmas I turn to my new Tim Holtz dies, and this year I've dug down deep to find some really old ones too!

I've added lots of mountains that came with my snowman set, and Christmas isn't Christmas with the Merry Moose.

And this is a real combo of old and new! This is Tim's latest stars die, but the sentiment is from a set that I've had for years (and years, and....)

These are my die sets. The one in the middle with the sentiment I got when my second Vagabond die cutting machine blew up and Sizzix kindly sent me a big shot and some dies as a replacement. All are still working perfectly!

Everything Tim Holtz can be found here in the store. 

Please join in with our challenge, we all must have something left to make for Christmas, I know I do.

Take care,  have a very happy December, and thanks so much for looking  xx

Back To The Noughties For The First Signs Of Spring

 Good morning and a very happy Monday, I hope you had a great weekend! It's the start of a new week, month, and challenge at Country View Crafts, and this time Miriam has chosen the theme of the First Signs Of Spring.

The first thing that I had to do was go back in time about 20 years to find these pretty Spring-like papers that I knew I had 'somewhere safe'.  Then, I had to quickly You Tube 'how to make an easel card'  'cos that's been a while too! But once safely back in the correct space-time continuum the card came together very quickly.

I do like these happy bunnies, they remind me of Bridget Jones from the original film. I'm sure Tim Holtz must have been watching it when he designed the dies! I watch this film at least once a month just to see Colin Firth, but enough of that....

So, I hope that you join in with our challenge for the chance to win a £20.00 voucher to spend in the store. Take care, and thanks so much for looking x

You're Having A Giraffe!

 Good morning and a very Happy New Year! Hands up those who are delighted to see the back of 2020 -  yes me too! So it's a new month, a new year, and a new challenge over at Country View Crafts, and to kick us off, Corrie has chosen the challenge, which is to use one or more squares on our projects. I've made a birthday card as I need my first one for the year in a couple of days!

I had an idea in my head that I wanted to make a tropical kind of background, so I pulled out my square inkpads in yellow, orange, and browns and splodged away! I've had the VersaColour ones since time began, so I thought they might have dried out. Of course, it was the strongest, darkest, juiciest one in existence, and just to make sure I wasn't imagining things, I splodged it again doh! Never mind I'm sure something will cover it up.

Next, I used all the background stamps from the Pink Ink Giraffe stamp set along with my Distress Oxides to add a bit more colour. At this point I'm thinking "what a mess, and I wish I had a Plan B"

So, I trimmed it all down and added a die-cut frame.  I stamped and watercoloured my giraffe, and popped her out of the frame with foam pads. I added a few die cut leaves, and used my favourite Tim Holtz dies for the sentiment. I'd triple embossed this to make it nice and shiny, but some embossing powder had got underneath too so it really didn't want to stick down. I mean, really, really, didn't want to grrrrrr!

Anyway, once I'd cleared away the 10 different types of glue that I'd used - did I mention that it didn't want to stick?? I added an acetate jacket, just because I like acetate and it's not like I hadn't already spent 2 days on a card that didn't want to stick!!!

Told you I'd cover the brown blob up somehow, here's a well-placed giraffe!

I really like how this turned out in the end, and I hope the recipient does too. She'd better, or it's the Card Factory for her next year!

Please join in with our challenge, you don't have to make it as hard for yourself as I did, just show us your squares.

Take care, and have a very happy new year! 

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

 Good morning and a very happy Saturday. All the snow from yesterday has gone now, but it was so pretty at the time! Today we should have been traveling up to the Lake District for our annual Christmas week away but the Tier 3 restrictions have put paid to that. Never mind, I've put so much weight on during lockdown I don't think I could have gone out anyway, 'cos PJ's are frowned upon in public.

Today I'm back over at Country View Crafts with my second Anything Goes Christmas piece.

Again, this was the first time I'd used these Tim Holtz dies. Oh my goodness, I love the Santa, but what a faff to put together, not for the faint-hearted (or madly impatient and very short-sighted). I should just carry on cutting and make a few in advance for next year (who am I kidding, I'll put them away and leave 'till the last minute as always)

So my work in progress photo is actually just a pile of bits! What this doesn't show is that actually, Santa is in two halves! That really is not how you should treat the big guy in red (other Santa colours are available)

I hope you're already joining in with our challenge, and if not, put on your Christmas music, Santa hat and get creating!

Have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking x

And We'll All Be Merry And Bright

 Good morning, a very happy Tuesday, and welcome to December! Hurrah this year is nearly over lol but the best bit is still to come! Our new challenge over at Country View Crafts is 'Anything Goes Christmas', so for all of you Bah Humbuggers out there it's time to get into the Christmas groove!

I think I got these dies after Christmas last year so this is their first spin out. Once you get into them these Colourise dies aren't too bad to put together, but some of the smaller pieces are so tiny I just didn't bother - life's too short at the moment!

There's not much to say really, I cut all the bits and pieces out, lost some, cut them out again, found them....then I assembled them all. The hardest part was remembering which side of the paper went up or down as I've got a new die cutting machine and the sandwich is upside down to what I'm used to. Plus I have to get up and walk to it, it's not perched on the desk under the rubble at the side of me!

I don't normally duplicate cards but I'll be making another one of these. It's not as if the recipients will be meeting this Christmas! It's always so much easier and way quicker the second time around but I lose the will to live if I try batch making. 

So please put your grinch to one side and join in with our fun Christmas challenge. Take care, and have a very happy month xx