Tuesday 28 January 2014

Donna may be last but oh my!...

Donna's second make this month is bring January's challenge to a conclusion and what a fab project to finish on! Nice one Donna!:



"Combined a bit of gelli plate fun and lots of blue tones to create my second monochromatic piece. I love the textures you get when you combine masks with the gelli plate. More details of how I put the card together can be found on my blog...."
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This is stunning Donna and great to see the Gelli plate put to great use, thank you!

Well, we have just today and 3 more days to go until we shut the doors and lock everyone in (or is that out? lol) so please get a shimmy on and get your projects finished and entered!

Good luck to everyone and please make sure you have the correct theme name (Monochromatic) mentioned in your posts.

See you all in February - phew! xxx

Saturday 25 January 2014

Jane is chasing the BLUES away

We're delighted that you're loving the MONOCHROMATIC theme this month, it's great to see so many creative entries.

Today we're joined by another of our Guest DTMs, another Top 3 winner from November...


"Hello I'm Jane from Jane's Journal. I was delighted to find out just before Christmas that my card made the Top 3 and that I was being invited to make a GD card for the next "Monochrome" challenge. I first found Country View Crafts and the challenge blog last year when I managed to buy the elusive Sizzix accordion die from them. It seemed most appropriate for me to make an accordion card for my GD spot today. 


I have made black/greys and sepia/browns monochrome cards in the past but I thought I would make something very different and a first for me....in blue. I used Distress inks to make the backing papers and stamped onto them with various floral stamps. I also made some butterflies using the same papers. The stamp is from Lili of the Valley and is one of my oldest favourite stamps called Dandelion Clock. I decided to keep to the monochrome theme even down to colouring her hair blue..the first time I have ever created blue hair!


The quote stamp is also from Lili of the Valley.


I have written a tutorial over at my blog to show how I brought my card to life. Do pop over to visit me there and say hello. Thanks so much Country View Crafts for having me today."

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This is stunning Jane, definitely a card to chase the blues away, thank you!

There's almost a week to get your projects finished and entered. Don't forget, one lucky entry picked at random will win a £20 shop voucher! We haven't finished yet, there will be another post in a few days. xxx

Wednesday 22 January 2014

A monochromatic beauty!

We have another guest joining us today - our winner of November's DTMSM (Design Team Member's Special Mention) award - and she's brought another winner with her to show us:


"Card Recipe

White 6x6 card,
Black Card,
Silver mirri,
Turquoise Core'dinations Cardstock,
Embossalicious 6x6 Butterfly embossing folder,
Silver organza ribbon,
Mulberry rosebuds,
Glossy Accents,
Stardust Stickles,
Liquid Pearls


To make this card I printed off the beautiful Digi Image from "Aurora Wings" which I then coloured using my Spectrum Noir pens. I then matt & layered this onto some core'dinations and then onto silver mirri. The next step was to emboss same coloured core'dinations and then matt this onto some black card, I then added some silver ribbon and a hand tied bow which I placed on top off the mulberry rosebuds. After colouring up the image I then added some liquid pearls, some stardust stickles and the glossy accents. And last but not least I punched a few butterflies out of the silver mirri."

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Thank you Lorraine, such a beautiful, elegant card!

We're now 3 weeks into the challenge and time to start finishing your projects and entering if you haven't done so already! You know us, open all hours, lol, but we will definitely be closing the doors on the 31st!

Enjoy the rest of the week. xxx

Sunday 19 January 2014

Sue's going places!

Sue is up, off of the bench and running onto the field with this gem! Yep, she is definitely going places with this fab vintage truck!


 

"One of my favourite colours to work with is brown, especially with Distress Inks, you can achieve such deep, rich colours with them."

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We love this one Sue and how right you are! Thank you!

We're over the half way mark now Ladies and Gentlemen, so time to get warmed up and think about getting those entries in, lol.

We'll be back in a few days with more to tempt you. Have a fun week! xxx

Thursday 16 January 2014

Trace has a great message...

Yay, Trace is back with us and with a bang! This gorgeous project she's made for us is so poignant, many of us will relate to it we're sure!

 

"So for my second piece, I played with super soft neutrals..using antique linen. I love the softness that this gorgeous colour can create , especially with the addition of the almost creamy feel of the Distress paint. So love how so much detail and texture can still be created working in monochrome...just love it. I added lots of die cut flowers and some  leaves made from shrink plastic in my melt pot. A little frosty rock candy glitter added another element. x"

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Wow Trace, this is beautiful, thank you!

We're seeing the number of entries climb which is great, thank you! As ever, there'll be another post from us in a few days time.

Keep playing! [s] xxx
 

Wednesday 15 January 2014

December's Winners

Hi All, here we are with the winner, Top 3 and DT Special Mention award for the December challenge.

Gabrielle had the pleasure of choosing the awards this time round but firstly 
THE WINNER chosen by Random Org is .....




#105 - Hazel (kbrandy4)

Congratulations Hazel.



THE TOP 3

Vibekke -  Mix Papers




Ana K   -  Anina Papirckalnica



The DTMSM

Amanda  -  Treasured Moments


Many congratulations to Vibekke, Helene, Ana and Amanda as well, your badges etc will be with you soon.

Thank you to everyone who entered for December and we hope you are enjoying the January's theme.

More inspiration from Tracy tomorrow.

Monday 13 January 2014

Brenda's second monochromatic project


I have made this tag for my second DT piece and kept to the monochromatic theme for this month.
For the purposes of this challenge 'monochromatic' means hues of one colour but as black and white are at the opposing ends of the spectrum you can use them too. We will also allow a skin-tone colour for anyone using images where flesh needs to be coloured. (I have found in my browser that my black archival looks blue on some of the photos, but that must be the light conditions when I used the camera as well as monitor colours - hope that makes sense).


P1040253
I had great fun using some Tim Holtz distress inks and stamps for the background.....

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... and I borrowed this fabulous vintage stamp from my sister, I think it was made by B Line but of course you could use any stamps you like. (More details on my blog)

More fabulous inspiration in a few days and I think it is from Trace.

Have a great week.


hugs {brenda} x0x

Friday 10 January 2014

Meggymay says love is black & white

Today we have more inspiration from our talented winners and this time it's the turn of Meggymay, one of November's Top 3 winners...


"I was delighted when the folk at Country View Crafts asked me to be a guest designer for the Monochrome Challenge. I have chosen Black and White, but given it a more romantic look. Lots of layers, one of them dry embossed and the addition of trimmings from my stash. For the main image I used a Queens Dresser Drawers stamp, adding the sentiment  of Follow Your Heart, to complete my card."
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This is fabulous Meggymay, what a great example, thank you!

Thank you too, to all of you who have already entered, we can see some stunning examples and such creativity! Remember, the lucky (random) winner receives a £20 shop voucher to spend on crafting goodies so please keep them coming.

More very soon. xxx

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Green and cute!

Desire is playing for us today! Desire is one of November's top 3 winners and we're pleased she has joined us as a guest for this month:
"I was so honoured when Chris from Country View Challenges emailed me to inform me that I have been a Top 3 Pick for their November Letters Challenge and are invited to do a Guest Design Team Project for them in January.  Thank you so much for the opportunity.  Here is the card:


I just could not resist this beautiful image. Being a nature lover I can relate to the beautiful forest scene. She was created by the talented Mi Ran.

I have coloured her with H2O pencils.  The design papers are from BasicGrey and the buttons are from my stash.    The sentiment is a from Create with TLC.  The shapes around the sentiment and at the top were created with a {Doing Life} template.  The flower embellishments have been created with 2" scalloped square punches and here is my tutorial for them."

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Thank you Desire - your card is beautiful and demonstrates just how appealing monochromatic work can be!

It's great to see your entries building, there has been some hard thinking going into them! There will be more from us shortly, have a great week. xxx

Saturday 4 January 2014

Wow! Dig this colour!

As Gabrielle chose the theme for us this month, she has the pleasure of being second on the field. Gabrielle loves journalling and here is another project from her:

"For my second project for this month's theme of Monochrome I chose to use pink and black. I also decided to see what would happen if I played around with stencils! Using spray inks there is always some left on the top of stencils and so I simply flipped the stencils over. If you have stencils, why not have a go?"

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These is fab Gabrielle, thank you!

We hope you're having fun putting a monochromatic piece together to enter this month...? There will be another project from us in a few days.

Have fun! xxx

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Read on for this month's theme...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE !!!

The Design Team would like to convey their good wishes for a happy, healthy and crafty 2014 to you all. Let's hope for a great year for everyone!!

We had lots of beautiful Christmas entries last month so thank you to all who took part. Unfortunately, once again, some of you excluded yourselves by not complying with the rules which is such a shame as they really are quite basic and quite simple. (Most of the disqualifications were because people had taken the heading of the blog post rather than reading the post itself to see what the theme actually was!! Hence the title of today's post!!) 

We're starting 2014 off with a theme chosen by our talented Gabrielle, it is.......

'MONOCHROMATIC'

For the purposes of this challenge 'monochromatic' means hues of one colour but as black and white are at the opposing ends of the spectrum you can use them too. We will also allow a skin-tone colour for anyone using images where flesh needs to be coloured. We can't wait to see what you make of this theme!

As usual, we have the flair of our Design Team to open up the challenge and give you some ideas. This month we have Brenda and Trace back with us and Chris and Jennie are taking a break. The DT is joined by our guest, winner of November's challenge, Rita, here is the line up:

Rita
of RMG Creations


"I started out with an 8X8 white card and matted it with Black linen card. On this card I used mainly dies as you will have noticed. The largest die in the centre is from Tonic and is called Bows, the corners are Joy (6002/0135), the leaves are from Penny Black 'Dancing Leaves' and I made the tiny white roses from a Cheery Lynn(B154)die, and a Silky Crush ribbon bow to finish off my card.  The quote is from Quietfire designs and one that I myself believe in."

Brenda
of Bumblebees and Butterflies


"Happy New Year everyone, ring out the bells and celebrate in style. Well that's what I hope you are doing whether that be with family and friends or quietly at home with perhaps the tipple of your choice.

I have used a size 8 tag, various shades of brown distress inks and some of my current favourite Tim Holtz goodies to create my monochromatic tag. Enjoy."


Donna
of Donna's Little Crafty Corner

"Happy New Year wishes from me to you with this creamy brown card, lots of antique linen distress paint and die cutting.......


......hope you all have a great New Year.  More details of the card can be found on my blog."


Gabrielle
of crafty thoughts


"Mindful that this month's theme begins on New Year's Day I chose to use my journal to record a Resolution. This isn't my Resolution but it's one that has always amused me! Resolutions are tricky as they are so easily broken - mine this year will be something along the lines of "Do all my physio exercises so my elbow heals quickly" as I've more surgery to it early next year!

Monochrome to me is black and a colour and so I used Dirty Martini Dylusions ink. They joy of a simple page in your journal means that as the year passes I can go back and add to it as and when I get new stash throughout the year! I like pages that evolve over time."


Sue
of Stamping Sue Style


"The gorgeous new blues in the Fresco Finish paints were my starting point for this card. It made me realise I do rather like working with a monochromatic theme!"


Trace
of inkypinkycraft


"Well I love working in monochrome, it is my favourite way to work. I love how so many layers, textures and details can be achieved with just a colour. So for my first piece , I indulged my love of all things steampunk, Distress and brown.  I used some great Art Parts from Wendy Vecchi, lots of yummy Distress goodness from Tim Holtz and lots of idea-ology. I had a ball...can you tell?"

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We hope that's given you a flavour of the theme and some inspiration to get started. Have a great month and don't forget, we post new projects every few days!

HAPPY 2014!

Your Design Team xxx