More Christmas inspiration for Country View crafts challenge

 Hello this is the 2nd of my 2 design team makes for our December "Christmas" theme challenge over in the Country crafts Facebook challenge group. I made another card using all Tim Holtz products and I have linked the products I have used which are the CVC website. 

You don't need a blog or an Instagram account to join in with the challenges. Just head over to the group and join in with the fun! The link is Here and if you are not already a member just request to join and we will warmly welcome you. It is also be a place you can be the first to hear about workshops, the latest releases etc etc. We have a happy membership of over 360 crafters and we are growing every day. You can enter the challenges up to 5 times as you like as long as you use products or brands which are stocked on the Country View Website.

This is how I made my card. 

I used pine needles, iced spruce and rustic wilderness distress stain sprays for the base background. I used the mini holiday 4 stamp set to add some background stamped imagery.

I used Versafine Claire inks for all my stamping. 

I stamped the sentiment from the set onto a scrap of white card and also die cut out some wreathes.

I added a little sparkle with some drips of distress spritz 

I used the foilage vault die sets for my die cuts. 

I stuck the sentiment across the wreath and more elements from the vault festive wreath die set. I then added some sequins, die cut snowflakes and Stickles glue for some finishing sparkle. 

Here is my card once more. 

Remember you can find me most days over on Instagram Here @jane.tyrrell where I share many, many more makes then I have the time to blog.

I hope I might have inspired you to give our "Christmas" challenge a go. You can enter up to 5 times.

The prize is none less that a place to attend Zoe Hillman's creative workshop at CVC HQ next year.

This is my last CVC and indeed blog share for 2024. Wishing you all very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and creative 2025. Thank you for still continuing to visit me here and for your ongoing support and comments. It is so appreciated. 

See you next year!

Jane x

Winter sparkle inspiration for Visible Image

 Hi everyone, and welcome to my latest design team make for Visible Image. The theme for our makes this week is "winter sparkle" and my brief was to make something "non card". As I organise the monthly artist trading card (ATC) swap over in the VI Facebook group I thought this might be a good opportunity both to share how I make my ATCs but also to promote our fun ATC swap group. 

So I made these 3 Winter sparkle ATCs

 Our swap has been running for over 3 years this is currently our 45th swap. Everyone is warmly welcomed whether or not you have ever made an ATC before. You only need to make a single ATC although I make 3 as I keep one and swap one with another friend. Also a lot of people make a card to send with their swap but this is not a requirement. The full rules are over in the group which you will find here .

 For those of you who are unfamiliar with ATCs Artist they were designed to be fun and swappable. They are tiny unique works of art to be traded never sold.  They measure 3.5 by 2.5 inches. This is the “standard" for them. Many people like to write the information about the swap, products used etc on the back and Visible Image sell a fab stamp set called Love of ATCs which is perfect to use for this. There are also some fun small stamps that can be used as envelope art.

I used it with the Night owl set

and stars and sentiment from Shining star

This is how I made my winter sparkle ATCs;

I used an A5 size sheet of black card. I pressed some saltwater taffy and lost shadow distress OXIDES (inks won't show as they are translucent) onto my kraft sheet with a spritz of water and dipped my card in, drying with a heat tool between layers. This gave me a nice wintery feeling background. 

From the inked card I cut 3 ATCs each measuring 3 1/2" by 2 1/2". I stamped 2 Night owls onto white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and clear embossed them. 

1 of the owls I cut into 2 as shown below.

I cut the owls out and added a little colour using distress pencils. 

I stamped the sentiments (just for the position) 2 in landscape orientation and 1 in portrait onto the ATCs 

I randomly repeat stamped the small stars on all 3 ATCs using Versamark and then heat embossed with gold glitter embossing powder. 

I added the "whole" owl to the portrait ATC and cut off the excess wings level with the edges.

The "halves" were adhered to the 2 landscape ATCs. 

I also gold heat embossed the edges of the ATCS for extra sparkle.

I then stamped the sentiments onto white card and cut them out. 

I stuck them over the blue ones I had used for placement and added sequins for a finishing glittery touch.  

I also rounded the corners of the ATCs using my punch.

Here they are finished

and as a group.

And this is the back of each. I just stamp the info plate from the Love of ATCs set onto card from the back of cereal packaging and stick in place. This gives each ATC a good "thickness"

As I have already mentioned I organize the monthly artist trading card swap in the group. It is open to everyone worldwide. Over 150 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started over 3 years ago. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month. So the next swap sign up will open on 23rd December.  There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best. Do come over and join us, you will be most warmly welcomed. 

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

 Our kind, friendly and supportive customer Facebook Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Their website is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Christmas with Country View challenges

Hi everyone I can't believe we have reached the final challenge of 2024 over in our Country View Crafts challenges Facebook group.  The theme is of course "Christmas" and we can't wait to see all you festive entries. You don't need a blog or an Instagram account, just head over to the group and join in with the fun! The link is Here and if you are not already a member just request to join and we will warmly welcome you. It is also be a place you can be the first to hear about workshops, the latest releases etc etc. We have a happy membership of over 350 crafters and we are growing every day. You can enter the challenges up to 5 times as you like as long as you use products or brands which are stocked on the Country View Website.

This is the first of my 2 DT Christmas makes. I made it using all Tim Holtz products

and this is how I made it.

I used the awesome Mr Frostie stamp set.

I stamped him and fussy cut him out. I also stamped the scarf onto a piece of Tim's patterned paper and cut that out too.

I added the scarf and coloured him with distress pencils. 

For the background I used an ancient Tim embossing folder on white card. I coloured it with distress inks

I then added some distress spritz for a little festive sparkle

To put the card together I matted the background onto red card with some die cut snowflakes and starts. The sentiment was stamped onto white card and distressed around the edges.

Remember you can find me most days over on Instagram Here @jane.tyrrell where I share many, many more makes then I have the time to blog.

I hope I might have inspired you to give our "Christmas" challenge a go. There is a fab prize up for grabs too for one randomly selected and you can enter up to 5 times!

This is the prize, none less that  a free space to attend Zoe Hillman's creative workshop at CVC HQ next year.

I will be back with my 2nd festive DT make on 22nd. I hope you are enjoying the run up to the big day? 

Bye for now,

Jane x