Wintery backgrounds for our January Country View Crafts challenge

 Hi everyone, today I am sharing my first design team make for our new challenge over in the Country View Crafts and challenges group on Facebook. The theme for January is "wintry scenes" 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 makes for this month, a wintry background birthday card I made for my husband's January birthday.

I used Tim Holtz products for the background and colouring and Visible Image stamps. I will add some links to the products which are in stock on the website in this post. 

Here is my tutorial of how my card came together.

I first sprayed a wintry mix of distress mica stains (currently out of stock but Susan can order in if you email her) with lost shadow distress oxide spray  onto black card. 

I then die cut a Tim Holtz "moon" using his moonlight set. 

I added some dimension using lost shadow and pumice stone distress inks and then flicking on some water. 

I also die cut some wintry trees using an ancient die from my stash. Susan has a substitute wintry tree you could use here

I then stamped the Visible Image Night owl using Versafine Clair Nocturne and clear heat embossed. I fussy cut it out and coloured using distress pencils.

I stamped the birthday sentiment using the Visible Image Go to words set. 

Then I put my wintry scene together sticking everything down with Cosmic shimmer glue 

I added some Tim Holtz die cut gold stars as a finishing touch. 

Here is my finished card once more. 

with a final close up.

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

I will be back with my 2nd DT make on the 25th.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Autumn magic for Country View Challenges

Hello I am back with my 2nd design team inspiration make for our current "Autumn magic"  challenge over in the new Country View Crafts Challenge Facebook group.  The monthly challenges are now being hosted over on Facebook as it makes it easier for everyone who wants to enter, to do so. 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 love to welcome you over there. It will also be a place you can see Country View Craft products, the latest releases etc etc. We have a happy membership of over 200 crafters already and we are growing every day.

The theme for our October challenge is "Autumn magic". So we would like to see leaves, autumn colours, mushrooms etc etc on your entries. You can make anything you like. You need to use products or brands stocked on the website. You can enter up to 5 different projects. There is an amazing Christmas Tim Holtz stamp set up for grabs for the randomly selected winner. You really don't want to miss out on this! As always the challenges are open internationally.

 I have added some live links to the Country View Crafts website where you can purchase some of the products I have used. If any items are out of stock just hit the email request button. 

For today's make I used the gorgeous Visible Image Night owl set available on the website here

with the Branch out stencil available here

This is what I got up to;

I used one of my inky backgrounds from my stash and cut to a 5 1/4" square. I place the stencil over to the left

and using gathered twigs distress ink blended it through the stencil using a blending foam tool. 

I stamped the owl and moon from the Night owl set and the sentiment and stars from the Birthday wishes set (not in stock yet on the CVC website but it's coming!)

Using distress crayons I water coloured the owl. Susan has all the sets in stock over at CVC here

I added some die cut stars as a finishing touch. I matted it onto blue glitter card and then a white 5 3/4" card blank. Here is my finished card;

with a couple of close ups

and 1 final shot;

I really hope that I may have inspired you to join in with the "autumn magic" fun. Do head over to the challenge now being hosted on Facebook here. I have decided that for now I will continue to blog my makes so that I can share some process photos. If this is something you find helpful please do let me know. However I will keep an eye on how many people come over to see them. If there are not many I might stop writing up the posts, as they do take me a lot of time. 

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

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Staying strong with Visible Image

Good morning, a fortnight has rolled round and it is time for my regular design team post for Visible Image.

You may remember that some time ago I made some stenciled backgrounds using the 

Breaking glass stencil This was shared on social media when it was released back in February. 

I just used white pigment ink on black card to achieve this;

The background then sat in my WIP box for a while until inspiration struck! I decided that it would make the perfect background for the design I had in mind and I dug it out this week. This is what I got up to. First I stamped and white embossed a sentiment from

So much stronger

and the moon from the 

Night owl

I added some glitter glass around the edges to resemble smashed glass.

I stamped the owl in black Versafine onto a scrap of watercolour card and then added a little colour using Zig watercolour pens. I fussy cut him out and stuck him in place, using foam fixers under his wings for dimension.

Here is my finished card.

with some close ups, trying to show the real sparkle from the glass glitter.

and one last shot.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes

More mixed media 3/3 anything goes

We love to create 3/3 anything mixed media

Crafter's castle 3/3 anything goes

Through the purple haze 2/3 anything goes
Craft stamper take it make it 1/3  anything goes
Penny Black and More 2/3 anything goes
Allsorts 2/3 something old, something new...my old is my night owl, he has been inked soooo many times, I just love him!

All the Visible Image links are listed below

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are regular giveaways...open world wide. Do check out the Facebook LIVES and videos where you will be able to see lots of the samples we have been making with the new release in the flesh!

Their Instagram page can be found here

  Pinterest  here

And once again the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased.

There is  also a fab discount code KEEPSTAMPING which will give you 20% off everything on the website. This just perfect for crafters who are sending out cards to help raise people's spirits at this time. Visible Image is a small husband and wife team who are still shipping here in the UK and abroad for as long as they are able to . 

We also have a challenge running over on Facebook, with great prizes. The link is above.  Perhaps you might join us and then send what you have made to someone you care for and cannot see in person for now? 

Back soon,

Stay safe and stay creative,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Guest designing for Ink Art Designs

Good morning or evening if you are in Australia. The reason I am saying that is today I am guest designing for the lovely Dot who owns the Australian craft business "Ink Art Designs" and she will be 11 hours ahead of me here in the UK.

Ink Art Designs stocks lots of international brands of stamps, including some of my favourites. She recently added some great mixed media inks and products too and is constantly increasing her stock.  She used to be on the Visible Image design team with me which is how I got to know her. Do check her out via the link above.

My favourite brand of stamps Dot stocks is of course Visible Image.  I am using 2 of their new sets called Night Owl and Erika's Maple to make my GD card, which Dot will have in stock very soon. I checked out first that Australia has owls and yes not only do they have owls but maple trees too! If you have not visited my blog before you will not know that I am totally influenced in my crafting by the seasons and Mother Nature. I have a local flock of Dino Ducks (they are called Egyptian Geese really but to me they are like friendly dinosaurs). On one of my walks last week I took these photos and used them for my inspiration for my card.

 2 of the flock

 Lots of leaves are on the ground now that the weather has turned very autumnal.

So these are the 2 stamp sets I used.
Night Owl (these 2 sets are winging their way to Australia as we speak)

and Erika's Maple

This is what I got up to.

First I made an inky background using Infusions

and I added silver ink spray to a scrap of black card to create a night sky.

I die cut a tree aperture and placed the black night sky behind

Next I stamped, coloured with watercolours and fussy cut out the owl

 and also stamped and embossed some of the small leaf from Erika's Maple.

I also stamped a few leaves around the card background

and stamped the sentiment and distressed the edges

Then it was time to put my design together. Here is the finished card;

and one last shot;

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Unicorn 1/3 winter/Christmas

Dragonfly Dreams 2/3 winter/christmas
Sweet stampin 1/3 all things bright and beautiful
Crafter's Castle 1/3 anything goes
More mixed media 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you are a new Australian visitor, a very warm welcome and I hope you enjoyed your visit. This is a direct link to the Visible Image stamps Dot stock "Ink Art Designs" you will be spoilt for choice. I will update the links to Night Owl and Erika's Maple as soon as they have flown into Australia.  

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x