Wednesday, 21 January 2026

January DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Snowflakes

Hello, 
Here I am with my second DT project for January for Country View Crafts and Challenges, with the theme of ‘Snowflakes + Stars’ as chosen by Zoe, our lovely team member. 

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393


You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous £20 prize voucher that one randomly selected winner will win this month.

I love snow! I know that not many people like the snow, but there’s something magical when it falls and those little shining crystal snowflakes adorn the sky. Snarky Cat thinks so too and has been out catching one for himself.


In my art journal I prepared the background with a wash of Mattints Dragonfly and Decoart Americana Snow (Titanium) White, mixed together to create a lighter opaque blue. Then I stencilled the spots from the Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109 with Distress Opaque Texture Paste and once dry I randomly stamped some text from the Stamp and Stencil set THMM113 with Archival Pebble Beach. 
I also used the top off my Mattints bottle to create some circles with the watered down paints. 


I stamped Snarky Cat onto some white card with Archival Jet Black ink, coloured with Distress Watercolor Pencils and then fussy cut out. 

I die cut the snowflakes on white card from the set Sizzix 665582 Scribbly Snowflakes and then stuck them randomly on the page.  I also glued 3 of the same together for a more rigid snowflake. 


Now it was time to assemble the page.
I stamped the string of the ‘balloon’ onto the page where I wanted it to sit and glued down Snarky Cat next to it to look like he’s holding the balloon. 


On 3D foam I placed the snowflake at the top of the string to form my ‘snowflake balloon’. I added a little diamanté for a bit of bling and some Distress Chunky Glitter glued on with Glossy Accents, for some ‘snow’ at Snarky Cat’s feet. I stamped out the sentiments onto white card from the Stamp and Stencil set THMM113, cut them out and then mounted them onto my page with 3D foam too and my journal page is complete. I hope you like it - gotta love a Snarky Cat playing in the snow.


Thank you for stopping by my blog - I hope you like my Snarky Cat in the snow and may be inspired to do something similar yourself and join in our challenge this month.

Hugs
Carol

Products used: (if anything is out of stock you can always contact Brenda at Country View Crafts to see if she can order it in for you)
 
Sizzix Scribbly Snowflakes 665582

Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109
Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set THMM113

Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

Distress Watercolor Pencils

Paperartsy Mattints 

Decoart White Paint

Ranger Distress Opaque Texture Paste 

Ranger Glossy Accents
















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Thursday, 8 January 2026

January DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Snowflakes

Hellooo, 

Happy Belated New Year to you.

Here I am with my first DT post for January 2026 - a bright new year that promises to bring more fabulous projects and crafting for Country View Crafts and Challenges. The theme for this month has been chosen by the lovely Zoe and it’s ‘Snowflakes + Stars’.  


The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393


You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous £20 prize voucher that one randomly selected winner will win this month.


Well, here we are in January already - a new year, new beginnings.

I know Christmas is done and dusted for 2025 but I’m still in the mood and decided to make a couple of Christmas cards for my first DT make for January. I like the simplicity and quick compilation of these. 


First I chose my backgrounds and focal elements from Stamperia The Owls House range. I used the Journal pad but you can still use elements from the 12 x 12 paper pad too. I fussy cut out the elements I wanted to use. 


In keeping with the snowflake theme, I die cut some snowflakes from the Sizzix Scribbly Snowflakes set for one of my cards as I’d used a printed die cut from The Owls House range for the other one. It's always good to die cut a bunch of these for future use (ie my second DT project to come :-D ).


I layered my backgrounds onto silver mirri card and then layered my elements onto these. These owls are so cute!
I then mounted these toppers onto my main card substrate. I added some Glossy Accents to the eyes and berries. 
Finally to finish I added some diamantés and stamped out some sentiments from my stash. I edged the sentiments with Distress Oxide Iced Spruce.

And here’s a start to my 2026 Christmas cards. Long may it continue, ha ha ha.  



I hope you like my quick cards and may be inspired to get a head start on your own Christmas Cards for 2026 too. 
And please do join our challenge on Facebook to win that awesome gift voucher.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. 
Hugs,
Carol xx 

Products used: ( if anything is out of stock, you can contact Brenda at Country View Crafts to see if she can order it in for you). 

Sizzix 665582 Scribbly Snowflakes 

Stamperia The Owls House Paper Pad

Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

Ranger Glossy Accents 

Distress Oxide Mini Iced Spuce


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Friday, 19 December 2025

December DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Christmas

Hello again, 
 
Here I am with my second DT make for the month of December with the theme of ‘Christmas’, for Country View Crafts and Challenges. 

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393 
 
You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. 
You can enter 5 times each month with different projects relating to the chosen theme and one randomly selected winner will win a fabulous prize for the month.  

I recently had some ATCs that I had to make for a swap entitled 12 Days of Christmas for the InkC Retreat I attended. I decided to make master backgrounds using the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Large Collage Strips layering beside each other to create a pleasing layout. 


I added some Idea-ology Christmas Ephemera as additional elements and then chose my image from the Idea-ology Christmas Paper Dolls for each one. 
 

To finish I added a sentiment from the Tim Holtz sticker book, and with the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher I stapled a piece of material cut out from some of the Tim Holtz material line. 

And here are my ATCs. Fairly quick to make, these could be upsized to make into a Christmas card. 
 

Thank you for stopping by my blog - I hope I’ve given you some ideas for another Christmas make and maybe be inspired to join in our challenge for December. 

Have a great crafting Christmas. 
Hugs Carol xx 

Products used: (if an item is out of stock, you can always contact Brenda at Country View Crafts to see if she can order it in for you). 
 
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher 
 
 
Unfortunately the Large Collage Strips are out of stock, so you could use these instead to layer beside each other and then cover with Christmas ephemera. https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94309---tim-holtz-idea-ology---backdrops-volume-5-167193-p.asp
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Wednesday, 3 December 2025

December DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Christmas

Hello! 

We're in December! The countdown is on to Christmas!!! EEK! 

I hope you're all managing to get on top of your Christmas cards and gifts if you give any. It's always a good idea to check our Challenge page to see if there's anything that inspires a make for you. If so, please add it to the Challenge for this month as the theme is Christmas!

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393


You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous prize that one randomly selected winner will win this month. 

So to get you in the mood, I've created a Christmas Card using a previous Kate Crane Paperartsy Stamp Set, and it's a real goodie. I paired it up with a new one release mini from Kate too.
 

Using Paperartsy paints I created a layered background with a brayer. For this I used not so typical Christmas colours, choosing pinks, purple, pale blue and green.

 
I lightly stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne, the stars from the stamp set and then stencilled with Kate's stencil PS427, carefully picking out the snow looking area, using Distress Texture Paste Sparkle and left to dry.
 
 
I stamped out the main focal images - 'Rudolph' and the frame with Archival Jet Black Ink and watercoloured these with Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils, then I fussy cut out.

I chose my sentiment from the stamp set, stamped this also in Archival Jet Black Ink and cut around it to add to my card.

Finally I mounted all the top components to the background and then onto a black border and then onto a square kraft cardstock card base.

I gave 'Rudolph' a nice shiney nose using Glossy Accents.

And here it is, my Christmas Card for this year.
 
 
I hope you like it.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Hugs
Carol x


Products Used: (If there's anything that's out of stock, please contact Country View Crafts to see if can be ordered in for you).

Kate Crane Paperartsy KC008
 
Kate Crane Mini Paperartsy KC020

Paperartsy Fresco Paints

Paperartsy Kate Crane Stencil PS427

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Texture Paste Sparkle

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils
 
Archival Jet Black Ink

 

 

 


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Wednesday, 19 November 2025

November DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Fireworks

Hellooo!!! 

Here I am again with my second November DT project for Country View Crafts and Challenges, with the theme of Fireworks 'use glitter or embossing powder to make your project sparkle' as chosen by our lovely DT member Cassie. 

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393


You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous prize that one randomly selected winner will win this month. 
 
Being that Christmas is now on a lot of our minds, I thought I'd make a Christmas mobile decoration. I recently attended a retreat where Cassie created a hanging mobile with little houses, also used in her first project make for this month. I decided to go with the mobile idea but using snowflakes drenched in Distress Rock Candy Glitter Chunky.

I was going to use the Tim Holtz Sizzix Fanciful Snowflakes 664227 (would have preferred them as they layer up), but discovered I don't have them!!! Can you believe it! So I used the snowflake from Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Winter Wishes 666717 instead which is a lovely snowflake in its own right.
 

First I die cut 9 of the snowflakes out of thick white card (about 250gsm) running each one twice through my die cutting machine to get a nice crisp cut. Using Distress Collage Medium, I glued three together, so I ended up with three fairly thick snowflakes. I painted these with Distress Collage medium and then sprinkled over Distress Rock Candy Glitter Chunky. It gave a lovely sparkly frosty effect. I tied some fishing line to each one.
 
 

With a twig I'd picked up in the park, I stippled it with some Distress Paint Iced Spruce and then some white gesso.  

I then tied each snowflake to the twig in a graduated line and using some of my stash of bits and bobs, I wrapped around a leafy, berry, wired 'ribbon' around the twig. I sprayed this with Distress Resist Spray and sprinkled over some Distress Rock Candy Glitter. 
 

I tied some twine to the twig to hang it and finally I hot glued a ribbon to the middle and added some rhinestones to both sides of the snowflakes and a larger one to the bow.

And here it is - my sparkly snowflake mobile decoration.
 

I hope you'll be inspired to try something like this for yourself and also to join in our challenge this month.

Many thanks for stopping by my blog.
Hugs
Carol xx

Products Used: (you can always contact Country View Crafts if something is out of stock, to see if they can order it in for you).

Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Winter Wishes

Tim Holtz Sizzix Fanciful Snowflakes

Tim Holtz Distress Paint

Tim Holtz Ranger Collage Medium

Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy Glitter Chunky

Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy Glitter Clear
 
Tim Holtz Distress Resist Spray
 
Rhinestone Bling (Could use ones cut out of this for the rhinestone embellishments)




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Monday, 3 November 2025

November DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Fireworks

Hello November!!! 

Here I am this month with my first November DT project for Country View Crafts and Challenges, with the theme of Fireworks use glitter or embossing powder to make your project sparkle as chosen by our lovely DT member Cassie. 

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393


You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous prize that one randomly selected winner will win this month. 

As the theme is ‘fireworks’ I looked through my stamps and found the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous CMS499 set and thought I could use the snowflakes as my fireworks. 

In my journal I created a night sky by blending Distress Inks Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot and a little Villainous Potion to cover over 2/3 of my masked off area. 
I then blended some Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness at the very bottom of the area. 
 
I spritzed some Distress Spritz in Prize Ribbon and Fossilized Amber at the top part of the scene to give it a little more of a glistening look. 


Once fully dry, I stamped the ‘fireworks’ in the upper half of the sky, with Wow embossing ink and sprinkled over some mixed glitter embossing powders by pinching a little from each jar and placing over each ‘firework’. 
I then heat embossed these with my heat gun on the number 2 setting. 
 

I chose my mini paper dolls - Grandma and Little Tommy - from the Idea-ology Paper Dolls Mini set as I wanted them to look tiny and like they were looking up at the fireworks in the night sky. I added a little Rustic Wildnerness Distress watercolour pencil aroudn their feet to make them look more grounded.

From my Tim Holtz Small Talk Sticker Book I chose as appropriate sentiment and added along the bottom of my scene next to my Paper Dolls. 


And then it was done. I’m very happy with the outcome. 

I hope you like my first November make and will be inspired to join in our challenge on Facebook. 
Thanks for checking out my blog
Hugs
Carol x 


Products used:
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls Minis

Tim Holtz Distress Spritz

Tim Holtz Distress Inks
 
Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils




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Thursday, 23 October 2025

October DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Heavenly Bodies

BOO!!

I hope you’re enjoying the lead up to Halloween - I am, which is why my second DT make for Country View Crafts and Challenges this month has a Halloween flavour. 

The theme for this month is ‘Heavenly Bodies’ as chosen by our lovely team member Rachel.
The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393

You must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please list them in your entry. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects. We’ve got a fabulous prize that one randomly selected winner will win this month. 

I decided to use the Halloween Stamp set from JOFY Paperartsy (JOFY83). 

In my Dylusions square journal after sealing off the area around it, I created the background using Distress Spray Stains: Black Soot, Villainous Potion, Lost Shadow and Milled Lavender and Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz around Tim Holtz’s Moon Mask, which I bled around the edges using a Distress water spritzer. To finish the inner of the moon mask I blended Distress Oxide Old Paper over it. 

Once dry, I stencilled JOFY's new star circle stencil PS478 around the moon with Distress Black Texture Paste. I only stencilled the outer stars and not the inner part. I then blended some Distress Oxide Hickory Smoke at the bottom right of the page to create a ‘hill’.

On a piece of white card, I stamped the images with Black Archival Ink and coloured with coloured pencils and fussy cut these out. 

I added a piece of text from a Horror book to the upper corner and a piece below the Ghoul and Gravestone and blended these into the page. I also added a strip of Vinyl printed tape to the side of the page.

I glued the gravestones in place on my page and stuck the ghoul down with 3D foam tape to add a bit of depth. Then I stamped Boo to the left of these to finish, made a few white accents on my images and here’s my completed journal page. 

This was a fairly simple page to make and fun to do.

Don’t forget to have a look at our challenge page on Facebook (link is above) and maybe join in the challenge too. 

Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs
Carol x 

Products used: 

Stamp Set Paperartsy JOFY83
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/paperartsy---jofy83-a5-set-trimmed-on-ez-179981-p.asp 

Stencil Paperartsy JOFY PS478
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/paperartsy---pa-stencil-478-jofy-179803-p.asp 

Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-tim-holtz-distress-spray-stains-696-c.asp 

Tim Holtz Distress Spritz Hickory Smoke
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---tim-holtz-distress-spritz-1oz-bottle---hickory-smoke-176577-p.asp 

Tim Holtz Moon Mask
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/thmsk01-stampers-anonymous-tim-holtz-layering-stencil---moon-mask-138508-p.asp 

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-oxide-ink-pads--reinkers-1049-c.asp 

Tim Holtz Distress Black Texture Paste
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---tim-holtz---distress---texture-paste---black-opaque-170467-p.asp 

Ranger Archival Ink
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-archival-ink-pad-jet-black---90mm-x-62mm-1609-p.asp

Faber Castelle Polychromos Pencils
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/faber-castell---polychromos---metal-case-111th-anniversary---12-pieces-121471-p.asp  

Dylusions Square Journal
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---dyan-reaveley---dylusions---creative-journal---square-102668-p.asp

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January DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Snowflakes

Hello,  Here I am with my second DT project for January for Country View Crafts and Challenges, with the theme of ‘Snowflakes + Stars’ as ch...