Crafty Adventurista: August DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges

Hello there,

I’m back with my second DT project for the theme that I’m hosting this month for Country View Crafts and Challenges, which is Silhouettes.

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 - the Sizzix 662386 Witchcraft by Tim Holtz die set AND a set of the new Distress Oxide Mini Ink Pads 4 Piece Set #6.

So, as some of us turn towards thoughts of Halloween, I decided to use some of the new ‘second time around’ release dies from Tim Holtz.

If you missed these the first time round, now is your chance to get them. Country View Crafts has got them all in stock here:

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/july-2025---new-products-1812-c.asp

For my second project, I’ve used my Dylusions square journal to create a 3 layer picture. It’s a bit of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with this idea and how to make it work.

I die cut out the silhouette elements first - the characters from Tim Holtz Sizzix 662384 Trick or Treat as my main focal image. I didn’t want to cut the bottom out as a thin line as I needed it deeper to act as a page, so I moved the die to leave a bottom piece on it when I cut it, just like Tim demonstrated in his recent Live release of these Sizzix dies. You can find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/pzrn7_hmMyc?si=KM3ncNLxGv4XPv74

Next I cut out the Tim Holtz Sizzix 662378 Haunted House, leaving a bottom piece as before, except it would form the second page so needed a longer bottom than that of the first one.

And in keeping with the trick or treat theme, I die cut out the trick or treat words on black card.

I die cut the moon from Tim Holtz Sizzix 666386 using a piece of card that I’d previously inked with tea dye (I think) and added frayed burlap, squeezed lemonade and fired brick to colour.

Then I turned my attention to decorating my third page, the actual background.

I wanted it to look like there was a fire in the background going into night sky, so I blended Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick blended a third up from the bottom, to almost the top of the page. Then at the top I added some dark tones with Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. I also blended Black Soot at the bottom of the page which made it look a little like a wasteland.

Using the straw part of the spray, I splattered some Distress Spritz Hickory Smoke to give it a lift like ash rising but not so much that it’s in your face.

Once dry, I stencilled the bats from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous THS184 with Distress Glow Paste. I wanted some texture there but not to take over the page, so the Glow Paste gives a hint of texture in the daylight and of course, glows in the dark.

I added some of Tim’s marbled Washi tape in random strips to the bottom of the page to tie in with the Washi that I was using to adhere the silhouette die cut pages.

So, for the hidden trick or treat reveal - I stamped the Mummy and pumpkin basket from Tim’s Stampers Anonymous Unravelled CMS452 with Black Archival Ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I coloured these with Distress Watercolor Pencils in Antique Linen, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick, and then fussy cut out. Gotta love a Mummy!

Then it was a matter of compiling the pages.

I placed the Mummy on the background under where the Haunted House would be so that it was covered, but leaving the left side of the Mummy unglued for the time being.

I added the words Trick or Treat with foam dots to the moon and glued this in place on my page.

I folded the Washi tape in half and added half to the the left underside of the Haunted House ‘page’ gluing it to make sure it was secure. Then I folded the other half back on itself and glued this part onto the background in the journal so the Haunted House opened like a page.