Crafty Adventurista

Monday, 19 May 2025

May DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Weathered, Aged, Distressed, Time Worn

Hello there,

I hope you're all well.

Here I am back with my second DT make for May's theme Weathered, Aged, Distressed, Time Worn (it can be any or all of these), for Country View Crafts and Challenges on Facebook.

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

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

and you must use products from brands that Country View Crafts stocks.

You can enter 5 times each month with different projects and one winner will be selected randomly. There’s an amazing prize to win.

I had an ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap to do, so what better than to show you how I make my ATCs, for this month's challenge.

An ATC measures 2.5” x 3.5” and can be made either portrait or landscape.

I decided to make it landscape. You must use a fairly substantial cardstock (around 300gsm) or add a thicker/double layer if it’s a little thin. I had used a 300gsm, but the embossing seemed to thin it out a little, so I backed it with a thicker cardstock.

I had 10 to make so from an A4 cardstock, I know I can get 9 ATCs. I actually used an A3 sheet of card and cut this down to measure out 12 ATCs, and then painted this with Tim Holtz Distress Speckled Egg and Weathered Wood.

Once dry, I cut out the 10 ATCs (with 2 leftover to spare).

Using Tim Holtz Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Woodgrain 666297, I rubbed over some Distress Ink Scorched Timber on the raised side that would be pressing down on the front of my ATC, then embossed each ATC, 2 at a time. This gives the aged wood effect to the background.

If you don’t have the embossing folder you can always use the Tim Holtz Distress Woodgrain Cardstock which would cut out the need to ink and emboss.

I ‘randomly’ added some Crackle Paste to 3 areas and let it work its magic.

Once ‘cracked’, I rubbed over some Hickory Smoke Distress Crayon and lightly moved it around with a wet brush to get into the cracks, dabbing dry with a paper towel.

Then I chose my Moths from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Transparencies Moths pack and placed them on each ATC with some Inkssentials Redline double sided tape after creasing the wings to stand up. Usually you keep ATCs fairly flat so they can be kept in storage pockets as some people like to store them (I for one). Pushing up the transparency wings won't affect this as they can lay flat when being stored.

I chose a sentiment from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metallic Sticker Book, added each one to a thick cardstock and cut out, then added these to the ATCs, stuck down with the Redline double sided tape.

And finally they were done. Now I can send them on their way to their new owners.

So there's my process for making multiple ATCs with a weathered and aged look. I hope this will inspire you to have a go at making some and maybe join in some swaps. Also, I look forward to seeing your entries in the challenge on Facebook if you feel you'd like to join in. There's always an amazing prize to win.

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog.

Have a great day.

Hugs

Carol xx

Products used:

(If anything is out of stock, you can always contact Susan at Country View Crafts to see if she can order it in for you).

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paints

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-tim-holtz-distress-paints-436-c.asp

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Ink Scorched Timber

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---tim-holtz---distress-ink-pad--scorched-timber-171734-p.asp

Tim Holtz Sizzix Embossing Folders

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/sizzix-embossing-folders-123-c.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Woodgrain Cardstock

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz---distress-woodgrain-paper-62850-p.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Crayons

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-crayons-955-c.asp

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Transparencies Moths

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94403---tim-holtz-idea-ology--halloween-2024---transparencies-moths-175597-p.asp

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metallic Sticker Book

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94134---tim-holtz-idea-ology-sticker-book---metallic-177689-p.asp

Ranger Inkssentials Redline Tape

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---inkssentials-redline-tape-and-sheets-18in-wonder-tape-39297-p.asp

Ranger Opaque Crackle Paste

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-texture-paste-opaque-crackle-39-fl-oz-116-ml-75614-p.asp

Monday, 5 May 2025

May DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Weathered, Aged, Distressed, Time Worn

Hello and a very happy Spring Bank Holiday to you...

It’s my turn to present my first DT project for Country View Crafts for May with the theme: Weathered, Aged, Distressed, Time Worn. It can be any or all of these.

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. You can enter 5 times each month with different projects and one winner will be selected randomly. There’s an amazing prize to win.

So, what could I do for this theme?

I thought I’d work in my altered book to bring you a Weathered, Aged, Distressed, Time Worn page.

To start, I prepped the page with white gesso just to give it some grip.

I randomly painted Tim Holtz Distress Paints in Speckled Egg and Weathered Wood over this and then painted over Distress Crackle Paste and left to dry to work its magic.

Once my crackle was dry, I realised it had pulled the paper inwards, contracting as it dried, and silly me, I hadn't glued this page to the one behind to give it some substance, so I did it at this point, accidentally tearing off a portion of the bottom as I was 'pulling' the paper to fit. I glued it back on and I kind of like the effect it has of a broken wall.

I then rubbed over a Hickory Smoke Distress Crayon and blended into the cracks with a wet brush, finish off by rubbing over with my finger too.

I stamped parts of the page with Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Components Tattered Sparrow over the background in Jet Black Archival Ink pad by lightly pressing parts of the stamp down and then I edged the page with the same inkpad.

Next, I prepped the elements that I was going to use. I found a Paper Doll from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls Solos and a frame from Idea-ology Baseboards Halloween 2024 that I wanted as my focal point.

I die cut some flowers from the Vault Floristry set and then smooshed them in some Distress Ink Hickory Smoke, Speckled Egg and Weathered Wood to age them somewhat. I decided my girl need a little pop of Fossilized Amber on her flowers too to tie in with the die cut flowers, so I added a little Distress Crayon on there too.

Then it was time to put it all together.

I layered up the paper doll and the frame and then placed my die cut flowers to suit, using 3D foam as needed to raise up the girl and some flowers.

Here is the finished page. I hope you like it. I enjoyed thinking about how I was going to put this page together and am pleased with the outcome.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog.

Hugs,

Carol xx

Products used:

Vault Floristry Thinlits

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/666872---sizzix-thinlits-2d-tf-embossing-folder-w11pk-thinlits---vault-floristry-by-tim-holtz-178174-p.asp

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Components Tattered Sparrow

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-components-cling-mount-collage-stamp---tattered-sparrow-178550-p.asp

Idea-ology Paper Dolls

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94376---tim-holtz-idea-ology---paper-dolls-poses-62-pieces-174040-p.asp

Idea-ology Halloween 2024 Baseboards

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94390---tim-holtz-idea-ology--halloween-2024---baseboards-175743-p.asp

Distress Paints

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-tim-holtz-distress-paints-436-c.asp

Distress Crayons
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-crayons-955-c.asp

Distress Inks
https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-ink--re-inkers-103-c.asp

Crackle Paste Opaque

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-texture-paste-opaque-crackle-39-fl-oz-116-ml-75614-p.asp

Jet Black Archival Ink

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

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

'You've Been Framed' - April DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges

Hello there,

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. Did anyone go away for a short break?

If so, my second DT project for Country View Crafts and Challenges for our 'You’ve Been Framed' challenge may be just what you need to organise some of those photos you took.

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 mention them in your post.

You can enter 5 times each month with different projects and one winner will be selected randomly.

There’s a fabulous prize for the random selected winner, so get your ‘frames’ out and get creative.

So I got my thinking cap on - what could I do for this 'You’ve Been Framed' challenge? Well, how about a set of Polaroids of holiday snaps? They are frames after all as they frame the image.

Digging through my Janet Klein AALL and Create stamps, I pulled out 3 of Janet’s Around The World Series stamps to use in my ‘holiday’ collection.

Using a template from Google for the Polaroid frame, I printed it out, then cut out 3 frames from an A4 white gloss card. (There were 4 that I had in the PDF, always handy to have a spare in case of a mishap).

(**TIP - if printing onto the gloss card, print on the matt side of it, as some printers will smudge on the gloss, also when I cut it out, there's no lines showing.)

Next, I stamped the 3 images in Jet Black Archival Ink and then coloured them with Distress Watercolor Pencils and shaded with Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils.

I also stamped some of the accompanying background stamps and coloured these as above too.

I cut out white backing card to fit completely on the 3 Polaroid frames.

Using Distress Inks, I smooshed out some colours, spritzed with water and used a wet brush to ‘wash’ these in place. I wanted a loose ‘watercolour’ looking background.

For the first frame, for Janet Klein’s England girl, I stamped the buildings from the Visible Image ‘The Right Direction’ stamp, in Jet Black Archival Ink. I wanted the background to show through the background image.

For my second frame, for Janet Klein’s Spain girl, I created the background, the same as before but using different colours this time and I stamped the chandelier from Visible Image ‘Hang In There’ stamp, in black Archival Ink. I also stamped a bit of ‘paving’ from the Visible Image Stamp 'Mesh-ellaneous'.

For my third frame, for Janet Klein’s Canada girl, again I created the background watercolour wash using two different colours and then stamped the ‘ tree’ from Tracy Evans AALL and Create Woodland stamp.

Then I assembled my main images and placed them in their respective frames on their backgrounds, using the template to line each one up and glued the gloss frame on top.

In a journal, I created a background with the map stamp from Janet Klein AALL and Create #881, and randomly stamped the travel words from that set, across the page.

To finish the journal page, I die cut the word 'Adventure' in black, from a Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die ‘Adventure’ 660212 and placed this on at the top of the left side page. I then added some travel ephemera from Janet Klein AALL and Create Let’s Go #14.

I then placed the 3 Polaroids on these two pages. Under each Polaroid I stamped the country. I also added some Glossy Accents to the eyes.

And here’s my finished project.

You could make this with any images, photos etc and I hope I’ve inspired you to try this out.

Thanks for looking at my blog.

Hugs

Carol x

Products used:

(you can always contact Susan at Country View Crafts if there's something out of stock, to see if she can get it in for you).

Janet Klein AALL and Create - England

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/aall--create---a7-stamp-872---england-by-janet-klein-166531-p.asp

Janet Klein AALL and Create - Spain

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/aall--create---a7-stamp-876---spain-by-janet-klein-166495-p.asp

Janet Klein AALL and Create - Canada

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/aall--create---a7-stamp-871---canada-by-janet-klein-166528-p.asp

Tracy Evans AALL and Create Woodland

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/aall--create---a5-stamp-set-661---woodland-by-tracy-evans-149970-p.asp

Visible Image Hang In There

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/visible-image-clear-stamp-set---hang-in-there-154709-p.asp

Visible Image The Right Direction

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/visible-image-clear-stamp-set--the-right-direction-167610-p.asp

Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils

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

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-watercolor-pencils-1598-c.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-ink--re-inkers-103-c.asp

Tim Holtz Gloss Card - Alcohol Ink Surfaces

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger---tim-holtz---alcohol-ink-surfaces---alcohol-ink-gloss-cardstock-414-x-512-108179-p.asp

(I used an A4 gloss card that I already had but this could be used too)

Jet Black Archival Ink

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

Glossy Accents

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-inkssentials-glossy-accents-59ml-2-fl-oz-4799-p.asp

Seawhite Journal

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/seawhite-a5-landscape-watercolour-travel-journal-178011-p.asp

In place of the world map stamp and travel ephemera by Janet Klein AALL and Create, if you can't get/don't have this, you could use these instead, using the stamp in the background in B&W, and restamping on card to colour elements and cut out to place on the page.

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/creative-expressions-phil-martin-sentimentally-yours--rubber-stamp-traveller-90689-p.asp

and these:

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/creative-expressions---art-effex---travel-suitcases-109212-p.asp

and this:

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/49-and-market-chipboard-words---wanderlust-explorer-178378-p.asp

Monday, 7 April 2025

'Frames' April DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges

Hello,

Spring has Sprung - finally, and as it’ll soon be Easter, my make for my first DT project for Country View Crafts and Challenges encompasses that, whilst still adhering to the theme for this month’s challenge - ‘Frames’.

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 mention them in your post.

You can enter 5 times each month with different projects and one winner will be selected randomly.

There’s a fabulous prize for the random selected winner, so get your ‘frames’ out and get creative.

I decided to make an Easter card for the other half, as it’s coming up soon. I used an old stamp set for the main Bunny and Butterfly images called Spring Sprung, Perspective and Love Notes.

First I decided which frame I was going to use from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Montage Layer Frames pack to get an idea of colours.

I stamped out the Bunny and Butterfly from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Spring Sprung CMS084 in Jet Black Archival ink and then coloured these with Distress Watercolor Pencils and fussy cut these out.

I covered the Butterfly with Versamark embossing ink and heat embossed with clear powder.

For the Bunny I only added the Versamark embossing ink and powder to his jacket and eye.

Next, using a stamping platform I placed the numbers stamp from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Perspective CMS213 set and stamped this twice, one under the other, to form a rectangle, in VersaFine Clair Nocturne.

I stamped a small heart from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477 stamp set in Fired Brick, fussy cut this out and then heat embossed with Distress Glaze Crackling Campfire.

All that was left was to compose the card. I intentionally wanted it to look busy and

I wanted the stamped background to be a frame outside the main frame.

Then I wanted the Butterfly and Bunny to look like they’d escaped from the frame.

I raised the Butterfly up on foam pads, and for a bit of fun I used a Mini Craft Wobblie for the Bunny to make him look like he’s running when ‘spun’.

Finally I added some Idea-ology Typography to the bottom of the stamped text frame - ‘Bunny Love’ which I glued down with Distress Collage Medium.

I will add a sentiment to the inside to complete the card for Easter.

So, here’s my finished card.

I hope you like it and will be inspired to join in our ‘Frames’ challenge on Facebook.