Crafty Adventurista

Saturday, 21 February 2026

February DT Project 2 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Hearts

Hi there,

Here I am with my second DT Project for Country View Crafts and Challenges on Facebook, for the theme of Hearts as chosen by our lovely team member, Cassie.

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here where you will find information on how to enter: https://www.facebook.com/groups/164920247712393

There’s a fabulous £20 prize voucher to win to for one randomly picked winner.

You can enter the challenge with 5 different entries but you must use brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please mention them in your projects.

So although my first project was for a Valentine's Day gift and card for the other half, my second project is a gift for my best friend.

I thought she might like some artwork from me plus the sentiment in the picture really does describe her - she's so inspirational.

First I made a little canvas on an easel - a quick and easy make but quite cute I thought.

I die cut a heart from Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Stacked Tiles Hearts 665858 and blended over this with Distress Ink Worn Lipstick and Wild Honey.

I then stamped out the heart from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477 with VersaFine Clair.

I then tore a piece of corrugated card into the shape of a heart.

I layered these together and glued onto the canvas with a piece of thread bundled up underneath them.

I stamped and cut out the word 'Friend' from a quote in Love Notes set, layered it onto black card and then added this onto the heart, raising it up with 3D foam.

That completed my first gift and here it is…

My next gift to make was my shadow box picture. Using a 4x4 inch frame, I measured out the area where the image would sit.

I picked out the heart to use from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477.

Then using Distress Watercolor pencils and a water colour brush. I inked up my brush with one colour (ie worn lipstick) and added that to 2 areas of my chosen heart. Then I added a second colour to it (ie wild honey), spritzed with a little water and stamped it down in the first place on my paper. I repeated this for all 9 hearts with different colours. Where the colour was a bit patchy I filled this in using the inked up brush direct to the stamped heart.

Then I stamped out my sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and cut out the individual words.

I layered each one onto black card and then placed them in position over the hearts using 3D foam.

And my second gift was complete! And here it is!

I hope you like this and may be inspired to try something out like this for yourself.

And hopefully you'd like to join in our challenge this month.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Have a great day

hugs

Carol xx

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).

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/cms477-tim-holtz-cling-mounted-stamp-set---love-notes-172554-p.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Distress Ink Minis

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-mini-ink-pads-859-c.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils

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

Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/sizzix-thinlits-and-framelits-die-sets-wstamps-by-tim-holtz-519-c.asp

VersaFine Clair Nocturne

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/versafine-clair-ink-pads-and-re-inkers-1311-c.asp

Saturday, 7 February 2026

February 2026 - DT Project 1 For Country View Crafts and Challenges - Hearts

Hi there,

It’s time for my first DT project for Country View Crafts and Challenges for February with the theme of Hearts as chosen by our lovely team member Cassie.

The challenge is open worldwide and you can join the group here where you will find information on how to enter:

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

There’s a fabulous £20 prize voucher to win for one randomly picked winner.

You can enter the challenge with 5 different entries but you must use brands that Country View Crafts stocks and please mention them in your projects.

February always means the month of ‘luurve’ for me (and pancakes), so I bring you my Valentine’s card and gift that I’ve made for my other half.

For the gift I decided to make a shadow box framed picture as I’d picked up a rather nice pebble on the beach a little while ago. That’s what sparked the idea off for me. A pebble!

First I created the background by smooshing watered down Distress Oxide Barn Door onto my card to create a water wash look across the middle.

I stamped Snarky Cat from Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109, twice, in VersaFine Clair Nocturne and coloured him with Distress Watercolor pencils, then fussy cut him out. I cut along the line up his left ‘arm’ so I could tuck in a heart for him to hold.

I stamped Snarky’s heart from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477, twice, onto card with Distress Oxide Barn Door and coloured these in with Distress Oxide Barn Door and a water brush and fussy cut out. Once dry, I pressed this into my WOW Embossing pad and then covered it with WOW clear embossing powder and heat set.

I repeated the above steps for the small hearts from the Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109.

I kept aside one Snarky Cat and one main heart for my card to be made later.

Using a piece of nylon net from a supermarket chestnuts bag, I wrapped this around my pebble and secured with my hot glue gun. I then hot glued it to my background. I tucked in a piece of twig too and hot glued it in place.

I hot glued my small hearts randomly on the net.

I glued the main heart under Snarky’s arm and he was ready to add to the background. In order for him to be raised up so that he was sitting on the pebble, I constructed a ‘Z’ shape piece of card and fixed one end to Snarky Cat and the other end to the background where he needed to be propped up.

To finish I used glossy accents on his eyes and once dry I assembled this into my shadow box frame.

And here’s my gift for my other half but shhhh don’t tell him about it as it’s not Valentine’s Day yet.

Now for the Card…

Using a large heart from the Love Notes set, I stamped three of these with Distress Oxide Barn Door across my background card, overlapping them as I went. I then coloured these in using Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils in Barn Door and Candied Apple using a water brush and then drew over them with a black fine liner pen to outline them and give them some substance.

I stamped the sentiment under these in VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then I layered this onto a piece of black card leaving a border, and then layered this onto my main card substrate.

I had already stamped out, coloured and cut Snarky Cat and the heart so it was just a matter of assembling these onto the background, which I did with 3D foam tape. I then added glossy accents to his eyes to finish.

And here’s my Valentines Day card...

I hope you like my first projects for February - maybe you’d like to create something similar for your loved one?

And we’d love to see you enter into our challenge this month on Facebook if you can.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Have a great day

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 Stampers Anonymous Love Notes CMS477

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/cms477-tim-holtz-cling-mounted-stamp-set---love-notes-172554-p.asp

Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-stamp--stencil-set---mixed-media-109---snarky-cat-179345-p.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Minis

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-mini-oxide-ink-pads-kit-13-181124-p.asp

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils

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

VersaFine Clair Nocturne

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/versafine-clair-ink-pads-and-re-inkers-1311-c.asp

Ranger Glossy Accents

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-inkssentials-glossy-accents-mini-14ml-6833-p.asp

WOW Ultra Slow Drying Embossing Pad

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/wow-clear-ultra-slow-drying-embossing-pad-150653-p.asp

WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/wow-embossing-powders-15ml---clear-gloss-regular-t-171662-p.asp

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

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/665582---sizzix-thinlits-die-set---8pk-scribbly-snowflakes-180852-p.asp

Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set Snarky Cat THMM109

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-stamp--stencil-set---mixed-media-109---snarky-cat-179345-p.asp

Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil set THMM113

Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

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

Distress Watercolor Pencils

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

Paperartsy Mattints

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/mattints-1736-c.asp

Decoart White Paint

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/decoart-americana-acrylic-paint-2oz---white-wash-135906-p.asp

Ranger Distress Opaque Texture Paste

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-accessories-storage--and-mediums-855-c.asp

Ranger Glossy Accents

https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/ranger-inkssentials-glossy-accents-mini-14ml-6833-p.asp

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

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 ).