Tag with a bird of Feathered Friends die set

Hello everyone, I'm here with the first project that I made for the February challenge of the Country View Challenges blog. The theme is Be sentimental which means you have to use a sentiment on your project. This time my lovely teamie, Jane will be your hostess.

I got this idea of the bird sitting on a swing from a picture I saw earlier. And if I want to use a bird for one my projects, I almost always choose one of the birds of the Feathered Friends die set. I did the same this time. And this little one was also coloured yellow in an earlier project.

For this tag, I took a watercolour paper and cut out the tag shape. I coloured the whole tag with a mixture of turquoise, blue and grey Distress paints. Then I created clouds with a brush and white paint.

Then I toned back the colours with diluted Antique Linen and Pumice Stone paint. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo  and Hickory Smoke Archival ink. Then I stamped the sentiment with embossing ink onto the tag and heat embossed with black super fine embossing powder. 

Then I attached the tag to a 300 gsm grey tag to make it sturdier. 

With a piece of twig and jute twine I created a swing and then I glued to the tag with hot glue.

Then I added the bird with foam adhesive tape to the tag and I put a yellow ribbon to the top hole.

What I used:

Sizzix Movers&Shapers die, Tag&Bookplates (656938)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Feathered Friends (664433)

Stampers Anonymous, Noteworthy (CMS446)

Ranger Distress paint (Salvaged Patina, Stormy Sky, Pumice Stone, Antique Linen, Picket Fence)

Ranger Distress Archival ink (Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke)

Ranger Distress ink (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Gathered Twigs)

Ranger embossing powder (black super fine)

So if you have a project with a sentiment on it, please don't hesitate to join our February challenge where a randomly selected winner can have a  £20 voucher in the Country View Craft Shop. Good luck!

Card with crazy birds and a globe

Hello everyone, I'm here with the first inspiring project for our May challenge, Opposites.

Now let me tell you, why this card fits into our challenge.  First of all, you can see a tall bird and a small bird, a male bird and a female bird. And I also used the two opposite colours (green-red) of the colour chart. Three opposites! 

These birds are not others than my husband and me. My hubby is a 195 cms tall (6 feet, 4.7 inches), blond guy and me a 152 cms tall (nearly 5 feet) brown girl. And our tempers are completely different too :-)

Here is my background:

Actually, I made this card earlier for another project but I didn't use it up until now. It was inked with Distress inks, then spattered with white and brown acrylic paints.

I adhered the new Sizzix globe die by Tim Holtz.

Behind the globe, I put a paper from Tim Holtz Paper Stash.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits die, Destination by Tim Holtz (664179)

Stampers Anonymous, Bird Crazy by Tim Holtz (CMS212)

Stampers Anonymous, Mini Bird Crazy by Tim Holtz (CMS250)

Stampers Anonymous, Crazy Things by Tim Holtz (CMS237)

Stampers Anonymous, Papillon by Tim Holtz (CMS106)

Ranger Archival inks (Jet Black, Potting Soil)

Ranger embossing powder (Liquid Platinum)

Idea-Ology, Small Talk Stickers

Idea-Ology, Occasions Small Talk Stickers 

Ranger Distress ink pads

Ranger Distress markers

If you have a project which fits our May challenge, please don't hesitate to link your project to the Country View Challenges where you can win a £20 voucher.

Winter wonderland with houses

Hello everyone and happy new year to you!!!

Today it's not just the start of the new year but the start of a new challenge at the Country View Challenges called: Landscape or Cityscape. As you see, I made a card with a wintry cityscape or rather a townscape.

To make this card, I cut out a rectangle and coloured them with Ranger Distress inks.

Then with the snowflake background die I created a snowfall on my card. For this, I used the Winder Wonderland Sizzix Thinlits die.

Then I adhered this on a white card base with glue.

From white cardstock, I cut out the houses with the Sizzix Townscape die and the snowdrift with the Sizzix Home For The Holidays Thinlits die.

I arranged them on the card, I took a photo that I used when I attached them to the card permanently. 

I put a layer of DecoArt Snow-tex on the snowdrift but you can use Ranger Grittpaste as well.

I adhered grey cardstock pieces behind the houses with glue and from the same grey cardstock I cut out the birds using the Sizzix Scarecrow die set.

I inked the edges of the houses with Antique Linen and with Gathered Twigs the card edges.

I spattered the whole card with white acrylic paint.

What I used:

Sizzix On-The-Edge die, Townscape by Tim Holtz

Sizzix Thinlits die, Home For The Holiday by Tim Holtz

Sizzix Thinlits die, Winter Wonderland by Tim Holtz

Sizzix Thinlits die, Scarecrow by Tim Holtz

Idea-Ology, Small Talk Sticker Book, Occasions

Ranger Distress ink pads (Antique Linen, Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Frayed Burlap)

DecoArt Snow-Tex paste

Stapler

Kraft paper

etc.

If you have a project with cityscape or landscape, please don't hesitate to join our January challenge where you can win a £20 voucher.

Vintage Hungarian Christmas cards #49

This is a lovely winter scene where little girls are feeding birds and the snowman is looking them joyfully. This card is from 1917.

You can find my other vintage postcards if you click on the label 'old Christmas cards' on the sidebar.

Canvas board with crazy birds by Tim Holtz

When I was a little girl I just loved this song: Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep... by the Middle of the Road. I think I loved the simplicity of the text and I loved it because it was a very happy song. Well this song inspired me to make these canvas boards with Tim's crazy birds for our new challenge at the Country View Challenges: THINGS WITH WINGS.

As you see these boards are complementary and make sense just together. For making them I just stamped the birds who look in the same direction onto the same canvas. 

Now let me show you the process... 


Although my canvas was primed I applied a layer of gesso to the surface. After drying I outlined the branch cutout with a pencil.

I coloured the branch with DecoArt Americana paint, then contoured it with Posca Pen.

The contouring was very important part of my project. I wanted strong contours and bold, cheery colours because I wanted my canvas to look like an illustration of a children's book. 

I stamped the images directly onto the canvas with Ranger Archival ink (Jet Black).

I coloured the birds with DecoArt Americana paints.If the outlines faded because of the acrylic paint I drew the line again with Posca Pen.

For the leaves I used an old Sizzix Framelits dies and stamp set by Stephanie Barnard (657917): Leaves.

I hope you like them! And if you have a project with some wings, please don't hesitate to join our July challenge at the Country View Challenges where you can win a £20 voucher!

Vintage Hungarian Christmas cards #22

This card is a very special one  - okay, for me all is special :-). But this one is from 1904! From those days when the postcards have undivided back, which means there was no space for the writing, only for the address. This is why the senders had  often written their wishes and kind words on the front, like here.

And the other reason why this is still peculiar that it is not just embossed but the girl's skirt has a real silky touch.

You can find my other Hungarian vintage cards under the label: 'old Christmas cards'.