Travel the world with those you love for Country View Crafts

Well the new challenge theme over at Country View Crafts is 'on your travels' and for my second offering I have made a little mini travel journal using lots of DecoArt goodies and my passport die designed by Eileen Hull...I think this is such a versatile die and sure to be used a lot!

So here it is :

and here is the inside : ready to be filled with all your travel pictures, souvenirs, holiday memories and whatever else you want ...

So some step x steps of the cover part ... I die cut the cover pieces from v thick card ( about 500gsm ). I then applied some DecoArt crackle paste through one of Andy Skinners new stencils -and left the crackle to do its magic! I then coated the pieces in titan buff paint (one of left painted )

I like to use my fingers brushes and semi dry baby wipes to apply my paint , swiping layers of colour across ..I started by swiping various colours, building up the layers including paynes grey, blue green light, burnt umber,

English red oxide, cobalt turquoise .. sorry got carried away so layers were built up until I was happy with how it looked...

I then , when happy -ish applied some interference gold ...applied here to one of left..

When happy I sealed with matte sealer to keep the layers I have already in tact...when dry I dripped some washes of quinacridione gold down ..to mimic rusty stuff!

To complete I added a layer of black antiquing cream, left to dry and then wiped back to reveal some of the colour underneath...I love the look this gives the finshed piece...the great thing is you can rub away as much or as little as you like...I then sealed with matte sealer (all DecoArt ).

To add to the front I die cut a movers and shapers Tim globe and treated with crackle, painty layers and antiquing cream before sealing...

Now for the inside ...I die cut all the pages using correspondence paper stack , inked the edges and added some rub ons to them..

I added ... some of my favourite photo booth images....these two look ready for some adventures...and one of the great small talk quotes, copped into sections and inked around the edges...

Inside the back cover I used the great new envelope die from Tim Holtz to create a little matching envelope to store tickets of any other small bits and bobs from your travels...and there is a perfect rub on for all you want to say... here ..collector of memories...

So here is the front cover complete with globe...all the ages were tied in in groups using dyed seam binding and tied on outside to form bows. I added a chit chat sticker to complete the cover ..

and on the side I added one of the gorgeous travel charms from idea-olgy range..

So hope you like my make, you have plenty of time to join in and it would be great to see what you make .xx

you could be one of the lucky guest designers or the winner of a voucher to spend in Susan's jammed shop, so why not pop across here to see plenty of inspiration and pop in an entry xx

So safe travels on your journeys...however near , or far....

Top dad

Just a quick one today to share the card I made for the children to send to Steve for father's day... 
So here it is :

I started by die cutting the trophy from a thick card and covered in Decoart crackle paste and left the paste to do its magic !
I then covered with a layer of grey Decoart paint and left to dry.

I love how the crackle can be varied depending on how thickly you apply the layer of paste

For the next layer I added a layer of black antiquing cream and then left to dry, rubbing back using a damp cloth ..allowing some to stay on the piece. I then applied a layer of matte sealer (again from Decoart).

Finally I applied a thin wash of quinacriodine gold paint...left to dry and re applied in areas..

Now for the background... I applied some frayed burlap to my craft sheet and a spritz or two of pumice stone distress spray stain. I spritzed the card and then swiped through the inky droplets...dried using heat tool and then re dipped into the remaining ink to create the splattered look. 

 I then heat dried again .

I added it to the card front, inked the edges with walnut stain distress ink and also added some stencilled detail using walnut stain.

I then added Dad , using worn text letters inked in jet black archival.

To complete the card I added some seam binding which I dyed with aged mahogany and tied around the handles. I also added a star to the front.

Well hope you like the card and will be back soon!

treasured memories for Country View Crafts

Well it is time for me to re-join my team mates over at Country View Crafts and the theme for this month is to use kraft card, I used kraft resist paper stack for my kraft card as I love all the textures and details on it .

I used lots of Tim Holtz goodies, ephemera and photo booth cards. I also played with one of the new release distress colours Abandoned Coral.. The boxes were made using Eileen Hull dies and are becoming firm favourites! I also used the heart die from Tim Holtz , which has so many wonderful shaped and sized hearts perfect for any occasion.

For the recipe box , I covered some thick card with kraft resist paper stack and then die cut the box.. I also die cut 5 recipe cards covered in kraft resist paper stack.... I then added lots of yummy layers .

I used the plain side to cover the cards and then added torn strips of the kraft resist and printed side , I then added layers of tissue tape coloured with Abandoned Coral distress paint.. I used this for all the cards and then added ephemera and photo booth cards and idea-ology cards for the details see below.

The box has the resist side of the kraft paper side up and again strips of coloured tissue tape added.

To complete the box I added a piece of ephemera and a heart die cut using abandoned coral distress paint edged in walnut stain distress ink . I added a typed token to tie box shut dyed with same colour and added paint to the typed token.

Here are the 5 cards...lots of ephemera ,abandoned coral, distressed pieces edged in walnut stain and some more hearts..and some kraft chit chat stickers .

Here are the cards in detail...this is the little boy ..

And this lovely man .. the father..

Now the little girl..

...mum

and  the happy couple ...

Make sure you hop across here to see all my team mates gorgeous makes ...and remember you have a month to play along and could be picked to guest design or be lucky winner of a voucher to spend over at Country View Crafts.

keep those fingers inky!

trace x 

capture a smile

Well I have been wanting to play with these new dies, well new to me dies, from Eileen Hull, especially the recipe cards as I thought they would make great cards, slightly larger than an ATC.. so here is my make for today ...

I made the recipe box and also three recipe cards to fit inside... using thick card covered in wallflower paper stack and lots of distress goodness and Tim Holtz idea-ology goodies .

So onto the details..

I covered some thick paper in wallflower paper stack, die cut the box and edged with walnut stain distress ink. I think I am hooked on playing with the ephemera packs from the idea-ology range, can't stop using them on everything! I layered up ephemera, all with distressed edges and inked with walnut stain distress ink. I also used a journaling tag, a vellum ephemera photo and some chit chat stickers.

To close the box, I added some holes and tied through these using some seam binding dyed with bundled sage distress ink.

Now for the cards inside ....

I used the same design piece of paper from french industrial paper stack. I wanted all 3 to be linked together as a set .

I covered each card with paper, then die cut using recipe cad die...I used a photo booth photo on each piece, I love these so many to choose from! Again I added layers of ephemera, distressed and inked.

I added some remnant rubs and some idea-ology given a  distressed look using decoart paints, they are great for creating an aged look

The cards were all created in the same way, building up layers of ephemera , rub ons and idea-ology to reflect how I saw the photos..

And finally card no 3 , completed in the same way... I hope you like these as I had so much fun making them !

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and left comments while I slowly make my way back into blogland....and welcome to my new followers so thrilled you wanted to follow my inky and painty journey xx

I would like to enter this for Eileen Hulls art from the heart challenge - go green , as there are lots of soft and sage greens in this piece .

keep those fingers inky!

and hope you do something you love today xx

trace x