Thursday 1 January 2015

Happy 2015!

Good morning everyone...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope you've had a fun and festive Christmas and a good evening last night!  If you went a bit mad and have a hangover, we've included our cure for it at the end.  In the meantime, onward with our new challenge: Brenda has chosen our theme for this month and she has, rather cleverly, chosen a very fitting theme...


Yes, that's the only criteria set, you must use something new to you, it could be a new craft product (a new colour, a new type of product or a new brand) you've received at Christmas or it could be something you've had a while but haven't used yet OR it could even be a technique you haven't tried beforePlease state in your post WHAT the new item or technique is so that we can make sure you qualify should you win.

To get you started, here is our inaugural lineup from the talented Design Team starting with our November winner, Debby...





Hello everyone.  My Name is Debby I’m 37 I’m Married ans we have 1 daughter and she is 14 years old I was happy to here from Chris I won the challenge the month November and she asked me If I want to be a guest designer for this months challenge. It’s an honor to do that. About 10 years ago I started my hobby with scrapbooking and after a while I bought my first Magnolia stamp and since that time making cards with stamps is an addiction. Scrapping and making things with my friends I love the most. What I also love to do is having a BLOG to place all my creations at. Love to see you there sometimes http://debbysscrapcards.blogspot.nl. Hope you love my creation for this months challenge
I’m very curious what you guy’s are going to create.



This is the creation I made.  I used new flowers, the clock stamp I used is new and I coloured with my new distress markers.



Each new years eve we invite a few friends and neighours over to celebrate the start of the new year with us. I keep the Christmas decorations up for the party and try to add something new and this year I made a plaque to hang over the mirror. It's made of foil tape and embossing folders and reflected the light beautifully during the evening. My 'something new' are the Texture Trades embossing folders. Full details as to how I made it are over at Bumblebees and Butterflies.
Happy New Year to you all.


'Explore life' - such a great tag line isn't it and so fitting for the New Year?  My little album has been made using several new products.  You can find the steps and products detailed on my blog.  Happy New Year everyone!  Chris xxx


New Year and a new toy to play with :) Was lucky enough to get an eBrush recently to play with.......
 
...more details are on my blog
Donna xx


Happy New Year
 I have some New JOFY stamps to use today along with a couple of new inks
 Full details of this can be found on my Blog


Happy New Year! For my first project the month I made a journal page using a new dip pen and ink as well as my new Big Shot (more of that embarrassing tale here!) The theme of "something new to you" means we can use new techniques as well as new crafting goodies and I had wanted to have a go with a dip pen for ages. I loved using it but I do need to master writing in a straight line! We can't all be perfect first time can we?! Gabrielle x


 
 Not just new to me, but completely different - felt instead of paper!  I have been eyeing up the wonderful felts in my local shop and decided I just had to give them a go. I have used my Tim Holtz and Sissix dies to create three different brooches. Hop on over to my blog if you want to see more.


 
I  took advantage of the Country View Crafts advent sale and stocked up on some new layering stencils which I have used on this special card for a friend of mine. You can see more details at Addicted to Art.


 
I have made my Bg using Bister Ink (my new product) it is like embossing powder to look at, it has wonderful effects when water is added. More information on my Blog.


As I've been on a spending ban for the last 5 years I've obviously not got anything new (mwah ha ha) but if I were to buy anything, it would be these Dina Wakley stamps and paints.
Full details can be found here at Sue The Iron.


This was my first chance to play with my newly acquired and very lovely Wallflower Vellum collection... my first time with vellum at all, come to that!  And if you give me something translucent, the chances are my thoughts will turn to candlelight.  So my first offering this month is two-thirds recycling (dessert pots) and one-third repurposing (a vase) to create some very sleek, modish, minimalist luminaries.  Hop over to Words and Pictures to see more details.



A huge thanks to those of you who managed to visit and comment over the festive period, all greatly appreciated!  We hope you had a fun time but if you're suffering today, here's some help...

Our New Year hangover cure

Ingredients
Several sheets of card and/or paper
A tag, a card blank or an album/journal page
At least 3 ink pads, stains and paints
Assorted stamps
Clear embossing ink
Embossing powder(clear or coloured)
A couple of dies
Assorted embellishments
A paintbrush/blending tool or three
A little embossing powder
A shake or two of glitter
Some ribbon or baker's twine
A squirt of glue
A little double-sided tape where necessary
Assorted craft tools
1 craft mat

Method
  1. Choose your ingredients randomly, don't think about them.
  2. Stamp and emboss with your stamps to make a background.
  3. Create your die cut shapes with your dies.
  4. Colour (ink or paint) your stamped and/or die cut elements as desired.
  5. Create a bow with your ribbon or twine.
  6. Put it all together with an embellishment or two added.
  7. Stand back and marvel at how your headache has disappeared!
No, this isn't part of the challenge, just a little fun to take your mind off of your headache, lol!

Thanks to Debby and the Design Team for our beautiful projects, let's see what you can make of the theme, literally!  >:o)

As ever, our winner will be chosen at random to make sure that every entry has a chance of winning.  The winner will receive a £20 shop voucher from our generous sponsor, Country View Crafts.  Brenda will be choosing our Top 3 and DTMSM (DT Member's Special Mention) badge winners and all will be invited to guest with us on our March challenge.

Please remember to read the rules, they are fairly standard but we find that there is usually at least 1 choice each month that has disqualified themselves because they haven't followed them - such a shame!  >:o(

So, all that remains to say is that we will be featuring a new project every other (odd) day for you so we hope to see you again soon.  (For those of you who are not aware of the CVC projects blog, we also post a detailed project there every other (even) day starting from the 2nd of each month.)

Good luck everyone!

Chris and the team xxx