A reflection of Paula's art...

Today we have our last post for this month and it's a guest spotlight from the talented Paula Whittaker of Just For One Day who won a Top 3 blog badge back in May. Paula is sharing her make with us to show how she used her stencils to create this stunning piece of altered art...

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"Hi….my name is Paula, and I started cardmaking in February 2004 as I wanted to make a special card for my aunt - I haven’t really looked back since. I love stamping, working with colour and the CAS (clean and simple) style."

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"I was thrilled to have made the Top 3 in Mays Challenge and was delighted to have been asked to join in with this months Challenge of “Stencil It”. I began with an Ikea mirror, the first thing I did was used the Cargo stencil by Tim Holtz to stencil through some PaperArtsy Grunge Paste. Once the paste was dry, I used a grey paint to cover the whole frame, paste and all. I tried using some PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze next but it didn’t really work, not sure why though! My next paint was a PaperArtsy Fresco one called ‘Beach Hut’. I then stenciled the wording using Memento black ink (it just happened to be close to hand!) I then dry brushed white paint over top, then a little bit of grey.

Thank you so much for letting me take part in this months challenge and sharing my project with you all."

 Just For One Day

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Clean and smart, elegant, beautiful and so, so effective Paula, this is GORGEOUS - thank you!

This brings us to the end of our posts for July but you still have another couple of days to enter and have the chance of winning the £20 shop voucher donated by our fabulous sponsor, Country View Crafts!

Don't forget we also have our 'Magpie Surprise' competition running too which is open to anyone to enter (HERE).

Enjoy the last few days of July, we'll be back on August 1st with another theme to challenge you. We hope to see you then!

Chris and the team xxx

Sue B's moment in time...

We did warn you that there were still more stunning projects to come and we weren't telling fibs! This glorious make from our talented Sue B is a wowser of a project and who wouldn't want to pull this out of an envelope......?

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"Embossing paste applied through various stencils to create dimension and texture, and then coloured up extensively! Step by step over on my Blog."

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The colour work and stencilling on this project is awesome Sue, it's a work of art - thank you!

We have one more project to show you and you certainly won't want to miss it so please pop back on Tuesday when we will be featuring another guest spotlight to complete the month's posts.

Chris and the team xxx

Gabrielle always shines!

With the end of the challenge drawing near we still have several projects to show you. The old adage of saving the best until last may well be true because we have some beautiful projects to end the month with. We intend to get the last ickle bitsy tiny drop of creativity from you as we can to entice you to enter this month. >;o)

Leading the end charge is Gabrielle who has created this beautiful tag for you...

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"My second project for our Stencil It challenge is a tag. I have added layers with stencils in the background as well as the foreground and I even stencilled the sentiment! That's dedication! I have recently discovered bright colours and this pink pops off the page but is tempered by the shots of blue for balance. If you would like to see how I made the tag, there are more details on my blog! Gabrielle x"

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A stunning tag Gabrielle, gorgeous colours and great use of stencils. What a fab way to remind us that we can even use our stencils for our sentiments - thank you!

We hope you're nearing completion of your project because we keep our challenges open right until 5 minutes to midnight on the last day of the month! Please keep them coming.

On Sunday Sue B will be with us to show you her second DT piece for the month - please don't miss it!

Chris and the team xxx

Katy's in the garden today!

As promised, we have another guest spotlight for you today and this time it's from Katy Leitch of POSTCARDS from the attic. Katy is our May DTMSM winner and she is sharing her use of stencils with us with a beautiful card...

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"I’ve been papercrafting for about nine years now and my love for it (and ability to shop for stash!) doesn’t diminish. I am totally nuts about stamping and my fave all time product is Distress Inks – I use them on almost everything (including in this card). I live in the Midlands with my beloved dog and almost as beloved husband."

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"I love the vintage style and soft colours and so I stayed in my comfort zone for this challenge. I used stencils in a couple of different ways to create a layered background. As well as adding detail with traditional stencilling, I used Tim Holtz’s monoprinting technique using the Latticework stencil, then replaced the cleaned stencil and filled the gaps in the print with a very light touch of Treasure Gold to add shimmer to my card. I love layers and I finished the card with a stamped layered tag."

POSTCARDS from the attic

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A beautiful card Katy, thank you - some terrific stencilling work here and gorgeous colour blending too!

We're now into the last week of our challenge and, although we've shown you many ways to use your stencils, we have more exciting projects to show you right 'til the end. So please pop back and visit on Friday when Gabrielle will be strutting her stuff.

Enjoy your crafting everyone!

Chris and the team xxx

Donna has her own style!

Yet again we have something very different for you. Donna has gone very contemporary today with this fabulous colourful tag combining Stampotique imagery with her stencils...

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"A fun little tag using some That Special Touch masks with distress inks and some clear texture paste through a bit of punchinella.  All the details are on my blog. Donna xx"

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We don't want to worry you but we have just 10 days left to the end of the month. If you're quick you can get at least another entry in if not two! >;O)

We hope you've also taken part in our special Magpie Surprise Draw to win our goodies? If not, you can find it HERE.

We'll be featuring another guest post on Wednesday, don't miss it!

Chris and the team xxx

Chris is being a good time girl!

I'm a huge fan of texture and layering and stencilling is such a useful tool in achieving these. Here is my second make for the challenge, a shabby card...

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"This time I have used texture paste with my stencil and left it completely uncoloured to gve this splat effect as a layer to my card. Details of the what and the how can be found on my blog. xxx"

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Variety is the spice of life, so we're told and you can certainly spice anything up with stencils! We're over half way through our challenge so we hope that you're busy beavering away getting your projects completed and ready to enter..........?

On Monday Donna will be here with something else to show you so please pop back and take a look.

Chris and the team xxx

Have you tried stencil stamping?

My second sample for the Stencil It challenge is a tag with stencil stamping.

Create your background. I used the wrinkle free technique with distress inks and then blended some antique linen in the gaps.

Using pumice stone DI I blended through the numbers stencil and then stamped through it as well.

I added some latticework and chevron framework die, a photo from the ephemera pack, a stamped nib and chit chat words.

The small pieces within the latticework framework were cut from different fabrics and textures, hessian, cork, felt and patterned paper.

Then some shabby ribbon and a tag label complete the look.

Have you entered the challenge yet? If you haven’t there is still plenty of time, so pop over to the Challenge post to check out the details.

Have fun.

hugs Brenda xxx

Julie Ann has butterflies!

Regular followers will know that we love having guests join us. We're epecially pleased today to spotlight a beautiful project from the talented Julie Ann of Magpie Heaven who is one of our regular challenge entrants...

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"When Chris emailed me to say that my project was in the CVC Top 3 I was so excited I danced around the living-room – and I’d only just returned from the Dentist! My family, a long-suffering husband, two grown-up children and a cat are used to my Craft obsession now and make allowances – although the cat is a little freaked out at the happy-dancing! I started blogging in April 2013 and since then I’ve enjoyed learning about all kinds of new craft techniques. I love anything Vintage or Shabby Chic. I enjoy experimenting with textures and I’ve really fallen for using stencils with Grunge Paste so that has found its way into this project. Anyone who follows my blog will know that I also love ‘makes’ that tell a story!"

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"I’m really thrilled to be here at Country View Crafts, especially as the challenge this month is to use stencils, which I love! This ‘make’ gave me the opportunity to share a fabulous technique I learned from a Lin Brown workshop. If you would like a detailed account of how to create stencil tiles, please hop over to my blog to see my interpretation of Lin’s great idea.

I used a Tim Holtz trellis die; PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints and my favourite Lynne Perrella stamp and some PaperArtsy Lin Brown and Crafters Workshop stencils to create this Victorian style wall hanging from an MDF butterfly shape. I think my central image might be a lady who day-dreams of writing a novel and soaring into blue skies on the wings of creativity. Thank you Country View Crafts for having me and for the inspiring challenges every month!"

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The thanks is from us to you Julie Ann for this gorgeous 3D butterfly project - fabulous!

If you'd like the opportunity to guest with us then please enter our challenge because it's not just the winner that gets invited but our 4 blog badge winners too!

On Thursday Brenda will be showing us her second project for the month - we can't wait!

Chris and the team xxx