Masculine card with rusty squares

Hello crafty friends and happy New Year!!! We finished a weird year and I hope that you and your loved ones are all in good health. 

It's January 1, and we have a new challenge at the Country View Challenges. The theme is, Use one or more squares and the lovely Corrie chose that who will be your hostess this month.

For this challenge, I created a masculine card with rusty squares.

For making the rusty squares, I cut out squares from 300gsm watercolour paper but the mixed media paper is good too. Then I put a layer of DecoArt Snow-Tex onto them but the Grit-Paste is perfect too. When it was dry, I painted the squares with Burnt Sienna, then I added Burnt Umber here and there with a sponge.  In the end, I spattered with Indian Turquoise which was spritzed with water.

The background was painted with Indian Turquoise first, then I toned back with lighter turquoise and white paints.

I also stencilled tiny squares with Stampers Anonymous Linen stencil by Tim Holtz, then I spattered with white paint and with diluted brown paint.

The letters was cut out with Sizzix Thinlits die, Alphanumeric Classic Lower (664224) by Tim Holtz. I painted them with DecoArt Blue Chiffon first, then I tapped Williamsburg Blue and Uniform Blue. All the edges (letters, background paper) were inked with Ranger Distress Archival inks (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso).

I also put two Idea-Ology Hex Fasteners into two corners.

If you have a project with squares, please don't hesitate to join our November challenge where a randomly selected winner can have a £20 voucher to spend at the Country View Crafts online shop.

Birthday card with rusty background and vintage frame

This is my second inspirational project for the June challenge of the Country View Challenges: The written words. This is means you have to add text to your cards or any other crafty projects. 

My first project was a rusty tag and for that had I made a written tutorial, so now I just add some pics. But you have to know that these pictures belong to another but very similar projects.

And as a protection, I put a layer of Matte Distress Collage Medium.

As for the frame...

I cut out the frame from chipboard and I painted with DecoArt Americana Buttermilk colour. After 2 layers and after drying I inked the edges with Ranger Archival Sepia ink, then I put a thick coat of DecoArt Crackle Glaze on the top.

When it was completely dry, I smeared Ground Espresso ink into the crackles.

The text was written on my laptop, I printed it on a 200 gsm paper and then inked, spritzed and spattered it until I achieved a vintage look. I dried the paper and glued to the back of the frame. And again for sealing, I smeared Micro Glaze on the surface.

And I put together my card.

So if you have a project where you added some text, please join our June challenge because you have a chance to win a £20 voucher.

With my card, I would like to join the Frilly and Funkie challenge: Letter perfect

Thank you card with rusty wildflowers

Hello everybody, here is my latest make, a thank you card with rusty wildflowers by Tim Holtz.

The background was made the same way as shown here.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits die, Wildflowers by Tim Holtz (661190)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Wildflowers by Tim Holtz (661808)

Stampers Anonymous, Hashtags by Tim Holtz (CMS183)

Stampers Anonymous, Birch&Pine (CMS280)

rust paste

Ranger Archival, Potting Soil

white and light blue acrylic paint

With my card I would like to join the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Grunge it up!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Make your own background

MentésMentésMentésMentés

Tim Holtz holiday knit with rusty bells

I made this card as a second inspirational piece for our December challenge at the Country View Challenges: Christmas (optional Red-Green-Rust).

For this card, you can find the tutorial of the background here.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits Die, Holiday Knit by Tim Holtz (660981)

Sizzix Thinlits Die, Holiday Greens by Tim Holtz (658759)

Sizzix Bigz Die, Christmas Bells by Tim Holtz (658765)

MFT Stax Die, Stitched Fishtail Flags

Stampers Anonymous, Crazy Talk by Tim Holtz (CMS236)

If you have any Christmassy project, please join our December challenge where you can win a £20 voucher!

With my card, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Christmas/Winter Holidays


Happy crafting!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Red and green card with rusty deer

Hello Everybody, for the December challenge of the Country View Challenges blog, I created a Christmas greeting card with rusty deer and Holiday Knit background by Tim Holtz. 

For this card, I have found the inspiration in the picture of the die. In the picture that was attached to the die you can see this:

And here is my tutorial:

I cut out a rectangle (5,4x3,7 in) with a Sizzix Framelits Die, Rectangle (658610) from white cardstock.

Then I cut out four stitched flags with MFT die. This die had the perfect size to cover my white rectangle. 

After I placed the Holiday Knit die in the middle of the flag stripe and cut out the pattern.

Then I adhered them to the white cardstock one after another.

I inked the edges of the card.

The deer was cut out from chipboard, painted brown, then I put a thick layer of rusty paste on the surface. 

For the text, I used Vintage Photo embossing powder which looks like rust after heating.

I hope you like it!

If you have any Christmas project, please don't hesitate to join our December challenge where you can win a £20 voucher!

P.S. This is a massage for Daria who asked me about the rusty paste I used. I'm sorry for the late answering but the cause of this was the Christmas. And otherwise, I'm not really sure that my aswer will be helpful because the rusty paste I used was a German one. The name is: Heike Schafer Rost Effekt and I added some extra cinnamon to this paste. I bought it in a Craft Market - Creative Expo in Luxembourg :-)

Box with rusty hardware findings by Tim Holtz

Here is my second project for our April challenge: Rust. Again I have made a box but this time I chose a square paper box. Actually, the square shape gave me the idea to make a door from the top.

I chose the number 16 because this box was made for my daughter who was born on the 16th and because since her birthday we had a lot of coincidences with this number, e.g. we live at number 16 :-)


Well, it was a paper box and I glued two layers of blank paper napkin with making a lot of wrinkles, like here.

I painted blue the top with DecoArt Bahama Blue and brown the bottom with Burnt Umber. 

I cut out the Hardware Findings from chipboard and painted brown too. 

Then I covered all the brown pieces with rust paste, like here.

A closer look to see better the rusty elements:

If you have anything rusty, please don't hesitate to join our April challenge at the Country View Challenges blog where you can win a £20 voucher!

With my box I would like to enter:

- the April challenge of the Creative Artiste: Anything Mixed Media Goes

- the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: What's your superpower?

Rusty Time Box

I have to tell you that I wasn't a fan of rust or anything rusty. That was the first time in my blog life that I used the label "rust".  But I also have to tell you that I really enjoyed these new experiences with the rust techniques. I have found some great tutorials that I would like to share with you in case if you are not a rust-type person like me before :-)

My teamie, Brenda  Brown has a great tutorial at A Vintage Journey - my favourite was the technique with the cinnamon. 

Andy Skinner has 3 easy rust technique videos at DecoArt.

Well, after watching and reading these tutorials, I have made this rusty time box for our April challenge (RUST) whose hostess is the lovely Evelyn. 

My box looks really great, doesn't it?

For my project I used a round poplar box about 12 cm across, because it has nearly the same size as the weathered clock. The weathered clock was cut out from chipboard.

I made a hole in the middle with a tiny screw.

Then I painted dark brown everything, the box, the weathered clock and two pieces of 300 grams paper. 

When it was dry I cut out the Roman numbers from the 300 grams papers, from these:

With Ranger Glossy Accents I glued the Roman numbers to the side while I was using the weathered clock as an aid which helped to place the numbers.

At the Luxembourg Creative Expo in January I had bought a set of rust paints but I used only the thick paste-like paint (Rost Farbe). With a sponge I put a layer to the box and to the weathered clock.

.

I glued the weathered clock to the top with Glossy Accents and added the hands with an Idea-ology brad. 

Then I mixed the paste (Rost Farbe) with cinnamon and I covered again the whole top (weathered clock and hands too) and the numbers of the bottom. For the bottom numbers I used a brush.

When it was all dry, I put a layer of matte varnish everywhere to fix the cinnamon and the rust paint.


After all these processes, I took my 2B pencil and shaded the numbers, the clock and the edges the same way as Andy Skinner had done in the first video.


Which is good in this box that the hands are mobile, so I can indicate any time on the clock.

Sizzix dies:

Sizzix Bigz Die, Weathered Clock by Tim Holtz (657190)

Sizzix Thinlits Die, Alphanumeric (3/4") by Tim Holtz (660056)

I hope you like it! And if this inspired you to make something rusty, please don't hesitate to join our April challenge where you can win a £20 voucher!