Snowflakes

 Hopeful

Snowflakes for Country View crafts

Under New Ownership

The first project for 2026 with CVC having a new owner and Zoe Hillman choosing the first theme.

Every year I am hopeful of a white Christmas but we rarely see snow these days in the south of England - just hoping we might see some in the new year.

The snowflakes were cut using one die and one colour. i altered two of the snowflakes to give them slightly different shapes.

I used acrylic paper and coloured up three pieces differently, 1 - just using the distress ink pad, 2 - blending the same blue over the card and 3 - again the same colour but dip. drip and dry technique.

Ink the edges of the snowflakes with Brown Distress ink and then paint a thin layer of wet glue over them and dip in some sparkly glitter

The backing paper is a piece of Tim's splattered with white paint.

The mount was created using the back of a stencil and some handmade tape added to it.

Other papers I gathered from bits boxes to build a collage

The tapes were made by sticking strips of Scotch Magic Tape onto vellum - you could use greaseproof paper. Blend over distress inks and then stamp with archival ink.

Stamp the 'Hopeful' label with blue archival, cover with clear embossing powder and heat. Ink the edges with blue and brown inks.

Layer up the pieces to put the project together.

Supplies used from https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/

Distress Archival ink – Ground Espresso – Reinker only available in the shop at the moment- https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz---mini-distress-archival-re-inker---ground-espresso-139012-p.asp

Tonic Studios Tim Holtz - Stamp Platform 8.5"X8.5" - https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tonic-studios-tim-holtz---stamp-platform-85x85-75973-p.asp

Tim Holtz paper – from my stockpile but Brenda might be able to purchase it for you.

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint – Snowflake - https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/paperartsy-chalk-paint-fresco-finish---snowflake-175174-p.asp

DecoArt Americana Decou-Page Sealer/Glue Matte 4OZ  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/decoart-americana-decou-page-sealerglue-matte-4oz-69604-p.asp

Distress inks – Uncharted Mariner, Black Soot, Ground Espresso  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-ink--re-inkers-103-c.asp

Sizzix TH dies – Vault Winter Wishes which sold out before Christmas, but Brenda will gladly help you out if you contact her.  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-152-c.asp

TH Rock Candy Glitter - https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-rock-candy-crystal-glitter-clear-179-oz-179113-p.asp

Clear embossing powder - https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/wow-embossing-powders-15ml---clear-gloss-regular-t-171662-p.asp

49 and Market – Winter Stories Rubons - https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/49-and-market-1673-c.asp

Winter Scene 2 for Country View Crafts

 Distress Journal Panel

1. Stamped the tree/branches with walnut stain DI, then stamped the bird with cornflower blue and  black archival inks leaving the belly uninked and then the barn with black and the trees with peat moss. The tree trunk was made by double stamping the branch from the Mr Frostie set and then using a fine brown drawing pen to give it a seamless appearance.

2. I played with dabbling and dipping gathered twigs and broken china DIs to start the background off.

3. The background tree line was an experiment covering the stamp with pine needles DI and dipping it into watery chipped sapphire and broken china puddles then stamping at various heights to make them look further away and melting into the snowy background.

4. I dabbled around the tree line using a brush with the two blue puddles of DI until I was happy with it.

5. I used the watercolor pencils on the barn, the bird, the tree and branches the bird is sitting on.

6. The bottom of the scene was looking a bit wishy-washy so I added some rustic wilderness with a brush and water..

7. I tore some paper to cover most of the scene and stamped text above and below the bird using watering can archival.

8. I then covered the bird and splattered watery Snowflake fresco finish paint to make a snowstorm but the text stood out too much so after drying the splatters I brushed some watery white paint over it and knocked quite a bit of it back. The snow seemed to have died down so I splattered again.

9. Finishing was about playing with the details, painting and inking the bird's belly, darkening the tree, dabbling some white paint around the foreground in a few places, touching up and strengthening shape with pencils and pens.

So my second wintry scene is finished and I added it to my Distress watercolouring journal.

Supplies

I decided to try some new card for this project (Paper Mill Direct Arena Super Smooth 300gms). I cut a panel 18x15 cms. I'm, pleased to say it worked ok with wet inks, dipping and drying, stamping and paint.

Tim Holtz - DIs - walnut stain, gathered twigs, vintage photo, chipped sapphire, broken china, pine needles, rustic wilderness.

Tim Holtz - Distress Watercolor Pencils - mermaid lagoon, uncharted mariner, gathered twigs, brushed corduroy, ground espresso

Tim Holtz Stamps - Nature Walk CMS181, Mini Holidays 2 CMS096, Scribble Woodland CMS282, Mr Frostie CMS499, Letter to Santa 053

Ranger archival inks - cornflower blue, potting soil, peat moss, black, watering can.

Miscellaneous - white posca pen, brown and black fine drawing pens.

Watercolour Sketchbook - snowflake collage - Hello Winter

Using Tim Holtz distress inks and watercolor pencils for a distressed watercolour background.

I have been wanting to use my watercolour sketchbook again for a while but a holiday, family weekend, illness and then Christmas and then more medical problems have got in the way. But here we are weeks later enjoying a bit of experimentation time using distress inks and distress watercolor pencils to create this snowflake collage.(Not quite 'welcoming winter' we've had some severe frosts after the new year)

1. Use distress inks to blend colours lightly in the middle, darker round the edges randomly.

2. Use distress watercolor pencils rubbed onto stamp block and spritzed with water to create puddles and stamp it onto the page to create more depth,interest and movement. Spritz water droplets on and pull with some kitchen roll. Blend picket fence DI in top left and centre to try to create a cloudier looking area.

3. Heat emboss snowflakes and splatter blue distress spritz and white paint.

Add some text ....

.... and splatter more blue and white if needed.

Gather together collage elements etc.

Put together.

Supplies

TH - Distress inks - chipped sapphire, tumbled glass, ground espresso, gathered twigs, brushed corduroy, picket fence, stormy sky

TH - Distress Watercolor Pencils - uncharted mariner, mermaid lagoon, gathered twigs, ground espresso

TH - Stamps - Scribble Woodland, Weathered Winter, Letter to Santa (text), 

TH - distress Spritz - Uncharted Mariner

TH - Sizzix dies - Paper Snowflakes Mini

Embossing powders - Ranger - Seafoam White, Ranger Wendy Vecchi - Sky Blue, Cornflower Blue

Miscellaneous - white acrylic paint

A Winter's Tale - Alison Bomber

 I bought some of Alison's mini stamps in the Country View Crafts Advent sale and I've had fun using this gorgeous image of Star Anise and using it in creating this frame .

Background - a scraped layer of gesso using a palette knife leaving a gap around the edges. Dried, dipped in pumicestone DI, dripped and dried again. Blended gathered twigs around the edges and added some text stamping using hickory smoke.

2nd layer using vellum, tear the edges and stamp with textured stamp from Alison's pressed grasses set, using versamark and embossing powder.

Focal panel - stamped with Alison's Winter Tale stamp in coffee, painted in the image using lost shadow and walnut stain DOs and brown distress watercolor pencils. The image has watery tea dye roughly painted around it and hickory smoke blended around the edges.

The winter greenery was die-cut with white card and snow-tex daubed over it for texture,

I found the snowflakes (which are glued to the underside of the frame) and icicles already cut in a bag ..........

..... and used those with the other miscellaneous oddments to add interest to the frame.

Supplies

Alison Bomber - PaperArtsy  -  mini Winter's Tale stamp,EM90, pressed grasses EAB40

Tim Holtz - Sizzix - Festive Gatherings, Paper Snowflakes,

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress inks - pumice stone, gathered twigs, tea dye, hickory smoke

 Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Watercolor Pencils Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Oxides -  lost shadow, walnut stain

Ranger - Seafoam White embossing powder

Miscellaneous - vellum, star anise, silver berries, twigs, pinecone, 

Ranger Coffee Archival ink

49 and Market Garden rub on transfers