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

Frostie the Snowman Tim Holtz

Last Christmas card for 2025

Stamp Mr Frostie with distress archival onto printed paper.

Fussy cut the image.

Paint snowman, face and nose with a mix of decoupage and white chalky finish paint to seal the paper and dry. 

Then add a weak wash of blue distress ink to give him that cold look.

Paint the nose  with Rusty Hinge and paint the Scarf with Festive Berries.

Seal the Background paper with decou-page and dry. This helps the distress inks move around somewhat rather than soak immediately into the paper.

Use a brayer and add some white paint to the background to start to tone it down,

The depth of the whiteness with the brayer wasn't enough so I made a watery wash with the white paint and dipped and splodged some over the top.

Next take some vellum and the branches from the stamp set. 

Make them look like trees. Stamp with the distress archival again.

Now to add details and put the card together. 

Die-cut greenery and add some to the background.

Use a brown drawing pen to add depth, structure and more detail to the trees.

Plan where Mr Frostie and more greenery will go. 

Stamp the sentiment directly onto the vellum.

Dip leaves and berries pieces into a tub of Snow-tex and leave to dry and use a white posca pen to create the look of snow on the tree branches. Glue pieces down and add extra snowtex.

Supplies

TH Stamp - Mr Frostie  CMS499 -  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/cms499-tim-holtz-cling-mounted-stamp-set---mr-frostie-176446-p.asp

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 –

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 – Unchartered Mariner, Festive Berries, Rusty Hinge – https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-ink--re-inkers-103-c.asp

Sizzix TH dies – Festive Gatherings and Holiday Greens (currently out of stock) however Sizzix® Thinlits Die Set 11PK – Holiday Greens Mini by Tim Holtz are in stock and would be a great substitute.  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/661597---sizzix-thinlits-die-set-11pk--holiday-greens-mini-by-tim-holtz-180330-p.asp

Christmas Artist Trading Cards

 Using snippets and leftovers to make a collection of green ATCs.

These were made for my contribution to the INKC Retreat ATC swap.

xx

Supplies from Country View Crafts

Leftover backgrounds from previous projects using Tim Holtz inks, stamps, dies, embossing folders and stencils.

Rub-ons from 49 and Market

TH Distress Inks 

TH Stencils

TH Stamps

TH Stencils

TH Dies 

49 and Market

Wintry Christmas dome

 Glitter for Country View Crafts

The lovely Susan Seabert of Country View Crafts has now sold the CVC shop and handed over the products, name and challenges to Brenda O'Reilly who is the new owner.

This is a bitter sweet time as Susan and her husband will be moving down to Dorset to be nearer their family and for her and  me it is an end of an era. I am so happy for Susan but I also feel rather sad at the same time as I, with my sister, helped Susan set up her original blog and begin the workshops. In fact I taught the very first one.

But I will be continuing with Brenda and look forward to new beginnings with her.

So here is my second project for the November Glitter challenge.

I used two small wooden log slices, glued together and painted with gesso. When dry I placed them into the base of the dome.

One of the bottles was painted with a mix of toffee apple and mahogany paints, the other was painted white and sprinkled with fine glitter. Whilst they were drying I made a couple of labels using free images found on the internet and simple ones with words on. 

I glued a star to the little tree. I used a sponge to give the deer his colour using toffee and buff paints.

The base of the scene was covered with snow-tex and the 4 pieces glued into the wet mix and left overnight to dry.

The surface was painted decoupage glue and covered with fake snow and the chunky glitter -  which doesn't show up well in the photos.

The base of the dome was covered with a strip of glitter card, the dome had a strip of glitter washi tape wrapped round with some red twine tied over it.

This will go out as one of my new Christmas decorations for this year.

xxx

Supplies

White Gesso

Bottles

Tim Holtz Deer, 

Tim Holtz crackle paint, Rock Candy Chunky Glitter, Stickles

Snowtex

Decoupage matte Glue/Sealer

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint - Mahogany, Toffee Apple, Toffee, Buff

MIscellaneous - Fake snow, labels (hand made), Tree with star, wooden log slices, small cloche dome,

Glittery Christmas Bauble

 Using glitter for Country View Crafts challenge

This is my first inspiration project for our Country View Crafts November Challenge, with the theme of ‘Fireworks' - use glitter or embossing powder to make your project 'sparkle’ hosted by our lovely Cassie.

I attended the amazing InkC retreat recently where the workshops included so many amazing projects and I am sharing my finished Christmas bauble that our very own fabulous Susan Seabert taught on the sunday evening. We had a huge collection of napkins to choose from to create a decoupage background and then I added snowtex and glitter. The blue snowflakes caught my eye almost immediately and I love the finished effects.

Process Steps

Paint the bauble with gesso to seal it and give a white surface Dry and then seal.

Pull the snowflakes out of the napkin by painting water around the image first which allows you to tear images with a rough edging. This ensures there are no straight cuts left when the image has been adhered to the bauble. I used the decoupage glue which is a sealer as well.

Leave the bauble to dry. Then using a coffeestirreror brush add snowtex around the images. Leave it to dry again.

Use the decoupage to cover the top half of the bauble and add the glitter. Leave to dry.

Repeat with the bottom half.

Supplies

Bauble and napkin supplied by Susan.

Gesso, sealer and glue (I used Decoart's Decou-page), glitter - distress rock candy