Mixed Media Crafting Weekend with Stamperia's Very Own Antonis Tzanidakis

Last weekend we were giddy with excitement with the return of Antonis Tzanidakis to Country View Crafts.  The last time Antonis joined us was in 2019.  A weekend of face to face workshops had been planned for 2020 and due to the covid pandemic they were switched to webinars.

But, after a long drive back from Heathrow in rush hour traffic Antonis was back and raring to go!

Friday went off with a bang with the workshop attendees having a blast using Stamperia mediums and papers, including Antonis' own designs.

Layer after layer, medium after medium, the room was excited to get inky fingers and creative play time.

Saturday's project used Antonis' own designs.

Antonis shared lots more techniques

There were many gasps when Antonis demonstrated how to create an antique look by covering the whole project using antiquing paste.

There were lots of smiles at the end of the workshop.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sunday was the final day.  And the largest project of the weekend.  

Again, using some of the beautiful products from Antonis  and Stamperia, everyone got stuck in, fussy cutting, layering and aging their Geisha projects

Just look at those layers and textures.

And those beautiful papers.

Just look at those happy faces - it was certainly a fun day and the perfect end to a weekend of workshops.

And to top the weekend off, Antonis enjoyed a proper British Sunday roast!

It was truly a fabulous weekend at Country View Crafts.  For those of you lucky enough to attend a workshop with Antonis you will know that he is a wonderful teacher.  His enthusiasm, expertise and creativity shines through and he teaches so many exciting techniques, often challenging you to go outside of your comfort zone.

Don't leave it so long next time Antonis!

If you would like to attend a workshop with us visit our shop here.

February 2022 new Visible Image release

 Hi it's Jane here with a very quick post just to wet your appetite with the new Visible Image release which is out today and in stock over at Country View. (If anything is out of stock, just add your email address and Susan will contact you when she restocks.) Postage is FREE in the UK if your order is over £20

Do check out the whole of the release, there really is something for everyone from fun characters with co ordinating cutting dies, spring flower stamps, background stamps, stencils and awesome new layering dies. 

Here are just a few of my makes as I am lucky enough to also wear a DT hat for Visible Image. You can see lot more of my makes over on Instagram here.

Here is Sassy Molly with her co ordinating dies. I have also used the torn fishnet die cut into pieces and it also forms the aperture for this card. 

The awesome layering dies, these ones are Broken mesh and torn fishnet die 

More of the layering dies, Broken mesh and Framed fibres below.

There are new dies for the Wonderland stamps

and background stamps (this one is round in circles )and a cool brick stencil.

I blogged this one below for my CVChallenge post last week, this is a link to my post using the gorgeous new sketched tulips

Do check the whole release out here; there are lots more to see!

All the stamps are here

the stencils and dies are here

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane xx

New Wall Decals for my studio using the Cricut Maker 3

Hi friends, thanks for joining me today as I share how I made my wall decals for my studio. As with most of my designing I start with sketches on Procreate. I want very simple designs with clean lines to create a modern feel to flowers. Although my style is usually more shade and texture in my images for this project I wanted a flat image. The reason for this, is that the atmosphere in my studio is extremely important to my creative process, and so I wanted something bright and cheerful but I didn’t want my decor to interrupt my process or influence my creativity.

So in Procreate I started with an initial sketch

Once I was happy with the design I went over my design with an ink brush to get nice smooth lines 

And filled in the design as I wanted the whole image cut out

Once I was happy with the sketch (I decided to exclude the flower image which had fluted edges as I preferred the other for this project). I turned it into a finished design and exported it as a PNG file and opened it in Cricut's Design Space ( this is a dedicated programme to use with Cricut tools such as the Maker, Explore machines Mug Press etc.)

Once in the app I could refine the design by duplicating it for the amount I wanted. I resized some of the images to give variation, I also added some circles using Design Space tools (it has several shapes built in). I changed the colours of the files so that Design Space would sort the different coloured files into separate coloured vinyl. So for example, all the pink elements were grouped together so that once I fed the pink vinyl into the machine it would cut all the pink ones, and like wise the green ones etc.

I really like this feature as it simplifies the process so much. Once I was happy with all the settings I pressed make it. I have the new Maker 3 which uses smart materials and these do not need a cutting mat.

At this point the machine asks you what materials you are using and then tells you what blade to use. In this instance I was using smart vinyl which means I don't have to use a cutting and it also told me I needed the fine point blade which i loaded into my machine.

In the image below you can see my Maker vinyl tray and my blades

The adapter tray holds your rolls of vinyl and neatly fit onto the Maker. It guides your material in and gets it ready to cut. Once you press make it, the machine feeds the vinyl in measuring just how much you need, if you have enough for the project it then goes on to cut it, if not it tells you so you don't waste it and spoil your project. Once all the designs in each colour were cut the adapter has a cutting tool allowing you cut the roll of vinyl off so you again don't waste anything.

Next I weeded away the the edges of the vinyl leaving only the cut images.

I started to place my images on the walls using transfer sheets but realised that as the images were so large that I didn’t really need to use it and so just peeled them off the carrier sheets and then placed them where I wanted them.

I used removable Smart Vinyl from Cricut as if I want to remove them at a later date I can, but you can also get permanent vinyl which is more sticky.

Here’s some photos of the finished project.

I hope I have inspired you. The Cricut maker and materials can be purchased from Country View Crafts.

If you are interested I also have a post on how I transformed my studio with the decals being the final project

take care

hugs

Debsxx

Visible Image October stamp release

 Hi it's Jane here and I am delighted to be able to share some samples made with the awesome brand new October Visible Image stamp release which is for sale now on the Country View Crafts website. I have added links within this post.  There are 6 new sets; 3 drinks based, a vintage car, a motorbike and a brilliant cake. 

As I am also on the design team for Visible Image I am able to share some of the samples I made as well as a few extras which I have made for Dotty's Teahouse in Carshalton, Surrey where I sell my cards.

 Susan has all 6 sets , as well as lots of others from the catalogue, in stock on the CVC website and I have added a live link to each set. If anything is out of stock just fill in the email request and Susan will contact you when they are back in stock.

I love every set but I just had to start with this one as I am a real gin lover and this set is perfect. 

Keep your gin up

I made alcohol ink backgrounds (what else could they be!) for my first 2 samples.

Next up is the brilliant wine set

99% chance of wine

 which has some hilarious sentiment stamps too. I made 2 tags to also showcase the 2 clever wine splash stamps.

the last drinks based set is called

Bring on the beers. 

It has 3 different size beer bottles with a fab glass which is so realistic when stamped, the shading is brilliant. 

I made this card for Dotty's teahouse in Carshalton where I sell my cards. I added glossy accents to the glass and it really looks like cold beer. 

Next is 

You're a classic.

A super set for those hard to make male cards and projects. 

I made a birthday tag with this set and decoupaged the car so that it has extra dimension. 

Then the lovely motorbike set with some fab "action" stamps and 2 awesome sentiments. This set is perfect for bikers.

Ride the wind

I made motocross/dirt biking card with this one on a brushos background. 

and finally the brilliant cake set

Blow out the candles

This last card I also made for my shelves in Dotty's Teahouse. The candles in this set are so unique and there is also a little "glow" stamp which is used behind the flames as I have shown in gold ink.  This is earl grey and raspberry flavour cake I baked  made!  I have lots of flavours planned with this set including lemon and chocolate.

Before I leave I will share a little sneak peek of my make for our next challenge here at Country View where I used the gin set ...as well as a couple of other VI sets. 

Any guesses what our theme is? 

Could it be that Father Christmas has been on the gin?? You will need to check the challenge out on Monday 1st November when it goes live.

Thanks for stopping by and do check out this amazing new release. There really is something for everyone and every set has that very unique Visible Image twist. 

I hope I may have given you a few ideas of how this gorgeous new release can be put to use with your own projects. These stamps are brilliant for cards, tags, journaling , scrapbooking, you name it they work. They are also the best quality clear stamps you can buy. They are deeply etched photopolymer and stamp perfectly every single time. 

Remember that UK postage is also FREE when you spend over £7.50 so you can save yourself some money to spend on extra crafting goodies! Susan also has lots of other Visible Image stamps and stencils for sale and you can see them all here.

If you follow my my Instagram account which is @jane.tyrrell I will be sharing lots more samples over the coming days and weeks. 

Also if you would like to see how my makes were put together you can see step by steps for many of them over on my blog here.

Happy stamping,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bye for now,

Jane x