Country View Challenges - Paper Chase!

Great news today!

I was invited to create and share a project for this month's theme over at Country View Challenges due to one of my mixed media paintings being selected as their special mention back in January. This means that today I can share with you not only the fact that Country View Challenges celebrate their first anniversary this month but also a little matchbook I created for this month's challenge theme

Paper Chase!

I recently bought some Sizzix dies at a real bargain and was happy that the matchbook die was one of them as I had already seen it used on other blogs but found it too expensive back then.

This matchbook is meant to be used as a tiny notebook to write special dates - for example birthdays - into. So the inside may look a bit "unfinished" to you...but I wanted to leave enough space for notes to be written into it. 

I die cut the larger matchbook from white card and cut to size a strip that was folded and to be used as the spine to glue the pages to. 

I die cut four tags using the "Tag and Tie" die and blended these and the matchbook cover and spine with DI "pumice stone". 

Next I stamped some chicken wire in various places using jet black archival ink. I also glued on some torn pieces from old book pages. I also flicked some water onto the tags and let them dry to create some stains.  This was done on both sides of each tag. 

On the back cover I used a stamped portrait which I fixed to a piece of rough fabric using four brads.  All was glued in place using matte DecoArt Decou-page glue and sealant. Before that I had stamped on some chicken wire and glued on some torn scraps from book pages as I did with the tags.

The front cover of my matchbook received a similar treatment: stamped portrait, stamped on chicken wire and torn pieces from old book pages.

I added some die cut tags and labels to the four tags to create some "spots" for important notes, so they would be visible at once.

I used a small hinge clip  to keep the booklet closed. 

This time I wanted to let almost plain paper, paper scraps and natural paper tones play the main role as the theme over at Country View Challenges says Paper Chase! 

I feel truly honoured by being chosen and invited to do a Guest Designer's post - especially for this extra special month when we all celebrate the first anniversary of Country View Challenges! 

 Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia x