Going Purple With Make My Monday

Hello folks, hoping that you all had a good weekend with at least some good weather. Mine was really busy as I'm madly trying to get ahead before I start my job next week. A wardrobe overhaul is also on the cards as I need to check I have things to wear in an office (having worked from home I have quite a lot of jeans and t shirts as I'm sure you can imagine!)
Anyway, enough waffle and on to the new challenge at Make My Monday which this week is to make something in shades of Purple With Just One Neutral Shade Allowed. I really loved this one as it's a favourite colour of mine and I used to be known as the Purple Queen at the stamp club I went to. I hope you like my card.

As you can see I've made up for the CAS challenge last week and gone right back to my favourite shabby and distressed style.
The background paper was made using Seedless Preserves and Milled Lavender Distress Stains and I sprayed it with water to spread the colour. When it was dry I stamped on a filigree corner by Inkylicious in Lavender Sachet and Iris Palette inks. I stamped it repeatedly for a layered look. I then distressed the edges with an emery board and added it to a square cream card blank.
I stamped the daisies (B Line Designs) with the Lavender Sachet and Iris inks and then added just streaks of colour with Promarkers. I cut them out and shaped them by curling the petals round my decoupage scissor blades.
I stamped the butterfly by Kaisercraft with the Iris ink and added colour with Prismacolor pencils then cut it out and rounded the wings as I did the flower petals. I then stamped the Hero Arts sentiment with the same ink and trimmed to a panel by hand.
I assembled the card as you see adding a cream doily and some purple velvet ribbon.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Something New With FSC

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good weekend. I'm here today to tell you about our new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges where we'd like you to Show Us Something New.
This means you could try a technique that's new to you or use some new stash to make your project.
As I've been stamping for over 15 years now, I must have tried out just about every technique going and although I sometimes manage to come up with a new one myself, I've been so busy lately I had to go for the new stamp option, using one of my latest Inkylicious purchases. Hope you like it and you might need your sunglasses as it's quite bright!

The background paper was created by sponging a square of card with Dried Marigold Distress ink and then stamping on an Inkylicious corner with Picked Raspberry Distress ink. I inked around the edges with Worn Lipstick DI.
I stamped the Inkylicious Vintage Rose image with Spanish Moss VersaFine ink. I added colour with Promarkers and then sponged with Cinnamon, Old Rose and Canary VersaColor inks. I set this on a layered mat with a pink die cut made with a Papermania die and a deep green panel.
I added a pink die cut corner made with the Marianne Design Anja corner and a Dovecraft sentiment stamped with the green ink, sponged as before and added to a deep green mat trimmed with deckle scissors.

My DT sisters have some amazing projects lined up for you on the catwalk so please do pop over for inspiration. Also please don't forget that we are a stamping challenge so there must be stamping on your creation.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card :
Crafting Musketeers - Use A Stamped Image
The Alphabet Challenge - I For Image

Elizabeth Goes Steampunk For That's Crafty

Good morning folks, I hope you've all had a good week so far. Mine has been really busy with work which I'm still trying to get out of the way and I have even more reason to do so now as yesterday I had a phone call from the agency dealing with the job I interviewed for last week and guess what - I got the job!
This has gone to prove that if you try hard enough there really are jobs out there and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have been successful at last!
Now for the actual reason for this post which is to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty today which I admit is a little off the wall as the Elizabeth concerned is Elizabeth Bennet and I'm not sure that she would like being steampunked! However, that's exactly what I've done and I hope you like it!

If you'd like to find out how I made my collage, you'll find all the details over at That's Crafty. Hope to see you there.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

One For Dad With Studio 12

Hello everyone, guess who only remembered she was supposed to be doing her Studio 12 post at lunchtime - oops!
I immediately grabbed by Studio 12 scraps box to see what I could find and with Fathers Day looming fast here in the UK, have rustled up a very quick card with men in mind.

All I did was tear some scraps of paper - the gingery coloured polka dot paper is from the Gingerbread Twist CD and the distressed harlequin design from the All Sewn Up Collection of the Picknix Collection 1 CD - and added these to a kraft card blank with a scrap of vintage music score.
I then added the gorgeous robin digital image from the Gingerbread Twist CD and some text made with my Dymo machine and black tape. Done!

Well, I did say it was quick!

I also want to say sorry to everyone for my lack of visiting lately which is mostly because I'm inundated with work at the moment and the only reason I could do this is because I'm now waiting for a client to get some information to me. I'm not sure quite when the pile will get smaller but hopefully it won't be too long!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Simply Flowers

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to get out and about in sunshine.
As it's Monday, we have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is Clean and Simple Flowers meaning that no other images except flowers can be used and your creation must be simple with no distressing.
As I'm sure you know, this is quite hard for me and a real challenge as distressing and shabby chic are my very favourite things but I managed to restrain myself and here's what I came up with.

The stamp I've used is one of those border style stamps by Fiskars which can be used with the stamp roller for continuous stamping. However you can also do what I did here and attach it to an acrylic block. I stamped the image on kraft card with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with detail white embossing powder.
I added a little colour to the flowers with Prismacolor pencils and then glued some stitched ribbon across the panel.
I stamped the sentiment by Hobby Art on kraft card with Versamark ink and also embossed with white detail powder. I added a green mat and stuck both panels to a white square card blank.

Have a great day and a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
A Gem of a Challenge - Emboss It (I have heat embossing)
Penny Black and More - CAS

Patchwork Parade

Hello again, sorry about the rather naff title, it's the best my poor tired brain could come up with at the moment!
We have a new challenge for you today at Polka Doodles which was chosen by our head doodler Nikky and it's actually a theme close to my heart as Nikky has challenged us to create a Birthday Card Using Scraps.
I do love to use up my scraps in various ways and decided on squares this time. Hope you like it!

I used a variety of papers most of which (I think) came from the Cherryblossom Lane CD and cut them into 3cm squares. I cut a square of scrap card to fit my kraft card blank and covered this with double sided tape then stuck the squares on having first decided on the placement.
I embossed a kraft card tag with the Cuttlebug daisies folder and then added the cute Molly gypsy pre-coloured image from the Fredericka CD - these are really handy if you're short on time as I've been lately.
I finished off with one of the lovely sentiments from the CD which I trimmed to a panel and then inked the edges with VersaColor orange and marigold inks.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - Use Sentiments

Stormy Weather For That's Crafty

Hello folks and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely to have you on board and hoping you enjoy my arty journey.
I have a new project over at That's Crafty today which features one of the images from my absolute favourite Viva Las Vegastamps set which I was really thrilled to see pop up in the online shop - largely because amongst the eclectic mix of images there are some fabulous toadstools!

Isn't she just gorgeous! If you'd like to see how my rather funky background came about then please do hop on over to the BLOG and all will be revealed - hope to see you there!

I'll be back in a bit with details of the new challenge over at Polka Doodles.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Take Time To Smell The Flowers

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a lovely sunny weekend and when this post pops up I shall be on my way to an interview so I hope you'll all wish me luck.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week your hostess is Suzi B who has chosen Lace And/Or Ribbon as the theme.
Here's my inspiration which has both as I found some absolutely gorgeous new ribbon had appeared in my local haberdashery shop and I couldn't resist the gorgeous one on my card which has roses embroidered on it.

I made my background with a piece of cardboard recycled packaging which I painted with several coats of ash rose acrylic paint and then stamped on my favourite Viva Decor flourish with smokey blue VersaColor ink.
I stamped the lovely profile portrait by Stampendous with Archival coffee ink and coloured with Promarkers. I trimmed the panel down and added it to a die cut kraft card panel (Papermania die).
I attached the background to a kraft card blank and added ribbon and lace before adhering the image panel. I then stamped the quote (Kanban) with the coffee ink and cut this out before adding to a kraft card mat (I think this quote is gorgeous and fits the image so beautifully).
I embellished the card with pearls and a layered flower with a pearly floral centre.

Have a great day and I'll be round to visit later.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafting When We Can - Punches And/Or Die Cuts
The Ribbon Girls - Add A Die Cut

A Trio Of Tags

Hello everyone, hoping that you're all having a lovely weekend and are enjoying the warmer weather that has appeared here - I've actually managed to go out without a coat 2 days in a row for the first time this year!
I'm here today to tell you about the new challenge we have for you today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme of Tag Time so I guess no explanation is necessary for this one. The only thing I will say is that we must see some stamping on your creation as we are a stamping challenge and I only mention it because we always get gorgeous makes we have to discount as there's no form of stamping on them.
My inspiration is a set of 3 tags that I made from some chipboard tags that I decorated up recently and hadn't got round to finishing them off. I've intended them to be an extra special something to add to a gift and they're all different but share the same design elements. I hope you like them.

As you can see all the colours are quite soft and all the backgrounds were created in a different way.

The blue tag background was created using acrylic paint resist as I painted the tag first with a rich creamy colour then clear embossed some flourishes from my favourite Viva Decor set and painted blue over the top. I then removed paint from the embossed areas with a baby wipe.
I stamped the gorgeous 50s lady by Flonzcraft with Memories Artprint Brown and coloured her with Promarkers then cut her out. I added a die cut and embossed panel to the tag then embellished with some pretty ribbon and pearls. I finished off with a toning layered flower.

The pink tag background was made by applying Tattered Rose Distress ink with an acrylic block then adding some splatters by smooshing on a small acrylic block inked up with Victorian Velvet. I stamped on a large corner flourish (Viva Decor) with Archival Coffee ink.
I stamped the Gibson Girl by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured her with Promarkers then die cut her into a circle. I added some lace and braid to the tag then adhered the image panel with foam tape. I finished off with some pearls, a flower with a gem centre and a stamped and coloured butterfly.

The green tag background was made with a Chocolate Baroque background stamp which was clear embossed and then sponged with Bundled Sage Distress ink.
I stamped the lovers image by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured with Promarkers and trimmed around the top and left side of the image. I added this to the tag together with some braid, ribbon and pearls then embellished with roses and a German gold scrap butterfly.

The Fashionettes have created some fabulous inspiration for you so do hop over for a stroll down the catwalk.
Hope to see you there.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my tags:
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Passion For Promarkers - Ribbon, Lace or Twine
Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons and/or Laces

Parisian Tag For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, a quick post from me today as I'm still up to my eyes in work (VAT Returns!) which is the main reason for my lack of visiting lately. I hope to remedy this over the weekend
I have a project over at That's Crafty today with a bit of French flavour again using one of the mixed media doll stamps designed by Julie Nutting that I'm a big fan of.
Here it is and I hope you like it, only a sneak peek this week and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog.

I hope you'll pop on over to see how I made it as it's one of those creations that's much easier than you might think.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Charming

Good morning everyone and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely that you've chosen to follow my art journey and hoping that you like what I have for you today which is my Midweek Motivation for the Make My Monday challenge. The theme this week is my choice of Handmade Embellishments.
Most of my creations tend to be DIY out of choice, largely because when I began stamping in the mid 90s (yes, it really is that long!) you simply couldn't get all the beautiful papers now available and having got into the habit of making my own, it stuck!
Below you'll find a photo of the things you need to make a lovely faux metal charm which is really easy to do.

You'll notice that I've used an embossing ink dabber which is because the die cut heart shape (Marianne Design) is quite an intricate lacy style and although you can use an ink pad, I find it much easier to take the cap off the dabber and paint the ink on with a brush before coating with embossing powder.
I also used detail embossing powder as it's much finer and gives better coverage. You don't need the paper piercer unless you want to make a charm which was my original intention but it didn't quite fit in with the card design like that.
Here's the finished card and please do let me know what you think.

As you'll see, I made everything here. The paler paper is a B Line Designs stamp (Ribbons and Flowers Background available from That's Crafty) embossed with puff white and inked with Antique Linen Distress ink.
The red paper was a piece from my bits box made ages ago with red chalk ink and a brayer. I swiped on some Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink and dry embossed a strip with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I die cut a doily (Marianne Design) from some more.
The gold lace is a B Line Designs stamp embossed with detail gold powder and cut out.
The image panel is by Crafty Individuals and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink and coloured with Copic markers. I added a stamped and coloured flower and butterfly as further embellishments.

Some fabulous entries so far and I'm hoping for lots more!
Thanks for looking.
Also before I go, apologies for not having been round to see you all lately, things have been rather hectic and my feet have hardly touched the ground!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Handmade Embellishments

Good morning everyone and hope you're enjoying the long weekend and have some sunshine as we do here.
I'm here to tell you about the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which I picked and as I'm a bit of a DIY fanatic as I'm sure you know, I chose Handmade Embellishments and have to apologise in advance for my creation as I was very under the weather yesterday so it's not my best! Hopefully my mid week motivation will be more inspiring as I so wanted to do more than I have here.

As you can see, a very simple creation for me using some background paper from my bits box that was made using Distress inks and various stamped flowers.
The gorgeous collage image is by June of Dezinaworld and is one I printed out a while back and never got to use at the time but I think goes rather well with my background.
My handmade embellishment is the flower which I made by colouring some Tim Holtz Sketchbook tissue tape with a blue Spectrum Noir marker then pleated into a circular shape. I added some flower stamens through the centre and stuck the pleated shape to a white die cut flower to make it pop a bit more.
I finished off with a sentiment by Hobby Art stamped with Archival coffee ink, cut out and inked.

The Design Team have made some fabulous creations to inspire you - thanks so much for that ladies - so do hop over for a look.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Self Made Flowers
One Stop Craft Challenge - Furry Friends

To Die For

Hello again, my second post of the day is to tell you about the new challenge today over at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is To Die For so you need to use die cut shapes on your creation. I managed quite a few on mine and I hope you like it as this time it's rather girly (I love the images on the new Fredericka CD and Nikky has a new one in the making which we're all really excited about - I wish I could tell you but have to keep my mouth firmly zipped!)
Here's my card which I hope you like:

I really love colouring up the images on the gorgeous Fredericka mini CD and have made a patchwork style card as I love faux stitching.
I printed out the cute image on to thick cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers. I die cut the image to an oval panel and made faux stitching around the edge with a paper piercer and a brown fine pen.
I cut up some squares of decorated paper scraps and added faux stitching round the edges using a paper piercer and the fabulous Tim Holtz ruler (if you haven't tried this I highly recommend it as it makes adding faux stitching so easy).
I assembled the elements on a scalloped card blank embellishing with a die cut doily and flower (Marianne Design) and butterfly (Cheery Lynn) and finished off with a ticket sentiment from the CD.

Hoping that you have a really lovely weekend - especially in the UK with the Bank Holiday on Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Flutterby Butterfly
Addicted To Stamps And More - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Squares
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Wish You Were Here For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, firstly many apologies for not visiting as much recently. This is because I've been helping my daughter with her final collection, had a workshop to run on Monday, book-keeping work to do, an interview yesterday afternoon and today I'm in Kingston all day! No rest for me yet!

I promise I'll be round over the weekend but now I have to tell you about my project for today over at That's Crafty which is a seaside themed collage style card - if you haven't already guessed from the title!

The card features a background paper made during the workshop I taught on Monday and if you hop on over to That's Crafty, there's a photo of the whole piece of decorated paper before I covered it up and I promise you it looks very watery which is why I used the gorgeous seagull collage stamp.

Hope you like it and I'll be back later as today we have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles from Team B.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Spring Green And Yellow

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good weekend. Mine was rather busy as I had to dash up to Kingston on Saturday to help my daughter as she was struggling to finish off all her bits and pieces of her final collection with the hand in today! I spent much of the day running around fetching things so was very tired yesterday (guess who's not used to spending all day on her feet!).
I'm here today to tell you about our new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is a colour one - Green and Yellow - perfect for some Spring creations. I've made another nature themed card which is actually a sample from the workshop I'm teaching this morning and has a very easy to make background using Distress Stains so a tutorial will follow as soon as I have the time to get it together!

The background uses Distress Stains in shades of green and yellow - Shabby Shutters, Squeezed Lemonade and Crushed Olive and I then stamped on the fabulous Inkylicious worn paint background - I can see lots of use for this one - with Peeled Paint Distress ink.
I then stamped the gorgeous vintage bird collage image (also Inkylicious) with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and took a bit of a liberty by turning the birds into greenfinches. I painted them with Distress Stains and then inked the edges with Crushed Olive Distress ink.
I added the image panel to a green die cut (Papermania) and attached this to the card with the background panel. I decorated the card with paper flowers, some painted with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain and punched leaves and finished off with a Dovecraft sentiment.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft - Anything Goes
Cards In Envy - Make Your Own Background
Smudgy Antics - Feathers And/Or Fur

Song Bird For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week and that at least some of you had the fabulous sunny day we had here yesterday after a 4 degree start. The only drawback here was my next door neighbour having a new garden shed set up and there was loud banging for rather a lot of the day!
I'm here today with my project this week for That's Crafty which is a mixed media canvas board this time with as much texture as I could cram on lol. I hope you like it!

If you'd like to see how I made it and find out where all the texture came from then please hop on over to the BLOG to be enlightened. As you can see, I'm still on a bit of a nature kick at the moment!

I hope you all have a lovely day and a wonderful weekend (I'm in need of mine after wrestling with pesky payroll software and the Revenue's new RTI requirements!)

Hugs, Fliss xx