The Stamp Man Award Event

As part of the Stamp Man's Blog Candy and Award Event (see details on previous post), you are asked to pick your best (or favourite ) project for the year and leave a comment on the blog post so that they can come and look at your work. As Jill says, a great way of starting another blog hop and seeing other crafters' artwork. I've just finished their blog hop and it was really fantastic to see all the different blogs with completely different styles-very inspirational.
I've chosen the above card as it features a background paper made using watercolour crayons that was actually my first technique posted on here. I chose it because it is a technique that I use time and again as I love a shabby chic look. It's really easy to do and is ideal for making decorative papers for cards, scrapbooking and embellishments.
If you'd like to see how to make it, click on the watercolour crayon technique sidebar label to see more examples and a short tutorial.
Fliss xx

Blog Hop by The Stamp Man

Just to let everyone know about the Stamp Man's fun blog hop, details above. As you'll see, there will be giveaways so it's worth adding it to your reading list so you don't miss anything.
I took part in the Hero Arts one last week and it's really great fun as you get to see lots of different blogs with some fantastic artwork on them.
Merry Christmas, Fliss xx

Merry Christmas Everyone

This one's for all of my friends and followers to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and hopefully prosperous New Year.
Thank you all for all the lovely comments and support that you've given to me since I launched my blog in April this year. I can hardly believe that 7 months has passed since then. It only seems like yesterday that I didn't know how to add links, pictures etc etc here (there are still a few things I can't do though!)

Hoping that you all have a lovely time and manage to get a bit of rest, and crafting done.
Sending hugs, Fliss xxx

Crafty Individuals Gallery

I've just had an email from Crafty Individuals and am thrilled to say that my 2 Turtle Doves (Part of the 12 Days of Christmas UK Stampers Challenge) is now in their gallery. It's actually the first thing that you click on and you can see it here if you're interested. They've also put a link to my blog which is great.
This has really cheered me up as I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself at the moment having unintentionally gone ice skating yesterday morning on the nasty patch of ice and ended up flat on my back on the pavement, having banged the left side of my back and my head on the way down.
As you can imagine, I felt a complete idiot and today has been difficult as I'm getting more aches and pains as the day goes on and the bruises haven't even come out yet. I don't normally want it to rain but I do at the moment as the ice is all still there today and our council doesn't seem to be doing any gritting. At least the ground here is mostly level. In Brighton several people have broken bones due to no gritting in the streets there. Some friends of ours who live there haven't been able to get their car out since Thursday as the street where they live is a hill.
I hope everyone is OK and not suffering from the same problems.
Fliss xx

Polka Doodles Challenge 31 DT Gift Set

Morning everyone! Woke up today and discovered that the world has turned white-a really big surprise as I live on the South coast just one road back from the sea and we don't get snow very often. The South Downs tend to act as a barrier but not today! It's caused chaos of course with closed roads, slow trains and lots of school closures-a real shame for all those children looking forward to the last day of term parties.
Anyway, enough of that and on the the next challenge at Polka Doodles where anything goes! You can make anything you like so do join in if you can. On the DT, we've all made things using the gorgeous Back to Nature CD. I'd never used a CD before joining the team and I'm definitely converted! The CD has loads of backing papers, coloured images, digital stamps that you can colour yourself, decoupage elements, shaped card elements....... the list goes on!
I've chosen to make a gift set using the Stackies Floral Collection with a little box and a matching card. I've also sneaked in a bit of stamping (couldn't resist lol) using the lovely Daisy Doodles set which has a total of 26 stamps in various sizes with cute little owls, ladybirds, flowers, leaves, flourishes and sentiments.

The box (one of Papermania's Back to Bare Basics round box set) was painted with deep lilac acrylic paint. I then stamped the flourish design all over with black dye ink. The stamp can be twisted in several directions to make really pretty patterns and I know I will be using this one a lot!
I printed out the Stackies Floral set in green and mauve and cut out various sizes of flowers. I layered these up for the top of the box using foam tape. I added a ribbon band.
The card has a decorative stamped panel again using the flourish stamp and all you do is stamp it in a row up the card, stamping the image upside down every other one to make a very stylish pattern. I embossed the card itself on the right side with the Cuttlebug Textile folder.
I made a further layered flower with various sizes and foam tape and made leaves by resizing the largest green flower and cutting some petals into leaf shapes. The stalk was made from a scrap of diagonal striped paper from the CD. I finished with a sentiment from the large variety you can choose from and a little ribbon from American Crafts.

Really Retro

This is my entry for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge set by Alison. Here's the inspiration to use:

The colours screamed retro at me so that's what I decided to go for and I've developed an easy inking technique inspired by retro textiles.

Ingredients Used:
VersaColor Ink Cubes in Scarlet, Lime and Orchid
Textured Card in White
Pink Card
Image from Dezinaworld Mono Touch Collage Sheet
Ribbon by American Crafts
PaperMania Floral Ribbon Brad
Bright Brads and Fabric Flower
Clear Embossing Powder
Cuttlebug Paisley Embossing Folder
The retro background paper is really easy to make using the ink cubes. You simply start at the top of the card with your first colour (I used pink) and press the side of the ink pad on the card, repeating to form a zigzag pattern across the card angling the ink pad up and then down. You repeat this with the next colour (scarlet here) and then the third (lime). Once you have reached the bottom, you fill any gaps at top and bottom with the corresponding ink colour in the pattern. You then emboss the whole panel with clear powder.
My card also features a white panel embossed with the paisley folder and 3 brads pushed in at the top right side. I cut out my chosen collage image complete with the border as the colour worked so well here. I finished off with ribbons and a fabric flower with a brad centre.

White Christmas

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I'm sitting here typing whilst watching the X Factor final. From my point of view, it's been really difficult this year as I've actually liked quite a few of the final 12 and I think they're all winners. I'm hoping they will all get a singing career out of it as they do deserve it.
I've got a card here which fits several challenges:
Sophisticats with a theme of a verse and flowers but no image
Stamp Something with a theme of Winter Wonderland
Gingersnap Creations  also Winter Wonderland
Paper Cutz with a theme of a Snowman or Snowflakes
Kaboodle Doodles with a theme of Snowflakes
Crafty Calendar with a theme of Winter Sparkle

Ingredients Used:
Inkadinkado Snowflakes a Plenty 98397 Clear Stamp Set
Black Dye Ink
Pink Ink
Blue Card, White Textured Card
White Glitter Border Stickers
Flowers and Glitter Brad
Cuttlebug Machine and Snowflakes Folder
The background is simply stamped with a variety of snowflakes in black ink on a square of blue card. I then embossed it with the snowflake folder. You may notice that the whole square is embossed. This is because I have found that with certain folders, it is possible to pass the card through the machine a second time and emboss again without getting a messed up piece of card. The overlap does not show when using the snowflake folder.
I printed the words to White Christmas on white textured card, cut the rectangle out and edged it with the glitter border. I then inked 2 of the flowers with a little pink ink and layered them with a deep pink and a silver flower and glitter brad.

Songbird

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  Before anything else, I want to say a big welcome and thanks to all my new recently joined followers. It's lovely to see you all.
I have a card here which I think fits 3 different challenges:
Papertake Weekly  with a theme of red or green must not be seen
Saturday Spotlight with a theme of music
Stampin for the Weekend with a colour theme of blue and brown

Ingredients Used:
Crafty Individuals Stamp CI-224
Magenta Cling Set CSET15
Clearly Inspired Stenciled Flowers MCS216
Music Background Stamp
VersaFine Vintage Sepia Ink
VersaColor Smoke Blue, Sky Blue and Lilac Inks
Neocolor 11 Watercolour Crayons in blue shades
Cream Card
The background paper for this card was made using my watercolour crayon technique and the blue crayons. Please click on the side label if you'd like full instructions on how to make this paper. I stamped the roses on in smoke blue, then sepia. This gives a lovely antique looking paper.
I stamped the bird design twice and inked one with the VersaColor inks. I cut just the bird from the second and stuck this on top of the coloured bird panel.
I stamped the music background in sepia and tore the edges. I then stamped the square floral design from the Magenta set in sepia down a long strip of cream card. I stamped the music text in sepia and cut out by hand the piece I wanted to use. I assembled the card as shown in the photo.

Vintage Steam Engine

I've made this card for my hubby Andrew's birthday tomorrow as he likes anything to do with the sea and railway engines and that sort of thing. As I usually do a nautical themed card, I decided to do a steam engine one this year having found this image on a sheet of railway themed stuff at a local craft shop.

Ingredients Used:
B Line Designs Time Stamp HC513E
Basic Grey Aged & Cofused Sublime Cinnamon Paper
Engine Image by Hunky Dory
Distress Ink in Black Soot, Vintage Photo and Antique Linen
Habanero VersaFine Ink
Old Book Paper
Dymo Machine
Woodware Screw Head Brads
To make the background paper, I simply cut a square of the Basic Grey paper and stamped the time image all over in the Habanero ink, only re-inking after stamping it twice. I rubbed black soot ink round the edges.
I cut out the train image and ribbed the edges with the soot ink. I then stuck this to a mount of torn edged cinnamon paper with the screw head brads (just perfect for men's cards). I rubbed ink on the torn edges.
I tore a square of old book paper, rubbed it with Antique Linen ink, crumpled it up, smoothed it a little and added Vintage Photo on the creases.
I assembled the card as shown with a greeting printed on the Dymo machine.

Dreamer

A bit of purple passion here as my decorated paper turned out slightly darker than intended due to a slightly blocked misting bottle. One of the hazards of DIY but I like the result so it could be serendipity which I swear has to be my middle name!

Ingredients Used:
Stamps: Hero Arts Old French Writing
              Rubber Stampede Woman in Repose 3942F
              Magenta I0359
              Hero Arts Zinnia Style E3274
              Penny Black Dreams 2711F
              Stampers Anonymous Paisley K5-1153
Memento Inks in Tuxedo Black, Grape Jelly, Sweet Plum, Lulu Lavender
VersaFine Ink in Imperial Purple
VersaColor Inks in Heliotrope and Lilac
Watercolour Paper and Paints
Glimmer Mist in Wine and Roses
Adirondack Color Wash Spray in Wild Plum
Paper Flowers
The background paper here is very easy to make. All you do is cut a piece of watercolour paper to the required size and paint it with watercolour paints-I used deep pink and purple. I dried it with a heat gun (I'm impatient but you could air dry it) and sprayed on the color wash and Glimmer Mist. I stamped the Magenta flower in Grape Jelly and then Imperial Purple. I stamped the Hero Arts flower in the gaps in black.
I stamped the woman in Imperial Purple and cut her out leaving a narrow border. I then cut a slightly larger piece of lilac card and stamped the paisley design in the lavender ink. I cut a larger piece of watercolour paper and inked it with the heliotrope and lilac inks. I then stamped on the French writing in grape jelly. I inked all the edges and layered the panels up.
I stamped the Penny Black text on lilac card and hand cut it out. I inked the edges in black. I assembled the card as shown, using a left over scrap from my second RSS banner trimmed with scallop scissors across the background paper. I finished the card with paper flowers and a glittered centre.

Polka Doodles DT Cards

It's now time for the next challenge on Polka Doodles and this is my first week on the team.  I've been having a play with the gorgeous Back To Nature cd which has loads of papers and digital stamps, plus lots of elements to make shaped and 3D cards.
I've actually got 2 cards to show you as I didn't scroll down the page quite far enough to realise that it should be a New Year card. How silly am I! Here's the sketch to follow

The brief is to make a card with an envelope on it or that is an envelope and with a New Year theme. Here's my first one which isn't a New Year one!

When browsing the cd contents, I fell in love with the shake a tail feather collection which has loads of peacock themed papers, toppers, greetings and images in gorgeous shades of aqua, lilac and green. If the colours sound familiar, it's because I have chosen those very colours for my Christmas banners.
I chose various papers and a border from the collection and put them together with an image and some paper flowers. I really love a mix and match look.
Here's my second one which is for New Year:

For this one, I've used some of the cute little owls with their house. The house comes in various sizes and can be used to make a gorgeous 3D shaped card. I printed mine out and cut out aperture then adhered it over some Home Is Where The Heart Is and plaid papers. I made a little envelope from some stripy paper and added the greeting. I cut the owls out and used my favourite trick with an embossing ball tool to shape them. For anyone who hasn't seen this before, all you do is use a large ball tool, turn the item over on a soft mat and rub in a gentle circular fashion on the back. This gives a lovely rounded appearance to flowers, animals, birds and so on and makes them look 3D with very little effort.

Angels Galore

This card was made using this week's sketch from Polka Doodles and was a work in progress when I received my fab DT news on Sunday. The theme on Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper is angels so I'm entering it in that one. If you haven't had a look at her work, do pop over as she has some fantastic artwork on there as well as the weekly challenge.

Ingredients Used:
Crafty Individuals Stamp CI-173 (flourish)
Crafty Individuals Stamp CI-258 (text)
Crafty Individuals Miniatures-Christmas
Ranger Distress Inks in Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Broken China
Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy Ink
Black Dye Ink
I cut 4 x 4.5cm squares from textured card stamped twice with the text stamp in black dye ink. I sponged the squares with the Distress inks. I inked the edges of these and 5 angel images from the book of miniatures with black ink.
I cut a square of white card and trimmed the edges with scallop scissors then stamped the flourish design all over in the poppy ink. I stuck the decorated panel to a red card blank with the fold at the top and added the stamped squares and angel squares.

Vintage Christmas

Hello Everyone,
I've at last managed to finish my entry for the Play Date Cafe with the colours red, green and white. As it also fits the Lots to Do theme of snow, I am entering it in that one as well. I couldn't resist using a gorgeous vintage image of a little girl with a sledge kindly shared by Kerry at the Graphic Addict for my card as I have a friend who loves the vintage look and the colours are her favourite too.

Ingredients Used:
Holly Stamp by Personal Impressions
Poinsettia Stamp by Stampendous
Ornate Border Stamp by Impression Obsession
Red and Green Pigment Ink
Green Dye Ink
Peeled Paint Distress Ink
Clear Embossing Powder
I printed out the vintage image and trimmed the edges with deckle scissors then mounted it on a narrow border of white card. I made a frame by stamping the border round the edges of a white card rectangle (I masked the side edges after stamping and embossing them and then did the top and bottom) in red ink and embossed with clear powder. I then sponged Peeled Paint Distress ink over the top.
I stamped the holly all round the edges of a red card blank in green dye ink. I then stamped the poinsettia in both red ink and green ink and embossed them with clear powder. I cut out the whole image in green and just the flower in red. The card was assembled as shown and a computer generated greeting added.

FANTASTIC NEWS! And More Of Tim's Tags

I'm so excited at the moment that I'm practically bursting with it lol. On Sunday afternoon I received an invitation from Nikky at Polka Doodles asking me to join the Design Team. How fantastic is that?! I've been on cloud 9 ever since (after I'd picked myself up off the floor!!!) and am soooo looking forward to working with the team and the gorgeous Polka Doodles stash.
I would like to send many congratulations to my fellow new DT members too:

Brenda

Dolly

Kate

Nettie

And now I'd like to show you my versions of days 3 and 4 of Sir Tim's gorgeous tags. Day 4 was quite a challenge as I didn't have anything to make the focal point and had to think outside the box lol

Here's day 3 and my Santa stamp is CI-163 by Crafty Individuals-this will be getting a lot of use methinks! I made the little tag myself using a cut down punched tag which is inked and the text written with a Sharpie marker. It was then double embossed with clear powder. I've used grey raffia instead of jute string.

And here's day 4 which was the most challenging yet. Tim used a little memory frame but as I didn't have this or anything else small enough, I made the shape from mount board and cut a window in it. I stamped the little snowman and snowflakes (Hobby Art Town House clear set) on another piece of mount board cut to the same size and inked it. I covered the front piece in embossing ink and coated it with 2 coats of pewter embossing powder. I added a little frosted lace Stickles at the top and stuck the 2 parts together so that the snowman showed in the window. I attached a K & Co charm and attached the little house with wire through a picture hook. I added a ribbon bow at the top.

The remainder of the tag was made in a similar fashion to Tim's by stamping and masking then inking with various Distress inks.

Hope you like my version.

Tim's Tags and a Challenge

First I have a challenge entry which is for Polka Doodles Challenge 28 where you need to use 3 papers and a stamp.

The papers I've used for this card are by Basic Grey which have are just beautiful. I chose 3 and cut them out to fit in 6 panels on lilac backing card. I then stamped on faux stitching to emphasise the patchwork look. I added a stamped image by Stamp-It, coloured with my Prisma pencils and then inked around the edges. The finishing touch is a layered paper flower.

I've been following the super talented Tim Holtz this week as on 1 December his 12 Tags of Christmas started. If you haven't yet had a look, it is worth it for the fab tutorials with loads of great hints and tips. I've started making the tags but have only finished 2 so far as my challenge to myself is to make them with the supplies I have. Hopefully you'll like what I've done so far.

This is day 1 and I made my snowman by creating a paper template and cutting him out of white card which I coloured with black ink. I stamped snowflakes on him and embossed them with white powder. I then covered him with Glossy Accents.
My background is covered with several coats of clear embossing with a crackle stamp impressed due to lack of Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

This is day 2 and my frame is made using the new Cuttlebug Frame. I rubbed the raised edges with embossing ink and embossed them with gold powder. As the method of applying the ink is not perfect, the end result was a slightly distressed look which is in the spirit of Tim's tag.
I'll be working on days 3 to 5 tomorrow and it will be a definite challenge as I hardly have any of the supplies he used for days 4 and 5.

Joy Is Where You Find It

A very appropriate title for my latest creation as this saying is so true today. The builders have gone and I have heating and hot water-absolute heaven as you don't know how much you miss it until you haven't got it!!!
The icing on the cake today is not this however, but the news that my Enchanted Dreams card took second place in Polka Doodles Challenge 27. To say I'm thrilled to bits is an understatement!
The card I have made is for a one day only challenge on Dezinaworld and you have to make something using lilac and silver. As this is a favourite combination, I just had to enter and the prize is fantastic too as it's one of June's gorgeous collage sheets due for release next week. So hurry if you want to enter as time is ticking away.

Ingredients Used:
Stamps:
Impression Obsession Ornate Borders WP130
Hero Arts Old French Writing H2365 and Find Joy C3065
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Paisley K5-1153
A homemade stamp (foam heated and brooch pressed in)
Palette Lavender Sachet Ink
Silver pigment Ink
Silver Embossing Powder
Image from Art Freebies blog
Flowers and Pearl Brad
The background papers were made by stamping the writing and the paisley on lilac card with the lavender ink. The scallop edged strip was made with the homemade stamp using the silver ink and embossing powder.
The papers were layered up with the paisley strip stuck to lilac card with a border stamped and embossed in silver.
The card was assembled on a silver embossed pattern square card and flowers were layered with a pearl brad. Finally the greeting was stamped and added.

Christmas Wishes

Hello everyone. It's been a few days now since I've been able to do any crafting as we've been without heating since Monday morning (really bad timing as Monday night went down to 1 degree!!!) and hot water since yesterday morning. Also have had a house full of very noisy workmen as we're having to have a new boiler because the old one packed up. Doesn't do much for creativity!
I've finally managed to get the second banner for the Ready, Steady, Stamp Challenge finished so without more ado. here it is

The brief this time was to include a Christmas Tree, Eyelets, Cut 'n' Dry Stamping and Kraft Paper with your colours.
Ingredients Used:
Swirl Tree SC2009E by Hobby Art
Crafty Individuals CI-237
Christmas Wishes F3682 Hero Arts
Border from Impression Obsession WP130
Brilliance Pearlescent Olive and Purple Inks
VersaFine Spanish Moss Ink
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Acrylic Paints in Aqua, Lilac and Olive
Krylon Gold Leafing Pen
Brown Kraft Paper
Ranger Tarnished Gold Embossing Powder
Crystal Transparent Embossing Powder
Gold Bow
Purple Eyelets and Purple Pearl Cotton
Cut 'n' Dry Foam and items to impress (brooch and texture plate)
My banner background was painted with acrylic paints and stamped with the Crafty Individuals background in Spanish Olive.
I ended up with 2 Cut 'n' Dry backgrounds as I couldn't decide which I liked best! The lilac one was a texture plate impressed and stamped in Pearlescent Purple. The other was a heart shaped metal brooch which was then stamped in Pearlescent Olive on lilac card.
I stamped a border on the torn Kraft paper and embossed it with the gold powder. The tree was stamped in Spanish Moss and embossed with the crystal powder.
I threaded purple cotton through the eyelets several times. The gold bow and stamped, inked text completed the banner.