Polka Doodles Stamp Club Kit

Hello peops, hope you've had a lovely Christmas and sorry for my lack of blogging lately. It's been very busy here with Christmas and family stuff so I've hardly had any spare time.
I have just a quick post here to tell you Nikky's exciting news about the brand new Polka Doodles stamp club kit with stamps, papers and a lovely project magazine which is being launched soon. For the full details please click HERE.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and great 2012. I'll be back soon and will have details of some candy for you in the New Year as I hit 500 posts on Christmas Eve and want to celebrate.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Merry Christmas Everyone

Hello everyone, just a quick post from me in the middle of a baking marathon to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for 2012. Hoping that you have a great time tomorrow and manage to get some time to yourself over the holiday.

Hoping also that you all get some lovely pressies and hopefully some new crafting stash for the new year.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Seasonal Tags

Good morning everyone on a cold and frosty day. Hope your Christmas preparations are now in full swing. Mine are finally getting there as we put the decorations up over the weekend and my girls did the tree so the house is looking a bit more festive. I now have to make a start on the dreaded h.......k to make the house ready for visitors - not looking forward to doing this!
I'm here today with the final challenge for 2011 over at Make My Monday and continuing with the Seasonal theme, this week we would like to see a Tag. This could be just a tag as I have done or something with a tag on it - the choice is yours.

Apologies for the slightly chopped looking pic, I had to use the scanner because the light was really bad.
My tag was inked up with Old Paper, Bundled Sage and Shabby Shutters Distress inks and I then stamped on an Artemio text with Forest Moss DI. I embossed the background with clear embossing powder.
I then used a small Penny Black music score stamp (Clearly in love stamp set) in black ink on buff card, stamping repeatedly to form a background. I tore this out and adhered to the tag. I added a small scrap of antique gold card left over from die cutting a scalloped rectangle.
I finished off with a die cut bird (Marianne Designs) cut out of kraft card and then inked with Distress inks to turn him into a robin. I felt he needed an eye too so added one with a fine black Sharpie pen.

Full details of the challenge and some gorgeous inspiration from the Design Team can be found over at the Challenge Blog.

Challenges for my tag:
Gingerloft - Winter or Christmas
Craft Your Passion - Things With Wings

Have a great week and just a quick note that this post is number 499 so there might be some Candy in the pipeline soon!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Paris In Springtime

Morning everyone on a very cold but bright day. We had minus temperatures for the first time this Winter last night - brrrr!
I'm here today with news of the next challenge we have for you over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges the theme of this being Travelling Around The World and the Design Team have covered a fair bit of it with their gorgeous creations.
For my inspiration I decided to look forward to a favourite time of year when the new greens start to appear and set this in a city I still have to visit and which is at the top of my wish list - Paris.

I chose to make a tag this time and made my own from chip board as I needed quite a large one for the main stamp I wanted to use. The gorgeous collage stamp (Hampton Art Diffusion Passport) has been in my collection for quite a while and this seemed the perfect opportunity to ink it up again. I stamped it with VersaFine Imperial purple on parchment card and added colour by sponging with various Distress inks. I then tore the panel out.
I painted my tag with acrylic paint and then added colour with my recently acquired Pan Pastels. I'm really pleased with the lovely chalky matte effect you can achieve with these. I then stamped on a favourite flourish with Memento Pear Tart ink.
I stamped the Hero Arts tulips on tissue paper with Stazon Olive Green ink and then sponged with Pear Tart and Lilac Posies Memento ink. I cut them out quite roughly. I stamped the B Line Designs Eiffel Tower with the purple ink and cut this out.
I assembled the tag as you see, adding the tulips with a glue stick. I really like the slightly misty look you get by stamping on tissue paper. I finished off with some antique copper letter tiles.

The Fashionettes have made some stunning creations to get your creative juices flowing - much needed after all the Christmas preparations I think! You have until 31 December to enter and if you pop over to the challenge blog, you'll find details of the gorgeous prize from our sponsor Marina of Cottage Crafts and of the first challenge for 2012.
Hoping to see you there.
Fliss xx

Through The Window

Morning peops, it's Friday again and I can't quite believe it's only just over a week until Christmas and I haven't yet sent out my cards or finished my Christmas shopping - eek! This is mostly because I'm up to my eyes in figure work and VAT returns - yuck!
I'm here today with all the details of the final Polka Doodles challenge for 2011 as we're having a much needed Christmas break. The challenge has been chosen by Daniele and she would like to see a Window or Aperture on your creation. In my case this turned out to be a frame attached with foam tape although it's actually quite hard to see this in the photos.

All of the elements on my easel card are from the Magical Winter CD set and I made a frame to fit the front of the easel with some of the pretty dotty paper and my circle cutter. I attached this to the front of the card with foam tape and set the toadstool house in the frame. I added Woodware Fluffy Stuff on the house and the frame edge to give a snowy effect and glittered it a little.
I added the cute elf to the outside of the frame then covered the base with the dotty paper and finished off with a lovely sentiment panel and some snowflakes punched from various glitter card shades. And that's it - done!

Do pop over to the challenge blog as there's some gorgeous inspiration from the Design Team and also details of the CANDY on offer to some lucky entrant of this challenge.

Challenges for my card:
Crafty Purple Frog - It's Cold Outside
Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes
Meljen's Designs - No Rectangles
Paper Play - Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes
Crafting For All Seasons - Christmas
Divas By Design - Christmas

Have a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Fantastic News

Hello folks, I'm back again with another post because as well as my hubby's birthday card which I have to show you, I had a phone call from my younger daughter Sarah (in the second year of a Fashion degree at Kingston) to say that she and her friend Lucinda are the winners of a competition run by the South African clothing company Woolworths. This means that in the Spring next year they will both be jetting off to South Africa for a few weeks. To say that she's excited is an understatement as she's been running around shrieking and jumping up and down! Isn't this just fabulous, I can't tell you how proud and pleased for her I am.
It's her Dad's birthday too and here is the card I've made for him:

Andrew loves anything nautical and has loads of books on the subject so I decided on another card made with my trusty Aspects of Design nautical stamp set from The Stamp Man which gets a lot of use as most of the men in my husband's family love the sea.
I made a background paper by stamping blocks of colour with various Distress inks in blues and greens and then stamped on a B Line Designs time stamp in opposite corners with black ink.
I stamped the ship collage on grey card coloured the circular element and round the very edge then cut it out. I stamped the map on ecru card and cut this out.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a greeting made with a Dymo machine.

Challenges for my card:
Corrosive Challenges - Anything but Christmas
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Birthday Card
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - Anything but Christmas

Have a great week,
Fliss xx

Tie A Red Ribbon

Morning folks, sorry about the title but that song popped into my head (you know the one I mean about the yellow one lol). It's Monday again and I can't believe how close it's getting to Christmas, really must get my cards in the post!
This week's challenge at Make My Monday, continuing with the December theme of Seasonal, is to use Red Ribbon on your creation so my inspiration is another Christmas card.

I've used a favourite Magenta stamp for my card which although not meant for Christmas is very good for seasonal cards with the music and berries. I stamped with VersaFine black and inked the panel then added detail with pencils and Promarkers.
I covered the card with Polka Doodles papers then added some scrunched red ribbon and a stamped, die cut and inked sentiment (Polka Doodles Christmas kit) finishing with the bird panel.

The Design Team have made some gorgeous and very varied cards to inspire you so do pop over for a look and hope to see you there.

Challenges for my card:
Card Makin' Mamas - Christmas
Raise The Bar - Christmas
Stampin' For The Weekend -  Christmas
2 Sisters -  Christmas
One Stop Craft - Traditional Christmas Colours
Dream Valley - Christmas
Paper Sundaes - Anything  Christmas
The Squirrel & The Fox -  Christmas

Have a great day and hopefully I'll be back later with more Of Tim's tags and also my hubby's birthday card as it's his birthday today.
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day Six

I'm back again folks with my second post for today and have the day 6 tag to show you. This one took an absolute age as the painting bit was really difficult owing to the embossing folders I chose to use not having Tim's. I also have to say it came out very grungy and certainly a bit more than I expected so you'll have to let me know what you think - I'm still not sure about the end result.

I used the Alterations Texture Fades Bingo /Patchwork folder and the Cuttlebug holly folder. I didn't have the metal so adhered aluminium foil to glossy card and embossed then painted as Tim did.
I also didn't have a suitably sized metal adornment so made my own by gluing metal flowers to a silver glitter card wreath cut out with Nestie circle dies. I also trimmed the outer edge with deckle scissors.
I finished off with a piece of vintage torn lace.

As before I'm linking this up to Tim's blog 12 Days of Christmas Tag 6 and again to Inspiration Emporium for all things Tim.

Have a great weekend,
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day Five

Happy Friday everyone and hope you have better weather as we have today. The wind finally went and I woke up to glorious sunshine this morning although it's very cold. I'm hoping it stays like this over the weekend as the last few days haven't been that great.
I've got another improvised tag to show you but before I do that I just want to say how sad I am to have heard that we've lost the lovely Sarah Lawrence, the very talented lady behind Crafty Notions, her company that produces Karantha stamps, gilding flakes and the gorgeous inky sprays. I was lucky enough to meet her on several occasions and admire her beautiful stitching creations so will miss her a lot.
I'm still somewhat behind with my tags but here's number 5:

Improvisation list:
Art Impressions snowflake instead of seasonal reflections stamp. I'd also like to say if you haven't done Tim's technique for this yet that a stamp with bold lines is required as I tried one with fine lines and you couldn't see the resulting image very well.
I didn't have the die either so used a Martha Stewart hydrangea punch and Woodware leaf sprig punch to make my wreath which is set on a backing of hessian (burlap) cut out with Nestie circle dies.
I finished off with some copper letter tiles and a simple ribbon at the top.

I'm linking this up to Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tag 5 and also Inspiration Emporium where you can buy the supplies and link up your tag for a chance at some lovely prizes.
I'll be back a little later with tag 6 and wish you happy crafting in the mean time.
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day Four

Afternoon folks from a very chilly, wild and windy South coast. We've got sunshine again but the wind is so strong it's really cold. Hoping you're all having a good week so far and I'm here with the next of my versions of Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tags Day 4 which I really enjoyed making as the techniques on this one are messy but great fun (I have very blue fingers at the moment lol).

Improvisation list:
I only had the Picket Fence Distress Stain so used Broken China and Tumbled Glass DI re-inkers and ended up with quite a similar effect although brighter
The snowman has Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky Distress inks instead of the stains used by Tim
The numbers were made with a strip die, inked, stamped and Glossy Accents added
Punched snowflakes from kraft and glitter card as no border die and my punch wouldn't go through the plastic packaging I have
Thread and silver weave ribbon as no tulle

I think I enjoyed this one the most due to the techniques as it's a while since I used crackle paint and I loved the background even without all the Distress Stains. I'm linking this up over at Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tag 4 and if you haven't seen the original it's a must!

I'm also linking to Inspiration Emporium which is worth a visit for Tim's supplies.

Thanks for looking and happy crafting,
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day Three

I'm late, late, late here with my third tag as boy, did I have a struggle with this one! I don't have anything Tim used and must have gone back to the drawing board at least 3 times before I got something I felt reasonably happy with.
It's been really chilly here and I think I must have brain freeze lol but here's my finished tag.

Improvisation list:
Text stamps - large (Inkylicious) smaller (Penny Black)
No Embossing Folder as nothing suitable
Woodware holly and leaf sprig punches and Sissix flourish die for foliage
White tag inked with Old Paper and Tea Dye Distress inks after stamping
Extra additions - paper roses, metal flower charm

Quite a simple tag in the end but I think I like it like that. I left off the twine as I couldn't make it look right.
If you haven't seen the original gorgeous textured tag and some great inspiration for making Christmas crafted items in bulk, click on Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tag 3 and prepare to be amazed.

I'm also once again linking this to Inspiration Emporium where there are great prizes on offer and Tim's supplies available.

Have a great day and happy crafting.
Fliss xx

Glitter Glitter Everywhere

Good morning folks on a very cold and frosty day but the sun is shining so it's lovely. Being Monday and also the first Monday of the month, we have a new theme for you over at Make My Monday which as it's December is Seasonal Anything Goes with a plus. This week's plus is GLITTER so those of you still making those Christmas cards like me will love this one.
My offering this time is rather clean and simple and something we all need when we're short of time - simple to make too.

I chose this lovely Penny Black silhouette stamp and stamped with VersaMark ink on kraft card and heat embossed with Wow Puff White embossing powder. I then glittered some areas with various Stickles.
I set the panel which I die cut with a Papermania set on a mat of white glitter card. I covered my 5 x 7 card blank with a piece of torn edged kraft patterned paper from the Polka Doodles Magical Winter CD set and added a greeting stamped with the Practical Publishing Polka Doodles Christmas kit clear stamp set with brown ink on buff card, coloured with pencils and cut out with a Papermania label die.
A very clean and simple card.

The Design Team have made some fabulous glittery creations for for inspiration so do pop over for a look.

Challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps - Christmas Card
Come and Get It Challenges - Anything Christmas
Hybrid Chick Card Caravan -Make It Sparkle
Bling It On - Christmas
Emerald Faerie Garden - Christmas Non Traditional Colours

Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Dressmaking, Corsets, Accessories

Good morning folks, I'm a little late with my post for the new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today as we went to the pictures yesterday evening and I clean forgot to schedule my post. The film we saw was the new Hugo film which is a family film and we were attracted to it because of the steampunk look of the trailer. If you're a fan, it's well worth going as the clockworks are just astounding.
Anyway, enough waffling and on to the challenge which this fortnight is all about Dressmaking with Corsets and Accessories as an additional option in your stamping. As many of you will know, this is dear to my heart because my younger daughter is doing a fashion degree and my family background had included sewing - I was taught to sew and knit by my dear great aunt and have sewn all my life.
I chose to make another wall hanging so without further ado, here it is.

My creation began life as a piece of recycled grey board which I painted with antique beige acrylic paint. I then stamped a rose border from a Judikins bolio which was given to me by a dear friend using VersaFine sepia ink.
The remaining stamps all come from the Creative Expressions Vintage Sewing stamp set and I stamped a piece of background paper using the fabulous textile square with Victorian Velvet, Frayed Burlap and Crushed Olive Distress inks. I tore the edges and added this to the panel.
I added an embossed and inked sewing pattern panel (Tim Holtz Texture Fades), the mannequin panel from the stamp set inked and coloured with Promarkers and a panel stamped in the same way as the background paper cut out with the Tim Holtz Baroque die. The tape measure is stamped and coloured with Mustard Seed Distress ink. The thread reels are also stamped and have threads wound round them.
I finished off with a mannequin cut out with the Tim Holtz Sewing Room die with lace and a taper measure ribbon bow added and various buttons and sewing charms. Lace was added to the base.

I hope you can join in with our challenge and please remember that we must be able to see some stamping on your creation to be eligible for the prize and top 3. Do hop over to see the Design Team creations too as they've really excelled themselves on this one.

Challenges for my creation:
2 Sisters - Punches and/or Dies
Craft Your Days Away - Buttons or Bows

Have a lovely day.
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day Two

Hope you're all having a good weekend so far folks and I have my second tag for Sir Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tags to show you. This time because I had to wait for our lovely sunshine to disappear to get a good pic as I didn't finish the tag until late last night.
I again had to do loads of improvising which I think has largely been caused by the fact that my Christmas supplies only get seasonal use so I try to do different things year on year to make my purchases last as long as possible to get the value out of them. As a lot of the supplies on the tags are new this year, that's why I don't have them as my craft purse is unfortunately not bottomless lol

Improvised supplies for this tag:
No Kraft Resist so used vintage music score dry brushed with white paint then stamped with holly (Papermania) and Christmas (Inkylicious). I also sponged on Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive as I felt more colour was needed.
Snow make using a splatter stamp and white paint.
Deer is thick card rather than canvas and was inked with VersaColour Sand Beige, Umber and Cocoa
I added a bell and a holly garland made from punched holly sprigs.
I tried to use hessian at the top but it disintegrated on me! Ribbon used instead.
I added a little plaque made with a Craft Stamper free stamp (December issue)
The bottom border is a Martha Stewart punch with blingy ribbon added for some glitz.

To see the gorgeous original tag and all the instructions please click on Tim's Tags 12 Days of Christmas Day Two to be transported over.
I'm also linking once again to Inspiration Emporium which is worth a look if you haven't yet done so as there are prizes on offer.

I'm off to work on Day 3 now which will be even more of a challenge as I have none of the supplies!
Happy crafting,
Fliss xx

Tim's Tags Day One

Afternoon everyone, I'm here at last with my first tag for the wonderful Tim Holtz's 2011 12 Tags of Christmas which I managed to finish just before the light went so I could get a reasonable photo.
I'm a little late with mine as I didn't have any of the things used on this one so had to do mega improvising which made me scratch my head a little lol.
Here's the finished result which is not quite as embellished as Tim's gorgeous tag but I'm quite pleased with it anyway.

My improvising list is as follows:
Stormy Sky Distress Ink on the tag as no kraft core cardstock
Cuttlebug Snowflake folder
Pine cones made with a Marianne Designs flower die set (which was inspired by Tim's beautiful roses)
Foliage made with Sissix flourish die and a Woodware holly punch.
No Noel die so Basic Grey chipboard letters and a Papermania label die

If you haven't yet seen the gorgeous original if you click on my link Tim's 12 Days Of Christmas Tags 2011 Day One, you'll be transported over to be wowed.

I'm also linking this to Inspiration Emporium and many thanks to Terry for this. Do visit if you do the tags as there are fabulous prizes up for grabs.

Thanks for looking and hope you decide to have a go too as I think the best fun is to be had when you haven't got the supplies.
Fliss xx

Secret Element Christmas Card

Good morning everyone, I'm typing this post on a very wet and windy Thursday evening as I'll be sitting in the hairdressers when this post goes live. I'm really hoping the weather is a bit better too.
It's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week Team A (which includes me) will be giving you some inspiration. We've split into 2 teams to save challenge entrants having to trawl through a gazillion creations to reach the link tool.
This week's challenge has been chosen by Enfys and she would like to see a creation with a Secret Element suitable for a child (or in my case a teenager). I chose to make something suitable for my nephews who are in their later teens.

 

All the elements on my card are from the Magical Winter CD set and I chose the cute penguin together with papers in colours suitable for boys (or girls who don't like pink!).

I assembled the front of the card in layers as you see, adding a little glitz with navy glitter card. I covered part of the inside with the same backing paper and made a pocket to tuck a gift card in (for game and music mad teenagers) and added a cut out penguin with foam tape.

I finished off with a central border of dotty paper and a sentiment from the CD, leaving room either side to write a message to the recipient. As you see, very simple!

Challenges for my creation:

Fab 'n' Funky - Anything Goes

Divas By Design - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges - Sparkle

Thanks for looking and have a great day,

Fliss xx

Frosty The Snowman

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good week so far. I'm finally catching up after my enforced crafting break (very hard to do when you can't see!) and have some Christmas cards to show you. It's the same design but I made a dozen and coloured half with Promarkers and half with Aquamarkers for a bit of variety.

 

As you can see, the top one with the Aquamarkers gives a much softer effect which I have to say I rather like.

The snowman is from the Polka Doodles Christmas Fun clear stamp set and was stamped with Memento black ink. I then coloured with either Promarkers or with Aquamarkers (which I did by scribbling colour on a ceramic plate and picking up colour with a water brush). I then cut them out.

I printed out the gorgeous snowflake paper from the Polka Doodles Magical Winter CD set and added panels of this to some 5 x 7 kraft cards (Papermania) which were embossed on one side with the Cuttlebug snowflake folder. 

I added a circular white panel embossed with the same folder and topped with the snowman. I stamped a greeting from the clear stamp set included in the Polka Doodles Christmas crafting kit from Practical Publishing and stamped on snowflakes from the same set with the Brilliance Peacock ink pad. I set this on a turquoise circular mat.

Challenges for my cards:

I Love Promarkers - Snowmen/Snowflakes

Cards und More - Snowflakes

Karen's Doodles - Non Traditional Christmas Colours

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking,

Fliss xx

Christmas Box

Good morning everyone, that day is here again so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. We're still with the Christmas theme and this week would like you to

Make Or Alter A Box

Thanks to all who entered last week's challenge which proved really popular and made it so hard to do the top picks as there were so many gorgeous creations.
I'd also like to give a very warm welcome and congratulations to our 2 new Design Team members, Mynnette and Val who will be showing us their gorgeous creations from next week.

For this week's inspiration I decided to alter a box as I wanted something a little more permanent. I found a lovely heart shaped wooden box in The Range and this is what the finished box looks like:

I painted my box by sponging on layers of antique white and antique gold acrylic paints, sanding down a little after each coat.
I then stamped on the largest flourish from the Viva Decor My Paper World clear stamp set with Palette Cognac ink.
I made the Christmas rose decoration with tissue paper die cut with the Nestabilities blossom set and embossed with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I then stacked these up and added a paper rose in the centre. I scrunched up the petals to make the rose shape and glittered the edges with Frosted Lace Stickles.
I then punched out some small leaf sprigs and die cut some larger leaves with the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die set using dark green card and embossed them with the textile folder. I glued the embellishments to the top of the box.

Challenges for my altered box:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything But A Card
Fussy and Fancy - Make A Gift/Anything But A Card
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Fliss xx

Snow Is Falling

Hello folks, hope you've all had a lovely weekend.
Before I share some cards with you, apologies are necessary for my lack of blogging and commenting this week which is because I've been a bit under the weather. First I had a headache and puffy eyed thing which meant not being able to wear my contact lenses all day. Then when that got better I went down with a mild stomach bug which nevertheless made me feel rather rotten.
I'm recovered now so will try and catch up with you all over the next few days. The cards here are the samples from a class I taught last week using a rather lovely clear stamp set by Papermania called Christmas Time.

This is the stamp set that I used for my oval easel card for the FSC challenge last Sunday and you can see how versatile it is.
The first 2 cards use the gorgeous snowy village and were coloured with Promarkers using pink skin tones and accents for the first on and ivory to golden shades for the second. These are really easy to colour if you assemble 5 or 6 similar shades and arrange in colour order, starting with the lightest first. You then use the lightest colour all over first using the broad chisel end. You then add detail to the houses and so on using the rest of the colours in order from lightest to darkest. As a finishing touch, you go all over the top again with the lightest colour - this was Satin on the pink version and Ivory on the golden version. When dry, add glitter highlights or snow effects with Fluffy Stuff (Woodware).
The pink card uses a snowflake from the set stamped in Brilliance Galaxy Gold, Pearlescent Beige and Coral together with a Hero Arts sentiment stamped with the beige. A die cut gold mat was added to the village panel.
The golden version has a snowflake embossed panel, a deckle trimmed kraft card mat, punched leaf sprays, pearls and ribbon and a die cut sentiment panel.
The remaining cards show how different the seasonal door image can look. The first one took a while to colour with Promarkers and has an embossed side, a Hero Arts sentiment panel and a cut out wreath also coloured with Promarkers.
The second one was coloured in a similar way to the village cards, using Ivory first then adding pink shades and pastel blue for the door for a completely different look. The card has a kraft background panel embossed at the base and stamped with an Art Impressions snowflake which was white embossed and a snowflake from the set stamped with Brilliance Ice Blue. The greeting panel is Penny Black.

Challenges for my cards:
Paper Sundaes - Winter Wonderland
Gingerloft - Winter or Christmas
Stamptacular Sunday - Anything Christmas
Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
4 Crafty Chicks - Snowflakes
Fun With Shapes & More - Cold As Ice (the first 2 cards only)

Thanks for looking and have a good next week.
Fliss xx

Christmas Foliage, Flowers and Snowflakes

Morning everyone, a bit of a long title I know but this is the theme of the new challenge over at Make My Monday which you give you plenty of scope for your entries and help with those Christmas cards still needing to be made. Rather a lot in my case but I'm slowly getting there.
I chose snowflakes for mine as I couldn't find my lovely poinsettia stamp (until I finished this card of course!) and I've gone for a blue and brown colour scheme as I really like that combination of colours.

I started off with a kraft card blank and stamped an Art Impressions snowflake all over with Stormy Sky and Frayed Burlap Distress inks. I added a blue border embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder and some silver ric rac braid.
I stamped the snowman (Art Impressions) on white card, coloured his hat with a brown Promarker and ink and cut out a panel with a Nestabilities label die then inked the edges. I then inked it up with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with crystal embossing powder. I set this on a larger silver mat cut with the same die set.
I stamped the sentiment (Crafty Individuals) with brown and blue inks, cut this out and set it on a kraft tag embossed with the snowflakes folder. I added this to a blue tag shaped mat and finished off with more silver braid.

The Design Team have made some gorgeous creations to inspire you so don't forget to pop over for a look. Hoping to see you enter too.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Moving Along With The Times - Let It Snow
I Did It Creations - Snowmen
Scrappy Frogs - Kraft Cardstock

Have a great week,
Fliss xx

Quirky Crafts Guest Designer

Hello again folks, 2 posts in one day from me here as a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be asked by the lovely Design Team at Quirky Crafts challenges to be the guest designer for today's new challenge.
This fortnight the challenge is to make a Clean and Simple Card and as you all know I do tend to struggle with that a little but having done this last week for Make My Monday, I've at least had a bit more practice!
The challenge is being sponsored by the lovely Wendy of Digital Delights by Louby Loo and there's a great prize on offer so do pop over for all the details.

My card features the cute Booboo Bear image and the Sending You Smiles sentiment.

I printed out the image and sentiment and added initial colouring with inks. I then added detail with a mix of Promarkers and Prisma pencils, adding highlights with glitter gel pens. I then cut them out.
I made a simple background for the little bear by masking off the base card leaving a circular aperture. I then stamped a tiny Rubber Stamp Tapestry flower in the circle with pink. yellow and green inks. I added the image in the centre with foam tape.
I made a flowery border with a punched strip (a Martha Stewart double edge punch which I stamped with the same flowers. I added the sentiment to finish.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Clearly Inspired - Flowers
One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes

Thanks so much to Cazzy and the team for the honour of being guest designer which I really enjoyed.
Fliss xx

Dreaming Of A White Christmas

Are you all singing now as I have to say that the theme of our new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges certainly made me start singing (in my head though or I think my family would be throwing things at me!).
So there you have it, you can interpret Dreaming Of A White Christmas in any way you like and in my case it had to be a snowy scene as even at my age it still makes me excited to open the curtains in the morning to find a world turned white and pretty. It would be really lovely to have the view below from my window.
Also, a big welcome to our new fashionette Paula who does amazing and beautiful artwork and now on to my card.

There are 2 photos so that you can see some of the detail close up as I always find easel shaped cards quite hard to take a decent photo of. You may need to click on the pics to get the full glittery effect on the snow  and the big snowflake on the base.
The snowy village and the lovely sentiment come from a Papermania clear stamp set called Christmas Time and were both stamped with Memento black ink. I coloured the village scene with Promarkers and Prisma pencils and then inked the sky in very carefully with a sponge and Stormy Sky Distress ink. I added snow using Woodware Fluffy Stuff and glittered it after heating it to puff it up.
I made the paper for the base by stamping the smaller snowflake from the Artemio Art Impressions clear stamp set (it's the one used by Trish Latimer in the latest Craft Stamper and doesn't have a name on) on white card with Brilliance Pearlescent Ice Blue and Beige and Platinum Planet.
I made a border strip for the base with kraft card and silver card embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder. I cut out the sentiment with a Papermania die and inked the edges with the Stormy Sky.
I assembled the card as an oval easel shape as you see (cut with a Creative memories oval cutting set) and finished off with snowflakes (die cut with the Cuttlebug cut and emboss snowflake set and punched with a Woodware punch).

Do hop over to the challenge blog as the Design Team have made some fabulous and varied projects to inspire you and hopefully get you entering the challenge. You'll also find details of the lovely prize that our wonderful sponsor Marina of Cottage Crafts has generously provided.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Paper Pretties - Christmas with non traditional colours
Stampavie and More - Anything But Square
Paper Crafting Journey - Embossing
Crafty Catz - Snowflakes
Crafty Emma's Challenge - Snowflakes

Have a lovely Sunday,
Fliss xx

The Craft Barn's Amazing Blog Candy

This is for anyone who hasn't yet seen the amazing blog candy being offered by The Craft Barn to celebrate reaching 600 followers (I just peeked and they've now got over 850) and you can see all the details of what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning by clicking HERE. It's well worth a look anyway for all the fabulous tutorials on there.

Good luck to everyone who enters,
Fliss xx

Shaped Christmas Card

Morning everyone, I was off to an early start today as I had to take my daughter to the station for the 8 o'clock train to work so there was a bit of a queue for the bathroom today!
I can't believe that it's Friday again - don't know where the week went although I have been busy with making samples for Nikky who's appearing on Create and Craft on 23 November with the new Pretty Tuff CD.
This week's challenge at Polka Doodles has been chosen by Ruth so you can maybe guess that the theme is Christmas but this has a twist as she would like to see a Shaped Christmas Card.
I've chosen a favourite shape of mine at the moment which gives some dimension to the card but still fits easily in an envelope.

All elements on my card come from the Magical Winter CD Collection, apart from the green glitter card which you may need to click on the pic to see properly.
I covered my main card base with the pretty dotty paper then made the central stand up panel with the gorgeous stitched look kraft paper and a cute eskimo topper.
I simply added a glittery border strip, some of the cut out embellishments and a lovely sentiment from the CD - simples!
If you haven't yet checked out this fabulous 2 CD collection, it's worth your while to hop over and take a look at the gallery to see all the wonderful creations that can be made, some in a matter of minutes which we all need when trying to get all the Christmas cards done!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Paper Play - Shaped Cards
Creatalicious - Christmas with Sparkle (you may need to click on the pic to see mine)
Digital Tuesday - Christmas Time

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

CAS At Make My Monday

Good morning everyone, Monday is here again! Being the start of the week, we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday, continuing with our theme for November which is Christmas.
This week the challenge is to make a Clean and Simple Christmas Card Focusing On The Sentiment.
I have to admit that I really struggled with this one as I find less is more cards a real challenge as I keep wanting to add more!
I managed to restrain myself though and here's the result.

I started off with a really lovely sentiment from the Polka Doodles Christmas Fun clear stamp set, stamping with black and heat embossing with clear powder. I coloured in the holly leaves and berries with glaze pens.
I then stamped on the holly sprigs (Papermania) with VersaFine Spanish Moss ink, adding colour to the berries with Crimson Red before stamping. I painted a little Crushed Olive Distress ink on the leaves to add colour. And that's it - done!
This has to be the quickest card I've ever made (although it took a while to think it up!) and also the one with the shortest instructions - which I'm sure you'll appreciate!

The Design Team have made some fabulous inspiration for you to feast your eyes on so do pop over for a peek.
I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Christmas Card Challenges - Deck The Halls - Holly or Wreaths
Less Is More - One Layer Leaves
Wags 'n' Whiskers - Christmas

Have a good week.
Fliss xx

Vintage Gift Bag

I'm back with a second post to show you a quick make with supplies that are almost all recycled and the thinking about what to do took more than the actual making up so I think I'll be doing a few more of these for Christmas and all the December birthdays I have coming up.
There's a pic of the recycled items first and then you'll see the finished article.

As you can see I made use of one of those lovely paper bags that various clothing stores use for packing purchases and also of quite a few paper bags from craft shop purchases in the past that were much too pretty to throw away.
The main bag has a nature theme with Autumn shades and leaves so the design followed on from that. I tore off the bag front and added this to the paper carrier bag. I then stamped Hero Arts Old French Writing and a butterfly and postmark from the On Gossamer Wings stamp set by Non-Sequitur that I won from The Stamp Man back in January. I used VersaFine Vintage Sepia and stamped on the plain cream bag twice.
I tore out the little collages and added one to the bag and the other to a recycled clothing label. I also added corrugated card from a coffee cup holder to the tag.
I made a flower using various paper bag and the Nestabilities blossom die, fixing the layers together with an ornate metal brad and scrunching the layers. I finished off with some crochet lace.

I'm entering this in this week's Sugar Creek Hollow Trash to Vintage Treasure challenge and if you haven't yet entered you might want to pop over and check out the fabulous prize that some lucky entrant will be winning next month - it will be a fantastic Christmas present that's for sure! There's a pic on my side bar too.

Bye for now,
Fliss xx

Swirls and Pearls

Good morning everyone, Friday is here again so there's a new challenge over at Polka Doodles. This week your hostess is Daniele and she's chosen the theme of Swirls and Pearls with Pretty Pastels.
I really enjoyed this challenge as I love flourishes (bet you didn't know that!!!) and loved combining this with some textures on my card so without further ado, here it is.

All of the papers on my card as well as the cute image are from the Pretty Sweet CD which all the Design Team really love so I'm guessing you will see quite a lot of cards using this one.
I used the pretty papers for matting and layering, having printed out the pretty lilac one on to linen card for a lovely textured look.
I printed out the cute digital stamp and coloured her with Promarkers. I then cut her out and added her to the oval layered mat with foam tape. I used my favourite trick of doubling the tape behind her head to give added dimension.
I embossed 2 panels of white linen card with the Craft Concepts Gem Flourishes folder and swiped them with Brilliance Pearlescent Purple ink. I also sponged the ink round the edges of these and the larger base panel.
I finished off with some flourishes die cut with a Sissix design from mauve card then embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and some flowers punched with a Papermania emboss punch with pearl centres.
The Design Team have made some gorgeous samples to inspire you so do hop over for a peek.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
I Love Promarkers - Follow That Sketch
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Cute
Paper Crafting Journey - Embossing
Charisma Cardz - Cutesy
Dutch Dare Card Challenge - Punch Time
Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Embossing

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

The Key To Her Heart

Good morning everyone on a very dark, dull and cold day in the South of England. It's so dark that it feels like evening is on the way at 10.30 in the morning!
I'm here to share a project I've been working on for the last week in bits and pieces whenever I could find a spare few minutes. It's another collage as I really enjoy making those at the moment, largely because I can have a good rummage in my recycling box to find interesting bits to use.
Here's the finished artwork and underneath you'll find how it came about.

Here's what I used for the base

This is my favourite thing to use for a base as you can see from the second photo that it cut down into several interesting pieces. I just used a rectangle for my collage but the other pieces will be in use very soon.
I covered the base with a piece of torn edged vintage music score lightly inked with Spun Sugar Distress ink. I then added pieces of wide scalloped edge lace at the top and bottom to soften the effect. I punched holes at the top with my Cropodile and knotted ribbon through (the ribbon was from packaging on my pressies last week).
I stamped the large background (B Line Designs) on beige parchment paper and embossed with Ranger Tarnished Gold. I then sponged on Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive Distress inks. I tore the edges and attached across the centre.
I made a further panel by stamping a Chocolate Baroque background stamp (recently won as part of lovely Claire C's blog candy - lucky me!), embossed with pale gold and sponged with Shabby Shutters and Tattered Rose Distress inks. This was then torn around the edges.
I stamped the lovely Maude by The Stampsmith with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Judikins KromeKote card and tinted lightly with various Distress inks when it was dry. I then set this on the embossed panel, adding a silver key at the top attached with wire, a piece of chestnut velvet ribbon and a vintage jewellery piece.
I finished off with more lace at the bottom together with a jewelled butterfly and computer generated text. The final touch was the heart, hand cut from leftover music score, partially embossed and wiped with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink.
The wide lace, silver key, vintage jewellery piece and the butterfly all came from one of June of Dezinaworld's fabulous treasure bags and I have tons of things still to use.

I'd like to enter my collage in the following challenges:
The Stamp Man - Collage
The Stampsmith - Ribbons and Lace
Sugar Creek Hollow - Trash to Vintage Treasure
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Upcycling/Recycling

Thanks for looking.
Fliss xx

Vintage/Traditional Christmas

Good morning everyone, it's the start of another week and before I give you details of the new challenge over a Make My Monday, I have some good news to share about my Autumn Leaves card from last week's challenge.
I would like to say a really big thanks firstly to Creative Inspirations Paint challenge blog as my card gained a Top 3 award and secondly to Quirky Crafts challenge blog as the card was the public vote winner.
I'd also like to say a HUGE thanks to lovely Cindy Adkins as she made the most wonderful collage for me as a birthday surprise and I was so touched to see it. If you'd like to see what she made, you can see it HERE - warning though, it has my ugly mug on lol.

Now for this week's challenge and being November it's the start of a new theme which this month has been chosen by Suzi B who would like to help everyone with those seasonal cards with the theme of CHRISTMAS. This week's challenge is to make a Vintage/Traditional card and mine can be taken as both so there's loads of options with this one.

The lovely robin came from a useful and much used Artistic Outpost stamp set and was stamped with VersaFine Vintage Sepia and coloured with pencils. The edges of the panel were inked with blue.
I then embossed a piece of green card with the Cuttlebug holly spray folder and swiped VersaColor Green Tea ink over the raised area. I coloured the berries with an American Crafts ultimate glitter pen and inked the edges of the panel with Split Pea and Umber VersaColor inks.
I stamped a Papermania holly spray on buff card with VersaFine Spanish Moss ink and stamped again on one side of a 7x5 kraft card blank.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a stamped greeting (again from the Polka Doodles Christmas kit for Practical Publishing) which will be appearing a lot on my cards this year as I love it. I coloured it with Promarkers and inked the edges.
This is the second of my card designs for this year as it's easy to make the panels in repeat and simple to assemble them all.

The Design Team have made some fabulous cards to inspire you so don't forget to take a look. Please also don't forget that we have a DT Call running at the moment so if you'd like to join a friendly and supportive team all the details are on the challenge blog. No previous experience is necessary and all levels of crafting are welcome.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Paper Sundaes - Rectangle
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
I Did It Creations - Christmas/Winter

Have a good week.
Fliss xx

Times Gone By

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good weekend although here in the UK it certainly won't be a peaceful one. As I write this post there are bangs and flashes of fireworks as it's bonfire night here.

It's time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and the theme for this fortnight is Times Gone By. This theme really got me thinking about what that means to me in particular and I decided in the end that it means the past but in terms of me. I don't know about you but in my case time seems to have flown by since my children were born and sometimes it only seems like yesterday that they were knee high so my project has the theme of time.

The project originated from a trawl through my stamp collection and the text stamp I used caught my eye - the rest of the project followed on from there. Some of the DT have said that it got them singing too and it had that effect on me as I still remember the song and the words as if it were yesterday.

Ingredients Used:
Stamps:
  Girl and Clocks Collage - Paper Artsy Kids Plate 1
  Text Stamp - Paper Artsy Gentlemen Plate 4
  Pocket Watch - A free stamp from the short lived and still missed Simply Stamping mag
  Roman Numerals - Stamp-It 1716E
Embossing Folders - Cuttlebug Clockworks, Numbers Collage
Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone, Mustard Seed
VersaFine Ink - Smokey Gray
Manila Tag
Grey Textured Card Blank
Clear Embossing Powder and Embossing Ink
Silver Clip

The background paper was embossed with the Cuttlebug folder, sponged with the pumice Stone and then swiped with Victorian Velvet and Mustard Seed. The edges were torn and it was added at an angle to the card blank stamped with the numerals in the Pumice Stone ink and embossed on one side with the numbers folder.
The image panel was stamped with the Smokey Gray ink and sponged with pink and yellow Distress inks when dry. This was also torn around the edges. It was added to the tag which was stamped with the numerals in Pumice Stone and Tattered Rose DIs. The text was stamped with the grey ink on a scrap of card, torn out, inked and clipped to the top of the tag.
The card was finished with a scrap of grey card embossed with the numbers folder and swiped with Pumice DI and the pocket watch stamped in grey, embossed with clear powder and then swiped with embossing ink and embossed a second time with clear so the watch face had a "glass" front.

The Fashionettes have made some gorgeous creations with which to inspire you so do head on over to take a look.
Please also remember that as a stamping challenge, no digital images are allowed and we must be able to see some stamping on your entries so it will really help our job if you say which stamps you used.
Thanks for looking and hoping to see you there.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
The Play Date Cafe PDCC106

Fliss xx

I'm So Excited!!!

Back again already as I just found out that I won the Sir Stampalot October Challenge, Food Glorious Food with my Autumn Fruits Collage which you can see HERE. Yippee!!!!
Thank you so much to the Design Team for this fabulous honour and to Andy and Janice for providing such a fabulous prize.
It was my birthday yesterday and this has to be the icing on the cake! I had a lovely day as I went shopping in Brighton with my younger daughter Sarah in the morning and we all went out for a meal in the evening at a local Italian restaurant. I had some lovely presents and cards too as both my daughters always make cards (crafting runs in the family).

Hugs, Fliss, doing a happy dance xxx

Shaped Card Challenge

Good morning folks, it's another blustery day down here on the UK South coast and hopefully the wind is strong enough to blow the clouds away - I can see from my window that they're moving very fast.
Today being Friday (yippee!), we have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles and I've chosen the theme this week. My challenge to you all is to make a Shaped Card, so no plain squares or rectangles, something a bit more unusual is what I'd like to see. The Polka Doodles dollies and guy have risen to the challenge really well with some fabulous creations to inspire you so do hop over for a look.
Also if you're going to the big craft show at the NEC, Nikky will be there demonstrating and will have lots of goodies on sale including the brand new Pretty Tuff CD perfect for those ever difficult masculine cards.
I've made a circular easel card to share with you:

I really like this shape and cut my card blank out with my Creative Memories circle cutter - something I've had for many years and would never be without.
All of the elements on my card come from the Pretty Sweet CD. I covered the card with circles of the pretty leaf paper. I then printed out the black and white digital image of the very cute Piper sitting down (there are several poses) and coloured her with various Promarkers. I then cut her out leaving a narrow white border all round.
I used the largest Nestabilities Blossom die to cut a mat from beige dotty paper and set this on a circular mat of red rose paper. I made a flower using the same rose paper and blossom die, shaping the petals and adding pink Doodle Dewdrops to the centre.
I added lace to the card front as as it was the self stick type, I used glitter on the portions where the glue showed through. This stops the lace being sticky. I added Piper on the mat and glued on the flower.
I finished off by adding a floral border cut from the red rose paper with a Martha Stewart double edge punch, a sentiment from the CD and a pearl row for the stopper.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks - Die Cuts
Little Darlings Challenges - Not Square
Craft Your Passion - Bingo (Use A Punch/Sentiment/Bling)
Paper Pretties - Use A Sentiment

Have a great day and a lovely weekend,
Fliss xx