Spring Has Sprung

Hello everyone, I'm finally back to blogging after several busy days and internet problems over the weekend. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
I have a card to share which I made using the gorgeous Spring colours of this week's Play Date Cafe challenge and I have to say the photo inspiration really does make you feel like Spring is around the corner (even though it was 4 degrees first thing this morning!)

I stamped a flower from Hero Arts Antique Engravings CL427 in Memento Rich Cocoa and added a small leaf from Hero Arts Real Flowers CL426 in the same ink. I then sponged Shabby Shutters Distress ink on the card and around the stamped flowers. I stamped a few extra flowers in the same ink.

I coloured the flowers with Promarkers. I then stamped a Hobby Art butterfly 3 times in the brown ink and coloured them with Promarkers. I cut the butterflies out. I embossed a strip of card sponged with Dried Marigold Distress ink with the Cuttlebug Herringbone folder. I assembled the card as you see, adding a sentiment by Hobby Art cut out with a Nestabilities die and sponged with the Marigold ink. I put this on a scalloped mat coloured with the same Aqua Promarker as the butterflies.

I'm also entering this in the following challenge:
Sentimental Sundays Challenge 44 - Anything Goes (plus a sentiment)

Thanks for looking,
Fliss x

Polka Doodles Challenge - Recipe

Good morning everyone, all being well, I should be on my way to Farnborough when this post pops up. It's Friday yet again and we have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles. Your hostess this week is Enfys and she would like to see creations with 2 Ribbons and a Charm.
Enfys challenged the Design Team to use one of our favourite stamps with the recipe and this will be a regular monthly feature from now on. It will be no surprise to learn that I decided to go vintage!

I chose this very pretty collage style stamp by Crafty Individuals, stamped her with Memento black ink and coloured her with Promarkers in a variety of shades.
I've used a pink and a beige paper with a vintage feel from the latest Paper Boutique Volume 3 CD together with a lilac ribbon striped paper from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I used a Martha Stewart Arch Lattice punch on the beige paper for the central border and a Woodware daisy corner punch on the lilac paper.
I made the charm from shrink plastic cut out with a Nestbilities die, inked with Pearlescent Olive Brilliance ink and stamped in black with the flourish from the Daisy Doodles stamp set. I then glued on a brass stamping.
I finished my card with a brass ornate corner from my stash, some mauve velvet ribbon and some pretty checked ribbon which I twisted and then attached the charm with a jump ring.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 6 March to enter and good luck!
Fliss x

3 Little Owls

Hello everyone, hope you've all been having a good week. I'm very excited as tomorrow I'm going to the Make It show at Farnborough for the first time with some of my crafty friends.
I'm here now with a card I made from the pieces of my demo at the class I held on Monday which I finally managed to put together.

I couldn't resist this stamp when I saw it as the little owls are so adorable. The stamp is by Blue Moon and I stamped it with Memento black ink and then coloured the images with Promarkers in Satin, Cinnamon, Tan, Terracotta and Dark Brown. I smudged Crushed Olive Distress ink round the edges.
The background was made by partially embossing a square of white card with the Cuttlebug leafy branch folder. I then sponged on Crushed Olive ink and swiped it over the raised areas for a stronger contrast. I stamped a Hero Arts stitched leaf design in Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint. I then pierced holes all around the edges and added faux stitching with a brown fine liner.
I assembled the card with a piece of stitched braid and a greeting - the scalloped frame is by Polka Doodles and the text is Hobby Art.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Allsorts - Week 91 Inspired By Nature
I Love Promarkers - Stitching

Thanks for looking,
Fliss x

Polka Doodles Challenge - Chocolate!

Morning peeps, it's Friday and we have another challenge for you over at Polka Doodles. Your hostess this week is Saskia who's known as our Belgian Chocolat Girl so she would like to see your creations which either involve the colour, chocolate brown, or the actual thing - although in my case, I've managed to combine both!
I'm sure you've all got friends who love chocolate (and I have to say I rather like it too and so does my hubby who tried to pinch my project before I could even take a photo of it!!!). Here it is so you can see why:

I actually managed to use up some of my paper scraps for this project as the chocolate bars are treat size and my little gift card is 10cm square. The papers and all decorative elements came from the ever versatile Sundae of Seasons CD which has a huge collection of papers in several different colour ways.

I simply cut a strip to fit round each of the chocolate bars and trimmed the top and bottom edges with scallop scissors. I trimmed some of the ribbon strips with the same scissors and added these with some pearls or jewels. I finished off with some of the pretty butterflies and flowers from the Summer Collection of the CD.

The gift card was made with a further scrap of paper with a central ribbon border trimmed as before. I then added one of the pretty sentiment embellishments to finish.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 27 February to get your entries in and good luck! Please don't forget to check the challenge rules too as we really hate not being able to choose gorgeous entries that don't follow our rules.
Fliss x

Beauty

Hello everyone, we're back to yukky weather again after a nice day yesterday and I'm taking a small break from accounts work to show you a rather girly tag that I've made which fits several challenges.
I've used the colour inspiration from this week's Play Date Cafe which is why it's very feminine.

I chose a very pretty image kindly shared by June of Dezinaworld on her Art Freebies blog and set this on a mat of pink felt with beige lace wrapped round one side for a very soft look.
I made a tag with a rounded top from cream card and sponged on Antique Linen Distress ink. I then stamped a Tim Holtz flourish design at the top right with Victorian Velvet Distress ink. I next embossed the lower part of the tag with the damask folder from the Texture Fades Damask and Regal Flourishes set. I swiped over the raised part with Spun Sugar Distress ink.
I embellished the tag with paper flowers and scraps of embossed and stamped card die cut with a Sissix flourish set. I added a lace tie at the top and stamped text by B Line Designs.

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges:
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Anything But A Card
Play Date Cafe PDCC68 - Colours
Simon Says Stamp - Anything But A Card
Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Tag

Thanks for looking
Fliss x

For My Valentine

Hello everyone, Happy Valentines Day and hope you've all had a good weekend. My Valentine has to be for my hubby Andrew, of course, and he's not a fan of anything fussy or frilly so I have to make something quite simple for him to truly like it.
I've gone for a striking colour combination of black, white and red.

I cut a heart shape out of white card and inked it with Fired Brick and Barn Door Distress inks. I then stamped on my current favourite flourish from the Viva Decor My Paper World clear stamp set (from The Craft Barn who are celebrating a birthday and have special offers on until 9am tomorrow) with Black Soot Distress ink.
I then stamped the flourish again in black on a white strip of card and put this on a mat of red. I added this to a long card blank I made and finished off with a greeting by Hero Arts stamped directly on the card. I then added 2 tiny red heart gems and the stamped heart which I stuck on with foam tape for some dimension.

My card is for the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenge 129 - I "heart" You
For Fun Challenges - Hearts
Stampin' For The Weekend - Valentines Day
Stampin' Royalty - Hearts, Hearts and More Hearts
The Sunday Stampers - Love

Thanks for looking
Fliss x

Polka Doodles Challenge - That's Amore!

Morning all and hope it's a better day today than yesterday as we had grey skies and loads of rain all day. Friday is here again and this weeks' challenge over at Polka Doodles has been chosen by team mate Miria who hails from Italy - hence the title of the challenge - and she would like to see your projects inspired by a song or film title.
I had a bit of a struggle with mine as my brain went totally blank when I saw this and in the end I had to use Google for some song title inspiration. I decided on Beatles song All You Need Is Love and now I can't stop singing it lol.

I chose a pink and chocolate brown colour combination and most of the elements for my card came from my favourite love themed CD, Love and Cherish, which has everything you could want for a romantic occasion. The little owls from The Twoo of Us collection are just adorable.
The only extras for my easel style card were some chocolate brown polka dot paper from the Sundae of Seasons CD, some plain pink papers and a pink heart jewel from my stash. I also did some punching with a Martha Stewart deep edge punch to make a pretty central border.
A really easy to make card which looks anything but simple.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 20 February to get your entries in and good luck!

I'm also entering my card into the following challenges:
Allsorts Week 89 - It Must Be Love, Love, Love
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge 89 - Valentines
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew - For A Loved One
Digital Tuesday - From The Heart
Papertake Weekly - Have A Heart

Fliss x

Dancing In The Rain

Happy Sunday everyone and I'm finally here with my piece of artwork for Gingersnap Creations GC86 Spicy Supply Challenge - Coffee Filters. It took me several days to make as I had to wait for things to thoroughly dry before adding more bits.
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed playing with the filter papers which have a surprisingly fabric like texture. I decided to try my Watercolour Crayon Background Technique (see sidebar for a link to the tutorial) and used Neocolor 11 crayons in shades of red, orange and yellow on the natural unbleached papers.
Here's my piece of artwork:

Some close ups of the various elements:

I used a canvas board, 25 x 30cm, as I wanted to stamp on the background and these make it so much easier. I painted the board with Golden Fluid Acrylics first in Titan Buff then Yellow Oxide with Red Oxide applied with a sponge for a mottled effect. The colours were determined by the slightly sludgy vintage shades of the coffee filter paper.
I then stamped around the edges and corners of the canvas with a Hero Arts floral lace spray stamp and Brilliance Victorian Violet ink.
The figure on the canvas came about as the filter paper looked a bit like a full skirt and this was the inspiration for the direction I followed. I stamped rows of flowers on one side of the paper having cut it in half after opening it out (my crayon technique happily coloured both sides at once). The stamp is by Magenta and was stamped in the Victorian Violet and Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy. I coloured the flowers with purple and red Promarkers.
I next drew the figure (somewhat badly which is why no hands are on view!) on white card, coloured the bits that would show with Promarkers and made a top from the second piece of coffee filter paper . I gathered the top of the skirt with thread. I then added the figure and her clothes to the canvas together with an umbrella - this is a Polka Doodles digital image from the Sundae of Seasons CD and was coloured with Promarkers.
I then added some strips of the leftover filter paper in a cross hatch pattern and a beautiful sentiment from the Tim Holtz Good Thoughts CMS085 stamp set (I think this one is so true) stamped with Imperial Purple VersaFine ink and coloured with a Promarker.
The finishing touch is lots of coordinating flowers with pearls and charms added to some. The flowers are mostly Prima or Papermania and the printed ones are Hero Arts.

I'm also entering this in June of Dezinaworld's Spot Prize Challenge for this week - Charming
and Corrosive Challenges - Red, Orange, Yellow - Fire!

Thank you for your patience if you've read all this and for looking!
Fliss x

Polka Doodles Challenge - With Hearts

Yes, it's Friday again so this means it's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles. This week your hostess is Ruth and she would like to see your projects with hearts on so now's the perfect time to get ahead with some love themed cards.
I decided to make a simple card using just hearts as I wanted to do some stamping (no surprise there!) and chose the hearts on the Love and Cherish CD.

My colour scheme is an elegant pink and grey combination so I printed out some hearts in those colours and cut them out inside the lines because I wanted to do some dressing up.
I embossed the 2 grey hearts with the Cuttlebug Kimmy Luvs hearts folder. The smallest pink heart was inked up with VersaMark ink and embossed with crystal powder for some glitz, I then added a heart shaped jewel to this one.
The larger pink hearts were stamped with some of the flourish designs from the Daisy Doodle stamp set using VersaMark ink and embossed with silver powder.
As you can see the papers I chose co-ordinate perfectly with the colours of the hearts and the stamped flourishes. I added a pink border punched with the Martha Stewart Daisy border punch and a greeting from the same stamp set.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 13 February to get your entries in and good luck!
Have a great weekend.
Fliss x

Some Fabulous News!!!

 
Hello everyone, I have some totally fantastic news which I've been absolutely bursting to share (says she jumping up and down with excitement!) and am now able to. I've received an invitation from Suzanne and her right hand Claire of Lets Ink It Up challenge blog inviting me to join the Design Team and of course I had to say yes!!!

The challenge was previously run on a monthly basis but will soon be changing to twice a month with lots of fab challenges and fantastic prizes so it's worth joining as a follower if you haven't yet to keep up with all the news.

If you pop over to the blog - click HERE - you'll be able to see all the new teamies listed. I'm so looking forward to working with them all.

I shall be back tomorrow with something new as I'm playing with coffee filter papers at the moment and getting really inky.

Fliss x

True Blue

Morning everyone, it's starting to brighten up here now after a very foggy evening yesterday which is just as well as I have to venture out today having stayed in the warm yesterday.
I have a very blue card here which I've made in response to June's Dezinaworld Spot Challenge, Hues of Blue. This is a colour I love so I had a hunt through my scraps again and managed to find some bits to use up by altering them with inks.

The background paper was made using my Distress Ink Grunge Background Technique (see sidebar for link) using Tumbled Glass and Broken China DIs. I then stamped on a floral spray design from My Paper World by Viva Decor (from The Craft Barn) with VersaFine Majestic Blue ink.
I altered a scrap of white card by embossing with a Tim Holtz Texture Fade damask folder and sponging on Tumbled Glass ink then swiping more colour over the raised areas. I punched a border design on a scrap of navy card with a Martha Stewart punch and stuck the blue strip to this. I added a piece of lace inked with Tumbled Glass then a layered up piece of blue card punched with a Martha Stewart punch with navy underneath.
The image is from June's Blue Beauty collage sheet and the butterfly from her mega set of Butterfly PNGs. I rounded the butterfly out with a large embossing ball tool for a 3D effect.

Thanks for looking.
Fliss x

Paper Scraps Galore

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good start to the week and have somewhat better weather than the rain we have on the South Coast.
I'm a happy bunny as most of the nasty book work is now out of the way and I've got a bit more time for some crafting. I've had a great time playing with some more of the paper scraps that you may remember from last week and have made a few cards for various challenges.
First up is a pink and green combination (one I really love) that I've made for the Craft Barn Wishing Well Challenge 2 which is to use your paper scraps (do have a look as there are several tutorials with some very inventive use of those never ending bits and pieces). I'm also going to enter this one in the current Papertake Weekly Challenge which is Anything Goes + Flowers.

Most of the scraps involve Distress inks - no surprise there! This is combined with some gold embossing and scraps of paper made using my Distress Ink Grunge Background Technique (see side bar). I stuck the finished weaving to some double sided adhesive film and sprinkled Ranger Tarnished Gold embossing powder in the gaps and melted. I finished off with some paper roses and pink pearls. The sentiment by Hobby Art was stamped on a further scrap and embellished with more pearls.

The next card is for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge which is black and white with a splash of lilac and chosen by Sarah Anderson with this lovely photo inspiration:

This card came about as I had a piece of decorated card intended for another project which wasn't quite right for it but it came in very handy here. The black and white design is some roses from Clearly Inspired's Stencil Flowers set and the border came from an Artemio set.
I cut out a heart shape using a template I made a scrap of lilac card in my scraps box which was stamped with Hobby Art flowers in lilac. I embossed this with the Cuttlebug Kimmy Luvs folder and added a mat of plain lilac. An old earring in purple shades added a finishing touch.
The greeting was stamped on a further scrap of lilac card with Memento Grape Jelly ink and is by Anita's.

Finally, I have a card made using the sketch for this week's Clean and Simple Challenge and makes use of yet more scraps.

The scraps used here were made by applying inks direct to hammered texture card which leaves a slightly bobbly textured pattern. I then stamped the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz flourish on with a darker toning ink. I can't tell you which colours I used as it was a while ago but I think the inks are VersaMagic chalk inks.
To finish, I simply added some matching threads and a Hero Arts greeting panel coloured with a Promarker.

Thanks for looking,
Fliss x