Time Flies

Good morning folks, we have a sunny morning at last although still very windy and boy did we have some nasty weather over the weekend - really wild and wet!
Over at Make My Monday today, we have the last of April's theme of Men and Boys chosen by Caz and this week we would like to see your creations with a Time theme.

I got really inky fingers making this and had to visit my parents in law yesterday afternoon with them still rather blue as the ink takes a while to come off!
I made the background by inking a square of card with Tumbled Glass Distress ink then applied the Tim Holtz clock mask and sponged on a mix of Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky and Vintage Photo. I stamped some text (Viva Decor) with the Vintage Photo around the edges and then added this to my card blank.
I inked a further scrap of card with the same Distress inks then stamped on the bird design (Papermania Urban collection) with black ink. I used the Tim Holtz clock die to cut a clock from white card, inked this up with Vintage Photo and Chipped Sapphire DIs and then embossed with clear powder whilst the ink was still wet. I used it as a template to add some ink around the bird design which I cut out roughly to the shape of the die. I then glued on the clock and realised that I got the positioning wrong but I actually like the rather grungy effect it gives!
I finished off with a stamped, inked and cut out bird from the same stamp set and text printed with a Dymo.

Don't forget we have a lovely prize from Marianne Design for the lucky April winner and that you have to be in it to win it! All details are on the challenge blog.

Challenges for my card:
Corrosive Challenges - The Man, The Myth, The Legend - Tim Holtz!
That Craft Place - One For The Boys
Challenge Up Your Life - Resist Techniques (Masking in my case on the background)
Alphabet Challenge - F For Feathered Friends
Simply Create Too - Time

Hoping you have a great week and see you again soon!
Fliss xx

Time For Tea Collage

Hello folks, hoping you've all had a good week and I'm sure like me that you're all looking forward to the weekend. I need mine as I've had a very busy week and can't wait for a rest.
Being Friday, we have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles and this week Daniele has chosen a theme very dear to my heart - Shabby Chic/Vintage and I've taken the opportunity to make something really different from my collection of Polka Doodles CDs and created a mixed media canvas.

For my canvas I tried out something I haven't done before which was to print out all the papers and elements for the collage on to canvas (I used a canvas block from The Works - very cheap but believe me when I say it works really well!).
The items used are as follows:
The gorgeous teacup and the 2 cup text - Sugarplum Daisy CD
Time for tea text - A Double Sprinkle of Kraft CD
Blue stripe design - Pretty Sweet CD
Yellow Dot Design - Magical Winter CD
Pink Large Dot Design - Magical Winter CD
Pink Polka Dot Design - Pretty Sweet CD
Deeper Pink Polka Dot Design - Pretty Sweet CD

I worked out the shapes for my crazy quilt style pieces on paper first and then ripped the shapes from the printed canvas. I added wonky stitching (I'm really out of practice!) in dark brown to some of the pieces.
I painted my 30cm square canvas with cream acrylic paint and inked some of the edges with umber ink. I then added some pieces of rectangular tray doily which I distressed with the brown ink pad to the canvas base.
I cut out the teacup and inked it with the brown again and then cut some flower from muslin using a Marianne flower die and layered these up with circles roughly trimmed with pinking shears and tiny buttons in the centre.
I assembled the canvas as you see, adding more pieces of doily and buttons together with the fabulous 2 cup text (I have to say here that in my case EVERY day is a 2 cup day!!!) and the time for tea panels.
It really isn't that hard to make and the only tip I can give here is that the paper designs print out paler on the canvas so if you give it a try do bear that in mind as if you want a fairly strong colour, you'll need to choose a darker shade of paper.

Challenges for my canvas:
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Tandastamps Challenge - Beverage
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything But A Card
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Time For The Queen's Tea - Any 2
Paper Crafting Journey - Vintage
4 Crafty Chicks - No Stamping

Hoping that you all have a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Clockwork Bird!

Morning folks and hope you all had a lovely weekend. It's Monday yet again so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday, continuing with our theme for the month of Man and Boy, this week we would like to see your masculine creations with an Animal or Bird featured. You really should look at the DT inspiration too as we have some very varied creations to share this week.
My own card is a bit quirky as I decided to give my Oxford Impressions steampunk stamps another inking - I'm sure you can tell how much I love these - and made this.

Can you see what I mean about quirky?!
It's quite a simple card with the background embossed with the Cuttlebug gears and cogs folder the inked with Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge and Black Soot Distress inks. I added this to a mat of black card to leave a narrow border.
I stamped the bird with black ink and embossed with clear powder then stamped the winding key with bronze ink and embossed with Antiquities Tarnished Gold. I cut them both out and addded to the card with foam tape.
I then embossed 2 Maya Road chipboard cogs in the same way as the bird and key and added these with silicone glue. I finished off with a Dymo tape greeting and stamped steampunk text cut out and swiped with ink to blend in.

Challenges for my card:
The Paper Shelter Challenge - Wings and Things
Anything Goes Challenge - Time or Steampunk
Cards For Men - Texture

Have a great week,
Fliss xx

A Little Shabby Chic

Hell folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend despite the rather iffy weather - April showers in the UK that is!
The last fortnight has just flown by and it's time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which you're going to love as much as I did I'm sure. The theme this time is Heat Or Dry Embossing and I've actually used both on my wall hanging made from a piece of recycled greyboard.

I've used the acrylic paint resist technique (tutorial link on my side bar) on the piece of greyboard to make a background. The under layer is dusky rose acrylic with a little periwinkle blue sponged randomly on.
I then stamped the flourish design (B Line Designs curley floral) with Versamark ink and embossed with clear powder. I painted over the whole thing with cream acrylic paint and when dry wiped the paint off the embossed areas with a baby wipe. I obtained the shabby chic look by wiping off more cream paint until the underneath layer showed through and am very pleased with the result.
I next made the fan embellishment by creating a paper using my Millefiori Stamping Technique (link on side bar) using pink and blue inks and Rubber Stamp Tapestry flowers. I stamped the fan (Stampington) on the paper with Archival Coffee ink and cut it out.
The tag is from the Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange set and I stamped this with the coffee ink and stamped the girl image (Prima) on the tag as it's happily just the right size. I coloured this with a mix of Distress inks, pencils and Promarkers and cut it out.
I next made the bunting (image from the AO set) repeat stamping the larger bunting element with the coffee ink and adding the text from a Hero Arts alphabet. I cut them out, punched holes with a paper piercer and threaded them onto brown linen thread with a button at each end.
I used the Cuttlebug Victoria folder to make a central border and swiped the raised areas with Spun Sugar Distress ink. I made a lacy central strip with the Martha Stewart double edge punch using parchment card (Southfield Stationers) coloured with Stormy Sky Distress ink.
I finished off with a doily aged with Antique Linen Distress Stain, a feather recycled from packaging on a present my daughter brought back from South Africa, a metal butterfly charm and a flower made with a flower loom using recycled yarn and a button. I pierced holes at the top and added bakers twine as a hanger.
Sorry about the long explanation but I did quite a lot here!

The Fashionettes have some stunning inspiration lined up on the catwalk for your delight and our sponsor is once again the lovely Marina of Cottage Crafts.

Challenges for my wall hanging:
The Stamp Man - Shabby Chic/Distressed
Charisma Cardz - Shabby Chic
Crafts & Me - Vintage
Divas By Design - Anything But A Card
Sisterhood Of Crafters - Recycle, Re-use, Renew (Greyboard, feather from packaging)

Have a great Sunday.
Fliss xx

Paris Exposition

Hello everyone on another rather windy day. Hoping those of you in the USA affected by the tornadoes are all OK and managing to cope.
I have a card to share today that I made for the last workshop I taught and haven't yet had a chance to show you. I succumbed a little while ago to some more Artistic Outpost stamps as I find them so versatile and here's what I made with the Paris Exposition set.

I made a background panel by inking with Scattered Straw, Wild honey and Vintage photo Distress inks then stamped on some of the images from the set together with a splatter stamp using Archival coffee ink.
I stamped the men collage and the lady separately on white card, added colour with Distress inks and Promarkers plus a small amount of splatter on the collage image then cut these out and added them with foam tape.

Challenges for my card:
Art With No Boundaries - Anything Goes
The Craft Room Challenge - Ink It (having almost permanently inky fingers how could I resist!)

Bye for now,
Fliss xx

Gone Fishing!

Good morning folks from a sunny but very chilly Sussex. Hoping you all had a lovely weekend. We came back from our break and were very lucky with the weather away as although there was rain, it mostly did it whilst we were under cover. There will be a few pics to share soon when I've sorted them out.
Being Monday, we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and continuing with the April theme of Men and Boys, this week the theme is to make a project featuring Sports or Hobbies.
My card enabled me to use up a piece of serendipity background paper which didn't turn out at all as I expected so read on if you'd like to find out how it came about.

The background paper has a rather interesting water textured appearance and if you look closely, it looks like reflections on the bottom section. It was made by wrapping cling film round a thick piece of packaging, inking it up with Distress inks and various re-inkers including Brilliance and spritzing with a little water. I then placed a piece of card on top and ran it through the Cuttlebug.
To my surprise and delight serendipity struck as when it emerged at the other end, some of the corrugated paper on the inside of the packaging had added a very interesting random stripy pattern to the decorated paper. The Brilliance ink really does give a look very like reflections I think.
I made a border by layer stamping Hampton Arts distressed stripes stamp with Stormy Sky, Aged Mahogany and Frayed Burlap ink for an aged wood appearance.
I printed out the fishing image from the Polka Doodles Not For Girls CD on to watercolour paper and added colour with Promarkers. I finished off with computer generated text, cut out with a Papermania die and added dark red brads in the holes.

The Design Team have some fabulous inspiration for you as always with a great variety of male hobbies so do pop over for a peek. There's also a fabulous prize for the month from our lovely sponsor Marianne Design so don't forget that you have to be in it to win it!

Challenges for my card:
Crafty Ann's - It's A Man Thing
Pan Pastel UK Challenge - One For The Boys
Paper Sundaes - Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday - Anything Goes

Have a great day and before I go, hello to Victoria and Kaylou , lovely to see you here ladies and thanks for joining.
Fliss xx

Pretty In Pink

Good morning folks, I'm hoping that this scheduled post has popped up as we're off on a few days break at the moment.
It's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this weeks theme is Pretty In Pink chosen by teamie Daniele so prepare for a lot of sweet creations from the Design Team and of course, me!

I chose to use elements all from the new Sugarplum Daisy CD as I love the pretty rosebud paper that I used for my backing paper here. I tore the edges for a shabby chic look and inked them with pink ink before attaching to the card blank.
I printed the sweet image and a single rose on to watercolour paper then coloured them with a mix of watercolour pencils and Prisma pencils. I added some glitter to the wings. I cut both out then added the image to a die cut oval of white card embossed with the Cuttlebug roses folder. I set this on a mat of pink polka dot paper.
I added a polka dot lace border cut out with a Marianne Design lace die and added this with some white cotton crochet lace.
I finished off with a sentiment from the CD cut out with a Marianne Design tag die, inking the edges and decorating with pearls. The final touch was a pink dotty bow.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 22 April to enter and good luck!

Challenges for my card:
Card Makin' Mamas - Getting Girly
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - Pearls and Lace
Totally Papercrafts - Things With Wings
Paper Play -  Things With Wings


See you when I get back.
Fliss xx

Take To The Skies

Good morning folks on a wet and windy Monday which I have to say is typical British bank holiday weather. I'm hoping it will improve a bit as we're off on a few days break tomorrow so this will be my last post for the moment.
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday. We're continuing with our April theme of Men and Boys and this week we would like to see your Vintage creations. I'm sure you can guess how much I loved this one and I've made a canvas instead of a card as my inspiration.

My hubby really loves airships so this was inspired by him and you can probably see that my trusty Oxford Impressions steampunk stamps got inky again.
I first covered the canvas with some 7 Gypsies blueprint tissue paper that has been in my stash for ages and is rather appropriate as my hubby is an architect. I adhered it to the canvas with clear floor polish - a bit smelly but very effective!
I then stamped lots of images from both the steampunk sets together with the Paper Artsy man on white tissue paper with black Archival ink. I added colour by sponging with various shades of Distress ink then cut them out.
I added a little further stamping to the canvas with the black ink and coloured the whole thing with Antique Linen Distress Stain. When it was dry, I added the images with a glue stick and then used Vintage Photo Distress ink to blend all the pieces into the canvas. I have to say I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out as the tissue is slightly transparent still so that all the layers show through.

The Design Team have a real treat in store for you with some fabulous creations to inspire you and don't forget we also have a fantastic prize from Marianne Designs this month too and you have to be in it to win it!

Challenges for my Vintage Canvas:
Gingerloft - Anything But A Card
Craft Us Crazy - Anything But A Card/ Altered Item
Just Keep On Creating - Anything Goes (Brand new challenge blog!)
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - From The Past

Before I go, I'd like to say a huge welcome and thank you to my new followers and it's lovely to see you here.
Bye for now,
Fliss xx

All At Sea

Happy Easter Sunday folks and hoping that you're all having a lovely Easter break.
We have a new challenge for you today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time we're all at sea as the theme for the fortnight is Nautical. A great theme with lots of scope as you'll see if you hop over to the challenge blog where the fashionable teamies have some very varied and amazing creations for your inspiration.
My card is quite a simple one which I made for my brother in law's recent birthday and in common with most of the men in my hubby's family, David loves all things nautical. He loved his card so without further ado, here it is:

I've used a lovely nautical set by Kanban for my card as I was drawn to the lovely lighthouse scene which I can see coming in useful for lots of different cards.
I stamped the scene with Archival Coffee ink (my new favourite brown) and added colour with various Distress inks, pencils and Promarkers. I cut the scene out with a circle die and inked the edges.
I made the background paper by sponging with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress inks then swiped the lighter ink pad on for a watery effect. I added a touch of green using the sponge from my earlier inking.
I then stamped the compass and anchor in the corners and added a little colour with Promarkers. To finish I stamped the seagull with the coffee ink, cut him out and added a touch of colour with Promarkers.

Challenges for my card:
Little Darlings Challenges - Outside
Pixie Dust Studio - Up In The Sky (Clouds, Sky, Rainbows, Sunshine)
Scrap It With A Song - Here Comes The Sun (I'm thinking seaside and summer here)
Joanna Sheen - It's A Man's World

Please don't forget that your creations must include stamping and that no digis are allowed.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Fliss xx

Easter Blog Hop With Polka Doodles

Hello everyone and welcome to the Polka Doodles Easter Blog Hop which will go on until 12 noon on Easter Sunday so this post will stay at the top until then.

We still have our regular challenge but we also have the blog hop as part of the challenge!! And you know what that means - LOADS of candy!!

CHALLENGE STAGE 1: Now, we know not everyone like to do a hop for whatever reason, so we still have our normal challenge for the week which is EASTER themed - you must make a card or project which is Easter themed.

Here's my inspiration for the challenge with the details of how I made it (don't worry as I've kept it short this time)

 I made the basket following a tutorial which I found on the internet using some of the gorgeous bright and Springlike checked papers from the brand new Sugarplum Daisy CD which is also where the adorable little bunnies can be found. I added an Easter greeting from the Paper Boutique Vol 3 CD and finished off with flowers made from Marianne Designs circle doily die set and flourish sprigs from the garden branch die also by Marianne Designs.

But that's not all...

CHALLENGE STAGE 2: Our second challenge is the blog hop - if you hop along with us this week you will find that the Easter Bunny has arrived early and left some hidden goodies on some of the Design Teams blogs - but you have to hop though the whole list to find who the Easter Bunny has visited! You will also need to leave a comment so that we know you've stopped by.

You need to complete both the Easter themed challenge and the blog hop to be in with a chance of winning one of the fantastic prizes on offer! Believe me you really need to go to the challenge blog to see what is on offer but it is fabulous! There will be one grand prize winner and two second place winners!

If you've never taken part in a blog hop before it's easy peasy...all you need to do is visit each blog in turn and for this hop each Polkadoodler will give you a LETTER (be careful - some of the Polkadoodlers may have more than one!) Now add all the letters together, unscramble them and leave a comment on the Polkadoodle Challenge Blog (comments will be moderated!) with what the word is.

Your entry will automatically be judged for the Easter themed challenge BUT we will know if you have completed the Blog Hop so if you haven't you will still only be eligible for the random blog candy hidden amongst some of the Polkadoodlers. FOR THE EASTER THEMED CHALLENGE JUST LEAVE YOUR ENTRY AS NORMAL USING THE INLINKZ BUTTON, WE WILL SORT THROUGH THE ENTRIES AS WE WILL KNOW IF YOU FOLLOWED THE HOP OR NOT! ; )

If you have arrived at my blog from NIKKY then you are on the right track! If not then please go back to the challenge blog to find the hop order. The letter you require from me is S - keep it safe and now jump to

ANNE

 Good luck! If you get stuck, please go back to the Polkadoodle Challenge blog where you will find the full list of Polkadoodlers.
Hope to see you here.
Fliss xx

Among The Flowers

Good morning folks and wishing you all a very Happy Easter. Hard to believe that Good Friday is here. We have a lovely sunny day too although very chilly.
I have a rather bright Spring like card to share with you today in a favourite colour combination of mine.

I really love this sweet image by La Blanche and stamped her on watercolour paper with Archival Coffee ink. I then coloured her with watercolour pencils and used a damp brush to blend the colours. I added a little stamping with Versamark ink and a flourish design to add texture.
I made a mat for the image by stamping a border design round the edges of a piece of watercolour paper with Memento ink and then blended the colour with a damp brush.
The green damask paper was made as part of the online class I recently won and uses a Chocolate Baroque background stamp.
The pink paper was embossed with the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder and inked with Memento Lilac Posies. I then swiped the ink pad over the top to deepen the colour on the dots.
I added a floral border made with a Martha Stewart double edge punch and a scrap of inked and stamped paper from my bits box. The butterfly (B Line Designs) was stamped with the coffee ink and inked with the lilac ink and Crushed Olive Distress ink.  The sentiment is by Polka Doodles from the new Sugarplum Daisy CD.

Challenges for my card:
Crazy Amigo Challenge - April Does What It Wants
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Lawnscaping Challenge - Colouring (watercolour pencils in my case)
Papercraft Star - Anything Goes

Have a lovely day,
Fliss xx

Dancing On A Rainy Day

I'm back with another post on the third day in a row as I have quite a few things to show you over the next few days having had a productive crafting session and managed to finish off a few things that have been hanging around.
This one is my attempt at a recessed window card which Jacqueline kindly shared a tutorial on making on Make My Monday a few weeks back. If you like the look which I have to say is easier to do than you might think, you'll find the tutorial HERE.

The card is made from a piece of decorated paper from a Chocolate Baroque CD - I think it's called Filigree Fusion - and was printed on to 230gsm card. You need it to be fairly sturdy but not too thick.
I've used my absolute favourite Tim Holtz text stamp as I think the sentiment behind it is so inspiring. I stamped this with VersaFine Crimson Red.
I then stamped the gorgeous Umbrella Lady by Lost Coast Designs with VersaFine Imperial Purple, cut her out and adhered her with foam tape.
Simples!

Challenges for my card:
Lollipop Crafts - A Card /Project With No Embellishments
Victorine Originals - April Showers
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Anything Goes
Crafting For All Seasons - April Showers

Hoping that those of you suffering somewhat adverse weather conditions for the time of year are managing to cope and are keeping warm.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Vintage Beauty

Hello folks, hope you're having a good week so far and commiserations to those of you deluged with snow yet again. Nothing down south at the moment thank goodness.
I have a card to share today which is part of my homework from an online class I'm currently doing which I won as a prize from My Creative Classroom for the C.R.A.F.T. challenge a few weeks back. The class I chose is by the lovely Catherine Scanlon and is called Artful Cards so I'm sure you can see why this appealed to me.

The base background paper uses a Paper Artsy flourish stamped with brown ink around the edges. I then sponged Brushed Corduroy and Aged Mahogany over the top. I tore the edges for a distressed effect.
The lighter background paper uses a Viva Decor script stamp, stamped with Coffee Archival ink and the same flourish. Glimmer Mists in Olive Vine and Vintage Pink were also used. I added faux stitching round the edges.
The corrugated panel was painted with rose pink acrylic then torn across the base and copper embossed. I then added bronze metallic paint for added contrast.
The image (Le Brun by B Line Designs) is stamped with the coffee ink, partially cut out and coloured with Promarkers.
I finished off with lace in 2 shades, a Hero Arts sentiment, metal charm and an altered, layered flower with a jewelled brad centre.

Challenges for my card:
Sugar Creek Hollow - Birthday Cards
Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge - Shabby Chic/Vintage
Anything Goes Challenge - Anything Goes

I'd also like to welcome my new followers - lovely to see you ladies and will pop by very soon.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Wheels With Make My Monday

Good morning folks, we have a very chilly start to the day today but the sun is shining hooray! It's Monday again and the start of a new theme at Make My Monday. The April theme has been chosen by Caz and she would like to help with those difficult to create cards as the theme is Men and Boys Only. This week the challenge is to make something including Wheels.
I was very pleased to see this as it gave me the chance to get inky with my Oxford Impressions steampunk stamps which are a must with me as my hubby's family love anything nautical or vintage engineering style.
Here's what I made:

I used elements here from both of the steampunk sets (you can find them at The Craft Barn) and first made a background paper by using Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress inks just added direct from the ink pad and then sponged whilst still wet for a grungy effect. I sponged more of the darker ink round the edges.
I then stamped on various images from the sets with Archival Coffee ink. It came out a little brighter than I needed for my added images to really pop so I brushed on some watered down gesso.
I then stamped the steam engine, gent and company sign with Ancient Page Coal Black ink and added some ink left on the sponge from earlier to blend them in a little. I cut them out and added to the card with foam tape.
I finished off with text which is part of a larger stamp.

The Design Team have made some fabulous examples to inspire you so I hope you'll head on over to see them plus details of the fabulous prize by our sponsor Marianne Design. Believe me, you won't want to miss this!

Challenges for my card:
Marks Finest Papers - Make A Square Card
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Things With Wheels
Divas By Design - Stamp Something (everything on my card is stamped)
My Mum's Craft Shop - Stamp It

Thanks for looking and have a good week.
Fliss xx