Studio 12 Candy!

Good morning folks, hope you're all having a good weekend despite the definite chill in the air now heralding Autumn.
It's that time again over at Studio 12 Creative Team where we give away some fabulous candy just for the price of a quick post or sidebar addition and a comment on the giveaway post for one lucky follower so if you're not yet following now would be a good time! I don't know if you caught Rosemary yesterday on Create and Craft along with Leonie Pujol who's my favourite presenter. I hope you did as there were some great demos from Rosemary and tons of samples from the Creative Team including me!
I have another card to show you today made from the wonderful Gingerbread Twist CD and if you hop over to the Studio 12 blog there are lots more samples to feast your eyes on.

For my card, I used one of the lovely frames which I printed out then cut an oval aperture in as happily one of my dies was a perfect fit. I cut the frame out then inked the inner and outer edges and added this to my kraft card blank over the snowy scene I printed out.
I then added an embossed panel of kraft card together with one of the sentiments which I die cut and inked and some gingham ribbon to finish.
Very simple and easy!

You might also like to know that there is still a little time to sign up for issue 5 of the Pen and Paper Circle Magazine Kit, details of which you will find HERE. Do have a look as you get a CD with gorgeous papers, a stamp set and a magazine with loads of inspirational projects.

Have a great Sunday and keep warm!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Hearts Come Home For Christmas

Good morning folks, the weekend is almost here and it's really busy at our home as my younger one is returning to university tomorrow. You can probably guess who's been up to her eyes in washing the last couple of days and the house is like a laundry as it's quite difficult to get it all dry at the moment!
As it's Friday, we have a new challenge for you at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is Your Favourite Holiday plus the colour Teal.
I decided to add to my Christmas card collection and made a shaped card as my inspiration, combining the teal with mostly white and adding a tiny pop of red.

I was quite pleased with my card as I love this adorable deer with his slightly sheepish expression so I went for a simple approach.
I made my card blank with a Go Kreate extra large die and cut backing paper to match. I then die cut an oval panel of white card and embossed it with a Cuttlebug hearts folder. I cut the deer out and added him to the panel with foam tape.
I assembled the card as you see, adding some white fir branches die cut with a Marianne Design die (then added some lines with an embossing tool to make them more true to life) and a ticket sentiment with a red and white bakers twine bow.
All elements are from the Here Comes Christmas CD.

There's a great prizes to be had for the top 3 this week so will hopefully see you there.
Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
The Stamping Boutique Challenge - Embossing
Love To Create - Anything Goes
Gingerloft Challenge - Embossing

Isn't She Lovely

Hello everyone, it seems like Autumn has appeared and hope you're all OK in this rather wet, windy and chilly weather we have in the UK at the moment. Don't know about you but I'm wearing layers of woollies already!
It's my turn today over at the Studio 12 Creative Team and I have a piece of artwork to show you that the Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist is not just for Christmas as you'll see from my creation below.

I wanted to make something to give as a gift to a family member featuring my favourite vintage photo of my much missed Mum taken around 1950 when she was 21 years of age. I printed the photo out on to canvas for a soft look to the gorgeous sepia tones.
I printed out the soft beige holly paper together with the stunning heart and lace embellishments on antique beige parchment card for a soft textured effect and you'd never guess when printed that it is actually Christmas paper.
I cut the paper to fit the chipboard and distressed the edges with my new favourite craft tool - an emery board. This gives a lovely rolled edge perfect for inking and is easier to control than a sanding block.
I then cut out the embellishments and inked them with beige and brown inks to add to the vintage effect. I layered the lace on to the base with some brown gingham ribbon peeping through underneath some a touch of stronger colour.
I die cut a panel from a scrap of the lovely gingery polka dot paper from the CD and added the trimmed photo. I stamped an embellishment from the top on a further scrap of the same paper with my favourite flourish stamp from the Daisy Doodles stamp set (worth a look for the great variety of images in the set) and embossed it with Ranger Weathered Wood embossing powder before cutting it out. As you can see, stamping it on the same paper makes it look part of the panel really well.
I added the inked heart and some vintage buttons from my collection tied with cream embroidery floss.

Have a great day and keep warm.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall panel:
Crazy Amigos Challenge - Anything But A Card
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Travel - Vintage Style

Good morning everyone, it's the start of another week so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. It's the last of Val's fabulous Vintage challenges and this week the theme is Travel.
For my inspiration I decided on a very vintage style of traveling about - travel by bicycle. Hands up those who are now singing the song going through my head - you can probably guess it's Bicycle by Queen!

 I stamped the background paper starting with the swirl image from the Oxford Impressions steampunk set with Archival coffee stamping on 4 sides. I then inked the paper with Shabby Shutters Distress ink and stamped on the Hobby Art harlequin design with Crushed Olive. I then inked round the edges with VersaColor cinnamon ink and distressed the edges with an emery board, inking with dark red.
I stamped the vintage lady cyclist with the same coffee ink and coloured her with inks and Promarkers before cutting her out and adding her to the background panel with foam tape. The final touch was to stamp the London text from the steampunk set with the coffee ink.

I'm hoping this post pops up as scheduled as I'm now rushing around making the hopefully final preparations for a workshop I'm running this morning making Christmas cards which I'll be sharing my examples for later this week.
Have a great Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Stampin' Sisters In Christ - Something Handmade (my background paper)
Allsorts Challenge - Inspired By A Song

She Was Born To Dance

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good weekend with some sunshine which we had here although there is a distinct Autumn chill in the air now so I'm all layered up so I don't have to put the heating on.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this fortnight our theme is Alter Something so I took the opportunity to transform a white washed wooden heart that I bought on a trip to Arundel in one of my favourite shops called Sparks Yard. I also wanted to use a set of stamps by Lindsay Mason that I acquired when I went to The Craft Barn in June - her Off The Wall collections are really quirky and I fell in love with this one as well as another which will be appearing on here very soon.

The pic underneath shows the before and I painted the heart with several coats of pink acrylic paint before stamping on it with my Millefiori Stamping Technique (link on side bar) using pink and lilac inks with the Rubber Stamp Tapestry summer mums set of peg stamps.
I then stamped Arabella, the butterfly and text from the set with black ink on white card and coloured the images with various Promarkers. I cut them out to leave a narrow white border.
I used a Paper Artsy stripe stamp and black ink to make the striped border, colouring the white spaces with a lilac Promarker and glued this to the heart with a black lace border created with the Tim Holtz vintage lace die set.
I added some Marianne Design die cut flourishes cut from black and lilac card and coloured the text with a blossom Promarker.

The Design Team have made some absolute stunners for your inspiration so do hop over for a peek. The results for the last challenge will be out on Tuesday and I have to say we've had some amazingly creative and gorgeous entries proving the good things definitely do come in small packages.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my Heart Hanger
Stampin' For The Weekend - Feeling Floral
Totally Papercrafts - For A Child
Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Anything But Square
Inky Impressions Challenges - For A Child
Anything But A Card Challenge - Anything But A Card

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hello everyone, has my title got you singing lol. This week the challenge over Polka Doodles is Inspired By Song Titles and because I'm still in Christmas card mode at the moment, I decided on my favourite Christmas song for my inspiration. It usually is dreaming too as being right on the south coast we never get that much of the white stuff.
Here's the card I have to show you which has another snowman as I'm a big fan of these rather cute chaps.

This lovely chap together with the tree, sentiment and gorgeous grungy snowflake paper are all on the latest Polka Doodles Here Comes Christmas CD.
I inked the edges of the paper with the rather appropriate Polar Blue VersaColor ink and added to the card with a white panel embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflake folder, some blue glittery card and some snowflakes in various sizes punched from white glitter card. I inked the edges of the sentiment which I die cut with a Papermania die and the edges of the snowman and tree after cutting them out.

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

Challenges for my card:
Paper Crafting Journey - My Sentiment Exactly!
Paper Play - Choose A Holiday

Meet Mr Frosty

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a good week so far and I'm here today with a little cutie to show you that really is very easy to make and could either be a card for a special someone or a Christmas decoration if you can't bear to part with him after you've made him up - that would be me I think! He's my project for today over at the Studio 12 Creative Team blog as he's made from the gorgeous image on the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist.

To make Mr Frosty, all I did was print out the gorgeously cute snowman his actual size (he's about 19cm tall) on sturdy white card. I printed him once as he is and the flipped the image in Photoshop Elements to make the back.
I cut both of the snowmen out leaving a tab at the top of the front one's hat to attach him to the back. I then printed out a couple more images on thinner card and then decoupaged his head and clothing from one and just the hat, scarf and carrot nose from the other. All elements were attached with foam tape and I then inked the outer edges with a smoky blue ink.
How easy is that!

Don't forget to catch Dee on Create and Craft on Saturday where you'll find loads of inspiration as well as a chance to get your hands on a copy of the fabulous Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Linking up to some challenges:
Creative Craft Challenge - Anything Goes
Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes
The Cutie Pie Challenge - Shaped Cards

Little Angel

Hello folks, Monday is here again and hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm here today with news of the next of Val's Vintage challenges over at Make My Monday which this week has the theme of Vintage Childhood.
I've gone rather girly for my inspiration with a gorgeous collage stamp from Crafty Individuals.

The sweet little angel is CI-062 and I've stamped her with Archival coffee ink and coloured her with Promarkers and inks.
I made a background paper with Crafty Individuals background stamp CI-258 stamped several times with Victorian Velvet Distress ink and then sponged with Tattered Rose. I tore the edges to distress them and rubbed them with Old Rose VersaColor ink.
I used a scrap of a further handmade background paper made by stamping a Clearly Inspired Stencil Flowers image with pink and green ink, sponging with Antique Linen and spraying with pink and gold  glimmer mists. I tore the edges and inked with old rose as before.
I inked a doily with pink ink and assembled the card as you see, adding some text cut out from the background stamp, stamped with coffee ink.

The Design team have made some gorgeous creations for your delight so do pop over for a look. We had some fabulous entries last week and can't wait to see what you create this time.
Have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Challenges for my card:
Jellypark Challenges - All About The Children
Sugar Creek Hollow - Pretty In Pink
Scrapper's Delights Paper Crafts - Make Your Own Background Papers
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Joanna Sheen Challenge - So Sweet

A Joyful Christmas

Hello folks, the weekend is here and don't know about you but I had a very busy week with family stuff this time.
I had an SOS call from my sister who had a nasty bite from an unknown bug which got infected and made her arm swell up (her youngest said she looked like Popeye after the spinach!!!) and she ended up in hospital having intravenous antibiotics to clear it. She also ended up on the geriatric ward (the only space available) so I went to visit her to try and cheer her up. She's home now thank goodness and catching up on lost sleep.
I also had to sort out my younger daughter who hasn't yet gone back to uni after she had emails and phone calls from her tutor and the head of the fashion department at Kingston as the 2 girls from Cape Town needed looking after. You may remember her trip there earlier this year and these are the girls who won at the South African end. She went up to Kingston on Thursday and was lucky enough to go behind the scenes at London Fashion Week yesterday and is off to the Burberry show on Monday!!! I've gone an alarming shade of green lol
OK, excitement over and I have a card to show you today which I actually made for a couple of challenges just before my internet crashed so I wasn't able to post it in time.

The sweet little bird is one of my new Christmas stamps and is called Winter Bird and by Stampendous (isn't he gorgeous!). I stamped him with Archival coffee ink, coloured with Promarkers and then added snow with the DecoArt snow writer and sprinkled it with glamour dust.
I made a stripy background paper with my favourite Hampton Art scratch pattern stamp and Barn Door, Peeled Paint and Aged Mahogany Distress inks. I then made a red and a green holly paper using my quick inking technique (see sidebar for tutorial link) with Barn Door, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint inks. The holly is by Art Impressions.
I assembled the card as you see, added a kraft card doily made with a Marianne Design die and the sentiment is from the Tim Holtz Mini Holidays set - stamped with Aged Mahogany, cut out and sponged with Barn Door.
I was aiming for my favourite vintage look and think I've achieved it - or I hope so!

Have a lovely day,
Fliss xx

Challenges for my card:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Snowy
Raise The Bar - I Believe I Can Fly
Crimbo Crackers - Vintage
Just Keep On Creating - Christmas
Stampin' For The Weekend - Starting Christmas Early

Ice Cream Colours

Morning folks, a quickie from me here as I'm really busy this week but must tell you about the new challenge over at Polka Doodles today which is to use Ice Cream Colours in your creation.
As my favourites are coffee ice cream and raspberry sorbet, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to add to my Christmas card collection and here's what I made:

The sweet little robin and all the other papers and elements are from the Here Comes Christmas CD. I pinked the edges of the main background paper and central border and did a bit of matting with some toning glitter card for a bit of glitz.
Very simple and as I did say - quick!

Hope you have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Challenges for my card:
Cute Card Thursday - Christmas In September
Paper Crafting Journey - My Sentiment Exactly!

Gingerbread Bunting

Hello folks, I'm back again today with another project I made for Nikky as part of the Studio 12 Creative Team using the new and gorgeous Gingerbread Twist CD which is the second in the Picknix Collection.
This time I've made a Christmas decoration in the form of bunting (so trendy at the moment) which can easily be made longer to fit the space available and if like me you use pre-cut bunting blanks, it really is very easy.

My pre-cut bunting pieces came from that handy shop The Range (and only cost £1!) though it's quite simple to make your own with a template or even a die if you have one.
I made a template for the paper pieces I've covered the bunting with and was able to get 2 out of each of the papers I chose.
I then chose some of the pre-coloured gingerbread ladies and men from Nikky's gorgeous Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist then printed them out and cut them out, adding them to the paper covered bunting with foam tape.
I then threaded the bunting on to some red and white seasonal bakers twine with red buttons in between to add a bit of texture.
How about that for a festive make!

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Always and Forever

Hello again everyone, I'm back asd promised with my post for this weeks' challenge over at Make My Monday which is a day late due to my internet problems plus a bit of head scratching as not doing many cards of this sort, I couldn't think what to do.
The theme continues as Vintage and this week, Val has challenged us to make Vintage Wedding cards. The rest of the Design Team has made some gorgeous inspiration so do pop over for a look - I'm still not too sure about my creation so do tell me what you think!

The lovely image I've used is part of my new large stamp called Lydia's Journal by B Line Designs. I stamped with Archival Coffee and then coloured just the image part with a mix of Copics and Promarkers and cut her out. She does look a little like a vintage bride with her bouquet of flowers don't you think?
I then covered my card blank with a couple of Polka Doodles paper scraps from my bits box, trimming the leafy one with a Martha Stewart border punch and the grungy one with a daisy corner punch (Woodware) before embossing with the Cuttlebug Textile folder.
I made a panel for the image with cream card embossed with the Crafts Too vintage flowers folder, trimming the top edge to shape and swiping with beige ink.
I finished off with some pretty rose lace, a Polka Doodles die cut sentiment and some heart flourishes die cut with a Sissix die from some homemade lace paper (I made this by scanning strips of crochet lace with brown card behind and printing out on to parchment paper which gives a lovely textured look.

So there you have it and I'll be round to catch up as soon as I can - it's amazing how much you miss with even a few days without internet!!!
I'd also like to say a HUGE thanks to Jellypark Challenges as my cinnamon tea shadow box from a week ago made the top 3 of the Quench Your Thirst challenge - I'm chuffed to bits!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Challenges for my card:
Stamp and Create - Anything Goes
The Pink Elephant - Wedding/Anniversary
Dream Valley Challenges - Something Old, Something New (the paper scraps and Cuttlebug textile folder are the old and the stamp and rose lace the new)

Autumn Hedgerow

Hello folks, you might have been wondering where I've been the last few days and I've had a very frustrating time as our internet crashed on Friday and my hubby discovered that the router had lost all its' settings. It's played up since he restored them as our provider also had problems - technology is great until it stops working!!!
I'm here rather late with my project of this fortnights challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme chosen this time by Claire, being Good Things Come In Small Packages which gives lots of scope for interpretation.
I decided to make a small canvas (10cm square) with an Autumn theme as the weather is definitely starting to head that way and I do love that time of year being an Autumn girl by birth.

I painted the canvas with olive green acrylic paint and then stamped on a design from the Artistic Outpost Serenity stamp plate with Archival Coffee ink.
I then stamped the blackberries and leaves from the Joanna Sheen Gordiano Bird and Berries stamp set several times with the coffee ink. I stamped the La Blanche bird with the same ink and coloured everything with Prismacolor pencils and blended the colours. I cut them all out and assembled them on the canvas with double sided tape and foam tape to make a hedgerow scene.

I'd like to say a quick thanks here to everyone who entered the last challenge with my chosen theme of Floral and/or Handmade Flowers which had a staggering amount of gorgeous entries.

Our sponsor as always is Marina of Cottage Crafts and please do remember that it is a stamping challenge so no digital images are allowed. Hope to see you there!

I shall be back tomorrow with my also late DT post for the Make My Monday challenge (on a Tuesday - oops!)
Hugs, Fliss xx

Challenges for my mini canvas:
Anything But A Card Challenge - Anything But A Card
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Gingerloft Challenge - Birds of a Feather
Stamptacular Sunday - Anything But A Card
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Little Robin Redbreast

Good morning everyone, the weekend is nearly here and I certainly need mine after some wrestling with a very nasty VAT return this  week as well as having to do 3 others!
I did have a little respite though as it was lovely and sunny yesterday so I went to Arundel with my daughter and had a great time browsing the antique markets then had tea and cake at a tearoom where we saw a fat little robin eating someone's leftover scone.
This brings me neatly to my vintage card for this week's challenge over at Polka Doodles where our theme is What's the Word Bird? This is one of the samples made for Nikky for last week's Create and Craft shows and is the one I was most pleased with. So without further ado, here it is!

The papers and all elements on my card are from the new Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist which has the most beautiful papers, images and gorgeous script too.
A little serendipity came in here to as I printed out the holly frame using a new pack of my usual smooth card only to find that 2 days later, the ink was still wet as when I sponged on the Distress inks it smudged rather badly. Inspiration struck so I printed it out again and added clear detail embossing powder and heated - problem solved! I inked the frame with Distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Forest Moss and Pine Needles then cut it out and dry embossed the centre with the Cuttlebug holly sprig folder. I then rubbed Forest Moss over the raised areas.
I printed out the little robin, cut him out and rubbed Black Soot Distress ink round all the edges to make him really pop and added him to the frame with foam tape.
I added the holly panel to a red glitter card panel then assembled the card with panels of paper from the CD together with backing paper to which I added a brown faux stitched edge. The final touch was a sentiment border made by dropping the gorgeous script text into a Word document, printing it out and trimming the edges then inking them with Vintage Photo Distress ink.

Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
My Mum's Craft Shop - Anything Goes
Anything Goes Challenge - Early Christmas
Deep Ocean Challenge - Things With Wings
Tuesday Alchemy - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers - Winged Things

Vintage Fashion

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was rather busy as we had my parents in law's celebration for their Diamond Wedding Anniversary which will shortly be taking place and we all went out for a family lunch as my mother in law hasn't been too good health wise lately.
I'm here today with my DT contribution for the first challenge at Make My Monday after our August break. The September theme is Vintage chosen by team mate Val (I'm sure you know how much I love this!) and this week the theme is Vintage Fashion.

The lovely image I used is a stamp by Kanban and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink on white card then sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink before adding colour with Promarkers. I then cut the panel out with deckle scissors and added Vintage Photo DI round the edges. I attached the panel to a die cut mat of burgundy card.
I made my background paper with Victorian Velvet, Crushed Olive and Frayed Burlap Distress inks using the Julia Andrus mottled paper technique and then stamped on the rose corner design by Viva Decor with Memories Delicate Rose Chalk ink. I then added a little colour with a pink Promarker and the lettuce Adirondack marker.
I added the paper to a kraft card 8x8 blank and then embellished with a die cut corner (Marianne Design Anja), a scrap of doily from my bits box inked with Antique Linen and a stamped B Line Design butterfly coloured with Crushed Olive Distress ink.

I know I'm going to love the challenges this month as I so love vintage and it was a real breath of fresh air for me to create something which is totally stamped. The Design Team have made some lovely creations to inspire you and I can't wait to see your entries.

Have a great week,
Fliss xx

Some great challenges:
Simply Create Too - So Old/Vintage
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Vintage
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Cinnamon Tea Anyone?

Hello folks, hope you're all having a great weekend. I'm here today with news of yet another giveaway over at the Studio 12 Creative Team blog to celebrate the launch of the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist and if you haven't guessed from the name, it's all about Christmas!
The CD launched yesterday on Create & Craft TV and was a massive success as always - if you were watching you might have seen my creation below so do read on if you'd like to know how I made it.

I started off with a blank shadow box which I painted with blue acrylic paint. I then printed off one of the gorgeous holly design papers on to tissue paper. If you haven't done this before, it's quite easy as all you need to do is dry iron a piece of white tissue paper around 3cm all round larger than A4 then attach this to a piece of thin card, wrapping it round the back and securing with tape. Just be careful about getting it as flat as you can so it doesn't catch in the printer.
I attached the printed tissue to the frame with Ranger Glue and Seal and rubbed paint round the edges.
I then printed out a variety of the images inspired by the sentiment which says "Come to my table and share with me gingerbread, cookies and cinnamon tea" - I think this is just lovely and perfect for the kitchen.
I covered the inside of the frame with some of the gorgeous distressed look gingerbread man paper then added the cut out embellishments which I rounded out with an embossing ball tool before adding with foam tape.

The Creative Team have more really gorgeous creations to show you so do pop over and enter the giveaway, there's always a fabulous prize and it's very easy to try and win it.

Have a great day and see you tomorrow with news of the first September challenge at Make My Monday as we're back and raring to go after our Summer break and you're going to love the new challenge theme!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Challenges for my shadow box:
One Stop Craft - Time For Tea
Jellypark Challenges - Quench Your Thirst