Fairies Or Mystical

Hello there, I hope you all had a good weekend and are refreshed and ready for the week. I have to confess I'm not quite ready for mine as we have a rather sick bunny at the moment and yesterday was spent giving medicine followed by water by the teaspoon and finally managing to get her to eat a small bit of kale yesterday evening so hopefully she's on the mend.
Now to this week's challenge over at Make My Monday which has a theme of Fairies or Mystical chosen by Jacqueline.
Here's my inspiration which I hope you like.

I've used the gorgeous Hydrangea Fairy from Aurora Wings for my card as I love hydrangeas, my only regret being I just can't seem to grow blue ones in my garden only pink - sigh!
I printed her out on to thick, smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers and then added a little detail with Prismacolor pencils. I painted the wings with glitter glue for some sparkle. I then trimmed the image to a rectagular panel and added mats of lilac and mauve.
I covered my card blank with some hydrangea paper by Polka Doodles and made a trellis embellishment with a Martha Stewart punch and a scrap of green patterned paper. I added mauve underneath to bring out the colours.
I stamped the sentiment (my favourite by Flonzcraft) with Memento Grape Jelly ink on a scrap of green paper then die cut it to a circle and added a mauve scalloped mat.
I die cut a butterfly (X Cut) from purple card and then glittered it up. I also die cur 2 tiny butterflies with the same set and layered these uo with some glittery fabric butterflies from my embellishments box. I then finished assembling the card which turned out as you see above.

Have a great day and a good week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Corrosive Challenges - Colour Me Happy (Use your favourite colouring medium - no brainer here as for me it's Aquamarkers with Prismacolor pencil detail)
Crafting At The Weekend - Anything Goes

All At Sea

Hello again! It's challenge time for another fortnight over at the That's Crafty Challenge and this time we're All At Sea so anything beach or sea related is what we'd like to see.
This gave me the chance to ink up my Graphic 45 By The Sea so far unused stamps or at least it did when I remembered where I'd put them!

I got my mono printing plate out to make the background paper as I had nautical stripes in mind for what I wanted to create. I applied Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paints in London Bus, Baltic Blue and Snowflake in stripes with my fingers on the plate (very messy but giving a lovely grungy feel) and pressed on thin white card to pick up the colour. I was able to make several prints by spraying with a little water.
I stamped the lighthouse, text, shells and capstan on to white card with Archival black ink. I cut the lighthouse to a panel and added this to a blue mat. I then coloured the shells with Promarkers and inked the text and cut all the items out.
I cut a piece of my striped paper to fit the card blank then inked the edges with blue before sticking it on.
I cut a strip of printed paper and stamped on the smaller seahorse with Archival Fern Green ink and added the panel to a blue mat before sticking on the card in the lower half.
I added all the remaining elements as you see.

The prize is a £20 voucher for the online shop but you must be a UK resident to win so hope you can enter if you qualify - well worth it as the winner is picked at random.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

I Spy For That's Crafty

Hello folks, a very sneezy Fliss here today as I've had the worst hay fever I can remember for the last few days with extremely itchy eyes which have been driving me crazy! My sympathies to any fellow sufferers too as I don't normally get this when it's almost July.
I have a project today over at That's Crafty which will hopefully be up soon if it's not there yet as I was rather late pinging it through the ether to Laura this time.
It's the first of a series I wanted to do using my supplies for some steampunk themed creations having been inspired by some of the beautiful artwork Finnabair creates. Not that this is anything like that of course!

As you can see, quite a simple creation this time and you'll find all the details over at the blog - not many as I promise it is very simple and easy to make.

I'll be back later as we have a new challenge for you today too.
See you in a bit.
Fliss xx

Stencils And/Or Masks At Quirky Crafts Challenges

Hello there folks and first up is an apology for not visiting today as in common with many others I have that pesky reading list problem with just the latest post showing and clicking on view more to no avail! Let's hope normal service is resumed soon as it's so annoying when you want to visit!!!

Now on to the main reason for my post which is because I'm a guest designer at Quirky Crafts Challenges for the latest challenge having won second place in the quirky time challenge so thanks to Cazzy and the team for this.

I have 2 creations to share using images from 2 of the challenge sponsors and first up is a rather girly card using the cute Hannah from Nikki of Limited Runs:

I printed Hannah out on to smooth stamping card and coloured her with a mix of Aquamarkers and pencils.
I made the background using an ink applicator with Spun Sugar and Tattered Rose Distress inks. I then used Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 Stencils For Art Never Enough Hearts stencil with Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick inks to add the hearts round the top and side.
I used a Cuttlebug hearts embossing folder to emboss cream card and then tapped Spun Sugar on the raised areas to make the heart panel and die cut a pink doily heart with an X Cut die.
The sentiment is Flonzcraft and was stamped with VersaFine Spanish Moss ink. I did some mat layering and decorated with some of the hearts left from cutting out the doily.

Next up is something completely different using a rather quirky image from Paper Pretties called Graffiti who comes with several different sentiments. I was inspired by the sentiment Follow Your Rainbow to make this very bright card.

I printed Graffiti out on to smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers to produce a rainbow of colour on the paint flow and her skirt. I added the panel to a mauve mat.
I then made a rainbow stencil using a circle cutter to cut it out of thick card and used this to make a rainbow with Distress inks - I used Barn Door, Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves. I had to trim off the edges as my homemade rainbow wasn't quite perfect!
I added the sentiment to an arrow shaped mat of mauve card and added all the elements to a card blank I made from yellow marbled card.

Have a great rest of week and will be visiting once Mr Blogger has sorted himself out!

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Moon Gazing

Good morning folks and hope you all has a lovely weekend. It was very sunny here which was great as one of my nieces got married on Saturday and the day was beautiful so a lovely time was had by both families and all the friends.
There's a new challenge today over at Make My Monday which I chose the theme for (it's Anniversaries) as my hubby and I will be celebrating our 32nd Wedding Anniversary this week and I've made a rather different card for him inspired by our 2 little fur babies - Rosie and Dill, the grey Netherland Dwarf bunnies who are really my hubby's babies :)

I stamped the Alice Palace bunnies by Crafty Individuals with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink and coloured them with Aquamarkers then cut them out.
I made the background paper by using second generation stamping with VersaFine Spanish Moss and Crafty Individuals CI - 367 across the base. I made a moon stencil with a circle die and sponged Squeezed Lemonade and Faded Jeans Distress inks. I then coloured the remaining areas with Pan Pastel tints in blue, pink and lavender.
I die cut a heart from cream card with an X Cut nesting die anf stamped the meadow silhouette image with the green ink across it.
I stamped the Kaisercraft sentiment in the corner using second generations stamping and VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink for a softer effect then added the heart and bunnies to the card.

I hope my hubby likes it but I think he will!

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Parisian Melange For That's Crafty

Hello there everyone and hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been very busy but sadly most of it work so I'm looking forward to the weekend.
I have a project today over at That's Crafty which might need sunglasses as it's rather bright but if it's a dull day where you are it will at least add some warmth to the day.
Here it is and hope you like it.

All the details are over at the blog if you want to take a look to see how it came about.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A big thanks to Alison aka butterfly for heading me in the direction of Our Creative Corner's current challenge which is Flaming June so hope it's OK if I enter ladies!

Pretty In Pink

Morning folks, a bit of a pink alert here as I think my creation for today has the most of that colour that I've ever put on one of my creations - I think I went a bit overboard!
The reason for the pink is today's new challenge over at Make My Monday which was chosen by our former team member, Jan, and is Pretty In Pink.
I've used my favourite fairy stamp for my card which is a Faerie Poppet image by Christine Haworth and I think she's rather adorable.

I'm sure you can see what I mean by all the pink now!

I stamped the little fairy on to smooth cartridge paper with Archival coffee ink and then coloured her with Aquamarkers adding detail with Prismacolor pencils. I then trimmed the image to a square panel and added mats of pink and pale green.
I made the background paper by painting a square of watercolour paper pink then embossing it with a Crafters Companion trellis folder. I then swiped it with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid and Galaxy Gold inks for some shimmer. I stamped some tiny peg flowers and hearts in some of the trellis debossed areas.
I then die cut a doily (X Cut) and a butterfly (Cheery Lynn) from fuchsia pink card and made a double layer for the butterfly by tracing round the die on lighter pink card and cutting it out.
I stamped the birthday sentiment (Flonzcraft) with Memento Lilac Posies ink and hand cut it out, adding a pale green mat also hand cut.
I assembled the card and finished off with some pink gems.

Have a great day and a good week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Come and Get It Challenges - Fairy Fantasy
Dragonfly Dreams - Things With Wings
Feeling Crafty Challenge - One For The Girls/Ladies
Quirky Crafts Challenges - Fairy Ring (Sparkle and Sentiment in my case - thanks Cazzy!!!)

The Birds

Evening all, guess who was so tired yesterday she totally forgot to schedule her post for the new challenge over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog - oops!
The theme for this fortnight is The Birds so you can make anything you like as long as there's some stamping and a bird somewhere.
Here's my inspiration using a favourite IndigoBlu bird stamp along with the details on how I made the background.

I wanted a fairly vintage style creation so I made a fairly shabby style background using an ink applicator to apply a patchwork effect of subtle shades of Distress inks in a repeating fashion. I used Wild Honey, Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive and Tattered Rose starting with the lightest shade and building up.
I then used second generation stamping with the IndigoBlu Dinkie Vintage Flourish and Forest Moss Distress ink to make a frame around the edge of the inked paper. It's very forgiving as you can just carry on overstamping until you create an effect you like. If you do as I did, you'll end up with 2 decorated papers for the price of one as if you look below you'll see my stamp off paper and I know I'll be using it soon as I think it turned out looking rather good.

I stamped the IndigoBlu bird image on smooth stamping card with Archival Coffee ink and added colour with pencils (Spectrum Noir pencils are rather good). I then stamped around the edges of the panel with the flourish stamp and Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink for a subtle textured effect.
I distressed the edges of the panel with scissors and glued it to a piece of corrugated packaging (liberated from the office recycling) left au naturel as it goes so well with my kraft card blank.
I then distressed the edges of the background paper and added it to the card, gluing the bird panel on the left side.
I stamped the text from the Artistic Outpost Typography set with Archival Olive ink on a scrap of card, stamped on the flourish with the lemon ink, distressed the edges and added to a distressed mat of recycled brown paper before gluing to the card.

I hope you can join in with the challenge if you live in the UK as the prize is a £20 voucher for the online shop which has tons of fabulous crafty goodies to see.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

The Writing's On The Wall

Good morning everyone and welcome to my first post today which is to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty which is a rather bold and graphic creation in bright colours.
Here's a sneak peek and you'll find the whole project over at the blog as usual if you'd like to pop over to see it.

Have a great day and see you later on.

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Red Sail At Sunset

Morning all and hope you all had a lovely warm weekend as we did here on the sunny South Coast. It was so lovely to have sunshine and get out in the fresh air for a while.
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday with a theme chosen by teamie Suzi B which as a certain day is fast looming is sure to be popular - For The Males In Your Life.
For my inspiration I've made my first proper attempt at a scenic card with a Stampscapes set with a nautical theme which I chose because the men in my family have a love of the sea.

I stamped the lighthouse first and masked it to stamp the cove image and then the yacht, stamping all the images with Archival Watering Can ink.
I added some colour with Aquamarkers and then used the sky textural stamp all over with Adirondack inks in Denim, Butterscotch and Cranberry. It really is a fabulous stamp for adding textured detail.
I simply added a navy and an orange mat before sticking all the layers to my card blank.

Have a great day and hope you can join us.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

I'd like to enter my card in the current challenge at Craft A Scene too as happily it's By The Sea - serendipity strikes!

Shades of Grey For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, hoping you've all had a good week so far and are looking forward to the weekend as I am as my back is still playing up and I have to be very careful what I do at the moment to stop it hurting when I move in the wrong direction - sigh!
I have a project today over at That's Crafty which is the first page in my new journal - the one I altered the cover of a couple of weeks ago and it's my experiment with neutral monochromatic shades of grey and I promise, nothing to do with those infamous books - tee hee!
Here's a sneak peek and you'll find the whole creation over at the blog with all the details.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Time For A Wedding

Good morning everyone and welcome to my first post of the week which is to let you know about the new challenge today over at Make My Monday and the theme chosen by Laura is Weddings.
This gave me the perfect opportunity to get a little ahead with a card for one of my nieces who is getting married in a couple of weeks. Unusually for me I've gone clean and simple for my card as I wanted something quite modern for the happy couple.

I die cut 2 hearts from gold and kraft card using an X Cut folk heart nesting die. I then used the Memory Box cherish border to die cut borders from kraft and cream cut and added portions of these to the die cut hearts.
I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment with Archival coffee ink directly on the card blank. I added the hearts to the card and finished off with a cherub button embellishment, cutting the shank off with my trusty Tim Holtz scissors.

Have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Little Sophistication

Hello folks from a rather sorry for herself Fliss. I've finally managed to start wearing my left contact lens again although not all day yet as after 2 weeks without, I have to build up again over a few days as my lenses are gas permeable due to my being blind as a bat without :)
I've now put my back out somehow so am currently hobbling about and have to be careful not to make any sudden moves in the wrong direction - sigh!
Anyhow, enough of my whingeing and on to a card I made the elements for a while back and only just got to assemble. This is for the birthday of one of my nieces and as the title says is quite richly coloured and I think fairly sophisticated.

The rather sassy lady is another of Mitzi at Aurora Wings's beautiful digital images and apologies to Mitzi here if my interpretation is not quite as she intended as I couldn't quite decide if she was wearing a head-dress but decided that she was - artistic license! I printed her on to smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers, adding detail with Prismacolor pencils. I trimmed the image to a panel and heat embossed the edges with Cosmic Shimmer tarmished gold embossing powder. I added some gems to the dangling part of the head-dress.
I then made some embossed panels - a gold one embossed with an Anna Griffin folder and some red textured paper embossed with a floral Darice strip folder. I then rounded opposite corners with a corner rounder punch.
I made some embellishments - a corner using a Tonic corner die and bronze card, a a butterfly from the same card used a Cheery Lynn die, a trellis cut from mauve card using a Cheery Lynn die and a round bronze card doily shape.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a metal medallion, some gems and a stamped, matted sentiment (Hero Arts) to finish.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Fliss xx

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Aurora Wings Challenge 3 - Butterflies
My Time To Craft Challenge - No Designer Paper
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Layer It Up
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge - Embossing