Quirky Spring Flower Tag

Hello again, I'm back with a rather quick post to share a tag I finally managed to finish off this evening as it's been in the making all week!
I wanted to enter the Rubber Dance challenge with the theme of Everything Spring and as I haven't yet got my inky mitts on any more of the lovely stamps I ended up having to improvise and make my own flowers with paper I stamped on with the stamps I actually have.

As you can see it's very bright and rather quirky in style!

I coloured some card with pink, orange, yellow and green paints and then stamped on circles from the Round in Circles stamp set in toning shades of Distress inks. I then die cut a variety of circle shapes from the paper to use for making my flowers. I hand cut some leaves and stalks from the green variation.
I then coloured a manila tag with green paint, which I then stencilled and stamped (again using the Round in Circles stamp set).
I created the flowers from the various circle shapes and glued these on my tag with the leaves and stalks. I added some orange chiffon ribbon to finish.

I'm linking this up to the Rubber Dance challenge in the nick of time as I didn't think I was going to make it!

See you again soon.
Fliss xx

Foliage & Flowers at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for the new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which for the next fortnight has the theme of Foliage & Flowers so trees, leaves and flowers are the order of the day.
I've made a simple card with a stencil and some stamps on a kraft card blank.

I really love this pretty snowdrop stencil and used a layering technique in order to make it really pop on the kraft card. I first used DecoArt Americana Lush Foliage paint and white Gesso but as this wasn't quite a strong enough contrast, I layered Distress marker and pencil crayon over the top. I then drew round the outside of the sections with a Crushed Olive Distress marker.
I stamped the butterfly wings from That's Crafty! Lynne's Affirmations stamp set 1 on a scrap of yellow and orange Gelli print paper using Fern Green Archival ink and cut the image out, trimmimg to give the impression of a body in between the wings.
I stamped the text from Lynne's Affirmations stamp set 2 on the card with Archival Potting Soil ink and then added the butterfly to finish off.

There's a great prize of a voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner so all you have to do to be in with a chance is enter!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Running Away With Art For That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and sorry to be a rather bad vistor at the moment, I've been really busy with work and various issues as my hubby's business is in the process of changing into what's called an LLP and I've had a few things to deal with concerning HMRC which although it's technically under one banner still consists of different departments which need totally different action!
I'm also working behind the scenes on some crafty stuff I can't yet share although I can't wait to do that as I really love what I'm creating with.
Today is my day over at That's Crafty! Blog and I'm sharing another of my Hochanda samples, this week a rather grungy style one although it's still in my signature bright colours. Hope you like it.

I'll be back in a while as we have a new challenge for you today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog.
See you later,
Fliss xx

Mothers' Day

Hello everyone and Happy Mothers' Day to everyone too.

I'm thinking of my own dear Mum today as we lost her back in 2004 after a very difficult 4 year battle with Alzheimers Disease which I think is one of the most cruel things out there as it takes away what makes a person who they are.

In the case of my mother, the early signs were so slight they went un-noticed as eccentricities on her part - such as us wondering how she managed to kill off so many houseplants as she was constantly buying new ones. When it was noticed her condition deteriorated very rapidly until she no longer knew who she was and couldn't recognise family members.

I want to remember her now with the best photo I have of her which was taken when she must have been around 21 years old with her post World War Two hair and clothes.

Love you Mum and you're always with me.
Fliss xxx

Dream Time for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week despite the rather unsettled weather we've been having lately. I'm looking forward to the weekend as my girls are coming home for a day or so as it's Mothers' Day here in the UK on Sunday.
It's my day over at That's Crafty! Blog and I'm sharing another journal page also in rather a bold style which I hope you like. You'll find all the details on how I made it over there too.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and see you soon.

Fliss xx

Imagine for That's Crafty! and Hochanda

Hello everyone, hope you're all OK and have had a good week. Don't know about you but I'm really looking forward to the weekend.
If there are any early birds up and about, our lovely Neil is demoing some fabulous new goodies for That's Crafty! on Hochanda today at 7am and 11am so do try and catch a show if you can. It's on Freeview Channel 85, Sky 663 and Freesat 822.
I'm sharing one of the journal pages I made for the shows over at That's Crafty! Blog today and I think it's my favourite of the pages I made too as it's very bold and punchy in style. Hope you like it too!

You'll find all the details of how I created this over at the blog and you can see all of the amazing new stamps, stencils (including some 8x8) and journals over at the shop and on the Hochanda shows of course!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Psychedelic Journal Page

Hello everyone, I'm back sooner than expected as I managed to find a little spare time to rustle up a new journal page which you might need sunglasses for as it's very bright.
It was inspired by the current colour challenge over at Rubber Dance Challenge Blog and I decided to ink up my Rubber Dance Round in Circles stamp set for this as I'm sure those of you that regularly follow my artwork will know how much I love circles.
This rather psychedelic page was the result and I hope you like it.

I used my trusty Paper Artsy splodger to apply the paint (all DecoArt) to the page having happily just acquired almost the exact turquoise shade shown on the colour inspiration (see below) and just scraped the colours on to cover my page.
I then stamped on various circle images from the set using Ranger dye ink in Caribbean Coast and Wild Orchid plus a little stamping with Archival Watering Can.
I finished off with the the text from the Rubber Dance Something Wonderful stamp set using Archival Jet Black ink.

Hope you have a good week and see you again soon.
Fliss xx

Bling It Up! At That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog which has the theme of Bling It Up! so you can probably guess what we'd like to see for this one!
I've gone rather girly with my inspiration which is a postcard as I'm quite liking this particular surface at the moment (can't tell you why either!).

I covered the postcard (one of That's Crafty! white/greyboard substrates) with Paper Artsy Sherbet acrylic paint. I then used the hearts background and quatrefoil background That's Crafty! Dinky Stencils with Paper Artsy Orchid and Lavender paints to apply a pattern.
The result was a bit stronger than I wanted so I knocked it back with dry brushed gesso and added a few streaks of blue for interest.
I stamped the lovely Serena (one of Donna Gray's beautiful stamps for That's Crafty!) on mixed media paper with Archival Jet Black ink. I coloured her with paints using Paper Artsy Blush for her face and neck and her hair with DecoArt Glamour Dust paint in Celebration Pink (it's really blingy!).
I stamped her again directly on the postcard and then cut out the image on mixed media paper except for the curly element on her hair. I added gems to her hair and the heart and finished off with some Tim Holtz Big Chat stickers.

Hope you can enter as the prize is randomly drawn so all you have to do is enter!
Have a great weekend and see you next week.
Fliss xx

Making Room For Growth At That's Crafty!

Hello all, I hope you're all OK and have had a good week. I've been very busy again with work both my job and also on the crafting side so I'm glad it's nearly the weekend. My job is rather stressful at the moment as I'm working in the new office and I've been doing the most difficult job with records that are in rather a mess - I know it's my job but sometimes I wish it wasn't!
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! today and this week I'm sharing a very quick to make card which I hope you like.

As you can see, one of those lovely Dina Wakley ladies has come out to play as I love the positive message they send and this one is my favourite. You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual.

I'll be back in a while as we have a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and as usual there's a voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner.

See you in a bit.
Fliss xx

Be Great Journal Page For That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been extremely busy with work and crafting stuff which I can't share yet.
Last weekend was rather difficult too as my other half went with me to the optometrist, with me having to go to get a new left contact lens to last me until my cataract op early next month, he wanting to look at glasses frames to replace his. The optometrist insisted on checking his prescription as she hadn't done the one he took and he came out after nearly an hour with the news that he had suspected Glaucoma in his left eye!!! He now has to go and see my consultant!

I have my usual Friday post today over at That's Crafty! and this week I'm sharing a journal page that was actually easier to make than it might look. Hope you like it and you'll find all the details over at the blog.

It's actually very good inspiration for the current challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which has the theme of Just Words and if you enter there's a voucher for the online shop up for grabs!

Have a really fab weekend and see you next week.
Fliss xx