News and That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, this is my first post in a couple of weeks as the beginning of last week I was struck down out of the blue by a very nasty stomach bug which took quite a few days to clear and managed to completely upset my digestive system making it sensitive to caffeine, dairy etc etc so I couldn't eat what I would call properly until yesterday. I was so relieved to finally be able to drink tea as I really missed having a cuppa plus for nearly 2 weeks I was completely exhausted and lacking energy.

Today is the first day I got out of bed not wanting to crawl in again so I think I'm finally on the mend thank goodness.

On top of this we've had family drama as I got an emergency summons from my in laws on Wednesday afternoon and arrived to find my father in law on the floor with my mother in law who is now sadly suffering from dementia, crying and hovering around him. My father in law tried to get up but couldn't and didn't want me to call for help but I called an ambulance very against his wishes and both he and my mother in law were eventually taken into hospital (some 4 hours later!). The paramedics were really lovely and said he had to be x rayed as when they got him up he couldn't stand. It turns out he has a fractured hip and has to have a scan today to find out how bad it is. We're hoping it isn't bad as he's now 93 years old and surgery at that age is tricky.

Anyway, enough of my woes and I need to let you know I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today having missed last week due to being ill.

I'm sharing a trio of artist trading coins - the latest trend - with a fishy theme and if you'd like to see them all which are created with Magda's cute sea critters, please hop on over.

It will take me a while to catch up so I will see you as soon as I can.
Fliss xx

Bentley's Midnight Garden

Hello! I hope you've all had a good week and better than mine which has been rather busy with accounts stuff but thankfully that's nearly all finished for the moment.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and I've been using up some of my spray overflow scraps from last week's make to create another upright. This week the lovely Bentley has come out to play as it's a while since he made an appearance and I thought I should ink him up again.

Hope you like this sneak peek and you'll find all the details over at the blog as usual.

I've got a busy weekend as tomorrow we're off up to London to help my daughter Sarah move from her lodgings with a family to a flat she'll be sharing with 2 other girls and I know she can't wait as it's what she's wanted for ages but found that finding a flat share was worse than a job interview!!!

See you soon and have a great weekend.

Fliss xx

Animal Magic Part 2

Hello! I'm taking a sneaky break in the middle of some accountancy work to share my midway inspiration for the August challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which this month has the theme of Animal Magic.
I've created an underwater themed upright with some of Magda's cute water world critters and gone rather mixed media for this one as I wanted a very textured seaweed look. Hope you like it!

My first step was to apply texture paste all over the top panel and once it was try, I used matte gel to glue on some ripped and snipped crochet lace lurking in my stash - I knew it would come in handy some day! I then glued on some tiny 3D balls - mine are Powertex from my great class with Leonie Pujol back in April, but Prima do these too.
I next sprayed the surface with Aqua and Basil Flat Matte Sprays, allowing the colours to drip and run. As you can see, the crochet lace picked up more colour and popped out a lot more. I then used a stiff paintbrush to dab on green and turquoise shimmer paints for a bit of bling - sadly it doesn't show very well in the photo.
I die cut some "seaweed" from gelli papers in my bits box using Tim Holtz Garden Greens die set which is handy for more than gardens!
I stamped on the little fish from the stamp set several times using Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide as it's a lovely strong colour. I gave the fish eyes with a black Posca pen.
I then stamped all the other critters on smooth cartridge paper and coloured them with my Zig Clean Color markers, adding doodling with white and balack Posca pens, then cut the images out and glued them on with dimensional glue.
I finished off by spraying the base with the same blue and green matte sprays, adding some glass pebbles to it, then glued some glittery gems to the top section for a bit of bubbly bling.

Supplies:
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Water World by Magda Polakow
That's Crafty! Surfaces - MDF Jagged Edge Upright
That's Crafty! White Texture Paste
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays - Aqua and Basil
That's Crafty! Shimmer Paints - Green and Turquoise
Posca Pens - Fine Black and White
Distress Oxide Ink - Ripe Persimmon
Extras - 3D Balls, Ripped Crochet Lace, Tim Holtz Garden Greens Die Set, Glittery Gems, Glass Pebbles

There are some fab prizes if you enter so don't forget you have to be in it to win it!

Have a great day and hope the rest of the week is all you could wish for.
Fliss xx

Textured Blooms

Hello everyone from a rather wet and rainy South Coast. We've finally had rain here which went on most of yesterday and has certainly cooled the weather down as I've had to put a cardi on for the first time in about 6 weeks. I also slept very well last night thank goodness so hopefully that will continue as I've not had a good night for ages as I struggle to cope with the heat. I hope you're all OK and hopefully have cooler weather too.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! blog today and this week I've got an MDF upright mixed media style to share which uses something slightly unusual for the textured blooms on it. I hope you'll be intrigued to see how it came about.

You'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd like to hop over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and will see you soon.
Fliss xx

Moments of Magic Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello! It's still very hot and sunny and although we had quite a bit of rain last weekend, the ground was so parched I think only a week of rain will sort it out!
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! today and this week I have a collaged tag to share with a summery feel to it. Hope you like my sneak peek.

Have a great day and hope you can keep cool.

Fliss xx

Animal Magic at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello! I don't know about you but I can't believe it's August already! Don't know where the time goes these days and it seems like it goes faster the older you get!
As it's August, we have a new challenge starting today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and the theme for this month is Animal Magic so you can make anything you like as long as you have at least one animal of some sort on there.
My inspiration has 3 from one of Magda Polakow's cute stamp sets for That's Crafty! which I've used in a somewhat outside the box project. Hope you like it.

I've taken one of the quirky shrines for my base, using the tree stump one as I'm sure you all know how much I love nature themed artwork.
I assembled the shrine back, painting the inside with orange multi surface paint for a lovely warm glow.
I then used the larger tree bark stencil with texture paste to add a bark pattern on the front. The twiggy bits at the top being done by dabbing on paste and scratching a bark pattern with a cocktail stick as I found this easier.
When it was dry, I painted the bark with a mix of multi surface paints, using chestnut brown, red, green, orange and metallic bronze. I misted on water and allowed the colours to run a little. When the paint was dry, I glued the front to the shrine base.
I then wanted to add some interest to the tree stump and was inspired by a tree I saw on a visit to Petworth Park in June - here's the photo which is quite weird!

As you can see, it looks like there's a creature's eye peeping out of the knot in the tree so I decided to try and create a knot around the oval aperture in the shrine.
I drew around the oval removed from the front on a piece of mixed media paper. I then used this to construct my knot, drawing the shape and cutting it out then piling on texture paste which I added a pattern to with the cocktail stick. Once it was dry, I painted it with multi surface paints and glued it in place.
I took a tiny MDF heart which I painted red and glued this inside the shrine using a stack of leftover greyboard waste (from the clocks set). I added the text over the top which I stamped with black ink on mixed media paper.

I stamped some leaves using the leaf from Magda's set, stamping on paper painted green. I added more detail before cutting the leaves out and glued these in place.
I then took 3 of the new MDF ATCoin 2.5 inch rounds and painted these with green and teal multi surface paints to roughly approximate sky and grass, then added some pattern with the new Clouds & Hearts stencil designed by Magda using white multi surface paint.
I stamped the cute critters from the stamp set on mixed media paper, coloured them with Zig clean color markers and cut them out, gluing them to my painted rounds which I added to the top of the tree stump.

Aren't they cute!

The last thing I did was to brush 3D gloss gel over the tree surface for some added oomph.

Supplies Used:
That's Crafty! ATC Art Shrines Set - contains the 4 new shapes including this one and the 2.5ins rounds
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Baby Bear and Friends by Magda Polakow
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - The House Collection by Melina Dahl
That's Crafty! 8 x 8 Stencil - Clouds & Hearts
That's Crafty! Texture Paste
That's Crafty! 3D Gloss Gel
That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints - White, Chestnut Brown, Red, Orange, Green, Metallic Bronze, Teal
Black Archival Ink
Mixed Media Paper
Zig Clean Color Marker Pens

I hope you can join us for some lovely prizes as you have to be in it to win it!
Have a great day,
Fliss xx