Shabby Chic At Make My Monday

Hello there from an exceedingly misty Woodstock (well, it is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!). I'm a bit late with this post as I'm away and have a rather dodgy internet connection but I wanted to let you know we have a new challenge today over at Make My Monday and you can probably tell I picked the theme as it's Shabby Chic which I'm sure you know how much I love.

Here's my inspiration which I hope you like as it's very vintage in style.

The background paper is a piece of rough watercolour paper which was coloured by pressing in Crushed Olive and Victorian Velvet Distress inks misted with water. I then used the same inks to stamp on a Hero Arts frond image.

I painted a panel of corrugated card with deep green acrylic paint and then swiped on some dusty pink when it was dry. I added the pretty vintage image (Dezinaworld) to the panel.
I glued the background panel to a pink card blank and added a central dry embossed border of pink card using the Cuttlebug Victoria folder swiped with gold ink. I then added a pink punched border over the top and glued on the corrugated panel.
I made a wire embellishment by twisting beads on to green wire to make a pretty spray which I glued on the card with a fabric flower and some Prima paper leaves to finish.

We spent a glorious day at Blenheim Palace yesterday which is a 5 minute walk from our hotel and I'll have some pics to share soon as the grounds are just gorgeous in their Autumn splendour and it was so warm and sunny it was more like September than November and was apparently the warmest November day on record!
We visited Oxford today and took in the dreaming spires, wandering in a slight daze among the incredibly beautiful architecture and went on a tour of the Bodiean Library where we weren't allowed to take photos and sadly the postcards don't do it justice so I will just have to keep the memory in my head - needless to say it was the perfect place to visit for someone who is often lost in a good book!

See you again soon with some of my pics.
Fliss xx

Handmade Embellishments

Good morning everyone and hope you're enjoying the long weekend and have some sunshine as we do here.
I'm here to tell you about the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which I picked and as I'm a bit of a DIY fanatic as I'm sure you know, I chose Handmade Embellishments and have to apologise in advance for my creation as I was very under the weather yesterday so it's not my best! Hopefully my mid week motivation will be more inspiring as I so wanted to do more than I have here.

As you can see, a very simple creation for me using some background paper from my bits box that was made using Distress inks and various stamped flowers.
The gorgeous collage image is by June of Dezinaworld and is one I printed out a while back and never got to use at the time but I think goes rather well with my background.
My handmade embellishment is the flower which I made by colouring some Tim Holtz Sketchbook tissue tape with a blue Spectrum Noir marker then pleated into a circular shape. I added some flower stamens through the centre and stuck the pleated shape to a white die cut flower to make it pop a bit more.
I finished off with a sentiment by Hobby Art stamped with Archival coffee ink, cut out and inked.

The Design Team have made some fabulous creations to inspire you - thanks so much for that ladies - so do hop over for a look.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Self Made Flowers
One Stop Craft Challenge - Furry Friends

The Dance Of Life

Hello folks, hope you're having a good week so far. I'm here today with the first of quite a few projects you'll be seeing over the coming week which all feature hearts - no guesses why that is lol
Today's project is a shabby chic, vintage style card which uses some of my favourite colours for vintage creations - burgundy and beige with of course, loads of texture.

The main vintage image on my card is from a collage sheet called Dance by June of Dezinaworld - some of you may remember June's hacking problems of a while back which forced the closure of her online store but I'm very happy to say that she's now in the process of rebuilding the store which you can find HERE. Well worth a look as there are already some gorgeous collage sheets there.
I made a background paper using Glimmer Mists in Vintage Pink, Emperor Gold and Olive Vine on beige card and then stamped on the flower (from a set by Time To Stamp called Glamour Girls from the Craft Fairy) with Crimson Red and Spanish Moss VersaFine inks. I then die cut the heart shape with a large Go Kreate die set. I inked the edges with a burgundy VersaColor ink pad.
I embossed a square of beige parchment card with a Papermania embossing folder then distressed the edges with an emery board and my fingers. I did the same with a slightly larger square of burgundy textured card and layered these to my card blank with some beige rose patterned lace.
I printed out the roses (from a rose postcard - The Graphics Fairy) in 2 sizes and cut them out. I stamped the sentiment (Penny Black 3641F full of life) with the crimson ink on beige card and cut this out.
I assembled the card as you see using both double sided and foam tape for depth.

I'll be back tomorrow with my project for That's Crafty - cue more hearts!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Sugar Creek Hollow -  Romantic Love
Deep Ocean Challenge - Love and Lace
Top Tip Tuesday - Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Crafty Cardmakers - Vintage Love

Victorian Romance At Make My Monday

Morning folks, Monday is here again so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. We're continuing with Suzanne's February theme of Romance and this week would like to see your creations inspired by Victorian Romance.
My card for this challenge was inspired by Victorian Valentine cards which quite often involved flowers and bright colours.

As you can see, my card is quite bright and the colours I chose came from the gorgeous cherub image which came from the wonderful Graphics Fairy.
I made my own background paper by partially embossing a square of pale lilac parchment card with a Papermania embossing folder and then swiping blue ink over the raised areas. I sponged the same ink on the flat side panel and stamped on a tiny Anna Griffin flourish with a darker blue ink.
I cut a large heart shape out of red card and embossed this with the same folder. I added the cut out cherub image and some roses from the Dezinaworld flower set. I inked the edges of the roses with dark purple ink.
I made a greeting panel with a Marianne Design die cut heart, adding a further rose and a computer generated sentiment which I cut out round the letters and then inked to soften the colour.

Don't forget that we have a wonderful sponsor this month in Marianne Design and here's a reminder of the gorgeous prize on offer.

Challenges for my card:
One Stop Craft - Create Your Own Background
C.R.A.F.T. - No Designer Papers (I made my own background)
Ruby's Rainbow - Vintage
Sisterhood Of Crafters - Valentine

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

The Key To Her Heart

Good morning everyone on a very dark, dull and cold day in the South of England. It's so dark that it feels like evening is on the way at 10.30 in the morning!
I'm here to share a project I've been working on for the last week in bits and pieces whenever I could find a spare few minutes. It's another collage as I really enjoy making those at the moment, largely because I can have a good rummage in my recycling box to find interesting bits to use.
Here's the finished artwork and underneath you'll find how it came about.

Here's what I used for the base

This is my favourite thing to use for a base as you can see from the second photo that it cut down into several interesting pieces. I just used a rectangle for my collage but the other pieces will be in use very soon.
I covered the base with a piece of torn edged vintage music score lightly inked with Spun Sugar Distress ink. I then added pieces of wide scalloped edge lace at the top and bottom to soften the effect. I punched holes at the top with my Cropodile and knotted ribbon through (the ribbon was from packaging on my pressies last week).
I stamped the large background (B Line Designs) on beige parchment paper and embossed with Ranger Tarnished Gold. I then sponged on Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive Distress inks. I tore the edges and attached across the centre.
I made a further panel by stamping a Chocolate Baroque background stamp (recently won as part of lovely Claire C's blog candy - lucky me!), embossed with pale gold and sponged with Shabby Shutters and Tattered Rose Distress inks. This was then torn around the edges.
I stamped the lovely Maude by The Stampsmith with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Judikins KromeKote card and tinted lightly with various Distress inks when it was dry. I then set this on the embossed panel, adding a silver key at the top attached with wire, a piece of chestnut velvet ribbon and a vintage jewellery piece.
I finished off with more lace at the bottom together with a jewelled butterfly and computer generated text. The final touch was the heart, hand cut from leftover music score, partially embossed and wiped with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink.
The wide lace, silver key, vintage jewellery piece and the butterfly all came from one of June of Dezinaworld's fabulous treasure bags and I have tons of things still to use.

I'd like to enter my collage in the following challenges:
The Stamp Man - Collage
The Stampsmith - Ribbons and Lace
Sugar Creek Hollow - Trash to Vintage Treasure
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Upcycling/Recycling

Thanks for looking.
Fliss xx

Send In The Clowns

Good afternoon folks, I hope you're having a good week so far. I'm here today with another just because piece of artwork which is a little different. It came about because I saw the gorgeous lady Pierette image on The Graphics Fairy's fabulous site and immediately wanted to make something with her. Judy Collins started singing in my head and this collage was the result.

As you can see, the image is really beautiful. I printed her out and cut her out then decided to add wings. The gorgeous butterfly that I used for these is from June of Dezinaworld's fabulous Butterfly PNG set which I love because it's so versatile. I printed the image out on beige parchment paper and cut the wings out.
I then made a balloon using this rather jolly clown face also from The Graphics Fairy. I simply printed it out and drew the balloon shape by hand and cut it out and added a red string.
I assembled the pieces on the pretty dotty paper from the Polka Doodles Paper Boutique Volume 3 CD printed on to beige parchment paper and glued to strong card.
I then altered a plain wooden frame by painting it with antique white acrylic paint and stamping on a checkered design by Polka Doodles from the Wonderland set with various Palette and Stazon inks. I then dry brushed with more of the white for a soft look. I added computer generated text coloured with inks and stamped then dry brushed.

Bye for now,
Fliss xx

A Contemplative Mood

Hello all and hope you've had a good start to the week. I wasn't actually going to do a post today but I came cross something (whilst looking for something else of course!) that I haven't yet put on here so I decided that today's the day to share it with you.
This is largely because I've been making samples with Nikky's gorgeous new mini CD, Pretty Sweet, which will be on Create and Craft on Friday and I'm now in a mood for making really pretty things so this is the perfect time to show you this little piece of artwork.

This started life as one of the chipboard pages from a Papermania bare elements chipboard album and I find these really useful for making little wall hanging pieces of artwork. They come in several different shapes with the holes already in them. I painted my scallop shaped piece with aqua acrylic paint and then stamped on flourishes from the Viva Decor My Paper World Floral Embellishments clear set (available from The Craft Barn) with Distress embossing ink and embossed with clear powder. I then painted over the top with the same colour for a subtle textured effect.
The paper I used is Papermania Rose Garden and I inked the edges of a square with pink ink and then added a double border of paper scraps. I double mounted the gorgeous lady from the Dezinaworld Spring Ladies collage sheet on contrasting card and added her together with some pink pearls.
To finish, I added a layered paper and fabric flower and knotted pink ribbon through the top.

I'd like to enter my wall art in the following challenges:
Stamp With Fun - Sketch

Cupcake Inspirations - Photo Inspiration

Creative Stamp Friends - Anything But A Card
My Craft Spot - Ribbon

Before I go, I'd like to welcome Rebekah to my blog. Lovely to see you and hope to get to know you soon.
Fliss xx

Up Up And Away

Hello and welcome to this week's challenge at Make My Monday. We're continuing with the September theme of Steampunk chosen by Cath and this week the added extra is to use some Metal on your creation.
Although I do have a few metal embellishments, I don't have any metal sheet in my stash so I decided to improvise and here's the result:

My collage started off as a frame mount which I stamped all over in black with the Artistic Stamper cogs stamp. I then inked over the top with Wild Honey, Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks and I have to admit I added a little too much of the orange - my only excuse for this is that I was shouting at the TV in annoyance at the time as I was watching the X Factor auditions!!!
I then embossed a piece of aluminium foil backed with card with the Cuttlebug clockworks folder and coloured this with Olive Green, Midnight Blue, Timber Brown and Jet Black StazOn inks.
The glamorous lady is by The Graphics Fairy and her fabulous top hat is from the Steampunk 3 Collage Set by the lovely June of Dezinaworld. I cut these out, rounded them out with a large embossing ball tool and added them with foam tape.
The gorgeous hot air balloon that you see here started off as a fabulous pencil drawing by my daughter Sarah (studying a Fashion degree) which she drew to make a bookmark and matching card for her Dad for Fathers Day. I altered the size a little to fit my collage then added colour with Distress inks, cut it out and embossed it with clear powder to add some definition.
The finishing touch is a Dymo text label.

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge as the entries for the monochrome challenge were just fabulous. For inspiration, look no further than the challenge blog as the other DT ladies have come up with some stunning creations!

I'm entering my collage in the following challenges:
Creatalicious - Anything Goes
Papercraft Star - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Song or Film Title Inspired (Up Up and Away)
Gingerloft - Vintage or Distressed
Quirky Crafts - Anything But A Card
Scrappy Frogs - Vintage
Linking to The Graphics Fairy Brag Monday too.

I'll be back on Wednesday with a tutorial for Make My Monday for the current theme of metal.
See you then!
Fliss xx

Steampunk ATCs

Good morning everyone, another week is here already and I hope you all had a good weekend whatever the weather threw at you - very hit and miss in Sussex with both rain and sunshine.
We have a new theme for you over at Make My Monday and this month it's Cath's turn to choose and the theme is Steampunk. Each week there is a new theme under this heading and this week we would like to see some ATCs - being small this will hopefully start you off gently.
I was both excited and apprehensive when I saw this theme as it's a style I very much admire but I had yet to take the plunge and create something. My craft space is currently covered with cogs, gears and all things machine like, much to my hubby's delight - he's been very enthusiastic about my creations which is a first!
As I couldn't quite decide what to do, I ended up with 3 little pieces of art which I hope you like:

 

Ingredients Used:
Glamorous Lady - Time To Stamp, Buildings - Crafty Individuals, Globe - The Graphics Fairy, Gears - Cuttlebug Clockworks, Ink - Wild Honey, Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap Distress inks, Promarkers

Ingredients Used:
Weather Forecast stamp - Paper Artsy, Flying Boat - The Graphics Fairy, Ink - Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Vintage Photo Distress inks, Martha Stewart border punch

Ingredients Used:
Balloon - Dezinaworld, Airman and Globe - The Graphics Fairy, Cuttlebug Clockworks folder, Ink - Wild Honey and Vintage Photo Distress inks, Promarkers

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with and do pop over to the challenge blog as the Design Team have a lot of gorgeous inspiration for you.

I'm entering my creations in the Paper Creations Ink Challenge - Vintage or Distressed Look.

Have a good week,
Fliss xx

Vintage With Lace And Pearls At Make My Monday

Hello all, it's a beautiful sunny Monday and we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. It's the last one of my Vintage theme for July, this week with the twist of Lace and Pearls on your creation.

I've decided to use a screen shape card for my creation and stamped this with an old favourite set of stamps I have from Clearly Inspired bought ages ago from L B Crafts. It's called Stencilled Flowers and I just love the roses in the set. I stamped them with Vintage Photo and Tattered Rose Distress inks then sponged Old Paper over the top.
I added a strip of cream crochet lace across the bottom as I love the texture this brings. I then added a pretty lady from a Dezinaworld collage sheet which I cut out and put on with foam tape. I added pink pearls across the bottom.
I then stamped the Penny Black text with VersaFine Vintage Sepia and over stamped this with a B Line Designs lace duo stamp with the Tattered Rose ink. I then cut this into a heart shape using my own template and sponged Victorian Velvet Distress ink round the edges. I added some pink pearls and stuck on the card with foam tape.
As a finishing touch, I added a butterfly cut from my vintage book of butterfly illustrations. I then inked the feet with the Victorian Velvet ink.

Thank you so much to everyone for your kind thoughts about my cold which actually took a turn for the worse at the weekend as it went to my sinuses and has given me a nasty chesty cough too. I'm feeling a little better this morning so hope it will be gone soon.

Hugs, Fliss xx

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Sparkles Forum - Elegance and Lace
2 Sisters - Anything Goes
Paper Cutz - Anything Goes
Crafts4Eternity - Shaped Cards

Dezinaworld Celebratory Giveaway

Hello everyone on very very hot, thundery day. We've got a little sea breeze thank goodness as I popped out earlier and felt the heat pressing down on me so I should everyone inland is suffering a bit.
Just a quick post here in the middle of DT work to let you know about my friend June of Dezinaworld's giveaway if she reaches 500 followers. She's almost there now and if she reaches 550 then she'll be awarding her fabulous giveaway to 3 lucky followers.
Do pop over for a look as the giveaway prize is some absolutely stunning collage sheets and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is a post about it like me and add your blog link on June's post. You also have to be a follower of course - how easy is that!

Good luck June!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Dreamer

Good morning everyone, hope you're having a good week so far. I'm still in the middle of a pile of accounts work as the UK tax deadline is next Monday but I managed to get a couple of hours to myself yesterday afternoon so decided to do some crafting to relax my brain.
I also have several pieces of good news to share on the crafting front, the first of which was an email on Tuesday from the lovely Jill of The Stamp Man to say that I'm the very lucky winner of 2 sheets of unmounted Non-Sequitur stamps - yippee, how fantastic is that!!!
The second was when I popped over to The Craft Barn blog yesterday for a peek at a tutorial on using paper scraps (as my last card involved this) and found that not only is the tutorial fabulous, but that Michelle has used one of the flower stamps I designed - yay! You can see the tutorial if you click HERE and it's well worth a look as Michelle's use of her scraps is so creative.
The third piece of news is that this morning I discovered that my scraps card of the last post has been given a Ginger Gem Award so I really am on cloud 9 at the moment!. Thanks so much gingers, this means such a lot to me.

Now on to the piece of artwork I made yesterday which is actually in response to June of Dezinaworld's Spot Prize Challenge Beneath The Waves. Sadly, my glue took ages to dry and daylight went yesterday so I couldn't take photos until this morning so my entry is too late.
I have it here to show you anyway and happily this week's Wednesday Stamper is Inky Backgrounds, so I think this qualifies for that - you should see my inky fingers!!!

I decided to make a canvas and the background for the gorgeous vintage mermaid picture is made from a textured paper towel. I swiped it with Impress dye inks in shades of blue and green which were originally not as blended but when I glued the towel to the canvas with gel medium this caused the colours to mix with each other a lot more (and took a while to dry!)
I then stamped on the background with a flourish stamp to imitate seaweed. The stamp is from a clear set by My Paper World - Viva Decor which is available from The Craft Barn. I stamped it with acrylic paints in green, brown and bronze.
I tore the edges of the mermaid picture and then embossed them with copper and rust. I made the flowers to echo those in her hair by die cutting crepe paper (you can cut several layers at once) with a Nestabilities Blossom die. I layered up several flowers inked in pale yellow and green, scrunched them and secured with a brad then swiped them over Distress ink pads in Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey.
I made the "seaweed" fronds by die cutting more crepe paper with a Sissix flourish die, inking with Vintage Photo Distress ink and embossing with a little clear powder. The flourishes curled a little and went translucent in places which give (I think) quite a realistic effect.
I'm really sorry to have missed your deadline June and will hopefully have more time next week.

Thanks for looking
Fliss x

White Lace and Promises

A really quick post from me here with my last minute entry for Gingersnap Creations GC73 Chestnut Theme Challenge - Gothic which closes very shortly.
My entry was inspired by a favourite character of mine, Miss Havisham from David Copperfield as you'll probably realise when you see this.

The rather gothic lady here is an image from June at Dezinaworld who was originally red cloaked but I altered her in photoshop to make her look gothic and grey.
The background paper uses a B Line Designs stamp SE125K and was stamped in VersaFine Smokey Grey. I then sponged on Pumice Stone Distress ink and embossed the panel with the Cuttlebug textile folder.
I added dark grey pearls. a white flower with a pearl centre and computer generated text to finish.
I hope you think she looks gothic enough.

The Witching Hour

Good morning everyone and we actually have some sunshine today. Hope you have too.
I'm in spooky mode again with another Halloween card which I'm getting rather addicted to making at the moment.

This time I decided to make the card in a Gothic arch shape as I think it fits the spooky theme perfectly. The card front is made from some gorgeous grungy spiderweb paper from the Polka Doodles Halloween download bundle and I've used another of the papers to mat the witch image panel.
The beautiful witch, together with her black cat and the pumpkin are from June at Dezinaworld's Halloween collage set. The text is computer generated and I then coloured the words with a Promarker very appropriately called Pumpkin.
I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Step Away From The Square
One Stitch At A Time - Spooky Halloween Anything Goes
Simon Says - Halloween
The Shabby Tea Room - Vintage Halloween + Photo Inspiration

Forever Autumn

Morning everyone on a wet and blustery day. Definitely weather for ducks at the moment!
I have a very warm Autumn shaded card to share with you as the colours are a real favourite of mine being an Autumn girl by birth.

The leafy background paper was made using my slight variation on Sir Tim's Blended Batique technique which you can find in his fabulous Compendium of Curiosities and the only thing I added is some colour to the leaves before the final step. I used Distress inks (what else!) in Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door and Fired Brick for those glorious Autumn shades.
I then stamped the same leaf (Personal impressions) several times on parchment paper and embossed them with Ranger Antiquities Rust powder. I sponged on Adirondack inks in Terracotta, Cranberry and Red Pepper. I cut them out and because I used parchment paper (Southfield Stationers) they curled up nicely like fallen leaves.
To make the card, I used one of the beautiful images from the Dezinaworld Autumn collection which has lots of gorgeous autumn shaded images and backgrounds.
I'm entering this in the following challenges:
Dezinaworld Spot Challenge for the week - Autumn or Fall
Stampin' For The Weekend - Autumn Inspiration
Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Jack O Lantern

Hello everyone, don't like Mondays that much but we do at least have some sunshine today which is a surprise after a somewhat rainy weather forecast-glad it was wrong!
I have an entry here for the Macabre Monday HDH059 Dastardly Delicious Digis Challenge (really love the title) having already got out my spooky stuff this morning for another project when this popped up on my reading list on Crafty Chaos Susan's blog so I couldn't resist doing it.

Unusually for me there is no stamping involved here at all as the only spooky stamp I own at the moment is an image one so my digital collage sheets from Dezinaworld came to the rescue. I decided on the witch collage and then added legs and a hat to the pumpkin to make him look a liitle like Jack O Lantern who really gives me the creeps. I used background papers from the Polka Doodles Halloween Download Bundle which has some really great eclectic style papers which I'll be using on my next spooky creation.

Holiday Photos From Slovenia

Hello everyone, got back from my hols yesterday after a 4am start so was really tired and overslept this morning.
I've got a few photos to share with you of the absolutely beautiful Slovenia which is a little fairytale like in parts. Apparently 70% of the country is covered in forest and I can believe that as when we took off yesterday all I could see through the plane window was miles of trees. We stayed at Lake Bled which is quite a small lake and it's possible to walk all the way round in about an hour (if you don't stop for coffee and cake that is - the Slovenian people love their cake!)
Here's a picture of our hotel which was right by the lake with a gorgeous view of the castle opposite.

The hotel isn't that large but it had enormous rooms used for the restaurant, lounge and so on and free tea, coffee and cakes were served in the afternoon. Lots of walking needed after this!

This is Castle Bled which we could see from our hotel room window. We did climb up there on a path that would cause British Health & Safety to throw a hissy fit!

The lake has an island with a church and we were told that traditionally, if a couple get married there, the groom has to carry the bride up all of those 99 steps! I think this is my best photo too as I really love the way the church is reflected in the water.

This is the waterfall above Lake Bohinj which is the larger of Slovenia's 2 lakes. It may not look very big but the water streamed down around 70 feet and we had to climb up 553 steps to reach it. This made the island steps seem like child's play!!!

We visited the capital Llubljana and this is one of the famous bridges across the river and is called the Carpenters Bridge. We had lunch at the cafe just seen on the right hand side.

This is my hubby Andrew in a slightly angled photo as I was trying to avoid the lady sitting on the table behind! As you can see the river is not a very attractive colour, it really was that shade of green - ugh!

I couldn't resist taking these photos in the flower market at Llubljana which had stalls full of the most beautiful brightly coloured flowers and the lady in the top photo had lots of lovely garlands and posies for sale.

These are pictures of the last place we visited, the Vintgar Gorge which was in a narrow valley behind a mountain near Lake Bled. We caught the bus up to the gorge, walked through along rock pathways and wooden walkways and the most stunning scenery and walked back. This was difficult although it was broken up as we reached a church at the top of the mountain and to our complete surprise found a Pizzeria next to it!!! You can probably guess that we made a pizza stop before the rest of the journey back which was downhill but still very difficult as it was hot.

I can thoroughly recommend Slovenia for a holiday as it wasn't really very touristy and the people are really friendly and helpful. The scenery is really beautiful and has to be seen to be appreciated as my photos don't really do it justice.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next Polka Doodles challenge and also had a piece of very good news today when I was catching up on my reading list and found that I won last week's Spot Prize Challenge on Dezinaworld and have a gorgeous new collage set to play with so many thanks go to June for this as it was such a lovely surprise to come home to. If you haven't had a go at June's new style challenge, do pop over and have a look - click on the link above or the one on my side bar.

Sunshine All The Way

A very late post for me today in more ways than one as I need matchsticks to prop up my eyelids as I'm really tired and I'm going to be last past the post with my entry for Gingersnap Creations GCSP4 Once In A Blue Moon Challenge - CASE A Ginger.
I chose to CASE (Copy and Steal Everything) a beautiful card by Lynn Stevens of Trash to Treasure Art as it has a bathing beauty and gave me the opportunity to use one of the gorgeous images from Dezinaworld that I have in my ever growing collection. As I didn't have all the things that Lynn has used, I've improvised quite a bit to make my own version.

I used Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Barn Door, Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade for the background papers. The tiny sun is by Hobby Art and the shells by Rubbadubbado. The travel collage is by Inkadinkado and the compass by Debbi Moore. These were all coloured with Promarkers.
The corner pieces are made with sepia ink and Hampton Arts Scratch Pattern and were embossed to give texture.
I added computer generated text and a shell charm to finish.

Creative Frenzy!

Hello everyone, hope you're all OK and have good weather at the moment. I'm here today with a mega post to show you all the card samples for a class I taught yesterday in making quick and easy vintage style cards.
I made the pale backing paper myself by washing buff acrylic paint over a piece of watercolour paper and scanning it into my computer using Photoshop. I then adjusted the colour to make it a little paler and printed it out on to thin card. I adjusted the colour again until it was pink and printed out more copies.

The images on these 4 cards are all by June at Dezinaworld from the Spring Ladies collage sheet in the case of the first 3 and the Dance collage sheet the last.

The images of the rose, hydrangea, poppies and delphinium are all digital stamps by Teri of Delicious Doodles and her shop is well worth a visit for lots more gorgeous stamps.
The lace stamp is by B Line Designs and available from LB Crafts.
The corner and border stamps are by Viva Decor from a clear set of stamps available from the Craft Barn and incredible value.
The butterfly stamps, large and small, are by Hobby Art.
The script stamp is by Hero Arts.
The images on the last 3 cards are from June's Art Freebies blog.
The stamps used on the square patterned background papers are some I've had for many years and I have no idea what make they or or whether they are still available.
Hope you like looking at these as much as I liked making them as once I started, it was very hard to stop!

Dance

Here's my second post today with my entry for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge We Are Golden which is only just in time after a very busy week working on accounts. You can guess what I'd rather do!
For the challenge, Hels wants to see gold on your creation and my entry is the card here:

My first background was made by stamping B Line Designs SE125K Ribbons and Flowers Background on Southfield Stationers parchment paper (the old fashioned kind not the sort used for Pergamano) and embossing it with Ranger Tarnished Gold powder. I then sponged on Ranger Distress inks in Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive.
The second panel was made by embossing pale lilac card with the embossing folder from the Cuttlebug Ornamental Iron set and then swiping Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink over the raised areas. When this had dried, I sponged  some VersaColor Lilac ink in the spaces.
I stuck the panels to a gold card blank I made and put a piece of Laura Ashley Love Sonnet ribbon over the join. I printed out the golden ballerina from the Golden Collage Pack by Dezinaworld which I bought from my lovely friend June and then cut her out. I ran the Cool Grey 2 Promarker round the edges for definition.
I printed the text out from the computer, cut it out and then stamped on it using the background stamp and Khaki and Split Pea VersaColor inks. I then added a little Lilac. I assembled the card as shown, adding flowers secured with a gold brad and a gold border sticker from Anitas.