Something Beginning With An F

Hello everyone, I'm back from my holiday to Lake Garda with a slightly late post for our new challenge today over at Make My Monday mostly due to a dodgy internet connection over the last day or so.
I'd like to say welcome here to our new DT members Amy, Martina and Shawna and a big welcome back to Caz who has returned after a long break. Lovely to have you with us ladies and you certainly rocked Marina's chosen theme of Something With An F which if you hop on over to the blog will show you there are loads of options for this one.
My inspiration is the card for my mother in law's birthday tomorrow and is floral in her favourite shades of pink and green.

As you can see, a fairly simple creation for me as I wanted to showcase the gorgeous gerbera daisy flower die by Susan Tierney Cockburn for Sissix. I die cut the flower section from 2 shades of pink card and sponged and stippled the petals with Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry Distress inks. I then used several embossing ball tools to score, bend and shape the inked petals.
I die cut the stamens and flower centres from deep red and grey card and shaped these with the embossing tools before gluing all the flower sections together. I then used Cosmic Shimmer Twinkles by Phill Oliver in Decadent Oak to add dots to the flower centre.
I die cut 2 large and 2 small leaves fron 2 shades of green card, stippling these with Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress inks, scoring and shaping as before with the embossing tools.
I added a strip of pink and green K and Co paper to my white card blank then glued on the flower and leaves.
I finished off with a Flonzcraft sentiment stamped on pale pink card with Archival Olive ink, matted on deep red paper, corner trimmed and added to the patterned paper panel.

Ciao for now and will be round to visit as soon as I can.
Fliss xx

Spring Picture Inspiration At Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you've had a lovely Easter and haven't eaten too much chocolate! I've managed to restrain myself so far as we only just finished all the choccies we got at Christmas which I can tell you were rather a lot!
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and the theme this week chosen by Suzi B is a picture to inspire you and you must include a bird or birds in your entry.

A lovely picture I think you'll agree and here's my inspiration:

My background paper was made by applying patches of Distress inks in shades of pink, green and yellow with a Ranger ink applicator tool. I then stamped on the Crafty Individuals flourish with Archival Fern Green ink.
I stamped the Stampendous bird on smooth cartridge paper with brown and green inks and then coloured the image with pencils before trimming to a circle with a Spellbinders die. I added a scalloped, die cut green mat.
The flowers by Crafty Individuals were stamped with brown ink and coloured with pencils and cut out. I stamped the Flonzcraft sentiment with the brown ink and cut it out as the image is a little large as a panel. I inked it pink.

Have a great day and I'll see you next weekend as we're off to Kent for a few days tomorrow so my Friday posts will be scheduled and will hopefully publish when they should!
Fliss xx

Bright and Cheery

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to stay warm in the rather chilly weather we're having at the moment.
It's my turn to pick the theme at Make My Monday this week and I picked Bright and Cheery Colours because I felt we could all do with a bit of cheering up in the middle of Winter!
My card is rather eye poppingly bright so you might need your sunglasses - you have been warned!

I started off with a piece of paper from my Gelli plate box which being a lovely warm shade of orange was just what I needed. I stamped it with a flourish design from CI-351 and Ripe Persimmon ink as I wanted quite a subtle effect.
I then stamped the main image together with the butterfly and flowers from Innovative Stamp Creations set on smooth watercolour paper with Archival black ink. I painted the butterfly with Peacock Feathers Distress ink and the flowers with Picked Raspberry then cut them out.
I stamped the sentiment (Flonzcraft) directly on the background paper and then added it to a white square card blank together with the remaining elements.

The Design Team have come up with some fabulous inspiration and I hope can join us.
Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Shabby Chic at Make My Monday

Hello folks, a very late post for the challenge this week at Make My Monday chosen by Suzi with the theme of Shabby Chic.

I'm sure you know how much I love that and I managed to get it made in time but due to lack of camera and computer couldn't get it posted in time - sigh! The good news is my replacement laptop is being delivered today so hopefully it will be up and running some time at the weekend when my dear and clever hubby can sort it all for me. The insurance company is sending a voucher for my camera too so I should have one again soon and not have to keep borrowing!

Enough of my troubles anyhow and here's my shabby chic creation with a pic underneath to show how I made the background with just one Crafty Individuals stamp.

My image is the gorgeous Spring Gal by Stampendous but as you can get Winter pansies, you'll have to imagine she's a Winter Gal instead! I stamped her with Archival Plum ink and coloured her with Prisma pencils then trimmed her to a panel and distressed the edges with an emery board.

The background paper started off as a leftover piece of inked paper made with my Stampendous Mono Printing plate (available at That's Crafty) and Distress inks - Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Bundled Sage and Pumice Stone which I applied to the plate and misted with water.
I decorated the square I cut to fit my card blank with Crafty Individuals CI-173 flourish stamp without using an acrylic block - this gives fabulous shabby effects. I used VersaColor Atlantic Blue ink and first stamped the whole design in opposite corners. I then inked up parts of the image and stamped round the remaining edges. I finished off by stamping small parts of the image all over until I was happy with the effect.
Very shabby chic don't you think?

To make my card, I distressed the edges of the paper with the emery board and attached to the card. I added my image together with a flourish cut from smokey blue card with a Cheery Lynn die and finished off with a Flonzcraft sentiment stamped with Archival Cobalt Blue ink.

My DT mates have made some beautiful inspiration for you so do pop on over for a look.

See you soon.
Fliss xx

Simply Bright For That's Crafty

Hello there, sorry for my lack of visits lately everyone which is because I still haven't got very much in the way of computer time at the moment and am really missing my laptop.
A very quick post to let you know I have a project today over at That's Crafty which is a rather bright and simply designed card made with my trusty Inkadinkado stamping gear which is fabulous when you need something in a hurry.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and thanks if you decide to go and visit.

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

Children or Babies At Make My Monday

Hello everyone and many thanks to those who left a comment on my last post about our shock just over a week ago. I much appreciate your kind thoughts which cheered me up a little.
Still not much in the way of good news although the police have linked 5 other cases to ours and have a person of interest as they call it so fingers crossed they manage to get somewhere.
I'm here today slightly late with my creation for today's new challenge at Make My Monday with Jacqueline's theme of Children or Babies. I chose children as I love the image I used by Paperbag Studios which reminds me of my younger daughter who had plaits between the ages of 7 and 10.

I made the background paper with a daisy stamp from Crafty Individuals Elements Flower Heads sstamp set, stamping in Memories Creamy Coffee to mafe a sort of frame round the edges. I then applied Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress inks with a sponge applicator. I distressed the edges with an emery board and added the panel to a chocolate brown mat to leave a small contrasting border.
I made a card blank with some dusky pink hammered card and stamped daisies round the edges with the brown ink. I then added the background panel.
I stamped the image (called Little Lu Lu) with the brown ink on smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers. I trimmed her to a panel and added mats of bright blu, dusky pink and chocolate brown to tone in, leaving a slightly wider border at the bottom to add some pink pearls to.
I stamped a butterly (B Line Designs with blue ink and coloured with Aquamarkers before cutting out. I checked the placement and then stamped the Flonzcraft sentiment directly on the background paper before adding the image panel and butterfly to finish.

Have a great week everyone and stay warm.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Indian Summer

Hello folks, I hope you all had a good weekend as I did. We went to visit Charleston House at Firle which was where some of the famous Bloomsbury set lived. The house is just a farmhouse but it was covered in artwork done by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant who both painted on the doors, walls and so on and also designed fabrics and ceramics. It was very inspirational and I can recommend it if you haven't been there.
Now to the reason for today's post which is to tell you about our new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week it's my chosen theme which because I'm rather longing for some warmer weather, the last couple of weeks having felt like Autumn has already arrived. This is why I picked

Indian Summer

You might need your sunglasses now because my inspiration is rather eye poppingly bright!

I made the background paper by sponging a square of card with Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress inks and then stamped on a Paper Artsy flourish image with the same deep pink ink.

I stamped the Stampendous sweet pea image on smooth cartridge paper with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink and coloured it with the same Distress inks together with Mowed Lawn. I trimmed the image to a panel and added an orange then a kraft mat (this is to make the orange pop against the background).

I found the embossed paper in my bits box and as it's orange, it was a perfect textured addition for my card. The embossing folder is a Cuttlebug one and I'm fairly sure I used Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon Distress inks to colour it.

I stamped my favourite Kaisercraft butterfly with the grey ink and coloured it with yellow and orange Distress inks. The sentiment is by Flonzcraft and was stamped with the Picked Raspberry ink and cut out by hand. I then assembled the card as you see.

Have a great day and a good week.

Hugs, Fliss xx

I'd like to link my card to this weeks' Sunday Stamper which happily is Mr Brightside (love that song!) and apologies to Hels for not entering for ages - no time to make anything but DT creations!!!

Send In The Clowns

Hello there, a very quick and somewhat late post from me after a very busy weekend with the details of our new challenge this week at Make My Monday with the theme chosn by Joan which is Circus.

I had a bit of a struggle with this as I have no stamps to fit the theme and then fortunately remembered I had a lovely vintage pierrot girl from the Graphics Fairy so she came to the rescue with a rather electic card which I hope you like.

I printed her out and added her to a cream mat then covered my card blank with some paper from the Polka Doodles Bonbon Belles CD which I scored with a bone folder to add texture before attaching to the card.
I then added a red card border trimmed with pinking sheers to add interest before sticking the image on. I finished off with some bunting from the Polka Doodles Cherryblossom Lane CD and added a stamped sentiment by Flonzcraft.
As you see, simples!

Hope you have a great week and see you again soon, hopefully with news of my promised CANDY which has been delayed as I've been so busy.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Bluebird

Hello there folks and hope you all had a good weekend and of course, managed to fit in a bit of crafting as I did. I was actually meant to be doing the h word but decided to play hooky for some creating.
Today's post is about the new challenge over at Make My Monday but is also rather a special one as this is post number 899 so keep your eyes open for my next post as there will be CANDY to celebrate 900!
The challenge theme at Make My Monday is my choice this time and I picked a favourite of mine, BIRDS.
Here's my inspiration which I hope you like.

My card just has the one layer attached as I stamped everything on there.
I used the Kaisercraft Porcelain Rose stamp set, first stamping the music score fragment several times around the edges. I then stamped on the bird and flower collage and added the Flonzcraft sentiment in the remaining space. All stamping was done with VersaFine Smokey Gray.
I then inked the stamped paper using a Ranger sponge applicator and Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Tumbled Glass.
I coloured the bird and flower image with Distress inks by applying them to a ceramic plate and then painting them on with a damp brush. I used Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Stormy Sky, Mowed Lawn and Frayed Burlap.
I inked around the edges with Weathered Wood Distress ink and them distressed them with an emery board before attaching the panel to a card blank.

Have a great day and see you again soon.
Fliss xx

Flutterby Butterfly

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend even if you were rather hot like me. I have a card today which is my inspiration for our new challenge over at Make My Monday with the theme of Butterflies chosen by Laura.
I was really pleased with this theme as I really love butterflies but I was rather short on time as I've had a very busy weekend. A good rummage through my bits box solved the problem as I found a butterfly and a bit of background paper perfect for the challenge.

The background paper is made with the Stampendous Jumbo Cling Rosebud Set which I stamped with deep blue ink. I scribbled pastel pencils over the paper and rubbed them with a finger to blend the colours. I then added colour to the flowers and leaves with the pastels and Prismacolor pencils.
The butterfly (Hampton Art) had been stamped with black ink and clear embossed then sponged with Shaded Lilac Distress ink before cutting out.
I stamped the sentiment (Flonzcraft) with black ink on white card, trimmed it to a panel and added a purple card mat.

Have a great day and a lovely week and see you again soon.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some Challenges I'd like to enter:
Glitter n Sparkle Challenge - Add Some Purple
Crafting When We Can Challenge - Make Your Own Background

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

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!!!)

Distress It!

Hello there folks and a Happy Easter to you all. I hope you had a lovely time and didn't eat too much chocolate!
I'm here now with a slightly late post for the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which was chosen by former team mate Jan and involves one of my absolute favourite techniques - Distressing.
I have a tutorial to share too, so that you can see how I turned something that has been in my stash for many years, unused as I tend to prefer stamping but this is all about how you can make a humble Peel Off look like it isn't a peel off! I think I'll be using this technique quite a lot too and you may need a cuppa before you read on although I promise it's not too long.

The finished card is above and you'll find the background paper steps below.

Step 1

For this you need a piece of smooth thick paper or watercolour paper cut to fit your chosen card blank and some peel offs. I chose corner ones but you could use flowers or patterned peel offs to make a frame shape.

As you can see, I placed the peel off in the corners of my paper.

 Step 2

For this step you need some gesso which I brushed roughly all over. You don't have to be precise with this as it gives a better shabby chic effect if the coverage is quite textured.

Step 3

This step takes the most time. You need some Distress inks - I used Tattered Rose, Wild Honey and Frayed Burlap. I applied the 2 lighter shades with a sponge and then added just a touch of the brown which you can see inked the rougher areas more. I then stamped a pattern design (Kaisercraft Lattice) all over with the Wild Honey to add more texture.
I heat embossed the paper with clear detail embossing powder. I distressed the edges and the peel off corners gently with an emery board and added Vintage Photo Distress ink round the edges.
If you click on the photo below, you'll see that sanding some of the paint off the peel offs gives them a rather distressed look like rusted metal.

As you can see on my card above, the addition of some pearls and lace together with the filigree butterfly and the lovely Gibson lady (Flonzcraft), the paper gives a soft vintage feel.

Hoping that you like this and please do let me know what you think.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

PS: I'd also like to enter my tutorial in the current Mixed Media Mayhem at Quirky Crafts Challenges as you can see from the card and tutorial quite a few things came into play. Hope that's OK with you ladies :)

No Cute Allowed!

Hello there, a slightly late post today to let you know about the new challenge that started today over at Make My Monday which has the theme of A Grown Up Card with absolutely no cute images allowed.
Here's my inspiration for the challenge and I hope you can join us this week as the theme is quite an easy one.

For my card I've used another of my recently acquired Aurora Wings images and this one is called Autumn Rose although as you'll see, she makes a lovely Springtime rose too.
I printed her out on to thick, smooth cartridge paper and used my favourite colouring medium of Aquamarkers to give her a wash of colour. I trimmed the image to a rectangular panel and added mats of mauve and green.
My background paper is from the vintage style Madame Payraud collection by Docrafts as I thought this particular design toned well with my coloured image. I embossed one side of the paper with my favourite Cuttlebug textile folder and trimmed it to fit my square card blank.
I stamped the Kaisercraft butterfly with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink on a scrap of leftover paper from my bits box which was a similar green to the matting. I cut the image out and inked the edges lilac to tone in.
I stamped my favourite birthday sentiment by Flonzcraft with the grey ink and then inked the panel with green and lilac to match. I finished off with some lilac gems in the corner and on the butterfly's body.

Hope you have a great week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
2 Sisters - Embossing
Card Makin' Mamas - Stack It Up! - 3 or more layers (I have 5 I think!)

Love Is In The Air

Morning folks and hope you had a good weekend. I thought I was going to get blown away in mine as the winds were so strong it was hard to walk! I hope anyone else affected managed to survive OK.
It's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday and this week with a certain romantic day fast approaching Love Is In The Air.
As I was short of time, I had a rummage in my bits box and found something I'd started a while back but not finished. So I got cracking and finished it off. Hope you like it!

I made the card blank with the Tim Holtz cabinet card die with a piece of smooth, thick white card. I then stamped on a Hobby Craft background stamp using embossing ink and heat embossed it with clear powder.
I then inked the card with Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive Distress inks to give the resist effect you can see.
I stamped the lovely vintage couple (Flonzcraft) with Memories Artprint Brown on white card, coloured with Promarkers and cut them out to fit on a circle of lilac card dry embossed with a Cuttlebug hearts folder.
I added crochet lace altered with Distress Stains and trimmed the image panel to fit on the side of the card. I finished off with a layered flower and some inked computer generated text .

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps - Hearts
A Gem Of A Challenge - All You Need Is Love
Open Minded Challenges - Show Some Love

First Challenge Of The Year At Make My Monday

Hello folks, a slightly late post about the first 2014 challenge launched today at Make My Monday with the theme chosen by Laura which is one I love:

Embossing

I decided on a cute card this time with an until now uninked stamp which I thought I ought to give an inking as a challenge to myself. Here's what I made:

I stamped the image by Bildmalarna with my favourite Archival Coffee ink on smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with a mix of Aquamarkers, Distress Stains and Prisma pencils. I then die cut the image to an oval and inked the edges with yellow.

I covered the card blank with rosebud paper from the Polka Doodles Pretty Sweet CD and used a scrap of the same paper in blue to make a heart shape with my own paper template which I also used with kraft card, embossing this with the Cuttlebug roses folder to match all the other roses.

I embossed a scrap of lemon yellow card with the Creative Expressions Trellis folder and stamped a Crafty Individuals butterfly with the coffee ink and coloured with Aquamarkers. I assembled the card as you see, adding a sentiment by Flonzcraft to finish.

I hope you're all managing to survive the nasty weather being thrown at us yet again and that none of you have been flooded out.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Fliss xx

Sitting Pretty

Hello there, I'm here today with my rather late inspiration for the current challenge theme over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which is to use a Stencil or Mask and I didn't want to miss this as I love using stencils at the moment.
A bit of serendipity struck here too so read on to find out how.

The background paper for my card was made by sponging a piece of thick, smooth cartridge paper with Tattered Rose Distress ink and if you're wondering why it looks orange, this is where the serendipity came in because the sponge I used had some Spiced Marmalade left on it and adding the Tattered Rose ink re-activated it causing an orange tinge which was a big surprise but I decided I like it!
I then used my favourite Prima flourish stencil to add the pattern with Spiced Marmalade and Victorian Velvet Distress inks.
I die cut the frame from the cartridge paper and stamped on the lovely Flonzcraft seated Gibson Lady with Archival Coffee ink and coloured her with markers. I then inked around the frame edges and image to soften the look.
I stamped the Flonzcraft rose with the coffee ink and coloured with markers then cut it out. I added this to the card with the frame and stamped the Flonzcraft text on with the coffee ink.

Have a great day and see you again soon.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Trio Of Tags

Hello everyone, hoping that you're all having a lovely weekend and are enjoying the warmer weather that has appeared here - I've actually managed to go out without a coat 2 days in a row for the first time this year!
I'm here today to tell you about the new challenge we have for you today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme of Tag Time so I guess no explanation is necessary for this one. The only thing I will say is that we must see some stamping on your creation as we are a stamping challenge and I only mention it because we always get gorgeous makes we have to discount as there's no form of stamping on them.
My inspiration is a set of 3 tags that I made from some chipboard tags that I decorated up recently and hadn't got round to finishing them off. I've intended them to be an extra special something to add to a gift and they're all different but share the same design elements. I hope you like them.

As you can see all the colours are quite soft and all the backgrounds were created in a different way.

The blue tag background was created using acrylic paint resist as I painted the tag first with a rich creamy colour then clear embossed some flourishes from my favourite Viva Decor set and painted blue over the top. I then removed paint from the embossed areas with a baby wipe.
I stamped the gorgeous 50s lady by Flonzcraft with Memories Artprint Brown and coloured her with Promarkers then cut her out. I added a die cut and embossed panel to the tag then embellished with some pretty ribbon and pearls. I finished off with a toning layered flower.

The pink tag background was made by applying Tattered Rose Distress ink with an acrylic block then adding some splatters by smooshing on a small acrylic block inked up with Victorian Velvet. I stamped on a large corner flourish (Viva Decor) with Archival Coffee ink.
I stamped the Gibson Girl by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured her with Promarkers then die cut her into a circle. I added some lace and braid to the tag then adhered the image panel with foam tape. I finished off with some pearls, a flower with a gem centre and a stamped and coloured butterfly.

The green tag background was made with a Chocolate Baroque background stamp which was clear embossed and then sponged with Bundled Sage Distress ink.
I stamped the lovers image by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured with Promarkers and trimmed around the top and left side of the image. I added this to the tag together with some braid, ribbon and pearls then embellished with roses and a German gold scrap butterfly.

The Fashionettes have created some fabulous inspiration for you so do hop over for a stroll down the catwalk.
Hope to see you there.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my tags:
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Passion For Promarkers - Ribbon, Lace or Twine
Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons and/or Laces

In An English Country Garden

Hello folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend. Sorry about the title here but I couldn't resist and you'll see why when you see my card which is my inspiration for the new Fashionable Stamping Challenges theme which is everyone's favourite - Anything Goes!
I decided on a card this time because I wanted to ink up some of the gorgeous vintage stamps made by our sponsor, Flonzcraft, and I've actually used 4 different sets to make it so you'll be able to see how well they go together. Without further ado - here it is!

You can probably see why I chose the title now as I made a little scene with a framing technique to give added dimension to my creation.
I cut a piece of thick cartridge paper slightly smaller than my card blank and stamped the sweet lady with bird from the Flower Kingdom set on the left bottom corner with Memories Artprint Brown ink. I stamped the floral corner from the Have Some Fun set in the remaining corners with the same ink and the sentiment from the Countrylife Pastoral set in the centre of the right hand side.
I painted all the images with a mixture of Distress Stains and watercolour pencils. I then stamped the garden image from the Flower Kingdom set just above the centre on a second square of card and coloured this in the same way.
I then used a circle cutting set (Creative Memories) to cut an aperture in my main stamped paper, pausing in the cutting so that when I trimmed around the image and sentiment, they would be part of the frame. I then inked this with Shabby Shutters Distress ink and stamped a flourish from the Damask Floral Curves set all over with Memento Pear Tart ink to add texture.
I stuck the aperture panel over the garden image panel, using foam tape behind the main image and sentiment for dimension and added the panels to the card blank to finish.

The Fashionistas have a fabulous array of creations for you on the catwalk this fortnight so do hop over for a look.

I'll be back (now I sound like Arnie!!!) shortly with my second post today as I'm lucky enough to be Guest Designer at Stamping Sensations this month so see you very soon.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Paper Piecing At FSC

Hello folks on a very gloomy Tuesday afternoon. I'm back today with my rather late inspirational creations for the current Fashionable Stamping Challenges theme which is Paper Piecing.
I had a bit of a struggle with this one as I found it impossible to combine the paper piecing with one of my usual hand made backgrounds and finally gave up today after trying several things with my second card (yes, 2 for the price of 1 this time!) and being very unhappy with all of them.

I then made the first card using one of the pieces from left over my workshop demo yesterday which was about using patterned paper in various ways to stamp on. This one is vintage style and having finished it, I then found the inspiration to finish the original card I tried to make so here they both are!

This one uses mostly Paper Cellar papers and I made the central panel with a bargello technique, trimming to size then stamping the Artistic Outpost serenity sentiment on with Memories Artprint Brown.
I stamped the butterfly (B Line Designs) with the same ink on to some polka dot paper and cut it out. I then distressed the edges of a piece of contrasting background paper and stuck this to a kraft card blank. I cut the floral border from a piece of patterned paper and trimmed round the floral section before adding to the card over the stamped panel.
I added the paper pieced butterfly to finish.

Now for something completely different!

A rather funky modern design using some Basic Grey papers that have been floating around in my paper box for quite a while!
I stamped the bird (a Papermania Urban stamp) on to white card with black ink then stamped various portions on to contrasting papers (Basic Grey Ambrosia). I cut out the sections and added them to the image on white card then trimmed to a rectangular panel. I added this to a red mat.
I covered a white card blank with one of the papers from the pad and added a sentiment (Inkadinkado) which I die cut with an X Cut label die and added this to the card with 2 tiny red heart shaped buttons.

The Fashionettes have done rather better than me with their backgrounds so do hop on over for a peek. We're also now sponsored by the lovely Leo of Flonzcraft who is offering a $20 voucher to his online shop for the randomly drawn winner. If you haven't yet visited his shop, please do as you're totally spoilt for choice with a huge array of images.

Back soon,
Hugs, Fliss xx