Just Because

Hello everyone on an absolutely gorgeous sunny Spring day on which I managed to go out without my coat for the first time this year. I actually saw people in shorts and vest tops - totally mad as it wasn't quite that warm!
I have a card here that I made with bits and pieces of the decorated paper from a class I taught on Monday when we made very easy to do stamped mix and match papers with pastel cardstock and Distress inks.
The card uses the inspirational sketch for this week's Papercraft Star which I had to have a go at as it's so lovely.

The background papers I made use a flourish stamp from the Viva Decor My Paper World Floral Embellishments clear stamp set which is never put away at the moment as I'm forever using it. The papers mix and match really well because I used the same stamp and then stamped on the card in an ink only a shade or two darker then the card.
I used Scattered Straw Distress ink on the cream card, Shabby Shutters on the green, Victorian Velvet on the pink and Scattered Straw also on the lemon card. As you can see, the same ink looks quite different on the cream and lemon card.
I stamped the chrysanthemum by Circa Design with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink, coloured it with pencils and cut it out. I added it to a heart shape I hand cut out then embossed with the Craft Concepts Gem Flourish folder and then added a few pink pearls.
I assembled the card as you see with a sentiment from the Polka Doodles Sensational Sentiments stamp set, a pale green panel embossed with the gem folder and white card punched with a Martha Stewart double edge punch.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Papercraft Star Challenge 38  - Sketch
Crafts and Me - Anything Goes
For Fun Challenges - Flowers and a Sentiment

Thanks for looking,
Fliss xx

For My Valentine

Hello everyone, Happy Valentines Day and hope you've all had a good weekend. My Valentine has to be for my hubby Andrew, of course, and he's not a fan of anything fussy or frilly so I have to make something quite simple for him to truly like it.
I've gone for a striking colour combination of black, white and red.

I cut a heart shape out of white card and inked it with Fired Brick and Barn Door Distress inks. I then stamped on my current favourite flourish from the Viva Decor My Paper World clear stamp set (from The Craft Barn who are celebrating a birthday and have special offers on until 9am tomorrow) with Black Soot Distress ink.
I then stamped the flourish again in black on a white strip of card and put this on a mat of red. I added this to a long card blank I made and finished off with a greeting by Hero Arts stamped directly on the card. I then added 2 tiny red heart gems and the stamped heart which I stuck on with foam tape for some dimension.

My card is for the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenge 129 - I "heart" You
For Fun Challenges - Hearts
Stampin' For The Weekend - Valentines Day
Stampin' Royalty - Hearts, Hearts and More Hearts
The Sunday Stampers - Love

Thanks for looking
Fliss x

Blue Geisha Twisted Pyramid Card

Good evening everyone, hope you're all managing to keep warm on what has been the coldest day so far and it's apparently going to get worse so the winter layers are definitely out.
Not only is this my post number 300 (!) but I also have some great news to share. I've been asked by Ignacio of Nicecrane Designs to join the Creative Team which I'm sooooo pleased and surprised by and I get to work with some gorgeous collage sheets, background papers and digital stamps - fabulous news or what!
Ignacio has kindly sent me one of his new creations to play with - a twisted pyramid design called Blue Geisha. I'm sure you know how much I like all things Japanese with a daughter who has just returned from a year spent in Japan.
Here's what I made:

The pyramid itself was a challenge as this is the first time I've ever made one of these but it's easy to get the hang of and made a beautiful scene in no time. I used foam pads on the first 2 layers of assembly only as I didn't want to lose all the delicate detail on the upper layers. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out too.
I left a white border round the base layer and put the finished panel on a mat of red, then blue paper. I set this on a larger mat of Japanese paper from my collection and layered up the background panels as you see. The larger blue mat was embossed with the Cuttlebug Floral Screen folder and the bottom edge trimmed with scallop scissors.
I finished off with some ribbon through a Japanese coin given to me by my daughter.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
2 Sketches 4 You - Laura's sketch
Alphabet Challenge - E for Embossing
Paper Cutz - Anything Goes
For Fun Challenges - Anything Goes