New Beginnings At Make My Monday

Hello there, I hope you all had a good weekend and managed to be a bit creative as I did. By the time this pops up I shall be back at work, not something I'm looking forward to having being off since Christmas Eve - groan!
Today sees the first challenge of 2015 over at Make My Monday and Jacqueline has chosen New Beginnings as the theme. I've gone a bit outside the box here inspired by some quotes I saw on Pinterest and I hope you like what I came up with.

I've done a little trick you might find useful here as I didn't have a stamp with the text I wanted to use so I had to get a bit creative.
What I did was to ink up part of an A4 sheet of card using Distress inks applied to a 15cm square acrylic block. I used Crushed Olive, Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky with a tiny swipe on the pink area with Picked Raspberry. I was thinking of the soft glow you sometimes get at the sun starts to rise. I dried it well with a heat gun and then ironed it flat with a dry iron.
I then typed the text in a Word document, checking the placement by first printing out on to plain paper. When I was happy with the positioning, I put my inked card in the manual feeder and printed the text onto it.
I trimmed the card to a panel to fit my square card blank and then stamped the meadow silhouette from a free Indigo Blu set which came with a magazine using Archival Jet Black ink. I stamped a tiny butterfly from the Crafty Individuals Elements Butterflies set with the same ink and coloured it with A Tombow marker.
I added the panel to a cream card blank and there it was - a clean and simple card! I didn't feel it needed anything else and hope you agree.

Have a great day and a good week.
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Quirky Crafts Challenge - Clean and Simple (hope it's CAS enough ladies)
Natalie and Amy  All Things New
Crafter's Cafe  New
Pink Gem  Something New
Crafty Calendar  What's New

Smile

Good morning folks and welcome to the first post of today which is to tell you about this weeks' project for That's Crafty which is another bright and sunny creation which is really quick to make if you're short on time as I've been this week.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and I hope you'll pop over to visit as the Design Team added some really beautiful projects over the last week.

I'll be back shortly as a new challenge starts at 8am today over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog so see you in a bit.

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Elizabeth Goes Steampunk For That's Crafty

Good morning folks, I hope you've all had a good week so far. Mine has been really busy with work which I'm still trying to get out of the way and I have even more reason to do so now as yesterday I had a phone call from the agency dealing with the job I interviewed for last week and guess what - I got the job!
This has gone to prove that if you try hard enough there really are jobs out there and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have been successful at last!
Now for the actual reason for this post which is to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty today which I admit is a little off the wall as the Elizabeth concerned is Elizabeth Bennet and I'm not sure that she would like being steampunked! However, that's exactly what I've done and I hope you like it!

If you'd like to find out how I made my collage, you'll find all the details over at That's Crafty. Hope to see you there.

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

Elizabeth's Hope For That's Crafty

Good morning everyone and thank you all so much for your kind comments about my rather difficult couple of weeks which I really appreciate. I'm slowly catching up and will hopefully will catch up with you soon if I haven't got to you yet.
Today is my turn for the tutorial over at That's Crafty and I've been playing with those Distress Stains, rather a lot this time, to do some very relaxing colouring. I've also inked up the new stamp Laura sent me which was a must have as soon as I saw it as I love Jane Austen and was thrilled to see the new collection by Indigo Blu which features my absolute favourite, Pride and Prejudice.

Isn't she pretty? I just love all the flowers which I think go so well with the anemone corner stamp. You can find all the details of what I used over at the blog and hope to see you there.

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

Longing For Spring

Hello folks and especially my new followers who I would like to welcome to my little band and say thank you for choosing to join. Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Mine is a bit busy as the round of December celebrations has started early this year with a neighbours' do yesterday and today we're off to my brother and sister in law for a birthday tea.
We have a new challenge for the fortnight over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and our theme this time is To Die For so there's loads of things you could create for this one. I took the opportunity to make my sister in law's birthday card as it's a special birthday but she hasn't let on so I didn't dare make one with age mentioned!

 
I made my own shaped card blank using a Go Kreate XXL frilly square die, cutting it from an 8x8 white square card blank.
I then cut a white card shape with the next die size down and stamped this with my new Indigo Blu clematis flourish corner stamp using VersaFine Smokey Gray ink (isn't it just gorgeous!). I stamped it a second time on scrap white card and coloured just the flowers and bird with Prisma pencils. A little artistic license came in here as I decided to make the clematis blue because my sister in law likes the colour.
I then added colour to the stamped panel with pencils and Distress inks using Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet. I then inked the edges of the panel with Broken China. I stamped the music score from the Tim Holtz mini holidays 4 set with Victorian Velvet and then stamped the sentiment (Hobby Art CS016D) with the grey ink.
I inked up some scrap white card with the same Distress ink shades and stamped on the music score with the Broken China. I then die cut some flowers with the Nestabilities carnation flowers set and layered these up with a metal embellishment in the centre.
I cut out the flowers and bird stamped earlier and added these to the card with foam tape to finish.

The Fashionettes have made a huge variety of stunning creations for your inspiration so do hop over for a look. Our sponsor is Marina of Cottage Crafts as usual and please do remember you must stamp to be in with a chance of winning as we are a stamping challenge.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafty Ann's - Birds And/Or Animals
Lady Ann's Card/Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Shaped Cards

Hocus Pocus

Good morning folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend. It rained here most of the day yesterday so I got on with some necessary crafting for a workshop I'm teaching on Monday so will be able to share some cards from that with you soon.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our last one was certainly popular with a very large number of entries. We hope you like this theme as much as it's Halloween or Halloween Colours for those of you who don't do Halloween.
My card features a stamp set I've had my eye on for ages and finally succumbed to as it's not hugely Halloween themed and can be used for other occasions too.

I absolutely love this owl image which is from the Hocus Pocus stamp set by Indigo Blu as is the spider web complete with spider. I think the owl is so cute and cuddly looking although the castle in the background is quite Gothic.
I stamped the owl with Memories black ink and coloured both him and the castle with Promarkers. I then sponged on Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door Distress inks for a brooding sunset.
I then made a frame using the Tim Holtz cabinet card die and stamped on the spider and web on one side and just the web by masking off the spider on the other side. I added some doodling to the webs to make them fit the space. I sponged on a mix of Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord Distress inks. I stamped the text on one side with Hero Arts alphabet stamps and doodled some brickwork round the edges of the arch shape.
I then cut a panel of white card slightly larger than the purple panel and sponged Mowed Lawn Distress ink down the sides, stamping the spider web on with the black ink.
I added the panels to a black card blank and finished off with a black card border punched with the Martha Stewart wrought iron punch.

The Fashionettes have made some fabulous inspiration for you to see HERE and please don't forget if you enter that we must see some stamping on your project to qualify for the prize from Marina of Cottage Crafts or the Top 3.

Have a great Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
2 Sisters - Cute and Creepy
Craftymess Challenge - Halloween
Di's Digi Designs Challenge - Too Cute To Spook
My Sheri Crafts - Halloween