Grunge, Grunge, Grunge!

Hello again, as you can see now from my post title I just loved this challenge theme as I'm a big fan of grunge which is what we'd like to see at That's Crafty Challenge Blog for the next fortnight.
I've made a wall hanging creation as my inspiration and my Julie Nutting Prima doll has come out to play again.

I made the background first by applying vintage music score to a piece of mixed media paper with matte gel and adding torn pieces of book text over the top. I then lightly brushed on some white gesso to bring all the pieces together, following up with Vintage Lace and Lavender Paper Artsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint applied with baby wipes. This gives a soft mottled look which is very grungy in style.

I next stamped on Carabelle Studios Texture Chevrons with Bundled Sage Distress Ink followed by the star border from the Etoiles, Tache et Background Stamp Set with Picked Raspberry Distress ink, stamping once on scra paper to soften the colour a little.

I stamped the Prima doll on smooth stamping card and on book text with Archival Watering Can ink then coloured just the dress on the plain surface with pencils and Picked Raspberry DI. I just coloured the flesh and hair on the book text image then cut out the doll, gluing the coloured dress on top.

I added lace in places (very useful if you have any bubbles in the background as I did despite a good application of gel and using a brayer for smoothing!)

I stamped some Kaisercraft butterflies with the grey ink onto a scrap of gelli plate paper from my bits box (I always save them as you never know when they'll come in useful) and cut them out. I stamped the Dylusions text with the same ink on a scrap of stamping card and coloured it with Picked Raspberry DI after trimming it to a panel.

I finished off by applying some embossing ink to the top corners and the base of the panel and heat embossed it with Stampendous Frantage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel. I swiped on a little Creative Expressions Gold Gilding Wax and a little more blue paint to pull everything together.

The challenge is open for the next fortnight and the prize for the randomly drawn winner is a £20 voucher for the online shop where you'll be truly spoilt for choice.

Good luck!

Fliss xx

Hello Dolly For That's Crafty

Hello folks and first up is a huge thank you to everyone who left such kind messages after my sad post on Monday. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate you taking the time to do that. It still hasn't quite sunk in as it was so sudden I'm sort of floating around in a bit of a daze. I don't think it will seem real until the funeral next week.
I have a project today over at That's Crafty which is another rather girly creation although in complete contrast to last week I've gone all bright and zingy as I needed cheering up.
Hope you like it!

You'll find all the details over at the blog including how I made the background paper and also how I made the paper her dress in stamped on - you'll get a surprise if you pop over to see what I stamped with!

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

Hello Dolly!

Hello there, I'm here today with a little more inspiration for the current challenge theme of Paper Piecing at Make My Monday chosen by yours truly in the form of a tag using one of my favourite stamps at the moment, a Prima doll by the very talented collage artist Julie Nutting. Hope you like it.

I made the tag for this myself using the rather natty tag style packaging that comes with the doll as a pattern to cut my tag from thick white card. This is mainly because the doll is an amazing 19cm tall so needs something quite large as a base.
I coloured the tag by applying Peacock Feathers Distress ink to some crumpled wax paper, spritzing on a little water then swiping the tag over until it was covered in the slightly diluted ink. I then applied more of the ink direct from the pad with a sponge using my favourite Prima stencil - Flourish.
I stamped some of the borders from the Prima Welcome To Paris cling set with Memories black ink and added a couple of rows of faux stitching made with theTim Holtz ruler and a fine black pen.
I stamped the doll on thick smooth cartridge paper and just the frock element on some Crate Paper decorated paper from the DIY Shop paper pad with black ink. I coloured the doll parts with Aquamarkers then cut her out along with the frock and added the frock to the image with double sided tape.
I made a layered flower with some plain Prima flowers and a patterned one using the same paper die cut using a Hot Off The Press Bodacious Blooms die set. I added a small paper rose to the centre.
I assembled the tag as you see, adding some cream crochet lace, a dotty black bow and some Paper Artsy text with some hessian type wired leaves.

I hope you're now inspired to enter if you haven't done so already as it really is very easy to paper piece!

Fliss xx

Some challenges for my Tag:
Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes

Parisian Tag For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, a quick post from me today as I'm still up to my eyes in work (VAT Returns!) which is the main reason for my lack of visiting lately. I hope to remedy this over the weekend
I have a project over at That's Crafty today with a bit of French flavour again using one of the mixed media doll stamps designed by Julie Nutting that I'm a big fan of.
Here it is and I hope you like it, only a sneak peek this week and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog.

I hope you'll pop on over to see how I made it as it's one of those creations that's much easier than you might think.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Feelin' Groovy For That's Crafty

Hello again folks, I'm back with my project for today over at That's Crafty and I can't tell you enough how much I enjoyed creating this.
I saw an article a while back in my favourite US crafting mag, Somerset Studio, about collage artist Julie Nutting who makes the most fabulous collages featuring rather quirky, fun girls with clothes made from patterned papers, magazine and book text and so on. I also have her beautiful book, Collage Couture, which you can see HERE if you're interested.
Julie has now designed a range of cling stamps for Prima and you can imagine my delight to find that Laura of That's Crafty is stocking them. I've now got my mitts on a few and this is the first of my creations. Hope you like it!

The actual colours on my canvas are a little brighter than the photo as my camera struggled a bit in the slightly weird light yesterday.
If you'd like to see how I made it, then please hop on over to the That's Crafty Blog and you'll find a list of materials and all the instructions.

This won't be the only time you see these stamps!
Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

I'm also going to link this up to Hels' Sunday Stamper latest challenge _ You Make Me Feel Brand New as I so enjoyed playing with my new stamps and also Sir Tim's Inside Out alphabet strip die which is really clever (you get 2 letters of each for the price of 1!)