Coffee and Tea

Hello folks, I'm a bit late with my inspiration for the new challenge today over at Make My Monday. This is because I had an extremely busy weekend and then had a very early start this morning to take my car in for a service so I'm writing this in need of matchsticks to keep my eyes open!
Our theme this week has been chosen by Joan and she would like us to take Coffee or Tea as our inspiration. I managed to mislay my coffee and teacup stamps (until I'd made my card of course!) so the cute digital image from Aurora Wings came to the rescue. Isn't the little kitten adorable?

I printed out the digital image on to smooth cartridge paper and coloured with a mix of Aquamarkers, watercolour pencils, Derwent Inktense pencils and Distress inks. I then trimmed it to a panel and applied Tumbled Glass Distress ink round the edges with an ink applicator.

Here's a little close-up so you can see the cute kitten a bit better.

I then printed out the roses corner image also by Aurora Wings on to the cartridge paper, coloured it as before and cut the image out.
I then dry embossed a panel of lilac pink card with a Cuttlebug Anna Griffin folder and glued this to an A5 cream textured card blank. I die cut 2 Marianne Design lace corners from light aqua paper and glued these on the right hand corners, adding the cut out rose image on the left.
I stamped the sentiment (from the Kanban coffee and tea set I couldn't find earlier!) on the teacup panel with Archival Watering Can ink and glued this on to finish.

Have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Aurora Wings Challenge - Flowers
Glitter n Sparkle - Embossing - Heat or Dry
Come and Get It - Got Flowers?
Pile It On - Cute Animal
Just Us Girls - Embossing
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Anything Goes/Add Flowers
Southern Girls - Animal Crackers 

A Season Of Mists

Hello everyone and welcome to my slightly late post for the new challenge over at Make My Monday today which has the theme of Autumn or Fall Colours. Very appropriate now because I woke up this morning to a chilly 8 degrees!
I hope you're all well and feeling better than me as I'm currently a bit under the weather with the first cold type thing I've had since January last year when my dear hubby gave me an unwanted New Year present!
My inspiration is very Autumnal as it's a favourite season of mine being an Autumn girl by birth. The photo doesn't quite do it justice as there are more colours in there than really show as I chose a palette of warm Autumn shades.

I made the background paper first with a piece of textured cartridge paper, applying Sticky Fingers Autumn spray inks in Blackberry, Olive, Autumn Gold and Maple to a craft sheet and pressing the paper in to pick up the colour. I find it a bit less messy than spraying directly on the paper and of course, this way you get more from the colours as you can colour more paper with the leftover inks.

I embossed one side of the dry paper with a Darice Autumn leaf flourish folder and swiped over the top with Brilliance Pearlescent Purple, Rust and Olive. I stamped the remaining paper with a Prima Engravers clear stamp and coffee brown ink. I then distressed the edges with an emery board and added splatters of Rusty Hinge Distress ink.

I painted a kraft clothing tag (it already had distressed edges!) with some brown and bronze acrylics to cover up the logo and text then stamped over the top with the same Prima stamp and the coffee brown ink. I also swiped the edges with Rusty Hinge ink for definition.

I made the leaves with an extra scrap of card coloured with the leftover spray inks and die cut them with a Marianne die before adding extra colour with Distress inks (Rusty Hinge, Frayed Burlap, Forest Moss and Mowed Lawn).

I added scraps of corrugated kraft card to the tag and then glued on the leaves and some kraft paper flowers with music score print. I tied a piece of twine through the top, then added the background paper to a kraft card blank with the tag and some cut up computer generated text.

See you soon and take care,

Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Lexi's Creations Challenge - Autumn Colours
Lunagirl Moonbeams Challenge - Autumn
Dies R Us Challenge - Fall Festival
The East Wind Challenge - Feel The Fall
Rubber Dance Challenge - Colour

Butterflies Galore

Hello there and welcome to my second post today as having had rain most of the day, I've managed to fit in a bit more crafting with some images I've been colouring up whilst listening to the TV in the evening.
This is the first of those using a beautiful Aurora Wings digital image with my favourite Spring flowers, pansies.

Isn't she adorable? I printed her out on to thick, smooth cartridge paper which is my choice for colouring with my favourite medium, Aquamarkers. After I painted the image, I then added detail with Prismacolor pencils. I trimmed the image to a panel and added it to a mauve mat with a strip of lilac pearls on one side.
Next I made the background paper by sponging lilac paint on a square of medium surface cartridge paper and stamped on lots of butterflies with a Stamp-It Australia image and lilac VersaColor ink. This is what it looked like before I covered rather a lot of it up!

I then die cut some flourishes (Cheery Lynn) and a corner (Marianne Design) from silver embossed card and some butterflies from teal card. I assembled the card as you see, finishing off with a silver metal filigree butterfly.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Aurora Wings Challenge - Butterflies
Brown Sugar Challenge- Anything Goes
Craftitude Challenge - That's Die-Licious - Use A Die
Glitter & Sparkle Challenge - Add Some Metal

Thanks for looking.
Fliss xx

Paper Piecing Nature

Good morning folks, I hope you've all had a good weekend and better than mine as I spent Saturday morning going back and forth to the opticians after a problem on Friday which looked like a scratch on my left contact lens (meaning I could only see out of one eye all day!) turned out to be a tear which when you know I have gas permeable rather than soft lenses is not good.
In its place I have a continuous wear lens which I have for the next few days until after my check up on Saturday. I've never had soft lenses and although I could get a daily one in, I couldn't get it out again!!!
Anyway, enough waffle and on to this weeks challenge over at Make My Monday which was chosen by me and is the theme of

Paper Piecing

I'm still into doing altered vintage book pages having picked up a rather interesting book in a charity shop when we went to Bournemouth which is all about village life through the seasons.

I tore the edges of the paper making it the size to fit my kraft card blank then sponged on gesso to soften the text but allow it to show through a little.

I then stamped on a leafy sprig from my favourite Hero Arts set with Crushed Olive and Forest Moss Distress inks, smudging a little round the base for a misty effect.

I stamped the large butterfly from the set on to more book page with Memories Art Print Brown ink for my paper pieced element and cut this out. I then sponged on a little Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink to add contrast colour.

I assembled the card as you see, adding some die cut meadow type flowers by Marianne Design, cut from apricot card and sponged with Spiced Marmalade.

The team mates have risen to the challenge magnificently so do hop over to be inspired.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Fliss  xx

Some challenges for my card:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Time For Scrap - Walk In The Countryside
Crafts For Eternity Challenge - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Something New With FSC

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good weekend. I'm here today to tell you about our new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges where we'd like you to Show Us Something New.
This means you could try a technique that's new to you or use some new stash to make your project.
As I've been stamping for over 15 years now, I must have tried out just about every technique going and although I sometimes manage to come up with a new one myself, I've been so busy lately I had to go for the new stamp option, using one of my latest Inkylicious purchases. Hope you like it and you might need your sunglasses as it's quite bright!

The background paper was created by sponging a square of card with Dried Marigold Distress ink and then stamping on an Inkylicious corner with Picked Raspberry Distress ink. I inked around the edges with Worn Lipstick DI.
I stamped the Inkylicious Vintage Rose image with Spanish Moss VersaFine ink. I added colour with Promarkers and then sponged with Cinnamon, Old Rose and Canary VersaColor inks. I set this on a layered mat with a pink die cut made with a Papermania die and a deep green panel.
I added a pink die cut corner made with the Marianne Design Anja corner and a Dovecraft sentiment stamped with the green ink, sponged as before and added to a deep green mat trimmed with deckle scissors.

My DT sisters have some amazing projects lined up for you on the catwalk so please do pop over for inspiration. Also please don't forget that we are a stamping challenge so there must be stamping on your creation.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card :
Crafting Musketeers - Use A Stamped Image
The Alphabet Challenge - I For Image

Charming

Good morning everyone and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely that you've chosen to follow my art journey and hoping that you like what I have for you today which is my Midweek Motivation for the Make My Monday challenge. The theme this week is my choice of Handmade Embellishments.
Most of my creations tend to be DIY out of choice, largely because when I began stamping in the mid 90s (yes, it really is that long!) you simply couldn't get all the beautiful papers now available and having got into the habit of making my own, it stuck!
Below you'll find a photo of the things you need to make a lovely faux metal charm which is really easy to do.

You'll notice that I've used an embossing ink dabber which is because the die cut heart shape (Marianne Design) is quite an intricate lacy style and although you can use an ink pad, I find it much easier to take the cap off the dabber and paint the ink on with a brush before coating with embossing powder.
I also used detail embossing powder as it's much finer and gives better coverage. You don't need the paper piercer unless you want to make a charm which was my original intention but it didn't quite fit in with the card design like that.
Here's the finished card and please do let me know what you think.

As you'll see, I made everything here. The paler paper is a B Line Designs stamp (Ribbons and Flowers Background available from That's Crafty) embossed with puff white and inked with Antique Linen Distress ink.
The red paper was a piece from my bits box made ages ago with red chalk ink and a brayer. I swiped on some Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink and dry embossed a strip with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I die cut a doily (Marianne Design) from some more.
The gold lace is a B Line Designs stamp embossed with detail gold powder and cut out.
The image panel is by Crafty Individuals and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink and coloured with Copic markers. I added a stamped and coloured flower and butterfly as further embellishments.

Some fabulous entries so far and I'm hoping for lots more!
Thanks for looking.
Also before I go, apologies for not having been round to see you all lately, things have been rather hectic and my feet have hardly touched the ground!
Hugs, Fliss xx

To Die For

Hello again, my second post of the day is to tell you about the new challenge today over at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is To Die For so you need to use die cut shapes on your creation. I managed quite a few on mine and I hope you like it as this time it's rather girly (I love the images on the new Fredericka CD and Nikky has a new one in the making which we're all really excited about - I wish I could tell you but have to keep my mouth firmly zipped!)
Here's my card which I hope you like:

I really love colouring up the images on the gorgeous Fredericka mini CD and have made a patchwork style card as I love faux stitching.
I printed out the cute image on to thick cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers. I die cut the image to an oval panel and made faux stitching around the edge with a paper piercer and a brown fine pen.
I cut up some squares of decorated paper scraps and added faux stitching round the edges using a paper piercer and the fabulous Tim Holtz ruler (if you haven't tried this I highly recommend it as it makes adding faux stitching so easy).
I assembled the elements on a scalloped card blank embellishing with a die cut doily and flower (Marianne Design) and butterfly (Cheery Lynn) and finished off with a ticket sentiment from the CD.

Hoping that you have a really lovely weekend - especially in the UK with the Bank Holiday on Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Flutterby Butterfly
Addicted To Stamps And More - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Squares
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

In The Pink At Studio 12

Hello everyone, I'm here today to tell you about my project over at Studio 12 which uses up some of those paper scraps which I'm sure like me, you have in a box somewhere.
My card is made with my leftovers from projects made with the gorgeous Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD which is a real favourite of mine with its' vintage floral style and I've gone for a pink one this time.

My kraft card base is covered with 2 panels of the pretty pink paper from the All Sewn Up collection which is my favourite as I adore roses. I distressed the edges with an emery board before sticking them on.
I then die cut the gorgeous lacy oval (a new Marianne Design die set) from some beige parchment card and inked the edges pink. I die cut the trellis style die centre piece from a scrap of the brown and beige diamond pattern paper from the same collection as before and attached this with glue by brushing it on the reverse.
I then printed out the beautiful vintage rose spray from the Heavenly Garden collection together with the lovely Emily Bronte quote and cut these out.
I inked the edges of the quote and added this to the card then stuck on the oval panel and finally the rose spray which I added with foam tape for dimension.

I hope you have a lovely day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Time To Fly

Hello everyone on a very soggy and windy day. I hope it's better where you are although it is rather good crafting weather!
I'm here today with a little wall hanging I've made for my younger daughter and sent it off to her today along with some fabulous chunky hand carved wooden toggles that her friend's husband made for one of her creations. You may not know that she's currently making her final collection for the end of her fashion degree and only has just over a week to go. She's under the most terrible pressure at the moment and has a bad cold to cope with as well due to working too hard.
It makes us feel very helpless as we can't do much to help her out (apart from sending out now alarming handouts of money!). I made the little piece of artwork to hopefully cheer her up using  one of my favourite dies, the Tim Holtz dress form.
There are several pics so that you can see the detail on my stamped background.

I made the base with a piece of recycled greyboard which I painted with 2 coats of Golden Titan Buff fluid acrylic and I then stamped the floral flourish from the Artistic Outpost Serenity plate with Palette Lavender Sachet permanent ink (necessary to dry on the acrylic paint which has a slight sheen).
I die cut the dress form from kraft card and embossed it with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I made the lace skirt by dyeing some frilled lace trim with Seedless Preserves Distress Stain and added 2 layers to the dress form with tape at the back.
I made the wings with the B Line Designs large butterfly, stamped with Memories Art Print brown and painted with the Seedless Preserves stain. I cut this out, cut it in half and added to the dress form.
I trimmed the base of the wall hanging with pinking sheers and added a couple of layers of lace and ribbon (the pinkish trim is linen ribbon from The Range and is a steal at £1 for a roll - they have lots of styles and colours too!).
I added a die cut lace corners (Anja by Marianne Design) cut from beige parchment card and stamped the text with Hero Arts alphabet stamps and Memento Sweet Plum ink. I cut the words out and inked the edges. I attached the dress form with foam tape and glue.
I added some of the linen trim at the top to create a hanger, taping it to the back and covering it with lilac felt trimmed to size.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall hanging:
The Craft Room Challenge - Stamp Your Own Background
Fashionista Challenge - Shabby or Vintage - mine is vintage
Get Inky - Die Cuts
Pretty Little Ribbon - Lace

La Belle Femme

Hello folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far. I'm here today as I finally manged to finish off another wall hanging started a while back and just found the necessary time to assemble all the pieces.
It's a very feminine creation showcasing my love of all things French and one of my favourite B Line Designs stamps, Le Brun, that I've had for many years and could never part with.
Without further ado, here's what I made and I hope you like it.

My wall hanging started life as one of those ever useful shaped chipboard book pages by Papermania and I covered it with a piece of paper from my serendipity box which was made by sponging parchment paper with VersaMagic inks in Persimmon and Mango Madness and I then stamped on my beloved Tim Holtz flourish stamp with Pink Grapefruit.
Next, I stamped the Le Brun image on to white card with Memories Artprint Brown ink and coloured her with various Distress Stains. I cut her out around the top. left side and base of the images and added her to the side before trimming round the shaped edge of the chipboard shape.
I die cut my new Marianne Design Eiffel Tower die from cartridge paper, painted with Tea Dye Distress Stain and then swiped the raised portions with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I attached this to the panel with Ranger Glue 'n' Seal (I can recommend this as you can brush it of the back and then brush a little over the top after sticking on to make sure it's secure).
I stamped some of the flowers from Crafty Individuals CI - 206 Flower Heads Elements set with the brown ink and painted these with Distress Stains before cutting them out.
I added some lace and pearls to the panel and then attached the flowers with foam tape. I finished off with the stamped text (Kanban) and a gold foil butterfly. I then added some twisted pink ribbon through the holes at the top.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall hanging:
Crafty Creations - Something Old, Something New (My image stamp is the old and Eiffel Tower the new)
Happy Campers - Use Lace (Thanks so much for picking my butterfly canvas for the Crafty Camper award - mwah!)
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Try It On Tuesday - Feminine and Fancy

Mariposa

Good morning folks, hope you're all enjoying the extended weekend and that you have sunny weather like us as it's really lovely today. It was yesterday too and we went walking at Swanbourne Lake in Arundel and even managed the first ice creams of the year although they'd just run out of cones when we got there so we had to have tubs!
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is Anything That Flies. You only have to look at the DT samples to see that there are lots of ways to interpret this theme, including hot air balloons, although I went for a nature theme with butterflies as I love them so much.

The challenge gave me a chance to have a play with my brand new Marianne Design die and stamp set (Tiny's Butterfly 1) - isn't it just gorgeous!
I made my background paper with Crafty Individuals CI-253 floral background stamp using Forest Moss Distress ink and then sponged Shabby Shutters all over. I distressed the edges with an emery board and attached the paper to a kraft card blank.
I made an embossed panel of green card with a butterfly folder free in a magazine and rounded the corners before adding to the card.
I then cut a panel of cream card and embossed the right side with the butterfly from the Cuttlebug Collage folder set and inked this with Crushed Olive DI. I stamped 2 of the butterflies from the Kaisercraft Butterflies clear stamp set with Forest Moss DI and coloured these with Shabby Shutters and Rusty Hinge Distress Stains. I stamped on the mariposa text from Crafty Individuals CI-231 Beautiful Butterflies Elements stamp set with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and inked the edges with crushed Olive DI.
I stamped the large butterfly from the Marianne Design set with the VersaFine ink and then coloured the image with Distress Stains (Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce, Tea Dye and Rusty Hinge) then die cut it and added to the card with a foam pad.

Have a great Bank Holiday Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Rose For My Rose

Good morning folks, hoping you enjoyed the weekend which sure disappeared fast as Monday is here again!
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday and this week the hostess with the mostest is Caz who has chosen a colour theme of Pink and Black.
I have to admit that a tiny bit of green sneaked in on my creation as I couldn't leave the rose leaves completely pink lol. A bit too against nature for me although they do have a pink blush on them.

I wanted to make a fairly vintage style creation so my much loved woman with rose stamp (an elderly Rubber Stampede image) was inked up with black. I coloured the rose and the woman (who I have to admit reminds me of Billie Piper - strange the thoughts you get sometimes!) with pencils and watercolour pencils. I trimmed the image panel and added it to a pink mat then a larger black one and added the stamped sentiment under the image.
I made the background paper by sponging Tattered Rose Distress ink on a square of card then stamped on the Kanban rose with black ink and coloured this with pencils. I then stamped on some script (Hero Arts Old French Writing) with Victorian Velvet Distress ink.
I assembled the card as you see, finishing off with a Marianne Design die cut scalloped border, adding pearls to the flower centres.

Hoping that you have a great day. Mine involves VAT returns - ugh!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Dies/Punches
Happy Campers - Use a Favourite Stamp

Late Again!

Or at least my DT post for today's new Fashionable Stamping Challenges is lol. This fortnight the theme is Mask It and you can use all sorts of masking techniques for this including actual masks, a masked stamped image, a stencil etc. etc. Don't forget that you must include some stamping too as we are a stamping challenge.
I decided on something a bit different for my inspiration this time as I've used a stencil of a large flourish shape that was free in a mag a while back but did something you might not expect with it. Read on to find out what I did!

I prepared my background paper first using a piece of card which I covered with Distress Stains in Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive and spritzed with Glimmer Mists in Vintage Pink and Olive Vine.
Using the stencil, I applied embossing ink with the Ranger Emboss It Dabber which is brilliant for this sort of thing. I then sprinkled Fran-tage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel on and heated to melt the powder. I sponged Victorian Velvet round the embossed flourish to make it really pop.
I then stamped the lovely lady (B Line Designs) on cream card with VersaFine Crimson Red ink and die cut the image into a circle. I embossed around the edges with the Cuttlebug roses folder. I coloured the lady with Promarkers and then added ink around the edges to highlight the embossed areas.
I assembled the card using some die cut doilies (Marianne Design) and some layered Prima hydrangea flowers which I glittered up a little and added pearls to.
To finish, I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment directly on the background paper at the base of the card.

Sorry for my lack of visiting lately, I will try and pop round before Christmas once I've got my unexpected workload out of the way!
Hope you have a good week.
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps And More! - Bingo (My line is Diagonal - Green, Free, Pearls)
Try It On Tuesday - Let's Get Inky

A Joyful Christmas

Hello folks,  many thanks to all of you that left me birthday wishes yesterday which were much appreciated.
I got some lovely pressies too, the main one being a stamp maker which I can't wait to have a go with as I'm looking forward to being able to turn some of my scribbles and doodles into stamps. The James Bond Skyfall was very good too with amazing stunts and a somewhat creepy villain (or at least I thought he was), so if you haven't yet seen it, I can thoroughly recommend it.
Now enough waffling and on to the reason for the post which is to tell you about our new challenge for the next fortnight at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which has been chosen by our newest fashionette Esther and is the theme of Musical. Lots of ways to interpret this one and to me, music immediately shouted birds so I've made another Christmas card for my collection with my favourite Christmas bird.

I stamped the cute Stampendous robin on thick cartridge paper and coloured him with Aquamarkers. I die cut the image with a Papermania die and then added snow with the Decoart snow writer and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust.
I made the background paper using my watercolour crayon technique and Neocolor 11 water soluble crayons (if you click on the tutorial page at the top, you'll find a link to the relevant technique if you'd like to know how to do it. I used several colours of green and the paper started out like this:

You can see the end result on my card and after using the technique, I stamped on the music score (Forest Moss Distress ink) and poinsettia (VersaFine Vintage Sepia) from the Tim Holtz mini holidays 4 set.
I embossed a panel of kraft card with the Cuttlebug musical folder, sanded the raised areas and then added green and brown inks to distress it a little.
I assembled the card as you see, adding hessian weave and ribbon, a poinsettia (Nestabilities) and fir (Marianne Design) and punched holly together with my favourite sentiment from the set and some tiny pearls.

We'd love to see you enter but please remember that as we are a stamping challenge, no digis are allowed and we must see stamping on your entry.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Raise The Bar - Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Ribbon and/or Twine
Fab 'n ' Funky - Die Cuts/Punches
Nutcrafters - Ribbon/Twine

Life, Love, Music

Hello folks, I'm back today with my second post which is the finally finished card for the current challenge over at Magenta Style which is my favourite theme - you've guessed it - vintage! How could I resist when I have a treasured collection of the wonderful stamps as when I started stamping some 15 years ago, I was caught by the stamping bug and well and truly bitten by the Magenta ladies direct to paper inking technique and the rest is now history, as they say.
I didn't realise there was a challenge over at Magenta until fellow team mate at FSC, Ellie got chosen for the DT, lucky thing!
I've made a card using one of the cling sets and challenged myself to try and make it work in a different way. Happily, my new Marianne Design die set arrived the other day and inspiration struck!

I was desperate to use the large oval die in the set (isn't it just stunning!) and the main image stamp of CSET 15 Musical is square. Here's what I did to solve the problem.

I die cut the shape first from some cream parchment card and then masked off the areas of the stamp which wouldn't fit in the central oval, inked up with Archival coffee then removed the masking tape and stamped the image at an angle on the die cut shape.
I coloured the image with watercolour pencils, pencils and inks and then inked the embossed edges of the frame with pink, lilac and brown ink.
I then made a background paper by rubbing Antique Linen, Old Paper, Tattered Rose and a touch of Shabby Shutters Distress ink on card cut to the size of my card blank, then stamped the square floral design from the set round the edges with Memories creamy coffee chalk ink. When dry, I rubbed more Tattered Rose DI over the floral section.
I then stamped more floral squares and the main image panel with the Archival coffee ink and coloured the flowers and some of the leaf sprigs on the main image with watercolour pencils. I cut these out.
I assembled my card as you see, adding some vintage torn music score inked with Antique linen and vintage Photo DIs, the cut out flowers with pearl centres and the cut out leaf sprigs on the oval panel to make some areas pop.
I finished off with some of the text from the sentiment in the set cut out and inking before adding.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed thinking outside the box a little here and hope you like the result.
Fliss xx

Parisian Tag

Good morning folks and a big welcome to my new follower Trish as it's so lovely to see you there. I hope everyone is having a good week and managing to stay warm in our very iffy weather.
I'm here today with a tag to show you that's my mid week motivation over at Make My Monday as it's my turn to inspire you this week.
Here's the finished tag which uses my never put away Distress inks in some warm Autumnal shades.

I've inked the tag using cosmetic sponges with Distress inks in the following shades - Crushed Olive, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Rusty Hinge and Aged Mahogany. I then stamped on an Artistic Outpost flowery flourish from the Serenity set with the Crushed Olive.

I've then added an inked panel embossed with the Cuttlebug fleur de lys folder together with the flourished Eiffel Tower (Prickley Pear), an inked Marianne Design flourish and some text stamped with a Hero Arts alphabet I've had for many years. Everything was stamped with Archival Coffee (but you probably already guessed that lol)

Hope you have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my tag:
Creative Stamp Friends - Autumn Colours
House Of Gilli - Use 2 Favourite Things (Distress Inking and Inked Dry Embossing)
 Kaboodle Doodles Challenge - Colours Of Autumn
Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes
There's Magic In The Air - Anything Fall (My Colours)

Hearts Come Home For Christmas

Good morning folks, the weekend is almost here and it's really busy at our home as my younger one is returning to university tomorrow. You can probably guess who's been up to her eyes in washing the last couple of days and the house is like a laundry as it's quite difficult to get it all dry at the moment!
As it's Friday, we have a new challenge for you at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is Your Favourite Holiday plus the colour Teal.
I decided to add to my Christmas card collection and made a shaped card as my inspiration, combining the teal with mostly white and adding a tiny pop of red.

I was quite pleased with my card as I love this adorable deer with his slightly sheepish expression so I went for a simple approach.
I made my card blank with a Go Kreate extra large die and cut backing paper to match. I then die cut an oval panel of white card and embossed it with a Cuttlebug hearts folder. I cut the deer out and added him to the panel with foam tape.
I assembled the card as you see, adding some white fir branches die cut with a Marianne Design die (then added some lines with an embossing tool to make them more true to life) and a ticket sentiment with a red and white bakers twine bow.
All elements are from the Here Comes Christmas CD.

There's a great prizes to be had for the top 3 this week so will hopefully see you there.
Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
The Stamping Boutique Challenge - Embossing
Love To Create - Anything Goes
Gingerloft Challenge - Embossing

Vintage Fashion

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was rather busy as we had my parents in law's celebration for their Diamond Wedding Anniversary which will shortly be taking place and we all went out for a family lunch as my mother in law hasn't been too good health wise lately.
I'm here today with my DT contribution for the first challenge at Make My Monday after our August break. The September theme is Vintage chosen by team mate Val (I'm sure you know how much I love this!) and this week the theme is Vintage Fashion.

The lovely image I used is a stamp by Kanban and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink on white card then sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink before adding colour with Promarkers. I then cut the panel out with deckle scissors and added Vintage Photo DI round the edges. I attached the panel to a die cut mat of burgundy card.
I made my background paper with Victorian Velvet, Crushed Olive and Frayed Burlap Distress inks using the Julia Andrus mottled paper technique and then stamped on the rose corner design by Viva Decor with Memories Delicate Rose Chalk ink. I then added a little colour with a pink Promarker and the lettuce Adirondack marker.
I added the paper to a kraft card 8x8 blank and then embellished with a die cut corner (Marianne Design Anja), a scrap of doily from my bits box inked with Antique Linen and a stamped B Line Design butterfly coloured with Crushed Olive Distress ink.

I know I'm going to love the challenges this month as I so love vintage and it was a real breath of fresh air for me to create something which is totally stamped. The Design Team have made some lovely creations to inspire you and I can't wait to see your entries.

Have a great week,
Fliss xx

Some great challenges:
Simply Create Too - So Old/Vintage
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Vintage
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Pretty In Pink

Good morning folks, I'm hoping that this scheduled post has popped up as we're off on a few days break at the moment.
It's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this weeks theme is Pretty In Pink chosen by teamie Daniele so prepare for a lot of sweet creations from the Design Team and of course, me!

I chose to use elements all from the new Sugarplum Daisy CD as I love the pretty rosebud paper that I used for my backing paper here. I tore the edges for a shabby chic look and inked them with pink ink before attaching to the card blank.
I printed the sweet image and a single rose on to watercolour paper then coloured them with a mix of watercolour pencils and Prisma pencils. I added some glitter to the wings. I cut both out then added the image to a die cut oval of white card embossed with the Cuttlebug roses folder. I set this on a mat of pink polka dot paper.
I added a polka dot lace border cut out with a Marianne Design lace die and added this with some white cotton crochet lace.
I finished off with a sentiment from the CD cut out with a Marianne Design tag die, inking the edges and decorating with pearls. The final touch was a pink dotty bow.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 22 April to enter and good luck!

Challenges for my card:
Card Makin' Mamas - Getting Girly
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - Pearls and Lace
Totally Papercrafts - Things With Wings
Paper Play -  Things With Wings


See you when I get back.
Fliss xx

Diamonds and Flourishes

Good morning everyone and Monday is here again! The weekend seemed to disappear really fast although I did fit in some crafting along with all the other things happening.
Today sees the last of Suzanne's February theme of Romance over at Make My Monday and this week we would like to see your romantic creations with Diamonds and Flourishes - diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?

I was a bit short of time so I raided my experimental box of bits and challenged myself to make a card from some bits in there. This is what I came up with and the bits you see were made as follows:
The deep red paper is Vaseline resist technique using Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany Distress inks and a Viva Decor large corner stamp.
The flourish paper is simply a Viva Decor flourish stamped all over buff card with Victorian Velvet Distress ink.
The ivory paper mat was made by embossing a Chocolate Baroque damask background on parchment paper with peach embossing powder for the resist and was then rubbed with Victorian Velvet DI.

The lovely lady is a Rubber Stampede stamp I've had for many years and I stamped her with Imperial Purple VersaFine ink and trimmed to leave a white border. I assembled the card as you see adding flourishes and flowers die cut with Marianne Design dies and clear gems to accent.

Our sponsor for February has been Marianne Design and there's still a chance to win the fabulous prize of Marianne goodies. You'll find all the details over on the Challenge blog together with an array of fabulous samples from the Design Team. We've had to say goodbye to Cath too due to various problems she's had over the last few months and I'd like to wish her well here.

Some challenges for my card:
Patties Creations - Vintage
Moving Along With The Times - Lots Of Layers

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