A Trio of Spring Artist Trading Cards

 Hello! I'm here today to share a trio of atcs in Spring colours that I created the other day using things from my bits and pieces box as I haven't been able to craft properly due to my hubby (who caught a cold from his father) passing his cold to me last weekend but unfortunately for me it went to my sinuses then on Monday went down on my chest so I've been feeling somewhat poorly.

The backgrounds on these are my ever useful ink spray overflow or inky stencil presses on the spare paper I always have on one side when spraying ink through masks or stencils.

The flowers were stamped on inky paper too and as you can see, you don't need a smaller stamp than the atc as you can use just part of the image as I've done here.

The text comes from one of Lynne's wildflower stamp sets and one of Melina's new DL key stamp sets and fit my chosen theme perfectly.

I hope you're all having a good week and will be back soon.

Fliss xx

Bad Blogger Again!

Hello everyone, despite my best intentions blogging and visiting has gone out of the window again over the last few weeks.
It's partly due to my DT commitments as I've had lots of samples to create which is the good bit as it was lovely to get some crafting done (although I had a bit of a struggle as my mojo has been somewhat reluctant over the lockdown).
I have been out walking as much as I can which was necessary as it helps when I have to deal with difficult accounting stuff.
I have some artwork to share which I hope you like.

Another one that's part of the journal I created for the recent One Day Special That's Crafty! had on Hochanda with quite a lot of steampunk and industrial elements and I couldn't resist calling this Einstein A Go Go as it contains what I know will be my new favourite text stamp - can you guess what it is?

 

I'll be round to catch up over the Bank Holiday weekend and in the meantime, have a great weekend and stay safe and well.

Fliss xx

Longing For Spring Artist Trading Box

Hello everyone on a very wet and miserable day here in the South of England. I decided to finish off the artist trading box I started creating last week to cheer myself up as I'm really longing for some better weather to arrive.
Hope you like my cheery artwork.

Here's how it began:

I found some ink spray overflow paper with shades of green and yellow with white space in places and a sprinkle of orange in my box - perfect for a spring themed creation. I took the gorgeous leaf silhouette from one of the sets designed by Lynne and stamped leaves in shades of green on the papers cut to fit my box. A couple then had additional stamping with another leaf and orange ink.

I stamped some of my own flowers, choosing the one that makes me think of spring as it looks a little like a parrot tulip and coloured them with flat matte sprays, using orange, saffon and tomato.

I then assembled my box adding in some leaves from my box, not exactly spring shades but oranges, browns etc to contrast with the background.

 

I added text from Lynne's Leaf sets and some of her beautiful affirmations together with the lovely butterfly from That's Crafty! Textures Collection set 3 stamped on overflow paper.

I hope this has cheered you up if you have a nasty wet day.
Have a good week whatever the weather.
Fliss xx

Blossoming Card for That's Crafty! and more

Hello, I'm here slightly late with the details of my post over at That's Crafty! Blog last Friday which is because on Friday and Saturday I had an issue on my blog which was caused by the photo host of my blog background layout and I ended up with a huge grey watermark straight across the page.
This was eventually sorted out yesterday evening by my tech help (my brilliant elder daughter) so if you did notice it, you'll know why I hated it!

Here's the card from my post which I hope you like.

I hope you've had a good weekend and that you have a good week ahead.

Fliss xx

Merry & Bright at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! A slightly late post to let you know that I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing a bright and cheery card created with papers that were made with non festive stamps.
I've still not yet caught up with my blogging and stuff and hope to be round very soon (family stuff still getting in the way with a very demanding father in law!).

Have a great weekend and hope you're all well.

Fliss xx

Flowers Are A Must For Me at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! I hope you're all well and surviving the current chilly weather. This is a scheduled post as today we have my mother in law Jean's funeral at last and we finally have the chance to get together and say goodbye to her properly. We miss her such a lot as before she became ill with dementia she was always so lively and great fun. I know she wouldn't like being as she was over the last year or so when things became really difficult so I hope she's now at peace.

I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing an art journal page that was quick to make as I've been short on time.

My page is all about my love for flowers and if you'd like to see the whole page you'll need to hop over to the blog.

I hope to be back to more blogging soon as it's taken very much a back seat lately and especially over the last few weeks as I got landed unexpectedly with hosting the after service lunch. The result has been a huge declutter and clean at home as my craft stuff is all over the downstairs of our house! It's all done and the only up side is that there'll be less to do for Christmas!

Fliss xx

Rhapsody in Blue

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a better week than me as since I did my last post, as some of you that are friends on Facebook will know, we lost my lovely mother in law Jean last Sunday.

She seemed to be recovering but on Saturday we had a call to say she'd taken a turn for the worse and later on they called again to say that they couldn't do any more to help. Andy spent several hours with her and we were called at 5am on Sunday morning to say that she had passed away. Poor Andy had to go straight down to the hospital to sign forms and collect all her belongings as they wanted to clean her room. Rather heartless in my opinion but I suppose they see death all the time there.

My father in law is still in Brighton hospital recovering slowly from his hip replacement and a chest infection he picked up there. He has now been told about Jean and is coping as we all are so hopefully he will continue to recover as we want him back over in Worthing where it will be much easier to see him. Poor Andy has been visting every day after work in Lewes and doesn't get home before 8pm so it's a very long day for him.

I do have my usual post up over at That's Crafty! Blog today which is a card as I needed something quick and simple due to lack of time.

You'll find the whole photo over at the blog if you hop over as this is just a sneak peek. As you can see, I'm feeling rather blue this week.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

Blossoming Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, hope you're all enjoying the current sunny weather if you have that as we have down here. Not that I've seen that much of it as I've had a lot of stuff to do, some rather exciting and some not! Lots of family stuff going on here due to my in laws both still being in hospital which has resulted in us all pulling together to deal with their house etc etc.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday post which this week is a layered up mixed media tag (I ended up with very blue fingers making this too) which I hope you like. Here's a sneak peek to tempt you.

I hope you have a lovely day and a great weekend and will see you soon with some rather exciting news about happenings at That's Crafty! towers.

Fliss xx

Bentley's Midnight Garden

Hello! I hope you've all had a good week and better than mine which has been rather busy with accounts stuff but thankfully that's nearly all finished for the moment.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and I've been using up some of my spray overflow scraps from last week's make to create another upright. This week the lovely Bentley has come out to play as it's a while since he made an appearance and I thought I should ink him up again.

Hope you like this sneak peek and you'll find all the details over at the blog as usual.

I've got a busy weekend as tomorrow we're off up to London to help my daughter Sarah move from her lodgings with a family to a flat she'll be sharing with 2 other girls and I know she can't wait as it's what she's wanted for ages but found that finding a flat share was worse than a job interview!!!

See you soon and have a great weekend.

Fliss xx

Textured Blooms

Hello everyone from a rather wet and rainy South Coast. We've finally had rain here which went on most of yesterday and has certainly cooled the weather down as I've had to put a cardi on for the first time in about 6 weeks. I also slept very well last night thank goodness so hopefully that will continue as I've not had a good night for ages as I struggle to cope with the heat. I hope you're all OK and hopefully have cooler weather too.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! blog today and this week I've got an MDF upright mixed media style to share which uses something slightly unusual for the textured blooms on it. I hope you'll be intrigued to see how it came about.

You'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd like to hop over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and will see you soon.
Fliss xx

Mixed Media Artwork for That's Crafty!

Hello, I've been rather busy this week for various reasons so hopefully will do more visiting over the weekend.
One of the reasons is because yesterday morning we woke to find carnage in our back garden as a nasty fox had destroyed the nest of a hedgehog family in the shrubbery on the edge of our small patio. He unfortunately killed one of the babies and yesterday afternoon we found 2 more babies out in full sunshine and very wobbly. Their mother appears to have abandoned them so we put them back in shade until Andy came home and they've spent the night in a box in the shed with puppy milk and actual hedgehog food (didn't know you could get this!) after an emergency dash to Pets 'r' Us. We'll be ringing up the local animal rescue today for advice as the babies seem tobe about a month old and not old enough to fend for themselves. Nature can be so cruel sometimes.

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a mixed media circular panel which is the result of a rescue of something that went wrong last month. All is now fixed and you can find out how over on the blog.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

Flutter Your Feathers for That's Crafty!

Hello! I hope you've all had a lovely week with some sunny weather and time for crafting too. I'm really looking forward to the weekend as I've had some accounts work to do this week and need a rest from figures!
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog and I have another tag to share - I seem to be addicted to making these at the moment. My tag this time is in coll chilled shades of blue with a touch of yellow and purple hues for contrast.

You'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd like to see how this came about and hope you'll hop over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

In The Walled Garden Mixed Media for That's Crafty!

Hello! It's hot and sunny again today although thankfully my puffy feet and ankles have gone down now. Hope everyone is coping with the heat if you have it.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a mixed media piece of artwork created on one of the fab MDF uprights as it's quite a while since I altered one. There's a sneak peek below and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog if you hop over as I hope you will to see how it came about.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and see you soon.

Fliss xx

Sharing Joy Mixed Media Artwork for That's Crafty!

Hello! Hope you're all OK at the moment and apologies for being a bit of a bad blogger lately, I've just been rather busy with family stuff, work and other behind the scenes stuff that can't yet be shared. Hopefully normal service will be resumed very soon.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week my softer side is on show as I decided (a bit reluctantly) to break into my treasured stash of vintage doilies to create a mixed media panel which is the reason for the soft colours that I hardly ever use.

This is just a sneak peek and if you'd like to see the whole thing you'll need to hop on over to the blog where all will be revealed.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and hope to catch up soon.

Fliss xx

Midway Inspiration for That's Crafty! June Challenge

Hello and welcome to my second inspiration for our June challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog with the theme of A Summer's Day.
I've made a tag on my favourite floral theme featuring some brightly coloured flowers which are part of what Summer means to me.

I created a simple background on a size 10 white/greyboard tag by swiping on slightly diluted multi surface paints in Buttercup, Lavender and Teal to make a soft wash of colour for my bright flowers.
I took some stamped flowers from my stash as I have a ready supply of my fanciful flowers stamped up on Gelli prints created with more diluted multi surface paints - these were Bright Magenta, Mustard, Orange, Green and Lime, some stamped and some stencilled but fairly plain as I find these so useful to stamp flowers and leaves on.
I created some stems for my smaller flowers (made from the central areas of my flower stamp) by cutting curved strips of green Gelli print scraps and drew a simple running stitch line down the centre.
I glued the flowers in place after layering them up with dimensional adhesive and added Melina's text from her Nature's Faces Set 2 stamps using Archival Fern Green and cutting up the words into tiles.
I finished off with some torn recycled sari ribbon.

If you haven't yet entered, there's a great prize of a £30 voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner and stencils of choice for the Top 3 chosen by the Design Team. You have to be in it to win it so hope to see you there!
Fliss xx

Steampunk Floral Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello! I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend and hopefully some sunny weather as it's looking more promising today after yesterday's rain and wind.

I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week I challenged myself to try and go steampunk with one of my flower stamps. You can see if you think I rose to the challenge by hopping over to the blog and if you do, do let me know.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Hopefully I'll be over to visit soon as I've been very busy with work and family stuff over the last week or so and haven't had as much free time as I'd like. I've also been crafting behind the scenes and will soon be able to share what I've been up to.

Fliss xx

My Dilemma at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello everyone, still sneezing unfortunately and thanks for the well wishes on my last post. Just a quickie today as I'm having to do the dreaded h.......k as my younger daughter is home for the weekend and as her bedroom is currently where I have some of my work stuff a tidy up is necessary!

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a post about my dilemma as I created something that it was really hard to cover up so if you'd like to see what came about, please do hop on over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and see you soon as I have a lot of catching up to do over the weekend.

Fliss xx

A Summer's Day at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone from a very sneezy Fliss as I've had the most terrible hayfever over the last few days and not quite sure where this came from as I hardly ever get it these days! Hopefully whatever is causing it will soon be blown away as it's really windy here today.
Anyway, enough of my woes and I need to let you know there's a new challenge up today at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and our theme for June is A Summer's Day so we'd like to see artwork with whatever Summer means to you.
In my case, it's all the lovely bright flowers that come into bloom and I have a tag to share with just that featured on it.

My many layered background features both stencilling and stamping after swiping on some yellow, lime and teal paints. I first added stencilling with the random triangles dinky stencil and teal multi surface paint. I then stamped on the script and postmark from That's Crafty! Textures Collection Stamp Set 3 with Archival Watering Can ink.
I next stamped on the sequin waste image from Textures Collection Set 4 with Archival Cactus Flower ink. I added the live life text from Melina's Nature's Faces Set 2 stamp set with the same ink.
I stamped my flowers from the Fanciful Flowers Set 2 stamp set on mixed media paper with Archival Jet Black ink and then painted the images with bright red, mustard yellow and bright orange multi surface paints. I cut the images out, swiped on embossing ink and heat embossed them with clear powder for some shine.
I glued the flowers on with dimensional glue and finished off with some toning sari ribbon.

Don't forget there's now a whole month to enter and entries are welcome from all over the world. The randomly drawn winner receives a £30 voucher for the online shop and the Top 3 a choice of That's Crafty! stencil. Hope to see you there!

Have a great rest of the week.
Fliss xx

Shabby Chic Floral Card for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I can't believe that today is the first of June as we've been having rather a weird week on the weather side as it's been extremely hot on some days and we've had torrential rain and thunder and lightning and flooded roads!
We had a lovely visit on Sunday to Petworth House Park and I'll be sharing some of my photos a bit later on. It was very hot here on Sunday so although we didn't walk that far, around 2 miles, in my case, it felt like I'd run a marathon as I don't cope very well with heat.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday post and this week I have a vintage style shabby chic card to share.

You'll find all the details of how I created this over at the blog as usual and I hope that you'll hop on over to see.

Now for my Petworth photos - if you haven't been, it's a really lovely place and well worth a visit.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and see you soon.
Fliss xx

Mixed Media Floral Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and sorry for the lack of visiting this week, I've been up to my eyes in my accounting type work and haven't had as much free time as usual so hopefully will be round over the long weekend although if sunny, gardening will be done!
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog with my usual Friday post and this week have a many layered mixed media tag to share with a floral theme (no surprise there!) and pretty pastel shades including my favourite purple hues.

This is just a sneak peek and you'll find all the details over at the blog as usual with a photo of the whole tag.

Have a really lovely weekend and see you soon.
Fliss xx