More Wildflowers

Hello again, some more pics to share as I took my camera with me on my walk earlier as yesterday's photo was taken with my phone.
Somewhat of a risk to my current hayfever troubles but wanted to take some more photos whilst the flowers were in bloom.
As you can see, there were a lot more than poppies in the meadowed patches.

I'm so glad our local parks department (or at least I think it was them) decided to scatter the wildflower seeds to give us all such wonderful signs of nature to enjoy.

Have a lovely week and see you soon.
Fliss xx

Poppy Meadow at the Seaside!

Hello again, just a quick post as I just had to share this photo I snapped a little while ago.

I was driving to deliver my niece's birthday card and couldn't quite believe it when I drove past the most beautiful sight. It was a huge surprise as I was driving along the seafront. On the way home I stopped and took some photos.

Would you believe it but a poppy meadow was growing on the grass greesnward on the seafront and if you look you can see the beach huts in the background. How amazing is that!

Isn't it just gorgeous? I think my watercolours will have to come out again.

Fliss xx

Nature Themed Artist Trading Block and more

Hello on a very wet, chilly and windy day. It's so cold I just had to switch my heating back on despite wearing 3 layers of clothing already! I did my weekly shop earlier too and although I got there quite early the car park was almost full as was the supermarket. Don't know if people are panicking about the weather or the dreaded corona virus.

I'm over at That's Crafty! blog today sharing one of my samples for the recent One Day Special on Hochanda and this one is an artist trading block featuring the gorgeous new Language of Trees stamps designed by Lynne Moncrieff.

As it's so cold, I'm longing for Spring even more so thought I would share a few of my Spring type artwork to cheer myself up and hopefully you too. Hope you like these.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Fliss x

That's Crafty! and Other News

Hello all, I hope you're well and have had a good week, definitely better than mine anyway as I had a rather traumatic experience on Wednesday afternoon as a man phoned up saying he was from the security section of my bank and that a large transaction was about to go through my bank account and had I originated the payment, which I had not!

Suffice to say it went on from there with him piling on more and more pressure in various ways but it wasn't until he tried to get me to transfer money from a savings account to my current account (to protect my compromised accounts of course!) that I realised there was something radically wrong with the phone call (the number of the caller being that on my debit card by the way) and left him hanging on about to send me a "security email to prove his identity" and phoned Andy.

Andy phoned the bank and was told it was definitely a scam. I can't tell you how stupid I felt letting it get as far as it did, even though I did realise it before it was too late. You hear stories of other people being taken in by these sort of scams and don't understand how that happens. I can tell you now having been on the receiving end of one of these calls just how plausible and convincing these people can sound. It's really shaken me up too!

On another note entirely, a much more cheerful one, I have my usual Friday post up over at That's Crafty! blog and I'm sharing one of my sample journal spreads for this week's One Day Special on Hochanda featuring some of the gorgeous new stamp designs from Lynne which I absolutely love.

Here's one half of the spread but you'll need to hop over to the blog to see all of it.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Fliss x

Autumn Dawn

Hello! No crafting to share today, just some pics to share of today's amazing dawn as I was up with the lark this morning.
It's a rather chilly Autumn day today and the poor trees are already shedding their leaves when they're still green here so not much in the way of those glorious autumn shades I love yet.
Hope you like these and have a good week whatever you're doing. In my case today I'm off to the Tai chi class I've just started to help my clunky neck and back from years sat at a computer doing accounts work.

Fliss x

Gone Totally Floral!

Hello on a rather dull Friday. I hope you've all had a good week. I've been busy with accounting stuff although managed to squeeze in a bit of crafting which I'll share soon.
In the meantime, I have the perfect card to share on a dull day which is my post for this week over at That's Crafty! Blog where you'll find all the details on how I created this. The card showcases one of Melina's gorgeous new flower collection stamps which I've turned into a poppy as there's nothing that says summer to me more than a field of poppies - in fact, if you read on you'll see my desktop photo which I love so much I can't change it.

Here's my desktop photo

I also forgot to post my That's Crafty! make for last week so here they are - a trio of floral artist trading cards.

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

Fliss xx

Ode to Nature for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, wishing you a very Happy Easter. Typically for a bank holiday, it's raining down here in the South, however, perfect for staying in and crafting!
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week, I have a mixed media tag inspired by nature to share.

If you'd like to see what I did with this rather Autumnal leaf, you'll need to hop over to the blog, which of course, I hope you will.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

Autumn Art Journaling

Hello all, hope you've had a good start to the week. Mine started off with a walk first thing as the new chapter in my life has now begun and one of my resolutions is to get fitter so I went out, first walking along the seafront and then making my way back a bit inland. Along the route, I managed to collect some fallen leaves which inspired and indeed helped with my journal page for today.
I'm entering this in the Rubber Dance October colour challenge as I love these particular colours and challenged myself to create my journal page with them.

I decided on Autumn as it's my favourite time of year and created the background with a wash of grey and cobalt paints which I applied in rough stripes.
I then used a very unusual stamp - one of the leaves I collected - to add a pattern to my page. I used Chipped Sapphire and Rusty Hinge Distress inks which I pressed on the leaf, using both sides and then placed the inked leaf on the page, running the brayer over the top to transfer the ink. I repeated this until I was happy with the effect.

As you can see, the leaf has left a very good impression and I love the way nature can be brought into art like this.
I finished off my page very simply (I felt the leaves didn't need much else) by stamping on the Art text which is part of the Rubber Dance Kiwi Postoid stamp using the Chipped Sapphire ink.

Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Autumn Woodland Mixed Media Art Panel for That's Crafty!

Hello again! I'm really delighted to tell you that today I'm sharing my favourite of my Hochanda samples over at That's Crafty! Blog. In fact, the second show is just starting if you read this at 11am but if you aren't, fear not, as there's slways rewind!
Here's a sneak peek and you'll find the whole creation over at the blog. I really hope you'll hop on over as this is the one I didn't want to part with! Think I'm going to have to create it again!

Hope you like my toadstools as much as I liked painting them.

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

I'm off on my holidays for a week tomorrow and we're heading to Scotland and beautiful Loch Lomond - can't wait!

Fliss x

Mr Big Ears

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely sunny weekend and I'm here today with a short post to share the card I gave my father in law for his birthday this week.
I'm taking a break in the middle of a baking session to do this (cheese scones and a fruit cake for my father in law).
The card features my newly acquired Hobby Art hare stamp which I was unable to resist as soon as I set eyes on him!

Isn't he just adorable! I stamped him with Archival Watering Can ink on thick, smooth cartridge paper and then stamped some of grasses and flowers from the set on with AArchival Watering Can ink on thick, smooth cartridge paper and then stamped some of grasses and flowers from the set on with Archival Olive and Fern Green inks.
I then added colour with pencils until I was happy with the effect. I trimmed the image to a panel and added a simple blue mat as I know my father in law prefers unfussy cards.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Fliss xx

Some challenges I'd like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge - Animals
The Corrosive Challenge - Nature - Animals

Brusho Play

Hello and welcome to today's post which has happened because I wanted to share a card I made with one of the bits from a demonstration I did last week for my sister in law who is a teaching assistant and runs an art club for the children.

We got talking on Boxing Day and I mentioned Brusho Crystals in connection with something I'm working on at the moment (can't tell you what as it's a secret at the moment :D) and she said they had those at school but what could she do with them!

I'm sure you know how much I love them so I did a demo with various ways using things I thought the children would like to use such as bubble wrap, jar lids, straws etc and I'll show you all the things I did another time.

I saw a couple of challenges that would fit the little meadow scene I made with my new Hunkydory Poppy Meadow clear stamp set which I couldn't resist as I love poppies. Hope you like it!

I started off with a piece of mixed media paper torn from an A5 size pad and decided to incorporate the torn section as it gives a rather rustic look which I thought fit what I wanted to do very well.

I sprinkled on some Lemon Brusho Crystals at the base of the paper then misted with water. I then used a straw to blow the paint about the paper and gained some streaks on the top half.

I then turned the paper up the other way and stamped the poppies on with Archival Watering Can ink. I stamped a butterfly from the set with the same ink. I painted the images with Brusho Crystals, sprinkling a little in a paint palette and adding water. I used Brilliant Red, Lime Green and Turquoise.

I made the grass by sprinkling lime green crystals on a ceramic plate and misting with water. I then used an old store card to pick up paint which I applied in streaks to resemble grass, pulling some paint sideways whilst the paint was wet.

I then sprinkled on a little Gamboge Brusho Crystals, concentrating on the torn edge and the bottom of the panel. I misted this with water and let the colour run a little. You can see where the water made the colours on the poppies and butterflies run a little and I think this gives a lovely free flowing effect.

I glued the panel to a white card blank and stamped on the Hobby Art text with the grey ink to finish.

Have a great day and see you again soon although not sure quite when as I have to go back to work tomorrow - eek!

Fliss xx

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge - What's New (my stamp set and blowing the Brusho Crystals around with a straw!)
Inkspirational Challenges - Thank You With Something New (shown above)
Just Us Girls Challenge - Thank You

Nature

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely and hopefully sunny weekend. It was so warm here it almost felt like Summer and it really was sunny Sussex by the sea.
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and this week the theme was chosen by yours truly as it's a big favourite of mine:

NATURE

I've made a Spring card for my inspiration with a gorgeous new stamp I recently acquired by Stacy Stamps which you can find at Joanna Sheen's online shop in the UK. It stamps amazingly well too with all the intricate detail.

I stamped the bird collage on to smooth cartridge paper with Memories Creamy Coffee ink and coloured it with Aquamarkers then added detail with Prisma pencils. I trimmed the image to a rectangular panel and added mats of pink and green.

I then made my background paper with the same stamp, just inking up the flowers in the lower part of the image with Dovecraft Natural ink and stamping round the edges. I then did some Distress inking with Spun Sugar, Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive and Mowed Lawn.  There's a pic below so you can see the whole piece before I stuck the main panel on.

I added this to a card blank, stuck on the main image panel and finished off with a stamped sentiment which I inked and coloured a little to tone in.

Here are a couple of nature photos I took in our garden too as we've had 4 little fox cubs playing in the garden and seagulls on our neighbours roof so hope you like these. I also think the baby seagull might make you smile too :)

 

I hope you can join in as we'd love to see you there.

Have a great week.

Fliss xx

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Things With Wings

Sister Act Challenge - Anything Goes

A Feathered Friend For That's Crafty

Hello there, I hope you're all managing to survive the current never ending wind and rain and my thoughts are with anyone affected by the flooding. We've had very soggy and waterlogged roads here and tons of nasty potholes everywhere but thankfully no local floods. I also now have to keep a towel in the car to stop soaking the seats having to walk to the car park in the deluge!
Enough moaning though and on to today's post which is to tell you about the project I have today over at That's Crafty which is quite a striking nature themed card created with my favourite set of bird stamps.

As usual you'll find the materials and a tutorial over at the blog and I hope you can pop on over to see how the card came about.

Have a great weekend and try to stay warm and dry - I think even the ducks would not like the current downpour!

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Whispering Grass

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was rather busy as I went to an open house rather posh do on Saturday with my hubby which was held by one of his clients for whom he's dealt with the renovation of a manor house. There have been huge problems and it's taken ages but the end result is really stunning and I was in raptures over some of the plaster mouldings which were amazing circular flourishes.
Yesterday we celebrated with my mother in law as it was her birthday so we had a family afternoon with tea and cake.
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and this week the theme has been chosen by Rosie who has challenged us to:

Create A Scene

It will be no surprise to hear that I've gone for a nature themed card again as I wanted to ink up my Inkylicious grasses stamp. I hope you like it.

As you can see it's quite a simple design and the grasses panel was made with a scrap of watercolour paper which was the exact size for the kraft card blank.

I sponged the paper with Crushed Olive Distress ink on the bottom half and Milled Lavender on the top.

I stamped the grasses on with VersaFine Spanish Moss ink and Seedless Preserves Distress ink,  Some of the stamping was second generation as I was aiming for a misty look in the background. I also added some stamping with the stamp upside down to add a bit more detail at the base.

The butterflies are from the ever useful Crafty Individuals Elements set CI-231 and were stamped with Memento Sweet Plum, VersaFine Spanish Moss and Olympia Green. I then coloured them with Aquamarkers, cut them out and added them with foam pads.

Have a great day.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Nature Quilt For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend like me. I need mine as I've been really busy this week.
I'm here to tell you about my project for today over at That's Crafty which is the cover for a little nature notebook and I'll be sharing the inside pages once I've had a chance to make them up. Hope you like what I've done so far.

Apologies for the slightly wonky pic, I had a bit of trouble with my scanner which I had to use as the light went really early today.
If you'd like to see how I made it, you'll find all the details over at the blog.

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

Silhouettes With Make My Monday

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was very busy with optician visit (new contact lenses on the way) and an unexpected shoe shop visit after I wore some new shoes to work on Friday and I kid you not here, they squeaked the entire day and nearly drove me up the wall! I got them replaced and great hilarity ensued at the till as the staff worked out which refund button to use - there wasn't one for squeaking!
I then spent some time trying to get ahead on my DT work and was partly successful although I still have a long way to go yet. Here's one of my creations for this week's challenge at Make My Monday where the theme is SILHOUETTES and I admit to being a bit stuck as I knew the image I wanted to use but couldn't think what background technique to create for it. Happily my Craft Stamper came to the rescue as I tried out Kay Carley's fab technique. Mine isn't quite like hers of course but I hope you like it.

The silhouette image is one I've had for ages by A Stamp In The Hand and I stamped the poppies on thick smooth cartridge paper with VersaFine Crimson Red ink.
I then used Kay's technique (I can't really put the details here so hopefully you have the mag to refer to) with Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood, Frayed Burlap and Bundled Sage Distress inks using a Paper Artsy flourish stamp (from HP1005). The only difference to Kay's technique being that I added extra stamping round the edges with Bundled Sage and Frayed Burlap as I wanted a little more definition. I was quite surprised how much the inks lightened up once I dried them with my heat gun so if you do try it out, don't be put off if you think it looks a bit dark.
I added faux stitching round the edges with the Tim Holtz ruler and a brown fine pen and finished off with some text from an Inkylicious stamp called Live Life which has lots of lines of text just begging to be cut up!

My DT sisters have made some fabulous cards to inspire you so do hop on over for a peek - I promise you're in for a treat.
Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Time To Dream For That's Crafty

Hello folks and a special welcome to my new followers - lovely to have you here and glad you decided to follow me on my art journey.
This is the first of 2 posts today and is to tell you about the rather bright and zingy creation I have over at That's Crafty. Here it is and I hope you like it.

It's quite simple in style as I didn't want anything to distract from my rather grungy image panel. You'll find all the details over at the That's Crafty blog if you'd like to find out how I coloured the background - it uses something you might not realise can be this useful!

I'll be back shortly with my next post so watch this space!
Have a great day.
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

Spring Green And Yellow

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good weekend. Mine was rather busy as I had to dash up to Kingston on Saturday to help my daughter as she was struggling to finish off all her bits and pieces of her final collection with the hand in today! I spent much of the day running around fetching things so was very tired yesterday (guess who's not used to spending all day on her feet!).
I'm here today to tell you about our new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is a colour one - Green and Yellow - perfect for some Spring creations. I've made another nature themed card which is actually a sample from the workshop I'm teaching this morning and has a very easy to make background using Distress Stains so a tutorial will follow as soon as I have the time to get it together!

The background uses Distress Stains in shades of green and yellow - Shabby Shutters, Squeezed Lemonade and Crushed Olive and I then stamped on the fabulous Inkylicious worn paint background - I can see lots of use for this one - with Peeled Paint Distress ink.
I then stamped the gorgeous vintage bird collage image (also Inkylicious) with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and took a bit of a liberty by turning the birds into greenfinches. I painted them with Distress Stains and then inked the edges with Crushed Olive Distress ink.
I added the image panel to a green die cut (Papermania) and attached this to the card with the background panel. I decorated the card with paper flowers, some painted with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain and punched leaves and finished off with a Dovecraft sentiment.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft - Anything Goes
Cards In Envy - Make Your Own Background
Smudgy Antics - Feathers And/Or Fur

Song Bird For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week and that at least some of you had the fabulous sunny day we had here yesterday after a 4 degree start. The only drawback here was my next door neighbour having a new garden shed set up and there was loud banging for rather a lot of the day!
I'm here today with my project this week for That's Crafty which is a mixed media canvas board this time with as much texture as I could cram on lol. I hope you like it!

If you'd like to see how I made it and find out where all the texture came from then please hop on over to the BLOG to be enlightened. As you can see, I'm still on a bit of a nature kick at the moment!

I hope you all have a lovely day and a wonderful weekend (I'm in need of mine after wrestling with pesky payroll software and the Revenue's new RTI requirements!)

Hugs, Fliss xx