Photo Inspiration at Make My Monday

Hello everyone, a fairly quick post from me today as I'm feeling rather sorry for myself having woken up yesterday morning deaf in my right ear and on my hubby's recommendation put some stuff in it which was really horrible - fizzing in the ear very uncomfortable! It's a bit better today but I slept rather badly so don't feel great!
Our new challenge today at Make My Monday has a photo for inspiration:

My Oxford Impressions Mystical Mermaids stamp set came out to play although it's not I think my best creation as I felt so yuk.

The base is a That's Crafty! Surfaces large White/Greyboard Tag which was coloured using my Gelli Plate and some blue and green acrylic paints with a dash of white. I then used the That's Crafty! Bubbles Background Dinky Stencil with white transparent acrylic to add some texture.

I next stamped on the seaweed with Archival Olive ink followed by the mermaid and fish. I then painted both the mermaid and fish with white gesso which is my favourite trick to avoid adding cut out images. Once the paint is dry, stamp over the top again with the image and the olive ink.

Then I coloured the images with Twinkling H20 paints in various colours including smudging some deep blue over the seaweed to make it pop. The finishing touch was to stamp on bubbles from the set using first and second generation stamping with Archival Watering Can ink.

I then tied some wired chiffon ribbon through the top.

We have our new DT members joining us for this challenge and they've made a fabulously inspiring start so I hope you can pop over to see.

Have a great week.
Fliss xx

I Heart Steampunk For That's Crafty

Hello everyone and apologies for my lack of visiting this week which is because I'm working full time due to the fast looming tax deadline and I'm so pooped in the evenings I haven't felt like doing any more than collapse in front of the TV!
Only a week to go now and hopefully normal service will then resume!

I have a post today over at That's Crafty which this week is a mixed media art panel on one of my favourite themes - steampunk if you haven't already guessed :D

I hope this will intrigue you enough to pop over to see the whole thing and I'd be so pleased if you did as I so enjoyed making this.

I'll be back in a bit as we have a new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog today and I can hardly wait to show you my inspiration!

Fliss xx

Alphabet Soup At That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again, I'm back with my second post today which is all about our new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog which for the next fortnight has the theme of Alphabet Soup.

My inspiration is rather different to my last post as it's a masculine card this time with a slightly steampunk flavour.

I made the background paper with vintage shades of Distress Ink and I then stamped on a Carabelle Studio alphabet collage stamp. I then used 2 That's Crafty Dinky Stencils with the same ink.
I stamped on some of the elements from an Oxford Impressions steampunk stamp set and stamped the Einstein (I think!) image on a tan tile and trimmed to a panel. I added this to a dark grey mat.
I attached the panel to a grey card blank and added the image panel to finish.

I used:
Carabelle Studio Cling Stamp - Une Plume Sur Mon Carnet
Oxford Impressions Unmounted Stamp Set - Steampunk
That's Crafty Dinky Stencils - Grid Background, Arrows
Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone
Archival Watering Can Ink

There's a fab prize of a £20 voucher for the online shop up for grabs if you enter and do hop over to see my DT mates creations which are totally fab too!

Have a great weekend and week and see you when I get back!
Fliss xx


 

The Scientist

Hello again, here's my second post today with my inspiration for our new challenge over at That's Crafty today which has the theme of It's A Man's World.
My project was inspired by my favourite Coldplay song which is called The Scientist and my Oxford Impressions steampunk stamps are perfect for this as you'll see.

I brushed gesso roughly over a piece of card and then when it dried, sponged on Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress inks. I then stamped on the chemist's rack, cogs and gears and light bulbs with coffee ink.
I stamped the man, steam engine, text and plaque with black ink on smooth cartridge paper and cut them out. The man was in a frame but I cut him out as I planned to place him in the lower right corner and I think he looks better without it.

I used:
Oxford Impressions - Steampunk Works and Steampunk Elements
Archival Ink - Jet Black and Coffee
Distress Inks - Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
Stamping Card
Claudine Hellmuth Gesso

Hope to see you there!
Fliss xx

Going Steampunk For That's Crafty

Good morning all, hoping you've all had a lovely sunny week which has been so warm here and it's fabulous to be able to walk about in short sleeves at last.
As it's a certain date I'd also like to wish a very Happy Fourth of July to all of you in the United States - have a great day!
It's my That's Crafty day today and this week I'm sharing an altered arch frame by those lovely peops over at Tando Creative who make such wonderful and amazing value items crying out for ink or paint so this time I got very messy indeed and had purple fingers for a while!
I hope you like my tranformation and you'll find all the details of how I created it over at the blog.

If you haven't yet entered our latest challenge over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog, you still have a week to enter your creations with a seaside flavour as the theme is All At Sea - why not give it a try as the winner is randomly chosen to be fair to all entrants.

Have a lovely weekend,
Fliss xx

Some challenges I'd like to enter:
Crafty Creations Challenges - Things With Wings
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes - mine is an altered chipboard arch frame
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes Altered Art

La Vie Scientifique For That's Crafty

Good morning folks, I hope you've all had a better week than mine as my journey to work has been fraught with difficulties all week due to local flooding and burst water mains combined with roadworks! I really hope things improve soon as I'm getting very fed up with all of it!
Anyhow, enough of my troubles and on to my reason for today's post which is to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty which is a creation with another of the papers I made last week in my mono printing session with Stampendous Creative Palette and I've gone steampunk this week!

You'll find a pic of the whole creation over at the blog with all the materials details and how I made it and I'd love it if you came to visit.

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

A Country Girl At Heart

Hello folks, it's time for my weekly post for That's Crafty and this time I've altered another of the lovely burlap canvasses by Sir Tim.
It's a very quick post as I'm really busy at the moment working full time to help my boss with the dreaded tax return deadline fast approaching and we still have loads to get through. I reckon I'm going to need a week of sleep when we've finished too!

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and I hope you'll pop on over to see how I made it. If you haven't yet looked at the blog, do hop over as there are loads of fabulous tutorials to feast your eyes on.

Have a great day.
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

Steampunk Card Toppers For That's Crafty

Hello folks, I'm here today to give you a very sneaky peek of my project for the That's Crafty Blog and if you'd like to see it in all it's glory (says she, tongue in cheek!!!), you'll need to hop over and this week there are quite a lot of pics over there as I made not one but four things and five if you count the card made with one of the skinny style toppers.

Hopefully this has whetted your appetite of something which came about as I was reminiscing about Ready Steady Stamp, one of the first challenges I can remember doing when I started my blog and I came across an image from one of the challenges where we had to make a skinny or three, something I had never heard of then.
If you'd like to see the challenge project I made then please click HERE.

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

Travel - Vintage Style

Good morning everyone, it's the start of another week so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. It's the last of Val's fabulous Vintage challenges and this week the theme is Travel.
For my inspiration I decided on a very vintage style of traveling about - travel by bicycle. Hands up those who are now singing the song going through my head - you can probably guess it's Bicycle by Queen!

 I stamped the background paper starting with the swirl image from the Oxford Impressions steampunk set with Archival coffee stamping on 4 sides. I then inked the paper with Shabby Shutters Distress ink and stamped on the Hobby Art harlequin design with Crushed Olive. I then inked round the edges with VersaColor cinnamon ink and distressed the edges with an emery board, inking with dark red.
I stamped the vintage lady cyclist with the same coffee ink and coloured her with inks and Promarkers before cutting her out and adding her to the background panel with foam tape. The final touch was to stamp the London text from the steampunk set with the coffee ink.

I'm hoping this post pops up as scheduled as I'm now rushing around making the hopefully final preparations for a workshop I'm running this morning making Christmas cards which I'll be sharing my examples for later this week.
Have a great Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Stampin' Sisters In Christ - Something Handmade (my background paper)
Allsorts Challenge - Inspired By A Song

Wheels With Make My Monday

Good morning folks, we have a very chilly start to the day today but the sun is shining hooray! It's Monday again and the start of a new theme at Make My Monday. The April theme has been chosen by Caz and she would like to help with those difficult to create cards as the theme is Men and Boys Only. This week the challenge is to make something including Wheels.
I was very pleased to see this as it gave me the chance to get inky with my Oxford Impressions steampunk stamps which are a must with me as my hubby's family love anything nautical or vintage engineering style.
Here's what I made:

I used elements here from both of the steampunk sets (you can find them at The Craft Barn) and first made a background paper by using Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress inks just added direct from the ink pad and then sponged whilst still wet for a grungy effect. I sponged more of the darker ink round the edges.
I then stamped on various images from the sets with Archival Coffee ink. It came out a little brighter than I needed for my added images to really pop so I brushed on some watered down gesso.
I then stamped the steam engine, gent and company sign with Ancient Page Coal Black ink and added some ink left on the sponge from earlier to blend them in a little. I cut them out and added to the card with foam tape.
I finished off with text which is part of a larger stamp.

The Design Team have made some fabulous examples to inspire you so I hope you'll head on over to see them plus details of the fabulous prize by our sponsor Marianne Design. Believe me, you won't want to miss this!

Challenges for my card:
Marks Finest Papers - Make A Square Card
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Things With Wheels
Divas By Design - Stamp Something (everything on my card is stamped)
My Mum's Craft Shop - Stamp It

Thanks for looking and have a good week.
Fliss xx