Children or Babies At Make My Monday

Hello everyone and many thanks to those who left a comment on my last post about our shock just over a week ago. I much appreciate your kind thoughts which cheered me up a little.
Still not much in the way of good news although the police have linked 5 other cases to ours and have a person of interest as they call it so fingers crossed they manage to get somewhere.
I'm here today slightly late with my creation for today's new challenge at Make My Monday with Jacqueline's theme of Children or Babies. I chose children as I love the image I used by Paperbag Studios which reminds me of my younger daughter who had plaits between the ages of 7 and 10.

I made the background paper with a daisy stamp from Crafty Individuals Elements Flower Heads sstamp set, stamping in Memories Creamy Coffee to mafe a sort of frame round the edges. I then applied Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress inks with a sponge applicator. I distressed the edges with an emery board and added the panel to a chocolate brown mat to leave a small contrasting border.
I made a card blank with some dusky pink hammered card and stamped daisies round the edges with the brown ink. I then added the background panel.
I stamped the image (called Little Lu Lu) with the brown ink on smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers. I trimmed her to a panel and added mats of bright blu, dusky pink and chocolate brown to tone in, leaving a slightly wider border at the bottom to add some pink pearls to.
I stamped a butterly (B Line Designs with blue ink and coloured with Aquamarkers before cutting out. I checked the placement and then stamped the Flonzcraft sentiment directly on the background paper before adding the image panel and butterfly to finish.

Have a great week everyone and stay warm.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Can U Resist?

Well, can you folks lol. I hope you're enjoying the weekend so far and I'm here today with news of the new challenge today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme chosen by yours truly with is

Can U Resist?

So it's time to try out those resist techniques and the one I have to share for my inspiration is a little bit different. It gives a very grungy result which I hope you like so please do tell me what you think.

You might need to click on the pic to see the effect properly as it's quite hard to see in the smaller photo here.

The background paper was made by stamping one of my favourite Viva Decor flourish stamps with embossing ink on thick linen textured card and heat embossing the images with clear powder.

I then rubbed green, brown and orange wax crayons over the embossed areas which picked up some but not all of the colour. I next sponged on Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks and you can see the resist effect in the photo. I rubbed a paper towel gently over the top to remove any excess ink.

I stamped the image from Paperbag Studios on watercolour paper with Archival coffee ink and coloured it lightly with Aquamarkers then trimmed close to the edge, leaving a narrow border.

I added the resist panel to a kraft card blank which was embossed on the right side with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder, wrapping a piece of coffee coloured lace round. I then added the image panel and some flowers, mesh leaves and ribbon to embellish the card.

The Fashionettes have some fabulous inspiration waiting for you on the catwalk and I hope you'll pop over for a look. I hope we'll see you entering the challenge too and please remember that we are a stamping challenge and that there must be stamping on your project to be eligible for the prize.

Our sponsor as always as the lovely Leo of Flonzcraft whose online store has lots of fabulous vintage images.

Have a great day.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Simply Create Too - Vintage
Stempelsonnen Challenge - Orange, Green, Brown
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Happy Campers - Use A Stamp

Someday I'll Fly Away

Good morning folks, hoping you're all still having a good weekend if you live in the UK and I'm back today with news of the new challenge over at Make My Monday today chosen by Jan which has the theme of

Anything But A Card

I decided on another canvas although this one is a canvas board as I find them easier to work with when I want to stamp.

I was inspired to create my canvas by an article in the latest issue of Scrap 365 magazine as I love seeing new ways to use up those scraps of paper from my bits box. Here's what I used for my canvas:

I first covered the 5x7 canvas with a copy of a vintage French construction catalogue which I picked up on my recent visit to Eastbourne. I then cut strips of the decorated paper scraps (made with various techniques including stamping, stenciling and inking by pressing through my Cuttlebug) from my bits box and glued them on with Ranger Glue n Seal. I then brushed Gesso over the top, wiping with a baby wipe to soften the effect and then used the wipe to apply some Crushed Olive and Vintage Photo Distress ink.  

I stamped Addison (Paper Bag Studios) twice with Memories black ink on smooth white card and coloured the wings on one image with a red Promarker. I cut out the whole image from this one and the little boy from the other, layering them up with clear adhesive squares.

I stamped the Arty image (Kaisercraft) with Crushed Olive Distress ink randomly on the canvas and then used a jar lid and Vintage Photo to add circles. I stamped Imagine (Inkylicious) with the Memories black ink directly on the canvas and then added the little boy. I punched out a few circles from my larger grungy dot background (made by stamping with a cork) and inked the edges with Barn Door before adding them to the canvas.

The Design Team has made fabulous and varied creations to inspire you so do hop over for a peek.

Have a lovely day.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my canvas:
Addicted To Stamps Challenge - Shabby/Vintage
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Hobbycutz - Create Your Own Background (All my scraps are papers made by me)
Stamping Sensations - Wings and Things and a Touch of Vintage
Our Creative Corner - Words, Words, Words

Smile

Good morning folks and a special welcome for my new followers, so lovely to have you on board ladies and I'm so pleased you've decided to follow my art journey. I hope you all had a good weekend and managed to get some crafting done as I did, some of which I'll be sharing over the next week.
Today's piece of artwork is my inspiration for the new challenge over at Make My Monday with a theme chosen this week by Rosie who would like to see a creation with a 3D Element or Dimension.
I decided on a little wall hanging heart which I picked up at our local branch of The Range for just £1 and knew it was just made for altering.

I first added some Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint in Vintage Lace applied with a sponge as it gives a much softer effect than using a brush.
I then stamped on at random the second largest daisy from the Crafty Individuals Elements set CI- 206 Flower Heads using Archival Olive ink. I then used second generation stamping with the same ink to add more smaller daisies in between.
When the paint was dry, I painted the larger daisies with Titanium White paint and allowed it to dry. I then knocked the colour back a little by brushing over with a wet brush. This softened the paint up for a softer look.
I then stamped several more of the daisies on to smooth white card with the olive ink and coloured them with pastel pink and yellow and soft lime Promarkers. I cut them out with decoupage scissors.

I stamped Little Lu-lu by PaperBag Studios with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink and when the ink was dry, coloured her with Promarkers. I trimmed around the image on the left side and added her to the painted heart with foam tape, trimming off the excess down the side of the heart.
I added the daisies with foam squares, layering them up a little and finished off with stamped text and some pink pearls.

Have a great day and hope you will enter the challenge, you'll see from the DT inspiration how many ways you can add dimension to your creations.

Fliss xx
Some challenges for my wall hanging wooden heart:
One Stop Craft - Pastel Colours
Brown Sugar Challenge - Anything Goes
QKR Stampede - No Squares Allowed

Dreaming

Hello everyone, hoping you all had a good weekend and enjoyed some of the current very warm and sunny weather.
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday with a theme chosen by Caz which is to create something with A Non Inked Stamp by which she means either a new stamp or one in your collection that has never been inked up (I'm sure we all have a few of those!) or if you're not a stamper, A New Decoupage Sheet.
I'm sure you can also guess which option I went for so here's my creation:

I recently acquired this gorgeous Windsong stamp by Paperbag Studios which has been on my wish list for ages.
I stamped the image on thick cartridge paper with Archival coffee ink and then simply trimmed out the panel with some deckle scissors to echo the torn fabric style edge.
I made a patchwork background with some scraps of paper from my bits box in warm shades of yellow and orange with a touch of lime green and sepia. I cut these into squares and added faux stitching with the TIm Holtz Idea-ology ruler and a fine brown pen.
Using another scrap of paper, I die cut most of a doily from it with a Papermania die (as part is hidden behind the image panel, it didn't need to be the whole shape) and inked the edges with some Umber ink for added contrast.
I stamped the dream text (Time To Dream by Stamp-It from Crafters Companion) with the coffee ink on a scrap of cartridge paper and trimmed around it.
I assembled the card as you see on a kraft card blank.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Citrus Colours

Laughter - The Best Medicine

Hello folks, hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely crafting pressies (I did and will be trying out what I received very soon when I get a bit more spare time - one of my New Year hopes!).
Time has been a bit short with visitors, trying to sort out a mega damp problem caused by our cavity wall insulation (which has to be removed at a cost which practically made me faint with shock) and I have a house full of sick patients - my OH has a stinking cold, elder daughter an ear infection and younger one a sick bug and I'm hoping they all keep what they have to themselves!
I'm here today with my creation for our new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which is Surprise Us! so anything goes. Our lovely Joanna also had the idea of a Secret Santa with each of us sending our creation to one of the other Fashionettes. Having this in mind, I decided to go with something inspirational and made a little wall hanging piece with one of my favourite stamps.

I love this image from Paper Bag Studios as she reminds me a bit of a lovely photo I have of my dear Mum laughing and it's very true that laughter is the best medicine. I stamped her on a piece of cream mountboard then added a mat of kraft card trimmed down one edge with a Martha Stewart punch.
The background paper came from my bits box and I thought it fit the retro image perfectly. It was made using Crushed Olive, Mustard Seed and Tumbled Glass Distress inks using my Grunge Background Technique (click on the tutorial page at the top if you'd like to see how to do this). I then stamped on it using various floral images with Barn Door and Broken China DIs and swiped on a little more of the red ink.
I added the paper to a chipboard page from a Papermania blank book (these make fabulous wall hanging artwork) and glued on the image panel together with some very pretty floral lace (bought ages ago from Art From The Heart).
I finished off with a Hampton Art butterfly stamped on pink card with deep rose pink ink and cut out. Twine was added at the top to form the hanging section.

I can't tell you who this is for yet but hope she likes it. The other Fashionettes have made some fabulous creations so do hop over to feast your eyes on the catwalk!
We'd love to see your entries although please don't forget that we're a stamping challenge (we're all addicted to this!) so your creation must include some stamping and no digital stamps are allowed.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2013.
See you next year.
Fliss xx

Some Challenges for my Wall Hanging
2 Sisters - Anything But A Card
Hiding In My Craft Room - Freestyle
Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges - Anything Goes
Stampin For The Weekend - Anything Goes

Laugh-Sunday Stampers Bits and Pieces Challenge

Hello from a very wet Sussex afternoon as it's raining hard at the moment.
I'm here with my entry for this week's challenge over at Sunday Stampers set by the lovely Hels Sheridan and the challenge theme is Bits and Pieces (probably showing my age now but I'm singing it in my head lol).
This gave me the chance to get out my bits and pieces box of the leftovers from my many experimental techniques over the last 12 years since I started stamping (yes, I have been doing it that long so you can tell I'm addicted!) and here's what I made with them. There's also a photo of all the bits in progress so you can see it really is a bits project.

I decided to make a piece of wall art and used a piece of mountboard 20cm square as the base.
My bits and pieces are made by loads of different techniques including stamping, embossing, direct to paper inking, painting, distressing, metallic marker marbling and the most unique which was accidental as I discovered when playing with Stewart Gill paints, which remain tacky for quite a while, that you could add foil to it without using glue. This gives a really opulent effect.
I chose bits in my favourite shades of purple, turquoise and green with copper for added interest and just let the creating go with the flow-the best way to do things really!
When I was happy with the arrangement, I glued all the pieces on and added a complete contrast with some monchromatic stamping. I made a panel on thick card with my favourite Paper Bag Studios Laugh stamp which I triple embossed with clear powder. I then stamped up a lot of the little images from the Inkadinkado Girl Stuff 98777 inchie clear stamp set. I cut these up and glued some at random on my decorated square along with the embossed panel and a couple of multi colour embossed leaves from the bits box that went with my colour scheme perfectly.