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

Shabby Chic at Make My Monday

Hello everyone, it seems like Summer has arrived so I hope you all had a lovely sunny weekend. Mine has been a bit mixed as I got my new glasses on Saturday (I wear contact lenses all the time) which I have for back-up and as I'm exceedingly short sighted and they're also varifocals, to say I've been struggling is an understatement!!!
I just about managed to get my card for our new challenge at Make My Monday which has the theme of Shabby Chic chosen by Suzi B, although a fair amount of squinting came into it! Hope you like it.

I used a scrap of the Gelli print paper shown on my post last Friday and stamped on the Penny Black collage image with Archival Wareing Can ink. I then added colout with Inktense pencils.
I stamped the Hobbycraft corner flourishes on with the same ink together with the sentiment. I then distressed the edges with an emery board and added the panel to a kraft card blank.

If you haven't yet seen I have some candy on offer, do check out the post to see what you could win.

Have a good week.
Fliss xx

Shabby Chic at Make My Monday

Hello folks, a very late post for the challenge this week at Make My Monday chosen by Suzi with the theme of Shabby Chic.

I'm sure you know how much I love that and I managed to get it made in time but due to lack of camera and computer couldn't get it posted in time - sigh! The good news is my replacement laptop is being delivered today so hopefully it will be up and running some time at the weekend when my dear and clever hubby can sort it all for me. The insurance company is sending a voucher for my camera too so I should have one again soon and not have to keep borrowing!

Enough of my troubles anyhow and here's my shabby chic creation with a pic underneath to show how I made the background with just one Crafty Individuals stamp.

My image is the gorgeous Spring Gal by Stampendous but as you can get Winter pansies, you'll have to imagine she's a Winter Gal instead! I stamped her with Archival Plum ink and coloured her with Prisma pencils then trimmed her to a panel and distressed the edges with an emery board.

The background paper started off as a leftover piece of inked paper made with my Stampendous Mono Printing plate (available at That's Crafty) and Distress inks - Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Bundled Sage and Pumice Stone which I applied to the plate and misted with water.
I decorated the square I cut to fit my card blank with Crafty Individuals CI-173 flourish stamp without using an acrylic block - this gives fabulous shabby effects. I used VersaColor Atlantic Blue ink and first stamped the whole design in opposite corners. I then inked up parts of the image and stamped round the remaining edges. I finished off by stamping small parts of the image all over until I was happy with the effect.
Very shabby chic don't you think?

To make my card, I distressed the edges of the paper with the emery board and attached to the card. I added my image together with a flourish cut from smokey blue card with a Cheery Lynn die and finished off with a Flonzcraft sentiment stamped with Archival Cobalt Blue ink.

My DT mates have made some beautiful inspiration for you so do pop on over for a look.

See you soon.
Fliss xx

Going Purple With Make My Monday

Hello folks, hoping that you all had a good weekend with at least some good weather. Mine was really busy as I'm madly trying to get ahead before I start my job next week. A wardrobe overhaul is also on the cards as I need to check I have things to wear in an office (having worked from home I have quite a lot of jeans and t shirts as I'm sure you can imagine!)
Anyway, enough waffle and on to the new challenge at Make My Monday which this week is to make something in shades of Purple With Just One Neutral Shade Allowed. I really loved this one as it's a favourite colour of mine and I used to be known as the Purple Queen at the stamp club I went to. I hope you like my card.

As you can see I've made up for the CAS challenge last week and gone right back to my favourite shabby and distressed style.
The background paper was made using Seedless Preserves and Milled Lavender Distress Stains and I sprayed it with water to spread the colour. When it was dry I stamped on a filigree corner by Inkylicious in Lavender Sachet and Iris Palette inks. I stamped it repeatedly for a layered look. I then distressed the edges with an emery board and added it to a square cream card blank.
I stamped the daisies (B Line Designs) with the Lavender Sachet and Iris inks and then added just streaks of colour with Promarkers. I cut them out and shaped them by curling the petals round my decoupage scissor blades.
I stamped the butterfly by Kaisercraft with the Iris ink and added colour with Prismacolor pencils then cut it out and rounded the wings as I did the flower petals. I then stamped the Hero Arts sentiment with the same ink and trimmed to a panel by hand.
I assembled the card as you see adding a cream doily and some purple velvet ribbon.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Vintage Couture

Well what do you know! My third post today which must be a record for me and it's because I managed to get a photo of a card finished at last after being in the making since the weekend. Not a DT creation but one just because I wanted too - hooray!
A card with a theme you know I love and a shaped one at that which fits a couple of challenges that I'll tell you about later. Here it is and hope you like it.

I turned to the Robert Adams Fabulous Folds CD for the template for my card shape as I wanted to use my Tim Holtz dress form die and it's a bit too tall for a smaller card. I fell in love with this elegant shape step card as soon as I saw it and thought it perfect for the die cut shape.
I printed it out on to beige marbled card, cut and scored the lines to make the shape and then used the arch part of the card to draw the pattern on to pale aqua card to make my decorated paper - happily the 2 side pieces I had to remove are a perfect fit for the side panels (I do love serendipity lol).
I stamped the panels with An Impression Obsession flourish using Brilliance Ice Blue ink. I added these to the made up card blank.
I then embossed a panel of card from my bits box that had been inked up with Brilliance Pearlescent Beige and Ice Blue with a Crafts Too floral flourish folder. I added this to the card.
I die cut the dress form and accessories from kraft card. I tied blue embroidery floss through the buttons and wound it round the cotton reel, then embossed the dress form with the Crafts Too folder. I dressed the mannequin up with scalloped beige lace and a bow with a pearl decoration.
I added them all to the card together with a gorgeous tag recycled from a sweater I bought from a certain discount store - isn't it fabulous with the beautiful swallow and the make is vintage couture, just made for my card!

Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Here are the challenges that inspired my creation:
Vintage Stamping Challenges - Blues, Browns and Beige
Top Tip Tuesday - Tag You're It
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Autumn All Stitched Up

Good morning everyone, hoping that you all had a good weekend and a big hello to my new followers - lovely to have you here and hope to get to know you soon.
Being Monday, it's that time again - we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. Carrying on with the monthly theme of Autumn, this week's theme is Stitching - Real or Faux.

I decided to go with the faux (no pun intended - honest!) as my machine stitching on paper is still a bit iffy.

The background paper here was the result of an experiment (which didn't quite work I might add lol) using Sir Tim's Marbled Stains technique from Compendium of Curiosities 2 but the card I used was a bit too matte in texture so the stains didn't marble as expected, but sort of splodge!!! I did quite like the result though as it ended up very grungy and you know how much I like that! I used Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive and the Antiqued Bronze Metallic Stain which is really yummy.
I stamped on a berry twig design from the Kaisercraft Twig and Berry Flourish clear stamp set (ordered one day delivered the next By Bunny Zoe!) using VersaMagic Pumpkin Spice chalk ink - how appropriate is that?!
I printed out the gorgeous pumpkin digital stamp from the Autumn collection on the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD and coloured this with a mix of Aquamarkers and Luminance pencils. I then inked the panel with Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive and Wild Honey Distress inks.
I made a panel of kraft card as a mat and embossed this with a Darice flourish frame folder before adding the pumpkin panel.
I originally planned on making a square card but couldn't bear to cover up too much of the background paper so I made use of an A5 kraft card blank I had with a damaged front step - I chopped this off to use elsewhere and was left with a tent shape card.
I cut the backing paper in half and added faux stitching with the aid of the fab Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler and a brown fineliner. I then added the pumpkin panel over the central gap.
The finishing touch is a Hobby Art sentiment stamped with coffee Archival ink and inked with Topaz and Bisque VersaColor inks.

Hoping you have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes
Pile It On Challenge - Let's Be Thankful
Sentimental Sundays - Thanks or Thanksgiving
My Sheri Crafts Challenge - Give Thanks
Aud Sentiments - Thanks!
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - My Favourite Things (Making my own background, texture, faux stitching)
Pixie Dust Studio - Fabulous Fall Colours

The Lonesome Pine

Hello everyone, today is a special day for me as it's my birthday! Won't be sharing my age though as I've got to the stage of wanting to forget about it lol.
We're off to see Skyfall tonight and I can't wait as I love James Bond films and it's been too long since the last one. No meal out today as the film is an awkward time so I hope we'll do that sometime soon. I'm planning on some crafting today and also will be sorting out some goodies as candy is rather overdue.
I have a project to share with you that is my inspiration for today over at Studio 12 Creative Team.
My decoration started life as a rather cheap wooden whitewashed rustic style heart (from The Range) and after the makeover, here's the finished result - ta da!

It was quite difficult to photograph the heart hanger to show the full sparkle so there's a second pic with the tree detail so you can get the full Frantage effect of the stunning embossing powders I used here. A bit of the sparkle does show but I was a bit light challenged!

I gave the heart a wash of very watered down periwinkle blue and sage acrylic paint and when dry, dry brushed on a little antique white. Because I used a wash, the original wood still shows through to add loads of texture.
I then got to work with a Versamark ink pad to add streaks on the raised areas, sprinkled on the amazing new Ranger sticky embossing powder, heated it to melt and then added Ranger clear Rock Candy dry glitter which sticks to the embossing powder like magic. The photo doesn't really do justice to the amazing sparkle you get so you'll have to trust me there!
I then printed out one of the pine trees from the Gingerbread Twist Cd twice on to strong card and cut out one whole tree and alternate sections of the second, starting at the top.
I embossed the complete tree with Frantage Aged Green embossing enamel and the sections with Aged Silver. Just one coat is all you need for this effect. I then glued on the silver sections over the top of the corresponding green sections as shown in the photo.
I altered some snowflakes which came from a pound shop snowflake garland using Pear Green and Amethyst Promarkers to add a little colour and glued everything in place on the altered heart.

Hoping you have a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

PS: I listened to the Skyfall theme by Adele on You Tube last night and it's amazing so do listen if you get a chance - probably the only song from the lovely Adele that's been Bonded up!

Some challenges for my altered heart:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Add Texture
Delicious Doodles - Embossing - Heat or Dry
The Stamp Man - Emboss It

Isn't She Lovely

Hello everyone, it seems like Autumn has appeared and hope you're all OK in this rather wet, windy and chilly weather we have in the UK at the moment. Don't know about you but I'm wearing layers of woollies already!
It's my turn today over at the Studio 12 Creative Team and I have a piece of artwork to show you that the Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist is not just for Christmas as you'll see from my creation below.

I wanted to make something to give as a gift to a family member featuring my favourite vintage photo of my much missed Mum taken around 1950 when she was 21 years of age. I printed the photo out on to canvas for a soft look to the gorgeous sepia tones.
I printed out the soft beige holly paper together with the stunning heart and lace embellishments on antique beige parchment card for a soft textured effect and you'd never guess when printed that it is actually Christmas paper.
I cut the paper to fit the chipboard and distressed the edges with my new favourite craft tool - an emery board. This gives a lovely rolled edge perfect for inking and is easier to control than a sanding block.
I then cut out the embellishments and inked them with beige and brown inks to add to the vintage effect. I layered the lace on to the base with some brown gingham ribbon peeping through underneath some a touch of stronger colour.
I die cut a panel from a scrap of the lovely gingery polka dot paper from the CD and added the trimmed photo. I stamped an embellishment from the top on a further scrap of the same paper with my favourite flourish stamp from the Daisy Doodles stamp set (worth a look for the great variety of images in the set) and embossed it with Ranger Weathered Wood embossing powder before cutting it out. As you can see, stamping it on the same paper makes it look part of the panel really well.
I added the inked heart and some vintage buttons from my collection tied with cream embroidery floss.

Have a great day and keep warm.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall panel:
Crazy Amigos Challenge - Anything But A Card
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Shabby Chic Floral Brooch

Morning folks, I'm still coughing and spluttering here and have to say the current weather doesn't help. I think I need some sunshine to shift my cold but probably not much chance of that at the moment.
I just popped here to let you know that I have another project today over at Studio 12 Creative Team and this one is a bit different. Have a look at this.

Bet you didn't know you could make something like this from what's on a CD! If you'd like to find out how I made it, hop on over to Studio 12 and all will be revealed.
Hope you like my idea and please do let me know what you think.

Hope the sun is shining where you are.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Autumn Leaves

Good morning everyone on a very grey and blustery Monday. Hoping that you all had a lovely weekend.
Also I'd like to wish a Happy Halloween to those of you that celebrate it. 

Before I go on to details of this weeks Make My Monday challenge, can I just remind you all that my candy ends at midnight tonight so if you would like to win and haven't yet left a comment on the blog candy post, please remember you have to do this to be in with a chance. The result will be posted tomorrow evening once one of my daughters has pulled a winning name from the hat.

Now for the challenge, this week sees the last of our month of Autumn challenges and I'd like to say a big thanks to Caz for this as I really enjoyed this theme. The challenge this week is to make a project featuring Autumn Leaves and I think this is my favourite of all. I've gone quite grungy and shabby for my card with loads of texture.

As you can see, I've used a kraft card blank which I have to say are my favourites at the moment. I made a panel embossed with the Cuttlebug leafy branch folder and inked this with Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade and Aged Mahogany Distress inks.
I then added a torn edged panel of cream card stamped with a B Line Designs skeleton leaf in Rusty Hinge and a Rubber Stampede leaf stamped with Aged Mahogany.
I made a tag from a piece of hessian, fraying the edges and adding a top tab stapled on. I covered up the staple with a button tied with recycled yarn.
I made some leaves with a maple leaf stamp. embossed with clear powder and inked with various Distress inks. I cut these out and added them to the tag with a sentiment by Hobby Art.

Challenges for my card:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Inspired By Fall
Craft Your Days Away - Autumn
Crafty Creations - Leaves Fall Palette
Addicted To Stamps - Shabby, Shabby Chic or Vintage
Quirky Crafts - Autumn Leaves
The Shabby Tearoom - Homespun Fall

Have a great week.
Fliss xx