IndigoBlu Stamp Play

Hello!

I hope you're managing to have a good weekend in spite of not being able to go anywhere, in fact such lovely weather today, going in the garden if you have one is what I would recommend as a spot of weeding and digging is a really good way to get some much needed fresh air.

I have been doing that but also fitted in a bit of crafting to finish off some of my works in progress as I have quite a few on the go which haven't quite got there yet! These were made with the stamps I got when I attended the IndigoBlu weekend in Brighton last November/December and I've only just managed to get them inked up!

The tag uses up quite a few bits from my scraps box that were all in shades of spring green, some stencilled and some ink spray overflow and so on. I stamped the dog rose spray and coloured it with flat matte sprays, using rose, basil and saffron then cut it out. I brushed 3D gloss gel over the top after shaping the flowers and leaves with a large embossing ball tool.

I added some die cut pieces created with pink and dark green card and a Kaisercraft grungy lattice die together with a scrap of green dyed old crochet lace and the text from another IndigoBlu set which was stamped on an ink spray overflow scrap in shades of pink and green.

The card contains the stamped image I originally intended for the tag but turned out too pale - it was stamped with VersaFine Clair Shady Lane ink and coloured with Zig markers. I tried out lots of different backgrounds from my box but this one seemed to work the best. It's just another overflow piece that has flat matte sprays on in rose, lilac, aqua, bluebell and a tiny bit of walnut. The text is from the same stamp set and is on a further scrap of overflow paper.

I hope you like these and there will be more to follow once I finish them off!

Stay safe and see you soon.

Fliss xx

Floral Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, a slightly late post today to let you know that I have my usual Friday tutorial up over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week I'm sharing a mixed media tag that I created for the January Hochanda shows.
It features some of the gorgeous new doodle stamps designed by Melina and topped off with one of her lovely floral images.
Here's a sneak peek to hopefully tempt you to hop over.

As you can see, I seem to be in the bright image on a darker background phase although I know I'll revert to my usual bright and cheery style very soon.

Hope you've had a good week and that you have a lovely weekend.
See you soon.
Fliss xx

Dream Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello! A rather late post today after another exceedingly busy week to let you know that I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog where I'm sharing a mixed media tag with a large blooming flower embellishment.

You'll find all the details over the blog as usual if you'd like to see how I created it.

I'm still involved in doing a lot of stuff on behalf of my in laws which is why I still don't have much time for blogging. Hopefully the end is soon in sight as my father in law is now at the rehabilitation centre and is being helped with his walking.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

Joy and Serendipity at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello everyone, apologies yet again for my lack of visiting. My whole week has been spent down at my in laws house moving my father in law's clothes downstairs to the bedroom he will use when he gets home (some washing needed doing too!) and dealing with taking my mother in law's clothing to charity shops plus a dress agency which will be selling some of the more high value items to raise more money for charity. I still have to sort out her flower arranging stuff as my father in law has asked me to do that so I'll be down there again next week to get it done. It seems never ending at the moment!
My father in law is now much better and can walk at last and get out of bed by himself. We're now waiting for him to be transferred to a rehabilitation centre to get him ready to return home.

I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today too and it's another tag using lots of the new products from the last Hochanda show.

You'll find all the details of how it came about over at the blog.

Have a great weekend and will be round as soon as I can find a spare hour or two!
Fliss xx

Imagine - A Mixed Media Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello all, I'm really glad it's Friday as I've had quite a week with sorting out my mother in law's clothing, shoes etc. I'm almost there now and just have her knitwear to deal with plus her coats of which she has a lot! The end is finally in sight and all I have left are some very expensive items that I want to take to a dress agency that my mother in law loved to see if they can be sold and raise more for charity.

I have my usual Friday tutorial over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week I'm sharing a mixed media tag on one of the new substrates with one of Lynne's beautiful new Word Flower stamps.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

Midnight in the Fairy Garden

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been a bit hit and miss as the in laws saga continues!
My mother in law is still not better so they're doing tests to try and find out why the antibiotics haven't worked. I suspect that she has an ongoing stomach issue as I can vaguely remember her trying a gluten free diet a few years back due to problems with her digestion. I have told my hubby and my brother in law to mention this to the hospital but of course, being men, they haven't! Looks like I'll have to do this myself.
My father in law had another op on Wednesday and has now had a hip replacement so hopefully this will sort out his problem although I suspect the recovery from the op will be quite lengthy.

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with the second of my Hochanda samples from the show last week having been lucky enough to play with Melina's new and gorgeous stamps. This one is a fairy garden and hope you like it.

You'll have to pop over to the blog to see the whole project and obviously I hope you will!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Friday Post at That's Crafty! Blog and News

Hello everyone, many apologies for not being around much lately which is because we have chaos down here at the moment with both my parents in law still being in hospital.

My father in law has multiple fractures in his right hip and it's taken the doctors ages to work out what to do. He's been taken over to Brighton for a "major op" today but no-one has been told what they're actually going to do!!! It's very stressful for us all not knowing what's going on so with luck we'll know later on today what they've done.

My mother in law is sadly not well at all as she's not eating or drinking and it's uncertain whether this is because she's got a stomach bug, she's refusing to eat or has forgotten how to swallow as she's suffering from dementia. This is even more worrying but we should know more today when the doctor has seen her.

I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing one of my Hochanda samples (lucky I had that as I haven't felt much like crafting lately!).

If you caught my last post you'll have seen a bit more of this one but to see the whole creation, you'll have to hop over to the blog.

Have a great day and a lovely 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

Forever Autumn Challenge

Hello! Hope you're all well at the moment and thanks so much for the kind comments on my last post. I'm still not quite 100% but I feel a lot better and just have to be careful what I eat so hopefully that will help.
My parents in law are both still in hospital for different reasons and we're still waiting on news of what is actually wrong with my father in law as they still haven't told us about the severity or not of his hip fracture.
Anyhow, enough of all that and on to my inspiration for our new challenge for September over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where our seasonal theme is Forever Autumn and I don't know about you but I have Justin Hayward singing that amazing song in my head!

I used one of the gorgeous shaped greyboard tags for my creation (they come in a pack of 30 in 5 different shapes with 6 of each and are incredible value) as you can throw all sorts of mixed media things at them and I did!

I first used the fern mini stencil with texture paste to add some detail to the background. Once it was dry, I went to town with some Flat Matte Sprays, using Basil, Orange and Saffron. I aimed for some complete cover and a splatter effect over the top and happily it worked!

I then spritzed on some Gold Lustre Spray for some shine and was quite surprised as it came out quite dark on the raised texture paste areas, looking almost black. Once it was dry, the amazing lustre was apparent. It doesn't show up very well in the photo but in real life it looks gorgeous.

As the background is quite strong, I had a bit of a dilemma with my leaf as I first stamped it on paper I coloured with copper, bronze and orange multi surface paints. Sadly it didn't have enough of a contrast to the background.

I solved my problem by stamping my leaf on some of the spray overflow paper as there were areas with quite a bit of orange. I brushed the leaf with 3D Gloss Gel when it was dry and glued it to the tag with silicone adhesive.

A Tim Holtz Clippings sticker coloured with a marker and some twine tied through the top finished off my tag.

There are some great prizes just for entering with a voucher for the online shop (with a stunning array of gorgeous goodies) and stencils for the Top 3 chosen by the Design Team.

It would be fab to see your lovely Autumn creations there.
Have a great day.
Fliss xx

Moments of Magic Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello! It's still very hot and sunny and although we had quite a bit of rain last weekend, the ground was so parched I think only a week of rain will sort it out!
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! today and this week I have a collaged tag to share with a summery feel to it. Hope you like my sneak peek.

Have a great day and hope you can keep cool.

Fliss xx

Mixed Media Tag at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! I hope you're managing to keep cool in the never ending heatwave we seem to have at the moment and I have to say the last few days have been the worst - thought I was going to melt a couple of times! Rain is due but I suspect we won't get it here as the sky has no clouds although that could change and this would be an occasion that I wouldn't complain about it!

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday post which this week is a nature themed mixed media tag which I hope you like. Here's a sneak peek and you'll find all the details over at the blog with the full tag and the how to's.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

Midway Inspiration for Close to Nature Challenge

Hello! I hope everyone is well and coping with the current long heatwave we seem to be having. A month now and no sign of rain down here on the south coast of the UK which is really unusual.

We're now midway through the July challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog with the theme of Close To Nature and I have some more inspiration to share in the form of a tag (yes, another one as I can't seem to get enough of these at the moment!) and Lynne's gorgeous new wildflower stamps have come out to play again as I love these.

I made the background for the tag by swiping teal, light blue and white multi surface paints on the surface then misting with water and allowing the colour to spread.

I then took an evergreen sprig from my garden and pressed broken china and twisted citron oxide inks on the leaves and pressed it onto the tag. I repeated this step until I was happy with the effect. I next used one of the texture stamps with faded jeans oxide ink to add some texture round the edges (I did this without an acrylic block for a grungy effect).

I prepared my focal point panel using a scrap of mixed media paper torn from the pad as I like using the ripped edge to add texture. I coloured the paper with twisted citron oxide ink misted with water and repeated applied for texture. Whilst still damp, I stamped on my chosen wild flower with VersaFine Majestic Blue ink, following up with shadow stamping using the twisted citron ink which as you see ran a little due to the wet paper.

I added more stamping from the textures sets using a postmark and script for further detail. I masked off part of one of Lynne's Affirmations to give the nature text.

I  knotted some yarn around the panel then glued it to my tag and tied some toning yarns through the top to finish.

Supplies:

That's Crafty! Surfaces Size 10 White/Greyboard Tag
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Sets - Lynne's Wildflowers Set 2, Textures Collection Sets 3 and 4
That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints - Light Blue, Teal, White
Distress Oxide Inks - Broken China, Faded Jeans, Twisted Citron
VersaFine Majestic Blue Ink
 Extras - Evergreen leaf sprig or similar, toning yarns

My DT sisters have some gorgeous inspiration to hopefully encourage you to enter if you haven't yet done so over at the challenge blog where you can read about the prizes on offer which are fabulous!

Have a great day,
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

Close To Nature at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello! Hope you're all surviving the current very hot weather we have here in the UK although thankfully it is slightly cooler today as I felt I was going to melt over the weekend as I can't cope with heat that well and actually got puffy feet and ankles which is a first in this country! Something I normally only get if in somewhere like Italy in August!!!
We have a new challenge up today for July over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and this month our theme is Close To Nature so we'd like to see what nature means to you.
I've been lucky enough to get my inky (and painty) mitts on Lynne's gorgeous new wildflower stamp sets so this was the perfect excuse (not that I really need one!) to ink some up for my inspiration which is a tag with a meadow theme.

I don't actually have process photos here as it was a go with the flow piece and the first thing I did was to colour my tag. I used slightly diluted multi surface paints, starting at the top right with mustard yellow and orange, then drawing in bright magenta. I then added more yellow, graduating to lime and teal on the lower half of the tag. To draw the areas together, I used a baby wipe to pick up excess paint in turn and dabbed this on contrasting areas. This really does help to bring it all together.

Here are a couple of close-ups so that you can hopefully see what I mean:

I then used the distressed harlequin stencil with white gesso to add a pattern in a couple of areas. I next began to add some stamping, using jet black Archival ink and 2 of the silhouette style images. I stamped the blossom image twice, using only part of the image the second time.

I then stamped the blossoms image twice with black ink on a scrap of orange Gelli paper from my bits box and cut the just the floral images out. I glued these over the top of the flowers stamped on the tag and trimmed off any excess.

I added a little more silhouette stamping using cactus flower Archival ink, masking off parts of the image as necessary to bring the elements together. I stamped one of the lovely affirmations from the sets on a further scrap of orange Gelli paper and cut the text into tiles, running black ink around the edges before gluing on.

As a finishing touch, I painted some small greyboard Bits and Pieces butterflies with multi surface paints, adding detail with pencils and scoring them with an embossing ball tool to bend the wings slightly before adding to the tag with 3D glue. A piece of torn, recycled sari ribbon was tied through the top.

Hope you can enter for some great prizes - a voucher for £30 for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner and stencils of choice for the Top 3 (see the challenge rules for details).
Have a great day and a lovely rest of the week too.

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

A Stitch In Time Challenge Midway Inspiration

Hello everyone with an oops from me as guess who forgot to schedule her post for the midway inspiration for the May Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog!
I hope you're all having a good week and enjoying some warmer weather at last. It's not been sunny here today and is rather windy but it's not cold really.
We have 2 new members of our family now having picked up our little furry babies on Sunday and they're right little devils, zipping around like greased lightning! Pics are at the end of the post for some awwws.

 

My chosen substrate is the largest size of MDF tag by That's Crafty! Surfaces and I started off my background by using the Triangle Lines 8 x 8 Stencil with texture paste to add a pattern. Once it was dry, I gave it a coat of Evergreen Multi Surface Paint.

The next layer was crackle glaze and once this had set, I brushed Green Multi Surface Paint over the top and hey presto! lots of crackle appeared as you can see on the second photo.

I stamped my flowers and leaves from my Fanciful Flowers stamp set 1 on Gelli printed papers from my stash, made with multi surface paints and Distress Oxide inks and stencilling. I cut out the whole flower from one and just the centre from another, then layered these up to make my floral element.

I brushed Lime Multi Surface Paint over a scrap of mixed media paper, stamping the lines of stitching from Donna's Girls Claire set of stamps using VersaFine Olympia Green ink and distressed the edges with an emery board.

I glued on the stitched panel and my floral embellishment, finishing off with the quote from Fanciful Flowers set 2 stamps on a scrap of lime painted mixed media paper.

There's a great prize of a £30 voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner and stencils for the Top 3 so what are you waiting for!

Now for some cute pics of Hazel and Sage our new furry babies.

Hazel is an Agouti colour which is a soft brown like a wild rabbit and Sage, her brother, is a Black Otter colour being mostly black with a reddish cream underside and they are both Netherland Dwarfs like our Dill who it must be said isn't too impressed with the babies at the moment! He's the grand age of 8 years and they're only 8 weeks old!!!

Have a great rest of week 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