Longing For Spring Artist Trading Box

Hello everyone on a very wet and miserable day here in the South of England. I decided to finish off the artist trading box I started creating last week to cheer myself up as I'm really longing for some better weather to arrive.
Hope you like my cheery artwork.

Here's how it began:

I found some ink spray overflow paper with shades of green and yellow with white space in places and a sprinkle of orange in my box - perfect for a spring themed creation. I took the gorgeous leaf silhouette from one of the sets designed by Lynne and stamped leaves in shades of green on the papers cut to fit my box. A couple then had additional stamping with another leaf and orange ink.

I stamped some of my own flowers, choosing the one that makes me think of spring as it looks a little like a parrot tulip and coloured them with flat matte sprays, using orange, saffon and tomato.

I then assembled my box adding in some leaves from my box, not exactly spring shades but oranges, browns etc to contrast with the background.

 

I added text from Lynne's Leaf sets and some of her beautiful affirmations together with the lovely butterfly from That's Crafty! Textures Collection set 3 stamped on overflow paper.

I hope this has cheered you up if you have a nasty wet day.
Have a good week whatever the weather.
Fliss xx

Grunge Flower Birthday Card for That's Crafty!

Hello on a rather dull Friday! It's still rather hot and sticky although we had a very loud thunderstorm in the early hours which woke us up and then there was quite a lot of rain. It's cleared now but is very grey and cloudy. I'm rather glad we don't get temperatures like they do in London as my daughter Sarah said it was an unbearable 37 degrees there yesterday and the design studio where she works was really awful. It was only just below 30 here but I still got puffy ankles!

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a rather colourful and quick to make card on a floral theme. Hope you like it.

Hoping for cooler weather over the weekend and that you're coping wherever you are.

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.
Fliss xx

Where Flowers Bloom for That's Crafty!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a really lovely Christmas and maybe got some lovely crafty goodies as presents - in my case this was some rather fab stitching and embroidery books as one of my resolutions is to go back to my sewing roots which have taken a back seat over the last few years.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my first post of the year which is a simple art journal page as I've been rather short on time due to a lot of family stuff going on over the festive season.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.

Fliss xx

A Christmas Tree Wreath for That's Crafty!

Hello! I'm still playing catch up as I have very little time for blogging at the moment and hope you'll bear with me until life gets back to normal (or near normal) hopefully very soon.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week I have the follow on from last week to share as I've created something else from the papers I made, this time a mixed media Christmas wreath.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as always and I'd love it if you hopped over for a visit.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Fliss xx

Merry & Bright at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! A slightly late post to let you know that I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing a bright and cheery card created with papers that were made with non festive stamps.
I've still not yet caught up with my blogging and stuff and hope to be round very soon (family stuff still getting in the way with a very demanding father in law!).

Have a great weekend and hope you're all well.

Fliss xx

Anything Goes For December

Hello! Welcome to my inspiration for the December Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and our theme this month is Anything Goes so hopefully you'll join in as you can enter anything you like, nothing easier than that!
I'm still in Christmas mode so I have more cards to share made with another masterboard that I've used to make a varied collection of festive cards with a tree theme. Read on to find out what I did.

My favourite Christmas set has come out to play again as I love all the elements in Donna's lovely set which has something for everyone.

I used ink sprays to create my masterboard, using Aqua and Rose Flat Matte Sprays with Aqua, Lilac, Lime and Silver Lustre Sprays. The silver was a bit stronger than I thought it would be so I used a brayer whilst it was still wet to spread the colour further and the end result was the sheet above which is an A3 size piece of cartidge paper.

I found a piece of spray overflow paper in my stash of these types of paper, this being A4 size and green and gold so perfect for my trees. I managed to get 9 stamped on the sheet with black VersaFine ink which I heat embossed with fine clear embossing powder.

I cut the masterboard into 8 pieces and decorated it in a variety of ways with stencils and metallic paint, stencils and heat embossed embossing ink and stamped, heat embossed images. I cut all the trees out and then stamped just the top star on yellow/orange spray overflow paper using black ink and clear heat embossing as before, then cut these out.

I added a little colouring to the trees with Zig Clean Color brush pens then assembled my cards using glitter cards as mats in most cases and finishing off with either a Tim Holtz seasonal sticker or a stamped sentiment.

I used:

That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Christmas Collection Set 2 by Donna Gray
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Scribbled Shrooms by Melina Dahl
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays - Aqua, Basil, Rose
That's Crafty! Lustre Sprays - Aqua, Aubergine, Frost, Lilac, Lime, Red, Silver
Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
VersaFine Onyx Black Ink
Fine Clear Embossing Powder

I hope you can join in for some great prizes - all details on the challenge blog.

Have a great rest of the week.
Fliss xx

Flowers Are A Must For Me at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! I hope you're all well and surviving the current chilly weather. This is a scheduled post as today we have my mother in law Jean's funeral at last and we finally have the chance to get together and say goodbye to her properly. We miss her such a lot as before she became ill with dementia she was always so lively and great fun. I know she wouldn't like being as she was over the last year or so when things became really difficult so I hope she's now at peace.

I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing an art journal page that was quick to make as I've been short on time.

My page is all about my love for flowers and if you'd like to see the whole page you'll need to hop over to the blog.

I hope to be back to more blogging soon as it's taken very much a back seat lately and especially over the last few weeks as I got landed unexpectedly with hosting the after service lunch. The result has been a huge declutter and clean at home as my craft stuff is all over the downstairs of our house! It's all done and the only up side is that there'll be less to do for Christmas!

Fliss xx

My New Obsession at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello! I hope you're all well and sorry yet again for not being around much lately. I'm still dealing with my in laws' stuff and there's still a little way to go. My father in law is definitely on the mend and will be coming out of the rehabilitation centre soon so there's a mad scramble to get the house ready for his return. He's got to live downstairs so there's loads to do to make everything as easy as possible for him.
We've finally been able to arrange my mother in law's funeral too which is at the end of this month. Life will never be the same afterwards as we will have to help my father in law quite a lot which is such a shame when he's a very independent person. I'm sure we'll all cope and at the moment it's really a case of going with the flow.

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with the very textured trio of artist trading coins, one of which was on my last post. If you'd like to see them all and how I created them, I'd be so pleased if you hopped over.

Have a great weekend.

Fliss xx

Winter Wonderland at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello! It's a really horrible day today down here in the South as we have really strong winds and intermittent rain, really not nice!

On the crafty side, we have the November challenge beginning today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and to go with the now chilly weather, our new theme is Winter Wonderland.

My inspiration is rather 2 birds, 1 stone as I've made a start on some festive cards with my favourite snowman and made a masterboard so that I could create 6 cards at once.

I began with making the masterboard from an A3 sheet of smooth cartridge paper. I sprayed it with a mix of flat matte and lustre sprays using Aqua and Bluebell Flat Matte Sprays and Aqua and Lilac Lustre Sprays. You'll notice there are a couple of areas that are green and pink, this being the accidental result of leaving the paper to dry rather too near some later ink misting so it ended up with a bit of lime and rose flat matte spray on but, hey, what does it matter! It just adds to the effect.

I then cut the sheet into 6 pieces as these fit 6x6 card blanks rather well. I used the snowflake background Dinky stencil with white multi surface paint to add a pattern just around the edges of the paper panels.

I next stamped the snowmen from Donna's Christmas Collection Set 2, 6 times on an A4 sheet of smooth thick cartridge paper with black ink. I cut these out with a stitched square die from my stash and coloured them up with Zig Clean Color markers (now in stock at That's Crafty! - yay!).

I distressed the edges of my background paper panels and glued these to some 6x6 kraft card blanks. I added the snowman panels, tucking a white die cut snowflake behind each in the top right corner and finished off with some Tim Holtz Holiday Talk stickers.

There are some great prizes if you enter so don't forget that you have to be in it to win it!

Have a great day and see you soon and it's a rather exciting Thursday tomorrow as That's Crafty! have 2 shows on Hochanda TV at 11am and 3pm with lots of new gorgeous goodies. Here's a sneak peek of what is on the shows.

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

Going Floral at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello everyone on a rather blustery day, it seems like Autumn has arrived at last as it's definitely that sort of weather today.
Apologies for not visiting much lately, I'm in the middle of the rather daunting task of sorting out my mother in law's clothes on behalf of my father in law and it's taking ages as she has a lot of very lovely and classy items which I'm reluctant to just give to the local charity shops as they're worth quite a lot. I'm trying to find second hand clothing shops that would be interested at the moment so we could get more for them and donate it to a charity we choose.

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a floral mixed media chunkie which I hope you'll like if you hop over to see how it came about.

I've been playing with the texture pastes again as I love these for mixed media.

Have a great weekend and will visit as soon as I can find some spare time.
Fliss xx

Dragonfly Collage and Hochanda News

Hello! I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend as I am. I have one of my samples for today's Hochanda show which if you're reading this before 12 noon you can watch!

Here's a sneak peek of my dragonfly collage which I hope you'll hop over to That's Crafty! Blog to see the whole photo of and of course, how I created it.

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

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

Animal Magic Part 2

Hello! I'm taking a sneaky break in the middle of some accountancy work to share my midway inspiration for the August challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which this month has the theme of Animal Magic.
I've created an underwater themed upright with some of Magda's cute water world critters and gone rather mixed media for this one as I wanted a very textured seaweed look. Hope you like it!

My first step was to apply texture paste all over the top panel and once it was try, I used matte gel to glue on some ripped and snipped crochet lace lurking in my stash - I knew it would come in handy some day! I then glued on some tiny 3D balls - mine are Powertex from my great class with Leonie Pujol back in April, but Prima do these too.
I next sprayed the surface with Aqua and Basil Flat Matte Sprays, allowing the colours to drip and run. As you can see, the crochet lace picked up more colour and popped out a lot more. I then used a stiff paintbrush to dab on green and turquoise shimmer paints for a bit of bling - sadly it doesn't show very well in the photo.
I die cut some "seaweed" from gelli papers in my bits box using Tim Holtz Garden Greens die set which is handy for more than gardens!
I stamped on the little fish from the stamp set several times using Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide as it's a lovely strong colour. I gave the fish eyes with a black Posca pen.
I then stamped all the other critters on smooth cartridge paper and coloured them with my Zig Clean Color markers, adding doodling with white and balack Posca pens, then cut the images out and glued them on with dimensional glue.
I finished off by spraying the base with the same blue and green matte sprays, adding some glass pebbles to it, then glued some glittery gems to the top section for a bit of bubbly bling.

Supplies:
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Water World by Magda Polakow
That's Crafty! Surfaces - MDF Jagged Edge Upright
That's Crafty! White Texture Paste
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays - Aqua and Basil
That's Crafty! Shimmer Paints - Green and Turquoise
Posca Pens - Fine Black and White
Distress Oxide Ink - Ripe Persimmon
Extras - 3D Balls, Ripped Crochet Lace, Tim Holtz Garden Greens Die Set, Glittery Gems, Glass Pebbles

There are some fab prizes if you enter so don't forget you have to be in it to win it!

Have a great day and hope the rest of the week is all you could wish for.
Fliss xx