Anything Goes Challenge Reminder

Hello! Sorry again for being mia but I've had big issues with Blogger over the last few days and couldn't leave comments on anyone's blogs for some unknown (to me anyway!) reason. The problem was solved a bit earlier by my techno helper and it related to cookies being blocked which Blogger didn't like so if you have the same thing happen, all you need to do is go to your Google profile and make Blogger an exception from cookie blocking.
We're now midway through our December challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where Anything Goes this month.
I've a bit of festive home decor to share involving no stamping at all, very unusual for me.

My substrate is my favourite topped torn notebook MDF upright, very handy with its' own stand and I first gave it a coat of white gesso.
I then used the lovely poinsettia tree stencil with texture paste to make my focal point. Once this was dry, I added some snowflakes which come handily on the same stencil, again using texture paste.
I brushed gold and silver metallic multi surface paints roughly over the panel and when the paint was dry, painted the tree with red and green multi surface paints and the snowflakes white.
I diluted some gold paint with water to make a glaze and brushed this over the surface of the tree. This gives a lovely shimmer to catch the light.
I added a row of Tim Holtz seasonal stickers across the base, choosing the black and gold for a strong contrast.
I painted the base with the gold and silver mix, then glued the top panel in place with That's Crafty! multi purpose craft adhesive to finish.
Here are a few close-ups for a better view:

I hope you can enter as this has to be the easiest theme ever and there are some great prizes to be won too, plus you can enter wherever in the world you are.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and better than mine!

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

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

Spookalicious Part 2

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a good week so far. Mine has been very busy as I'm in the middle of the rather daunting task of sorting through my mother in law's closets full of clothes and it's taking ages as she has an awful lot of stuff! There will be some very happy charity shops once I've got everything together.
As we're now half way through our October challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog with our topical theme of Spookalicious, I have a little more inspiration to share.

Hope you like my tombstone which I created using one of the fab dinky MDF uprights.

I gave the front and base a coat of black multi surface paint, then scraped texture sand paste down the front, leaving a slightly thicker layer on the top half temporarily. I inked up some alphabet stamps with black ink and pushed them into the wet texture paste to create the debossed R.I.P. as shown above. I then scraped off some of the excess texture paste to create a worn stone effect.
Once the paste was completely dry, I painted it with diluted grey and green multi surface paints, allowing them to run down the surface.
I added diluted paint to the base section and glued the tombstone into it. I die cut some ivy using the Tim Holtz Garden Greens die set and some green painted paper then dabbed it with some black paint before gluing it on.
I used black paint with the Scaredy Cat Dinky stencil to create my cat on some white card and cut the cat out. I made him some eyes with a scrap of green card and added the pupils with a black Sharpie pen. I glued him on to finish my spooky make.

There are some great prizes if you enter so don't forget to check out the challenge blog and see what you'd be missing if you didn't.

Have a great rest of the week.
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

Quoth The Raven

Hello! Welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge this month over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where, being October, we have the theme of Spookalicious and would like to see your creepy or Halloween artwork.
My mixed media panel was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and came about because when rummaging through my stencils, I came across my as yet unused raven stencil.

I chose a square MDF panel and covered this roughly with texture sand paste, leaving a few bits of the panel uncovered - mainly around the edges.
I sprayed the panel with Walnut, Blueberry and Blackberry flat matte sprays, giving it several coats and drying between each one.
Once the background was completely dry, I used the raven stencil with texture paste to create my main image. I let this dry well and then painted it with Black multi surface paint by placing the stencil back on top and applying the paint with a sponge.
I then removed the stencil and painted in between the sections as well to form a complete image. I then added some highlights to the bird with Metallic Blue and Silver multi surface paints. I went around the edges with Red shimmer paint and also painted his eye.
I trimmed a greyboard tree so that it would fit on the side and covered it with texture paste, scraping in a knarled bark pattern with a cocktail stick. When it was dry, I painted it with black multi surface paint and charcoal shimmer paint, treating several greyboard leaves in the same way. I glued these on the left hand side of my collage.
I stamped the skulls (actually the skull and crossbones image from Donna's Claire stamp set) on mixed media paper with black pigment ink and clear embossed them. I coloured them a little with my Zig pens and then heat embossed them further with Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture embossing powder. I also used this on a Tim Holtz quote chip.
I created a spooky moon in the top right hand corner with texture paste using a circle stencil and coloured this with a mix of multi surface and shimmer paints.

I hope you can join us for some great prizes.

Thank you to everyone who left kind comments on my last post. My father in law is now recovering well and is awaiting transfer to an NHS centre for physiotherapy care.

See you soon.
Fliss xx

Forever Autumn Part 2

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a good week with some sunshine as we've had (at least until yesterday when the remains of hurricane whatever made it rather windy!).
My parents in law are slowly recovering and my mother in law has been eating since late Friday much to our relief. We don't know when either of them will be able to leave hospital, we just have to wait and see what happens.
I have my midway inspiration for our Forever Autumn challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog to share today and unusually for me, no stamping is involved!!!

My substrate for this creation is a pair of the new circular greyboard shapes from the last Hochanda show which I've layered up.
I first covered them with texture sand paste applied with a palette knife rather roughly I admit. Once it was dry, I used the gorgeous leaf stencil (TC7002) with texture paste to add leaves around the outside of the larger circle and all over the smaller one - it's necessary to wait for some of the leaves to dry before adding more.
When everything was dry I got to work with some of the flat matte sprays using saffron, orange and tomato followed by a touch of basil and some gold lustre spray. As you'll see, the spray behaves differently on the texture paste where it is absorbed more to the sand texture paste where it dries almost gone.

This is before the sprays had dried completely and the end result is much softer as the ink is fully absorbed.
I added some dabbing with antique gold metallic paint on the larger circle and copper on the smaller one and made the edges pop with black multi surface paint.
I glued the circles together and finished off with the stencilled nature text (TC7036) which I did with potting soil Archival ink on a scrap of spray overflow paper.

If you haven't yet entered, do give it a go as there are some great prizes up for grabs.

Have a great day.
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

News and That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, this is my first post in a couple of weeks as the beginning of last week I was struck down out of the blue by a very nasty stomach bug which took quite a few days to clear and managed to completely upset my digestive system making it sensitive to caffeine, dairy etc etc so I couldn't eat what I would call properly until yesterday. I was so relieved to finally be able to drink tea as I really missed having a cuppa plus for nearly 2 weeks I was completely exhausted and lacking energy.

Today is the first day I got out of bed not wanting to crawl in again so I think I'm finally on the mend thank goodness.

On top of this we've had family drama as I got an emergency summons from my in laws on Wednesday afternoon and arrived to find my father in law on the floor with my mother in law who is now sadly suffering from dementia, crying and hovering around him. My father in law tried to get up but couldn't and didn't want me to call for help but I called an ambulance very against his wishes and both he and my mother in law were eventually taken into hospital (some 4 hours later!). The paramedics were really lovely and said he had to be x rayed as when they got him up he couldn't stand. It turns out he has a fractured hip and has to have a scan today to find out how bad it is. We're hoping it isn't bad as he's now 93 years old and surgery at that age is tricky.

Anyway, enough of my woes and I need to let you know I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today having missed last week due to being ill.

I'm sharing a trio of artist trading coins - the latest trend - with a fishy theme and if you'd like to see them all which are created with Magda's cute sea critters, please hop on over.

It will take me a while to catch up so I will see you as soon as I can.
Fliss xx

Textured Blooms

Hello everyone from a rather wet and rainy South Coast. We've finally had rain here which went on most of yesterday and has certainly cooled the weather down as I've had to put a cardi on for the first time in about 6 weeks. I also slept very well last night thank goodness so hopefully that will continue as I've not had a good night for ages as I struggle to cope with the heat. I hope you're all OK and hopefully have cooler weather too.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! blog today and this week I've got an MDF upright mixed media style to share which uses something slightly unusual for the textured blooms on it. I hope you'll be intrigued to see how it came about.

You'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd like to hop over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and will see you soon.
Fliss xx

Animal Magic at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello! I don't know about you but I can't believe it's August already! Don't know where the time goes these days and it seems like it goes faster the older you get!
As it's August, we have a new challenge starting today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and the theme for this month is Animal Magic so you can make anything you like as long as you have at least one animal of some sort on there.
My inspiration has 3 from one of Magda Polakow's cute stamp sets for That's Crafty! which I've used in a somewhat outside the box project. Hope you like it.

I've taken one of the quirky shrines for my base, using the tree stump one as I'm sure you all know how much I love nature themed artwork.
I assembled the shrine back, painting the inside with orange multi surface paint for a lovely warm glow.
I then used the larger tree bark stencil with texture paste to add a bark pattern on the front. The twiggy bits at the top being done by dabbing on paste and scratching a bark pattern with a cocktail stick as I found this easier.
When it was dry, I painted the bark with a mix of multi surface paints, using chestnut brown, red, green, orange and metallic bronze. I misted on water and allowed the colours to run a little. When the paint was dry, I glued the front to the shrine base.
I then wanted to add some interest to the tree stump and was inspired by a tree I saw on a visit to Petworth Park in June - here's the photo which is quite weird!

As you can see, it looks like there's a creature's eye peeping out of the knot in the tree so I decided to try and create a knot around the oval aperture in the shrine.
I drew around the oval removed from the front on a piece of mixed media paper. I then used this to construct my knot, drawing the shape and cutting it out then piling on texture paste which I added a pattern to with the cocktail stick. Once it was dry, I painted it with multi surface paints and glued it in place.
I took a tiny MDF heart which I painted red and glued this inside the shrine using a stack of leftover greyboard waste (from the clocks set). I added the text over the top which I stamped with black ink on mixed media paper.

I stamped some leaves using the leaf from Magda's set, stamping on paper painted green. I added more detail before cutting the leaves out and glued these in place.
I then took 3 of the new MDF ATCoin 2.5 inch rounds and painted these with green and teal multi surface paints to roughly approximate sky and grass, then added some pattern with the new Clouds & Hearts stencil designed by Magda using white multi surface paint.
I stamped the cute critters from the stamp set on mixed media paper, coloured them with Zig clean color markers and cut them out, gluing them to my painted rounds which I added to the top of the tree stump.

Aren't they cute!

The last thing I did was to brush 3D gloss gel over the tree surface for some added oomph.

Supplies Used:
That's Crafty! ATC Art Shrines Set - contains the 4 new shapes including this one and the 2.5ins rounds
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Baby Bear and Friends by Magda Polakow
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - The House Collection by Melina Dahl
That's Crafty! 8 x 8 Stencil - Clouds & Hearts
That's Crafty! Texture Paste
That's Crafty! 3D Gloss Gel
That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints - White, Chestnut Brown, Red, Orange, Green, Metallic Bronze, Teal
Black Archival Ink
Mixed Media Paper
Zig Clean Color Marker Pens

I hope you can join us for some lovely prizes as you have to be in it to win it!
Have a great day,
Fliss xx

In The Walled Garden Mixed Media for That's Crafty!

Hello! It's hot and sunny again today although thankfully my puffy feet and ankles have gone down now. Hope everyone is coping with the heat if you have it.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a mixed media piece of artwork created on one of the fab MDF uprights as it's quite a while since I altered one. There's a sneak peek below and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog if you hop over as I hope you will to see how it came about.

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

Fliss xx

Sharing Joy Mixed Media Artwork for That's Crafty!

Hello! Hope you're all OK at the moment and apologies for being a bit of a bad blogger lately, I've just been rather busy with family stuff, work and other behind the scenes stuff that can't yet be shared. Hopefully normal service will be resumed very soon.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week my softer side is on show as I decided (a bit reluctantly) to break into my treasured stash of vintage doilies to create a mixed media panel which is the reason for the soft colours that I hardly ever use.

This is just a sneak peek and if you'd like to see the whole thing you'll need to hop on over to the blog where all will be revealed.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and hope to catch up soon.

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

Mixed Media Floral Tag for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and sorry for the lack of visiting this week, I've been up to my eyes in my accounting type work and haven't had as much free time as usual so hopefully will be round over the long weekend although if sunny, gardening will be done!
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog with my usual Friday post and this week have a many layered mixed media tag to share with a floral theme (no surprise there!) and pretty pastel shades including my favourite purple hues.

This is just a sneak peek and you'll find all the details over at the blog as usual with a photo of the whole tag.

Have a really lovely weekend and see you soon.
Fliss xx

Shabby Chic Blossoms for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, the weekend is nearly here thank goodness as I've had a very busy week with work and stuff and I'm looking forward to some creative time although I might just take a peek at certain celebrations going on over the weekend and I, for one, will be rather glad to get all the media hype about the Royal Wedding out of the way!
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday tutorial and this week I have another mixed media project to share created on one of the newest MDF surfaces to share - this is one of the set of rounds and you get an amazing 15 in the set in 3 different diameters and I've used the 6 inch one here.

As you can see, I've gone pastel this week as I'm trying out the new shades of multi surface paints and I really love this pretty light blue.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Bright Blossoms for That's Crafty!

Morning all, I hope you're all having a good week with hopefully some sunny weather as we have here on the South Coast. It really does make you fee a lot more perky and I've been out for morning walks on most days to enjoy the sunshine. I'm really lucky to live right on the coast within a 5 minute walk of the seafront so that's where I tend to head for a walk. The only thing marring the coastline is the huge wind farm out in the bay but it's ecologically sound so I guess we have to put up with the sight!
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with another of those fabulous chunkies which are a really fantastic surface for mixed media which is what I've created, this time bright and zingy as I felt a bit summery when I did the post.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Flowers Always Mixed Media Chunkie for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, hope you're enjoying some better weather today with some sunshine and a bit more warmth.
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday post which this week is a mixed media creation with a ton of products thrown at it to make a shabby chic style floral piece of artwork.

The above is just a sneak peek and all details can be found over at the blog.

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

Fliss xx