Mixed Media Artwork for That's Crafty!

Hello, I've been rather busy this week for various reasons so hopefully will do more visiting over the weekend.
One of the reasons is because yesterday morning we woke to find carnage in our back garden as a nasty fox had destroyed the nest of a hedgehog family in the shrubbery on the edge of our small patio. He unfortunately killed one of the babies and yesterday afternoon we found 2 more babies out in full sunshine and very wobbly. Their mother appears to have abandoned them so we put them back in shade until Andy came home and they've spent the night in a box in the shed with puppy milk and actual hedgehog food (didn't know you could get this!) after an emergency dash to Pets 'r' Us. We'll be ringing up the local animal rescue today for advice as the babies seem tobe about a month old and not old enough to fend for themselves. Nature can be so cruel sometimes.

I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with a mixed media circular panel which is the result of a rescue of something that went wrong last month. All is now fixed and you can find out how over on the blog.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

I Heart You at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone on a very chilly but bright day and last night we actually had a sprinkle of the white stuff although it will soon be gone with the sun shining as it is now!
We have a seasonal new challenge for you today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and this month being February we've come over all romantic with the theme of I Heart You.
I was really short on time this week so I have as my inspiration the quickest card I think I've ever made and hope you like it (hope the other half does too as - whisper - he might just get this as a you know what!)

This came about as I was searching for some text for something else I'm creating and came across Lynne's Affirmations Set 4 which has the cute heart on to go with some of Lynne's lovely quotes and ping! inspiration struck.

I stamped a row of the hearts using Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick Distress Oxide Inks on white card and then glued the strip to a kraft card blank. This is where things went a bit wrong as I stamped my chosen quote underneath but the design didn't look right so I trimmed it off the card leaving a kraft border and glued it to a white card blank.

I then had the text dilemma but my trusty Tim Holtz Occasions stickers came to the rescue and I finished off the card with a row of romantic stickers which fitted the space under the hearts perfectly. Serendipity strikes again!

I hope you can join us this time as you have a whole month to enter now and it doesn't matter where in the world you live as the challenge is open to everyone. There's a £30 shop voucher for the randomly drawn winner and the Top 3 chosen by the Design Team will receive the stencil of their choice from the That's Crafty! own range which psst is about to get much bigger!

Have a great day and see you as soon as I can - time still short at the moment.
Fliss xx

Ho Ho Ho for That's Crafty! and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone and welcome to what will probably be my last post for a bit as Christmas is almost here and I have lots of family stuff going on.
Still have the cooker blues too as the repair man turned up on Tuesday to fix it and when I told him what had happened, looked in his tool bag and said they had ordered the right part but not for our model - can you believe how stupid they must be!!! So I have to do all the Christmas cooking in a small oven, the only thing going for it being that it's an electric fan one and has more shelves than my previous one. My hubby is so cross that he's put in a request for a replacement cooker pdq but I can't see that happening!
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my last post for the year as we're taking a bit of a break over Christmas and New Year. There will be lots of exciting happenings next year though so I hope you'll follow us on our arty journey.

Have a really great Christmas and wishing you all the best for 2018, hoping you get all you wish for.
Fliss xx

A Colourful Life for That's Crafty!

Hello all, hoping you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend as I am. Autumn seems to be here already but at least it's bright and sunny at the moment after a cold and dewy start.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week it's a colourful journal page to reflect my hopes for the future when I'm intending to have a lot more colour in my life. Stay tuned for the why as all will be revealed soon.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to see the whole page and of course, I hope you will.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend
Fliss xx

Field Notes Journal Cover for That's Crafty!

Hello again and a very quick post to let you know have have my usual Friday offering over at That's Crafty! Blog today.
This week, I'm sharing how I made the mixed media cover for my new small art journal, it has to be sturdy for travel in my rucksack and is intended for nature walks I'm hoping to take more often very soon.

 

This is a bit of the detail and you can see the cover over at the blog with instructions on how it was created as it's easier than you think (I took a walk in my garden to give you a clue :D)

Have a great weekend and see you soon.

Fliss xx

Fly Away at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone on a rather Autumnal day as it's quite chilly down here but is bright so hopefully will warm up soon.
It's time for a new challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and this time it's projects with wings/birds we'd like to see as the theme is Fly Away.
I've created an Autumn wreath as I love this time of year being an Autumn girl by birth and never cope well with heat so give me a cold and frosty morning with bright sunshine and I'm so happy!

The wreath is one of the inclusions in the That's Crafty! MDF wreaths and baubles set and I've used the smallest one.
The wreath surface is coloured with Distress oxide inks, spritzed then dried and stamped, then some heat embossing with gold powder for a bit of glimmer.
Here are some process pics:

 

I then used my leaf dipping technique to colour some of the new That's Crafty! Surfaces Greyboard Bits and Pieces leaves perfect for Autumn projects.

 

The paint is actually on a clear plastic plate not the cross stitch fabric underneath! Messy to do but great fun and the leaves look fab when dried off.
I scored them to make veins and added colour with a Promarker. I then painted up one of the greyboard birds to resemble a robin. I die cut some Autumn greenery from bits of paper in my scraps box using the Tim Holtz Sissix Garden Greens set and coloured some berries on some of the sprigs. I assembled it all as you see.

Hope you can join in as the prize is a voucher for the online shop and there are tons of new Autumn and Winter goodies flowing in right now so it's not to be missed!

Have a great day.
Fliss xx

Rustica Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and the theme for the next fortnight is Rustica, meaning we want to see rust effects on your creations and I sure did love this challenge.
My creation is a mixed media art panel inspired by a rusty factory building we saw on the side of one of the lochs we visited on our holiday in Scotland. We climbed through a broken panel to get to the area which was very sad to see but there were lots of amazing textures to take photos of. Nature had started to take the land back too and flowers and greenery peeked out between broken bricks.

 

I covered the MDF art panel with texture paste and then chose one of the Bits and Pieces greyboard cogs and pressed it into the paste randomly to add texture. Can you see the outlines on the background?

I then brushed a mix of Charcoal Shimmer paint and Antique Silver Metallic paint over the textured background. When the paint was fully dry, I used the Plaid Folk Art Painted Finishes Rust Kit which contains a light and dark rust paint to add rusty drips and patches over the top. Once this had dried off, I used the Ranger Embossing Dabber to add patches of ink and heat embossed the areas with Ranger Antiquities Rust embossing powder.

I coloured a number of the greyboard cogs with That's Crafty! paints (Antique Gold and Silver Metallic, Charcoal Shimmer and Multi Surface Black). I glued these on with silicone glue and finished off with a Tim Holtz word chip which I distressed by rubbing with charcoal and silver. My hubby says it looks like distressed metal which you can't really see in the pic.

I'll be round to visit as soon as I can and hope to share some holiday pics too.

Fliss xx

A Card Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog, where for the next fortnight our theme is Only Cards.
I hope you caught the first of the That's Crafty! shows on Hochanda too as the first one has just finished having started at the early hour of 7am! The next one is at 11am and is not to be missed as the new products are amazing and I really loved working with them.
My card inspiration features one of Donna's gorgeous new Christmas stamps and I know this one will be appearing quite a lot on my festive makes.

My Oxide inks came out to play for my background which was made simply with a scrap of mixed media paper coloured with Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet Oxides. I dipped and spritzed until I was happy with the effect then stamped on the gorgeous snowman with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed it with clear powder.
I then painted the snowman using the same Oxide inks which watercolour beautifully over the background colour. The snowy bits were painted with white gesso and I added a little shadowing around the edges with a pale grey watercolour pencil.
I used the new Poinsettia Tree stencil which has some lovely dots to apply dots around the snowman with an embossing dabber. I then heat embossed these with white embossing powder. I ended up with a few specks and streaks where I wasn't quite expecting them but hey - I like the effect!
I attached the panel to a white square card blank and finished off with a Tim Holtz Idea-ology seasonal sticker.

It's really good to enter as the prize is a voucher for the online shop where there are just tons of amazing goodies to choose from.
Have a great day and see you later with news of my That's Crafty! Blog post today.
Fliss xx

Hello for That's Crafty!

Guess who completely forgot to schedule her post for today's make over at That's Crafty! Blog! Oops!
I have a very simple CAS make this week as I was very short on time so hope you like what I made with a beautiful stamp that has been sitting in my stash uninked until now.

Here's just a little peek and you'll need to hop over to the blog to see the whole thing.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and will be round to visit soon.

Fliss xx

Anything Goes! at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where our new theme is a really easy one as Anything Goes!
You should try and enter as the prize is a voucher for the online shop and there are so many amazing goodies you'll be spoilt for choice.
My inspiration is a mixed media tag using one of the fabulous MDF surfaces which will take any medium you throw at them without fear of buckling.

 

I decided on my much loved tree bark effect background as I get withdrawal symptoms if I don't do this every so often!

The first thing you do is spread a thick layer of texture paste on the tag surface then draw on a pattern to resemble tree bark with a wooden skewer. It's one of those things you don't see the full effect of until you add the paint so don't worry if you think it doesn't look like much at this stage.

Then when you add a couple of layers of paint - I use a couple of shades of brown, a grey and finally add a few green streaks to look like moss or lichen and this is what it looks like then.

Now do you see what I mean!

I then stamped some of the gorgeous camellias from the Rubber Dance Antique Botanicals set on manila cardstock with Archival Potting Soil ink - I stamped 6 for some layering up. I cut out 3 whole flowers and then just the flower from the remainder, shaping the images with a large embossing tool and layering the separate flowers on top with 3D tape for added dimension.

I painted some of the leaf sprigs from the brand new Bits and Pieces greyboard embellishments by That's Crafty! (from the Small Funky  Flowers Set 1) using cream paint and die cut some leafy sprigs (Tim Holtz Garden Greens) from manila cardstock.

I then assembled the panel as you see, finishing off with some toning sari ribbon and a stamped butterfly (Carabelle Studio) from my bits box.

Have a great day and will see you later with details of my Friday post at That's Crafty! Blog which is the complete opposite to this being very bright!

Fliss xx

A Dog Eared Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello all, hope you're all well and this time surviving not the hot and sunny weather last week but the gales we seem to have at the moment! I really don't like windy weather and end up wearing sunglasses even if it's raining (yes, you did read that right!) as my newly visioned eyes are still sensitive to not only sunlight but also wind. They don't hurt as such, just feel uncomfortable.
There's a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and having gone the feline route last time what else could we do but let the dogs out!
I have a rather iffy dog eared creation to share which I admit I'm really not sure about and struggled like mad with but it will have to do!

Sir Tim's crazy dogs are the only dog stamps I actually own so I decided to ink up this rather cute quirky eyed pooch. I stamped him on a piece of torn edged mixed media paper (the dog eared bit :D) with Archival Jet Black ink and coloured him with DecoArt acrylic in medium grey value 3 and added a little pencil detail when the paint was dry.
I then got to work with a couple of That's Crafty! Dinky Stencils (Grid and Chevron) with Barn Door, Stormy Sky and Peeled Paint Distress inks, smudging the colours a little.
I stamped the dog lead (I think he has a walkies or maybe not walkies look on his face) and finished off with a Small Talk Occasions sticker then added the panel to a grey card blank.

Do enter if you can as you'll have the chance to win a voucher for the online shop and there are loads of new and amazing new goodies about to appear too so don't forget you have to be in it to win it!

I'm now off for a long weekend away with my other half for a much needed rest down in Devon so I hope the weather improves.
Fliss xx

A Fishy Tale at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello again, a quick post to let you know that I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week I'm sharing a bright mixed media tag inspired by a photo I saw of a shoal of fish. Hope you like it!

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

Oxide Ink Play at That's Crafty! Blog

Hello again, back to let you know I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week it's all about my experimenting with those addictive Oxide inks. If you haven't tried them do check it out to see just one of the effects you can achieve with the inks and water - they're totally amazing and I'm completely hooked!

As you can see, I made a whole batch of cards in one go - just think of the possibilities for Christmas!

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

Back to Black at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone, thanks so much to everyone who took the time to leave me comments. I really appreciate your kindness. I'm pleased to say that I can see better than before the op although not quite as well as I hoped because I still seem to need glasses for some things and more than I really wanted as I didn't have to wear them until all the cataract stuff kicked off. I won't know what the prescription is until my check up in 2 weeks.
Anyhow, enough of my troubles and on to the actual reason for this post which is to let you know there's a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which has the theme of Back to Black like the Amy Winehouse song. We want to see lots of black on your creation and my inspiration is a tag with more black than I've ever used I think! Hope you like it.

I used the largest size white/greyboard tag by That's Crafty! and painted it with DecoArt Fluid Acrylic in Carbon Black. I then added circles on top for a pop of colour using a homemade circle stencil and DecoArt Americana Acrylics in Daffodil Yellow, Wild Violet and Lush Foliage.
I next stamped on the circles with Archival Jet Black ink using images from That's Crafty! Textures Collection Sets 1 and 2 clear stamp sets. I found that by layering up some of the images you get a rather interesting effect - see the yellow circles.

I then splattered on some very pale pink paint (Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic in Vintage Lace) to add more interest.
I stamped the cute crazy bird on mixed media paper with the black ink and die cut him with the matching die set (handy if you're struggling to cut things out!).
I assembled the tag with some rather nifty black and white spotty feathers from my stash - do you like the bird's cute fan tail? and finished off with text from my bits box which is a Visible Image stamp on black card embossed with white and I thought this fit rather well. A bit of stripey ribbon at the top and I was done!

There's a prize of a voucher for the online shop for the winner so do enter if you can - there are tons of fab new goodies in the shop now!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Discovering Wonder at That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, still suffering somewhat from the nasty thingy I managed to catch that turned into Pharyngitis which makes me cough a lot when I first get up and stops me sleeping sometimes - sigh! I'm somewhat fed up as this is the third time in less than 3 months I've had something when before now I haven't been ill for years!
Anyhow, enough whingeing and on to the reason for this post which is to let you know I have a very bright tag to share over at That's Crafty! Blog today which is a little extra inspiration for our Bright Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog.

Lots of stencilling and stamping and all details over at the blog as usual.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Sunshiny Day for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week and like me, are looking forward to the weekend which will hopefully have some good weather.
Which brings me to my post over at That's Crafty! Blog today where I'm sharing a card that was inspired by a certain song which popped into my head the other day. Can you guess which one?

You'll find all the details of how I made my card over at the blog if you'd like to hop over and see.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and see you next week which is an exciting one for us at That's Crafty! and I'll be sharing the news on Monday.

Fliss xx

Outnumbered at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where for the next fortnight our theme is Outnumbered so numbers are the order of the day.
I've made another tag although this one is very different to the one on my last post as it's more vintage in style and came about from my experiments with the fab new 8x8 clock stencil.

When I saw the challenge theme, time jumped into my head from the point of view of the numbers on a clock so I decided to try something completely different with the clock stencil.
I taped the stencil to a piece of mixed media paper, positioning it so that just under half was over the paper. I then used DecoArt Media white modelling paste to make a raised pattern on the paper. When the paste was dry, I painted the clock segment with a mix of Paper Arsty Fresco Finish Chocolate Pudding acrylic paint and DecoArt Media Burnt Sienna Fluid acrylic paint.
I used a mix of DecoArt Media Metallic Gold and Quinacridone Gold over the raised areas and when it was dry, trimmed around the rounded edge leaving a tiny dark brown border.
I painted the tag with a mix of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Cobalt Teal Hue, Green Gold, Ultramarine, Raw Sienna and Transparent Yellow Oxide. I then stamped on the script image from That's Crafty! Texture Stamp Set 1 with Archival Potting Soil ink and stencilled on the Dinky Stencil numbers with Cobalt Teal Hue DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic paint.
I glued the clock face on to the tag and finished off with some Chit Chat stickers which I edged with the Archival ink.

There's a fab prize of a voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner and all you have to do to be in with a chance is enter!
Good luck!
Have a great long weekend.
Fliss xx

Head in the Sky for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and wishing you all a very Happy Easter. I'm feeling a little better than I did yesterday so am hopefully on the mend now so thanks to anyone who left me good wishes for a speedy recovery.
I have my usual weekly post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week I'm sharing a very bright tag featuring my favourite crazy bird.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to hop on over and see how this came about.

I'll be back soon as we have a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and I have my inspiration to share - it's another tag but is very different to this one.

See you in a while.
Fliss xx

Happy for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a better week from me as I've been struck down with a virus that turned into sinusitis and I've felt under the weather all week.
The only good news was my follow up visit to the consultant on Wednesday and he's very pleased with my eye which is healing well and I'm so happy that the resulting eyesight went as planned and I can see better than I've been able to for most of my life - yippee! Can't wait for the left eye to be done now.
I have a post today over at That's Crafty! Blog and this week for the first time in quite a while, I have a card to share. This is mostly as I wanted to try out some colouring now my eyesight is somewhat improved. Hope you like it!

I'll be back in a bit as we have a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and I have some inspiration to share.

Fliss xx

I Heart You! Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which for the next fortnight has the seasonably romantic theme of I Heart You! and we would like to see your creations with hearts on.
I've made a Valentine card which I hope you like.

I made a background paper with several shades of Distress inks - Antique Linen, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass, Old Paper, Worn Lipstick - which I applied straight from the inkpad, pressing lightly to transfer the inks to a piece of mixed media paper.
I then stamped on the heart from the Carabelle Studio Le Coeur et l'oiseau stamp set with Weathered Wood Distress ink. I inked the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink and glued the paper to a kraft card blank.
I stamped the heart on mixed media paper with VersaFine Satin Red ink and the wings with Archival Cobalt ink. I cut the images out and gave the heart shape a double mat of dark red and blue card to make it pop. I added this to the card with the wings using foam tape for added dimension.
I finished off with some Tim Holtz stickers from the Small Talk Occasions sticker book.

Do enter if you can as the prize for the randomly drawn winner is a voucher for the online shop and we have lots of CHA goodies due in!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx