Anything Goes At The First That's Crafty Challenge!

Hello again folks and I'm back with my second post of the day which is to let you know about the first challenge over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog which has just gone live.
The first theme is a really easy one as Anything Goes so we're hoping for loads of entries. There's a fab prize of a £20 voucher to spend in the online shop and I can tell you you'll be spoilt for choice with all the gorgeous goodies available.
Here's my inspiration which I hope you like - it's a rather bold card which came about because I've just got my inky mitts on one of the new Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencils which I have loads of plans for so you'll be seeing more of it over the next few weeks.

I used the rose stencil over another of my painty background papers that I made a few weeks back with the fabulous Stampendous Creative Palette which is a mono printing plate. In my first session with it, I was able to pull around half a dozen prints in blue green shades which is why they keep popping up in my artwork at the moment.
I created the stencilled roses with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and then added stamped faux stitching round the edges.
The Stampendous image was stamped on smooth thick cartridge paper and painted with Aquamarkers. I then trimmed round the image and added to the side of the background, trimming off the excess paper.
I made her rather a snazzy retro hat by stencilling another rose on to a scrap of mono printed paper, cutting it out and adding to the background paper with double sided and foam tape for dimension.
I finished off with a sentiment panel edged with pink ink.

Materials Used:
Stampendous Cling Stamp - Glance
Kaisercraft Clear Stamp - Smile
Prima Cling Stamp Set - Stitch Stamps - Lines
Balzer Bits Stencil - Rose
Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink
Archival Jet Black Ink
Aquamarkers

I hope you can join us as we'd love to see you there.
Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Style Is Always In Fashion

Hi there and welcome to my first of 2 posts today which is to tell you about the project I have for you over at That's Crafty which features a gorgeous background stamp which I've used to make not only the background paper but decorative panels and matting layers as well - you can really get your money's worth from this one!

To find out how I made made all the layers, please do hop on over for all the details.

I'll be back a bit later on with my inspiration piece for our first challenge at the brand new That's Crafty Challenge Blog and don't miss this because there's a fab prize up for grabs if you enter.

See you later!
Fliss xx

Hello Baby!

Morning all, hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to fit in some crafting as I did.

 I also loved watching the semi final of the last ever series of Dancing On Ice (sob!) which I really love and I don't know if you saw it but I can tell you that it wasn't just the judges with tears in their eyes after watching Hayley and Dan with their amazing flying sequence - so romantic and beautiful.

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Make My Monday and our hostess Jacqueline has chosen the theme of Babies.
My inspiration is a little different from the usual style of baby cards as I couldn't resist using another of my recently acquired Aurora Wings images as this particular baby elf is so cute.

I printed the image on to smooth cartridge paper and no surprise here, coloured him with Aquamarkers which are my current favourite colouring medium.
I made the background paper with a heart peg stamp by Judith which I bought from Stamp Addicts a while back. I stamped it with pink, yellow, blue and lilac inks and then when it was dry sponged Colorbox parchment ink over the top to soften the colours.
I added the image panel to mats of yellow, blue and pink then embossed a pink die cut heart with a Cuttlebug heart folder. I finished off with some wording cut from a Stamp It! alphabet stamp which I stamped on blue card.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

A Breath Of Spring For That's Crafty

Hello there folks and thank you for visiting me today. My post is to tell you about my project today over at That's Crafty which is another creation from my play date a couple of weeks back with the Stampendous Creative Palette.

I also have some exciting news about our new challenge blog which you can find HERE. The first challenge starts next Friday 7th March and has the theme of Anything Goes. The prize up for grabs is a voucher for the shop worth £20. So, what are you waiting for - time to get creating!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

No Cute Allowed!

Hello there, a slightly late post today to let you know about the new challenge that started today over at Make My Monday which has the theme of A Grown Up Card with absolutely no cute images allowed.
Here's my inspiration for the challenge and I hope you can join us this week as the theme is quite an easy one.

For my card I've used another of my recently acquired Aurora Wings images and this one is called Autumn Rose although as you'll see, she makes a lovely Springtime rose too.
I printed her out on to thick, smooth cartridge paper and used my favourite colouring medium of Aquamarkers to give her a wash of colour. I trimmed the image to a rectangular panel and added mats of mauve and green.
My background paper is from the vintage style Madame Payraud collection by Docrafts as I thought this particular design toned well with my coloured image. I embossed one side of the paper with my favourite Cuttlebug textile folder and trimmed it to fit my square card blank.
I stamped the Kaisercraft butterfly with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink on a scrap of leftover paper from my bits box which was a similar green to the matting. I cut the image out and inked the edges lilac to tone in.
I stamped my favourite birthday sentiment by Flonzcraft with the grey ink and then inked the panel with green and lilac to match. I finished off with some lilac gems in the corner and on the butterfly's body.

Hope you have a great week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
2 Sisters - Embossing
Card Makin' Mamas - Stack It Up! - 3 or more layers (I have 5 I think!)

La Vie Scientifique For That's Crafty

Good morning folks, I hope you've all had a better week than mine as my journey to work has been fraught with difficulties all week due to local flooding and burst water mains combined with roadworks! I really hope things improve soon as I'm getting very fed up with all of it!
Anyhow, enough of my troubles and on to my reason for today's post which is to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty which is a creation with another of the papers I made last week in my mono printing session with Stampendous Creative Palette and I've gone steampunk this week!

You'll find a pic of the whole creation over at the blog with all the materials details and how I made it and I'd love it if you came to visit.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Time For A Recipe

Hello there and hope you all had a lovely weekend. Rather mixed weather but I managed to fit in a bit of crafting, one of which is my inspiration for the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which has been chosen by Jacqueline and is a recipe:

5 Gems

4 Colours

3 Stamped Images

2 Layers

1 Word

My 4 colours are pink, lilac, green and brown.  The 3 stamped images are the lovely Le Brun by B Line Designs (my favourite stamp) and the 2 flowers which are from the Crafty Individuals flower heads set.

I found the 2 layers a bit of a challenge as I usually have more than that and I managed to get a more layered look by using square panels of background paper in a patchwork design, adding faux stitching made with the Tim Holtz ruler and a fine brown Copic Multiliner pen. I stamped my 1 word using a stamp from a Prima set on the bottom right corner panel after adding my squares to a kraft card blank.

I stamped Le Brun with Archival Coffee ink on smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with Prisma pencils. I cut out round part of the image and added her in the centre right side.

I stamped a couple of flowers with the coffee ink, coloured them with pencils and cut them out then added them to the card with some Elizabeth Craft leaf sprigs die cut from kraft card.

I finished off with a resin heart and 5 lilac gems.

I hope you can join us and do pop over to see the Design Team inspiration as I promise it's not as hard as you might think!

Have a great day.

Fliss xx

Serene In Green For That's Crafty

Hello there and welcome to today's post which is to tell you about my project for today over at That's Crafty which is my first creation with the new and fabulous Stampendous Creative Palette which is a monoprinting plate and allows you to make quite a few prints in one session.

You'll find all the details over at the blog along with a pic of all the prints I made along with the one used on my card above.

Hope you can pop over and in the meantime have a great day.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Love Is In The Air

Morning folks and hope you had a good weekend. I thought I was going to get blown away in mine as the winds were so strong it was hard to walk! I hope anyone else affected managed to survive OK.
It's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday and this week with a certain romantic day fast approaching Love Is In The Air.
As I was short of time, I had a rummage in my bits box and found something I'd started a while back but not finished. So I got cracking and finished it off. Hope you like it!

I made the card blank with the Tim Holtz cabinet card die with a piece of smooth, thick white card. I then stamped on a Hobby Craft background stamp using embossing ink and heat embossed it with clear powder.
I then inked the card with Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive Distress inks to give the resist effect you can see.
I stamped the lovely vintage couple (Flonzcraft) with Memories Artprint Brown on white card, coloured with Promarkers and cut them out to fit on a circle of lilac card dry embossed with a Cuttlebug hearts folder.
I added crochet lace altered with Distress Stains and trimmed the image panel to fit on the side of the card. I finished off with a layered flower and some inked computer generated text .

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps - Hearts
A Gem Of A Challenge - All You Need Is Love
Open Minded Challenges - Show Some Love

A Feathered Friend For That's Crafty

Hello there, I hope you're all managing to survive the current never ending wind and rain and my thoughts are with anyone affected by the flooding. We've had very soggy and waterlogged roads here and tons of nasty potholes everywhere but thankfully no local floods. I also now have to keep a towel in the car to stop soaking the seats having to walk to the car park in the deluge!
Enough moaning though and on to today's post which is to tell you about the project I have today over at That's Crafty which is quite a striking nature themed card created with my favourite set of bird stamps.

As usual you'll find the materials and a tutorial over at the blog and I hope you can pop on over to see how the card came about.

Have a great weekend and try to stay warm and dry - I think even the ducks would not like the current downpour!

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Floral Wall Art

Good morning folks and welcome to my first post of the month and I have to say I'm so very glad it's February as last month was so busy I had virtually no spare time and I've really missed being able to create and come visiting you all.
Over at Make My Monday we have a new challenge for you today and it's my turn to pick the theme. As I like creating something other than cards when I can, I picked Anything But A Card.

As you'll probably see, I've been playing with my much loved Inkadinkado stamping gear again to make my wall hanging.
I absolutely love the flower petals stamp set which I used to make this. The petals reminded me a little of crocuses so I had them in mind with my colour scheme. I stamped the petals using the round cog and Memento Sweet Plum ink. I stamped 2 complete circles for layering as I like the more realistic effect it gives. I used thick smooth cartridge paper for the stamping as it's fab for colouring with Aquamarkers.
I painted the petals with Straw Yellow near the base with a touch of Bamboo. I then added Vintage Pink in the centre following up with Plum Blush and the Royal Purple at the very edges of the petals. I then cut both floral circles out and layered them up with a die cut circle of pale yellow card embossed with the Cuttlebug Victoria folder. The base I used is a kraft chipboard circle with 2 holes at the top and I knotted yellow wired ribbon through to make the hanging element.

Have a great day and a lovely week and I'll be round to visit very soon.
Fliss x

Eastern Promise

Hello there folks and welcome to my post today which is for the new challenge over at Make My Monday which has a theme chosen by Suzi B - Eastern Promise.
I have to admit having struggled a bit with this one and in the end a beautiful image from Aurora Wings called Lotus Sprite came to the rescue as she has quite an Oriental look about her. I hope you like my creation.

The background paper here actually came first and was created with one of the V & A quilt inspired stamps which I thought was perfect with its' delicate bamboo design. I stamped it with VersaFine Spanish Moss ink and embossed with clear powder. I then added VersaMagic Pink Grapefruit direct to paper from the ink pad.
I then printed the image out on to smooth thick cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers, adding detail with Prisma pencils. I added a narrow green mat and a wider one of matte gold card with a touch of subtle sparkle.
I then dry embossed a panel of the same green card with the Cuttlebug bamboo folder and assembled the card as you see adding the Chinese character I found on the internet to finish.

Have a lovely day and great week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Cherish For That's Crafty

Hello there folks and a warm welcome to my new followers with a big thanks for choosing to follow me on my art journey.
Today's post is to share my project for That's Crafty and as usual you'll find all the details on how to make it over at the blog.

I also hope you're all OK and hopefully not as busy as me. Things have been manic here due to car problems combined with working full time with the looming tax deadline so I'm really looking forward to February when things will hopefully calm down.
My lack of visiting lately has been as a result of all this so I'm really sorry and will make up for in in February.

Hugs and best wishes,
Fliss xx

A Bit Of Krafting

Good morning everyone, I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed some sunshine as we did - very necessary after Friday's deluge which caused huge problem down here in the South with flooding everywhere. Happily I got to work although soaked through and had to dry some of my clothes with a towel - my boots took ages to dry near the radiator too!
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday chosen by Jan this week and she has challenged us to use some kraft card on our creation. I loved this one as it's a favourite of mine and my inspiration this time is a fairly simple card.

The background kraft card was embossed on both sides with a Darice border folder, butterfly swirls.

I then stamped the Papermania Urban image with Archival coffee ink onto a piece of smooth, thick cartridge paper coloured with green and blue Distress Stains. I then added further colour to the butterflies with more Distress Stains.

I stamped the Hobby Art sentiment with the coffee ink on a further scrap of cartridge paper coloured with Distress Stains and added this as a finishing touch.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

A Country Girl At Heart

Hello folks, it's time for my weekly post for That's Crafty and this time I've altered another of the lovely burlap canvasses by Sir Tim.
It's a very quick post as I'm really busy at the moment working full time to help my boss with the dreaded tax return deadline fast approaching and we still have loads to get through. I reckon I'm going to need a week of sleep when we've finished too!

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and I hope you'll pop on over to see how I made it. If you haven't yet looked at the blog, do hop over as there are loads of fabulous tutorials to feast your eyes on.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Watch The Birdie!

Hello there everyone and I hope you all had a good weekend. It's time for a new challenge today over at Make My Monday with the theme of Birds which is another favourite of mine so many thanks to team mate Rosie for choosing it.
I had a rummage in my bits box for some background paper to go with the image I wanted to use and I hope you like the one I decided on.

I've gone all Stampendous for the card as I just love this cute little chap that I decided to turn into a little blue tit - can you tell how much I'm longing for Spring? I stamped the collage on Ranger manila cardstock with Archival coffee ink and then coloured it with Aquamarkers. I inked round the edges and added a buff coloured matting layer.
The background paper was made with the Stampendous jumbo rosebuds stamped with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink on a piece of hammered texture card. I then rubbed dusty pink and yellow VersaColor ink cubes over the top. Because the card is textured it gives a lovely mottled effect. I then added a little extra colour to the flowers and leaves with pencils.
I assembled the elements on a kraft card blank.

I hope you can join us this week.
Have a great day,
Fliss xx

A Sunny Creation For That's Crafty

Hello there everyone, hope you've all had a good week so far and better than me too. Work is currently extremely busy with the tax return deadline looming and I'll be working full time until February as we have quite a few naughty clients still bringing their records in!
Anyhow, enough of my troubles and on to the actual reason for the post which is to tell you about the project I have today over at That's Crafty which is a bright and cheery little wall hanging decoration for my kitchen (in need of brightening up in the dreary weather).

I've been playing with my fabulous stamping gear kit again so if you'd like to see how it came about, all the details are over at the blog. Hope you can pop on over.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

First Challenge Of The Year At Make My Monday

Hello folks, a slightly late post about the first 2014 challenge launched today at Make My Monday with the theme chosen by Laura which is one I love:

Embossing

I decided on a cute card this time with an until now uninked stamp which I thought I ought to give an inking as a challenge to myself. Here's what I made:

I stamped the image by Bildmalarna with my favourite Archival Coffee ink on smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with a mix of Aquamarkers, Distress Stains and Prisma pencils. I then die cut the image to an oval and inked the edges with yellow.

I covered the card blank with rosebud paper from the Polka Doodles Pretty Sweet CD and used a scrap of the same paper in blue to make a heart shape with my own paper template which I also used with kraft card, embossing this with the Cuttlebug roses folder to match all the other roses.

I embossed a scrap of lemon yellow card with the Creative Expressions Trellis folder and stamped a Crafty Individuals butterfly with the coffee ink and coloured with Aquamarkers. I assembled the card as you see, adding a sentiment by Flonzcraft to finish.

I hope you're all managing to survive the nasty weather being thrown at us yet again and that none of you have been flooded out.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Fliss xx

Bluebird For That's Crafty

Hello there everyone and a warm welcome to my new followers. So glad you decided to come and share my arty journey.
I have a sneak peek here of my project for today over at That's Crafty and if you hop on over you can see the whole thing and how I've been playing with my new Gelatos. They're new to me and I love them so I'm sure you'll be seeing further creations with them very soon.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and hope you're all surviving the current nasty weather.

Hugs,
Fliss xx

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone, I can't believe that another year has now started and popped on here to wish you all a very Happy New Year and a healthy and crafty 2014.
I also want to share with you my favourite projects from 2013 and apart from one which is my absolute favourite because I loved creating it, you'll see that the others show a rather varied style but all have some of the techniques I love so much.
You'll have to let me know what you think and see if you can guess which is the one I love the most!

I think you'll agree that they all show my love of texture not to mention my obsession with those ever versatile Distress inks which have all made an appearance here in various ways.

My main resolution for this year is to try and organise myself better so that I have some time to come and visit you all, something that has been sadly lacking lately.
I also had the very sad decision before Christmas to have to give up my Fashionable Stamping Challenges DT as I felt it really unfair on my fellow teamies not to be able to keep up with the commitments. I want to say thank you here to Shirley and everyone for being so kind and supportive of me when things have been so difficult.

Here's to 2014!
Hugs,
Fliss xx
PS: My favourite is the bird canvas as it has oodles of the texture I love and I was able to use a panel of decorated paper that I made about 10 years ago and hoarded for the right creation.