A New Nest

Good morning folks, hoping you've all had a great weekend as Monday is here again. It's time for the last of our March Spring theme challenges over at Make My Monday and this week we'd like to see a creation with the theme of New Beginnings.
For my inspiration I've gone all cute as I couldn't resist the gorgeous little bird stamp set by Hels Cuppleditch for Trimcraft which you will see can fit quite a few types of new beginning.

Aren't they just so sweet! I chose a lovely Spring colour palette again and made a background panel using Shabby Shutters Distress ink sponged on plain card and I then stamped the floral sprig from the stamp set all around the edges with VersaFine Spanish Moss and coloured the flowers and leaves with Prisma pencils.
I stamped the nest with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink and coloured with Distress inks and blended Prisma pencils for a watercolour effect. I cut the panel out with a circle cutter and inked the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress ink.
I made a border for the top and bottom using a Martha Stewart punch and inked these with Crushed Olive. I stamped the sentiment from the stamp set with Archival Coffee ink and cut this into individual words.
I finished off with a stamped and coloured flower from a Scrappy Cat set I've had for years.

The Design Team have made some wonderfully varied creations for your inspiration so do pop over for a peek.

Challenges for my card:
2 Sisters - Spring Is In The Air
Paper Sundaes - Spring Blossoms
Sentimental Sundays - Easter or Spring
Stamping With The Dragon - Things With Wings

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Spring Is In The Air

Good morning folks and Spring really is in the air today as we not only have the most gorgeous sunny day here, but it's also time for a new fortnight's challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and the theme this time is Spring Is In The Air - how's that for perfect timing!
The Design Team have some absolutely stunning projects lined up on the catwalk this time and we are as ever sponsored by the lovely Marina of Cottage Crafts who will be giving a voucher worth 7 euros to spend in her online shop.
My card this time is quite a simple one as it includes my current favourite bird stamp and I didn't want to overload the card with too many embellishments.

The lovely bird is by Stampendous and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink then coloured with Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Pumice Stone Distress inks with a little detail added with Promarkers. I cut the image out with the Papermania square parenthesis die set and inked the edges with Crushed Olive.
I made the background panels using my Easy Inking Background Technique (link to the tutorial is on my side bar) using Shabby Shutters, Milled Lavender, Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet Distress inks with a lovely sprig stamp from a B Line Designs cube. The pink border was made with a long block and then trimmed with a Papermania scallop lace border die.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a touch of detail with stitched ribbon together with a layered flower coloured with Promarkers (with a Card Candi centre), rose leaves punched with an X Cut punch and emboss punch then inked with Forest Moss DI and text from the Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather stamp set.

Challenges for my card:
Crafty Ann's - Spring/Easter
Fairy Fun Fridays - Spring Fling
Simply Create Too - It's Spring
Paper Play - Spring Colours

That's all for now and hoping you have a great Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Spring Spring Card!

Hello folks, I'm somewhat late with my card for the new challenge over at Make My Monday after several very busy days which has made me a bit behind with my blogging.
Apologies to Jacqueline for the tardiness and to everyone else for my lack of visiting lately. I'm now catching up so should be round very soon.
For now, here are the challenge details which are the reason for my slightly tongue in cheek title as this week we're continuing with the March Spring theme with the twist that we'd like to see a Spring Fold Card. If you're unsure how to make one, there's a link on the challenge blog and it's easier to make than you might think.
My card was inspired by some trees with blossoms on that I spotted when driving home last week.

Not a very good pic here as my camera didn't like the shape of the card and struggled to focus.
I've used a tree stamp by Hobby Art which I stamped with VersaFine Toffee ink on a diamond shaped piece of pale decorated paper. I stamped round the edges with a tiny flower and leaf from the Polka Doodles Daisy Doodles stamp set . I added green dots to the tree and some flowers punched from pink hand decorated paper to resemble blossom.
I added a piece of embossed card to the base, embossed with the Tim Holtz Spring Alterations folder and swiped with yellow ink. I added a border made from more of the pink stamped paper and the Martha Stewart floral double edge punch. The card itself was made from green parchment card.

Hoping that you have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Animal Or Bird With Polka Doodles

It's Friday folks! Can't wait for the weekend which is thankfully almost here and my younger daughter is coming home for the weekend as it's Mothers Day on Sunday.
We have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles with loads of fabulous giveaways up for grabs as Nikky will be at GNPE at Harrogate over the weekend with the brand new CD (we've been drooling over this one as it's gorgeous with masses of stash on) so if you're going do go and say hello. She will also have the lovely Leonie Pujol with her.
Nikky will also be on Create & Craft on Wednesday 21 March to launch the new CD and she's also doing pick of the day so do tune in for some fabulous goodies and don't forget to retune your TV as that's when all the channels go digital. If all else fails you can watch on your computer.
Now for the challenge which this week to to make a creation with an Animal or a Bird on so there's plenty of scope with this one as you'll see if you hop over to look at the Design Team inspiration.

I decided to make a little bird house using the template on the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD which makes it really easy for you to create a really pretty little gift. I printed mine out on the back of some of the textured look papers from the Not For Girls CD, cut the sections out, assembled them and inked the edges with brown ink. I added some punched lace tape round the base.
I made a stand for the little house by printing out a kraft paper from the A Double Sprinkle Of Kraft CD on to 300gsm card and printing the roof template on the back. I cut this out to make a matching scalloped base.
I then made some roses using the text pattern spira blossoms from the All Around & Everywhere CD, bending the edges back and inking them to make them look like real roses. I added these to the base with silicone glue together with some pansies from my stash.
I stamped the robin from the Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather stamp set with coffee Archival ink and coloured him with Prisma pencils. I added him at the front.
We have a pair of little robins in our garden at the moment building their nest in the thick ivy on one of the posts on our pergola and they're really good at keeping the greenfly on the climbing roses down. We have the Iceberg type which seems to flower all year, even in the snow!

Challenges for my bird house:
Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday - Things With Wings
Crafty Sentiments - Things With Wings

Have a great Friday!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Thank You Mum!

Good morning everyone, hoping that you all had a lovely weekend and Monday is here again. The weeks this year seem to be flying by.
We have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday continuing with Jacqueline's Spring theme for the month and this week she would like to see your creations for Mothers Day or Thank You if you prefer.
My card is for my mother in law as I sadly lost my own dear Mum back in 2004 but was thinking of her too as I made the card which has her favourite Spring flowers, pansies. She always had pots of them in the garden at this time of year.

Quite a simple card from me as I wanted the heart shaped garland of pansies to stand out so a clean and simple background resulted.
The pansies are from Crafty Individuals CI-206 Elements set which has lots of gorgeous flowers in different sizes (I used the daisies on my last post) and I stamped 2 sizes of pansy lots of times with VersaFine Imperial Purple ink. I then painted the larger ones with lots of Distress ink colours and the small ones were coloured with blended Prisma pencil as I was trying to make them look like violas.
I then cut them all out and made the heart shape you see using a Papermania die in 2 sizes and a computer generated sentiment. The shaped card blank is by Craftwork Cards and I added a die cut background paper which was a leftover piece from a Chocolate Baroque  Artylicious CD.

So there you have it. The Design Team have made some lovely samples to inspire you and we'd love you to enter. Please just remember that the overall theme is Spring as last week amongst the gorgeous entries were quite a few flowers that don't flower in the Spring!

Challenges for my card:
Dream Valley Challenges - Mothers Day
Allsorts - Say It With Flowers
Craft Your Days Away - Mothers Day
Creations By Gill M - Shaped Cards
Crafty Catz - Mothers Day or A Special Lady

Have a lovely day.
Hugs. Fliss xx

Let's Play Bingo At FSC

Good morning folks and hope you're all having a lovely weekend with the Spring weather we have here - it actually is sunny Sussex today.
It's now time to play Bingo over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges as this fortnight the lovely Sue has challenged us with a card to pick from:

I've gone with a diagonal line for my card which uses Metal, Distressing and Vintage.

My image is by La Blanche and I love the vintage style of the sweet girl in a field of daisies. She's stamped with VersaFine Olympia Green and coloured with Prisma pencils. I added the image panel to a dark green mat.
I made a background paper using 2 sizes of the daisies from the Crafty Individuals CI-206 Elements set. I first inked some cartridge paper with Shabby Shutters Distress ink then layer stamped the 2 sizes of daisy with Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Bundled Sage and Crushed Olive inks. I tore the edges for a distressed effect.
I made a further paper using a large floral foam stamp with the orange and yellow inks and again tore the edges. I added this to an A5 buff card blank and added the daisy paper on top.
I then added a piece of cream crochet lace across the centre and then the image panel, attached with foam tape. I glued on a brass stamping and some gold pearls. I finished off with a little stamped butterfly (B Line Designs) coloured with Prisma pencils and cut out.

There's a stunning array of creations on the catwalk from the girls this time so do pop over for a real treat. Can't wait to see the entries this time either as those for the last challenge are amazing and it's going to be so hard to choose a top 3 from so much gorgeousness.

Challenges for my card:
2 Sisters Challenge - Spring Colours
Crazy 4 Challenges - Use Spring As Your Inspiration
Glitter Geeks - Spring Is In The Air

Thanks for looking and have a lovely day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

How To Follow Non Blogger Blogs Without Linky Tool

Hello folks, no card from me on this post as I'm here to share a way to follow those non Blogger blogs that have now lost Google Friend Connect but without going to the bother and hassle of this new Linky Tool follower thingy.
This came about by accident yesterday when a fellow DT member said a Wordpress blog had gone from her reading list. I checked mine and it was gone too. I was scrolling through and noticed I still had some other non Blogger blogs on my reading list and then the light bulb went on as to why.

Earlier yesterday, I wanted to follow a Blogger blog but the Google Friend Connect gadget wasn't there so I set the following up another way which also works for Wordpress, Typepad and other shop type blogs not using Blogger.
Here's what you do:

1.  Copy the blog address of the blog you want to follow (just as if you were adding a link in a blog post).
2. Go to your dashboard and scroll down until you reach the blue boxes with ADD and MANAGE in them and click on ADD.
3. On the next stage you will see that you can either follow by url or Google Friend Connect. Simply paste the blog address into the url box and click to continue.
4. Just carry on the next step to follow publicly and it's done! 

It really is that simple! So if you've lost those all important inspirational bloggers such as Tim Holtz, you can get him back with just a few clicks.

Hoping you find this helpful. It seems that most things really are simple to sort out in the end and I wish I'd thought of this earlier!
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Spring Flowers

Good morning everyone, hope you all had a good weekend and are ready to face another week. Being Monday, we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and being the first one of the month, it's also the start of a new theme - Spring and this weeks challenge is a creation with Spring Flowers.
For my card, there was one stamp that I just had to use, my much loved Hero Arts tulip and here's what I did with it. You might need your sunglasses too as it's quite bright lol

The card gave me the chance to use up some of the handmade paper from my stash as I have rather a lot and it's a case of use it or lose it! This particular one is a beautiful shade of spring green and is embossed with roses so is perfect for a spring card.
I also used up some of the scraps from my experimental box, trimming them with a Martha Stewart border punch and layering them up. The striped one was made by repeat stamping a Hero Arts stripe stamp with several shades of Distress ink. The floral and the leaf papers were simply lightly inked with Distress inks and stamped with Hero Arts images in the same colours.
I stamped the tulip 3 times with Olympia Green VersaFine ink and coloured first by lightly sponging with Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Barn Door Distress inks. I then added detail with Prisma pencils. I cut them out and added them to a die cut mat with inked edges. I added a further mat of yellow handmade paper die cut with a further Papermania die and embossed at the top and base with the gorgeous flourish border from Tim Holtz Texture Fades spring set.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a bow to finish. There's no sentiment yet as I like to have a few cards I can fit for several occasions which I think this one does.

I'd also like to say a big thanks here to Sugar Creek Hollow as I've just found out that I won last weeks challenge and also the same to C.R.A.F.T. as I won a prize in their challenge too!

Challenges for my card:
Gingerloft - Spring
The Paper Players - Spring Has Sprung
Paper Creations Ink - Spring Is In The Air
Crafty Catz - Punches and Dies

Thanks for looking and have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Spots and Stripes

Good morning folks, can't believe it's Friday again but glad the weekend is almost here. Hopefully you'll have some time for crafting as we have a new challenge for you today over at Polka Doodles with a theme of Spots and Stripes or both if you like and I did like!
This gave me a chance to use my much loved Wonderland stamps as the matching papers have some wonderfully grungy spots and stripes amongst them. Here's my card:

I stamped Alice twice with Memento black ink and coloured her with a mix of Promarkers and Copics, colouring just the image on the second one and then cut this out and decoupaged it for a 3D effect.
I covered my card blank with a mix of papers from the Wonderland CD, inking the edges with black ink for emphasis. You can get a really good deal if you buy the CD and stamps together (they're both absolutely gorgeous) and will find the details HERE.
I added a mat at an angle then the Alice panel which I added a frame to, made with square dies and cut from a scrap of paper from the Pretty Tuff CD, embossed with a polka dot folder. I stamped the text directly on the card and finished off with the bottle coloured with Promarkers and the cute toadstools stamped on a scrap of the black and white striped paper.

The Design Team have some gorgeous samples for you to feast your eyes on including some gorgeously girly creations. Hoping to see you there!

Challenges for my card:
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Made With Paper
Paper Pretties - Use Your Favourite Stamp Set

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

Love And Life

Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely week and have the gorgeous sunshine we have today, it really does feel like Spring is on the way at last.
My thoughts at the moment are with my lucky daughter Sarah who's currently in Cape Town with her friend Lucinda as they won a short internship with South African clothing company Woolworths with the fabulous designs they both did for a prospective fashion collection. It's apparently really hot over there so I'm wishing I could be there too!
I have a card to share today that I've made for the current challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow which is to use the photo of your choice and make a vintage, prim or shabby chic style project. My card came about when trawling through my photo collection and finding one my daughter took last year at a friend's wedding. As 2 more of her friends are getting hitched this year, I decided on a wedding one.

There's actually only one bit of stamping on here unusually for me as most of the detail comes from embossing as I didn't want to distract the eye from the gorgeous vintage postcard I found in my Graphics Fairy collection. It had a space on just perfect for the Penny Black sentiment which I stamped with Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink. I inked the edges with brown after trimming the postcard with rounded edges.
I covered the card with a piece of ivory card embossed on one side with a Papermania rose pattern folder. I added a cream panel embossed with a Papermania floral folder and swiped with Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink.
I added a little cream crochet lace just below the centre then added a hyacinth blue mat trimmed with a corner rounder and a rose corner punch. I added some Laura Ashley ribbon across the centre and then stuck the postcard on top. A butterfly finishes off the card.

Here's my inspiration photo which is some flowers from one of the reception tables.

I'll be back tomorrow with details of the new challenge over at Polka Doodles and I think you'll like this particular one!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Diamonds and Flourishes

Good morning everyone and Monday is here again! The weekend seemed to disappear really fast although I did fit in some crafting along with all the other things happening.
Today sees the last of Suzanne's February theme of Romance over at Make My Monday and this week we would like to see your romantic creations with Diamonds and Flourishes - diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?

I was a bit short of time so I raided my experimental box of bits and challenged myself to make a card from some bits in there. This is what I came up with and the bits you see were made as follows:
The deep red paper is Vaseline resist technique using Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany Distress inks and a Viva Decor large corner stamp.
The flourish paper is simply a Viva Decor flourish stamped all over buff card with Victorian Velvet Distress ink.
The ivory paper mat was made by embossing a Chocolate Baroque damask background on parchment paper with peach embossing powder for the resist and was then rubbed with Victorian Velvet DI.

The lovely lady is a Rubber Stampede stamp I've had for many years and I stamped her with Imperial Purple VersaFine ink and trimmed to leave a white border. I assembled the card as you see adding flourishes and flowers die cut with Marianne Design dies and clear gems to accent.

Our sponsor for February has been Marianne Design and there's still a chance to win the fabulous prize of Marianne goodies. You'll find all the details over on the Challenge blog together with an array of fabulous samples from the Design Team. We've had to say goodbye to Cath too due to various problems she's had over the last few months and I'd like to wish her well here.

Some challenges for my card:
Patties Creations - Vintage
Moving Along With The Times - Lots Of Layers

Thanks for looking and have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

A Bit Of Alice

Good morning folks, hope you're all having a great weekend so far. Mine has been quite crafty as we have a new challenge for you today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this fortnight the theme is Make It For A Child.
This one was a bit tricky for me as most of the children in the family are now grown and I don't have much stuff that isn't digital. Then I remembered my Alice stamps and this is the result!

Lots of pics here as my wall hanging is around 30cm square in size and as you can see it's quite bright!

Ingredients used:
Stamps - Polka Doodles Wonderland rubber stamp set
               The Artistic Stamper  steampunk butterfly and snail
               Anita's distressed stripe stamp
Inks - Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Worn Lipstick and Ripe Persimmon.
          VersaColor Lilac
          Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers from Polka Doodles Wonderland CD
Fuchsia  Pink Acrylic Paint
Matte Clear Embossing Powder
Promarkers
Embossing Folders - Cuttlebug polka dots and textile , Papermania floral and triboss squares
Die Cutting Sets -  Papermania hearts, squares and flowers, Nestabilities circles and scalloped circles

I used the black and white option papers from the CD and coloured them with Distress inks and the lilac. I then embossed the squares for texture.
I stamped the images and coloured with Promarkers then cut them out and assembled them using selected die cut shapes, also cut from black and white papers then inked and embossed.
I made embellishments by stamping white card with the checks and stripes stamps and black ink and die cut flower shapes from this. The butterflies were stamped on striped paper and the cute snail on white and then cut out.
The frame is painted with the pink paint and embossed in places with the checks stamp and clear matte powder for added texture.

The Design Team have again excelled themselves with an amazing array of very different projects so do pop over for a stroll down the catwalk, you will be so inspired!

A few challenges I found for my wall hanging:
2 Sisters - Anything Goes
Dies To Die For - Anything Goes (with a die cut)
Our Creative Corner - Over The Edge
Crafty Ann's - Bold and Bright

Have a great day and thanks for looking.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Hello Cupcake!

Hello folks, hope you're having a great week and have the sunshine that we have down south today. I have a card to share with you that was quite a challenge for me and came about because vintage challenge blog Sugar Creek Hollow has a sketch challenge this week with the added extra that really did challenge me - to use a cute image - eek! As you know, that's not something I do that often so a lot of thought went into this card.

I've used the cute Molly Bloom stamp and the cake and I stamped them with Memento Rich Cocoa and coloured them with Promarkers. I set the images on a mat of green check paper (Polka Doodles Pretty Sweet CD) cut out with a Papermania die and inked with umber VersaColor.
I added this to a mat I made by scanning one of my precious collection of vintage lace doilies, printing this out on parchment paper, cutting it out and embossing it in parts to bring out the beautiful raised lace flowers.
I covered the kraft card blank with Magnolia red cherries paper then added a central border of Nitwits Collection red swirl stitched paper with crochet lace along the bottom edge.
I added 2 little panels of green cross stitch fabric, trimmed with pinking shears and embroidered with large crosses using red floss. I finished off with a ticket sentiment from the new Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD.

Challenges for my card:
Sugar Creek Hollow - Sketch and Cute

Papercraft Star - Photo Inspiration and Something From The Kitchen (cakes are frequently found in mine as I love baking!)

Simon Says Stamp - Use 3 Different Papers

Thanks for looking.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Victorian Romance At Make My Monday

Morning folks, Monday is here again so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. We're continuing with Suzanne's February theme of Romance and this week would like to see your creations inspired by Victorian Romance.
My card for this challenge was inspired by Victorian Valentine cards which quite often involved flowers and bright colours.

As you can see, my card is quite bright and the colours I chose came from the gorgeous cherub image which came from the wonderful Graphics Fairy.
I made my own background paper by partially embossing a square of pale lilac parchment card with a Papermania embossing folder and then swiping blue ink over the raised areas. I sponged the same ink on the flat side panel and stamped on a tiny Anna Griffin flourish with a darker blue ink.
I cut a large heart shape out of red card and embossed this with the same folder. I added the cut out cherub image and some roses from the Dezinaworld flower set. I inked the edges of the roses with dark purple ink.
I made a greeting panel with a Marianne Design die cut heart, adding a further rose and a computer generated sentiment which I cut out round the letters and then inked to soften the colour.

Don't forget that we have a wonderful sponsor this month in Marianne Design and here's a reminder of the gorgeous prize on offer.

Challenges for my card:
One Stop Craft - Create Your Own Background
C.R.A.F.T. - No Designer Papers (I made my own background)
Ruby's Rainbow - Vintage
Sisterhood Of Crafters - Valentine

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

1-2-3-A Recipe

Good morning folks, it's Friday again (where did the last week go?) so we have another challenge for you over at Polka Doodles which has a theme this week chosen by Anne.
The theme is a Recipe Challenge - 1 Image, 2 Papers and 3 Embellishments so that should give you plenty of scope for your creations.
I was slightly naughty with my embellishments which ended up being lace, pearls and braid as nothing else would work. I know the lace and braid are a little similar but I like them!

The pretty papers and image on my card are from the A Double Sprinkle of Kraft CD which I love for the vintage style papers.
I printed the little girl out on white card and coloured her with Crayola Blendables which I love at the moment for their very textured look. Her dress has quite a denim look I think.
I covered a scalloped edge card blank with the flowery and striped papers and added crochet lace, pearls and braid to make a central border.
I die cut the image panel and then made a die cut scalloped mat from the same striped paper which I turned round to make a contrast. A scallop matted sentiment finishes off the card.

We have some wonderful candy this week from Marianne Design so do pop over for a look as well as inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Here are some challenges I found for my card:
Incy Wincy Designs - A Recipe - 3 Embellishments, 2 Papers, 1 Image
Paper Creations Ink - A Recipe - 1 Image, 2 Papers, 3 Embellishments
Little Darlings - Favourite Embellishments

Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Fliss xx

Hearts Galore

Hello everyone, hope you're having a good week so far. First up are apologies from me for my lack of visiting the last week or so. I'm up to my eyes in work again and have struggled to find time for my DT commitments, let alone doing any blogging. Hopefully this won't continue for too long and I'll pop over as soon as I can so catch up with you all.
I did find a little time to do some all important crafting though - my hubby's Valentine card! He doesn't like anything too fussy, frilly or pink so here's what I came up with and I'm very happy to say that he loves it.

I used a favourite Tim Holtz texture fades embossing folder and inked the panel with Barn Door, Fired Brick, Seedless Preserves and Vintage Photo Distress inks.
I made a second panel with kraft card embossed with the Papermania squared pattern Triboss folder. I added both panels to the buff card blank, overlapping them.
I then die cut a heart shape from kraft card using the Papermania hearts set and stamped on this with Gathered Twigs and Fired Brick DIs and a Viva Decor flourish stamp. I added this to the card with foam tape.
I embossed a scrap of card with the Cuttlebug polka dot folder then inked this with Fired Brick and Seedless Preserves DI and swiped Gathered Twigs over the raised areas. I then used the smallest heart die to cut out the tiny hearts which I set on the raised squares.
I finished off with computer generated text, printed on kraft card and lightly stamped with the flourish and brown ink.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Sugar Creek Hollow - Masculine Valentine
Simon Says Stamp And Show - Anything Goes
Ooh La La Creations - Be My Valentine
The Sunday Stamper - I Will Always Love You (in tribute to Whitney Houston -such sad news)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and hope you've had a lovely day.
Fliss xx

Hearts and Flowers

Good morning folks, hope that you all had a good weekend and are managing to keep warm in this rather chilly spell of weather.
Monday is here again so we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. We're continuing with Suzanne's lovely theme for the month of February which is (what else??!) Romance and this week it's all about Hearts and Flowers.

I've been playing yet again with my Vintage Blue set of stamps by Glitz Design which I think you'll agree is just perfect for romantic cards.
I made the background paper by inking it up with Tattered Rose and a little Victorian Velvet Distress inks then stamped the lovely rose design on with the Victorian Velvet. This stamp is quite large so it makes a background really quickly which is just as well here as my card base is 8x8.
I next made a central border by stamping Hampton Arts distressed stripes with first Victorian Velvet and then VersaFine Crimson Red. When this was dry, I sponged on some Tattered Rose to deepen the colour.
I hand cut the heart from white card and stamped on the rose with the crimson ink. I then masked off part of the text image from set set with masking tape as I wanted just the text. I inked the stamp up with crimson ink, peeled off the masking tape and then stamped the text on the heart. I inked the edges with the Tattered Rose DI.
I stamped the little birds from the set with crimson ink and cut these out. I then assembled the card as you see adding a lace border cut with a Marianne Designs lace border die.

A quick reminder that our February sponsor is Marianne Design and here's the lovely prize on offer this month.

We can't wait to see what you come up with this week as the entries for the last challenge were amazing and we had such difficulty choosing a top 3.

Challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps - Valentine's Day/Love
Creative Inspirations Paint - Hearts
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine
The Squirrel & the Fox - Valentine's Day
Rogue Redhead Designs - Use A Stamped Background (everything on my card is stamped)
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Red, White, Pink

Have a great week and thanks for looking.
Fliss xx

Monochromatic With One Other Colour

Good morning folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I'm here today with details of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this fortnight the strut down the catwalk is all about Monochrome with the addition of a splash of Contrast Colour.
For my inspiration, I chose shades of purple with a splash of green as I really love this particular combination.

It's not that easy to see in the photo but for my background paper and also the main heart shape, I used pale lilac parchment card. For the background paper, I stamped on a Prima flourish with lilac ink.
The heart was cut out with a Papermania die and I embossed the top right corner with a Papermania embossing folder and sponged on lilac and green ink.
I stamped the vintage couple image (I've had this for years and have no idea of the make) with Imperial Purple VersaFine ink on lilac parchment card and stuck this to the heart with foam tape, trimming off the excess to keep the heart shape. I added this to a purple hand cut mat and added a further partial mat of green dotty paper which was from my scraps box.
I added a panel of purple card embossed with the same folder and a further scrap of the green paper trimmed with an X Cut border die. The sentiment is by Penny Black and I finished off by adding some tiny green pearls to the heart.

The Design Team have made some stunning creations in many different colour combinations to inspire you, so do hop over for real treat.

Challenges for my card:
Crafting For All Seasons - Love Is In The Air
4 Crafty Chicks - Valentines/Love
Do You Stack Up? - Love
Rainbow Lady's - Have A Heart
Card Crafters Circle - Valentine
Card Makin' Mamas - Valentine
Crafty Catz - Valentine
Simon Says Stamp - Love Is In The Air
Fussy and Fancy - With All My Heart
Glitter Geeks - To The One I Love

Happy Sunday and thanks for looking
Fliss xx

February Madness At Polka Doodles

Hello everyone, a really quick post from me today with no card as I'm up to my eyes in DT work at the moment.
I just thought I should let you all know about the Polka Doodles CD Madness weekend offer in case you aren't on the mailing list. From today until Sunday, all CDs are an amazing £10 so now is the time to add to your collection!!!

So what are you waiting for - hop on over if you're interested as there's sure to be a bit of a mad rush to grab a bargain.

Also, Nikky will be on Create and Craft in just over a week so don't forget to save the date.

That's all for now except to wish you all a lovely weekend with hopefully no more of the white stuff.
Fliss xx

Love Letters

Good morning everyone, hoping you all had a good weekend and are surviving the white stuff - not that we have any here as being right down on the South coast, we often get missed out.
We have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and as it's the start of a new month, we also have a new theme which is of course Romance. This week we would like to see your creations with the theme of Love Letters - script or verse.
We have a fabulous sponsor for this month too so read on for all the details.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed making my card which is my favourite vintage collage style.

I used my Easy Inking Technique to make the patchwork style background and made it extra grungy by adding a darker ink round the edges. I used Victorian Velvet with Fired Brick on the edges and Tattered Rose with Aged Mahogany. I then stamped on a rose (masking the edges as the stamp is bigger than the squares) with VersaFine Imperial Purple and a heart with VersaFine Crimson Red. The stamps are from a clear set by Glitz called Vintage Blue. I tore all the edges.
I then made my own heart shape and partially embossed this with the Cuttlebug Roses folder. I inked the raised area with Tattered Rose and partially stamped on the rose design with the crimson ink. I inked round the edge with violet ink.
I stamped the adorable little boy (Lost Coast Designs) with Imperial Purple and cut him out. I die cut some flourish style leaf fronds (Marianne Design) and inked these with Fired Brick.
I made a faux love letter by stamping the postmark from the Glitz set and Hero Arts Old French Writing with purple ink, tearing the edges and inking with lilac ink.
I assembled the card as you see.

Now for the exciting news on our February sponsor which I'm thrilled to say is Marianne Design and I really wish I could win the fabulous prize.

All you have to do for a chance to win this gorgeous set is to enter some of our challenges this month and as the theme is such a great one, that shouldn't be to difficult!

Challenges for my card:
The Artistic Stamper February Challenge - Hearts
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Romance Is In The Air
Truly Scrumptious - Love and Hearts
The Sunday Stamper - Heart On My Sleeve

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Fliss xx