Patchwork Parade

Hello again, sorry about the rather naff title, it's the best my poor tired brain could come up with at the moment!
We have a new challenge for you today at Polka Doodles which was chosen by our head doodler Nikky and it's actually a theme close to my heart as Nikky has challenged us to create a Birthday Card Using Scraps.
I do love to use up my scraps in various ways and decided on squares this time. Hope you like it!

I used a variety of papers most of which (I think) came from the Cherryblossom Lane CD and cut them into 3cm squares. I cut a square of scrap card to fit my kraft card blank and covered this with double sided tape then stuck the squares on having first decided on the placement.
I embossed a kraft card tag with the Cuttlebug daisies folder and then added the cute Molly gypsy pre-coloured image from the Fredericka CD - these are really handy if you're short on time as I've been lately.
I finished off with one of the lovely sentiments from the CD which I trimmed to a panel and then inked the edges with VersaColor orange and marigold inks.

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

Some challenges for my card:
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - Use Sentiments

Stormy Weather For That's Crafty

Hello folks and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely to have you on board and hoping you enjoy my arty journey.
I have a new project over at That's Crafty today which features one of the images from my absolute favourite Viva Las Vegastamps set which I was really thrilled to see pop up in the online shop - largely because amongst the eclectic mix of images there are some fabulous toadstools!

Isn't she just gorgeous! If you'd like to see how my rather funky background came about then please do hop on over to the BLOG and all will be revealed - hope to see you there!

I'll be back in a bit with details of the new challenge over at Polka Doodles.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Take Time To Smell The Flowers

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a lovely sunny weekend and when this post pops up I shall be on my way to an interview so I hope you'll all wish me luck.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week your hostess is Suzi B who has chosen Lace And/Or Ribbon as the theme.
Here's my inspiration which has both as I found some absolutely gorgeous new ribbon had appeared in my local haberdashery shop and I couldn't resist the gorgeous one on my card which has roses embroidered on it.

I made my background with a piece of cardboard recycled packaging which I painted with several coats of ash rose acrylic paint and then stamped on my favourite Viva Decor flourish with smokey blue VersaColor ink.
I stamped the lovely profile portrait by Stampendous with Archival coffee ink and coloured with Promarkers. I trimmed the panel down and added it to a die cut kraft card panel (Papermania die).
I attached the background to a kraft card blank and added ribbon and lace before adhering the image panel. I then stamped the quote (Kanban) with the coffee ink and cut this out before adding to a kraft card mat (I think this quote is gorgeous and fits the image so beautifully).
I embellished the card with pearls and a layered flower with a pearly floral centre.

Have a great day and I'll be round to visit later.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafting When We Can - Punches And/Or Die Cuts
The Ribbon Girls - Add A Die Cut

A Trio Of Tags

Hello everyone, hoping that you're all having a lovely weekend and are enjoying the warmer weather that has appeared here - I've actually managed to go out without a coat 2 days in a row for the first time this year!
I'm here today to tell you about the new challenge we have for you today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme of Tag Time so I guess no explanation is necessary for this one. The only thing I will say is that we must see some stamping on your creation as we are a stamping challenge and I only mention it because we always get gorgeous makes we have to discount as there's no form of stamping on them.
My inspiration is a set of 3 tags that I made from some chipboard tags that I decorated up recently and hadn't got round to finishing them off. I've intended them to be an extra special something to add to a gift and they're all different but share the same design elements. I hope you like them.

As you can see all the colours are quite soft and all the backgrounds were created in a different way.

The blue tag background was created using acrylic paint resist as I painted the tag first with a rich creamy colour then clear embossed some flourishes from my favourite Viva Decor set and painted blue over the top. I then removed paint from the embossed areas with a baby wipe.
I stamped the gorgeous 50s lady by Flonzcraft with Memories Artprint Brown and coloured her with Promarkers then cut her out. I added a die cut and embossed panel to the tag then embellished with some pretty ribbon and pearls. I finished off with a toning layered flower.

The pink tag background was made by applying Tattered Rose Distress ink with an acrylic block then adding some splatters by smooshing on a small acrylic block inked up with Victorian Velvet. I stamped on a large corner flourish (Viva Decor) with Archival Coffee ink.
I stamped the Gibson Girl by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured her with Promarkers then die cut her into a circle. I added some lace and braid to the tag then adhered the image panel with foam tape. I finished off with some pearls, a flower with a gem centre and a stamped and coloured butterfly.

The green tag background was made with a Chocolate Baroque background stamp which was clear embossed and then sponged with Bundled Sage Distress ink.
I stamped the lovers image by Flonzcraft with the Artprint Brown ink, coloured with Promarkers and trimmed around the top and left side of the image. I added this to the tag together with some braid, ribbon and pearls then embellished with roses and a German gold scrap butterfly.

The Fashionettes have created some fabulous inspiration for you so do hop over for a stroll down the catwalk.
Hope to see you there.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my tags:
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Passion For Promarkers - Ribbon, Lace or Twine
Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons and/or Laces

Parisian Tag For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, a quick post from me today as I'm still up to my eyes in work (VAT Returns!) which is the main reason for my lack of visiting lately. I hope to remedy this over the weekend
I have a project over at That's Crafty today with a bit of French flavour again using one of the mixed media doll stamps designed by Julie Nutting that I'm a big fan of.
Here it is and I hope you like it, only a sneak peek this week and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog.

I hope you'll pop on over to see how I made it as it's one of those creations that's much easier than you might think.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Charming

Good morning everyone and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely that you've chosen to follow my art journey and hoping that you like what I have for you today which is my Midweek Motivation for the Make My Monday challenge. The theme this week is my choice of Handmade Embellishments.
Most of my creations tend to be DIY out of choice, largely because when I began stamping in the mid 90s (yes, it really is that long!) you simply couldn't get all the beautiful papers now available and having got into the habit of making my own, it stuck!
Below you'll find a photo of the things you need to make a lovely faux metal charm which is really easy to do.

You'll notice that I've used an embossing ink dabber which is because the die cut heart shape (Marianne Design) is quite an intricate lacy style and although you can use an ink pad, I find it much easier to take the cap off the dabber and paint the ink on with a brush before coating with embossing powder.
I also used detail embossing powder as it's much finer and gives better coverage. You don't need the paper piercer unless you want to make a charm which was my original intention but it didn't quite fit in with the card design like that.
Here's the finished card and please do let me know what you think.

As you'll see, I made everything here. The paler paper is a B Line Designs stamp (Ribbons and Flowers Background available from That's Crafty) embossed with puff white and inked with Antique Linen Distress ink.
The red paper was a piece from my bits box made ages ago with red chalk ink and a brayer. I swiped on some Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink and dry embossed a strip with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I die cut a doily (Marianne Design) from some more.
The gold lace is a B Line Designs stamp embossed with detail gold powder and cut out.
The image panel is by Crafty Individuals and was stamped with Archival Coffee ink and coloured with Copic markers. I added a stamped and coloured flower and butterfly as further embellishments.

Some fabulous entries so far and I'm hoping for lots more!
Thanks for looking.
Also before I go, apologies for not having been round to see you all lately, things have been rather hectic and my feet have hardly touched the ground!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Handmade Embellishments

Good morning everyone and hope you're enjoying the long weekend and have some sunshine as we do here.
I'm here to tell you about the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which I picked and as I'm a bit of a DIY fanatic as I'm sure you know, I chose Handmade Embellishments and have to apologise in advance for my creation as I was very under the weather yesterday so it's not my best! Hopefully my mid week motivation will be more inspiring as I so wanted to do more than I have here.

As you can see, a very simple creation for me using some background paper from my bits box that was made using Distress inks and various stamped flowers.
The gorgeous collage image is by June of Dezinaworld and is one I printed out a while back and never got to use at the time but I think goes rather well with my background.
My handmade embellishment is the flower which I made by colouring some Tim Holtz Sketchbook tissue tape with a blue Spectrum Noir marker then pleated into a circular shape. I added some flower stamens through the centre and stuck the pleated shape to a white die cut flower to make it pop a bit more.
I finished off with a sentiment by Hobby Art stamped with Archival coffee ink, cut out and inked.

The Design Team have made some fabulous creations to inspire you - thanks so much for that ladies - so do hop over for a look.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Self Made Flowers
One Stop Craft Challenge - Furry Friends

To Die For

Hello again, my second post of the day is to tell you about the new challenge today over at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is To Die For so you need to use die cut shapes on your creation. I managed quite a few on mine and I hope you like it as this time it's rather girly (I love the images on the new Fredericka CD and Nikky has a new one in the making which we're all really excited about - I wish I could tell you but have to keep my mouth firmly zipped!)
Here's my card which I hope you like:

I really love colouring up the images on the gorgeous Fredericka mini CD and have made a patchwork style card as I love faux stitching.
I printed out the cute image on to thick cartridge paper and coloured her with Aquamarkers. I die cut the image to an oval panel and made faux stitching around the edge with a paper piercer and a brown fine pen.
I cut up some squares of decorated paper scraps and added faux stitching round the edges using a paper piercer and the fabulous Tim Holtz ruler (if you haven't tried this I highly recommend it as it makes adding faux stitching so easy).
I assembled the elements on a scalloped card blank embellishing with a die cut doily and flower (Marianne Design) and butterfly (Cheery Lynn) and finished off with a ticket sentiment from the CD.

Hoping that you have a really lovely weekend - especially in the UK with the Bank Holiday on Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Flutterby Butterfly
Addicted To Stamps And More - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Squares
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Wish You Were Here For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, firstly many apologies for not visiting as much recently. This is because I've been helping my daughter with her final collection, had a workshop to run on Monday, book-keeping work to do, an interview yesterday afternoon and today I'm in Kingston all day! No rest for me yet!

I promise I'll be round over the weekend but now I have to tell you about my project for today over at That's Crafty which is a seaside themed collage style card - if you haven't already guessed from the title!

The card features a background paper made during the workshop I taught on Monday and if you hop on over to That's Crafty, there's a photo of the whole piece of decorated paper before I covered it up and I promise you it looks very watery which is why I used the gorgeous seagull collage stamp.

Hope you like it and I'll be back later as today we have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles from Team B.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Spring Green And Yellow

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good weekend. Mine was rather busy as I had to dash up to Kingston on Saturday to help my daughter as she was struggling to finish off all her bits and pieces of her final collection with the hand in today! I spent much of the day running around fetching things so was very tired yesterday (guess who's not used to spending all day on her feet!).
I'm here today to tell you about our new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is a colour one - Green and Yellow - perfect for some Spring creations. I've made another nature themed card which is actually a sample from the workshop I'm teaching this morning and has a very easy to make background using Distress Stains so a tutorial will follow as soon as I have the time to get it together!

The background uses Distress Stains in shades of green and yellow - Shabby Shutters, Squeezed Lemonade and Crushed Olive and I then stamped on the fabulous Inkylicious worn paint background - I can see lots of use for this one - with Peeled Paint Distress ink.
I then stamped the gorgeous vintage bird collage image (also Inkylicious) with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and took a bit of a liberty by turning the birds into greenfinches. I painted them with Distress Stains and then inked the edges with Crushed Olive Distress ink.
I added the image panel to a green die cut (Papermania) and attached this to the card with the background panel. I decorated the card with paper flowers, some painted with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain and punched leaves and finished off with a Dovecraft sentiment.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft - Anything Goes
Cards In Envy - Make Your Own Background
Smudgy Antics - Feathers And/Or Fur

Song Bird For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week and that at least some of you had the fabulous sunny day we had here yesterday after a 4 degree start. The only drawback here was my next door neighbour having a new garden shed set up and there was loud banging for rather a lot of the day!
I'm here today with my project this week for That's Crafty which is a mixed media canvas board this time with as much texture as I could cram on lol. I hope you like it!

If you'd like to see how I made it and find out where all the texture came from then please hop on over to the BLOG to be enlightened. As you can see, I'm still on a bit of a nature kick at the moment!

I hope you all have a lovely day and a wonderful weekend (I'm in need of mine after wrestling with pesky payroll software and the Revenue's new RTI requirements!)

Hugs, Fliss xx

In The Pink At Studio 12

Hello everyone, I'm here today to tell you about my project over at Studio 12 which uses up some of those paper scraps which I'm sure like me, you have in a box somewhere.
My card is made with my leftovers from projects made with the gorgeous Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD which is a real favourite of mine with its' vintage floral style and I've gone for a pink one this time.

My kraft card base is covered with 2 panels of the pretty pink paper from the All Sewn Up collection which is my favourite as I adore roses. I distressed the edges with an emery board before sticking them on.
I then die cut the gorgeous lacy oval (a new Marianne Design die set) from some beige parchment card and inked the edges pink. I die cut the trellis style die centre piece from a scrap of the brown and beige diamond pattern paper from the same collection as before and attached this with glue by brushing it on the reverse.
I then printed out the beautiful vintage rose spray from the Heavenly Garden collection together with the lovely Emily Bronte quote and cut these out.
I inked the edges of the quote and added this to the card then stuck on the oval panel and finally the rose spray which I added with foam tape for dimension.

I hope you have a lovely day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Time To Fly

Hello everyone on a very soggy and windy day. I hope it's better where you are although it is rather good crafting weather!
I'm here today with a little wall hanging I've made for my younger daughter and sent it off to her today along with some fabulous chunky hand carved wooden toggles that her friend's husband made for one of her creations. You may not know that she's currently making her final collection for the end of her fashion degree and only has just over a week to go. She's under the most terrible pressure at the moment and has a bad cold to cope with as well due to working too hard.
It makes us feel very helpless as we can't do much to help her out (apart from sending out now alarming handouts of money!). I made the little piece of artwork to hopefully cheer her up using  one of my favourite dies, the Tim Holtz dress form.
There are several pics so that you can see the detail on my stamped background.

I made the base with a piece of recycled greyboard which I painted with 2 coats of Golden Titan Buff fluid acrylic and I then stamped the floral flourish from the Artistic Outpost Serenity plate with Palette Lavender Sachet permanent ink (necessary to dry on the acrylic paint which has a slight sheen).
I die cut the dress form from kraft card and embossed it with the Cuttlebug textile folder. I made the lace skirt by dyeing some frilled lace trim with Seedless Preserves Distress Stain and added 2 layers to the dress form with tape at the back.
I made the wings with the B Line Designs large butterfly, stamped with Memories Art Print brown and painted with the Seedless Preserves stain. I cut this out, cut it in half and added to the dress form.
I trimmed the base of the wall hanging with pinking sheers and added a couple of layers of lace and ribbon (the pinkish trim is linen ribbon from The Range and is a steal at £1 for a roll - they have lots of styles and colours too!).
I added a die cut lace corners (Anja by Marianne Design) cut from beige parchment card and stamped the text with Hero Arts alphabet stamps and Memento Sweet Plum ink. I cut the words out and inked the edges. I attached the dress form with foam tape and glue.
I added some of the linen trim at the top to create a hanger, taping it to the back and covering it with lilac felt trimmed to size.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall hanging:
The Craft Room Challenge - Stamp Your Own Background
Fashionista Challenge - Shabby or Vintage - mine is vintage
Get Inky - Die Cuts
Pretty Little Ribbon - Lace

Jane Eyre At Make My Monday

Good morning everyone on a very windy and miserable day. I don't know what's going on with the weather at the moment - seems more like March than May!
We have a new challenge for you at Make My Monday today chosen by the lovely Mynnette - I just found out it's her birthday today too so would like to say Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns here - hope you have a lovely day!
Our theme this week is to create something based on either the cover (see the blog for this) or the story line. I chose the story as it's one of my favourite stories ever being so romantic. My card is based on Jane being shy and I found the beautiful Victorian image on the internet. I think she looks very shy and the rest of my creation came about because my favourite part of the book is where Jane thinks she hears Mr Rochester calling "Jane, Jane" and returns to Thornfield to find out what happened after she left.

I printed the image out on to thick cartridge paper and painted her with a mix of Aquamarkers and Distress Stains. I die cut the image to an oval panel and then sponged with Spun Sugar Distress ink. I then stamped on my most useful stamp - a tiny Anna Griffin flourish I must have had for around 10 years - with Milled Lavender Distress ink.
I ended up using patterned paper as I couldn't make anything stamped work (very frustrating!) and chose this lovely paisley paper from the Chocolate Baroque Filigree Fusion CD that I won from Claire C (thanks Claire!) a while back. I added 2 layers of lace to the panel before adding to a lavender mat and attaching to the card blank.
I added lots of Spring flowers to embellish the card and finished off with a heat embossed and inked cut out heart shape (Hobby Craft) made with VersaFine Imperial Purple ink, clear embossing powder and pink pigment ink. I then added the lovely Penny Black sentiment stamped with Memento Sweet Plum and inked with Spun Sugar DI.

I can't wait to see what you come up with for this one and if you'd like some inspiration, do hop over to the challenge blog as you'll see the Design Team has interpreted the theme in quite a lot of very different ways.

Have a lovely day.
Hugs, Fliss xx 

Some challenges for my card:
Gingerloft - Lilac and Lace
The Corrosive Challenge - My Sentiments Exactly

La Belle Femme

Hello folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far. I'm here today as I finally manged to finish off another wall hanging started a while back and just found the necessary time to assemble all the pieces.
It's a very feminine creation showcasing my love of all things French and one of my favourite B Line Designs stamps, Le Brun, that I've had for many years and could never part with.
Without further ado, here's what I made and I hope you like it.

My wall hanging started life as one of those ever useful shaped chipboard book pages by Papermania and I covered it with a piece of paper from my serendipity box which was made by sponging parchment paper with VersaMagic inks in Persimmon and Mango Madness and I then stamped on my beloved Tim Holtz flourish stamp with Pink Grapefruit.
Next, I stamped the Le Brun image on to white card with Memories Artprint Brown ink and coloured her with various Distress Stains. I cut her out around the top. left side and base of the images and added her to the side before trimming round the shaped edge of the chipboard shape.
I die cut my new Marianne Design Eiffel Tower die from cartridge paper, painted with Tea Dye Distress Stain and then swiped the raised portions with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I attached this to the panel with Ranger Glue 'n' Seal (I can recommend this as you can brush it of the back and then brush a little over the top after sticking on to make sure it's secure).
I stamped some of the flowers from Crafty Individuals CI - 206 Flower Heads Elements set with the brown ink and painted these with Distress Stains before cutting them out.
I added some lace and pearls to the panel and then attached the flowers with foam tape. I finished off with the stamped text (Kanban) and a gold foil butterfly. I then added some twisted pink ribbon through the holes at the top.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall hanging:
Crafty Creations - Something Old, Something New (My image stamp is the old and Eiffel Tower the new)
Happy Campers - Use Lace (Thanks so much for picking my butterfly canvas for the Crafty Camper award - mwah!)
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Try It On Tuesday - Feminine and Fancy

Anniversaries

I'm back! It's Polka Doodles challenge time today and this week the theme is Anniversaries.
I've taken the opportunity to share one of the samples I made for Nikky with the new Emma Canning Digistamp Heaven CD as the image is rather appropriately called Happy Anniversary.

I printed the image out on to thick cartridge paper and coloured it with Aquamarkers. I then hand cut it into a heart shape and inked the edges with purple.
I covered the card blank with panels of paper from my bits and pieces box, the purple one is the Sugarplum Daisy CD and the red and blue stripes are from the Pretty Sweet CD.
I added bunting from the Cherryblossom Lane CD and some die cut hearts together with one of Emma's sentiments to finish.

Have a really great weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Divas By Design - Anything Goes

The Early Bird?

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week so far and have enjoyed some sunshine. I'm really looking forward to the weekend as we're off to see the new Star Trek film tomorrow and I can't wait! I'm not sure how I'll cope with the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch being a villain, especially as his Sherlock is my favourite one ever.
I'm here to tell you about my project for today over at That's Crafty which is a rather wacky and quirky tag as I recently got my crafty mitts on some of the new Viva Las VegaStamps and couldn't resist inking up this cute and quirky bird. Here's a sneaky peek to whet your appetite - I hope!

You'll find all the details and the whole pic over at the blog and I'd be so happy if you popped over for a look.

I'll see you in a bit with today's second post as there's a new challenge over at Polka Doodles.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Mariposa

Good morning folks, hope you're all enjoying the extended weekend and that you have sunny weather like us as it's really lovely today. It was yesterday too and we went walking at Swanbourne Lake in Arundel and even managed the first ice creams of the year although they'd just run out of cones when we got there so we had to have tubs!
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is Anything That Flies. You only have to look at the DT samples to see that there are lots of ways to interpret this theme, including hot air balloons, although I went for a nature theme with butterflies as I love them so much.

The challenge gave me a chance to have a play with my brand new Marianne Design die and stamp set (Tiny's Butterfly 1) - isn't it just gorgeous!
I made my background paper with Crafty Individuals CI-253 floral background stamp using Forest Moss Distress ink and then sponged Shabby Shutters all over. I distressed the edges with an emery board and attached the paper to a kraft card blank.
I made an embossed panel of green card with a butterfly folder free in a magazine and rounded the corners before adding to the card.
I then cut a panel of cream card and embossed the right side with the butterfly from the Cuttlebug Collage folder set and inked this with Crushed Olive DI. I stamped 2 of the butterflies from the Kaisercraft Butterflies clear stamp set with Forest Moss DI and coloured these with Shabby Shutters and Rusty Hinge Distress Stains. I stamped on the mariposa text from Crafty Individuals CI-231 Beautiful Butterflies Elements stamp set with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and inked the edges with crushed Olive DI.
I stamped the large butterfly from the Marianne Design set with the VersaFine ink and then coloured the image with Distress Stains (Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce, Tea Dye and Rusty Hinge) then die cut it and added to the card with a foam pad.

Have a great Bank Holiday Monday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Flight Of Fancy

Hello there, I'm back with my second post today because as you may remember, I won the Stamping Sensations March challenge (and a lot of gorgeous Crafty Individuals stamps too - happy dance followed!) and Brenda invited me to be the Guest Designer for May. To my complete delight, the theme is Embossing and Texture and I'm sure you know how much I love that!
I decided to make a little wall hanging piece for my project as whilst rummaging for something else just over a week ago, I found some decorated paper I made a few years ago on the one day workshop with Kim Thittichai (of Hot Textiles fame) where we made papers using painted bondaweb and other things. This particular paper was begging to be featured on something a little more permanent than a card so this is how my wall hanging came about.

 
There are several pics so that you can see the detail. As you see, the background paper is quite strongly coloured. It has a painted background with added mulberry papers, scraps of iridescent fabric, stamping and gold leafing pen. The overall effect is more textured than you can see in the photos but you can probably get a good idea. I glued the panel to a square of recycled packaging grey board.
I decided on pastel colours for contrast and pale pink seemed to work best. I die cut the Tim Holtz Sissix Alterations bird cage from strong card and embossed with a mix of Ranger Weathered White and Fran-tage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel and then rubbed the edges with Bronze Gilding Wax.
I stamped the bird (Kanban) with black ink and painted him with Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers Distress Stains, then cut him out.
I die cut some flowers (Memory Box Petal Party) and some leafy sprigs (a very old Sizzix die) and coloured these with Distress inks and Versacolor inks. I layered the flowers up and added embroidered flowers to the centres.
I added these to my background as you see, finishing off with a stamped and inked sentiment (Inkylicious) and some more embroidered flowers (I cut these from some trim I bought from Paper Artsy a while back).

Thanks again to Brenda and the girls for picking my Tales of the Riverbank card as the winner - I was so thrilled to receive all those lovely stamps and will be making something with them very soon.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wall hanging:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Die Cuts And/Or Punches
Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes
Inky Chicks - Shabby Chic

In An English Country Garden

Hello folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend. Sorry about the title here but I couldn't resist and you'll see why when you see my card which is my inspiration for the new Fashionable Stamping Challenges theme which is everyone's favourite - Anything Goes!
I decided on a card this time because I wanted to ink up some of the gorgeous vintage stamps made by our sponsor, Flonzcraft, and I've actually used 4 different sets to make it so you'll be able to see how well they go together. Without further ado - here it is!

You can probably see why I chose the title now as I made a little scene with a framing technique to give added dimension to my creation.
I cut a piece of thick cartridge paper slightly smaller than my card blank and stamped the sweet lady with bird from the Flower Kingdom set on the left bottom corner with Memories Artprint Brown ink. I stamped the floral corner from the Have Some Fun set in the remaining corners with the same ink and the sentiment from the Countrylife Pastoral set in the centre of the right hand side.
I painted all the images with a mixture of Distress Stains and watercolour pencils. I then stamped the garden image from the Flower Kingdom set just above the centre on a second square of card and coloured this in the same way.
I then used a circle cutting set (Creative Memories) to cut an aperture in my main stamped paper, pausing in the cutting so that when I trimmed around the image and sentiment, they would be part of the frame. I then inked this with Shabby Shutters Distress ink and stamped a flourish from the Damask Floral Curves set all over with Memento Pear Tart ink to add texture.
I stuck the aperture panel over the garden image panel, using foam tape behind the main image and sentiment for dimension and added the panels to the card blank to finish.

The Fashionistas have a fabulous array of creations for you on the catwalk this fortnight so do hop over for a look.

I'll be back (now I sound like Arnie!!!) shortly with my second post today as I'm lucky enough to be Guest Designer at Stamping Sensations this month so see you very soon.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Little Bird For That's Crafty

Good morning one and all to my followers old and new, hoping that you're all having a good week and I don't know about the rest of you but I'm really glad we have a long weekend here in the UK as I sure need it.
This week has been so busy with work and stuff I've had very little crafting time so my creation for That's Crafty today had to be a quick one. I'm hoping that you won't be able to tell though!

Isn't this little chap so sweet - I just love his fluffy feathers. This has to be the easiest card I've made in a long time and if you'd like to see just how easy, pop on over for a look as I promise you it really is easier than it looks!

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

A Secret Garden Canvas

Hello folks, hoping that you all had a lovely weekend with some sunshine as we did - it really was sunny Sussex for once!
The only slight down point was that I had to take advantage of the weather to get my washing out of the way after months of having to stick it in the dryer.
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and the theme this week is Anything But A Card so there are loads of things you could create - just take a look at the Design Team line up for some inspiration.
I decided to finish off a box canvas which I started a few weeks back but couldn't finish at the time as I couldn't make anything work. I hope you like the finally finished version and here it is.

I painted the canvas with aqua acrylic paint and then used a Prima stencil with red and gold paints to add a pattern round the outside. I then swiped gold paint around the edges.
I stamped the bird (Paper Artsy Hot Pick HP1005) with Black Soot Distress ink and embossed with clear powder and cut him out.
I added him to the canvas with a variety of paper flowers with pearls added to the centres. I then stamped the flourish from the set with Fired Brick Distress ink, stamping several times without re-inking and stamped the text on with Memories black ink. I trimmed this to a panel and added it to the canvas to finish off.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my canvas:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges - Things With Wings
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes

Birthday Bling

Hello again, I'm back as promised with the details of the new challenge over at Polka Doodles today which was chosen by doodler, Alethea, as today is her birthday.

Happy Birthday Alethea - hope it's a good one!

Alethea would like to see birthday projects with some added bling which in my case is quite subtle as it comes from some glitter card.

 

My image is the lovely Libby the gypsy girl from the new mini CD, Fredericka, recently launched by Nikky and she's my favourite on the CD. I think she looks so sweet with her basket of mushrooms although I hope she's not going to eat them as some of them appear to be toadstools!

I printed her out on to thick smooth cartridge paper and then coloured her with my new obsession, Distress Stains as they're so wonderfully easy to paint with and you can mix the colours to make even more shades. I usually dab them on to a ceramic plate and pick the colour up with a paintbrush. I die cut the image with a Papermania frilly die and added it to a mat of pink glitter card die cut with the next size up die in the set.

I covered the 8x8 card blank with some pretty ditsy patterned blue paper from the same CD and added a central border of mushroom paper, trimmed along the scalloped edge in the pattern and added to a glitter card mat. Before sticking the border in place, I tied some pink chiffon ribbon round and finished with a bow.

I added a cream doily, matted the sentiment from the CD on more glitter card and finished off my design with a lacy design metal butterfly (these were a bargain from The Range - only £1 for 4!).

I hope you have a lovely day and a great weekend.

Hugs,

Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes With Ribbon
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Sisterhood Of Crafters - Free For All

Soar Canvas For That's Crafty

Hello folks and a special welcome to my new followers, so lovely to see you here and that you've chosen to follow my art journey.
This is my first post today to tell you about the project I have over at That's Crafty which this week is a butterfly canvas and you'll find all the details over at the blog with a complete materials list and instructions on how I made my creation which I hope you like.

As you'll see, a lot of fluttering going on here and I hope you'll pop over to see how I made it.

Back later with my second post about today's Polka Doodles challenge.
See you soon.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my canvas:
Happy Campers - Use A Mask or Stencil (I used a Dylusions leaf stencil with Paper Artsy Grunge Paste)
Through The Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Country View Crafts Challenge - Butterflies

Fancy Folding

Hello folks, another gorgeous sunny day but guess who'll be stuck indoors working - sigh! As it's Monday, we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is Fancy Folds, so you can make whatever you like as long as it has more than one fold on it.
I actually started something else for this one but due to a busy weekend, couldn't quite get it finished in time. After a lot of head scratching, I decided to share one of my samples made for Nikky from the Cherryblossom Lane CD as it's an easel card and fits the theme. It's also very springlike, perfect for the current weather which has finally decided to be Spring!

I printed out the cute bunny cyclist and die cut the image with a Nestabilities scalloped circle die then added this to a circular mat of spring green paper from the CD.
I made an easel shape card blank from a square scalloped 8x8 size white card and covered the base and front with papers from the CD having trimmed both bottom edges with a Papermania emboss and cut scallop border die.
I added a central border to the base of toning floral paper and finished off with a die cut and matted sentiment cut out with a Nestabilities scalloped oval die. I used some flower shaped buttons to make the stand. 

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Scrappy Frogs - Think Spring
One Stop Craft - Not Square

Sentimental

Hello everyone, hope you're all having the fabulous sunshine that we have on the South Coast this weekend, it really does feel like Spring has arrived and I actually only have 2 layers of clothes on instead of 4!
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges chosen by fellow fashionette, Esther, and it's Sentimental so there must be a sentiment on your creation. We are sponsored as always by the lovely Leo of Flonzcraft who will be giving a $20 voucher to his online shop for the randomly drawn winner - so what are you waiting for - you have to be in it to win it!
I've made a fairly clean and simple card (well, for me anyway lol) as I wanted to show the gorgeous sentiment by Lindsay Mason to its best advantage.

I made the background paper with some tiny flowers from the Prima mini Meadowlark stamp set, layer stamping 2 of the flowers with Tattered Rose, Wild Honey, Stormy Sky and Shaded Lilac Distress inks on cream card and covered my card blank with this.
I stamped the bird (Kaisercraft Bonjour stamp set) with Archival Coffee ink on the right side of a strip of thick cartridge paper and stamped the sentiment (Lindsay Mason Messages 1 by Personal Impressions) with the same ink. I then painted the bird with Distress Stains (Spun Sugar, Dried Marigold, Picked Raspberry, Tea Dye, Rusty Hinge, Pumice Stone and Crushed Olive) - I can't get enough of these at the moment as they're so easy to paint with.
I added the painted panel to the card and then added scalloped borders on either side, die cut from hyacinth blue card with a Sizzix die (658954 Borders). Done!

My fellow fashionettes have an amazing array of creations lined up for you on the catwalk so dop pop on over for a look and hope you can enter as we'd love to see you there.
We also have a fabulous guest designer with us this time and it's none other than my former fellow Make My Monday design team mate, Suzanne of Suzanne's Papercrafting. She's made a really gorgeous project for us too.

Have a great Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Elizabeth's Hope For That's Crafty

Good morning everyone and thank you all so much for your kind comments about my rather difficult couple of weeks which I really appreciate. I'm slowly catching up and will hopefully will catch up with you soon if I haven't got to you yet.
Today is my turn for the tutorial over at That's Crafty and I've been playing with those Distress Stains, rather a lot this time, to do some very relaxing colouring. I've also inked up the new stamp Laura sent me which was a must have as soon as I saw it as I love Jane Austen and was thrilled to see the new collection by Indigo Blu which features my absolute favourite, Pride and Prejudice.

Isn't she pretty? I just love all the flowers which I think go so well with the anemone corner stamp. You can find all the details of what I used over at the blog and hope to see you there.

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

A Gift Set For Studio 12

Hello folks, I hope you're all having a good week so far and when this post pops up, I'll be rushing around doing the final preparations for a workshop I'm teaching this morning (I'm hoping to show you my samples soon too).
I'm here today to tell you about the project I have over at Polka Doodles and Studio 12 which is an idea for gift giving with a matching card perfect for a dear friend.

You'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd like to see how I made it, together with the rest of the pics. It's one of those creations that's really easy when you know how!

Just the thing to make for a special friend whether for a birthday or just to say thanks for being a friend.

Hugs, Fliss xx

A challenge for my gift set - Crafty Cardmakers - Tag/Card + Gift Wrap/Bag/Box

Nature Walk

Hello everyone, welcome especially to my lovely new followers, so glad to see you and will be over to visit as soon as I can.
My bad news saga is continuing unfortunately as my hubby has been borrowing my car because his is in the garage for a second day (dreading the bill!) and went outside this morning to find that some very nasty vandals had decided to pull out my poor car's wing mirrors in the night and they were dangling on each side by the wire connections. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of blue air here for a while lol.
He did manage to fix them back in eventually after searching the internet for instructions and also had to postpone his scheduled appointment with a local vicar where he's church architect. He finally got there around an hour late! I'm just thankful he's handy with fixing things as I'm totally useless with stuff like that.
Anyway, enough drama and on to the cards I have to show you today which are from the last workshop I taught and I decided to post them as I saw the latest challenge at Top Tip Tuesday concerns stitching, Say It Isn't Sew! - Not Machine Stitching. My 2 cards both feature faux stitching which I have a tendency to make a bit wonky as my machine sewing would most definitely not be straight!

When we made these cards, the weather was rather dull so I decided on bright and cheery which I thought would work well with the silhouette images stamped in black.
Most of the papers I used are from a Basic Grey Ambrosia pack that's been in my stash for ages so I thought I should use it up. The first card has strips of coordinating papers attached to a piece of thin card and trimmed. I then stamped the trees (Kanban) with black ink giving them depth by stamping the centre image slightly lower. I then made holes round the panel edge with a pokey tool (Tim Holtz) and drew on the faux stitches with a fine black pen. I find if you let the pen run from one hole to the next, it looks much more realistic (one of my class ladies actually thought we were going to use a sewing machine much to her horror!).
I covered the card blank with some toning paper (Polka Doodles) having added faux stitching as before. I added a panel of grey card and a die cut sentiment decorated with pearls to finish.
The second card involved cutting the paper strips attached to the thin card in the opposite direction and then sticking them to further card using a variation of a bargello technique (my pattern only uses one side of the traditional design). I then stamped on the silhouette wildflower (The Stamp Fairy) and a butterfly free with a magazine with black ink. I added the panel to a blue mat.
I covered the card blank with paper I added rows of faux stitching too and added a further border with more faux stitching matted on blue (both papers are Polka Doodles). I finished off with a sentiment from the Kanban set.

Hope to see you all soon.
Fliss xx

Blue and Brown at Make My Monday

Good morning folks, hope you've all been good whilst I've been away lol. Thank you for all the lovely comments you left for me too.
My break turned out to be a bit of a disaster as my poor hubby was taken out of action for 2 days in the middle with a sick bug which fortunately he kept to himself and then my father in law went down with a nasty cold which as he's diabetic was a bit of a nightmare! I've now come back for a rest lol.

We have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday today, chosen by Caz, with the theme of Blue and Brown as she loves colour challenges. I have to say that I love this one as it's one of my favourite combinations and I hope you like what I made.

As you can see, quite a lot of shades of brown here with just a bit of blue as I was aiming for a vintage effect.
To make the background, I wrapped a strip of Tim Holtz Sketchbook tissue tape coloured with Stormy Sky Distress ink round a piece of Paper Cellar paper and stuck this to the card blank. I added a piece of brown crochet lace at the top of the tape.
I die cut a doily with a Papermania die and inked this with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I then added strips of blue and brown Paper Cellar paper to a piece of thin white card, die cut a circle from it and added faux stitching with a pokey tool (Tim Holtz) and a fine brown pen.
I stamped the butterfly (B Line Designs) with Memories Art Print Brown ink and coloured this with various brown Distress inks and cut the image out.
I assembled the card as you see, adding some gem circles and a layered flower with a brown glittery die cut centre to finish.

I'll be round to visit as soon as I can, once I've caught up with all the chores I have to do and will hopefully see you soon.
Thanks to everyone who entered my challenge theme of last week - a stunning array of entries and fab to see so many!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafts 4 Eternity - Wonderful Wings
Sugar Creek Hollow - Stamp It
My Time To Craft - Up In The Sky
Glitter 'n' Sparkle - Stitching - Real or Not
Country View Crafts Challenges - Butterflies

April Showers

Here I am again with details of the new challenge over at Polka Doodles which is to create something inspired by April Showers.
I immediately thought of the sweet image by Emma Canning called Rainy Days which you can buy on her own or as part of the new Digi Stamp Heaven CD which has loads of Emma's images and sentiments.
Here's my card:

I printed the image out on to thick, smooth cartridge paper and coloured her with a mix of Aquamarkers and pencils. I die cut the image to an oval, added faux stitching round the outside with a pokey tool and brown fine liner then inked round with a brown ink pad.
I covered the card with brown pinstripe paper and then added panels of blue paper with faux stitching added. I finished off with a die cut sentiment treated in the same way as the image panel and a paper flower with a faux button centre (Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD).

This is the last of my posts scheduled to pop up whilst I'm away and I'll see you all tomorrow.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Tres Chic For That's Crafty

Hello again everyone, today's my turn to post over at That's Crafty and I've been playing with my Prima doll stamp again, this time to make a tag. I've used Promarkers, as frankly I need the practice and colours that are quite muted and eerily similar to those in my wardrobe at the moment!
Here's what I created:

If you'd like to see what I used and how I made it, then please hop on over to the blog and you'll find everything you need there.

Have a great day and back shortly with another post - I know, busy, busy!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Mid Week Motivation For Make My Monday

Hello folks, another scheduled post here which I hope has popped up as it should. It's to tell you about my Mid Week Motivation post over at Make My Monday for the current challenge with my theme of Create Your Own Background.
Here's the card I made and if you'd like to see how I made the background for it, please hop over to the challenge blog and you'll find a tutorial with all the details. It's really easy to make when you know how, I promise!

Hope to see you there!

Hugs, Fliss xx

Springtime In Paris

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely weekend and with the sunshine we had here. Still very chilly but lovely and bright so I can't complain.
This post is popping up as we're on our way to Bournemouth for a few days with our in laws, something that has been a family tradition around Easter time for a while now, although this is the first without our girls so it will be a bit strange!
Today sees the start of a new challenge at Make My Monday and as I chose the theme it's to do my favourite thing (well, you know me!) Create Your Own Background so no patterned papers, just something you did yourself.
Here's my rather floral creation (still dreaming of Spring):

The floral background paper here was made by simply spraying cream card with gold Glimmer Mist and then stamping on the flower (Time To Stamp) with Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive Distess inks.
I made a panel with green pastel paper embossing with a Darice long folder with butterflies and swirls.
I stamped the Stampendous image on cream card and inked with Crushed Olive, Victorian Velvet and Vintage Photo Distress inks and then added colour to the flowers with Promarkers and pencils. I trimmed the image panel and added to a deep pink mat.
I assembled the card as you see, adding some Spring flowers to embellish.

I hope you enter the challenge and if you're stuck for background ideas, if you click on the Tutorial page at the top of my blog, you might find a technique to inspire you.

Hugs, Fliss xx 

Art Journaling At FSC

Hello folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far. We actually have some sunshine for the second day in a row and it's not quite so chilly today. I'm hoping this keeps up as today is the last day before a short family break. We're all off to Bournemouth for a few days with the in laws so the next few days will be scheduled posts which I hope will pop up as planned.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and it's been quite a challenge for me as Ellie picked something I've never done before, Art Journaling, and it took me a while to pluck up the courage to start something.
In the end, I decided to start a journal to show what inspires me as the ladies on my classes and my crafty friends often ask me where my inspiration comes from and it's very difficult to explain the way my brain works lol. My first page includes some of the elements that set my creative juices flowing and you'll have to let me know what you think.

I've created my page on an A4 sheet of watercolour paper because I couldn't find a journal with strong enough pages so will be binding my pages together when I have enough.
I made the background with Distress Stains - Crushed Olive, Shabby Shutters, Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet. I then stamped on the wild flowers (Artifacts by The Stamp Bug) with Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey Distress inks.
I added a border round the edge with Vintage Photo (Andy Skinner Batik Garden). I then stamped the butterfly from the set with Archival Coffee ink together with some of the butterflies from the Crafty Individuals Elements set CI - 231. I coloured the large butterfly with Spiced Marmalade DI and then cut them all out.
I stamped the background stamp from the Batik set with Worn Lipstick and Vintage Photo DIs then coloured it with Victorian Velvet. I trimmed the image, distressed the edges and inked them with the Vintage Photo.
I stamped the text from the set with the coffee ink, tore this out and distressed the edges further. I die cut a doily (Papermania) from some Craftwork Cards kraft printed paper and assembled everything as you see, distressing the edges of the page.
As you can see, I couldn't resist some layering on the page, although it isn't heavy so should hopefully be Ok when I finally assemble the pages (when I've done them, that is!)

We have a fantastic guest designer with us for this challenge, the amazing Kate Crane, whose journaling I'm sure you're familiar with. The Fashionettes have also risen to the challenge with some gorgeous creations so do hop over for a look.
As always, our sponsor, the lovely Leo of Flonzcraft, is offering a fabulous $20 voucher to his online shop so do enter if you can.

A hello from me here to my lovely new followers and thanks for deciding to be here.
I'll be back next Saturday hopefully renewed from the break and I know I'll be raring to create again!

Before I go, I would like to say a huge thanks to the team at Stamping Sensations as I found out on Friday that I won the March challenge with a prize of rather a lot of fantastic Crafty Individuals stamps and did a happy dance when I saw this. Thanks ladies!
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Infinite Possibility For That's Crafty

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week and are not suffering too much from the current chill and snow which we've even had here on the South Coast.
I'm here today to tell you about my project today over at That's Crafty which is a steampunk style card which came about because about a week ago I joined Pinterest  and a bit of surfing turned up some very inspiring steampunk creations.
Here's what I made:

If you'd like to see the materials list and all the instructions, you'll find them over at the blog and it would be great to see you there.

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

Stormy Skies

At least on my card that is! Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely Easter long weekend so far and managing to fit some crafting in.
I have a card to share that is my inspiration for the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which is to make a Clean and Simple One Layer Card and mine is for my brother in law's birthday tomorrow. Perfect as he doesn't like fussy and in common with the men in my hubby's family likes the sea so here's what I came up with.

I had to scan my card as I was a bit late finishing it yesterday and had to put a sheet of blue paper round it as my scanner made it look like the fishing village and greeting were floating in the middle of nowhere!
I used a 7x5 card blank and stamped the Michael Powell image on with Memories black ink. I watercoloured the image with a mix of Distress Stains and Aquamarkers and then stamped on the Dovecraft sentiment. This was originally meant to be stamped in black but I picked up the Archival olive green by mistake and serendipity struck again as I think it looks better then black probably would have!

I hope you all got lots of nice chocs and that you didn't finish them all off at once lol

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx