Going Round In Circles At Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely Easter break with hopefully not too much in the way of bad weather. It's been very windy, wet and cold here since yesterday which was such a change after Friday which was sunny and much warmer!
Today's the day for a new challenge at Make My Monday and this week I chose the theme which is Going Round In Circles as I'm sure you all know how much I love those!

For my inspiration my Inkadinkado stamping gear has come out to play again and I used the round cog with one of the lovely flower petal stamps to make 2 circles of petals with Memento Cottage Ivy ink.
I then coloured the petals with Brusho Crystals used as paint by sprinkling them in a paint dish and misting them with water. I used lemon, gamboge and lime green. When the paint was dry I cut the floral circles out.
I assembled my little plaque using a round chipboard shape by Papermania and added an embossed circle and some ribbon to finish.

Have a great day and a good week.
Fliss xx

I'd like to enter my little plaque in the following challenges:

Stamping Sensations March Challenge - Flower Power (as you see I have a rather big flower here :D)
Creative Corner - Anything But A Card

Birds of a Feather For That's Crafty!

Happy Easter everyone and hoping everyone who celebrates has a lovely long weekend too.

My post is also to let you know I have a tag to share at That's Crafty this week which is one of the fabulous substrate surfaces great for mixed media which is what my creation turned out to be.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to visit and I'd be so pleased if you did too.

See you again soon.
Fliss xx

Something Fluffy For Make My Monday

Hello all, I hope you had a lovely weekend and managed to fit in some crafting time as I did, although only a little in my case as I had quite a lot of other things to do!
Our new challenge today at Make My Monday is rather a fun one as we would like to see your creations with Something Fluffy on and yes - you did read that right!
When it comes to something fluffy, what else could I pick for my card but this cute Just Inklined bunny - isn't he just adorable?

OK, so my card actually became mixed media as I had the background floating around just waiting for the right image and as it has a meadow look to it I thought it perfect for this cute Meadow Rabbit.
The paper was made by sprinkling lemon, yellow and gamboge Brusho Crystals on a piece of mixed media paper and misting it with water. I then allowed the paint to run and it formed streaks down the paper. When it was dry, I turned it upside down (can you see the streaks at the bottom).
I then put some lime green and olive crystals on a plate, misted them with water and picked up colour with an old store card, using it to form the blades of grass on my paper.
I printed the bunny out on to mixed media paper and coloured the image with a mix of Prismacolor pencils and Distress markers, trimmed it to a panel and added a blue mat.
I assembled the card as you see, adding a Tim Holtz Chit Chat sticker also on a blue mat to finish.

Have a great week and see you again soon. Sorry if I haven't been round lately, I've been really busy with little time for blogging.
Fliss xx

Some Challenges I'd like to enter:
Try It On Tuesday - Nature
Dragonfly Journeys - Hippity Hoppity
Challenge Up Your Life - Bunnies

A New Challenge At That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog.
For the next fortnight we're going Red and Green although you nearly didn't get my inspiration as I misunderstood the theme! Happily for once I actually made something that came together really quickly which has to be a first from me as it's not clean and simple!

I used my Gelli plate to colour the MDF tag by swiping on Paper Artsy Fresco Finish acrylics and pressing the tag on to pick up the paint.
I then used an old credit card to swipe on more paint to make blades of grass. I stamped some stalks from the Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamp set with Archival ink and painted them the same green.
I stamped the poppy heads and painted them with Martha Stewart Satin Acrylics then cut them out and glued them to the tag.
I finished off by addding stencilled dots which I did with my current favourite Dinky Stencil. I tied some green crochet ribbon through the top.

I used:
Tim Holtz Flower Garden Cling Stamp Set
That's Crafty Dinky Stencil - Bubbly All Over
That's Crafty Surfaces - MDF Tag
Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints - London Bus, Zucchini, Tinned Peas
Martha Stewart Satin Acrylic Paints - Geranium, Green Olive

There's a fab prize for the randomly drawn winner so do enter if you can.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss x

A Chaotic Life Journal Page

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week. This is my first post to day which is to let you know I'm over at That's Crafty today sharing a page in my journal.

Maybe you can see what I mean by chaotic now! If you'd like to see how it came about, please hop on over to the blog and I'd love it if you did.

I'll be back in a while with news of our new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog and I have my inspiration to share.

See you soon.
Fliss x

Lucky - A State Of Mind

Hello there, I hope you all had a lovely weekend with some sunshine as we did down here in the South - it was really lovely although I didn't see that much of it as we had loads of family stuff going on.
I did manage a bit of crafting though for my inspiration for the new challenge at Make My Monday which has the theme of Lucky this week. I struggled with this a bit until I realised that one of the Handwritten Thoughts by Tim Holtz was about lucky being a state of mind and my journal page below is the result. Hope you like it.

This was a really quick page to make and I began by sponging on Twisted Citron and Squeezed Lemonade Distress inks on the blank page. As the edges had a bit of grey on them already fom a previous page, I stamped on my new favourite edge stamp (Crafters Companion Textures Splats & Accessories Set 2) with Watering Can Archival ink.
I stamped the flowers (Penny Black) and the text with the same ink to finish - ta dah!

Have a great week and see you again soon.
Fliss xx

Be Unique For That's Crafty

Hello everyone and welcome to my post for today which is to let you know that I'm over at That's Crafty blog to share an art panel I've made using one of the fab substrate surfaces, an MDF panel.

Here's a peek and all the details are over at the blog if you'd like to hop over for the whole pic and the instructions on how to make it, although it's one of those creations that kind of went with the flow this time.

Hope to see you there!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

Imagine

Hello everyone, a really quick post from me to share a piece of artwork that I thought was never going to happen! I'm still not quite sure about it but I really wanted to join in with Andy Skinner's DecoArt Bright Colours Challenge (you know how I love those!) so this will have to do!

As you can see, it's definitely bright! It involves using my fingers to apply lots of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics to a natural coloured canvas board.
I then used the end of a wooden doewl to add the tiny circular shapes to the panel. I stamped on the text from Andy's Batik Garden stamp set with Archival Jet Black ink and stencilled on imagine from the Serendipity stencil with Carbon Black.
The butterfly was die cur from paper coloured with Pyrrole Orange and I swiped on Hicory Smoke Distress ink to colour the raised areas.

I used:
 

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Hansa Yellow Light, Hansa Yellow Medium, Green Gold, Yellow Green Light, Cobalt Teal Hue, Cobalt Blue Hue, Pyrrole Red, Pyrrole Orange, Primary Magenta, Carbon Black

White Gesso

Serendipity Stencil

Batik Garden Stamp Set

Have a great day and see you again soon!

Fliss x

Stencils and Masks at That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog where for the next fortnight we'd like to see your creations featuring Stencils and Masks.
I decided on a journal page for this challenge which I hope you like.

I prepared the background using my Gelli plate which I misted with some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays, there is some shimmer but you can't really see it in my pic.
When the page was dry, I used the That's Crafty butterfly stencil to add a pattern in opposite corners with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic in Carbon Black as I wanted a strong contrast.
I then added a circular pattern with the black paint and an old lid. I stamped on some text and butterflies from the Finnabair Don't Forget to Fly stamp set to finish.

I used:
Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays - Autumn Maple Crimson, Tibetan Poppy Teal, Glory of the Seas Gold
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic - Carbon Black
That's Crafty Dinky Stencil - Flight of Butterflies
Prima Finnabair Cling Stamp Set - Don't Forget To Fly

Hope you can enter as that's all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a £20 voucher for the online shop.

Have a great weekend,
Fliss xx

A Grumpy Card For That's Crafty

Hello all, I've been a bad blogger again as I've had a rather nasty sick bug that completely knocked me off my feet and although I'm getting better it's completely ruined my appetite. Not an ideal way to lose weight I have to say!
I have a project to share today over at That's Crafty which is the CAS card that I made for my eldest nephew's birthday - he's the ripe old age of 23!

It has the shortest set of instructions I think I've ever done and you'll find all the details over at the blog as usual.

I'll be back in a bit with my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog.

Fliss x

The Tale of the Party Hat That Became a Kite

Hello everyone and welcome to my first post of the week which is a bit late as I had a bit of a struggle with our challenge this time at Make My Monday where Marina would like to see something with a KITE on.
I don't have anything kite related at all so spent some time pondering on it and then late yesterday after have made a birthday card for my eldest nephew, I was putting the stamps away and inspiration struck!
Here's my card which took a bit of time actually coming together and is the tale of how a party hat became a kite - and yes, you did read that right! If you look below, you might see what I mean.

This is a one layer card as in it doesn't have anything stuck on, I just did a lot of layering until I was happy with the effect.
I first stamped on the bird, following that with the party hat from the Crazy Things stamp set which I stamped upside down near the top corner of my 5x7 card as the crazy bird is looking up.
I stamped the text from a Dylusions set in 2 parts for balance.

I then got out a fine black pigment pen (one of my zentangle ones) and started doodling. As you can see, I added a top section on the party hat to make it more kite shaped and then repeated the pattern on the hat, drawing crossed lines to form the string. I drew a wiggly line coming down from the kite and added bows as well. I then doodled some grass and flowers to ground the bird.

I then coloured the bird, kite and text with coloured pencils, adding shadows round the text boxes to make them pop more. I added Distress inks to the bakground (Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade) and deciding this was a bit flat, sprinkled on Lemon And Lime Green Brusho Crystals to add some texture. This still wasn't quite there so I stamped on my favourite Carabelle Studio Journal du Jour background stamp with Worn Lipstick Distress ink using first and second generation stamping.

Have a great week and see you soon.
Fliss xx

Don't Forget To Fly For That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, sorry I've been awol the last week which is because I managed to scratch my right eye last Friday night whilst trying to extract a contact lens which seemed to have gotten glued to my eye! I'm currently wearing glasses that don't quite work so my computer time in the evening is limited as I have to work on one all day.
My post today is to let you know I have my usual Friday tutorial over at That's Crafty and this week I'm sharing a little rainbow coloured art panel which I hope you like.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to see how it was created.

Hopefully I'll be able to put my contact lenses back in over the weekend and once I can do that, I'll be round to visit.

In the meantime, have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss x

Circle It! At That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again, I'm back with the details of our new challenge at That's Crafty Challenge Blog which for the next fortnight has the theme of Circle It!

I've made a journal style art panel for my inspiration and as you'll see it's got circles everywhere!

Do you think I've gone over the top!

It came about because when I was colouring the background, which I did by applying red, yellow and blue acrylic paints to my Gelli plate, smooshing it over with my fingers and pressing the white/grey board panel on to pick up the colour.

The colour came out a bit muddy so I gave the panel a sort of bokeh look by applying the same paints over the top with a home made circle stencil. I then used a That's Crafty Dinky Stencil to make a random dot pattern with black paint. This actually came out stronger than I wanted so I toned it down with some grey paint.

I dipped some die cut circles into some red, yellow and blue paint on my craft mat and glued some of these on when the paint was dry.

I stamped my new Carabelle butterfly on white card with black ink, cut this out and added it to the panel with foam tape. I finished off with some Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.

I used:
Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints - Haystack, London Bus
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Carbon Black, Cobalt Blue Hue, Medium Grey Value 6
That's Crafty Surfaces - White/Grey Board Panel
Carabelle Studio Mini Stamp - Butterfly
Archival Jet Black Ink
That's Crafty Dinky Stencil - Punchinella Background
Gelli Plate - 8x10
Circle Dies
Tim Holtz Small Talk Stickers

Hope you can enter - good luck!

Have a great weekend,
Fliss xx 

Life's Great Adventure

Hello and welcome to my first post of the day which is to let you know that I'm over at That's Crafty today and this week I'm sharing a journal page featuring my new NK Studio stamps by Stampendous.

It's a quick page in my new kraft paper journal which is quite large and I got it because I wanted to be able to make pages fairly quickly which can be done when you don't cover all of the background - I definitely wanted to leave some of the kraft paper on show as I love it too much to cover it all up!

This is just a sneak peek so if you'd like to see the whole page, you'll have to hop over to the blog.

I'll be back later with details of our new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog which goes live at 8am today.

Fliss xx

The Love Word at Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was somewhat busy yet again so apologies for the lack of visiting which is all I seem to be doing lately!
We have a new challenge for you today at Make My Monday and we'd like to see your creations with the word Love on. Easy, huh!
My inspiration is the Valentine card I gave to my hubby which is very simple as he doesn't like fussy and unusually for me took only 10 minutes to make! Hope you like it.

As you can see there's only one layer. I started by stamping the 2 bunnies (Crafty Individuals) on my card blank with Archival Watering Can ink and coloured them with pencils. As the bunnies are a bit scribbly I scribbled the colour on and I think I quite like the effect!
I then stamped the love and heart text above with VersaFine Satin Red ink, the stamp being the lovely free cover stamp from Jennie of The Artist Stamper given by Craft Stamper magazine. I added a little colour with pencils to finish.
Ta da! Done!

Some challenges I'd like to enter:

CAS on Sunday - Valentine
Come and Get It Challenges - Love Is In The Air
A Gem of a Challenge - Love Is In The Air

Love Me Do Art Panel At That's Crafty

Hello there, I'm still here in case you were wondering, I've just been extremely busy with no time for much in the way of blogging this week!
I have a post today over at That's Crafty and I've gone rather romantic due to it being a certain day at the weekend.
This week I've made an art panel on a hearts theme which I hope you like. Here's a sneak peek and you'll find the whole thing over at the blog.

I'd love it if you hopped over so thank you so much if you do!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

First Love At That's Crafty Challenge Blog

Hello again and welcome to my inspiration for the new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog which for the next fortnight has the theme of First Love.
I have to admit to have been a bit stumped by this theme until I woke up the other morning thinking about the pop posters I had on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager - I bet you all had those too though maybe not of David Cassidy as I did!
This is what inspired my card although it has turned out a bit more pink than I anticipated - can you see her looking at her pop idol?

I made the background paper first using my 6x6 Gelli Plate. I added dots of pink and green acrylic paints (Paper Artsy Fresco Finish) to the plate and spread the colour with a brayer. I then tried my hand at mark making which I did with a wooden skewer which I pressed gently in the paint to make a rough pattern.
I then used the That's Crafty Long Hearts Background Dinky Stencil with the deep pink paint to add a pattern in the bottom right hand corner.

I stamped some tiny flowers from the Tim Holtz Crazy Things stamp set on the top portion with Ranger Wild Orchid Dye Ink.
I stamped my 2 birds, the hearts, flowery hat and bouquet from the Crazy Things set onto stamping card and painted them with Martha Stewart and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics. I then die cut everything with the matching dies.
I die cut the heart frame from green textured card using the X Cut Nesting Dies Homespun Heart set.

I assembled the card as you see, adding the quirky bird to the frame and trimming off the excess. I finished off with a Small Talk sticker which I cut into pieces.

I hope you can enter for the chance at a fab prize of a voucher for the online shop.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Butterfly, Butterfly Brusho Stackable Storage Box

Hello everyone and welcome to the first of 2 posts today and I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be able to share a project that has been under wraps for a while.
Laura and Graham at That's Crafty have developed a range of stackable storage boxes designed to hold some of your favourite art supplies such as paint, spray inks, glitter glue and so on.
As I'm such a fan of Brusho Crystals, you can probably guess who was given that particular storage box to decorate!
If you hop on over to the blog you'll find all the details of how I made the box with step by step decorating pics.
It's rather eye poppingly bright as I wanted something eye catching.

This one has winged it's way (pun intended!) to Laura as That's Crafty will be doing something special later in the month but I do have another one to decorate for myself and I'll share that as soon as I'm able to find some spare time to get it done - I can't wait!

Do hop on over to the blog where you'll find the details of the other fab storage boxes, all beautifully decorated by my DT mates!

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

Fliss xx

A Colour Challenge At Make My Monday

A slightly late post from me for my inspiration for the new challenge today at Make My Monday as I was a bit naughty having been desparate to get my tag done for Tim's 2016 Remix Tags and I couldn't manage to fit both in due to family stuff over the weekend.
The challenge is a colour one Pink, Red and White which although perfect for Valentine cards is not what I actually did!

This was very simple to make and I began by applying dots of Sherbert and Vintage Lace Paper Artsy Fresco Finish acrylics to my 6x6 Gelli Plate and scraped the paint over with an old store card. I then pressed on a panel of smooth cartridge paper and picked up the colour.
I next stamped the taxt from Tim Holtz Handwritten Thoughts stamp set with VersaFine Crimson Red ink and heat embossed it with Chinese Red which has a sparkle you can't see that well here.
I then used a That's Crafty hearts Dinky Stencil with a slightly deeper pink paint to make a pattern on the painted panel.
I stamped the Tim Holtz Runway lady with Archival Watering Can ink on cartridge paper and painted her with a mix of Paper Artsy and Martha Stewart paints.
I distressed the edges of the painted panel and added it to a white card blank then finished off with the lady, cut out and added with foam pads for dimension.

Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Tim's January 2016 Tag

Hello everyone, a very quick post from me today as I'm quite determined to join in with Tim's Tags of 2016 having not managed the last couple of years as I've been so busy with work and things. I'll probably be last past the post too!

I didn't have quite a lot of the materials that Tim used so have had to improvise somewhat, although I do think this is one of the best things about the tags as it's such a creative jump start to come up with an alternative.

Here's what I made and it's not quite as good as Tim's of course which you can see HERE

For mine, the alternatives are an X Cut Tri Boss Clocks Embossing Folder, DecoArt Carbon Black Antiquing Cream, Kaisercraft and Kanban clock stamps.

See you again soon.
Fliss xx