Craft Stamper March Issue

Hello all on a rather windy and dreary day down here in the South of England. I'm taking a short break in the midst of a crafting session as I'm really excited to say that I have a project in the March issue of Craft Stamper magazine which will hit the shops on Friday this week although if you subscribe, you'll already have your inky mitts on it!

Here's a sneak peek of what I made which is in my bright and zingy style.

Have a great week and see you soon!
Fliss xx

Times Flies for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a good week and have managed some crafting time. I'm up to my eyes in craft stuff at the moment and also had to do some work for my hubby's business (just those things like paying the staff!!!).
I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today with my usual Friday post and this week I'm wearing my steampunk hat, you know - the one with the cogs on :D, for a mixed media art panel.

You'll find all details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to hop over to see the whole thing.

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

Fliss xx

Feeling Blue Challenge Midway Inspiration

Hello everyone, a very quick post in the middle of a crafting run to share my midway inspiration for our Feeling Blue Challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which has another 2 weeks to run as we've now gone monthly.
The challenge is now open to crafters all over the world and the randomly drawn winner will receive a £30 voucher for the online shop. In addition to this, our chosen top 3 will receive a That's Crafty! stencil (own choice) and there are tons to choose from with more on the way soon.

I have a fairly bright and breezy tag as my inspiration with lots of stencilling and a bit of stamping.

I coloured my tag with multi surface paints which were applied with a brayer. I then used the spiral flower stencil to add the flowers using Distress Oxides and used the butterfly background stencil at the top with the same inks.
I stamped the butterfly wings and text from some of the Lynne's Affirmations stamp set 1 with cobalt ink. I painted the butterfly with Distress markers, having drawn a body between the wings with a fine dark blue pen.

Supplies:
That's Crafty! Surfaces - Size 5 White/Greyboard Tag
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Lynne's Affirmations Set 1
That's Crafty! Dinky Stencils - Flight of Butterflies, Spiral Flower
That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints - Bright Blue, Ocean, Teal, White
Tim Holtz Oxide Inks - Broken China, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet

Have a great day and rest of week and hope you can enter the challenge.
Fliss xx

Tangled for That's Crafty!

Hello all on a lovely sunny but chilly day. Just a very quick post to let you know that I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today sharing a panel that was inspired to take a sort of fairytale turn as I created a wood nymph out of the gorgeous Lana stencil that premiered on the One Day Special That's Crafty! did (a sell out!) last December.

You can see the shimmer on this sneak peek that doesn't really show that much on my That's Crafty! post although I used quite a bit of gold and bronze metallic paints on there along with gorgeous gold shimmer paint.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

Sarah's Card

Hello everyone, hope you're having a good week. It's gone very windy and rather chilly down here on the South Coast so if it's the same where you are, stay warm.
Just a quick post to share the card I made for my daughter's birthday today (she won't see it as she doesn't read my blog). It's quite a simple one and features one of Tracy Easson's Wonky Tonk girls which I've had for a few months and have only just had the chance to ink up.

I do love the quirky look of these images and I stamped her directly on the card blank with black ink. I then stamped on the flowers from the same set in the left hand corners.
I followed this with the little scattered flower stamp from one of the other sets, stamped randomly around the image with black ink.
I then coloured all the images with Zig clean markers and finished off with the birthday text which was a stamp free with a magazine. That's it - done!

I don't often do a card this quickly but really enjoyed colouring the images so I think there may be more to come.

Enjoy the rest of your day and week.
Fliss xx

Nature Dreams for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend as I am. We had a bit of great news this week as our eldest nephew and his wife had a little baby girl late Tuesday evening and they've called her Lily Grace which I really love. This means my in laws are now great grandparents and we all can't wait to see Lily.
On another note entirely, I have my first post of 2018 over at That's Crafty! today on our brand new looking blog. It's one of my Hochanda samples and I hope you like it.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and I hope you'll hop over as there are loads of other projects to see, not just mine!

Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Feeling Blue at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello and welcome to my inspiration for our January challenge over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog as this year we've gone monthly. Our first challenge of the year has the theme of Feeling Blue so we'd like to see entries which are mainly blue.
I've created an art panel with my favourite feline, Bentley, and surrounded him with flowers. Hope you like it.

I covered my white/greyboard panel with paint in shades of blue with white which I brayered on. Once the paint was dry, I used the Daisy Background stencil with shades of Oxide inks to add a floral pattern in the top right corner. I also sponged a little of the pink Oxide ink around the edges and stamped the script from Textures Set 3 down the left hand edge with Archival Cobalt ink without using an acrylic block.
I stamped Bentley twice and several of the large flower from Donna's Fleur set on mixed media paper with Archival Jet Black ink and painted the images with several shades of blue Multi Surface paints. I then cut the images out, just the head on the second Bentley image.
I glued on the first flower about half way down on the left side and then stamped Bentley again on the background and over the top of the flower - this is to save cutting out his whiskers. I glued the whole cat image over the stamped image and added his head using foam pads for some dimension.
I added the remaining flowers with a mix of glue and foam pads for interest. The finishing touch was to stamp the smile next in the lower right hand corner.

Have a great day.
Fliss xx

2017 in Review

Hello again and Happy New Year if you missed my post of yesterday. I've decided to share a dozen of my personal favourite creations from 2017, one from each month of the year to possibly reflect my developing style. I hope you like them.

January

An art journal page to reflect my eye troubles last year

February

Another art journal page reflecting my enforced job changes

March

More art journaling reflecting my future hopes

April

A Hochanda sample in my bright and zingy style

May

A mixed media panel with gorgeous new stamps by Donna which I was thrilled to have the priviledge to work with

June

I was thrilled to have finally cracked the acrylic stack technique with this underwater themed panel set featuring gorgeous Marina again all blinged up

July

Mixed media layers for a glam grunge art panel with a favourite butterfly theme

August

A truly mixed media piece inspired by a rusty factory on the side of a loch seen on our holiday to Scotland's lochs

September

My favourite bark technique for a woodland creation with the gorgeous new greyboard embellishments

October

My challenge to myself to create something in half an hour, quite a challenge as I'm not a fast crafter!

November

A very vintage mixed media panel with die cuts that I cut from corrugated card and texture paste through a stencil

December

My favourite from the Hochanda One Day Special samples I created which has multiple layers on a nature theme

I hope you like seeing these again or for the first time if you missed them when they first appeared or if we didn't know each other then.

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and creative year ahead.

Fliss xx

Butterfly Wings Canvas

Hello everyone, wishing you all a very Happy New Year and hoping that 2018 brings you all that you wish for. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too as I did, very busy but packed with lots of family stuff which was really lovely.
I managed a bit of crafting too which is because I wanted to enter the Rubber Dance December Challenge which is a colour one and as usual, have only just made it!

As you'll see, I managed all of the requirements although the glitter element is quite subtle as I don't do too much bling.
I painted and sponged my box canvas with watered down That's Crafty! Multi Surface paint in Teal which is a lovely light and bright blue when diluted a little.
I stamped Melina's gorgeous butterflies from the Butterfly Trio set on painted papers from my bits box which happily contained some in shades of pink and peach. I cut the butterflies out and added deeper colour to the bodies. I glued them on to the canvas as shown as I wanted a soaring explosion of colour on my canvas. I added glitter glue to the butterfly bodies to make them pop.
I finished off with a quote from Lynne's Affirmations Set 1 as I didn't have quite what I wanted to say as this one fit the best.

I'd like to enter this in the Rubber Dance December Challenge and thanks to everyone who hops over to see what I've created.
Happy New Year!
Fliss xx

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

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

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

Anything Goes at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone, I hope you're all nearly ready for the big day which is approaching so fast now I can't believe it's almost here! I'm madly wrapping up presents at the moment which is earlier than recent years when I've done it all on Christmas Eve.
We have a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which for the next few weeks has the theme of Anything Goes.
Hope you like my inspiration which is one of my Hochanda samples for the recent One Day Special and the presenter Alex liked the colours on this one.

I made my background using the acrylic paint resist technique, first painting the background lilac which was made by mixing white into violet multi surface paint. I then stamped on the gorgeous rose from Textures Stamp Set 3 with VersaFine Crimson Red and Imperial Purple ink, heat embossing with clear powder. I painted over the top with violet and when the paint was dry, wiped the paint off the embossed roses with baby wipes.
I stamped the lovely Serena twice on mixed media paper with black ink and also on the painted panel. I painted just the face on one image and the hat and heart on the other which I painted Bright Magenta and stamped with roses using the crimson ink. I cut the sections out and and glued them over the top of the image stamped on the panel.
I next stamped the lace image from the textures set on lilac painted paper with the purple ink and trimmed it down a little when cutting it out, gluing it at the base of the panel.
I stamped the beautiful dreamer text from Lynne's Affirmations Set 6 on lilac stained paper, cut this up and added it to my panel. I finished off with bakers twine at the top.

I hope you can enter as the prize is a voucher for the online shop which has lots of fabulous new goodies on offer.
Have a great day,
Fliss xx

Nature Blooms for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and apologies once again for being awol. I've had a bit of a week as my new cooker went wrong 10 minutes after the fitters left, blowing the electrics after which the main gas oven wouldn't work! We're still waiting on it being fixed but they're messing us about and keep changing the date so I could be in trouble if they don't come next week as I have 6 for Christmas dinner and 12 on Christmas evening!
On top of that, I got a flat tyre on my car caused by a screw (we have 3 lots of builders working down our road at the moment so I wonder where it came from) That was repaired yesterday thank goodness as it's really difficult without wheels at this time of year.
I'm over at That's Crafty! blog today with one of my samples from last week's Hochanda One Day Special which has a nature theme.

I hope you'll be intrigued enough to hop over and see the whole thing with the how to and some more detail pics.

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

Fliss xx

Crazy Quilt Art Panel for That's Crafty! and Hochanda

Hello again, just had to let you know that I have one of the samples I created for today's upcoming  That's Crafty! One Day Special on Hochanda, starting today at 6pm and 8pm and then continuing tomorrow at 9am, 1pm and the final call at 5pm, over at That's Crafty! Blog.
The shows are not to be missed for some fantastic demos by our Neil Burley and lots of amazing samples from the Design Team. As well as the mega bundle of new stamps, stencils and substrates that is the One Day Special, there are even more brand new stencils and paints and the new That's Crafty! mediums too.

You'll find all the details over at the blog and I do hope you'll catch some of the shows if you can as you're in for a real treat.

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

Tis The Season Christmas Challenge at That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, I hope you're keeping warm in the current freeze. I've been staying warm as I've been running about with all I've had to do over the last couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to Christmas and especially just after when I might finally have some time to slow down!
My new cooker is being delivered tomorrow so it's only a couple of days with fish and chips etc. It's been so long since I last had those and although they were yummy, I ate far too many chips!

We have a new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog and this one is the Christmas one where we'd like to see everything seasonal.
My inspiration is a rather traditional style mixed media Christmas wreath but there are some elements that have a vintage vibe so the post is a bit picture heavy and you may need a cuppa before you read it!

I'll show you first how the tree was made as I had such fun creating with this and it's proof the That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints really do what they say!

I covered the greyboard tree with strips of broderie anglaise trim, gluing it on with DecoArt Matte Medium. The base was covered in texture paste which I drew a pattern in with a cocktail stick to resemble bark.

I then trimmed off the overhanging bits to reveal a rather pretty tree.

Now came the fun part which was to paint my tree. I first gave it a couple of coats of multi surface green and then added highlights with Antique Gold. I painted the tree trunk with chestnut brown and charcoal shimmer paint. I was rather pleased with the pretty effect the gold gave.

I painted the MDF wreath (the medium sized one from the set) with Christmas Red and then used the Poinsettia Tree stencil to add a pattern with the antique gold paint.

I painted some of the greyboard elements that you see below with various multi surface plain and metallic paints and some shimmer paints, adding in some textured buttons which I painted and threaded with baker's twine tied in a bow.

My final embellishments were some little MDF hearts which had the same treatment as the tree and were painted green, gold and purple to tone in with my other items.

I tied some gold ribbon through the top to finish.

I hope you can join us as there are lots more new goodies of That's Crafty! brand going in the shop as we're doing the One Day Special on Hochanda TV today with a bundle of amazing goodies including the most gorgeous stamps and stencils and I can't tell you enough how much I enjoyed working with them. The challenge prize is, as always, a voucher for the online shop and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to enter!

I'll be back in a while as I'm sharing the first of my Hochanda samples over at That's Crafty! Blog today and I can't wait to show you!
See you soon,
Fliss xx

Fly Free Hummingbird ATC for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone on a rather brrrrh freezing cold day. Can't believe the chill as in the last few years we haven't got this until February! Hope you're all managing to keep warm.
I have my usual Friday post over at That's Crafty! Blog where this week I'm sharing another of the ATCs made for the last Hochanda shows back in October - doesn't seem that long and time has really flown! Plus of course, it's now December - yikes!

 

This is a peek only so I hope it will tempt you to hop over and see the whole creation and of course, the details on how I made it.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

A Blast From The Past

Hello everyone, I hope you're managing to stay warm in the current big freeze. I had a message from my daughter in London to say that it was snowing up there earlier on!

Apologies once again for not being around to visit, we have big problems with my in laws at the moment because my mother in law is in the early stages of dementia and has been giving my poor father in law a terrible time. She's sometimes like a child and throws temper tantrums and tries to hit him with her walking stick! As she can no longer cook, my father in law has to do it so I've been doing some cooking for them to make sure they do get some decent meals at least.

As mentioned last week, I've been working on some things I can't yet share and with the in laws issue, haven't had time to do much else. So I've decided to share something I made nearly 5 years ago which is hanging in my dining room even now.

I made this mixed media panel for Stamping Sensations as their guest designer when I won a challenge and it came about because whilst rummaging for something else at that time, I found some decorated paper I made around 10 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 hope you've enjoyed my blast from the past which will be new to some of you who I didn't have the pleasure of knowing at that time.

Fliss xx

The Only Way Is Art For That's Crafty!

Hello again, a very quick post to let you know that I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today for my usual weekly post with a tutorial on how I made a mixed media layered art panel starting off with a black paint background that didn't quite fit an earlier project.

You'll find all the details and the whole pic over at the blog if you'd like to hop over and see it. It's very bright and grungy in my most usual style.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Green With Envy Challenge at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog

Hello everyone, really sorry for my lack of visiting over the last week or so. I've been really busy creating for something I can't yet share and as well as that, I managed to do something to my back last week and for the first few days couldn't sit or stand too long. The only thing that seemed to help and still does is my daily early morning walk which I've been doing since I left my accounting job. I've got quite fast and can walk further in my allotted time than when I started so it must be doing some good!
Now to the reason for this post which is to share my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty! Challenge Blog which has a Green theme. I decided on nature as it was either that or Christmas!

I covered a 4.5 x 9 white/greyboard panel with torn pieces of vintage book page which I glued on with matt medium. I glued on some scraps of green lace and then brushed green and yellow multi surface paints over the top.
I painted one of the larger wildflower greyboard embellishments with the green and yellow paints then added some pencil detail. I'm currently having a bit of a sort out of my stash and came across some pressed flowers, the orange ones being perfect for for my creation. I added one in the centre of my wildflower and then glued some on the panel with the large flower.
I stamped a couple of butterflies from Lynne's Affirmations Set 1 on stamping card with Fern Green Archival ink and added a little colour with the leftover yellow paint watered down. I cut them out and glued them to the panel.
I finished off with a Tim Holtz sticker which I brushed with a little of the watered down paint.

I hope you can enter as there's a great prize of a voucher for the online shop up for grabs.

I'll be back in a while as I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog today.
Fliss xx

Fairy Dancer for That's Crafty!

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a lovely and hopefully crafty week. I'm creating like mad at the moment and making things I can't yet share and can't wait to show you as I so love what I'm working with!
A very quick post as I have some bookkeeping stuff to do today to let you know that I'm over at That's Crafty! Blog with my usual Friday post where I'm sharing a mixed media art panel featuring one of the gorgeous Tim Holtz paper dolls turned into a little fairy.

You'll find all the details over at the blog and would love it if you paid a visit as there's tons of amazing inspiration including links to Youtube videos made by design team member Melina which are not to be missed.

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

Catch A Falling Star for That's Crafty!

Hello again, just a quick post to let you know that I have my usual Friday tutorial post over at That's Crafty! Blog today and this week I have a shimmery and sparkly wintery ATC to share.
You'll find all the details over at the blog and here's a sneak peek to hopefully persuade you to hop over to see it.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.

Fliss xx