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