Monday 31 December 2012

Laughter - The Best Medicine

Hello folks, hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely crafting pressies (I did and will be trying out what I received very soon when I get a bit more spare time - one of my New Year hopes!).
Time has been a bit short with visitors, trying to sort out a mega damp problem caused by our cavity wall insulation (which has to be removed at a cost which practically made me faint with shock) and I have a house full of sick patients - my OH has a stinking cold, elder daughter an ear infection and younger one a sick bug and I'm hoping they all keep what they have to themselves!
I'm here today with my creation for our new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which is Surprise Us! so anything goes. Our lovely Joanna also had the idea of a Secret Santa with each of us sending our creation to one of the other Fashionettes. Having this in mind, I decided to go with something inspirational and made a little wall hanging piece with one of my favourite stamps.


I love this image from Paper Bag Studios as she reminds me a bit of a lovely photo I have of my dear Mum laughing and it's very true that laughter is the best medicine. I stamped her on a piece of cream mountboard then added a mat of kraft card trimmed down one edge with a Martha Stewart punch.
The background paper came from my bits box and I thought it fit the retro image perfectly. It was made using Crushed Olive, Mustard Seed and Tumbled Glass Distress inks using my Grunge Background Technique (click on the tutorial page at the top if you'd like to see how to do this). I then stamped on it using various floral images with Barn Door and Broken China DIs and swiped on a little more of the red ink.
I added the paper to a chipboard page from a Papermania blank book (these make fabulous wall hanging artwork) and glued on the image panel together with some very pretty floral lace (bought ages ago from Art From The Heart).
I finished off with a Hampton Art butterfly stamped on pink card with deep rose pink ink and cut out. Twine was added at the top to form the hanging section.

I can't tell you who this is for yet but hope she likes it. The other Fashionettes have made some fabulous creations so do hop over to feast your eyes on the catwalk!
We'd love to see your entries although please don't forget that we're a stamping challenge (we're all addicted to this!) so your creation must include some stamping and no digital stamps are allowed.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2013.
See you next year.
Fliss xx

Some Challenges for my Wall Hanging
2 Sisters - Anything But A Card
Hiding In My Craft Room - Freestyle
Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges - Anything Goes
Stampin For The Weekend - Anything Goes

Monday 24 December 2012

Christmas Wishes

Hello everyone, a very speedy post from me to wish all of my followers old and new a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2013.
Thank you all so much for all your lovely encouraging comments which I so appreciate. Sorry from me too for my lack of commenting lately which is due to being so busy lately and I'm still in the middle of Christmas preparations for the big day tomorrow - eek!


Hoping you all have a fabulous time over the festive season and will be back again with the next Fashionable Stamping Challenge.

Hugs, Fliss xx

Monday 17 December 2012

Christmas Bingo

Good morning everyone, don't know about you but I'm still behind on the Christmas preparations as I've got quite a lot of work and house and family stuff to do as well and I shall be so glad to get it all out of the way. A bit bah humbug I know but it seems to get more stressful the older I get!!!
As it's Monday, we have the last December challenge for you over at Make My Monday as we're taking a break after this until 7th January. We're continuing with the Pot Pourri theme chosen by Caz and this week we're playing Christmas Bingo.
I have a slight confession here as my card below was made in rather a rush due to silly me not having realised it was supposed to be a Christmas card until I went to upload my non festive card yesterday afternoon. A rummage in my bits box produced enough bits to make the card which I hope you like.


I picked the Words, Lace and Distressing line and tore the edges of my background paper which I made earlier (very Blue Peter here lol) using a Papermania text stamp applied with an inked baby wipe and then sponged with Tattered Rose Distress ink.
The sweet image (Holly's Christmas by Stamp It) was stamped with Archival black and coloured with a mix of Promarkers and pencils then cut to a panel and matted on some green linen paper trimmed with deckle scissors.
I added some cream crochet lace over a border of red card trimmed with a Martha Stewart punch and finished off with a layered flower and punched holly.

Have a great week and a lovely Christmas.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafty Mess Challenge - Vintage Christmas
One Stop Craft Challenge - Distressed Christmas
Brown Sugar Challenge - Red, Green and Cream

Sunday 16 December 2012

Late Again!

Or at least my DT post for today's new Fashionable Stamping Challenges is lol. This fortnight the theme is Mask It and you can use all sorts of masking techniques for this including actual masks, a masked stamped image, a stencil etc. etc. Don't forget that you must include some stamping too as we are a stamping challenge.
I decided on something a bit different for my inspiration this time as I've used a stencil of a large flourish shape that was free in a mag a while back but did something you might not expect with it. Read on to find out what I did!


I prepared my background paper first using a piece of card which I covered with Distress Stains in Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive and spritzed with Glimmer Mists in Vintage Pink and Olive Vine.
Using the stencil, I applied embossing ink with the Ranger Emboss It Dabber which is brilliant for this sort of thing. I then sprinkled Fran-tage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel on and heated to melt the powder. I sponged Victorian Velvet round the embossed flourish to make it really pop.
I then stamped the lovely lady (B Line Designs) on cream card with VersaFine Crimson Red ink and die cut the image into a circle. I embossed around the edges with the Cuttlebug roses folder. I coloured the lady with Promarkers and then added ink around the edges to highlight the embossed areas.
I assembled the card using some die cut doilies (Marianne Design) and some layered Prima hydrangea flowers which I glittered up a little and added pearls to.
To finish, I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment directly on the background paper at the base of the card.

Sorry for my lack of visiting lately, I will try and pop round before Christmas once I've got my unexpected workload out of the way!
Hope you have a good week.
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Addicted To Stamps And More! - Bingo (My line is Diagonal - Green, Free, Pearls)
Try It On Tuesday - Let's Get Inky

Saturday 15 December 2012

Drum Roll Please............

As I'm here with the 2 winners of my blog candy. Really sorry it couldn't be everyone but thank you all so much for entering and there will be more soon as I'm heading quite quickly towards 700 blog posts and will post some more then.

The winner from my new followers from the blog candy start point is:

Number 43 which is Rebecca of The Miss Haven 

and the winner of my followers from before the blog candy start point is:

Number 29 which is Claire of Hope Jacare

Congratulations ladies! Claire, I have your address and will send your candy off early next week. Rebecca, if you could email me with yours, I'll send it off at the same time. I don't know if they'll arrive in time for Christmas but fingers crossed!

Thanks again everyone and hope you're having a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Friday 14 December 2012

A Stitch In Time

Good morning folks, before I get on to the latest Polka Doodles challenge, I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone that entered my blog candy and to my new followers too. I haven't forgotten about posting the winners, I've just been up to my eyes in work this week having got behind because of my nasty chest infection. I'll be back tomorrow with the news so do keep an eye out for it.
Today we not only have a new challenge for you over at Polka Doodles with the most fantastic prizes (first prize is a £50 Goodie Bag!!!) but Nikky will be on Create and Craft at 10am and 4pm today to launch the gorgeous new CD which is called Cherry Blossom Lane and has the most adorably cute characters ever (those who know me will see why I love it when I can show you my samples) so do watch if you can or set the recorder.
The challenge this week has been chosen by Lou as her son will be 20 years old in a few days so the theme is
A Birthday At Christmas Card Or One For A Young Adult
I've made a card for one of my nieces with a birthday on 31 December as all the other birthdays this month -and we have quite a few- are either over 50 or less than 10!
Holly loves quilting so I've made a sewing themed collage style card for her.


All of the elements and papers on the card are from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I covered the card blank with some of the pretty ribbon stripe paper then added a blue panel of the same design trimmed at the top with a Papermania scallop cut and emboss border die.
I cut out the sewing machine topper with another Papermania die and hand cut a mat for this to make it pop.
To finish I added a die cut text panel and cut out the gorgeous pin cushion (I just love this and wish I had one like it lol) and some bobbins then added them with foam tape.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend and keep warm!
Fliss xx

Monday 10 December 2012

At Last Candy!!!

 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS
THIS WILL STAY AT THE TOP UNTIL THE CANDY IS DRAWN
Hello folks, I'm here today with the news that I've been promising for a while now and I've finally managed to get together some CANDY for my lovely followers - that means you!
The candy is a little collection of Vintage Style elements made up of stamps (how could I leave those out!), ribbons, lace, flowers and pearls.
This first collection is for my ever faithful current followers (up to the lovely June at number 284) but new followers shouldn't despair as there is more underneath for you!


Here's a list of what's there:
Prima Cling Stamps -En Francais and Nature Garden
Prima Mini Clear Stamp Sets - Nature Garden, Songbird, Sun Kiss
Queen & Co Pearls - Chocolate Delight, Silver
A Selection Of Chiffon, Fabric and Paper Flowers
Lace
Ribbons
String Of Pearls

This is to thank you all for your lovely comments and encouragement which mean the world to me and help me to keep on creating.

Now for the second collection:


This little collection is made up of doilies, paper flowers, bows, lace, ribbons and fibres and I will add to this if I reach 300 followers.
As promised, here's a little extra for my new followers and I'd like to say thanks so much for joining in here and this is the addition.

Hoping that you can spread the word for me. The candy is up for grabs until 10 December so that it might possibly be a lovely Christmas surprise - if the post allows!

All you need to do now is add your name on the link list below and I'm wishing you good luck!
Fliss xx


White As Snow

Good morning folks, hoping you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was quite busy with family stuff and a meal out on Saturday which made me feel rather tired yesterday as we got home late and I always find that's when my age catches up with me lol.
Today we have the second of the Pot Pourri challenges chosen by the lovely Caz over at Make My Monday and this week the theme is a White On White Christmas card which I have to say I struggled with somewhat as it's not something I do very often. I went for lots of texture and sparkle but unusually for me, there is no stamping!!!
Here's my creation and hope you like it.


It was really hard to take a decent photo of this so in the end, I balanced it on 2 red cushions as it showed up a little better. You may need to click on the pic to see all the detail as there is quite a lot.
I made the background by swiping a square of white card with White Opal liquid Pearls and Diamond Stickles using my trusty Paper Artsy splodger. When dry it looks lovely and pearly. I then embossed the top area with the Cuttlebug large polka dot folder and attached this to the card blank.
I then used my new Sissix snowflake die (an incredible bargain at £6.49 in our new Hobby Craft store!!!) to cut out some layered snowflakes from white card. I embossed the large one with the Cuttlebug snowflake folder and added frosting using Ranger sticky embossing powder and Distress Stickles Rock Candy dry glitter. I added brushed on Liquid Pearls in some places and on the smaller snowflake then added pearls to the large one.
I cut out some letters to spell my sentiment with the Tim Holtz Upon A Time strip die and glittered these up with Icicle Stickles. They've gone a bit pink in the photo but the glitter glue actually has gold flecks in it. I attached these on the flat area at the base of the card and added the die cut snowflakes with foam tape to finish.

Hope you're all doing better with your Christmas preparations than me because as usual other things (such as VAT returns - ugh!) have got in the way and made me behind.
Have a great week.
Fliss xx
PS: Don't forget that my CANDY ends today so if you haven't yet entered you need to be quick!

Some challenges for my card:
Christmas Card Challenges - Die Cuts
Dream Valley Challenges - Christmas
2 Sisters Challenge - Snowflakes
Just Us Girls - Embossing
My Time To Craft - Non Traditional Christmas Colours

Monday 3 December 2012

Poppies

Happy Monday folks and welcome to my lovely new followers, so great to see you here ladies and thank you so much for choosing to join my little band.
Hoping everyone had a lovely weekend and managed to fit in a bit of crafting as I did despite being rather busy with other things!
It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and the lovely Caz has chosen our monthly theme which is Pot Pourri and there will be quite a mixture of weekly themes I can tell you! This week the theme is Your Favourite Flower so there's quite a lot of creative scope here.
I ended up in a bit of a quandary as I have quite a few favourite flowers but I chose poppies as I love their bright cheery colour.


I've made a fairly simple card which is for our next door neighbours to thank them for the wonderful buffet they invited us to on Saturday.
The backing paper came from my bits box and was made using Shabby Shutters Distress ink applied with an acrylic block and then stamped with a Hero Arts leaf sprig using Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive DIs. I trimmed one edge with the Martha Stewart loop punch and added this panel to a kraft card blank.
I stamped the poppies (a very old stamp by A Stamp In The Hand) with VersaFine Crimson Red and Spanish Moss on white card and heat embossed the image with clear powder. I die cut the image with a Papermania frilly rectangle die.
I finished off with a sentiment by Hobby Art stamped with VersaFine Olympia Green matted on deep green card.

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Sketchy Colors Challenge - White, Green, Red
Craft Us Crazy - Give Thanks/Thank You
Milk Coffee Challenge - Thanksgiving/Thankful/Thank You
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Sunday 2 December 2012

Longing For Spring

Hello folks and especially my new followers who I would like to welcome to my little band and say thank you for choosing to join. Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Mine is a bit busy as the round of December celebrations has started early this year with a neighbours' do yesterday and today we're off to my brother and sister in law for a birthday tea.
We have a new challenge for the fortnight over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and our theme this time is To Die For so there's loads of things you could create for this one. I took the opportunity to make my sister in law's birthday card as it's a special birthday but she hasn't let on so I didn't dare make one with age mentioned!

 
I made my own shaped card blank using a Go Kreate XXL frilly square die, cutting it from an 8x8 white square card blank.
I then cut a white card shape with the next die size down and stamped this with my new Indigo Blu clematis flourish corner stamp using VersaFine Smokey Gray ink (isn't it just gorgeous!). I stamped it a second time on scrap white card and coloured just the flowers and bird with Prisma pencils. A little artistic license came in here as I decided to make the clematis blue because my sister in law likes the colour.
I then added colour to the stamped panel with pencils and Distress inks using Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet. I then inked the edges of the panel with Broken China. I stamped the music score from the Tim Holtz mini holidays 4 set with Victorian Velvet and then stamped the sentiment (Hobby Art CS016D) with the grey ink.
I inked up some scrap white card with the same Distress ink shades and stamped on the music score with the Broken China. I then die cut some flowers with the Nestabilities carnation flowers set and layered these up with a metal embellishment in the centre.
I cut out the flowers and bird stamped earlier and added these to the card with foam tape to finish.

The Fashionettes have made a huge variety of stunning creations for your inspiration so do hop over for a look. Our sponsor is Marina of Cottage Crafts as usual and please do remember you must stamp to be in with a chance of winning as we are a stamping challenge.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafty Ann's - Birds And/Or Animals
Lady Ann's Card/Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Shaped Cards

Friday 30 November 2012

A Cold And Frosty Morning

Good morning folks, can't believe it's Friday again already and time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles, not to mention it's the first of December tomorrow! I'm hoping you're a bit more ready for Christmas than me as I still have loads to do!
It's also very cold and frosty today which is the reason for my title. Minus temperatures for the first time this winter and the sun is shining making the thick layer of frost all sparkly - lovely!
This week the challenge is a sketch which I've flipped so that my favourite snowman is facing the right way on my card. It's one of my specials and won't be going through the post as I think my faux snow would get crushed!



All the elements on my card including the cute snowman are from the Here Comes Christmas CD and I've gone for a non traditional blue and brown colour combination which I thought gave a more frosty look to my creation.
I covered my card blank with the blue paper which I distressed by rubbing the edges with an emery board to rough them up and the added Vintage Photo Distress ink. I did the same to the panel of snowy tree paper.
I made a faux icicle border which I hand cut from white card and then added glitter glue and faux snow made using a Deco Art snow writer.
I printed the snowman out and coloured him with Aquamarkers (my new obsession!) then die cut the image into an oval and inked the edges with the Vintage Photo. I added him to the card, sticking him so that some of the icicles over hung the panel.
I finished off with an inked sentiment ticket with a scrap of bakers twine tied at the ends.

Have a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Moving Along With The Times - Use 3 Elements Starting With The Same Letter (Bows, Blue, Brown)
Digi Makeover Challenge - Christmas
Love To Create - Non Traditional Holiday Colours

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Donna's Amazing Candy

A big thanks to fellow DT member Claire at Fashionable Stamping for pointing me in the direction of the lovely Donna of Bearly Mine Crafts and her totally amazing candy.
You need to be very quick though as this closes on 30 November and you can find all the details HERE of what she's offering and here's the pic to show it.

Isn't this just amazing!
Also up for grabs if you're a UK resident is a brand new Epson printer which is pictured below:



Thanks to Donna for this amazing chance.

Fliss xx

Christmas Wishes Tag

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good week and are hopefully not flooded out with all the rain we've had.
I have a tag to share with you today that's another of my never ending stream of Christmas makes and is also my inspiration over at the Studio 12 Creative Team blog.
Here it is and hope you like it!


I've used my favourite tag shape of the moment, my Tim Holtz cabinet card die and cut it out of kraft card.
I then covered it with one of the Christmas lights frames from the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist, cutting it to shape round the top of the die cut.
I added some embellishments from the CD to make a little Christmas scene complete with fairy only not on top of the tree! I added lots of glitter to embellish although it doesn't show up very well in the photo.
I finished off with some gold ribbon at the top.

Have a great day.
Fliss xx

Monday 26 November 2012

Autumn Gold

Good morning folks, it's Monday again and it's chucking down the rain outside yet again so I hope none of you have been flooded out. Not something we get here very often fortunately as the nearest rivers are 5 miles either side of us.
Today sees the last of the Autumn supplies challenges over at Make My Monday and this week the supplies in question are Buttons and Ribbon.
I decided on very warm and glowing colours for my card as I think we all need a bit of cheering up in the wet and dreary weather so I hope this does the trick!


I made the background paper using Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress inks with my Vintage Inking Technique (you can find the link to this by clicking on my new Tutorial page at the top of my blog). I then added faux stitching using a brown fine pen and the Tim Holtz Idea-ology ruler.
I added the panel to a tent fold card blank I made (necessary as the card is embellishment heavy) and added a central border of scrap decorated paper from my bits box, trimmed with a Martha Stewart punch. I also added a small strip of painted corrugated card and some lovely Autumn coloured ribbon lurking in my ribbon jar.
I then added a further scrap of stamped paper from my bits box to a recycled clothing tag (thick kraft chipboard so I just had to save this!), trimming the paper edges with pinking scissors. I made a rather bold floral embellishment using a piece of velvet ribbon in a gorgeous russet shade, running a line of stitches down one long edge and gathering it up to form a circle. I topped this with a flower from my bits box and and a lovely flower button with the shank chopped off.
I assembled the card with a panel of painted corrugated card, trimmed at the top with the pinking scissors and finished off with a couple of the leaves left over from an earlier project and a die cut sentiment stamped with a Hobby Craft clear stamp on kraft card.

Have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Gingerloft Challenge - Leaves
Stampin' For The Weekend - Use Some Texture

Saturday 24 November 2012

Angels Among Us

Hello folks, hope you're all having a good weekend. A big welcome to my new followers and many thanks to everyone who kindly left me well wishes for my nasty cold bug thing which has still not gone after almost a week but I do feel a bit more human now lol.
Also, any of you that haven't yet seen the candy I have on offer until 10 December should check out the post at the top of my blog for all the details as you need to be a follower and join the linky list to be in with a chance of winning.
Now for my little bit of crafting that I managed to finish today which is another Christmas decoration, this time inspired by the current Crafty Individuals challenge, Festive Sparkle, with 25% off at the online shop for entrants, so how could I resist!
There are rather a lots of photos as the decoration is over 50cm in length and was very difficult to photograph to see all the detail.





 

The little vintage angel squares are from CI - 112 and I stamped them on white card with Archival coffee ink, coloured them with Promarkers and Luminance pencils and trimmed the squares down to left a 1cm border all round.
I made frames from light blue glitter card using Papermania square dies to fit the images and added these over the top to make the framed panels.
I then stamped CI - 237 all over a 21cm square of white card with Victorian Velvet Distress ink and die cut the scalloped squares from this with a Nestabilities set. I added the angel panels after arranging the scalloped squares as diamond shapes.
I threaded the panels on to silver sparkly ribbon, secured on the back with tape and forming a hanging loop at the top. I decorated the panels with silver bows and sparkly snowflake and star embellishments.

Hoping that you enjoy the rest of the weekend, despite the rather dreary weather.
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my decoration:
Crafty Individuals Challenge - Festive Sparkle
Sugar Creek Hollow - Vintage Christmas

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Snowflake Sparkle

Good morning folks, hoping you're all feeling a lot better than me today as I seem to have picked up a rather nasty bug from somewhere which has given me a raging sore throat, irritating tickle type cough and a really muzzy head so you can probably guess I'm feeling very sorry for myself lol
To take my mind off it, I've popped online to show you a card I managed to finish (crafting helps when I'm feeling under the weather) which is a vintage style card inspired by the beautiful image I came across when trawling through my computer files the other day.
Here's what I made and sorry for the pic - the light is bad today and the flash has washed out the colours a bit as well as some of the bling.


As you see, a blingy and sparkly creation in soft colours inspired by the gorgeous image which is one shared some time ago on Art Freebies blog which was run by June of Dezinaworld who recently had the very nasty experience of having her blog and things hacked and sadly had to close them all down.
I made a simple background paper by using some of the Tattered Angels snow crystal masks with Vintage Pink and Lavender Fields Glimmer Mists. I then added some crystal snowflake stickers that had been floating around in my Christmas box for a while.
I added the pretty image to a silver glitter card mat and applied this with foam tape after wrapping silver sparkly ribbon round the backing panel and tying a bow.
I finished off with my favourite Christmas sentiment for this year from the Tim Holtz mini holidays 4 stamp collection, stamped with black and coloured with Promarkers. 

That's all for now and I'm keeping myself going with copious cups of tea!
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
It's All About The Vintage - Snow
Try It On Tuesday - Christmas Sparkle
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Cold and Frosty
Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge - Winter

Monday 19 November 2012

Autumn Floral

Good morning folks, hope you all had a lovely weekend with some sunshine as we did here on the South coast.
Monday is here again and it's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday where we're continuing with our Autumn November theme and this week the supplies extra to include is Vellum.
This is something I don't think gets used enough and that's true of me too so I had a rummage through my stash and found some vellum in a soft shade of green. I then had to decide what to do with it and being me, you've guessed it I'm sure - I stamped on it!
Here's my card:


I stamped on the vellum with the Kaisercraft berries and twigs flourish stamp which seems to be a favourite at the moment (I haven't yet put it away!) using Palette raw sienna ink which is permanent like StazOn as you need it to be permanent so it will dry. In this case it took a while to dry completely but ended up with a lovely soft look. I wrapped this round some card cut a little smaller than my card blank and secured it at the back. I added a panel of kraft card embossed with the Darice long flowers border and made 2 corners from the leftover piece.
I stamped the gorgeous chrysanthemums (my fave Autumn flower) by Circa Design with VersaFine Olympia green ink and coloured the image with Prisma pencils. I die cut it into an oval and gently inked the edges with soft green.
I wrapped a lace border round the vellum and embossed kraft panel and added this to the card and then added the image panel with foam tape. I added some pearls to the lace.
I finished off with a lovely sentiment from Mynnette of On A Stampage which I re-sized slightly and die cut into a circle, adding it to a scalloped kraft card mat.

Hope you like this and we'd love to see some more entries as we have a fab prize this month of a £10 Joanna Sheen voucher from our kind sponsor, Vee Cassidy.

Have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
The Squirrel and The Fox - Anything Goes
ATCs and Cards With Attitude - Anything Autumn/Winter Goes

Sunday 18 November 2012

Driving Home For Christmas

Hello folks, are you all singing now as that song by Chris Rea is a favourite of mine at Christmas and is the inspiration behind my creation for the new challenge for the fortnight over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges with the theme of Home Sweet Home.
I have to admit to having been in a bit of a quandary about this challenge as I couldn't make my mind up what to do and the card came about after a visit to Morrisons earlier in the week where to my complete horror, Christmas songs were playing!Can you guess I'm not feeling Christmassy yet?!
Here's what I came up with:


I've used one of my favourite stamps from a set I bought last year by Papermania as I loved this snowy village scene. I stamped it with Archival coffee ink on thick cartridge paper and then coloured the scene with Luminance pencils.
I made a frame for the scene by stamping the bird and misteltoe (Onyx Expressions) in the bottom right corner of a larger piece of cartridge paper using Archival olive and coffee inks and coloured with a mix of Luminance and watercolour pencils. I then used my trusty Creative Memories oval cutting set to cut an aperture so the I could partially cut round the bird image to add depth to the scene.
I then stamped on the Christmas text from a much older Papermania clear stamp set using an inked baby wipe on an acrylic block left over from a crafting session a couple of months ago - I covered it with cling film at the time and it's still got tons of life in it! If you'd like to know how to do this technique, it was kindly shared by Mynnette, one of my fellow MMM DT sisters, on her Technique Tuesday Challenge which you can find here. I was also thrilled to bits to have my bargello card for the last challenge there as a featured card - thanks Mynnette!
I added the panels to a kraft card blank (8x8) and finished off with an old gold ribbon and bow.

So there you have it and I hope you like it. my fellow Fashionettes have made some gorgeous inspiration for the catwalk and as always our sponsor is the lovely Marina of Cottage Crafts so do pop over for all the details.

Have a lovely day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Use Something More Than 6 Months Old (All My Stamps)
4 Crafty Chicks - Winter Wonderland
Craft Punked - Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Friday 16 November 2012

Coming Up Roses

Good morning folks, hope you all saw my candy post of yesterday but if not, then you'll find it right at the top of my blog.
As it's Friday, there's a new challenge today over at Polka Doodles and this week the theme is to make A Square Card With A Round Element.
I've gone very girly for my card this time using elements all from the Pretty Sweet CD with one of my favourite things, roses.


I covered my card blank which I used tent style with layers of the pretty rosebud paper, trimming the pink one with a Papermania scallop border die and mixing in a little bright pink stripy paper. I also added half a large white doily in with the layers.
I coloured the sweet Amelia image with Aquamarkers and added more detail with pencils then cut her out. I added her to a circular mat of the grungy rosebud paper set on a larger mat of the brighter stripy paper.
I added one of the lovely sentiments on a stripy mat, together with a wooden butterfly altered with the antique pink Promarker and some inked, embossed and glittered Sissix die cut flourishes.

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

Some challenges for my card:
Craft Room Challenge - Punches and Die Cuts
Crafty Cardmakers - More Than One Punch And/Or Diecut
Ooh La La Creations - Someone Special
The Pink Elephant Monday Card Challenge - Punches/Dies

Wednesday 14 November 2012

All Spruced Up!

Hello everyone and welcome to my new followers - so lovely to see you here and so glad to have you.
I'm  here today with another Christmas decoration using some recycled materials along with some of the gorgeous images you'll find on the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 CD - Gingerbread Twist which is my inspiration for Studio 12 Creative Team.
I adore robins as we have a pair that nest every year in the ivy twining round one of our pergola posts and they're so cute when feeding their babies so the gorgeous images on the CD are a real favourite of mine and I couldn't resist using one of them on my decoration.
Here's what I made:


It's actually simpler than you might think as the base is made of 2 circles of greyboard, one left whole and the other with a central hole cut out. I used a circle cutter as I didn't have the right size dies but if you do it's a lot quicker! I painted the ring circle with deep green acrylic paint.
I then made the inside section firstly cutting a circle of plastic packaging slightly larger than the central hole of the ring and embossed this with Cuttlebug musical folder. I then inked it with Adirondack Watermelon and Butterscotch alcohol inks.
I cut an even larger circle of vintage music score and stuck this to the whole circle (this is the back of the wreath), then added the embossed panel using small pieces of tape round the edges so that it didn't show in the ring aperture.
I printed out the robin and some spruce which I re-sized slightly to fit my design - I dropped them all into a Word document as I find this the easiest way to print out multiple images. I then cut them out and inked the white portions of the spruce with green ink.
I assembled the wreath as you see, sandwiching some rustic twine between the 2 layers as a hanging loop then adding some bows and tiny roses to embellish it and cover up some of the gaps. As a finishing touch I then gave the spruce a coating of glitter glue and added a sprinkle of Distress Stickles Rock Candy dry glitter for some frosty sparkle.


Have a great day and hope you have a little sunshine as we do here at the moment.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my wreath:
Corrosive Challenges - Flutter By
Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes
Glitter n Sparkle - Things With Wings
Divas By Design - Anything Goes

Monday 12 November 2012

Autumn All Stitched Up

Good morning everyone, hoping that you all had a good weekend and a big hello to my new followers - lovely to have you here and hope to get to know you soon.
Being Monday, it's that time again - we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday. Carrying on with the monthly theme of Autumn, this week's theme is Stitching - Real or Faux.

I decided to go with the faux (no pun intended - honest!) as my machine stitching on paper is still a bit iffy.

The background paper here was the result of an experiment (which didn't quite work I might add lol) using Sir Tim's Marbled Stains technique from Compendium of Curiosities 2 but the card I used was a bit too matte in texture so the stains didn't marble as expected, but sort of splodge!!! I did quite like the result though as it ended up very grungy and you know how much I like that! I used Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive and the Antiqued Bronze Metallic Stain which is really yummy.
I stamped on a berry twig design from the Kaisercraft Twig and Berry Flourish clear stamp set (ordered one day delivered the next By Bunny Zoe!) using VersaMagic Pumpkin Spice chalk ink - how appropriate is that?!
I printed out the gorgeous pumpkin digital stamp from the Autumn collection on the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD and coloured this with a mix of Aquamarkers and Luminance pencils. I then inked the panel with Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive and Wild Honey Distress inks.
I made a panel of kraft card as a mat and embossed this with a Darice flourish frame folder before adding the pumpkin panel.
I originally planned on making a square card but couldn't bear to cover up too much of the background paper so I made use of an A5 kraft card blank I had with a damaged front step - I chopped this off to use elsewhere and was left with a tent shape card.
I cut the backing paper in half and added faux stitching with the aid of the fab Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler and a brown fineliner. I then added the pumpkin panel over the central gap.
The finishing touch is a Hobby Art sentiment stamped with coffee Archival ink and inked with Topaz and Bisque VersaColor inks.

Hoping you have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes
Pile It On Challenge - Let's Be Thankful
Sentimental Sundays - Thanks or Thanksgiving
My Sheri Crafts Challenge - Give Thanks
Aud Sentiments - Thanks!
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - My Favourite Things (Making my own background, texture, faux stitching)
Pixie Dust Studio - Fabulous Fall Colours

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Autumn's Fruitfulness

Hello folks, hope you're having a good week in the exceedingly chilly weather we have at the moment and are managing to say warm.
I'm here today with an Autumn themed tag in a slightly unusual shape which is my midweek post for the current challenge at Make My Monday which has the theme of Autumn with the twist of Kraft Card and Twine/String.


A very simple creation using kraft card die cut with the Tim Holtz cabinet card die then embossed with my current favourite embossing folder - the Darice fall leaves.
I added a scrap of corrugated card from my bits box, already painted with a rich dark red acrylic paint and stamped the Gordiano bird and berries image (Joanna Sheen) with Memories creamy coffee chalk ink and coloured it with watercolour pencils. I then cut it out to leave a border of cream card and added it to the tag with foam tape.
I finished off with some garden twine (Wilkinsons). Very quick and easy!

Have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my tag:
Cupcake Craft Challenge - Get Krafty
Love To Create - Shades of Autumn
Paper Playtime - Autumn Colours
Penny Black & More At Allsorts - Any Die Will Do
Crazy 4 Challenges - Anything But A Card

Monday 5 November 2012

Seeds of Happiness

Good morning all, it's the start of another week and hoping you all had a lovely weekend.
It's also the start of a new theme for the month over at Make My Monday and November sees the choice of former DT member Suzanne who's happily joining us as a guest designer this month along with the lovely Avril B. Our theme this month is Autumn with the twist of Use Your Supplies and this week the theme is
Kraft and Twine/String


I've gone for warm Autumn shades for my card (necessary as it's fr-eeeeezing at the moment - brrrrr!). I inked the textured card using my Vintage Inked Background Technique with Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress inks and then stamped on various leaves (all Rubber Stampede) with Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive and Vintage photo inks.
I embossed a panel of kraft card with the Darice fall leaves folder and trimmed round the edges of the leaves on 2 sides. I swiped brown ink on the raised areas.
I stamped further leaves using various Distress inks, heat embossing some with clear powder and cutting them all out. I also stamped the uplifting sentiment from Paper Artsy Hot Pick HPXT04 with Memories creamy coffee chalk ink and trimmed this to a panel.
I assembled the card tent style with some twine tied into a bow on one side and a scrap of corrugated card painted rusty brown from my bits box.

The Design Team have made some gorgeous and very varied creations to inspire you and this month we have a fab prize donated by Vee Cassidy of a £10 Joanna Sheen voucher so if you haven't yet entered any of our challenges, now would be a great time to start!

Have a great week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
 Craft Punked - Fall/Thanksgiving
Wags 'n' Whiskers - Fall Colours
Pixie Dust Studio - Leaves
Crafting For All Seasons - Falling Leaves
Stampavie and More - Autumn

Sunday 4 November 2012

A Joyful Christmas

Hello folks,  many thanks to all of you that left me birthday wishes yesterday which were much appreciated.
I got some lovely pressies too, the main one being a stamp maker which I can't wait to have a go with as I'm looking forward to being able to turn some of my scribbles and doodles into stamps. The James Bond Skyfall was very good too with amazing stunts and a somewhat creepy villain (or at least I thought he was), so if you haven't yet seen it, I can thoroughly recommend it.
Now enough waffling and on to the reason for the post which is to tell you about our new challenge for the next fortnight at Fashionable Stamping Challenges which has been chosen by our newest fashionette Esther and is the theme of Musical. Lots of ways to interpret this one and to me, music immediately shouted birds so I've made another Christmas card for my collection with my favourite Christmas bird.


I stamped the cute Stampendous robin on thick cartridge paper and coloured him with Aquamarkers. I die cut the image with a Papermania die and then added snow with the Decoart snow writer and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust.
I made the background paper using my watercolour crayon technique and Neocolor 11 water soluble crayons (if you click on the tutorial page at the top, you'll find a link to the relevant technique if you'd like to know how to do it. I used several colours of green and the paper started out like this:


You can see the end result on my card and after using the technique, I stamped on the music score (Forest Moss Distress ink) and poinsettia (VersaFine Vintage Sepia) from the Tim Holtz mini holidays 4 set.
I embossed a panel of kraft card with the Cuttlebug musical folder, sanded the raised areas and then added green and brown inks to distress it a little.
I assembled the card as you see, adding hessian weave and ribbon, a poinsettia (Nestabilities) and fir (Marianne Design) and punched holly together with my favourite sentiment from the set and some tiny pearls.

We'd love to see you enter but please remember that as we are a stamping challenge, no digis are allowed and we must see stamping on your entry.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Raise The Bar - Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Ribbon and/or Twine
Fab 'n ' Funky - Die Cuts/Punches
Nutcrafters - Ribbon/Twine

Saturday 3 November 2012

The Lonesome Pine

Hello everyone, today is a special day for me as it's my birthday! Won't be sharing my age though as I've got to the stage of wanting to forget about it lol.
We're off to see Skyfall tonight and I can't wait as I love James Bond films and it's been too long since the last one. No meal out today as the film is an awkward time so I hope we'll do that sometime soon. I'm planning on some crafting today and also will be sorting out some goodies as candy is rather overdue.
I have a project to share with you that is my inspiration for today over at Studio 12 Creative Team.
My decoration started life as a rather cheap wooden whitewashed rustic style heart (from The Range) and after the makeover, here's the finished result - ta da!



It was quite difficult to photograph the heart hanger to show the full sparkle so there's a second pic with the tree detail so you can get the full Frantage effect of the stunning embossing powders I used here. A bit of the sparkle does show but I was a bit light challenged!

I gave the heart a wash of very watered down periwinkle blue and sage acrylic paint and when dry, dry brushed on a little antique white. Because I used a wash, the original wood still shows through to add loads of texture.
I then got to work with a Versamark ink pad to add streaks on the raised areas, sprinkled on the amazing new Ranger sticky embossing powder, heated it to melt and then added Ranger clear Rock Candy dry glitter which sticks to the embossing powder like magic. The photo doesn't really do justice to the amazing sparkle you get so you'll have to trust me there!
I then printed out one of the pine trees from the Gingerbread Twist Cd twice on to strong card and cut out one whole tree and alternate sections of the second, starting at the top.
I embossed the complete tree with Frantage Aged Green embossing enamel and the sections with Aged Silver. Just one coat is all you need for this effect. I then glued on the silver sections over the top of the corresponding green sections as shown in the photo.
I altered some snowflakes which came from a pound shop snowflake garland using Pear Green and Amethyst Promarkers to add a little colour and glued everything in place on the altered heart.

Hoping you have a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

PS: I listened to the Skyfall theme by Adele on You Tube last night and it's amazing so do listen if you get a chance - probably the only song from the lovely Adele that's been Bonded up!

Some challenges for my altered heart:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Add Texture
Delicious Doodles - Embossing - Heat or Dry
The Stamp Man - Emboss It

Friday 2 November 2012

Sing A Song Of Christmas

Hello peeps, it's Friday again and almost the weekend so it's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles. This week the theme is Bright Colours With Sparkle so what else could I do but another Christmas card to add to my growing collection - a bit better than my usual panic the first week of December lol.


All of the elements on my card are from the Here Comes Christmas CD which has tons of papers, images and toppers.
I printed out the cute carol singers and die cut the image into a circle. I covered the card blank with a panel of my favourite plaid paper and added a side border of bright green card embossed with the Cuttlebug holly folder.
My sparkle element is the bright pink glittery card border and I added some decoupaged holly sprigs and the sentiment which I die cut and decorated with some tiny heart shaped buttons.

Before I forget, we have a DT call out at the moment which is for new creative talent outside the UK this time so if you're interested (who wouldn't be?!), all the details are over at Polka Doodles.


Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
ABC Christmas Challenge - V for Vibrant Colours
Divas By Design - Feeling Festive
My Mum's Craft Shop - Bold and Bright

Thursday 1 November 2012

A Heartwarming Christmas

Hello folks, hope you're managing to stay warm in this rather wild and windy weather we have, not to mention wet!
I'm back again (4th post this week!) today to share my card which is the inspiration over at the Studio 12 Creative Team and I made a vintage style creation with elements which all came from the Gingerbread Twist CD - another Christmas card for the pile - yay!


I covered the card blank with the pretty snowflake paper having first added a border trimmed from the kraft zigzag snowflake paper and a piece of black and white gingham ribbon for added pop.
I then added some circles of the same kraft paper and red poinsettia paper for contrast with a pretty white doily.
I finished off with the cute reindeer - don't you just love the little heart dangling from his antler - and one of the gorgeous word art elements.
The final touch is a handmade heart shaped button created from gold Fimo and stamped for texture before baking. I tied some thread into a bow through the holes.

Don't forget that we have a mega giveaway for November as Nikky has generously decided to give stash from Studio 12/Polka Doodles to the value of £50 to the winner - how about that for a fab Christmas present! All details are over at Studio 12.

Have a good day and stay warm.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Digi Makeover Challenge - Lots of Layers
Ooh La La Creations - Christmas
Stamp and Create Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Wednesday 31 October 2012

A Bit Of Ooh La La!

Good morning folks, I'm here today to show you the card I made as the midweek motivation for this week's challenge over at Make My Monday with the theme of French Feminine/Romance.


I wanted to use this very elegant showgirl by Kanban as she looks rather French to me with a definite hint of ooh la la! I stamped her with Memories artprint brown then coloured the image with Promarkers and watercolour pencils and die cut the panel.
The background paper which came from my experiment box uses Vintage photo Distress ink with the vaseline resist technique and gives a lovely shabby chic effect.
I made a border using corrugated card recycled from a takeaway coffee cup holder which I painted with acrylics and then sprinkled with tarnished gold embossing powder and heated to melt.
The fleur de lys embellishment was made by stamping the image and embossing with Frantage aged green embossing enamel then cut it out.
I finished off with some text from the Kanban set stamped with the brown ink.

Have a good day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Fashionista Challenge - Anything Goes
Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes
Twisted Tuesday - Anything Goes

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Dreamer

Hello all, hope you're having a reasonable week and I'm thinking of everyone currently suffering in the USA due to hurricane Sandy. I'm hoping that you all stay safe and don't have too much damage to deal with when the hurricane has passed.
I have a card to share with you today that made use of the leftover section you get when you're die cutting a shape and this one is such a pretty shape that I decided to use it as a frame on my card.


My card uses stamps from Crafty Individuals and I first stamped all round the edges of the frame with CI - 253 with VersaFine Smokey Gray ink. The stamp is actually square and made up of lots of tiny flowers - it's really easy to stamp small sections of it all round as any overlapping areas just seem to disappear. I inked it with Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Stormy Sky then added Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo on the outer edges.
I stamped the vintage fairy (CI - 137) with the grey ink, coloured her with Promarkers and watercolour pencils and cut the panel out, following the scroll line on the left side.
I made a background by embossing white card with the Cuttlebug daisies folder and added a trellis cut with the Cheery Lynn lattice die from white card and inked with pale green.
I assembled the card in layers as you see, adding a green flourish die cut with a Marianne die and some tiny green pearls.

Bye for now,
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Cheery Lynn Challenge - Vintage
Love To Create - Lots of Layers
The Pink Elephant - Vintage/Shabby Chic
Addicted To Stamps - Things With Wings
Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes

Monday 29 October 2012

La Belle Femme

Hello folks, and especially my new followers, hoping you all had a good weekend despite the very chilly weather. In my case it was a good excuse to stay warm and do some crafting so I now have exceedingly inky fingers!
This brings me neatly to my inky creation for the last of the October French theme challenges over at Make My Monday and this week the challenge is to make something Feminine or Romantic, or both if you like. It must still have a French flavour to it though so please don't forget that bit of ooh la la!
My card as you will see is mostly pink again as I always think it's such a feminine colour.


The background paper is stamped with the gorgeous Prickley Pear Eiffel flourish image together with Hero Arts old French writing using Memories Artprint Brown ink. I then got very inky fingers sponging on Victorian Velvet Distress ink (not as bad as the usual blue, green or purple fingers I've had recently lol). I then added a smidgeon of colour with various Promarkers.
I stamped my favourite B Line Designs stamp, Le Brun, with the same brown ink then added a little colour with Promarkers (Saffron, Vanilla, Antique Pink and Tea Green) and cut out to leave a fairly wide contrasting border round the image.
I stamped the lace (also B Line Designs) with the brown ink and added colour again with Promarkers. I cut this out too and used deckle scissors on the shaped edge as these give a very good effect on a fluffy type edge.
I assembled the card as you see, adding text from a Kanban clear stamp set stamped in brown and coloured with the Dusky Pink Promarker.

Hope you have a good week.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my inky creation:
Vintage Stamping Challenges - Anything Goes
It's All About Vintage - Make Your Own Background

Sunday 28 October 2012

Wings Of A Dove

Hello folks, it's a very chilly and frosty 1 degree here on the South coast this morning but the sun is shining so it's lovely and bright at least. The extra hour in bed was lovely too although it was still difficult to get out of the snuggly, warm covers.
I'm here today with my card which is part of the inspiration for the new giveaway at Studio 12 Creative Team which will be drawn at the end of November. This month the giveaway is really extra special too as it's some fabulous stash to the value of an amazing £50!


I made a shaped card blank with a Go Kreate XXL scalloped circle die and inked the edges with VersaMagic Magnolia Bud chalk ink. I added a panel of the gorgeous holly paper from the CD cut out with the same die set.
I printed out the beautiful dove on to very smooth white card and then sprinkled on detail gold embossing powder before the ink dried (you need to stand by the printer and add the powder immediately it comes out) and heated it to melt the powder.
I coloured the panel using various shades of VersaMagic inks after die cutting it to a circle. I made a mat for the panel by doodling text all around the edge with a brown fine pen then inking just the edge with Topaz and Split Pea VersaColor inks then sprinkled with crystal embossing powder to heat emboss for some sparkle.

All the details of how you can be in with a chance to win the fantastic November candy are over at the Creative Team blog so don't forget to pop over - there's some fabulous inspiration to feast your eyes on too.

Also, for those of you that hail from Europe and the rest of the world, Nikky has a Design Team call out over at Polka Doodles, so if you'd like to be part of our friendly team, pop over to the Challenge Blog for all the details. You have until 5 November to apply so don't be shy!

Have a great Sunday.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Some Challenges for my card:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Circle
Crafty Ann's Challenge - Christmas in October
Stampin' For The Weekend - Anything Goes

Monday 22 October 2012

Joie De Vivre

Hello folks, hoping you all had a good weekend and a reasonable start to the week. I'm a bit late with my post for the new challenge over at Make My Monday today due to a very busy weekend with family stuff and workshop preparations for today as my mojo decided to go walkabout.
This week the challenge continues with the French theme for October with a colour twist this time of Tricoleur, the colours of the flag, otherwise known as blue, white and red so your entry should have these colours with a French flavour.


A fairly simple card from me this time using brayered stripes of Stormy Sky and Barn Door Distress inks as the background for my stamping.
I then stamped on some of the images from the Artistic Outpost Paris Exposition set with black ink and stamped the patriotic looking lady separately on white card. I added some fleur de lis across the base with Fired Brick Distress ink and the All Night Media fleur de lys stamp.
I cut out the lady and added her with double sided tape on the outer edge and foam tape on the other. This trick helps to make the image stand out but hide the tape at the side.

Hopefully we'll get a few more entries this time as the challenge last week seems to have scared most of you off!

Have a good afternoon and evening.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations Paint Challenge - Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday -  No Rules!

Sunday 21 October 2012

Hocus Pocus

Good morning folks, hope you're all having a lovely weekend. It rained here most of the day yesterday so I got on with some necessary crafting for a workshop I'm teaching on Monday so will be able to share some cards from that with you soon.
Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our last one was certainly popular with a very large number of entries. We hope you like this theme as much as it's Halloween or Halloween Colours for those of you who don't do Halloween.
My card features a stamp set I've had my eye on for ages and finally succumbed to as it's not hugely Halloween themed and can be used for other occasions too.


I absolutely love this owl image which is from the Hocus Pocus stamp set by Indigo Blu as is the spider web complete with spider. I think the owl is so cute and cuddly looking although the castle in the background is quite Gothic.
I stamped the owl with Memories black ink and coloured both him and the castle with Promarkers. I then sponged on Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door Distress inks for a brooding sunset.
I then made a frame using the Tim Holtz cabinet card die and stamped on the spider and web on one side and just the web by masking off the spider on the other side. I added some doodling to the webs to make them fit the space. I sponged on a mix of Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord Distress inks. I stamped the text on one side with Hero Arts alphabet stamps and doodled some brickwork round the edges of the arch shape.
I then cut a panel of white card slightly larger than the purple panel and sponged Mowed Lawn Distress ink down the sides, stamping the spider web on with the black ink.
I added the panels to a black card blank and finished off with a black card border punched with the Martha Stewart wrought iron punch.

The Fashionettes have made some fabulous inspiration for you to see HERE and please don't forget if you enter that we must see some stamping on your project to qualify for the prize from Marina of Cottage Crafts or the Top 3.

Have a great Sunday.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
2 Sisters - Cute and Creepy
Craftymess Challenge - Halloween
Di's Digi Designs Challenge - Too Cute To Spook
My Sheri Crafts - Halloween

Friday 19 October 2012

Autumn Leaves

Hello folks, it's Friday yet again and I don't know where the weeks are flying off to at the moment. We have a new challenge for you today over at Polka Doodles and this week the theme chosen by Nikky is Autumn with some of those lovely warm colours and lots of leaves.
I'm a little printer challenged at the moment as it struggles with colour and only seems to like doing black and white so it gave me the chance to get some stamps out to make my background paper and you know how much I like doing that!
The result was a rather quirky card which I hope you'll like.


I made the background paper using stamps from the Daisy Doodles stamp set which has loads of really useful stamps. I arranged some flowers, leaves and swirls on an acrylic block in a cluster as it saves a lot of time to stamp them like this rather than individually. I used Archival coffee ink on a piece of A5 white card and then added colour to some of the leaves with Promarkers. I then inked the panel with Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks.
I stamped Flutterby Fairy Gracie and her wings, together with the frame and sentiment from the daisy doodles set and coloured everything with Promarkers. I printed out some leaves and toadstools from the Sundae of Seasons CD and coloured  them with a mix of Distress Inks and Promarkers. I then cut all the images out.
I embossed an oval panel and a wide border strip of white card with the Darice fall leaves folder, inked them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and trimmed one end of the border strip round the shape of the leaves.
I assembled the card as you see adding a wooden flower embellishment to finish.

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

Some challenges for my card:
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Things With Wings
Try It On Tuesday - Autumn Colours

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Toujours La France

Good morning folks, we have very strange weather here today as it's sunny but also raining and can't seem to make its' mind up! There was a rainbow too of the blink and you miss it type and I just managed to snap it before it disappeared completely.


Now for the actual reason for this post which is to share with you the card I made as my mid week motivation over at the Make My Monday challenge blog where this week the theme is French Fleur De Lys. Not many entries yet so I'm hoping I haven't scared everyone off - it is quite an easy theme as you don't need stamps or die cuts if you don't have them as there are loads of graphics about you could use.
My card here uses an embossing folder although I've given it quite a makeover as you'll see so please do take a look.


My background paper is a torn piece of vintage music score (my bargain buy from Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne - just £2.50 for the entire Mikado score!!!) which I've inked up with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.
I then stamped the gorgeous Stampendous image with Archival coffee ink and coloured the panel with pencils and inks in Spring like colours (rather refreshing in Autumn!).
I next embossed a panel of white card with the Cuttlebug fleur de lys folder and inked it with Spun Sugar and Crushed Olive Distress Inks. I then trimmed the panel to the shape you see and swiped on a little green and blue ink to add to the Spring like feel.

Hope you have a great day.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
A and T Emerald Faeries - Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge - Anything Goes
House of Gilli Challenge - Anything Goes

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Vintage Style Inking Tutorial

Hello folks, I'm back today with my promised tutorial for the inking technique I used on my easel card for the Make My Monday challenge last week. It gives a really lovely mottled effect with a definite vintage flavour and is really easy and quick to do.
You might want to get a cuppa before you start reading as it's quite photo heavy to show all the different stages and there's a card at the end which I made with the paper.
Here we go!

You'll need some baby wipes and some toning shades of Distress inks - here I've used Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Crushed Olive. You'll also need some fairly textured card as it works best on rough textures so you could also use cold pressed watercolour paper.


Step 1 - Using a baby wipe, apply a layer of the lightest ink to your piece of card and allow to dry for a couple of minutes.


Step 2 - Shape the baby wipe into a ball and pick up some of the next ink shade and tap this onto the inked card. If your ink pad is very wet, you'll need to tap gently as you're aiming for a "fluffy" look to the applied ink. Repeat until the card is covered as shown.


Step 3 -  Repeat the second step with the first ink shade. You'll see the mottling start to build up now.


Step 4 - Repeat the second step again with the third ink shade until the card is well covered with the mottled effect.


 Step 5 - Your final result should look something like this.


Step 6 - Your decorated paper is now ready to use as it is, or stamped on like mine. I've used the jumbo cling rosehip design by Stampendous with VersaFine Toffee ink.


Here's the card I made with the paper, adding the woman image (Rubber Stampede) a little inking on the roses with Topaz and Paprika VersaColor inks, some computer generated text (I saw this lovely quote in a craft magazine) and some stamped, cut out leaves adding a slightly more textured look to the design.

Hoping you like this as it really is easy and you can achieve loads of different effects depending on the colours and inks you use. You could also try the technique with paint.
Hugs, Fliss xx