Floral Collages

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today, featuring stamps from our most recent TV shows on Create and Craft. We had a great mixture of brand new stamps and some fabulous useful favourites on the show, alongside some beautiful papers and some great little tools.

My first project is a journal page spread featuring lots of the stamps from the show. I started by stamping Rosella, a lovely large poppy stamp onto one of the pages, and masked this using Masking Tissue. I stamped a large circle from Make Your Mark, and masked this as well. I then started to build up the background, adding images from Numeri, Edgy Edges and Make Your Mark. I stuck to a colour palette of bluey purple, green and grey. I love this colour combination, and will definitely use it again. I added splatters of watered down watercolour paint over the background, and stamped the Rosella image twice more onto the opposite page.

I stamped the flower heads four times onto some scrap drawing cartridge and coloured these with watercolour paints. I cut them out and decoupaged the layers in sets of two and added them to the two flowers on the left hand page. I removed the circle mask from the other flower and added a circle frame mask so that I could add some colour to the circle shape itself on the page using some green ink. I removed the frame and the poppy mask. I coloured the flower using the watercolour paints.

Finally, I stamped some sentiments onto some scrap card that I had coloured when making a previous project. It toned in really well with my colour scheme. I also used masking tape to cover up parts of the Mindfulness stamp to leave a couple of the big wors, which I inked up, removed the tape, then stamped these onto some of the same coloured background. I added the sentiment strips onto the pages in a balanced way.

I really enjoy making journal pages. They are a great way of trying out ideas, that you can often adapt to cards at a later date. For example, the single flower with the circle highlight would make a great CAS card. You could use the flower with a single background stamping of the Numeri stamp on a card, or go for a more colloaged effect using a combination of these stamps as I have done in these pages. You can vary the colours, go for a monochrome colour scheme, opt for a traditional red poppy, or use similar colour to this layout, the sky really is the limit. If your ideas don't work out, just turn the page and start again. It's only a piece of paper, after all.

 My second project is a tag card. I used a plain white tag, but you could use the really useful Acrylic Tag Template Tool to create something similar. I stamped Blossom Spray twice onto the tag, and masked the images with Masking Tissue. I added some background colour to the tag using Distress Oxide Ink and a blending brush. I then stamped Scripted Fragments with grey Versafine Clair ink over the top before removing the masks. I coloured the flowers and leaves with coloured pencils.

I used a piece of black card to make a card blank, chopping off the corners to echo the shape of the tag. If you used the tag tool to make your tag, you could do the same thing with your folded black card to make your card blank, simply by using one of the circles around the tag template to get the larger size.

I will be back later in the month to share more projects with you. Thanks so much for stopping by, xx

Reuse, Recycle

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few projects to share with you today featuring stamps from this month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project features a bit of recycling, and when I showed it Lesley, we both laughed, as we had both thought up very similar projects! I started by creating a vibrant background using red, orange and yellow Brushos on a piece of Drawing Cartridge. These backgrounds are a great starting point for a project and you could have a crafty afternoon making lots of them and save them for later.

I then cut up a brown paper shopping bag, the sort that you get your groceries in from a supermarket, and ironed a smalled piece nice and flat. I stamped the Poppy Ledger image using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. I put a small amount of yellow, orange, red and olive green Brusho onto an acrylic block and gently spritzed each colour with water. I used a brush and some extra water to paint the image with these colours. I then used a couple of the colours to splat the image with my brush afterwards, to make it look a bit older. 

I added a piece of scrap card behind the image to make it a bit stiffer, then attached it to a piece of corrugated card that I had trimmed to become a mount. I think that this card would look great with some little tickets and some twine added to finish it off, don't you?

I have a couple of older projects to share with you. On my next project, I decided to stamp the lovely focal image from Fragile Wings onto dark blue card for a change. I used white pencil for highlights and than added some blue and green pencil for a pop of colour. The blue/green background uses a couple of useful background stamps that tie in well with the main image.

 

Next, this card featuring Floral Study is another older card, but I like the greens contrasted with the pinks and oranges, it feels quite warm. I have added stamping from the Glorious stamp set in the background, and used watercolour pencils to colour the main image.

I am also sharing some projects using some stamps from the tree house stamps that we brought to the shows. My next project uses the fabulous Tree House stamp set, and I chose to stamp the image onto a piece of patterned paper created by Lesley a while ago. The paper had lovely pink and green elements, and this became the basis for my colour scheme. I created a background for the card using Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks, then added a tree image and sentiment from the Trees a Crowd stamp set using a dark green ink. I stamped both repeatedly over the background.

I coloured the focal image with pencils, and then added extra shading around the main image and background using the Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

You could create a similar look if you did not have the patterned paper, using a piece of black and white script paper or a piece of plain smooth white stamping card. You could add script and a subtle floral image to the plain background, or some coloured stamping to the script background, plus a bit of shading. You can very easily achieve a patterned background that looks every bit as nice as the one that I started out with.

I have some older 'house' projects to share with you today, to round off this month's selection. I hope that you enjoy them. 

This one is created using the Mushroom House, and the moon reflecting on the house at night.

This one is the Heath Robinson House. I stamped the main image on a tag, coloured it with pencils, and used one of the sentiments to create a background over a gelli print.

 This one is Italian House, with a couple of Trees from Orchard Design a Tree, words from Words of Wisdom, and circles from Make Your Mark. I have added texture paste through a stencil and coloured the images with pencils.

This card was created using the Dutch House, and a tree from Trees a Crowd. I wanted the colourful houses to look like a street in Amsterdam in the Spring. 

Finally, a project from the Garden House. I stamped the image onto book paper, using the Tagtastic stamp as a frame. I added a couple of bees from the Honey Bee set and a sentiment onto the watercoloured background.

Thanks so much for stopping by and take care xx

Making a Mark

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few more projects to share with you showcasing the fabulous stamps that were featured during the TV shows this month on Create and Craft.

My first project is a DL card, created using a piece of book paper, which I coloured with some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink around the edges. I added some stamping using images from the Timeless stamp set, the splatter stamps are so useful to create an aged look. 

I stamped the Tagtastic stamp onto a piece of Drawing Cartridge that I had previously stained with tea and sprinkled with salt. I wanted to fill the tag image completely, so I used some of the smaller images from the Timeless stamp set to cover the blank areas; the bar code, the big splat, the mini clock, and the label definition. I used a bit of the Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and some water to colour some of the clocks on the main image.

My other two projects are older cards that I have shared before. I know that lots of our viewers are new to Chocolate Baroque, so I hope that you will not mind me sharing these again. 

The first card was created by stamping the fabulous large butterfly from Patchwork Butterfly onto a Brusho background from my stash. I stamped the image in one corner, and masked off the image with Masking Tissue. I then added images from Numerology, Make Your Mark, and the sentiment from Patchwork Butterfly over the background in colours to co-ordinate with the background colours. 

I coloured the butterfly with pencils, and added some shading around the edge of the butterfly with a grey pencil to create a shadow.

My next card was created using a Distress Ink background, using ones of blue and brown. I added stamps from Make Your Mark, Timeless, and Steampunk Butterfly to the Background. I embossed two Butterflies from the same stamp set using copper embossing powder, and coloured them using Inktense pencils. I added a sentiment from Punky Expressions.

My last two projects for today were made with the A Year of Stamping Issue 2 - February stamp. I wanted to show how different one stamp could look. For the first interpretation, I stamped the image on smooth stamping card, and coloured the mage with blue toned Inktense pencils. I created a matching background with Distress Inks and added some white embossing over the top. I used a circle stencil, and a stamp from Make Your Mark. I stamped the image itself using a deep blue Versafine Ink, instead of black for a change.

The second version was stamped on grey card, and coloured with regular pencils. I added some white shading in the circles behind the flowers.  The background was again made with Distress Inks in zingy colours this time, yellow, green and pink. I added stamping using images from Make Your Mark and Numerology.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing what I have created. Thanks so much for stopping by, your visits are always appreciated. Take care, xx

Colourful Fabric Projects

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. Hopefully you managed to catch our latest TV shows on Create and Craft on Friday, we always appreciate your support. The Design Team and I had a lot of fun creating projects with the stamps that featured on the shows, and you will see lots of our designs popping up on social media over the coming month. Be sure to check out our Facebook Group where we share lots of our projects.

I am sharing projects from one of my demos with you today; a quick, medium length, and a longer lenth project. They are all based on the same technique, depending on what time you have to spare, and which project you fancy creating. Initially, I used a square piece of fabric, which I painted with acrylic paints, (Paper Artsy). I spritzed the paints with water to loosen them up a bit, and blended them where they met on the fabric, just like I would if I were using inks on card or paper. Once I had covered the fabric, I dried it with a heat gun.

I chose stamps from Make Your Mark and Numerology and, using Archival Ink, I stamped the images onto the fabric. I chose colours of ink to co-ordinate with the background, Manganese Blue and Plum with a bit of Jet Black. I added a sentiment from Words to Dazzle and Sparkle on my original card, but during the demo, I used the phrase 'Make Your Mark' in the large circle. I added the fabric piece to a black card blank using strong double sided tape.

I decided to create a canvas using the same method of decorating fabric strips using acrylic paint and the stamps. I cut thick and thin strips, and used stamps from Make Your Mark, Numerology, Timeless and Just Useful. I used coloured Archival Ink as before, adding Olive as an extra colour. I painted the canvas background in the same colours and added some stamping to the canvas as well, using the splatter stamp and the very useful equation stamp, both from the Numerology stamp set. I worked out where I wanted to place the fabric strips, and glued them to the canvas using Matte Medium.

Finally, I used a tutorial that I had seen from Altered States Studio and I am adding a link to the video that I watched for my last project, here. I created a fabulous fabric basket using more decorated strips of fabric and used pva glue, (the tutorial recommends Elmer's Glue which is really easy to get hold of, and I got a clear version which works really well). You need a base to create your project around, so I used the bottom portion of a milk carton, but you could use a balloon for a more rounded basket. You then wrap cling film around the pot, and paint a layer of the glue on first before adding your fabric strips. Place your patterned inner strips on first, and plain layer next for rigidity, then finally, your decorated strips. I put my basket in the airing cupboard overnight. I put it inside a plastic crate, so that it wasn't touching any of my towels! 

My photos show the basket before I trimmed the top, it looks much neater now!

This would be a great project to create with your children in the holidays if you don't mind getting a bit messy. You could create several pots and use them for your paint brushes, pens, pencils etc. You could use the fabric strips for covering journals or boxes, the possibilities are numerous. I hope you will be inspired by my suggestions.

I will be back soon with more projects to share with you, your visits are always appreciated.

Take care xx

More Anything Goes Projects

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today on an 'Anything Goes' theme. There are so many stamps to choose from in the Chocolate Baroque stamp collection that I had a hard time narrowing down my choices for my final blog post this month!

For my first card, I decided to make a useful Birthday card to add to my stash box, handy for when I need a card in a hurry. I took a piece of fabric and frayed the edges. I painted the fabric using watered down acrylic paint, I used an ochre colour. Using Plum Archival ink, I stamped an image from the Brocade Backgrounds stamp set. I stamped a sentiment from Loving Sentiments onto an inked die cut rectangle. To complete the card, I added some pretty pleated ribbon and some metallic card as a mount.

 For my second card, I had a left over background from a previous project created using Brushos. I stamped the large butterfly from Patchwork Butterfly in one corner. I masked the butterfly using masking tissue, and stamped images from Make your Mark and Numerology over the background, plus the sentiment from Patchwork Butterfly. 

Once I had built up the background sufficiently, I removed the Masking Tissue, and coloured the image with Faber Castell Black Edition pencils. I added a couple of grey pencils around the edges of the butterfly to give a shadow and to create the feeling of depth. The pencils coloured over the Brusho background quite well, avoiding the need to cut out another butterfly and decoupage over the top.

I have really had fun dipping into my library of stamps this month, and hope that you have enjoyed my posts. Thanks for stopping by, take care, xx

Painted Butterflies

Hello everyone, I have a couple of projects to share with you using stamps that were featured on last month's TV shows.

My first project was created using a stencilled background and three different colours of Distress Ink.  I used a piece of Smooth White Stamping Paper and moved the stencil across the page to cover the entire area. If you look closely, you can see where I have joined the two sections together, but it doesn't really matter, as it is just a background, and the butterflies from the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set mostly cover it up. The stencil I have used is one by Craft Emotions called 'Botanical'.

I chose three words from the Punky Expressions stamp set, and stamped them onto the background using Versafine Black ink, to represent the butterfly bodies. I stamped the butterfly wings onto some Drawing Cartridge using the same ink, and coloured them with Inktense pencils, blending the colours with a waterbrush. Any watercolour pencils would do. I cut the wings out and adhered them either side of the words. Finally, I added the sentiment, also from Punky Expressions.

For my second card, I created a background using a piece of Drawing Cartridge and Distress Inks in shades of brown and green. I added stamps from Make Your Mark, Timeless and Steampunk Butterfly. I stamped and embossed two butterflies from the last set using copper embossing powder, and coloured them with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush, again, you could use any watercolour pencils. I cut the butterflies out and added words from Punky Expressions. I edged the background using a dark brown ink.

I had a lot of fun creating these cards, the stamp sets are so versatile, and as you can see, they all mix and match so well. I hope that I have inspired you to try out some ideas. Thanks for stopping by, take care, xx

Colourful Bookmark Houses

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well and that you have been enjoying some better weather. I have a few projects to share with you over the next few weeks that will hopefully make you think of sunnier days, the colours are certainly bright and cheerful!

My first card was made using one of the bookmark style houses featured on last month's TV shows on The Craft Store, Turret House. This has a fairytale castle feel, with Russian elements in the rooftops. I have coloured the building in bright colours to match my background, which was created with Brushos. I placed a stencil over the top and added some Distress Ink. I used the Orchard Design A Tree stamp set, to create a forest around the building. 

I used pencils to colour the image, a fairly cheap set this time from Faber Castell. I seem to go through phases of what I like to use, but I am trying to use some of my neglected stash if I can at the moment. These pencils work quite well, and although they did not cost much to buy, I like the effect that I can achieve with them.

My second card was created using the lovely Italian House. I used lots of stamps from Make Your Mark to create the background, and added texture paste through a stencil. I coloured the images with pencils. The text comes from  the Words of Wisdom stamp set, and I have used the Orchard Design a Tree stamp set once again. I chose not to add any foliage this time, simply added a bit of pencil colouring to suggest the feeling of leaves on the branches.

I will be back soon with more projects to share with you. 

Thanks for stopping by, and take care.

Judith xx

Time for Nature

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I am sharing my last few projects this month featuring stamps from last month's TV shows on The Craft Store. 

My first card features stamps from the beautiful stamp set Sow the Seeds. These large stamps are perfect for journaling or creating eye catching, distinctive cards for someone special. I love the seed heads, and wanted them to shine in my project. I created a background using my inky plate and soft colours. I stamped the images, and added some pencil where the shading was present. I added extra foliage from Silhouette Grasses, such a useful stamp set.

My next card features the fabulous pine cone from Mother Earth as a focal point. I stamped this three times onto kraft card, using brown ink, and cut it out and scrunched it up to give it added texture. I created a background on a piece of tea dyed drawing cartridge, using stamps from Sow the Seeds and Make Your Mark.

The next two cards are older samples that I posted here on my blog a little while ago, but I will share them with you again. A simple piece of white embossing, and then the image was painted with Koh-I-Noor watercolours:

The leaf was stamped using different colours of ink, and then lightly coloured with pencils to accentuate the shading:

Finally I created a card using the Scripts and Timepieces stamp set, which was only available during the TV shows. I coloured my background with Distress Ink, and stamped the scripts using dark brown ink. I added splatters from the Timeless stamp set. The cental piece was created by stamping onto a piece of stampbord which I had coloured with Distress Ink, and I then added triple embossing for a shiny glaze.

Thanks for stopping by, take care,

Watercolour Backgrounds

Hello everyone, I have a few projects to share with you today, featuring stamps from last month's TV shows on the Craft Store. I really enjoyed creating these projects, as they were a slightly different approach for me. I had recently taken a watercolour course with Lucia from The Wild Ink Workshop, and these backgrounds were a result of my practices. 

I started by creating the backgrounds, using scraps of watercolour paper, drawing cartridge, etc. These are of varying size, some are really small, and very cute! I have used a mixture of Jayne Davenport watercolours and Derwent watercolours, just whatever I had in my stash.

They would make lovely thank you cards, or little notelets, I love the whole concept. I stamped the silhouette images, and added some white details with a gel pen. 

I even had a go at drawing some foliage by hand as recommended by Lucia. This was such a relaxing thing to do, and I will definitely try to do this more often, time permitting.

I created a couple of backgrounds for the larger cards to tone in with the little panels. I used clear embossing powder to stamp and emboss the silhouette flowers first, then added Distress Inks with a blending brush.

On the second example, I ironed off the embossing powder, creating a faux batik effect, so that I could stamp a sentiment over the top. (You will need to place some copy paper over your background to protect your iron, and turn the steam off, if your iron has a steam setting!)

I have added a touch of gold watercolour to link the squares together, I used Gansai Tambi metallic watercolour, which is very creamy, and perfect to layer over regular watercolour paint, the gold really pops. These cards were relatively quick to make, and would be suitable for so many occasions. Chocolate Baroque has so many silhouette stamps. If you made lots of backgrounds, and then rummaged through your stamps, you could create a big pile of cards in no time.....

Lesley and David have said that although these stamps are not on the website, you can order them by phone - Retro Vases and Retro Florals, as they were a one off for the TV shows.

My final card was created using Distress Inks for the background, and stamping a selection of stamps from Make Your Mark to build up layers of depth. I used Versafine Clair coloured ink, and added circles in black ink, which I wanted to be more prominent. I then chose some floral elements from the two Retro stamp sets.

Make Your Mark is such a versatile stamp set, we reach for it again and again to create our backgrounds and to add an extra something to our cards.

I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you. Thanks for stopping by, take care and stay safe xx

Beautiful Bold Butterflies

Hello everyone, I am sharing more butterfly cards with you, following on from my last post. Butterflies are such a universally popular image, and I hope that you will enjoy what I have to share with you today.

I created my first card using the Just Butterflies and Butterfly Blush stamp sets. I coloured a piece of drawing cartridge using Distress Oxides and then stamped some of the butterflies from Butterfly Blush using Versafine Clair. I added some white dots using charcoal through a stencil, however, you could achieve a very similar look by using white paint and one of the dotty stamps from Make Your Mark.

I added some texture paste to a piece of MDF, and once it was dry added some paint and gilding wax. I stamped and embossed the butterflies onto vellum, cut them out and layered them up onto the panel. The sentiment from Butterfly Mind was stamped onto a spare piece of background.

The following two cards are older projects, but once again, I hope that you do not mind me sharing them with you. I masked off  the edges of the cards, and added Distress Ink in the centre of the cards. I was aiming for aurora borealis effect, and hopefully achieved that feeling in these cards. I added water splatters, and then stamped the foliage from Briar Rose Butterfly along the bottom using black ink. The butterflies were stamped onto sparkly acetate using Archival Ink and I added coloured vellum to the back, but you could just stamp them onto card, colour them as normal and use a sparkly pen over the top to achieve a similar look. The sentiments come from the Birthday Words stamp set.
 

By changing the colours and foliage, you can create a completely different look, these are really pretty and would make a nice set to give as a gift as well.

 

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and take care, xx