Berries and Birds

Hello everyone, it's time for another weekly posting on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, the first post of 2016. This week sees the monthly free download, designed as always by our lovely boss Lesley Wharton. I have created a card using the download, as part of the Design Team inspiration.

The download paper is a beautiful, vibrant design, entitled 'Chinese Goosberries', and it is very versatile, suitable for lovely Autumn, or even Christmas projects, but can be used for any occasion really. I have chosen to add a lovely stamp from the Woodland Dreams stamp set, I love the berries on this one. I stamped the image onto a piece of pretty pink scrapbook paper, that I have hoarded in my stash for ages. I have decided to use my supplies up this year, rather than hanging on to them. I used Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and clear embossing powder for a really vibrant image. I coloured the image with pencils, and then edged the panel with Barn Door Distress Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the Amazing Birthday stamp set onto another piece of the scrapbook paper, edging it with Distress Ink as before.

I matted all of the panels with black card, before attaching everything to a large card blank.

Pop over to the Challenge Blog to pick up the free download for yourself, and see Anne's fabulous card too. You can also read about how you can enter the challenge and win a £15 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque, we would love to see your entries.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birdcage Collage using Stampbord

Hello everyone, I have a Chocolate Baroque Design Team project to show you using one of this month's individual stamps, Birdcage Collage.

I started my project by inking up the stamp, and then placing an ATC sized piece of Stampbord onto the stamp to take a partial print of the image. I stamped the image again onto a piece of white card. I coloured the Stampbord image with pencils, and also the areas of the image on the card that would not be covered by the Stampbord image.

I created a tile effect on the Stampbord using Versamark and UTEE. Once the Stampbord had cooled down completely, I attached it to the card image, lining up the two images so that they matched each other.

I created the card background using the wrinkle free Distress technique: adding Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to my craft mat, and spritzing it with water, before dragging my card through the ink. I dried this layer, and then patted the card onto the mat again to pick up some of the left over ink droplets, and dried the card again. I added Salty Ocean DI and repeated the process. I used a Crafter's Workshop template and the same colour Distress Inks to add a trellis effect to two of the corners of my background, and stamped a small berry stamp taken from the Woodland Dreams stamp set onto the other two corners.

I attached the background to an 8" x 8" crd blank and added a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set.

 
Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Bird for all Seasons and Ophelia the Mermaid?

Hello everyone, I have a project using one of the new individual cling mounted stamps from Chocolate Baroque, called Song Thrush to show you today.

I wanted to show the diversity of this lovely stamp, and how it could be used to create cards all year round, so I have made a Christmas card for my sample. I started by embossing the image a three times, using white embossing powder on some green scrapbook paper, and colouring the image with pencils. I decoupaged the flowers and bird. I layered the image onto kraft card, using some dark red card as a mat for contrast. I also added some holly die cuts, and some more stamping, using a berry stamp from the Woodland Dreams stamp set which I also coloured with pencils. I tucked some flowers from a spare image under the main frame, along with the holly die cuts. I added some shading around the edge of the kraft background, using Festive Berries Distress Ink. Finally, I added a sentiment taken from the Warm Christmas Greetings clear stamp set.

I always start out with good intentions to make Christmas cards throughout the year, in order to be ready when December comes around. Hopefully my card will have given you some inspiration.

For my second sample, I stamped Ophelia onto a piece of heavy weight cartridge paper, and then masked the image. I coloured the background, by blending Shabby Shutters, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Inks randomly all over the page. I stamped an image from the Texture Fragments stamp set onto opposite corners, using Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I then flicked water onto the other areas of the page, and dried it with a heat gun, to emphasise the watermarks.

I stamped and embossed a seaweed image along the bottom of the page, from the Underwater stamp set,  using a blue/green metallic powder. I then added some flowers which I had cut out and coloured with pencils from the Song Thrush Silhouette image. It just goes to show that you can add flowers to just about anything! I coloured Ophelia using pencils, and matted the project using toning coloured card.

For a bit of underwater shine, I added Glossy Accents to the centre of my flowers. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birds of a Feather

Hi Folks, I have a couple of bird related samples for you today using the stamp of the month stamps from Chocolate Baroque

For my first sample, I created a couple of backgrounds using Distress paints and water. I used some smooth watercolour paper, as I wanted to add lots of water to the paints to create a watery feel to the backgrounds. I have used Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive and Antique Linen as my colour palette. On the larger background, I stamped a border using a tree stamp from the Woodland Dreams stamp set using gold embossing powder. On the smaller background I have used one of the lovely Lalique style birds, which I have coloured using Distress Markers. I simply matted the backgrounds with plum card, and added some ruffled ribbon.

One difference I noted between Distress paints and Distress Inks was that I could not bleach my central image to paint it, owing to the acrylic base of the paints. It did affect the final look of my project, however, I was still able to add sufficient colour to the image to achieve the look that I wanted.

My second project is a little altered notelet box, using Weathered Wood Crackling Medium and acrylic paint from my stash. I painted the little box using navy and and pale blue paint, applying the crackling medium in between the two layers. I used very cheap acrylic paint, so I am happy that it works very effectively. I stamped the bird onto tissue paper using silver embossing powder, and coloured it with Distress Markers. I adhered the tissue paper using Matte Medium, taking care not to wet the front of the image, as I did not want to make the coloured image run.

I used a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set to stamp along a piece of ribbon to embellish the sides of the box, using Versamagic Ink. I added a couple of Crealie flowers to complete my project.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Enchanted Forest

Hi Folks, here's a card that I made using lots of tree stamps to create an enchanted forest scene. I used Distress Inks to create a soft background, and paper masks to form the hill shapes for the trees. I have used Memento Inks to stamp the trees, and then coloured the trees with pencils.

I added Glossy accents to the flowers on the focal tree, and Stickles to the fairy's wings. The little flowers are made from glassine paper and edged wth ink before heat setting them.

There are a couple of sneaky peeks of as yet unreleased stamps on this project! I have been given permission to blog this card and to let you know that if you would like to take a look in the What's New department over at Chocolate Baroque on Valentine's Day, you will be able to see the items that I have included in my project.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Woodland Dreams

Glenda over at Chocolate Baroque has just released some great new stamps this week. I showed you a sample earlier in the week using the 'Echoes of Italy' stamp plate, and today, I thought that I'd show you one using the 'Woodland Dreams' stamp plate.

I have already posted this sample on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog:

I used a selection of burgundy, brown and dark green inks, all embossed with clear embossing for my stamping.

For my sample today, I wanted to use a different colour palette, but the same stamps, to show the versatility of these stamps. I used a clear embossing powder on the Kraft card to act as a resist, and then covered the card with various Distress Inks. I embossed the tree and sentiment with copper embossing powder. I made some leaves from Clearly for Art, and coloured them with alcohol inks, adding some copper jump rings. I distressed the edges of my layers, and coloured them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

So there you have it, two different looks, but the same stamps. Thanks for stopping by today, xx