punky birds

 I borrowed the Chooclate Baroque  steampunk birds recently from a friend - think I may have to buy this one for myself! - because I liked one of the stamps (the cockerel).

Needless to say, I started playing with some of the others in the set........ and these are the results.

The first two used the springy birds and the lettering - as the birds were springy, I reckoned the letters should be wobbly too. For the first one I stamped them at random in all directions, added wobbly lines round the edges and some smudges of black soot distress ink.
Images were all stamped with black versafine ink, and the birds coloured with watercolour pencils. Base cards are A6.

My favourite stamp from the set was simply stamped with black versafine at the bottom of an A6 card blank - the sentiment doesn't belong with this set, but was in the bag, and it fitted!
Image again coloured with watercolour pencils. This one took a little longer than the springy birds, but still a quick card.

This set is not currently on the CB website, but is listed on the Craft Channel site

challenge 25

two wintry tangled trees from me this month - loved the chocolate theme, but brain refused to come up with anything!
The lovely new tangled birch stamp came to my rescue, along with  craft card - one version very plain, the other more atmospheric.
The first one is my favourite of the two, stamped in black versafine onto light craft card and clear embossed.
Wild honey distress ink sponged over the moon, and brown and blue sponged over the sky. Snow was added with a chalk marker pen. Mats are black and gold onto a white 7"square card blank.





Second card is on a cream 8" square card blank. with offset mats in white, copper and black.
Image stamped in versamark and white embossed onto a medium craft card.
Moon again sponged with wild honey, and a diecut oval mask was used when sponging aged mahogany ink round the trees. More snow with the white chalk marker pen, and edges of the card inked with black versafine before matting onto the white card.

I think the new autumn medley stamp would work well with this month's colour scheme, just haven't got around to trying it yet.......

Four seasons

 Four cards using the lovely new seasonal ladies stamps - big stamps that are an absolute delight to colour in.
The first uses spring awakening, stamped with black versafine, clear embossed, and coloured with pencils.
Die cut, then mounted on a 7" square white card blank randomly stamped with an old flower stamp from my stash using old paper distress ink, then sponged round the edges (Briar rose butterfly, currently available through the Craft Channel website)

 Summer fair is the next stamp, again stamped in black versafine and clear embossed before colouring with pencils. I stamped a mask using masking tissue and masked the image before adding a gelli plate background uisng distress inks.
Again an oval die cut, and a 7" square white card blank stamped with a stamp from poppy meadow across the bottom using peeled paint distress inks, with some of the colour dragged out with a waterbrush.

Autumn medley also has a gelli plate background added after colouring and masking the image, this time using acrylic paints and leaves from the garden.
This time the mount is an 8" square white card.
The wood -effect background is thanks to a link from Eileen Godwin - I used weathered wood, peeled paint and wild honey distress inks over the glue onto white card.

Last lady is winter dawn, stamped with versamark onto light blue card and embossed with silver. Coloured with pencils again, white chalk marker for the snow , rhinestones added to the snowflakes.
Base card was 8" square in silver pearl, randomly stamped with a snowflake stamp from a child is born using silver pigment ink.
The mats are dark and light silvers.

tangled birch

Two samples using the lovely new tangled birch stamp from Chocolate Baroque.
First card uses a spray starch and mica powder background , which had been lying around for a while but seemed to fit the sunset.
the sky was created with distress inks in various blues and purples, with wild honey and spiced marmalade for the sun.Trees coloured with watercolour pencil.









For this one, the trees were stamped with black versafine ink, and once it was dry I used masking fluid over the image.
Distress inks sponged over the sky, again a variety of blues and purples, with wild honey for the moon, and a bit of black soot added to the sky and the ground.
Once it was all dry, rub off the masking fluid and leave the trees white,
I tore the edges to leave a rough white edge, andded a black mat with rounded edges.
The card edges were sponged with broken china ink, and the top branches from the stamp stamped randomly round the edges with broken china.

brusho landscape edge

 Two more samples for the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge 24, this time using the sun image from landscape edges.(also available as a clear set)
You have probably guessed by now that the backgrounds were done with brusho powders!
For the first card, I stamped the image first with black versafine ink and clear embossed it before sprinkling brusho powders in roughly approp-riate places to try to represent a stormy sunset.
Once it was dry, I added a narrow black mat then added it to a 5" x7" white card blank stamped with the same image but without the embossing.


The second card was done the other way round -
this time I choose a section of a sheet of card and stamped and embossed the image over the background. The effect this way is even more random, but I thought it looked vaguely like an aurora effect.......
Cut down to fit onto a 6" square white card blank, with the sentiment from words of inspiration below it.