flower power

 I hope everyone had an enoyable Christmas, with lots of crafty goodies coming your way! It was nice to be able to sit and watch Lesley from Chocolate Baroque on tv on Saturday, even though I should have been sorting stuff out.....

 Here are the last of my samples for last month's shows using  the single flower stamps from the fuchsia, lily and hyacinth plates.
I made small 4"x4" notelets using kraft card, with white embossed images, coloured using some ancient pots of H2Os.
I made a folder to hold them, just a sheet of card folded into three. The background was stamped using vintage photo distress ink, then sponged round the edges with hickory smoke distress ink .The  fuchsia was stamped and embossed in white onto an oval die cut in brown card.








My final card used the lovely big lily stamp, stamped in black versafine and clear embossed. It was coloured with brusho powders, trying to keep most of the powders in appropriate places -not always successfully.
After spritzing with water I used a paintbrush to spread the colour into the petals. Once dry, the sentiment was stamped and the image trimmed to fit onto a 5"x7" white card blank with a red mat layer.

Happy Christmas

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas, and a happy, healthy, prosperous and crafty New Year

fuchsia and hyacinth

 Today I am sharing some of the flower samples from the recent Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda - something cheerful to brighten a very cold (but not yet snowy) day.


My first one uses the lovely hanging fuchsia stamp, simply stamped in grey versafine in the top corner of a 7" square card blank, and coloured with watercolour pencils. The greeting using black versafine was stamped in the bottom corner - I used a stamp press to make sure I got it straight.










I also used the stamp press to create the wreath on the next card, using a 7" square of white card as the base. I used two of the small foliage stamps from the lily set inked in iced spruce and peeled paint distress inks, then added the small solid fuchsia stamp using picked raspberry distress inks. The greeting stamped in grey ink in the centre was from birthday words again.
The 8" square card blank was sponged with hickory smoke distress ink and randomly stamped using the small foliage stamp used in peeled paint for the wreath.

 My final card used the big hyacinth stamp, stamped in black versafine onto white card, and coloured with watercolour pencils. I edged the card with purple ink - think it was dusty concord distress ink - before mounting it onot a 7"x5" white card blank that i had coloured with distress oxide inks and spritzed with water then blotted to give a marbled effect.
Greeting stamped onto a spare piece of white card and edged with the purple ink before mounting in the corner.

edwardian cyclist

 A slightly less grungy card for the cyclist - grey brusho powder background to start with, then hickory smoke distress ink sponged through a cog stencil to finish.
The large cyclist from eccentric edwardian was stamped in bl;ack versafine, and the small cyclist from curiosities was stamped in ghrey versafine.
A die cut corner was added in black card, and the whole card edged with black versafine ink before adding to a white card blank.
The sentiment is from steampunk travel.

eccentric edwardian

Today I am sharing a couple of samples using the
eccentric edwardian stamps.
The first is a rather grungy card.
Background used a cog stencil and a very elderly walnut stain ink spray that I was given ages ago and had never used, I added another lighter layer of spray after removing the stencil. The car was stamped in black versafine ink, then the man alsoin black versafine but clear embossed to make him stand out a bit more.
A few diecut cogs from dark brown card were added in the corners, then a mat of the same brown card before adding to a square white card blank






I  also recycled an empty instant coffee tin, these are so useful as a pen/brush holder.
This time the strip of white card cut to fit round the can with a lsight overlap was coloured with grey brusho powder, then randomly stmaped with the large crackle stamp using a grey ink pad. I used a die cut as a stencil and brushed more grey ink over it.
The man was stamped using black versafine ink and clear embossing powder before using the cyclist stamp and the small cyclist from the curiosities set to fill in the gaps.
I stuck the card to the can using redline tape stuck onto the can first along the edges with one vertical strip, then a final vertical strip onto the slightly overlapping edge of the card.

script box and candle

 This gift set uses the eccentric edwardian plate of stamps that was featured on the Chocolate Baroque show on Hochanda last month.
At first I couldn't think of anything different to do with these stamps, but then a friend produced a new die she had bought for us to play with at craft club......

My first idea didn't work, as I had cut too small a box out, but then I realised that the initial from the larger script stamp would just fit on the side pieces.............and it would work in black and white too.

 The initial was stamped on the side pieces using black versafine ink, and as much as I could fit of the whole stamp on the lid. I did sponge round the lid with black soot distress ink as well.
Once the box was finished, it obviously needed something to go in it, so I decorated a candle. The script was stamped in versafine again onto white tissue paper and heat set onto the candle.

Then it needed a card and gift tag, and I added a keyring as well just because I had a keyring blank lying around......

poppies galore!

  I am an absolute sucker for poppy stamps, so it was lovely to have these stamps back in the spotlight.
The butterfly poppy set is A4, so there are lots of images to play with. I used the large scripty image to make the background, stamped in hickory smoke distress ink and sponged witht he same ink.
I inked up the main image using distress markers, using one colour at a time and my stamping press to make sure the images matched! Doing it this way meant that the ink stayed damp, and any in the wrong place could be removed easily. This was on white card, sponged with wild honey distress ink after stamping and tearing round the image. I curled up some of the corners as well before gluing down

 The background here is grey again, leafy spray from take it or leaf it. Image from poppy meadow stamped in black versafine ink and coloured with watercolour pencils. Die cut in an oval shape, which was edged with black versafine by running the diecut along the pad.
three small gems to finish





Third card uses the script and poppy head stamps from butterfly poppy to create the background, stamped using wild honey distress ink and sponged edges with the same ink.

The main image was stamped with brown ink onto white card, sponged with the same ink on the harlequin bit and very lightly across the script to try to suggest antiquity. Pured with marker pens, then cut out and glued over the original image - I didn't try to cut the antenna out!













Lastly two very quick cards using stamps from pretty poppies. , neither one should take longer than 15 minutes to do.........depends on how carefully you colour in for the first one!

The first one was stamped in black versafine straight onto a white 5"x7" card blank, and the poppy image coloured with watercolour pencils.















                                                                                               Poppy image for the last one was stamped using versamark and white embossed, then red and green distress inks sponged roughly across the image. A quick mat of green card, and done!

trees

I loved working with these tree stamps from Chocolate Barqoue, very versatile sets that can be used in many ways, and not just the 'normal' that you see here!

My first card uses images from tall trees, fantasy woodland in the the foreground, with the grass and hills created using torn paper as a mask and distress inks sponged on. The small trees in the distance are from teeny weeny meadow, a very useful old set that I think was mostly designed for use in journalling and atc's

A simple mat of black card and a sentiment from lets get festive to finish.









The image from tall trees was stamped in black versafine ink, and the rocks stamped onto acetate which was then then pressed onto the card below the stamped image to give the reflection. Distress oxide inks sponged over to create the evening sky, and a mixture of distress inks to create the grasses and the reflection. Cut down to a panel to fit an 8" sqaure card, and the words from tall trees stamped at the side.











The last card has the image from fantasy landscape stamped in black , with a background from sponged distress inks. Image was die cut and added to the card blank with a sentiment from amazing Mackintosh words

Apologies for the poor quality of the scans, I seem to have managed to change the settings without noticing at the time! (Needless to say, I couldn't have done it deliberately if I had tried to!)

wreath

Having treated myself to a stamping press, I discovered just how easy it is to make cards with multiple stamping- I have always admired those people who can manage to do these without anything more complicated than a pencil, stamps  and an acrylic block! I never managed to do it even using clear stamps - until now.
Having previously tried a wreath out using just one stamp, I went a little mad and used three stamps from Chocolate Baroque here.
The first stamp was a flower and berries one from fantasy woodland, inked using distress markers and stamped eight times round a pencilled circle. I then added an ivy stamp and a leaf stamp from tall trees, again inked using distress markers in very muted greens to fill in the gaps between the flowers.
Sentiment from birthday words was gold embossed in the centre to finish , and a simple mat of dull gold card finished it off. This is an 8"square card blank as a base.

I am adding this to the following challenges
allsorts challenge blog - sentiment in focus
simply papercraft - anything goes
hiding in my craft room - freestyle

New England and deer

 I used the lovely house stamp from New England winter, stamped using distress markers to colour the stamp. Thanks to my friend Janet for introducing me to the combination of dusty concord and iced spruce, the nearest she could get to colours she found on a paper napkin.
I used the same colours to ink up the pine cones from the same plate to create the background, with some second generation stamping to add interest.
The sentiment from lets get festive was also coloured with the marker pens, and the die cut edged with the same markers. i also coloured the mats with the marker pens to get matching colours




The next two cards use the large stamp from the reindeer landscape plate.
For the first card I stamped with versamrk onto black card and clear embossed it, before adding colour with distress oxide ink pads. I dragged colours across the sky to try to give a northern lights effect. The snow was a white pigment ink sponged on, with a little of the oxide colours added for a reflection of the sky. Some white glitter in the foreground to finish before trimming right down and adding white and pink mounts. The greeting from the same plate was stmaped in a silver grey ink.

I wanted to see if i could make a shaker card using this stamp - I stamped the edges of the stamp onto the base card using hickory smoke distress ink to extend the scene.  I stamped the image onto spare card , colouring the stamp with distress markers, and trimmed this down to a 62 square. I die cut a circle from another piece  of card the same size, backed it with acetate and fixed it over the image using foam pads having first added some sparkly silver snowflakes I found lurking in a drawer.                                   The whole thing was then added to the base card after sponging more grey ink round the edges. The sentiment from lets get festive was stamped and silver embossed  , edged with grey and mounted on top.                     

floral bouquet

 Today I have several floral cards to share, made for the show on Hochanda last month -  and one card doesn't have brusho on it!

The first uses the lovely flora musica stamp, stamped with versamark on white card and white embossed before adding brusho powders. The dark brown card background was randomly stamped with the rose part of the image and gold embossed,. and the mats are dark brown and gold. The white base card was 7" square, so you can see that the stamp is a large one.







 The second uses the crackling rose stamp, stamped in black versafine ink and clear embossed, rose covered with masking fluid and then sprinkled with black brusho powder. Once dry, die cut using an oval die and mounted onto a white card blank stamped with the gold embossed sentiment from loving sentiments.
I think this would be a suitable card for a lot of times, when you just need a general cheer-up card....

Crackling rose again for this one , black versafine
 ink and clear embossing powder with masking fluid and brusho, this time torn round the edges before sticking onto a dark blue background embossed with the crackle stamp and white embossed.
the greeting from loving sentiments was stamped and embossed with gold, die cut and edged with more gold EP.

 The final brusho one is again crackling rose, stamped in black and clear embossed before colouring with brusho powders. It was fussy cut out and mounted onto a background using distress oxide inks, with the sentiment in black.

My final card features the floribunda net stamp, and as promised has no brusho!

I stamped with versamark onto craft card, and white embossed it, tore round the edges  and coloured the roses with marker pen, mounted onto black and gold card at an angle onto a base card randomly stamped in wild honey distress ink, with a gold embossed sentiment.
The roses were made from a Tim Holtz die using the same dull gold card used for the mat, with a darker gold for the leaves - this was an 8" square card

floral harmony

here is the last of my floral samples for last months' Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda This is quite a large stamp - think A6 to have an idea of the size, this card is 8" square.

The image was stamped in black versafine, clear embossed and covered with masking fluid. I used grey brusho powder to create the background, and then coloured the image with watercolour pencils.










The next two pictures are of two of the colouring sheets - these are A4 size and very detailed - they will take you some time to colour in!
I used alcohol markers to colour them in  - they were hardly used, and I didn't want to run out of a colour partway through if I used water-based markers.








My last card used the medallions from the baroque corners plate stamped onto dark brown card using versamark and a pale blue embossing powder.
The front of the white 8" square base card blank was scored halfway and folded back. The inner brown panel was 7" square, and the samller medallions was stmaped in each corner. The front panel was 3.5" x7", with the medallion stamped on both top and bottom left corners.
The centre panel was cut to fit the large medallion image after stamping, so I would guess it ended up about 5" square, and it was mounted onto a matching blue card mat and then onto the folded back front panelm making sure I only glued the half that was on the front panel.....
I quite liked the effect of this, though I have to admit I didn't enjoy making it, a lot of card ended up in the bin! However, I have now invested in a stamping platform, and I wish that I had had one earlier, they make cards like this one so much easier to do, so these stamps will probably get used quite a lot now.....

chequered flowers

I had great fun playing with this stamp from Chocolate Baroque and my favourite brusho powders, and here are 3 versions.

The first was stamped in black versfine ink and clear embossed before masking the image with masking fluid. I sprinkled leaf green and purple powders and spritzed them, leaving the paper to dry naturally. Once dry, rub off the masking fluid. trim down a little, mat onto black card and then onto a 5"x7" white card blank.

The second one was also stamped in black and embossed before masking with masking fluid. This time I just used black brusho powder for a more dramatic effect - I love all the different colours that appear! This time I used white and black mats before amounting onto a 7" square white card blank.This one is my favourite of the three.


The last one I stamped with versamark and used gold embossing powder before masking again with masking fluid and using purple powder around the flowers. It didn't spread as far as I thought it would , probably I got more water spray on the one side of image......anyway, I thought it looked a bit like a torn layer so left it as it was.I added colour with a brush pen to the centre of the flowers, and added a gold mat and sentiment embossed in gold.

hanging flowers

I hope you enjoyed watching Lesley and Lynnda on the recent TV shows , showing the lovely colouring pages and the matching stamps.

These are two of my samples using the hanging flowers stamp - loved this one, thought it was very like a fuschsia, I shall probably get corrected on that though, not being a gardener.
Needless to say, I used brushos on the first one. I stamped the flowers first using black versafine and clear embossing powder. then painted them with masking fluid before using grey brusho powder and spritzing with water.
Once everything was dry, I rubbed off the masking fluid and painted the leaves using lime green brusho. White and black mats finished it off.

The second version was stamped with versamark onto black card and embossed with gold detail powder. The flowers and leaves were painted with diluted  Aztec lustre paints - have to admit this was their first use since I bought them from CB last year!
Mats this time were gold and black onto a white base card.

There were some fantastic samples on the shows, so keep checking to see what my teamies have to show you, you won't be disappointed!

summer and autumn ladies

 I have three of my sample cards for last month's tv shows to show you today. It was hard to have favourite ladies, but I think these two stamps are well in the running!
For both cards the summer fayre stamp was stmaped using black versafine ink and coloured with watercolour pencils, masked with masking fluid, and brusho backgrounds added. I have always liked the idea of blue roses, but have always been disappointed by the more lilac shade when they flowered......
For the first card I partially diecut the lady out, leaving the butterfly and poppies outside the die. The base card was coloured with distress oxide inks, leaves added using the useful leaves stencil and overstamped with the large crackle stamp. The poppies in the foreground are from the floral notes plate, stamped onto leftover paper coloured with brushos and fussy cut out.



The base card was done in the same way for the second version, but the lady was cut down to a rectangle and matted onto gold card. I  sprinkled red brusho over the green background to try to create a poppy field effect, but it didn't quite work....

For the autumn medley stamp I tried to create a wood effect with the brushos, using my version of a  technique found on Youtube. I started with a piece of white card, sprinkled brown and red powder at the top, and used a damp sponge to drag the colour down the page. The colours are more blended together than the original, which used acrylic paints to blend the powders, but i was quite pleased with the result. back ground mounted onto black and gold, then onto white base card blank.
The lady was stamped with black versafine ink,  coloured with pencils and fussy cut out. I stamped the hair part again several times onto a spare piece of card coloured with orange, yellow and brown brushos, and fussy cut out the best leaves and decoupaged them onto the original.

quick cards

 three quick cards to show today, two using my favourite brushos and masking.
The first uses the lovely big patchwork butterfly, stamped in black versafine and masked using masking fluid - masking fluid rather than a tissue mask as I find that the colour from the brushos tends to seep under tissue, and it is not an effect you always want!
I used the small butterfly and dragonfly stamps from butterfly blush to stamp randomly round the card, using an old multicolour pad that had become single colour, then added turquoise brusho powder and spritzed it - the stamping blurred into the background, and some of the colour ran which blurred things even more.
Rub off the masking when everything was dry, and a narrow gold mat finished it off.


The other cards use the  winter dawn stamp from the seasonal ladies set from last month's tv shows. For the first one, she was stamped with versamark and silver embossed before masking with fluid again and using turquoise and purple brusho this time.
The second one was stamped onto a very pale grey card using black versafine and coloured with watercolour pencils, with white sharpie pen for the snowballs, white splatters voer the background as well.
Die cut with an oval die, mounted onto a kraft card layer and gems added in two corners.
This was the quickest one to do, as no masking fluid or brushos was involved, so no wait for everything to dry

dreaming beauty

I love the Mackintosh stamps and sentiments, and had great fun playing with them, as did everyone else on the DT!
The lovely lady from Mackintosh beauty was stamped first using a blue inkpad, then masked with masking tissue. the background was created using the now-traditional torn paper for the landscape and a moon mask in the sky, with the castle from fantasy castles. The grasses are from the baroque meadow single stamp, and the trees use a stamp from silhouette  grasses. The lady was coloured with watercolour pencils.








My second card just used the lady on her own, again coloured with pencils, this time with a distress oxide inked background.The base card was randomly stamped with two of the single rose stamps using the same distress oxide inks.

winners

Winners of the stamp sets are Aquarius (gothic fragments) and ChristineB (butterfly), chosen by the time-honoured method of folded papers in carrier bag!
Congratulations ladies, please could you let me have your addresses.

butterfly tree

 Both these cards have brusho backgrounds, and the tree stamp is from the woodland design a tree plate, stamped in grey versafine ink.


I used a mix of stanps from butterfly blush and various green inkpads to create the foliage of the tree for the first card,and stamps from just butterflies coloured with pencils.

The second card used just two of the stamps from butterfly blush, inked using a couple of old multicolour pigment ink pads. the sentiment is from words of inspiration.