woodland memories

 Today I am sharing samples using the remembrance tree , harmony tree and the trees a crowd stamp sets, all from Chocolate Baroque

The first one is the remembrance tree , simply stamped in black versafine onto an inky background, although i did cut down the remembrance to remember!

The background was sponged in wild honey distress oxide ink, and images from the polygon poppies stamp set were randomly stamped using the same ink pad. I used a circular mask behind the tree and sponged over it to create a moon, then added a narrow black mat to finish

Using the harmony tree and trees a crowd set as well I created a concertina book from a sheet of A4 card. The background was sponged with distress oxide inks using peeled paint and broken china, with some fairly random stencilling and stamping. 
 

The first spread used the remembrance tree , with two of the words stamped onto spare card, cut out and glued in a slghtly different place and edged with black charcoal pencil.

The harmony tree this time, but only the words on the right of the stam

Two  tree stamps from trees a crowd this time, with the lines of the stamp in the background extended behind the larger tree - sentiment from same set.

Two more stamps from trees a crowd to finish the last page

A bit back to front, this was the outer pages of the concertina, with the leaf spray from  

from nature 1 stamped in blue and random words from harmony tree cut out and edged with charcoal pencil

frosty trees

 This stamp set from Chocolate Baroque is definitely appropriate at the moment, my part of the country has got away lightly so far with the weather, but it is still very cold. Hopefully those who lost their electricity during the recent storm will all be re-connected by now and gradually thawing out.

My first sample uses one of the snowy stamps to create a sheet of gift wrap. This was just a sheet of copy paper with the stamp repeat stamped using a multicolour ink pad. It is a solid stamp, and quite easy to line up the images - any squiffy ones probably won't be noticeable once you have wrapped something up, especially with any ribbon decoration -I didn't have any ribbon, so used some silver cord.  I also made a matching gift tag, using the sentiment from the same set.

The next samples are very similiar, using the triangular tree and a stamping platform to create a star. The first one I used the same blue inkpad as before, keeping the lighter ink to the top of the tree . The sentiment in the centre was stamped in versamark and gold embossed, The mat is actually silver mirri card

For this version I used a grey ink pad - I didn't have a silver one - and the sentiment was inked with the blue inkpad. The mat was white card sponged in blue using the darker part of the inkpad.
 

tagtastic

  I have gone back to the From nature 1  stamp set from Chocolate Baroque , this time using tags.

I used the tagtastic  stamp on a spare piece of inked card to create the tag, then stamped the larger maple leaf down the centre in green. The fussycut leaves were left over from a wreath card , and were stamped onto a piece of card coloured with brusho powders, and the sentiment was also stamped onto a bit of leftover bit of card and cut up;  the 'ribbon'  was a scrap of fancy knitting yarn.

My second tag was stamped onto a distress oxide background again, but this time trimmed to fit onto a DL card blank cut from kraft card. The leafy spray stamp was inked with a multicolour inkpad  and stamped twice into the tag shape. The third stamping was with a terracotta ink pad. The sentiments were stamped in black ink, and I added shading round the tag shape with a charcoal pencil

pensive

 Today i have two cards to share using the very different  and rather striking  Beauty is in the eyes stamp set from the Chocolate Baroque October shows on The Craft Store

The first one is very simple, stamped in black versafine onto white card and coloured using a bluegrey pencil, trimmed down, a silvery grey mat onto a white card blank, and the sentiment stamped in black 

The second version was stamped onto a square of card coloured with distress oxides and texture added using a stencil. The image was stamped and coloured  using the brush  pens from Koh-i-noor. Sentiment  stamped in black, and some very elderly jewels added along with a black mat.

autumn leaves

 For my first post for chocolate Baroque this month I have used the gorgeous new stamps from nature which are perfect for this time of the year.

My first card also uses the frame and bubbles from beauty is in the eyes. I inked the frame and bubbles using a small dye ink pad in a  honey colour and wiped any ink off the rest of the image before stamping onto the edge of a square of card. Reinked the stamp, turned the card round and stamped on the opposite edge. I used a waterbrush to pull the colour out in the frame and on some of the bubbles.

The big leaf spray was inked in the same ink and stamped at an angle across the card, reinked with some orange and green ink added randomly overlapping the first image.  Inked up a third time with thew orange and green inks and stamped more vertically over the other images. Finally inked in black ink and stamped again - I used a stamping platform to match up the images. the sentiments were stamped on scraps of card coloured with the same inks

A  wreath card using a stamping platform and the small leaf stamp inked in green ink. The large leaves were stamped in green ink onto card cololured with brusho powders and fussy cut out before gluing in place and adding the sentiment stamped in black onto a spare piece of card

A simpler wreath just using the small leaf stamp again, stamped alternately in green and yellow inks 
 

sacred

 Something a bit different today that fits in with the current challenge at Stamping Sensations , where the theme is animals, birds and bugs - I was trying to create the image in a crystal ball

I used the hands from the Chocolate Baroque stamp beauty is in the eyes, well, to be accurate the hand , which was stamped once onto card and once on to acetate and then on to card to reverse the image and both then fussy cut out. 

The moth from the sacred set by Fiona Randall was stamped in black versafine and clear embossed onto a circle of card that had been  stencilled  using  distress oxides to give a misty effect. Coloured in using pencils, then the circle was double embossed with clear embossing piowder.

Background card was stencilled to match the circle and the sentiment from sacred stamped and embossed at the top, then the orb and the hands glued into place.

floral blueprints

Today i have a set of very simple DL cards to share using the four blueprint sets of stamps from Chocolate Baroque that were featured on the Craft Store show last month. Allium blueprint, echinacea blueprint, lupin blueprint and chrysanthem blueprint.

The base cards were cut from a dark silver card, and the images were all stamped in black versafine ink onto white card. The flowers were coloured using koh-i-noor pencils and blending solution.

The sentiments come from the blueprint sets apart from that on the echinacea card, which is from life is so much better, also stamped in black on spare white card.



 

greyscale

 

two more samples to show today using the lupin and chrysanthemum blueprint stamps from the September show.

I had a couple of pieces of grey card left over from previous cards, and decided to see how they worked with the koh-i-noor pencils and the blending solution.

For both versions I stamped the main image in black and clear embossed it before randomly stamping smaller images in grey ink round it to make a background.

For the lupin card just used the white and yellow pencils to colour the image, then added a touch of green to the flower centres and used the blending solution to spread the yellow over the light bulb. The sentiment was stamped onto spare white card.

The chrysanthemum flower was coloured with red, orange and yellow pencils blended together, and the leaves with 2 shades of green and a yellow, also blended with a little white added to the banister railing.

Both were matted onto white and black card before adding to a card blank.
 

blueprint wreaths

 Good morning everyone, hope you all had a pleasant weekend and everyone who needed fuel got some.....

Today I have two wreath cards to share, using some of the smaller blueprint stamps from the September shows. 

These may look complicated, but if you have a stamping platform they are very easy. The first one uses two  flower stamps from the blueprint chrysanthemum set. The smaller stamps was inked in green ink and stamped 8 times to form the base of the wreath onto a square piece of white card. The larger stamp was stamped several times onto white card using a terracotta dye ink pad, and the colour dragged out with a waterbrush. I fussy cut these out, and decided to use 6 of them to add to the wreath shape - while we are always told to use odd numbers in flower arranging, I fwelt that 5 wasn't enough and 7 was too much, so 6 it was.  The sentiment is from the echinacea blueprint set.

This was even simpler. I used a very ancient multicolour ink pad to stamp the lupin image 8 times onto a piece of square white card. The centre image is part of the main image on the set, cut out with a punch and glued in the centre. I inked a mat of white card with a matching alcohol marker .

 

monochrome

  For this post I have a couple of monochrome cards to share using two very different stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque

The first card uses the lovely poinsettia script which I think does not have to be just for Christmas. I stamped it on grey card using black ink and clear embossing powder. It was coloured with koh-i-noor pencils using the white with blending solution on the flowers with yellow in the centre and green on the leaves.

I added silver and black mats before adding to a white square card blank with the sentiment stamped in blac

The second card uses the small geometrtic shape from Fiona Randall's sacred set, stamped four times on grey card and once on white in black ink and clear embossed.

The grey images were trimmed to square and mounted onto black card, with stickles glue on the centre triangles, although it doesn't show up well. The white image was closely trimmed and glued at an angle in the centre.

dragonflies

 Today I am sharing more cards using the sacred stamp set designed by Fiona Randall for Chocolate Baroque.

The first card began life as an 8" square card blank, with the front cut in half and both the front and inside sponged with grey and lemon distress oxide inks. The geometric design was randomly stamped in grey, as well as one of the leaf  stamps from the  walk tall stamp set along with the words from sacred.  The dragonflies on the front panel were stamped using black ink and clear embossed and coloured. The one on the back panel was stmaped in grey on spare card, coloured and cut out

For the second card the dragonfly was stamped four times in grey ink using a stamping platform. I again used the pva/mica method to make four more dragonflies using black ink and blue and silver mica powders. These were glued in place in the gaps between the stamped ones. The word was stamped onto scrap card and die cut then glued into the centre - I'd like to say this was to give a focaL point, but if I'm honest it was more to hide the overlapping wings!
 

mica flutterbys

Today I am sharing cards using the stamps designed by Fiona Randall
  featured in last month's tv shows by Chocolate Baroque.  I had the set called sacred which also had some very intricate geometrical designs.as well as the butterfly, dragonfly and moth.

For both of these I used one of my favourite techniques, a bit fiddly and takes a long time to dry but a fab result - well, i think so anyway!

First ink the stamp up - I used black versafine -  sprinkle with mica powders and then cover the stamp with pva glue (the cheap stuff is absolutely fine as long as it dries clear) then leave to dry. Depending on the weather  and how much pva you used it can take up to 2 days to dry completely. Once dry, peel off from the stamp and trim the edges and it is ready to use.

Both cards have a light grey card background.

The DL card was stamped with one of the geometric designs using grey ink and the words stamped between the butterflies, which were glued on with more pva.

The square card uses the dragonfly and moth stamps, with the background stamped with the geometric designs in grey and randomly sprinkled with clear embossing powder. The powder bubbles up when you heat it without using versamark and I rubbed some mica powders randomly over the background as  well. The word was stamped using versamark and gold embossed, then the insects were added.
 

pick a poppy

 I adore poppies, so this month's stamps  from Chocolate Baroque were definitely up my street! 

The first sample is fairly simple, with the main stamp from polygon poppies  stamped in versafine and coloured with koh-i-noor pencils. The background was sponged with distress oxide inks and randomly stamped in the same ink with some of the smaller stamps and one of the leafy stamps from walk tall

This one is a bit more fiddly, I made a similar  A4 background using distress oxides then trimmed it into 2 panels to fit an 8" square card blank with the front folded back. The main image stmaped in black versafine onto spare card , coloured with pencils and die cut into a hexagon, mounted onto a black hexagon and glued over the centre front fold. The smaller poppy hexagon stamp was stamped twice onto spare card, coloured with pencils and die cut, then matted onto black, and glued on the back panel to line up with the larger hexagon.

 My final sample used the larger poppy from flora and fauna stamped into the centre of a square of card. I then sponged distress oxide inks in blue and grey through a diecut mask to create a patchwork effect and randomly stamped images from polygon poppies in the grey ink.

The blue ink was blended round the main image which was coloured with pencils

 

Morning glory

 Good morning everyone, today I have three versions of the morning glory stamp from the flora and fauna set by Choolate Baroque to share with you.

For the first card I coloured the stamp with marker pens, spritzed lightly with water and stamped onto white card. I used a water brush to pull out the colour on the flowers and leaves. A matching green mat and the sentiment stamped using the  blue marker pen to finish.

The base card here was randomly stamped with parts of the image using grey distress ink and sponged round the edges to create a background. 
Image stamped in black versafine ink this time and coloured with distress inks and a waterbrush.

The final version is on a candle, stamped in versafine onto tissue paper and coloured with alcohol marker pens
 

majestic crane

 For my first post this month I am sharing two samples using the gorgeous big crane stamp from last month's Chocolate Baroque tv show on the Craft Channel.

The first is a card, rather darker in the scan than it really was. It was a bit of an experiment, 

I stamped the image in versamark ink onto black card and clear embossed it, then coloured it with pencils. In hindsight it would have been better on grey card........

The base card was 8" square, and the rushes were second generation stamped in grey across base, and the sentiment added. 

I found a  6" square box frame on a charity stall last month, and it was just the right size for the crane. I used the bridge image from kingfisher song stamped onto white card  and coloured with watercolour pencils for the background. The crane was stamped onto spare card, coloured with pencils and fussycut out.  The frame was quite deep, and the one image wasn't standing out enough - so another four stamped  cranes. I only cut out the actual body of the bird from these  and added behind the main image with foam pads. I left the rushes loose when adding the bird to the background in the hope it would add a it of movement to the scene - and also I didn't want to fussycut them out another four times!
 

steampunk butterfly

My last post on the Chocolate Baroque blog this month focuses on the steampunk butterfly - absolutely perfect for masculine cards!

My first simple sample uses the cogs stamped in versafine clair in one corner, and gold and silver embossing powder sprinkled over quickly.  The butterfly was stamped once over the cogs in black in - too lazy to cut the antenna out!-  and once in versamark onto black card. White, silver and blue embossing powder sprinkled over, fussy cut out and glued over first image. Black mat onto white card blank to finish

this one is more grungy, black soot distress ink sponged round the edges, then the small butterfly stamped along the four edges in black ink, and again twice onto spare card. The spare images wwere sponged with black ink, and the single wings cut out and glued down to fill in the gaps in the rather wonky wreath shape. The flower from punky romance was stamped in the centre, then the large butterfly stamped in versamark onto black card and white embossed was cut out and glued at an angle on top- and this time I did cut out the antenna.....

 The prettier version has the large image from punky romance stamped in grey and coloured with watercolour pencils. Antique linen and old paper distress ink brushed round the edges, and the small cogs randomly stamped in the same inks. 
The large butterfly stamp was put on an acrylic block and inked in black versafine ink, then sprinkled with mica powders. The whole image was then covered with pva glue and left to dry. Depending on the depth of the glue it will take at least 24 hours to completely dry. Once dry, peel off the glue and trim the image with scissors, then glue in place. Cheap pva works just as well as the dearer stuff, so if you're planning to do several buy the kid's version!

 I owe Lynnda Worsnop for this idea, and Doreen Sympson on whose blog I originally saw this - thanks ladies!

i saw three ships

 Almost every year I promise myself I will start on Christmas cards early, and never do it -despite the variety of Christmas themed  challenge blogs!

Making sea themed cards recently for some reason i couldn't get this carol out of my head, so  actually made a Christmas card!

This one was using a gelli plate background with a brayered  versafine ink and brusho sprinkles that had been lying around for a while.  There was a light area in the centre, so i added a mask for the moon there and sponged round it with blue distress ink. 

Seashell collage from Chocolate Baroque has a lovely slhouette image of a tall ship which was perfect. Two ships were stamped using versafine clair black ink, and the centre one using versafine smoky grey ink. Dots of white ink for the seaspray, and the words were printed from the computer

I am linking this to these Christmas blogs 

The male room  #152- Christmas in July

kraftychicks #567 - Christmas

creativecraftcottage#142 -Christmas in July

craftyhazelnuts Christmas challenge #550- anything goes

the holly and the ivy #97 - anything goes

shopping our stash # 449 - Christmas in July

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sea shells....

Two seasonal cards today using the sea shell collage set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

The first card uses the seagulls, everpresent round the Norfolk coast on the look out for food.

Simply stamped in black versafine on white card and coloured with watercolour pencils, apart from the sky which was sponged with distress ink. trimmed, matted on black and mounted 0onto a base card sponged with distress ink and randomly stmaped with seashells in the same ink. the larger gull was stamped onto spare card, coloured and cut out, then glued onto the base of the card

My second card uses the smaller stamps to create a rough wreath shape, using orange and green iks for the shells and brown for the anchor and wheel. Parts of the text stamp and seashells were randomly stamped round the edges and the same inks brushed round the edges. Very light dusting of blue in the centre and the sentiment from punky expressions

dream homes

 

My first card today features the Luv Shack house by Kim Moody for Chocolate Baroque.

I created a distress ink background in greens then stmaped the house onto the background using black versafine ink and again onto white card.

I coloured the chimney, hedge, balcony and ladder on the distress ink background and the main house on the white card using pencils.

I cut out the house on the white card and glued it over the other image, then added the sentiment from Italian House

The second card also has a distress ink background,this time in grey and green to create a misty effect. The Bottle and Jug was stamped in black at the top right and the Urban Chic house at the bottom left. The letters were cut from gold metallic card and glued in place diagonally

Bottle and Jug

It's always fun to have the quirky designs by Kim Moody to play with, and this month we had four!

I have used just the old pub one here, to celebrate the hospitality reopening....

My first one used a brusho background, image stamped in black versafine and clear embossed. I used bleach to take the colour out on the plastered areas of the building and a marker pen to colopur the roof.

The sentiment is from Say it vertically.

 The second version is back to a daylight view, stmaped in black again and coloured with marker pens.The background was sponged with distress inks and stamped with the script from Scripts and timepieces

winter trees

 

I love tree stamps, so these  - Orchard design-a -tree -on last month's shows were right up my street! They do come with leaves and flowers stamps so you can change the effects according to the seasons, but I loved them as the bare trees.

I stamped the larger tree in versafine black and clear embossed it, then used sponges and distress inks to create the wintery sky background, then trimmed close to the image. 

The sentiment from Life is so much better  was alos stmaped and embossed onto spare card and cut out.

The card background was made by splitting  a piece of corrugated card and then spraying it with an ancient green glimmer mist before rubbing a bit of gold wax over parts of it.

 The second card I used a spare bit of white card and stamped the trees, then used sponges, black soot and hickory smoke  distress inks  and torn paper to create the landscape. The sky was also sponged using the hickory smoke again and broken china.Trimmed down again to fit across a card blank, then the sentiment from Life is so much better stamped below.