we three kings

 

A traditonal image to share this time, but in the background for a change - all stamps by Chocolate Baroque

Background created with distress oxide inks, star embossed in silver and silver and gold embossing powders scattered randomly about without any versamark and heated - doesn't stay where it started, but I like the random effect!

The kings were stamped using the darkest ink shade from the background , and the words in black. 

The scroll was a piece of paper stained with cold tea, words from gold, frankincense and myrrh stamped in black once the paper was  dry. 

Torn round the edges, top and bottom rolled round a paintbrush, then glued at an angle.

I would like to add this to the following challenges

dragonfly dreams - Christmas

international art and soul -#146 Christmas

https://peaceonearthchristmas.blogspot.com/ - #27 Christmas

stamping sensations - Christmas celebrations

we love stamping - Christmas

crafty hazelnuts challenge - #619 Christmas

christmas angel

It's getting  to the time to really start to think  about Christmas cards - i usually am the one rushing to make the last posting date! With the cost of stamps going up , I am sending fewer cards this year, but will be making them all  ( fingers crossed)

This is a quick card using stamps from Chocolate Baroque, though it does involve masking.

It is a 6" square card blank, with a slightly smaller square of black (any strong color will work, but i just like black and gold!) card for the image. The angel from the old set  A Child is Born was stamped in versamark and gold embossed. Stamped again in black on masking tissue, cut out and laid over the angel, then the Christmas words from the Slim Word Strip 2 were stamped across using white pigment ink. Once the ink was dry, i rubbed the edges of the card with more versamark ink, and dipped the edges into gold embossing poiwder and heated it.

I would like to enter this to the follwing challenges

crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge #164 - anything Christmas goes

the holly and the ivy#124 anything christmas

addicted to stamps #439 - any occasion

sweet stampin - christmas in september

Tomte Christmas

Two quick 6" square cards to share today, using the slim word strip 2 and the Tomte  Christmas stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque.

Same method for both, just picking out one of the words from the strip and colouring it with distress marker pen. I used my stamping platform so that i could repeat the inking and stamping to get a stronger colour - mine will take an A4 size card, so it was fairly easy to position my square of card with the word.

I edged my square of card with the same marker pen.

 The gnomes were stamped onto spare card with versafine black ink and coloured with marker pens, cut out and glued in place

tree of knowledge

 For my second post this month I am sharing samples using the lovely tree stamps that were featured by Chocolate Baroque on the Create & Craft shows last month.

I may not be a tree hugger, but I am a sucker for tree stamps - aprt from looking good, they are great for all occasions. As an avid reader, I loved the books as tree roots!

The first is very simple, if you already have a ready made background - in this case using distress inks splodged onto a crafrt mat and spritzed with water - then this literally takes only moments to do.Tree and sentiment stamped in black versafine ink and the fruit coloured with a marker pen, edge with a black marker pen and mount onto a card blank.

The second version also has a distress ink background, but overstamped in green with the large leaf stamp from nature 2 . The winter version of the tree stamped in black versafine ink again, sentiment on a scrap of card and cut out

For the final sample i made a book mark using a die cut tag shape in green card. A torn page from an old paperback was given a thin coat of gesso and smudged round the edges with distress ink. The intention was to make a pile of books, buit once I had cut them out they looked more like birds (seagulls?), so were added at angles with the sentiments stamped between them

Happy birthday

 

 For my first post this month for Chocolate Baroque I chose this card, which was quite quick to make, so long as you use a stamping platform

The  greeting was from the slim  word strip 2 plate, and I coloured the words i wanted to use with distress marker pens, gave a good huff on the stamp and then stamped onto a square of white card..I re-inked the larger letters again and stamped again - using a stamping platform means you have no problem lining the second stamping up, and also that you can put the sentiment just where you want it

The flower from not more flowers! was also inked with distress markers and stamped above the greeting , and i used a water brush to pull some of the colour out into the petals.. For the mat I coloured round the edges of a piece of white card with a matching marker pen - easier (and cheaper) than searching for a matching bit of coloured card.

i would like to link this to the following challenges

creative fingers -#237, always anything goes

seize the birthday #246 anything goes

happylittle stampers. birthday, - anything goes

thorugh the craft room door  - anyhting goes

allsorts - #692, anyhting goes

stamping sensations , feminine

nature book

 

I made a little book featuring several of the stamps from the  Chocolate Baroque shows last month  - it didn't quite go to plan, either in making it or posting it!

The first pic is of the covers, I used grey boards from Tando covered on both sides with some designer paper that had been around for ages, overstamped with the nature words strip on the back and the F is for on the front. 

 I tried a concertina fold that was shown by Di Oliver on a Tando show to add the inner pages, and discovered that I should have a) recorded the show so didn't have to rely on my memory and b) left a gap between pages  - but too late, as it was well stuck down by then. I found that out when trying to open it flattish to take the photo - you can see the epic fail on the next pic, but at least I know for next time......

The inner pages were a mix of inked and brusho backgrounds , and I have shown as many as possible , but not in order as blogger kept losing the pics - sorry, but I gave up trying to sort them out, if it's simple OK, complicated, no way 

Most of the colouring was done with pencils, both watercolour and a cheaper version of polychromos 

I did enjoy making the pages , and even assembling them straight , just not happy with  the obvious mistakes!

 

graph paper

 Good morning everyone, I hope that you are all not melting in the heat at the moment - as far as I am concerned, it's a close run thing!

Two more samples from last month's tv shows for Chocolate Baroque to share today today , this time using the Small graph  paper stamp as the main image. I have to admit to a feeling of relief when others also went a bit wild!

The first one just has the graph part of the stamp stamped in black in the centre of a 5.5" square white card. The letters from Just Useful  and the scribble from Make More Marks also stamped in black, and the squares from Make More Marks stamped in red. I also filled in some of the scribble loops with a fine line pen.

 For the second card most of the graph stamp was stamped in blue ink, with the line from Making More Marks in green to make the graph line. The A from Just useful in black, and then a sentiment from Words of Comfort and Cheer added in black to finish

thistle butterfly

 

I used a second generation brusho background for this card, first stamping the main image using distress markers spritzed with water, then overstamping in black versafine using a stamping platform.

Silhouette thistles in black round the edges to give some depth, and a black line drawn round the edges with a marker pen to finish. 

Once you had the background, this was a  fairly quick card as the distress pens added the colours to the image

 

dragon dance

for my last post this month using the retired stamps from Chocolate Baroque I had to use the gorgeous dragons, - I just had to buy  this set when it first came out, and I still love it.

I stamped the largest dragon three times, then sponged distress oxide inks round the dragons to create a fiery look, then coloured the dragons with distress markers in similar  colours. 

Using Lesley's technique of watering down stickles and painting I added glitter heavily to the wings and used the very diluted remnant of a very ancient bottle of stickles on the bodies. The glitter doesn't really show on the scan, but it is very definitely there!

 

feathered friends

Staying with feathers sort of, this time with bird stamps from the retired list. The first sample is very simple. the strip of birds from fly away with me stamped in black on white card, trimmed round and mounted onto black card then onto a white card blank. The sentiment from live out loud also stamped in black and edged with black card.

The owl from wise owl was stamped in black onto white card, clear embossed and coloured with marker pens, cut out and mounted onto a distress oxide background edged with a swirl stamp from dawn chorus and a marker pen along the edges. Sentiment from sing your song.
 

peacock feathers

 June was quite a sad month, several of my favourite stamps from Choolate Baroque were in the retired list, but digging them out made me realise just how old some of them were! On the plus side, retiring a whole load of older stamps means there will be room for new designs to tempt us, though I'm quite sure the bank manager would not agree!

My first samples for the recent shows on Create & Craft used stamps from the Peacock Fan and Peacock Glory sets.

I used the large feather stamp to create  fan cards. The first one has a brusho background, and I stamped the feather once on the right, then masked it with tissue paper and stamped again five times to create the fan shape. Some parts of the images were coloured with marker pens, then a mount of black card before adding to a white card blank.

The second version again had a brusho backgroumnd, and the feather was stamped five times and fussy cut out. The eyes were coloured with marker pens Then the fan was assembled onto black card.

My final card was a trifold on black card -after folding the card, I cut diagonally from the top of the lefthand panel to partway down the right hand panel, giving the shape on the right. The peacocks were stmaped using versamark and gold embossed, then painted with shimmer paints

The other scans show the inner and back of the flat card before folding 

 

dragonfly dreams

two samples to share today using the dragonfly image from fragile wings by Chocolate Baroque.

 The first was a set of coasters created from grey board circles, painted with white gesso and then sponged with distress oxide inks.

The dragonfly was stamped using black versafine ink, and once the ink was dry the coaster was sealed using modge podge adhesive.

My second is a candle, this time using the whole stamp stamped onto the smooth side of white tissue paper using black verafine ink.

It was painted on the rougher side using shimmer watercolour paints, then brushed round with water and carefully torn out. Heat sealed onto the candle to finish.
 

flower power

Here I have used flower images from Chocolate Baroque to create three cards.

My first is a bit grungy, using the alium collage as the main stamp, stamped in versamark ink onto black card and white embossed.. I used stamps from just useful and paisley elephant stamped randomly in white pigment ink to create the background. (Paisley elephant is on the list of retired stamps since I made this card, but any fancy script stamp would do)

The remaining cards are very similar, both use a background created using distress inks splodged onto a mat and spritzed with water and mopped up with card. Once piece of card was dry, I stamped the nature themed words from slim word strip 1 several times in distress oxide ink across the card, staggering repeat stamping.  Once it was dry, I cut two pieces to fit  a DL card blank and stamped two different images from not more flowers. The dandelion was clear embossed after stamping in black versafine, and the gerbera(?) was coloured with alcohol marker pens. 

Both stamped images were matted onto black card and then added to the white DL card blanks

 

making marks

Good morning evryone, hopefully you are all  enjoying the Jubilee weekend - I thought I ought to go with the flow and show you this  red, white and blue card using  stamps from Chocolate Baroque that featured on the May tv shows

I made a black DL card using my trimmer, which helpfully has a scoring blade, and cut a piece of white card to fit. I stamped the dotty streak stamp from making more marks twice in red and again in blue along the length of the white card - I did try to join it up properly, but the sentiment hides any gaps! I added the ink and paint words in the red and blue ink. The sentiment was stamped in black on a spare piece of card , with the exclamation mark added, trimmed down, mounted on a narrow black mat and glued in place.

For the second card I cut a square of white card about 7.5" square and fastened it onto a stmaping platform with the magnets. The tyre tread stamp was stamped four times in black versafine ink, turning the card each time after stamping one image. Reposition the stamp midway between two of the images and repeat the process four times. It looked a bit bare, so i added the narrow strip stamp, again placing it midway between two of the first images, and stamping four times. Reposition it in the blank spaces and repeat stamp another four times.

i added the word edgy roughly in the centre, then trimmed the card down into a hexagon shape, and inked the edges in black before adding to an 8" white card blank.

I used the loopy stamp to decorate a fabric shopper for something different. I used the versafine black ink again, and stamped the image eight times to form a rough circle this time usign an acrylic block ( only because the bag wouldn't fit into the stamping platform!).

I coloured the loops using promarkers to give something roughly approaching a flower .

If you want to decorate a similar bag, you would be better off using fabric inks - I did wash a previous bag that had been decorated using versafine and promarkers, and the colours didn't wash out , but obviously I could have just been very lucky that time!

catch-up

My third post this month for Chocolate Baroque is a bit of a mixture, catching up on other stamps featured in the April show on Create and Craft.

The  canary bird rose stamp is lovely to colour in, but I just used bleach to take the colour out. The background was from a batch made using the inky plate and distress inks with some added stencilling- the leaves and stem were coloured with pencils 

Another inky plate background for the tree from be at peace, with a reflection below it created using acetate, coloured with pencils again. the sentiment was stamped on an offcut of the background piece, cut out and edged with black ink

Another inky plate background, with the open weave  background stamped in grey first, then the floral weave stamp coloured with felt tip marker pens stamped twice to build up the colour - I used a stamping platform for this.

Sentiment on a scrap of the background and a black mat.

 The final card used the flower from life is wonderful stamped in black ink onto a sponged background. The flower was coloured with pencils and the butterfly with shimmer paints. The flower head was stamped onto spare card, painted with watercolours ,fussy cut out and glued over the original image.  Random parts of the open weave stamp were stamped on the background using a green distress ink and then I doodled round the edges with a fineliner pen. The sentiment was stamped onto spare card, cut out , more doodled edges.

 

dream petals

 For my second batch of samples from the Chocolate Baroque shows in April on Create and Craft I have used stamps from gerbera and friends and dream petals as the main images

The first two are very similar, both using  backing sheets coloured with brusho powders sprayed with water. A separate sheet of card was coloured using green, turquoise and purple powders and the flower from dream petals was stamped 5 times in black versafine ink and fussy cut out. 

I chose 3 flowers to mount onto the bluey background which was trimmed to fit an 8" square card blank and edged with black by dragging across the ink pad before gluing on.

The greeny one was trimmed to fit a 7" square card blank and edged by using an alcohol marker pen in green before adding the 2 remaining flowers.

This one took a bit longer to do -  The flower was stamped first in black versafine ink and clear embossed  befoe painting with ko-i-nor water colour paints. The sentiment comes from be at peace. I then brushed distress ink around the flower, and added  random parts of the lattice stamp to add texture. I also used several worker stamps from older sets to add interest to the background.

 

The last one used the sunflowers stamped in bl;ack versafine ink onto a scrap of  leftover card with an inky splodgy background which I trimmed right down and edged with black ink before mounting on a white card blank. The sentiment was stamped in black in the corner to finish

blown away

 

 For my first post this month using stamps from the April shows for Chocolate Baroque I chose to use the lovely dandelion stamps from the Gerbera and friends stamp plate

I used a  splodgy background from a previous session, which had just the right colours. The base card blank was 7" square, and the front was cut in half - the background piece was trimmed to make 2 pieces , one to fit the half card front and a narrower one to go on the inner.

The images were stamped using a white pigment ink pad - it's a fairly new ink pad, but gives a very muted image , so once the first images were dry I stamped again and white embossed them. Narrow black mats and a sentiment from say it vertically to finish.

 I couldn't resist another candle ,  images simply stamped in black versafine ink, torn out and fused on. It would have been easier to stamp all the images onto a single piece of tissue paper rather than doing them singly as I did - you live and learn!

canvas boards

 My final shares for this month are two canvas boards I decorated using the A4 strip stamps from Chocolate Baroque, phenomenal butterfly and floral paraphernalia

I used decor art paints to cover the canvas boards, using browns and blues, just slapping the paint on randomly to get rid of the white.- - one ended up with stronger colours  than the first

I used brown versaclair ink to randomly stamp parts of the images round the edges of the boards to create the background.

The strip stamps were stamped onto copy paper using black versafine ink, and the white paper was coloured using a soggy teabag. Once dry, the images were coloured using alcohol marker pens and torn round and glued onto the boards using modge podge.

 

floral trio

 Three cards to share today using the floral paraphernalia stamp from Chocolate Baroque

The first two actually started out as one A4 image, with cold tea splodged round as a background  - some colour added with a brush and some with the teabag dragged over. All the images were coloured with alcohol markers before cuuting to make two separate cards.

The second card has a random background stamped onto the card blank using parts of the same stamp.

The third version uses the top part of the image again, stamped onto a  sponged distress oxide background in salvaged patina and twisted citron. I stamped the flower from the companion set floral paraphernalia elements elements  and the letters to create a background. The flowers and leaves were coloured with pencils

 

zero calories!

 I love getting inky, and if coffee and cake just happens to come with it, that's a bonus! 

So it is no wonder my current stamp of the moment has to be the fab new set by Bipasha for Aall & Create. The background was created using ground espresso and salvaged patina distress inks on an inky plate ( a bit similar to a gelli plate, but a lot cheaper, available from Chocolate Baroque). I love the fact that you never get two results the same, and I thought that the watery effect worked well with the stamps.

The coffee cup was stamped onto the background using black versafine ink, and again onto spare card, coloured with pencils and cut out then glued over the first image. The cake was also stamped onto spare card, coloured and cut out., then glued next to the coffee cup.

I am linking this to two challenges

we love stamping stamp of the moment

stamping sensations - I love...