artful allium

 Some samples using the allium collage stamp from Chocolate Baroque today.The first card is very simple, I coloured the stamp using distress oxide inks and stamped directly onto a DL card blank.

The second version was a bit more elaborate, I created a foldback card blank creasing the card into onethird and twothirds, so the front panel was DL sized. 

The images on the back panel were stamped directly onto the card using black soot distress oxide ink. The large letters were from the just useful set.I stamped the main image for the front onto a separate piece of white card, and coloured the stamp using distress marker pens. I used a stamp platform, so could give a good huff to the image to get a stronger coloured image. The card was inked round the edges with a matching pink inkpad before gluing ontot he fron card panel.

This one the image was again coloured with distress marker pens , but then overstamped with grey versafine ink and torn out round the image. The background was created with distress oxide inks spritzed with water, then overstamped with smaller worker stamps using the same inks. The letters from just useful were stamped in black and clear embossed.

My final sample used an mdf panel covered with a  sheet of copy paper randomly coloured with distress oxide inks using a roller. Once it was dry, I stamped the numbers in the blue oxide ink, and the splodges and letters in black.

I used watercolour paint to fill in the centres of the numbers.

 

Ace card

 A rather different design from Lesley  of Chocolate Baroque to share today, the ace card stamp. 

A very delicate image, so coloured with water colour pencils , image cut out and edged with black ink. Background was stamped in green ink just using the vine part of the stamp, with the small script stamp stamped randomly as well. 

i cheated with the sentiment from the allium collage set by cutting it out the colouring in the hole in the tag shape

My second sample used the woodgrain stamp from fragile wings set for the background stamped using vintage photo distress ink and brushed with water to spread the colour out.

The main image was stamped onto white card , coloured with watercolour pencils, torn out and edged with green ink. The small card image was stamped twice onto white card, cut out aand tucked behind the main image and the sentiment added to finish
 

fragile wings and brusho

 Today I have two versions to share using the beautiful dragonfly stamp from last month's shows on Hochanda with Chocolate Baroque.

Both very similar techniques, using my favourite brusho powders - very quick results, and different every time!

The first one, the image was stamped in versamark and white embossed before sprinkling grey brusho over the whole thing., then spritzing fairly heavily with water. There are lots of lovely muted colours in the brusho powder including oranges and blues in my tub. Once everything was dry, I used ordinary thin bleach to highlight the wings, then trimmed the card down to fit a 6" square card base with a bronze mat layer.

The second version used truquoise and purple powders, with the turquoise sprinkled over the dragonfly  and the purple over the small circle and on the edges.  The different shades in the turquoise were caught in the embossing of the wings and blended in with the purple for the background. 

Trimmed down for a 6" square card again, with a black marker pen used on the edges.

We have been very lucky with the weather here, the promised heavy snow has become sleet, although the strong icy wind did arrive! 

I hope you are all keeping safe and warm, although the bad weather is at least an excuse to stay in and craft.....

at the seaside

Two cards to share today using more of Kim Moody's quirky buildings for Chocolate Baroque.

The first is another stepper card - think I've come to the end of the stash now - with the harbourmaster's house as the main image, and two of the beach huts fussy cut out on the 'steps' .

All were coloured with watercolour pencils.

 Second card is a 6" square one, with the house stamped onto grey card with black ink, coloured with watercolour pencils again. The distant harbour scene was extended with a fineline pen.

Really loved playing with these quirky fun designs!

grand mansions.....

 

More of Kim Moody's houses to share today, from the once posh to the normalish.

I started with the posh house, which definitely looked like it could do with a make-over rather than a house-warming! 

I stamped the tag shape twice on white card using brown ink, and inked round the edges with the same inkpad.I stamped the house on one tag and the words and keys on the other. in the same brown ink. I added shading to the house using a waterbrush.

I stmaped the house twice again on spare card colouring just the doorway and the urns, and fussy cut out the urns, doorway and just the door frame. The cut out bits were then decoupaged using foam pads 

The background square of card was randomly sponged with the lighter brown ink and stamped using stamps from make your mark and edged with the darker brown . Tags added at angles to finish.

The normal house was used to make this stepper card,  from a pack bought may years ago and rediscovered..... I stamped the house on the upright and coloured using watercolour pencils. The house was stamped out three times onto spare card twice using marker pens to colour the stamp and a stamnping platform to repeat stamp until i had enough depth of colour, and once using grey ink. these were cut out and glued onto the the steps to create a city scene

My final sample shows the same house coloured with marker pens again but in brighter colours and stamped onto a cream DL card blank
 

sunny days

 

 Good morning everyone, I hope that this may cheer you up if your weather is the same as mine!

This uses the quirky dip in the sea set by Kim Moody for Chocolate Baroque, which was featured on one of last months shows on Hochanda , really fun stamps to play with.

The background card was coloured with distress oxide inks, and randomly stamped with the small images from the set to create a background. The actual stamp was stamped onto a piece of white card coloured with brusho powders, using versafine ink and clear embosing powder. The colour on the huts was taken out with bleach then the doors, roofs and window frames coloured with marker pens.Two thin dark brown mats to finish.

A quick heads up, Lesley and Chocolate Baroque will be back on Hochanda tomorrow  (Monday) at 1800 and 2000 with some gorgeous new stamps for the one day special , and back on Tuesday at 0800, 1200 and 1600 if there are any left........there will also be some special offers to tempt you further!

mixup

 

Good morning everyone, I hope that you had as good a Christmas as possible this year, and that you haven't suffered from the heavy rains and strong winds - the weather definitely doesn't know this is supposed to be the season of goodwill!

I am sharing something different first today, a small wooden bowl I decorated using the special set of stamps for the craftalong on Hochanda that eventually ws broadcast in August. I loved the seedheads, and stamped them using black versafine ink and clear embossing powder. The heads were coloured with alcohol marker pens.

My next all feature brusho powders, so my apologies if you can't stand them.... this uses a different seedhead, from glorious rubber and a gelli plate background. Green dye ink brayered onto the gelli plate, and diluted brusho in red, blue and yellow splashed on randomly using a fan brush before pulling the image.  Tjhe seedheads were stamped in black versafine and clear embossed, then coloured with marker pens - the background was pale enough that the marker pens covered up any creeping colour. It's a fascinating technique for backgrounds, but totally uncontrollable and great messy fun!

This one is vey simple, just grey powder and a fair amount of water to give a misty effect, and the dreamcatcher stmaped in black and clear embossed.

Another simple one, this time with black powder, then stamped in black and clear embossed - the lily was coloured with watercolour paints, and the leaf painted with green brusho 

My last is of a hanging using the lovely magnolia stamp from happy flowers day and whiteboard heart shapes. I used both black and grey brushos here and the spray starch and cling fim technique -black brusho on the hearts and grey on a piece of white card. The magnolia was stamped on the grey piece in black and clear embossed, then fussy cut out and glued onto the hearts. The two smaller hearts came out looking rather more blue than the large one