Forgotten Friday 14 Venetian Compilation

Well folks, it's Friday again, where has the week gone? It's time to rummage through your forgotten and neglected stash again and create something with what you find. I was looking through my wood mounted stamps, barely used these days, and came across an old favourite of mine, that I have had for years; 'Italian Poetry Background' by Hero Arts. I love all things Italian, ecxept maybe the Mafia, and I used to love using this stamp. I dug out some bits and pieces to use with it. I have used a chandelier by B-Line stamps, an elegant lady by Chocolate Baroque, and a lovely lace stamp also by Chocolate Baroque. I have used a crackle stamp by Crafty Individuals, as my background looked too 'new', and I wanted a faded, elegant feel to the whole piece.

I have kept my colour scheme quite simple, and added some black Stickles for a little bit of bling. I made a flower from Black Bazzil, spritzing it with water so that I could scrunch the layers up, and then dried it with a heat gun to set the layers in place.

I enjoyed making this card, I haven't managed much crafting lately, and it's been good just to relax and mess about in my craft room. Don't forget, if you have a chance to make something, leave me a comment, and I'll stop by and take a look. Thanks for popping by, Judith xx

Forgotten Friday 13- What a difference a week makes!

Hello folks, it's Friday, and that means that it's time for you to rummage through your forgotten stash again, and see if you can make something with your neglected craft goodies.

We've had a bit of a week in our house; firstly, we've got 15 chicks that have hatched. They are so cute, and I thought I'd post a couple of pictures for you.

Don't they just make you want to go ahhhh? We keep Pekin chickens, which are miniature sized chickens. They have feathers over their feet like little shoes, with short legs. They waddle when they run towards you, and are very sweet. That is a walnut shell beside the chick on the left, to show you how tiddly they are!

The warm weather has been lovely for them, and they doze off in the sunshine, having 40 winks, when they get tired.

On the flip side this week, my Husband broke his collarbone, and dislocated his shoulder last Friday night, playing football. As he was coming out of Hospital the following morning, he collapsed, and was readmitted. He has given me a bit of a scare, I can tell you! He is okay, and home now, but can't drive, and needs a lot of looking after. It will take several weeks to heal, and will be very painful. No football for a while....

So, I haven't managed any crafting this week apart from a very simple project for this post. I found a lovely, untouched paper pad by Susan Winget titled 'Nature' for K & Co. I chose a lovely peachy themed piece of DP, and rummaged through my neglected Lavinia stamps, to create a scene. I have simply layered the stamps, using different colours, some shading, and a really useful dotty stamp which can be used for leaves, or ground shadows.

I hope you will for give me my quick card today. We have company later, and my nursemaiding duties are calling me again! Have a lovely Easter everyone, hopefully, the next week will be less eventful for me, and I might get a bit more crafting done. Don't forget to leave a comment if you make a 'forgotten' project, and I'll pop along to take a look. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Forgotten Friday 12- Monarch Tag

Hi folks, well it's Friday, so it's time for my Forgotten Friday post again. How quickly did this week go? I had a lovely time on Saturday at Alexandra Palace, meeting my  CSQ friends at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show. I also got to meet some of the Chocolate Baroque Guild members too, whose names I know, but I had never met in person before. It was lovely to meet you girls. It is always a big treat to meet up with Jo, Lesley and Elaine, who I rarely see. We talk all of the time, but this was a great opportunity to catch up face to face. We also managed to fit some time in spending money on crafting goodies too!

My craft room is full to the brim already, but there is always something new coming along that is a 'must have'. Don't you know that feeling? Fridays are a great chance for me to use something that has been lurking unused for a while, and has been neglected, because I've been using my new stuff. This week, I've chosen too use a little bit of both again, some new, some old. I have used a beautiful Monarch Butterfly stamp that I have had for many years, I don't know when I bought it. It doesn't even have a makers name, but I think I bought it from Creative Expressions. I've also used an unused stamp from Stampendous, 'Wishes take flight', I can't believe I haven't used this, considering my love of butterflies! My new items are a large Cling stamp, again from Stampendous of a Dahlia, it's gorgeous! and some of the new Fresco Finish paints from Paper Artsy. I raided my paper stash for a piece of paper from Basic Grey to finish the tag, adding some organza ribbon at the top.

I hope some of you will find time to join in with me this week. Have a look through your forgotten stash, make a project, and leave a comment for me. I'll pop over to your blog to take a look. You've got a week, see what you can come up with! Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Mosaic Doodles

Hi Folks, I thought that I would share another Design Team card that I made recently with you, using the lovely new designs from Chocolate Baroque. Glenda has a giveaway going on at the moment, all of the details are in my previous post. If you comment on any of my posts, the posts made by the other Design Team members on their blogs, or on the Design Team Blog  itself, you stand a chance of winning one of three fabulous stamp sets.

The card that I am showing you today, uses backing paper from the Echoes of Italy backing paper set, onto which I have stamped a long border, from the Doodle Butterfly stamp plate stamp, four times. I took nine pieces of one inch Stampbord, and taped them together with masking tape on the back, then coloured them with a mixture of Distress Inks and Memento Inks. I then stamped the Doodle Flower Design, from the Doodle Bird stamp plate on the top. I seperated the pieces, and matted them onto black card, before placing them onto the backing paper, which was also matted onto black card.

I wanted this to look like a piece of Italian wall art, and really enjoyed working within my favourite colour group.
Don't forget to see what the other Design Team members have been up to this week, the more you comment, the more chances, you'll have to win those lovely stamps! Judith xx

Chocolate Baroque Giveaway

Hi folks, happy Sunday to you all! I hope the weather is as lovely with you, as it is here. I'm here to tell you about a great giveaway over at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog Glenda is giving away three sets of stamps,

Doodle Butterfly

Doodle Birds

Butterfly Dreams

To be in with a chance of winning a set of one these fabulous stamp plates you need to leave a comment either on the Design Team blog, or on one of the Design Team members' blogs, that includes mine! Glenda will then choose random commenters to receive the prizes.

You've already seen some samples on my Blog using these lovely stamps, but here is another one for you today.

I wanted an opulent feel to my card, so I stamped my bird onto the reverse of a metal oval, and embossed each line with an embossing tool while resting on a soft mat. I turned the oval over, and refined the lines. I then used alcohol inks to colour the metal, and gently swiped the raised areas with gold.
I created a tag by stamping a peacock feather in black Stazon Ink on an acrylic tag, and applying metal leaf to the reverse.
I used gold mirri card to mat my Artylicious backing paper, and my metal oval, and hung the tag from a piece of teal ribbon, using jump rings.
Thanks for stopping by today, and don't forget to visit the other Design Team members' blogs to see what they have been up to, Judith xx

Forgotten Friday 11- mixing the old with the new

Hi folks, well it's Friday, so that means it's time for my Forgotten friday post again. I'm sorry that I missed last week, time just caught up with me. I hope that you have been looking through your neglected stash this week, and if you have time, please make something, and leave a comment. I'll pop along to your Blog to take a look.
This week, I am using a couple of new products with my Forgotten stash; Dylusions sprays, and Clearly for Art, modelling film from Wendy Vecchi. I purchased these at the recent Harrogate Show, and have been itching to play with them.
I have based my card this week on some unused Stampotique stamps designed by Jo Capper-Sandon. You may think that these are not particularly forgotten, or neglected, but I bought them, put them in a drawer, and there they have stayed. I love these stamps, and here is an excuse to use them. I have had them for quite a while, as I pre-ordered them before they were available!
I stamped Jasmine, masked her with Eclipse tape, and then stamped the mushrooms, and masked them too. I then sprayed my watercolour paper with the sprays. I coloured my image with Polychromos pencils, and added a butterfly made from Clearly for Art, coloured with caramel alcohol ink.
I stamped the 'Papillon' word stamp onto some scrapbook paper from my stash, and added the sentiment to my picture.

I really enjoyed making this piece, and don't think that I'll put these stamps back in their drawer just yet. I have the bees and Moongirl as well, so there are more possibilities to my layouts. The Dylusions sprays are lovely to work with, and I did buy quite a few colours.
I'm off to Ally Pally tomorrow, meeting up with my Blog friends, and some Chocolate Baroque Guild members. If you are going, and you see me, please say hello. I may be a bit distracted by all of the goodies on display!
Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Chocolate Baroque Doodle stamps

Hi folks, today I like to show you a card that I made using the new Doodle stamps from Chocolate Baroque. We were given these on the Design Team to play with recently, and had a great time with them.

For this particular sample, I decided to use soft colours, and a Spring palette. I made a stair step card, and instructions for this can be found at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ in the resources section. You do not have to be a member to use the resource section, just trawl through, and you'll find some great card shapes and techniques over there.

Anyway, I used paper from the Essence of Nature CD to cover the panels of my card, and matted this onto pale green card. I cut an oval, stamped my images with Versamark, and embossed them using pearl white embossing powder. I coloured the oval using Distress Inks. I stamped four butterflies onto shrink plastic, and attached those to the step panels, and added a piece of green seam binding ribbon. A sentiment finishes the card.

I loved working with these soft colours, as I often work with much brighter colours.
The other Design Team members have been posting some of their samples on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team blog, and their own blogs, which can be accessed from the Design Team blog. You can reach the blog from my sidebar. Do go and take a look. Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

Where does the time go?

This last couple of weeks has been incredibly busy, I've been away twice, and time is just whizzing by. Unfortunately, I just didn't manage a Forgotten Friday post last week, but Val and Sue, both posted on their own blogs. They have supported this post from day one, and I truly appreciate that. Girls, will you please get in touch with me, I know you both know how to, either via my profile, or on the Chocolate Baroque social site. You can see Sue's and Val's posts by reading the comments on my previous post.

The Chocolate Baroque website launch has been great, it's lovely to look at, and the new stamps are fabulous. I have made two cards from the new stamp plate 'Butterfly Dreams'

Of course I had to use the poppies first! I used gold embossing to stamp out the image, but I think that it will look stunning stamped in black. That will be how I try it out next time. I've used shrink plastic for the butterflies, but stamped one on the wrong side of the shrink plastic, to get it facing the opposite way.

This card became a Mother's Day card for my Mother in Law, and she was really pleased with it. I stamped the decoupaged butterflies onto coloured vellum which I bought years ago, as a job lot from a certain shopping channel, so I don't know if it's still available. I spritzed the stamped panel with Gold Sticky Fingers spray after I had coloured it with Adirondack inks, it is very shimmery, which you can see if the picture is clickable.
The Chocolate Baroque social site is humming with activity, there are lots of members now. Don't be put off if it seems a bit strange at first. There are lots of places to ask questions. If not, look for me, and I'll help you! The links for the website, and the social site are in my previous post, but there is a nice badge now in my sidebar for the social site for you to click on, and you can reach the shop from there.
I'll be back with a Forgotten Friday post this week, so don't forget to start looking through your neglected or forgotten stash, make something, add a comment to my post , and I'll come and visit you.
Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Chocolate Baroque Launches Today!!!

Just to let you know that Chocolate Baroque opens its doors today at 12 noon. Hop over to http://www.chocolatebaroque.com/ there is a free gift for the first 100 shoppers. There is also a social website http://chocolatebaroque.ning.com/ where you can join in crafty discussions and challenges. You can even make friends. I am living proof of that, I have three lifelong friends that I made through the old Graphicus Guild, Elaine, Jo, and Lesley, with whom I run http://craftstampingquartet.blogspot.com/ The Guild has now become the Baroque Guild, and you can find out about that on the new forum, and the website too. It offers discounts on products from Chocolate Baroque, a monthly newsletter, and a whole host of new crafty friends to get to know.
The clock is ticking, it won't be long now! Judith xx