It's a Hoot

Hi Folks, I have a sample to show you today featuring the new Steampunk Birds unmounted stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. I have used a small chipboard frame which I have painted with blue and brown paint, and then covered it with Tim Holtz tissue wrap. I added a coat of matte medium to protect the tissue wrap and left this to dry. I added more paint over the areas that I wanted to highlight, like the buildings and the butterflies.

I stamped and embossed the owl using copper embossing powder, and also stamped some flowers from the Punky Flowers stamp set. I coloured these using Distress Markers. I die cut a branch from brown card, and assembled my project, adding some brass cogs, and a spinner. Finally, I added a sentiment from the new stamp set.

I will be back in a few days with another sample, showcasing these quirky steampunk birds. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Check out the new stamps at Chocolate Baroque

Hi Folks, there are some great new stamp releases over at Chocolate Baroque today. First up there is a set of steampunk themed rubber stamps called Steampunk Birds, great for lots of feathery makes, combined with a steampunk flair, and a little bit of humour with some quirky sentiments on the stamp plate as well.

I have made a rocker card with one of the images, adding one of the phrases. I thought these two little birds looked great rocking backwards and forwards on their handle. I have added some coils from the Punky Flowers stamp set, and an embossed background.

My second card uses one of the new clear flower stamps, the Fritillary. I have created a wrinkle free Distress background, embossing two corners, and then chopping the panel into three sections. I have coloured the image with pencils. I matted the sections onto a black card blank, adding some ribbon and gems to finish.

Keep checking the Design Team Blog for lots of samples from my team mates over the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Blue Fairy

Hi Folks, here is a Wintery sample for you using the Winter Fairy stamp collection from Chocolate Baroque. I stamped the main fairy onto a piece of white card, and then created a mask which I placed over the image. I stamped some mushrooms from the Autumn Fairy collection and then created masks for those as well. I made some paper masks for the hills, by tearing some scrap paper, and sponged various shades of green Memento Ink across the background. Fnally, I used some blue Memento Ink to create a sky, adding a circle mask to create a sun.

I added some yellow Memento Ink in the circle area for the sun, and embossed some trees using white embossing powder. I then removed the masks and coloured the stamped images using Graph it markers. To finish, I added some glitter glue along the edges of the hills and to highlight the mushrooms.

To create the background, I embossed some snowflakes from the Reindeer Landscape stamp set using white embossing powder, and then covered the background with blue Memento Ink. I used a sentiment from the Winter Fairies stamp set, and added some blue organza ribbon and some gems to finish.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Thank you cards

Hi Folks, I have a project to show you using the gorgeous new Winter Fairy stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. Around this time of year, we have lots of thank yous to send, and so I decided to make a gift wallet containing some thank you cards, using lots of the fairy images from both this stamp set and the Autumn Fairy stamp set.

I started my project by cutting some paper masks from scrap paper and inking through the masks with a variety of Memento inks onto plain white card cut to size.

I blended the colours as I graduated down the area that I was shading to get a soft blend. I removed the mask and stamped one of the fairies from the stamp plate over the shaded area. On each card, I added a sentiment taken from Words of Gratitude or Pretty Poppies stamp sheets. I added black matting to the cards to tie in with the stamping.

I cut two pieces of black card 21cms x 19.5cms.  I then scored 1.5cms at one end of each piece, and overlapped them, sticking them together at this point. I scored 2.5cms at each outer edge, and 2.5cms along the bottom, cutting out a gap where the overlap occurred along the bottom. I trimmed the bottom edges slightly at each of the four ends. I folded the sides and the bottoms inwards, and secured the outer corners with glue or double sided tape.

I placed a piece of ribbon across the middle of the front of the folder before sticking on the front design. I actually used two pieces of ribbon, a shorter piece on the right, and a longer piece on the left to wrap right around the back.

I'll be back in a few days with another sample using these lovely stamps, but in the mean time, keep checking the Design Team blog for more inspiration from my team mates. If you leave a comment over there this month, you could be entered into a draw, so leave some love for them. Thanks for stopping by.

EDIT: I was asked by a commenter what sort of brushes I use to make my backgrounds on these cards. For these particular cards, I just used some cheap little shaving brushes from a supermarket, and have one for each colour group that I store in a plastic basket. I dab off the excess ink onto scrap paper, see my photos for reference, as this avoids brush marks in the shading. You can get a lovely smooth background with brushes. Any good stencilling brushes work as well.

I hope that this helps, xx

Card with Stickpins: Things with Wings

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. This week the theme is to add stickpins to a card using the theme 'Things with Wings'. You can make your own stickpins, or use some that you have purchased.

I have chosen to raid my neglected stash again, and use some beautiful stamps from Chapel Road, a large background stamp called 'Flower words', and a lovely flower stamp called ''Queen Anne's Lace'. I embossed both images using copper embossing powder, and then coloured the card using Dried Marigold and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. I spritzed the card with water afterwards for a speckled finish. I used a piece of Basic Grey paper as my back ground, and matted everything with deep red card. I added some wide hessian behind the words.

I die cut two butterflies using some X-cut butterfly dies and gold foil. I coloured the butterflies with red alcohol ink, then embossed them through my die cutting machine. I then coloured the raised embossed areas with green alcohol ink, to create the two tone effect. I added some beads from my jewellery making stash to some stick pins, before placing them through some olive green ribbon on the front of my design. I particularly like these stick pins, as they have a cap on the bottom, covering the point at the end.

 

Our sponsor this week is Crafts and me, who are offering the winner three digis as a prize.

Please hop over to the challenge blog for some inspiration from my team mates. They have made some lovely cards.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Cheerful stamp pad Wings

craft-Dee BowZ Anything goes with a Handmade Bow

Lady Anne's Challenge More than one layer

Make it Monday Anything Goes

Glitter and Sparkle Autumn Colours

Jo's Scrap Shack Things with Wings

Stampin for the weekend Autumn/Fall Colours

Thanks for stopping by, xx

My work space

Hi Folks, we were asked recently by Hilde our blog leader over at Crafting with Dragonflies to do a reveal of our craft spaces. This idea filled me with horror, as I am a messy crafter. I decided that I did need to tidy my craft room up at least a bit before I could photograph it in all of its glory to let anyone see it. It has taken two trips away from my Husband to achieve this, but it is now very tidy. I am including a before picture as well, just so you can see how untidy I usually am!

I am ashamed to show this picture, but in my defence, I always know where everything is! My craft room is in what should be the dining room of our house, but it is quite small, and we have had a lovely extension built to house our dining table now.

My nice tidy desk, which houses my PC and the Big Shot Pro. There are pieces of my artwork on the wall, and the collection keeps growing.

Lots of baskets and useful storage to keep things organised. This side of the room contains boxes housing my jewellery supplies, acrylic paints, dies, embossing folders, and all sorts of other useful materials for the different crafts that I enjoy. I also have various sets of pens and pencils including Copics, Polychromos and several sets of Derwent pencils, a well known British make of pencils for those of you who are reading this outside the UK.

My precious unmounted stamp collection is housed in those Really Useful boxes, and I have more stored elsewhere. I love to collect books on the various crafts that I enjoy, cardmaking, mixed media, jewellery making, etc.

The filing cabinets, including the little red one on the left house my wood mounted stamps, more unmounted stamps and card. I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my craft room. I quite often end up working on the dining table because my desk is so untidy, plus the lighting is better there:

As you can see, I can mess the table up quite quickly as well! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Hi Folks, here is another sample using the versatile Nature Fragments and Abstract Fragments stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque. I have created a background by covering some watercolour paper with a wash of  Ecoline ink, and adding some salt while it was still wet. Once the background was dry, I brushed away the salt, and randomly stamped the squiggly texture stamp in Salty Ocean Distress Ink across the paper. I added highlights with a white pencil.

I coloured a piece of glossy card with green and brown alcohol inks and then stamped the large and small tree trunk circles several times in archival black ink. I cut these out, and arranged them across the page. I used another texture stamp and some blue green embossing powder to create a pattern across the wings of a die cut dragonfly.The sentiment was taken from the Words of Inspiration stamp set.

 

Something along these lines might make a great masculine themed card, which is always hard to design.Thanks for stopping by, xx

Fragmented background

Hi Folks, I have another sample to show you using the new Nature Fragment stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I have chosen to alter a small papier mache plaque which I have painted, and then covered the front with some scrapbook paper. Before attaching the paper, I stamped the large hessian (burlap) stamp using gold embossing powder across the middle of the panel, and added a piece of cerise ribbon. I used another stamp from the stamp set and Lilac Posies Memento ink to add some random stamping across the background. I then used a fragment stamp from the Lace Fragment stamp set to fill in any areas left, using Iced Spruce Distress Ink. I softened these areas with a pearl spray.

I stamped and embossed several images from the Haberdashery stamp set, using white embossing powder, and coloured them using the Memento Ink, or the Distress Ink as before. I also embossed a pair of scissors using gold embossing powder onto a piece of gold pearlised card. Finally, I cut a small tag shape, which I coloured with Iced Spruce Distress Ink, keeping the die cut in place, so that the edges remained white, in keeping with the other embossed pieces, and stamped a sentiment from the haberdashery stamp set onto the tag.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Alcohol flourishes

Hi Folks, there are some new stamps at Chocolate Baroque released this week,that will be a great bunch of stamps to have at your fingertips. They are a range of texture stamps, including things like woodgrain, brick walls, stones, and lots of other fabulous designs. The stamps are broken into two sets, but are also available as a multibuy.

I have used a couple of stamps from the Nature Fragments stamp set for this card. I created a wrinkle free distress background first of all, and then stamped the ornate flourish stamp across the background using three different colours of Adirondack Ink, Eggplant, Stream and Wild Plum. I coloured some Glossy card using Eggplant and Wild Plum alcohol ink, and then stamped the panel with the negative flourish image, using silver embossing powder.

I die cut a butterfly from plum coloured foil, which I embossed through a die cutting machine. I used some alcohol ink to change the colour of the raised areas. I matted the design onto teal coloured card and added some plum ribbon. My sentiment came from the Pretty Poppies stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx