Stampbord Pencil Box

Hello everyone, it is time for another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, and this week, it is time for me to share a tutorial with you. I first made one of these little pencil boxes with Glenda many years ago, and love how easy they are to put together.

Ingredients:

4 pieces of Stampbord 2.5" x 3.5"
1 piece of mountboard 2.5" x 2.5"
A piece of patterned paper 3.5" x 10.5"
Butterfly Dreams stamp set
Archival Jet Black Ink
Brushos
Waterbrush
Palette
Glue
Seed beads on a string.

Instructions:

1. Stamp the four pieces of Stampbord each with a different part of the large stamp from the stamp set, using Archival jet black ink and emboss with clear embossing powder. (I found it easier to place the stampbord on the stamp, not the other way around).
2. Colour the images using Brushos, mixing the powders in a palette using a water brush.
3. Stick the patterned paper across the back of the Stampbord, overlapping the join slightly.
4. Run a line of glue around the edge of the mountboard and slide it into the bottom of the pencil pot. Allow the glue to set.
5. Run a line of glue along each outside corner and lay the seed beads on the glue, pulling the thread out slowly, to keep the seed beads nice and straight.

(Optional) Apply a thin layer of matte medium over the Stampbord to protect the surface, being careful not to over work the medium, or it will cause the colours to run.

I hope that you will give this project a try as it is such fun to make. There is more inspiration from some of my Team mates on the challenge blog, so please take a look. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

#3UP project for Paper Artsy

Hello everyone, I hope that you are enjoying the festive season. I have a project with a difference for you today, as I volunteered to be part of the latest round of #3UP bloggers on the PaperArtsy blog. I am one of a group of three individuals blogging tonight and we had to say what our favourite technique might be. I opted for working with fabric, stamping, colouring, creating embellishments, you name it, I really love to use fabric as you would paper. I have been on a few classes with the lovely Lin Brown and she has taught me lots of amazing tips and tricks using fabric, and you will see a lot of these reflected in my project.

I have chosen to make an expandable journal, as I intend to try and journal a lot more next year. This journal will be a blank canvas to start me on my way, and because it is so tactile, I will be more inclined to work in it hopefully! The other good thing is that the pages are removable, so while I am getting them inky and painty, the cover will not get so messed up in the process. Here are the basic instructions and a list of materials that I used:

Materials:

Smooth white cotton fabric
White felt
Chipboard
Patterned fabric
Strong wet glue
Iron on Adhesive
Ric rac, ribbon, metal embellishments, etc
Stamps: ELB07, ELB01
Stencils: PS002, PS005
Archival Ink: Jet Black and Plum
Paper Artsy Chalk Paints

Instructions:

Cut a piece of white material 13" x 19", and a piece of patterned material 11" x 17" and 2" x 10". Spritz the pieces of material with water as you paint them with your chosen colours, and ensure that the fabric is nice and moist while you are painting. Use a watered down strength of paint, blending the colours as you go along. Dry the fabric thoroughly and set to one side. Paint the ric rac to match your colour scheme and allow to dry.

Cut two pieces of chipboard 7" x 10", and four pieces of felt the same size, plus a piece of felt 2" x 10".

Prepare smaller sections of white fabric in the same way, using pale green, lemon and ivory , drying the fabric, before stamping the leaves, flowers and butterflies in archival ink. Attach iron on adhesive to the back of these pieces of fabric, and then back the sections with oddments of patterned fabric. Cut out the images, and then add more colour using transluscent paint for shading.

Add some stencilling to the main background, using Snowflake, and then dry this with a heat gun. Using one of your transluscent colour options, add a wash of colour over the top of the stencilling.

Add the spine to the centre of the outside, using iron on adhesive as before. Attach all of the leaves, flowers and butterflies, and then attach the ricrac.

Glue the felt to the chipboard pieces, and lay them down on the inside of the cover, with the felt side down, and the chipboard facing up towards you. Lay the smaller piece of felt in between them. Fold the edges of the fabric over and stick it down.Fold a small allowance of the patterned fabric over all around the edges and then stick the patterned fabric onto the inside of the cover, by adding glue onto the folded allowance.

Punch three holes in the spine 2", 5" and 8" from the top.

Create pages for the journal using any suitable paper and ephemera that you like. I used medium weight cartridge paper, as this takes a reasonable amount of water and is nice and thick. I have added tags, music paper, envelopes and bits of stash in between my pages to add interest in my journal. There is also room for another signature (set of pages) to be added at a later date. Using ribbon or string, thread through the holes, first from the outside holes, and back up through the middle, to then tie a bow on the outside.

I have added some metal keys to the centre of my fabric butterflies, and may add a bit of surface stamping to the background of the cover at a later date. I intend to add fabric detail to my inside pages as I go along, to tie in with the fabric cover.

I love using fabric in my projects, the feel of a completed book like this in my hands afterwards gives me such pleasure. Working on fabric is just as easy as paper, and the possibilites are so varied. You can shred the edges, go shabby and grungy, add some sewing, and lace, the choice is yours. I hope that you have enjoyed my project, Judith xx

Set Sail

Hello everyone, this is my final marine themed post for the Design Team this month. I have really enjoyed working with these stamps, and have lots more ideas for them. Hopefully once I get Christmas over, I will have a bit more time to play with them.

My project this time around uses the large ship image, which I wanted to portray sailing through a forest at the bottom of the ocean. I stamped the images and then embossed some cogs from the Punky Flowers stamp sheet. I coloured the background using Distress Inks, mixing lots of blues and greens, and then stamped a cog fragment from the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set over the top.

I coloured the images with Inktense pencils and added some fronds at the bottom of the page using the legs from the octopus taken from the stamp of the month set. Finally, I added a sentiment taken from the Steampunkery stamp set.

 Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Along the Edge of the Sea Bed

Hello everyone, I have another watery sample to show you today, using the Steampunk Funk Fish and Steampunk Sea World stamp sets, currently on offer as Stamp of the Month sets at Chocolate Baroque.

I started my sample by stamping the seashell edge from the Seaside Dreams stamp set near the bottom of my background, but splitting it in half, and stamping a piece on either side of the page. I also created a mask of the image, and covered the original stamped image with the mask. I then stamped the octopus from the Steampunk Funk Fish stamp plate in between the two images, and masked that image as well. I stamped the seaweed edge slightly higher up the page in the middle, and then a piece on each side, to create a continuous run behind the first set of images, and masked these as well.

I used some Splash Inks, which I diluted and blended to get the colours that I wanted, and then coloured the background, using a turquoise for the sea area, and an ochre colour for the sand. I added extra interest to the sea area by sponging Peacock Feathers Distress Ink through a Crafter's Workshop stencil to create a bubble effect. I stamped several fish onto adhesive labels and coloured these with water colour pencils, and also stamped a few more directly onto the background. I chose to stamp these background fish with blue ink, so that they appeared to fade into the background slightly, toning the colours down on these fish as well. I removed the masks from the images on the sea bed, and coloured these with watercolour pencils, blending the colours with a waterbrush. I added a stamp from the Nature Fragments stamp set along the edges for a bit of extra funky seaweed.

 I am having great fun combining these new stamps with some of the older sets already available on the website as you can see. I hope that I have given you a bit of inspiration,

Digital Freebie from Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone, it's time for the monthly free digital downloads over on the Challenge Blog. The Design Team have been making some projects with the downloads for your inspiration, so please pop over and take a look at what they have been up to.

I have made a card using some Autumn themed stamps, to tie in with one of the images on the background. I drew a circle in pencil on a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and then stamped the images around the edge, creating masks to cover some of the images if necessary. I placed the central stamp on the circle at all times, to ensure that I left enough room for it at the end.

I then cut the circle out, leaving a tiny border around the leaves that stuck out from the edge of the circle. I coloured the background with Cantaloupe Memento Ink, and then added a bit of Rhubarb Stalk around the edges. I used the same colour for the sentiment. I coloured the images with Prismas. These were a Birthday present from my OH, and it's the first time that  have used them!

There is still a week left of the current challenge, so why not make something and have a go at entering? You could win a £15 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque.

Thanks for stopping by,

Weekly Stills #5

Hello everyone, and welcome to another slice of Norfolk life. I have celebrated a Birthday this week, and so I have had lots of extra activities added into my normal comings and goings:

I was very lucky to receive some beautiful hand made cards from various crafty friends.

We visited a Christmas market in the Suffolk town of Bury St. Edmunds. It is held every year in and around the Abbey Gardens, and includes stalls from Germany, Italy and France. There is also an indoor Craft Fair, so there is lots to see:

Finally, just to show you that I am starting to prepare for Christmas now, I have made my mincemeat supplies. These will last me this year and next year as well. My MIL always has a jar or two, she makes mince pies for the old folks, apparently they like the alcohol content!

I'll be back next week with more tales to tell no doubt, as I am going away for the weekend with my Daughter. Take care and thanks for stopping by,

Tangled up Under the Sea!

Hello everyone, I have had great fun playing with the new stamps recently released from Chocolate Baroque and have a project with a difference to show you today.

I have incorporated a bit of Zentangle with the Steampunk Funk Fish and Steampunk Sea World stamp sets. I started my card by stamping the scenery section onto the bottom left hand corner of the background, and then adding the bubble machine. I joined the two images together with some hand drawn lines using a permanent black pen, and created a sandy floor. I drew some plants using various tangles, namely variations of Verdigogh, Falz, and Flux. I then stamped some jellyfish, seahorses and more bubbles, partially stamping the bubble machine image. I coloured everything with a mixture of Inktense pencils and watercolour pencils, blending with water brushes. I added detail on the metallic areas with a gold pen and a charcoal glitter pen. Finally, I added Glossy Accents to the bubbles.

 This was such a relaxing project to create, as tangling is very calming, and you can add as much or as little as you like to create a scene.

I have a bonus tag to show you here on my blog, not posted on the Design Team blog. I created a wrinkle free Distress background, adding some over stamping using a texture stamp which I then spritzed with water afterwards, to give it  slightly hazy feel. I then dried the background completely. I stamped the cog background stamp, and masked this off, adding some additional seaweed.

I stamped and embossed a couple of sea horses onto the tag using silver embossing powder and Versamark. I added a sentiment from the Seadragon stamp set. All of the images were coloured with Distress Markers, except for the cogs, which I coloured using a brush filled with gold ink.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Weekly Stills #4

Hello everyone, I hope that you have all had a good week. I have been away again, and those of you that know me through Facebook will have seen that I celebrated my Wedding Anniversary in London over the weekend. The Hotel organised a little surprise in our room for our arrival:

It was such a nice surprise for me anyway, and not the only surprise that I had that weekend. My OH had also spoken to the restaurant, who presented my dessert on a special plate!

We had a jam packed weekend, visiting St. Paul's Cathedral, somewhere we have tried to visit several times, missing the opportunity, due to a busy schedule in the cathedral.

En route to another part of London, we stumbled across a bronze statue dedicated to the Jewish children who came here during the war, it captured my imagination:

On Saturday, we went to Spitalfields Market, a really bustling area, full of lively stalls and lots of great gift ideas. We spent several hours wandering through the market and looking at the perimeter shops, grabbing some lunch along the way:

We then headed to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, a huge German style market with an ice skating rink and all sorts of Christmas related things going on. It was very busy, and sadly, we did not have time to even see a fraction of what was on offer:

We headed off to our main destination of the evening. We had to walk, as the tubes were so congested, and took lots of photographs along the way:

 

We finally made it to the theatre to see a performance of 'Dance Till Dawn' by Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace who you might know from 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The Show was fabulous, fantastic dancing, beautiful music, and brilliant costumes.

It's a grey November day here, but at least it's not raining. I've had a wander around the garden, and along the street where we live, (not that you can see our house as we are tucked away).

It's very quiet in my village, apart from the occasional tractor!

This coming week we will be visiting some Christmas Markets, and as we head into December, our thoughts will be turning towards Christmas preparations. I tick another Birthday off the list, and have a couple of meals to look forward to celebrating the event. So, I will be back next week hopefully older and a little wiser!

Thanks for stopping by,

Autumn Mushrooms

Hello everyone, I have a couple of DT projects to show you today, showcasing the Autumn Edges stamp set. On my first card, I wanted to show how well the various stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque mix and match together, so I have used the Nature Table stamp set alongside the mushroom edge stamp to create an Autumn scene.

I began by stamping the mushroom border and a mushroom cluster from the Nature Table stamp set along the bottom of the card. I used a permanent black pen to add a few lines to join them together. I masked the images before stamping the mushrooms on a tree twice on the left hand side of the page. I drew a continuation of the tree to the top of the page, adding in some detail on the tree, and again masked all of these images.

I coloured the background with Brushos, using a combination of yellow and orange, with a hint of violet, until I was happy with the overall colour. I dried the background with my heat gun, and then added foliage stamping along the edges and behind the mushrooms, using various shades of archival inks. I used bleach to remove the colour from some of the foliage, and then proceeded to colour all of the images with watercolour pencils. I also coloured the foreground with watercolour pencils.

I stamped lots of small leaves onto oddments of scrapbook paper and other bits of backing paper that I had left over from various projects, and stuck these onto the card, some on the ground, and some tumbling down randomly, as if they were falling from the trees overhead.

 

I am aware that this first card might seem a bit daunting to a beginner, and so I wanted to show how a much simpler card could be made using the same mushroom stamp, taking much less time, but producing a really pretty card nonetheless. I made a mask with an oval aperture in the centre, which I placed onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper. I then stamped the mushroom border onto the paper, and coloured it using Distress Inks and a waterbrush. I used a loose style, not trying to be too precise. I used Pumice Stone and Weathered Wood Distress Inks to colour the mushrooms. I dried the image and then covered it with the mask that I had used from my first card. I added a small circle mask to represent a moon, and then coloured the sky, using a combination of three Distress Inks in Dried Marigold, Stormy Sky and Seedless Preserves. I removed the circle mask and added a little bit of Weathered Wood to soften the starkness of the moon, before swiping some Mustard Seed Distress Ink across the moon and a bit of the sky to either side.

I removed the mushroom mask, and coloured the tops of the mushrooms with a bit of Mustard Seed DI as well, to represent the light from the moon. I then coloured in the ground with a bit of Milled Lavender. I added a streak of Mustard Seed for the moonlight, deciding where it would shine.

I stamped the sentiment taken from the Bewitched Moonlight stamp set, and a fairy from the Summer Fairy stamp collection using Versafine Onyx Black Ink.

A much quicker card, and hopefully something that would appeal to the CAS lovers out there as well. I hope that I have given you some inspiration with these versatile stamps. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Weekly Stills #3

Hello everyone, welcome back to another look at life in Norfolk  and anywhere I might have been during my weekly travels.

This week, I popped to Ely, in Cambridgeshire to a food and gift fair held in the Minster. It was extremely busy, as it is a very popular event. The stalls were full of lovely Christmas gift ideas, and lots of tasty foodie treats from all over the country. We did have to sample a few things. The atmosphere in the cathedral was really uplifting, with the Christmas lights hung about.

 I have a favourite spot along one of the corridors where there is a section of modern stained glass.

Outside there were a couple of reindeer, not something you see every day. I was concerned that they might be unhappy with the people milling about, but they were eating their food in a nice large enclosure, which was tucked away in a quiet spot for them.

I have been crafting away this week, using my pencils on lots of projects. Here are just two of my collections. My watercolour pencils, and my Polychromos pencils in the wooden box with drawers. My box is in dire need of a make over these days, as I cart it all over the country, and it is looking a bit battered.

Finally, I just wanted to show you my tote bag that I received today. It is based on a piece of original artwork painted by my friend and boss at Chocolate Baroque, Glenda Waterworth. She has finally bitten the bullet and decided to go commercial. I love the vibrant colours in this bag.

Well, I'm off to London tomorrow for my Wedding Anniversary weekend with my best friend and OH, they are one and the same person, I'm not taking two people with me, lol! So, who knows what I might have to show you next week. I hope to see you then, thanks for stopping by,