Autumn Tones

Hello Folks, I have some cards to share today, using some of the lovely new stamps that have been recently launched over at Chocolate Baroque .  This has to be my favourite time of year, as the leaves start to fall, and there is a riot of different colours displayed in the trees and hedgerows.

For my first two cards, I made a wrinkle free Distress background, using Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks. I have used a stamp taken from the Poppy Edges stamp set, and stamped around the corners of a piece of the background, using plum archival ink. I masked the corners, and then stamped an image from the Poppy Meadow stamp set over the background using the same orange ink that I used to make my background. However, I stamped the image onto scrap paper first, before I stamped onto the background, as I did not want the image to be too vibrant. I masked off part of the poppy edge stamp with masking tape, before I inked up one of the flowers, and then peeled off the masking tape. I then stamped the single flower onto a piece of stampbord. I coloured the image with pencils, and then covered the surface with three layers of ultra thick embossing powder, to create a tile effect. I added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set.

On my second card, I used a strip of the same wrinkle free distress background, matted onto burgundy card, and placed it onto a kraft card base. I stamped the poppy edge four times onto card, and coloured sections of the image with pencils, before cutting them out, and layering them onto the background. I added two of the little bees, which were also coloured with pencil. The sentiment was taken from the Amazing Birthday clear stamp set.

For my final card, I made a gelli plate background, using a selection of green inks, and stamped the single leaf and foliage stamp taken from the Autumn Poppy stamp set randomly over the plate. I took a print from the plate and trimmed it to size, before edging the background with a Tea Dye Distress Ink. I stamped the main image onto a large oval die cut, adding some colour to the background with green and orange Distress Inks. I coloured the image with pencils. The sentiment comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set, and is one of my favourites.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Angels and Penguins

Hello Folks, I have some more Christmas card ideas to share with you today. I am aware of Christmas creeping up on me now, with the nights starting to pull in and the festive television schedule starting. So, the more cards that I can get made, the better!

Mt first card is using the lovely angel stamp from the A Child is Born stamp sheet. I do love this image. I stamped the angel onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, but any smooth card will do, and then masked the image, by stamping the image again onto masking paper. I then stamped a window taken from the Gothic Fragments stamp set onto the background, and masked this as well. I coloured the background using a range of Distress Inks; Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Weathered Wood, Tea Dye and Pumice Stone. I then added stamps from the Gothic Fragments, and the Harlequin Fragments stamp sets, using the same coloured inks. The last two strips were embossed with platinum Wow embossing powder. I removed the masks, and coloured the window and the angel with Distress markers and a water brush. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Christmas Sentiments Multi buy stamp set.

My second offering uses the Snowy Penguins clear stamp set. I have created a couple of gelli plate backgrounds, using Memento inks in shades of blue and teal, and then stamped the snowflakes directly onto the gelli plate using Versafine Ink, before taking a print. I stamped the images onto a piece of smooth white card, and edged them with blue ink. The images were coloured with pencils.

These images are perfect for children's Christmas cards, or for children to give to their parents or grandparents. Making gelli plate backgrounds ensures that you can run up a batch of these very quickly.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Christmas Circles

Hello Folks, I have some cards on circular theme for you today, using the stamps of the month from Chocolate Baroque

For my first sample, I created a background using gelatos in shades of green and purple, which I added to a wet background and blended with my fingers. I dried the background then added a circle mask in the centre. I stamped an image from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set around the edge of the mask, using Pear Tart Memento Ink. I sponged a little bit of ink around of the mask to add some shading, before removing the mask. I stamped and embossed the holly and bell images from the Holly Bells stamp plate using gold embossing powder. I also stamped another set of  images onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the spare images with Distress markers and a water brush  and decoupaged them onto the background. I added some hand drawn 'string'. The sentiment is from the Christmas Magic stamp plate.

I have a couple of CAS cards that I would also like to show you. In these days of rising postage costs, flat cards are always useful to make, and these two cards would make good batch cards, that you could make in lots of different colour options as well. The first card was made using blue, lilac and grey Distress Inks, and I simply created a reverse mask, sponging coloured ink through a circle aperture onto my card. I coloured the top and bottom circles first, and overlapped the middle one last. I then selected three baubles, taken from the Santa Baby/Holly Bells Multi-Buy stamp set, and stamped them in the same inks that I used to create the circles, giving a tone on tone effect. The sentiment was taken from the Christmas Sentiments Multibuy

The last card was made in much the same way, except that I created a single circle, blending Dandelion and Pear Tart Memento Inks, and chose Orange Blossom Archival Ink to stamp the bells, giving a stronger contrast. The sentiment comes from the Bold Christmas Words stamp set.

I hope that I have given you a few more ideas with these stamps, and I will be back soon. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Blue Christmas

Hello Folks, I'd like to show you a coupe of cards using the newly released stamp sets fron Chocolate Baroque

My first card uses the Santa Baby stamp set. I wanted to use the sleigh flying through the air pulled by a reindeer, and so I looked through my older christmas stamp sets and found the perfect match on the Damask Reindeer stamp set. I stamped both of the images onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and then covered them with a mask. I also added a circle mask at this point. I coloured the background with a variety of blue Distress Inks, graduating to a deep purple at the bottom of the page. Around the circle, I added some yellow, to create a glowing effect. I spritzed the background with water to create a starry feel to the background, and added a little bit of Perfect Pearl spray for some extra shimmer.

I removed the masks, and coloured the images with Distress markers and a water brush. I stamped a tree from the Stained Glass Christmas stamp set along the bottom of the background, using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink and clear embossing powder. I added some grey shading to the moon, and stamped a sentiment taken from the Christmas Magic clear stamp set using black ink.

I have also created a card using the A Child is Born stamp set. I stamped the corner snowflake stamp around the edges of some watercolour paper using white embossing powder, and filled in the gaps with one of the smaller snowflakes to create a frame. I created a watercolour background using lots of blue toned gelatos. I blended them with my fingers and lots of water to get a soft effect. I added a touch of Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink around the edge. Once I was finished, I buffed the snowflakes with a piece of kitchen towel, so that they were nice and bright.

 I stamped the angel onto a separate piece of card, and coloured the image with pencils. Finally, I added the word 'Joy' to the background.

 My Team mates have some beautiful inspiration for you over the coming month on the Design Team Blog so please keep checking back. Thanks for stopping by, xx