An Irish Blessing

Hello everyone, I have been enjoying working with the beautiful Butterfly Dress cling mounted stamp so much this month, that I have another card using this stamp to show you today. I decided to incorporate a bit of an Irish theme into my card, so used a palette of mainly greens to create my card.

I started my background, by adding Memento Pear Tart ink to a piece of scrapbook paper through a Prima Mask using a stencil brush, and then added some script using a stamp from the Mini Scripts stamp set. I used Memento Bamboo Leaves to ink the stamp. I stamped the main image onto a die cut oval of scrapbook paper, and again onto a spare piece of the paper. I coloured the images with Polychromos pencils. I decoupaged the butterflies from the spare image onto the main image. I added some of the flowers, along with some shamrock style Crealie die cuts to a sentiment taken from the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Honeysuckle Hues for the Challenge Blog

Hello everyone, there is a brand new challenge starting over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog today. I have made a card as part of the inspiration provided, using the new colours for this month's challenge. I have gone for the cheerier end of the spectrum, unusually for me, but the sun was shining, and I couldn't help myself!

I started my card by making a wrinkle free distress background, using Antique Linen and Wild Honey Distress Inks. I then added a layer of Shaded Lilac over the top. By drying each layer, this means that the purple tones do not muddy in with the orange tones. I used a great stencil over part of the background, called 'Fabric' by Dutch Doobadoo, and completed the background by using a small honeysuckle stamp from the Elegant Edges stamp set.

I stamped an image from the Honeysuckle Butterfly stamp set onto an oval die cut, using Imperial Purple Versafine Ink, and heat set this with my heat gun, before colouring the image with Distress Markers. I added a touch of shading around the edge of the oval, using Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Finally, I used some deep purple card to mat the image and background, and added some pale pink organza ribbon to finish the card.

There is more DT inspiration over on the challenge blog, and you can find out how you can win £15 to spend on Chocolate Baroque goodies by heading over there. I hope that you will join in the challenge. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birdcage Collage using Stampbord

Hello everyone, I have a Chocolate Baroque Design Team project to show you using one of this month's individual stamps, Birdcage Collage.

I started my project by inking up the stamp, and then placing an ATC sized piece of Stampbord onto the stamp to take a partial print of the image. I stamped the image again onto a piece of white card. I coloured the Stampbord image with pencils, and also the areas of the image on the card that would not be covered by the Stampbord image.

I created a tile effect on the Stampbord using Versamark and UTEE. Once the Stampbord had cooled down completely, I attached it to the card image, lining up the two images so that they matched each other.

I created the card background using the wrinkle free Distress technique: adding Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to my craft mat, and spritzing it with water, before dragging my card through the ink. I dried this layer, and then patted the card onto the mat again to pick up some of the left over ink droplets, and dried the card again. I added Salty Ocean DI and repeated the process. I used a Crafter's Workshop template and the same colour Distress Inks to add a trellis effect to two of the corners of my background, and stamped a small berry stamp taken from the Woodland Dreams stamp set onto the other two corners.

I attached the background to an 8" x 8" crd blank and added a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set.

 
Thanks for stopping by, xx

Playing with Brushos again

Hello everyone, it's time for another visit to the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, as it is our weekly blog post slot over there today. I have a tutorial for a card this month in our regular Design Team tutorial blog post. I have made a card using a technique using Brushos and spray starch recently spotted on my travels through Facebook and Pinterest.  Here is where I saw the technique originally: http://cakescardsandcraftybits.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/spray-starch-and-brushos.html

I took a piece of pearlescent card, and spritzed it with spray starch, before dropping small amounts of Brusho over the card. I used Prussian Blue, Turquoise and Purple, in keeping with the challenge colours. I then spritzed the card with spray starch again, and covered the card with cling film, crinkling it up as I covered the surface to create lots of creases.

I removed the cling film after 30 minutes, and then left the card to dry naturally. I then painted some leaves onto the background using a Crafter's Workshop stencil and white paint, but gesso would do fine. I stamped and embossed some marine creatures onto spare pearlescent card, using white embossing powder, and coloured the images with Copic markers. I highlighted a couple of the fish with pencils for extra detail. Once I had added the marine creatures to the background, I used a layer of green card before adding the background to a black card blank.

Dark colours seem to work very well for this technique, as do coated cards. Glossy card seems to work much better than pearlescent card, but in this instance, I was going for an irridescent underwater look. Here is a sample of glossy card that I made during a practice session:

So you can see the difference in the two card surfaces quite clearly. It's a really fun technique to try out, and a much better way to use up that spray starch in my opinion!

Head over to the challenge blog if you get a chance, take a look at the information regarding our latest challenge, and why not go at entering yourself? You could win the monthly prize. Thanks for stopping by, xx