A supporting role

Hello everyone, I have a couple of cards to show you today using this month's sewing stamps from Chocolate Baroque in a supporting role. This way, you can stretch their usesand you can see how versatile these stamps really are.

My first card uses one of the lacy borders on a wrinkle free distress background. I used a simple colour palette of black and green to keep the card looking quite masculine. I added some background stamping using a stamp from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set. I stamped a heart image from the Punky Hearts stamp set onto a piece of scrapbook paper, colouring in some of the details with Inktense pencils, and then cut it out and used 3D foam pads to attach it to the card. Finally I added a sentiment from the Sweet Nothings stamp set onto a die cut.

My second card uses another one of the borders to create a masculine romantic card using the Key to my Dreams stamp set. This border reminded me of keyholes when I first saw it, so it seemed to match this stamp set very well. I stamped one of the locks onto the background before adding the border on either side. I coloured the background with an acrylic wash, and added some shading with Distress Ink around the edges. I coloured the images with Polychromos pencils and added some background detail with a stamp from the Lace Fragments stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Trio of Tags

Hello everyone, I have created three tags to show you combining the Sewing Stamps multi-buy and the Peacock Parade/Tangled Peacock multi-buy. I wanted to create some designer haute couture style dresses, and decided to use the peacock tails as skirts combined with the bodices of two of the mannequins from the sewing sets. I stuck to a peacock themed colour palette throughout the three tags.

I cut three large tags from watercolour paper using the Crealies extreme labels and tags die. This is a super set of dies, and I used the largest die for my tags. It has embossed stitching running around the edges, so was very appropriate for my project.

I started the three tags by stamping and embossing the lace strip along the bottom of the three tags, using Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear embossing powder. I then stamped the foot of one of the mannequins on each tag. I stamped each peacock tail onto a tag, using Versafine Deep Lagoon ink, and coloured them in using watercolour paints. I used the same paint to colour the bodices, which I stamped and embossed onto a spare piece of card.

I inked each background using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, and then chose a corresponding ink colour to blend around the edges, (Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves). I used the same ink colour to stamp an assortment of sewing notions as a border. Finally, I added a sentiment to each tag.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Lots to show you!

Hello everyone, my post is a dual purpose one today, as I have a Design Team project to show you first of all, and then I would like to show you a little something that I have made for the challenge blog.

My card uses stamps taken from the Sewing Room/Floral Mannequins multi-buy stamp set plus the Dressmaking Collage clear stamp. I have combined these stamps with an older stamp set: Haberdashery, to create a collaged card. I have chosen to cut the Dressmaking Collage stamp up into individual stamps, but you can leave it as one piece if you like, the choice is yours.

I started to make my background by stamping the buttons in two corners of a piece of watercolour paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink. As I was using a mixture of both clear and rubber images, I set the rubber buttons out on a block first, stamped those in each corner, and then set the clear buttons on the block next before removing the rubber images, so that I could work out where to place them. When I stamped the clear images on my card, I could line them up to the rubber images to complete the corners without any problems. I coloured the images with pencils, and then painted the images with Acrylic Wax to protect them. I spritzed two pieces of tissue paper with red and orange Dylusions spray, crumpled them up, and dabbed the background to create a mottled effect.

I stamped and embossed the silhouette mannequin onto the background, and then stamped and embossed the floral bodice onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the bodice using Distress markers and a water brush. I coloured another piece of card firstly with orange and red Distress inks and stamped and embossed the lace flower twice, which I cut out and layered together. I then coloured the card with Scattered Straw Distress Ink to create a little banner for the sentiment.

I added some background stamping using one of the border images, and finally added some hand drawn stitching, before placing the background onto a black card blank.

 This week over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, we have a free digital download. I have made a card to provide you with a little bit of inspiration.This paper made me think of tranquility and oriental imagery, so I decided to use stamps from the Tranquility and Serenity rubber stamp sets to complete my card. I stamped the flower and main image onto white card, and coloured these with Polychromos pencils. I coloured the wisteria images with Distress Markers and stamped them onto the background, embossing them with clear embossing powder. I edged the card with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, before matting onto a black card blank.

Hop over to the blog to collect the free download paper and see a fabulous card made by Florence.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A collaberation

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you today which is a combined project made by Lesley and myself using the new sewing stamps from Chocolate Baroque. We decided to do a shared card when we were in Portpatrick last weekend at Glenda first workshops.

I started the card by masking a section off at the top and bottom of an 8" x 8" card blank, and then coloured the middle section using a selection of yellow, orange and red toned inks. I added a selection of haberdashery images to create the background. I removed the masks, and then stamped the border from the The Sewing Room stamp set above and below the coloured section. I coloured a spare piece of white card using the same colours of inks as the main background, and then posted the project to Lesley.

Lesley stamped and embossed the embroidered flower from the Floral Mannequins set, five times onto the coloured card and then fussy cut it out. She used the sentiment from the Thinking of You Sentiments clear stamp set and and finished the card by attaching the flowers with gel adhesive.

I love the way that Lesley has used the coloured card to achieve a graduated use of colour to the flowers cascading across the card, and her choice of sentiment goes perfectly with our joint project.

Lesley and I live several hours away from each other, and often wish that we could craft together. This card is proof that if the desire is there, you can achieve that goal. As Lesley has mentioned on the Design Team blog, from its conception to completion, this card completed a round trip of approximately 633 miles!

My projects from Glenda's workshop are not completed as yet, I have a bit to do on most of the items, but the classes were so much fun, and it was great to craft along with the other participants. We created some decorated blocks, using various collage techniques, and here are my works in progress, I will show you the finished articles at a later date:

We also spent a session creating some very colourful tags, using a variety of techniques. Again, I have yet to finish mine, and I will show you them once I have added the images and embellishments:

Thanks for stopping by, xx