Floral Swirls

Hello everyone, as we say goodbye to to the old year, and look forward to a new year full of possibility, it is a good time to look back and reflect on the events that have unfolded in our lives over the past twelve months. Will you be glad to see the back of the past year, or have you had an amazing time? Like me, you may have had a mixture of both, but a new year always seems to be a blank canvas ready for us to make our own mark upon it.

I have made a simple card to share with you for today's post, using some of my favourite bits and pieces. I stamped a flower image from the Floral Notes stamp set onto some pretty Crafty Individuals paper, using Potting Shed Archival Ink and clear embossing powder. I cut the flowers out, and edged them with a tiny bit of Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

I created a Brusho background on a piece of smooth watercolour paper, using lemon, violet, rose red, white and sea green. Once the background was completely dry, I stamped a swirl from the Nature Swirls stamp set twice onto the background, using Bottle Adirondack Ink. I stuck the flowers to the background, added a sentiment, and then edged the background with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I added a layer of pink card to mat the background, before adhering to a card blank.

I would just like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and may you have health, happiness and lots of creativity in the year ahead.

Greyboard Tag

Hello everyone, I have a last minute Christmas project to share with you that could be suitable as a memento to send to someone, or as a piece of decor to place on a shelf or mantlepiece. I have used some of my favourite stamps from Chocolate Baroque to create this piece, along with one of the newest Christmas stamps as well.

I took a large Tando greyboard tag, and spritzed it with a variety of green, blue and purple Decoart Media sprays, adding a touch of white to tone down the colours slightly. I added a sentiment from the Christmas Sparkle stamp set, and a flourish from the Butterfly Dreams stamp set, using Versamark and silver embossing powder. I stamped an image from the Pears and Baubles stamp set onto a spare piece of coloured card, which I found in my scrap box. (I had previously coloured the piece of card with Brushos, using the same range of colours). I used the same colour embossing powder as before. I attached the image to the tag using 3D foam pads for added dimension.

Finally, I added some pale green gilding wax to the edges of the tag, and attached some toning ribbon through the hole at the top.

As a tip, I added some coloured paper to the reverse of my tag as well, because I did get a small amount of ink on the back. This means that it looks much nicer, and will enable me to write a message if I want to. I used a piece of gelli printed paper from my scrap box.  

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Tangled Trees

Hello everyone, I have a some very speedy Christmas cards to share with you today. I have used a colour combination of red and kraft for my first card as a homage to the lovely Nordic style cards that I admire so much.

I stamped part of the Christmas Tree Tangle single stamp onto a trimmed piece of kraft card, using Lady Bug Memento Ink, and added a sentiment below. I edged the card using the same colour ink, by running the inkpad around the edges of the card.

I attached a piece of red and white baker's twine to the card before adhering it to a kraft card blank.

This was a very quick card to make, ideal for batch card making, especially if you need to make a lot of cards in a hurry.

I decided to make a variation of the original card, using two different colours, blue and green. I used the same image, but used Versafine Ink for these cards. The ink took a bit longer to dry, so I just set them to one side to dry for a while, but you could heat set them with a heat gun. I added some tiny gems for a bit of sparkle, and added either baker's twine as before, or some pretty gingham ribbon to finish.

Apologies for the background in my picture, but the days are so dull now, that I went into the garden to get some extra light in my photograph.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Mr Robin

Hello everyone, another Christmas card from me today. I have used the spare piece of kraft card left over from my previous project to create the background for this card. I sprinkled Brushos onto the original piece of kraft card, spritzed it with water, and used this piece of card to blot up the excess water and colour, giving me the extra background to play with. I stamped the holly sprigs from the Holly Script stamp set over the background using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and then edged the piece of card with the same ink.

I stamped and embossed Mr Robin using Versamark and Wow white embossing powder, before colouring the image with Brushos and a waterbrush. I also edged this piece of card with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. To finish, I added some lovely red satin ribbon, and a green card to mat the background.

These dull days are making it difficult to photograph my projects, it is so rainy at the moment. By the time you read this I will be in sunnier climes. I hope that you are keeping warm! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Brusho Poinsettia

Hello everyone, today sees the start of a brand new challenge over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We have some spicy new colours for you ro create your projects with, and the Design Team girls have created some fabulous inspiration which you can check out over on the blog through the coming weeks. I have a card to share with you today as part of that inspiration.

I stamped the Poinsettia Script stamp using Versamark and white embossing powder onto a piece of kraft card. I have had this stamp in my stash for such a long time that it is wood mounted, and it is like geting out an old friend whenever I use the stamp. I coloured the image using Brushos and a water brush. It is the first time that I have used Brushos with this image, and it looks so pretty.

I sprinkled the same colours of Brusho onto a larger piece of kraft card, and spritzed it with water, then blotted it with a spare piece of card. (I will use this piece of card for another project). I dried the card with a heat gun, and added a piece of brown ribbon to the background before assembling the card, matting both layers onto dark brown card.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Gelli Florals

Hello everyone, we are sharing more Fifteen Minute Cards over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog today. The Design Team have created a stunning collection of cards to share with you, and I have added a couple of quick cards to the post.

I created a couple of gelli plate backgrounds using the 6" x 6" gelli plate. I used a brayer and two colours of Distress Inks to cover the plate, and then used some small hand held palm stampers to create patterns on the gelli plate. By stamping on one area of colour first and then stamping onto the second area, I transferred the colour across between each area of colour, which created great patterns.

For the first card, I stamped the image from the Floral Notes stamp set and sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set straight onto the card using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and then simply added detail with coloured pencils. I adhered the background to the card blank and added some tiny flat-backed pearls.

For the second card, I die cut two ovals, and coloured them slightly with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink while the die was still in place, creating a white border around the edge of the die cut. I stamped the image and sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and coloured the image with pencils as before. I attached the die cuts to the card, and added more flat-backed pearls to match.

These pretty cards could be made in a range of colours and for lots of occasions. They were really quick to make, and could be made in batches when you have your gelli plate out.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Mixed Bunch

Hello everyone, I have some projects to show you using the new Floral Notes stamp set, which were quick and easy to make. If like me, you are short of time, hopefully these might provide you with some inspiration.

For my first project, I have creatd a quick gelli plate background, using a brayer and Shabby Shutters and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks, to cover the gelli plate, then pressed a piece of bubble wrap onto the plate to create an overall pattern. I removed the bubble wrap and then laid the pre-cut card onto the gelli plate, smoothing it evenly, to ensure that I had a good coverage of ink across the card.

I stamped the flower image and sentiment onto the card, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and then coloured the image using  Faber-Castell Aquarelle pencils. I added a strip of toning ribbon to the background, and adhered the background to a white card blank.

For my second project, I used some left over fabric from some journal pages that I had previously made. The fabric had been coloured with Distress re-inkers. I stamped the image and sentiment onto the fabric using Jet Black Archival Ink. I frayed the edges of the fabric and used some iron on interfacing to attach the fabric to a cheap little notebook that I had in my stash. I added some lace, toning ribbon and a little wooden button to complete the design.

This was a very cheap project to make, but will make a great little stocking filler present for someone. I know that I love notebooks, and have a large collection of them, and I'm sure that you know of plenty of people who might like something like this as a Christmas present. You could make a collection of them in no time at all, and keep one or two for yourself!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Using up those Scraps

Hello everyone, I am sharing a couple of cards that form part of the Fifteen Minute Blog post found on the Design Team Blog today. Our aim is to create cards that can be made in fifteen minutes or less, using a variety of Chocolate Baroque stamps. The cards may be clean and simple in design, or simply quick and easy to make. You can find a whole host of inspiration in the blog posts, and the Design Team contribute as a group, so you will see a real mix of styles and techniques.

For my cards today, I am using some fabric scraps left over from my recent journal pages. The fabric had been coloured with Distress re-inkers, and then dried completely. I used Fossilized Amber for one piece, and Shabby Shutters for the other piece. I stamped a simple floral image from the Essence of Nature and Autumn Fairy Collection stamp sets on the scraps, using Black Archival Ink, and then frayed the edges of the fabric.

I used iron on interfacing on the reverse of the fabric to attach it to the card blank, and then attached a little pearl button to the panel. I stamped a greeting from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set on each card to finish.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn Journal Pages

Hello everyone, I have a final Autumn project to share with you this month, and decided to mix up some of my old favourite stamps to create a couple of pages in my Pink Pig journal. I created these pages using lightweight cotton fabric and used iron on interfacing to attach the pieces to my journal pages.

I coloured the fabric with Distress re-inkers, I chose Ripe Persimmon, Shabby Shutters and Fossilized Amber. I created lots of fabric, and then worked out which images I wanted to use as my main focal images, stamping these in Black Archival Ink. When stamping on fabric, you do not need to press extra hard, just allow a bit more time for the ink to settle onto the fabric.

Once I had stamped all of the main images, I added some background stamping to the larger pieces of fabric, using Sepia, Plum, Olive and Potting Soil Archival Ink. Although some of the background images are different, I used some co-ordinating images to tie the pages together. I frayed the edges of the fabric before adding the interfacing, as it is much harder to do this afterwards.

I love the texture of fabric and when I am working with it, I often wonder why I don't create more projects in this way! Here are some close ups of each page:

 
I  have chosen lots of Autumnal stamps from my favourite sets: Autumn Poppy, Essence of Nature, Nature's Peace, Autumn Fairy Collection, Words of Wisdom, Woodland Design a Tree, and used rich, warm colours that remind me of the season. Although I have created journal pages here, you could easily use the general design that I have created to make cards, and they would suit both men and women, with these rustic colours.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Sending Love and Best Wishes

Hello everyone, it's the start of a brand new challenge over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog this week, and the colours are bold and bright, lovely blues and greens. I always remember that old adage my Mum used to tell me.....blues and green, must never be seen....but I love working with them together.

Anyway, I rummaged through my scrap box again, and found this lovely background, made when I was experimenting with my Golden paints ages ago, and it suited the colour scheme perfectly. I stamped the Swirl Centre Flowerhead, and some leaves from the Diamante Delights stamp set onto a spare piece of watercolour paper, usding Versamark and Wow brass embossing powder. I coloured the images in using Zig Clean Colour marker pens and cut the images out. I die cut a circle of card, and coloured it using Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink. I stamped over the top using an image from the Texture Fragments stamp set and Salty Ocean Distress Ink.

I assembled the card, adding a dark layer of card to mat my layers, and adhered the leaves and flowers around the edge of the circle.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn Mushrooms

Hello everyone, I have another Autumnal project to share with you, and I have been playing with those zingy Brusho colours again. I created a background using a combination of Gamboge, Lime Green and Orange, which I spritzed, and blotted with a spare piece of card. I then stamped an image from the Autumn Poppy stamp set randomly around the edge of the background, using Plum, Olive and Sepia Archival Ink.

I cut a smaller piece of card, and stamped and embossed the central image, using Wow copper embossing powder. I coloured the image using Brushos and a water brush. I edged the card using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, and chose another leafy image from the stamp plate and the same Distress Ink, to stamp around the edges.

I edged both pieces of card with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, before adhering them to a card blank, onto which I had added a piece of pale green card.

I will be back later in the month with another Autumn-themed project to share with you. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Speedy Birthday Card

Hello everyone, I have a speedy card to share with you today, part of a larger blog post over on the Design Team blog that features quick cards that take no longer than fifteen minutes to make. We run this feature twice a month and hope to demonstrate how versatile Chocolate Baroque stamps can be for those cards in a hurry, for batch cards, or when you do not want to make a really complicated, multi-layered card, that takes hours on end.

I chose to use one of the Baroque Ornament stamps, which is a really good size, and stamped and embossed the image randomoly all over the background, using Versamark and white embossing powder. I like to use Wow embossing powder, I find that it is the best I have come across for giving a great impression. I used three different colours of Distress Ink to blend across the background, and decided not to be conventional with my colour choice this time, I was going to go safe and choose a pretty violet to add to my blue and green, but I picked a random salmon to add into the mix, just for a change!

Once I had blended the background, I spritzed some water over the background, left it a few seconds, and blotted some of the water away, for a mottled effect. I embossed a sentiment onto a strip of vellum, and then added some gems to finish.

I can see this being a great store cupboard card, and fancy making a few more colour ways and trying a gold embossed version with some more vibrant backgrounds too. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Rainy Day Blues

Hello everyone, it's the final week of the current colour challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. The colour scheme is a monochrome scheme, blues and teals, and perhaps it has been a bit more difficult than some for everyone to use, as we have had less entries than normal. I have created another card to provide a bit more inspiration perhaps, and maybe help you come up with some ideas for a project to enter into the challenge. As we have had so few entries involving Chocolate Baroque stamps this month, there is a really good chance that you could win the prize by taking part. So all I can say is, why not have a go, you never know, you might be lucky!

I have had the idea for this card rumbling around in my head ever since the Seasonal Fragments stamp set was released, but just never got around to making it. I stamped and embossed the raindrops image several times around the edge of the card using seafoam embossing powder. I then covered the card using Salty Ocean Distress Ink, leaving a paler area in the middle. I stamped the sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set using Nautical Blue Memento Ink.

I stamped the top part of the large sail boat from the Steampunkery stamp set onto a pretty blue scrapbook paper from Crafty Individuals and cut out the section that I needed. (I used five images). I stuck the images down and trimmed the excess off, and then added the spare pieces to the edges of the background. I then drew umbrella handles with a fine-tipped marker pen. Finally, I edged the background with the Nautical Blue ink, before adhering it to a white card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Nature's Peace

Hello everyone, I love this time of year, when the countryside is filled with warm colours, and the leaves are turning shades of orange, brown, gold and plum.We still have plenty of warm sunshine to enjoy the changing season, and it really is a time to marvel at the natural colour palette all around us.

I have created a card using some left over pieces of watercolour card from a previous project. I had created a Brusho background, and used these pieces of watercolour paper to blot the originals. I simply added some stencilling and stamping to the top layer, and then added some shading around the edges of the layers, using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, to add a warm plummy tone to the background.

I have used a lovely tree from the Nature's Peace stamp set, which I inked with Distress Markers, enabling me to incorporate the various colours that I had used in my background. I also stamped around the edge of the background using a favourite tree from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set. I used Seedless Preserves and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to add the leafy pattern.

This really was a quck and easy card to make, and by varying the colours, could become a very masculine card.
Thanks for stopping by, xx

Colourful Butterflies

Hello everyone, over on the Design Team Blog, we run a feature twice a month called Fifteen Minute Cards. The Design Team girls create quick cards in under fifteen minutes and we add a short description alongside each card for the viewer to see how the cards were made.

For the current post, I have made a card using stamps from the Butterfly Blush stamp set to create a multi-coloured background. I used a variety of Memento Inks, and stamped the images onto a piece of white card, building up the images until I had more or less covered the background. Sometimes I used second generation stamping to give a variety of shades, and a feeling of depth to the background. I then added a co-ordinating image from the Just Butterflies stamp set, which I coloured with Zig Clean Colour Brush Markers. I stamped part of the image onto the background first, to get the antennae onto the background, saving me the job of cutting them out.

I added a sentiment from the Pretty Poppies stamp set, and a string of dots trailing from the butterfly with the aid of a stencil, using a fine-tipped black marker.

Please pop over to the Design Team Blog to see the inspiration provided by the rest of my Team mates. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Splash of Blue

Hello everyone, it's time for another weekly post over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, and this week, I am providing part of the inspiration. I have made a very simple card using some left over scraps of background paper. I save all of my useable pieces for times such as these when I can use the oddments to make another card.

This month's challenge colours are a monochrome mix of turquoises, and I found a piece of watercolour paper that had a pale turquoise wrinkle free distress background on it. I stamped the Floral Weave cling mounted stamp onto the background using a lovely teal shimmery embossing powder. I have had this embossing powder for years and years, but it still works so well, and I love the colour. I stamped the sentiment from the Birthday Words stamp set onto another strip of the background, using Memento Nautical Blue Ink. I edged the pieces of background using a Distress crayon, smudging the crayon with my finger. I stuck all of the strips of card onto a piece of deep teal card, and added some flat-backed pearls to finish.

Do hop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the Design Team inspiration, and to see how you can enter the challenge and win a voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Brusho Journalling

Hello everyone, I have a project that is a departure from my usual projects today. We are exploring texture on the Design Team Blog this month, and I decided to create a two page journal spread, using layers to give a feeling of texture to the pages.

I have an A4 Pink Pig Journal, several in fact, and used one of these to create my project. The pages are quite robust for adding water, paint, etc. I started by sprinkling Turquoise, Violet and Lime Green Brusho onto the pages, (which I had placed newspaper underneath, so that I could keep the rest of the journal dry), and then spritzed the pages with water. I used two large spare pieces of watercolour paper to blot the pages, so that the excess water did not run everywhere, and I now have two extra pieces of background for other projects.

I added some stencilling with both Distress Inks and white paint. I chose to use in particular Three Quarter Face, and added a stamped image from the Texture Fragments stamp set below to give the suggestion of a lacy dress. I also added an image from the Tangled Fragments stamp set and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink  to build up the background layers. I added a few bottle top ring marks using left over white paint to echo the circular stencil that I had used.

Finally, I added sentiments from the Positive Pants and Rockstar Diva stamp sets.

This was one of those projects that was a lot of fun to make, as I had no real idea at the beginning how it was going to end up! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Bouquet of Sunflowers

Hello everyone,September is a very busy month for me, with lots of family Birthdays. My Mother-in-Law has her Birthday in September, and so when I needed to make another DT project this design seemed perfect to double up as her Birthday card. She loves sunflowers, they are her favourite flower, and so I wanted to make them the focal point of the card.

I have created the card, using stamps from the Sunny Sunflowers stamp set, stamping the flowers and leaves, masking them as I went along, to create a cluster of flowers in the corner of the card. Once I had masked all of the images, I created a Brusho background, using red, yellow and brown pigments.
I embossed an image from the Texture Fragments stamp set around the edge of the background, using gold embossing powder. I then coloured the images in using Distress Markers, and added some shading with Faber Castell watercolour pencils.
Finally, I added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set, and matted the background onto a black card blank.

Once I had created my card, I had quite a bit of left over colour on my craft mat. I used a large water colour tag to mop up some of the colour, and dried it completely. I repeated the process a couple of times, until I was happy with the overall colour on the tag. I stuck the tag to a thick piece of burgundy card, and added some shading, using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink around the edge of the tag.

I stamped some more sunflowers and leaves onto some spare watercolour paper, and coloured them in using Zig Clean Colour markers. I arranged the flowers and leaves onto the tag, adhering them with a dries clear glue. I added some micro beads to the centre of the main flower for some added texture. Some toning ribbon completes the tag.

 Thanks for stopping by, xx

My Birthday Girl

Hello everyone, I rarely post anything other than crafty news on my blog, but it's my Daughter's 27th Birthday today, and I wanted to share that piece of information with you. Where does the time go? It does not seem so long ago that she was a tiny scrap of a thing in my arms, a little thing plodding off to school, or a moody teenager wanting to wear something completely inappropriate to the school disco. It broke our hearts to pack her off to University, feeling it was too soon to let her go, and we welcomed her back with open arms a couple of years ago, when she came to live with us again "for a few months, while we get ourselves sorted out". I am incredibly proud of my lovely girl, who is currently studying for her Master's Degree in Social Work, not an easy career path to take, as she wants to work with troubled youngsters, and adolescents in the mental health sector. She is my ray of sunshine, and has a caring heart to match.

I have made her a simple card for her Birthday, as she does not like a lot of fuss and bother. I chose to use a Banksy style image, and sentiment from Inkylicious, creating a wrinkle free Distress background. I made the card in about twenty minutes, it was a really quick card. I stuck to two colours for my background, Mermaid Lagoon, and Seedless Preserves, these two blended together create a lovely combination. I simply matted the background onto a black card blank, and added a fine black border to the main image.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

It's all about the Texture

Hello everyone, this month over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team, we are exploring texture. It can be in a variety of ways, using stencils, stamps, patterns, layers, but as long as it represents texture in some way. I knew that I wanted to create this piece as my first project, as it incorporated lots of my favourite things. I hope that you enjoy what I have created, and use some of the tips along the way.

Those of you that know me, know that I adore poppies, and I decided to create a project using one of my all time favourite Chocolate Baroque stamps. I have used this stamp so many times over the years, and I decided to make it the focal part of my design. I covered a Tando plaque with a very thin layer of texture paste, do not make your layer too thick, or this will not work. I spritzed my poppy stamp with water, and stamped the excess off onto a non-stick craft mat, before gently pressing the stamp into the texture paste. I also used a small texture stamp from the Tangled Fragments stamp set around the edges. I set the plaque to one side to dry.

I covered a square canvas with gesso, and dried this completely. Using texture paste, I added some poppy heads to the canvas with a stencil. I let the canvas dry completely. I then took one of the Gold Aztec Paints, possibly Antique Gold, (mine do not have colours on them, so I do not know, but it is the duller of the gold options in the pack), and poured out two large blobs onto my non-stick craft mat. I added Vermillion Brusho to one blob, and Sea Green to the other blob. I painted the canvas using the paints, half red, half green, blending wherever they met. I also painted the Tando plaque, using mostly green, but added a small amount of red around the edges.

Once both of the pieces were dry, I added some stamping to the canvas, using a corresponding stamp from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set, using red and green Archival Ink. I added some gilding wax to the textured areas on both pieces, and edged both pieces with Gold Soft Form Relief Paste. This makes a super edging, as it is very easy to apply.

I added some pretty green/grey lace to the canvas before attaching the Tando plaque. I wanted this piece to provide a bit of a boost on those days when I am feeling a bit grey, and so I added an inspirational quote from the Words of Wisdom stamp set.

The picture taken outside shows the shimmer from the paint and the gilding wax, whereas the photograph taken inside shows up the texture detail a bit better.

I will be back later in the month with another texture piece to share. Thanks for stopping by, xx