A Colourful Collection

Hello everyone, I have more projects to share with you using the fabulous new stamps featured on last month's shows on Hochanda.

I was very taken with the Floral Harmony stamp, and love the flower head image part of the design in particular. I decided to use this as the focal point for a couple of my projects.

I applied texture paste through the Useful Leaves Stencil onto a large Tando Tag, and allowed this to dry completely. I covered the tag with gesso, and once this was dry, applied a combination of pale pink and turquoise chalk paints from Momenta to the background.

I stamped the leafy spray stamps from the Take It or Leaf It stamp set, using Memento Teal Zeal Ink onto the background. I stamped several of the floral images onto to some spare white card, and coloured them using water based markers. I added a bit of Stickles to the centres for added bling. I coloured a piece of white card with water based marker that I had scribbled onto an acrylic block and spritzed with water. I then die cut a small rectangle and stamped a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set. I edged the rectangle using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

I added the flowers and sentiment to the tag, and finally coloured some ribbon using the same paints as I had used for the background, to give a coordinated feel to the project.

For my next project, I rummaged through my stash, and found some brightly coloured backgrounds, and cut out some squares of orange card, I then inked up the flower head part of the stamp, using Orange Blossom Archival Ink, and pressed the squares of card onto the stamp to obtain the image. I also stampd several of the large leaves from the Take it or Leaf It stamp set, using Olive Archival Ink, and then cut all of the images out. I arranged them onto a large black card blank, to create a wreath shape. Once again, I added Stickles to the centres of the flowers for some sparkle.

I die cut a circle from another piece of the orange card, and stamped a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set.

For my final project, I decided to work within my favourite colour palette, and created a soft background of turquoise and purple, using Distress Oxide Ink. I stamped the Baroque Corners using Cobalt Archival Ink, and added a sentiment from the Amazing Words stamp set. I edged the background with a Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Butterfly Wreath

Hello everyone, I am sharing a card that I have created as part of the monthly Fifteen MInute blog post over on the Design Team blog today. This card was made as a Birthday card for a special friend, but it doubled up as a quick card for this blog post as well.


I created a wreath by using the leafy sprays from the Take It or Leaf It stamp set. I stamped the images around a pencil drawn circle, using first and second generation stamping, and Memento Pistachio ink. Once the ink was dry, I rubbed out the pencil line. I then die cut several butterflies from book paper which had been stuck onto card, which I found  in my box of scraps. The dies are a set from Crealies, and are a firm favourite of mine. I inked around the edges of the butterflies with Abandoned Coral Distress Ink and stuck them around the circle.This is not a colour that I use much, but it goes so well with the Pistachio. Finally I added a sentiment from the Birthday Words stamp set.

After looking at several options, I decided that kraft suited this card best, and so I matted the background onto a large kraft card blank.

Pop over to the Design Team Blog to see the rest of the creations in this month's Fifteen Minute blog post.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Leafy Florals

Hello everyone, I have three projects to share with you today showcasing new stamps recently featured on Hochanda. These floral stamps are really fabulous, suitable for all sorts of occasions, and styles.

For my first card, I used a favourite technique, stamping on a piece of book paper, and colouring the image with pencils. I stamped the Hanging Flowers image using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and then edged the book paper with Distress Ink. The larger background was from my stash created with Twisted Citron Distress Ink, and I used the same stamp to stamp around the edges with Library Green Archival Ink to create a frame. I used kraft card to mat and layer the edges, giving a more natural feel.

For my second card, I used some background card from my stash created using Twisted Citron Distress Ink, and simply stamped and embossed the main image using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and clear embossing powder. I stamped the two leaves randomly over the background to create a very quick design. Black matting layers give a very bold feel to this monochrome card.

For my final card, I used masking to combine an image from the Take It or Leaf It stamp set with the Chequered Flowers image, and coloured the images with Coloursoft pencils.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Two Tone Teasels

Hello everyone, it's not often that I find the time to make something other than Design Team projects these days, but I needed to make my lovely Dad a Birthday card recently, and decided to make him a card using a fabulous set of stamps from Woodware that have been languishing unused in my stash.

I created a blended background using a combination of Scattered Straw and Salty Ocean Distress Oxide Inks, and then using a favourite stencil, I added a patch of stenciling at two opposite corners. I used a baby wipe in the middle of the card to take away colour using the same stencil.

Using the Clear Magic Teasel stamps, I first stamped the images in Potting Shed Archival Ink, and then in Black, creating a depth to the images. I added a lovely large sentiment from Inkylicious to complete the card. My Dad's eyesight is not so good, following two strokes this year, and this visual card was perfect for him.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Brand New Colouring Pages from Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone, I am sharing some of my colouring pages from the A4 Colouring Pages Kit with you today, two of which you may have caught on the recent TV shows on Hochanda. These fabulous pages are so relaxing to colour in a vast range of mediums, and Sue's designs will really capture your imagination. The beautiful floral designs are absolutely stunning, and having the practice pages included in your pack of pages gives you the confidence to try out any colour combinations before you make a start on the main designs themselves.

I used colouring pencils on all three of my designs, as I love to use pencils, but I have used different types of pencils on each design, as I will explain as I go along.

For my first design, I used Inktense pencils, choosing vibrant shades of blues and plums for the flowers. I coloured the design in full, and then went over the images with a water brush, to blend the colours, adding more shading with the pencils again afterwards, if necessary. These fabulous pencils create a really intense hit of colour once water is added, and the picture really comes alive.

For my second design I used Polychromos pencils, blending the colours together for a natural effect in Autumnal tones. These are my favourite pencils for colouring, as they blend so well together, and the shading possibilities are wonderful with such a large choice of colours to choose from.

Finally, I wanted to create a project using a colouring page in a more versatile way. As a cardmaker, using these pages to make cards and tag, really stretches their use. I will certainly use them more if I can use some of them in this way, and will use one for colouring, and the duplicate page for something else.

I cut the top of one of the pages down to size, and coloured this with Coloursoft pencils, using a much smaller colour palette, to tone in with the background card that I had chosen. I only have a smaller set of the pencils, as they were what I started out with, but I have always loved these pencils. I really enjoyed creating this project as a way of revisiting this set of pencils. I have blended reds and greens together, and different shades of greens on leaves and branches, just as you would find in Nature, because nothing is just a flat colour if you look at it closely.

 I added a row of faux stitching around the edge, and matted the page and background card onto a large black card blank.

I had a small section of colouring page left, and so I coloured part of the foliage, which I cut out, and added to a strip of the same background card, die cut into a tag shape. I matted this onto black card, and added a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set, which had been stamped onto a scrap of card left from another project. I also added faux stitching around the sentiment. Some green ribbon was added to complete the tag:

Thanks for stopping by, xx