Kim Moody Houses

At the beginning of the month, a new range of stamps designed by Kim Moody were launched on Hochanda. These quirky stamps have been manufactured by Chocolate Baroque, and I was lucky enough to get to work with the stamps, providing some samples for the TV show. You can check out Kim's stamps on the Chocolate Baroque website by heading for the Kim Moody section.


For my first card, I die cut an oval aperture from a piece of card, and stamped some of the flowers from the Patchwork Landscape stamp set along the bottom of the card. I coloured these with Inktense pencils, and ran over them quickly with a water brush afterwards. I stamped In an English Country Garden onto another piece of card, and coloured this with the same pencils, adding splotches of colour in the foreground to represent the flowers growing in the garden. I attached the image behind the oval before adhering the panel to a black mat layer and then to a card blank.

For my second card, I stamped Head Office and masked the image. I coloured the sky using a stencil and blue Memento Ink, then used a green Distress Ink for the grass. I used Inktense pencils to colour the image,and added some hand drawn birds. Although Inktense pencils are normally very vibrant, I created a washed plaster look to the walls of the house, by adding very little pencil to the paper, and drawing it out with the waterbrush.  I did the same with the stone work, and it seemed to work very well.

I stamped La Maison, and again masked the image before stamping Glade Design a Tree. I added foliage using shades of green and orange in first and second generation stamping for added depth. I used Distress Inks to watercolour my image and background, using an orangey brown for the doors to tone in with the foliage.

These images are great fun to work with. I have a couple more that are unfinished that I will try to blog in due course. Do check out what my Team mates created over on the Design Team blog.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Collage of Colour

Hello everyone, I have a mixture of projects to share with you today, showcasing the stamps featured on last month's TV shows from Hochanda.

My first project uses the lovely Birdcage Collage stamp as my focal point. I created a colourful background using Turquoise and Lime Green Brushos spritzed with water, and pressed a piece of crumpled cling film over the top, to add a bit of texture to the background. Once the Brushos had dried, I removed the cling film, and stamped some of the words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp plate over the top, using Archival black ink.

I stamped the Birdcage Collage onto a spare piece of Drawing Cartridge, and coloured the image using water Distress markers and a water brush. Finally, I cut out the image, and attached it to the background.

For my second card, I created a piece of background using Seedless Preserves and Fossilized Amber Distress Inks, which I had added to my craft mat and spritzed with water. I picked these up on the Drawing Cartridge a couple of times, drying each layer in between. I coloured a piece of Stampbord with the same colour of inks, and the stamped the deco edge from the Decorative Edges stamp set on both the Stampbord and the background, using a plum coloured ink. To finish, I added a piece of ribbon, and some Little Birdie flowers.

My final sample is a reproduction of one I made a long time ago, however I liked the design, so why not? I stamped the Butterfly Dress image onto a piece of smooth card, and masked the image. I stamped the Floral Edges image across the bottom twice. I added clouds using a stencil and Memento Summer Skies ink, but you could use torn paper or a frilly die cut to achieve a similar look.

I stamped the Butterfly Dress image twice again onto spare card, and then coloured the flowers and butterflies, plus the main images all with Polychromos pencils. I added the extra butterflies to the background flying around the lady, and along the floral border.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Speedy Cards

Hello everyone, it is time for the monthly Fifteen Minute blog post over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog. I am sharing two cards from the bigger blog post with you today.

The first card was created by stamping the Auricula Script image onto Kraft card using Versamark and white embossing powder. I coloured the image using Koh-i-Noor paints. I added some shading around the edge of the kraft card with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I made a toning background using Seedless Preserves and Fossilized Amber Distress Inks on drawing cartridge. I matted the background onto plum and kraft card, and added some coordinating ribbon.

For my second card, I stamped the same image onto a piece of drawing cartridge, using Plum Archival Ink, and coloured it with Inktense pencils. I painted Stickles onto the flowers and leaves with a thin brush. This does not take very long to dry. I stamped an image from the Floral Edges stamp set onto a piece of Crafty Individuals paper, using the same ink as before, to create a border. I edged the drawing cartridge and patterned paper with the plum ink, then matted everything onto purple and green card.

Do hop over to the Design Team blog to see what my Team mates have been creating. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Little Piece of Tranquility (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am sharing two projects today using stamps that featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.  Both projects have a very tranquil feel about them, although they are very different. I find that crafting helps me feel quite calm and relaxed, and these two pieces really reflect that feeling. 

My first project is a piece of home decor featuring a Buddha image. I am very drawn to this type of image, even though I do not practise any kind of leaning towards Buddhism itself. Most of you know that I am a keen yoga enthusiast, and it is maybe that which has drawn me to these images so much.

I created the project by colouring two pieces of drawing cartridge with Distress Ink in tones of blue and green, Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron, blending the colours where they met. To the larger piece, I added background stamping, adding the harlequin edge from the Decorative Edges stamp set, and the bubbles image as well.

On the smaller piece, I created a mask from masking tissue in the shape of the headdress, and placed it on the the background, and stamped the bubbles image through the mask. I painted the little top knot by hand. I then used some blue Koh-i-Noor paint to paint the rest of the image freehand, adding some blue, green and orange shading to complete the image. I stamped the bubbles image along the top and bottom of the panel to create a bit of a frame, and painted some of the bubbles in the headdress using the same colours as before. I added some orange shading around both panels before attaching them to a piece of grey mountboard.

Finally, I stamped the Butterfly Dress image onto a spare piece of card, and coloured the butterflies using green and orange tones, before cutting them out and attaching them to the panel. Some words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set complete this project.

For my second project, I wanted to create a tranquil scene with a coloured panel spotlighted in the centre. I used torn paper to create the hills and ensured that they lined up on the background and extra panel. I used grey/lilac tones for the larger panel, and greens and blues, with a hint of lilac for the foreground panel. I then added the foliage from the Floral Edges stamp set to complete the project, with a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set, as before. I added a piece of black card to frame the coloured panel, as I liked the definition that this gave the coloured panel.

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects today, I will be back later in the month, with more ideas to share with you. Thanks for stopping by, xx