A Bit of Romance

Hello everyone, I have a couple of projects to share with you today, both with a slightly romantic feel, showcasing stamps used from last month's shows on Hochanda.

My first project features a beautiful image from the Harlequin Rose stamp set. I love this image, and it has proved so useful for Weddings and Anniversaries over the years. It can be used on its own, or linked with another one, as I have done on this card.

I chose a piece of patterned paper designed by Lesley, and stamped and embossed the image twice, using white embossing powder. I fussy cut the images, and cut one of the hearts where I needed to join them together. I simply slipped the 'broken' heart through the gap in the other heart. I used a piece of the same paper as a background, and cut a slightly smaller piece of kraft card as the forground. (If you are trying to stretch your papers as far as possible, you can use what would be hidden underneath for the hearts). I embossed the sentiment using white embossing powder once more, and added faux stitching using a white gel pen.

The addition of the kraft card makes this a great Anniversary or Valentine's card for a man. Using patterned papers makes it fairly quick to make, even with the fussy cutting, as there is no extra colouring involved, so why not have a look through your stash of pretty papers to see what you can use up.

To create my second card, I coloured some Drawing Cartridge using Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink on a craft mat, spritzing it with water, and patting the Drawing Cartridge into the ink. I dried the paper with a heat gun, and then blotted up some of the remaining ink before drying the background once more. I stamped the Tagtastic stamp at one end of the background and cut this out, the remainder of the background was sufficient to create a background for the card.

I used words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set to create a random background on the tag, stamping them in black ink. I stamped some horizontally and some vertically, making sure that they were straight, whichever direction I was stamping. I stamped a rose from the Rose and Thistle stamp set onto a spare piece of Drawing Cartridge, coloured it in with Distress Inks and fussy cut it out. I attached this to the tag, and added some bright red ribbon to the tag. I attached the tag to the larger background, added a Birthday sentiment, and used some black card as a matting layer. You could add some of the tiny rosebuds from the Rose and Thistle set to the background if you feel that the background is too plain, but I did not mind it like this. I had added some red spatters to the tag as a contrast anyway.

I hope that you will try some of my ideas out for yourselves, thanks for stopping by, xx

Loving Hearts

Hello everyone, I have two cards to share with you today using the same stamps, but varying the ideas to give two completely different looks.

For my first card,  I cut a piece of smooth card slightly smaller than my card blank. I stamped and embossed the large lacy border and the small heart image from the Harlequin Rose stamp set, using Versamark and clear embossing powder. I coloured the background using Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean, Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks, blending them where they met, to create a graduated background.

To create a faux batik effect, I ironed the embossing powder off the card using some cheap copy paper underneath the iron to absorb the embossing powder, (remembering to turn off the steam!). I spritzed the background lightly with some water, to create a slightly mottled effect. I stamped the large 'love' from the Words of Love stamp set and added some cream seam binding before attaching the background to the card blank.

To create my second card, I used the same small heart image, and stamped it randomly onto a scrap piece of black card. This time, I used Rudolph's Red Nose embossing powder, for maximun impact. I added some red card as a matting layer behind the background before I attached it to a white card blank. I stamped the large 'love' using Lady Bug Memento ink.

The second card was a very quick card to make, it would qualify for our Fifteen Minute makes category on the Design Team blog! It would make a super Valentine's card for the man in your life, whereas the first card is much more feminine, with the vibrant colours. I hope that I have shown you how versatile these stamps can be. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Pastel Hearts

Hello everyone, this week, it is my turn to provide a bit of inspiration for the current colour challenge over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. This month's colour swatch is actually based on a card that I made originally, so I should be right at home with the colours!

I decided to use an image from the Harlequin Rose stamp set, stamping the image all over a piece of kraft card, using Versamark Ink. I gently rubbed a variety of Pan Pastels over the background, blending them together where they met.

I stamped the heart image onto a spare piece of kraft card, this time embossing it with an off-white embossing powder, and cutting the image out. I added more of the Pan Pastels to this heart as well. I chose some pretty ribbons to add to the background, and attached the heart, before adding a sentiment from the Words of Love stamp set, using Jet Black Archival Ink.

I used some pale lilac card as a mount for the background before adhering it to a large card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Valentine Book Card

Hi Folks, I have a couple of samples featuring some recently released stamps from Chocolate Baroque to show you today. The stamp plate is called Rose and Thistle, and has a lovely mix of stamps on the plate:

I have created a book card using kraft card as my base, and used a printable download from Chocolate Baroque called 'Love Letters'. I have stamped the large single rose image onto this, and coloured it with pencils. I stamped the rose heart image onto a smaller piece. and decoupaged this onto the main background. I used a sentiment from another stamp set 'Harlequin Rose', which I matted onto black card.

Inside the card, I created a niche for a gift, or some chocolates maybe, using some more of the download to line the niche, and the opposite side of the card. I used black paper to punch a border for the niche.

My next sample is a clean and simple card, featuring the large thistle stamp. I stamped the thistle image onto a cream card base, and then masked the image with Eclipse masking tape. I spritzed the card with three different colours of Distress re-inkers and water. I then coloured the thistle image, and added a sentiment in one corner. Some toning matting finished the card.

My first card is showing over on the Design Team Blog today there has been some fabulous inspiration this month with these stamps from my Design Team mates. I hope that these two cards have also given you some ideas. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A little bit shabby, a little bit Baroque

Hi Folks, I have a sample to show you using one of the new clear heart stamps available from Chocolate Baroque This one is called Poppy Heart. I decided not to go for the obvious bright reds in this sample, but opted for a more subtle shabby pink palette. I created a background using some ornamental leaf shapes taken from the Breath of Spring stamp plate, and the now retired Filigree Fusion stamp plate.

I have decoupaged the heart image, and added a sentiment from the Harlequin Rose stamp set.

The Design Team have been very busy creating some fabulous samples over on the Design Team Blog and it would be great if you could pop over and take a look. I have some samples to post over there myself in the coming days.

Thanks for stopping by, xx