A Bumper Blueprint Post!

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. This post could be a long one, so I hope that you have a cuppa handy! I have lots of projects to share with you today, featuring stamps from our TV shows on Create and Craft. 

My first project was a journal page spread that I created using the beautiful blueprint stamp bundle that we had on the TV show. The stamps featured were Cala Lily Blueprint, Freesia Blueprint, Wild Cornflower Blueprint and Sweetpeas Blueprint. I cut some panels of smooth stamping paper, two were 8cms by 14cms, and one was 8cms by 15cms. I used a small rectangle gelli plate and covered it with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink. I stamped the On The Tiles stamp onto the gelli plate using Broken China Distress Ink. I then stamped the gelli plate onto each of the panels. Once the panels were dry, I stamped one of the large images from the stamp plates using Versafine Clair Nocturne onto each of them. I missed out the Cala Lily Blueprint, as I only needed three. 

I coloured the images with pencils, sticking to a limited colour palette of mostly purple, magenta and green. I added Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide through a square stencil onto the panels, avoiding the images themselves.

Using a small round gelli plate, I inked it up and stamped over the top with the On the Tiles stamp in the same way repeatedly over a two page spread in my A4 journal. I worked out where I wanted to place the panels, and added ruler frames around those areas using black ink. I added smaller technical images from the stamp sets using Purple Delight, Warm Breeaze and Nocturne Versafine Clair Ink. I then added sentiments using Twilight Ink. Finally, I attached the panels over the top.

I always knew that I intended to make a card with an extra panel, so I made one as I went along. I created a background using Drawing Cartridge and Evergreen Bough Distress Ink. I added one of the sentiments and black ink. I often find that working in my journal is a springboard for a good card idea, and this was no exception.

I decided to make a set of cards using some of the technical images. They are so useful, these smaller designs. I very quickly inked up a square gelli plate with a variety of colours, then stamped over the background with a toning ink. I cut a piece of smooth stamping card and stamped one of the medium floral images and coloured it with pencils. I inked around the edge of the panel with the background ink colour. These were fairly quick cards, but really pretty and very effective. 

You could choose more masculine colours - grey, brown, ochre, etc. and make a range of masculine cards by adding the technical images instead of the flowers. These would make fabulous storecupboard cards for when you need a card in a hurry. I can think of lots of other stamps in the Chocolate Baroque range that I am going to give this treatment to for Birthday cards now, and I hope that it has helped to give you some inspiration too.

So now I am going to share a bunch of older cards with you, which if you have followed me or Chocolate Baroque for a while you will recognise, if not, then I hope that you will enjoy them.

The first card is a typical blueprint style, white embossing on glossy card, with Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink over the top, and the lovely Wild Cornflower Blueprint image to complete the card.

More white embossing and colouring on kraft card for the Cala Lily Blueprint this time.

A few cards showcasing the Freesia Blueprint stamp set. The first card, I have stamped the image onto a linen panel.

The second uses textured embossing on the background through one of our stencils.

Onto the Sweetpeas Blueprint stamp set now, and a little canvas where the image was stamped onto tissue paper and added over acrylic paint.

A horizontal panel matted over patterned paper. the little flower heads were placed into the flagpole centers as if they were in glass domes.

Finally, I used the postage stamp stencil and added lots of the small images from the stamp sets to create postage stamps.

I hope that I have given you lots of inspiration using these fabulous stamps. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care xx

Mosaic Circles

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a project to share with you today showcasing stamps from last month's TV shows.

I created a background using Distress Oxides, and then used a stencil to apply colour over the top with blending brushes, and stamped On The Tiles through the stencil with corresponding colours in Archival Ink. I added some words from the Bird of Joy stamp to the background to finish.

I painted a chipboard circle with acrylic paint, mixing white with a dark green to get the colour that I wanted. I added the same words that I had used on my background over the circle. I stamped the Mosaic Flower onto a piece of tissue paper, and coloured it with Luminance pencils, before sticking it to the circle with Matte Medium. I then attached the circle to my background, and used a piece of black card as a mat before adhering the background to a card blank.

I will be back soon with more projects to share with you. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care xx

Mostly Masking

Hello everyone, I have several projects to share with you today showcasing the lovely stamps featured on the May TV shows on Hochanda. We also took Masking Tissue onto the show, and a lot of my projects reflected the use of this product.

For my first card,  I created a Pan Pastel background, tearing strips of paper to create hills, and adding a green colour at the bottom half of the card, toning in some grey as I moved up the card, to represent hills in the distance. I created a sky using blue and pink pastel coloured tones. I hardly ever use Pan Pastels these days, and this background was so easy to create. I always wonder why I do not use Pan Pastels more often!

I stamped the floral spray from the Lords and Ladies stamp set repeatedly across the lower half of the card, varying the height of the stamp. I added a stamp from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set using second and third generation stamping for this stamp, to create some depth, as if there were a meadow of flowers. Two little butterflies from the Baroque Meadow stamp plate, and a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set completed the card. All of the stamping was done with Olympia Green Versafine ink, and the images were coloured with Faber Castell watercolour pencils. This little card will make a great store cupboard card and I might make a few more of these.

I wanted to create a one layer card that would be cheap to send in the post, but still have the look of a multi layered card. Using a piece of masking tissue, I cut out a hexagon shape using a die. I used both the inner and outer pieces of the masking tissue on my project. I coloured a piece of drawing cartridge with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, first around the outside of a masked central panel, adding shading with Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink, and then stamped over the background using the Square Bubbles stamp and Danube Blue Memento Ink. I then removed the mask, and added the corresponding reverse mask, leaving the central panel uncovered, and inked the edges of that area with the same background colour as before.

I stamped the foliage stamp from the Rose Duo stamp set using first and second generation stamping in Danube Blue and Cottage Ivy Memento Inks, then ensured that all of the ink was completely dry. I stamped and embossed the foliage image with Versamark Ink and copper embossing powder. An optional extra at this point was to edge the background with Versamark and tip copper embossing powder over the edges, before embossing the foliage.

My next two cards are based on a very similar colour scheme to each other, and use the lovely Cuckoo Pint image from the Lords and Ladies stamp set. For the first card, I created a background using the foliage stamp from the previous card, stamping onto kraft card with Plum Archival ink. I created the main image by stamping the Cuckoo Pint, masking the image, and again stamping the foliage, again using plum coloured ink for stamping. I coloured the flower with Polychromos pencils. adding Distress Ink to the background for a soft finish.

The next card was created by adding Brushos to kraft card and spritzing them with water. I added some toning hessian, a button and ribbon to the background. To create the focal piece, I stamped the Cuckoo Pint, and masked the image before stamping the On The Tiles image. I coloured the image with Distress Inks and a water brush. The two images have been coloured in similar colours, but the different mediums give a very different effect.

Thanks for stopping by, xx