May Fairies

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few projects to share with you today featuring our May Fairy set of stamps that were showcased on this month's shows on Create and Craft. 

My first project is a simple card using some of the May patterned papers designed by Lesley. I trimmed the paper slightly and added it to a DL black card base. I stamped the fairy and a couple of butterflies onto some smooth stamping card, and coloured them with pencils to match the patterned papers. I cut them out and attached them to the background. I popped the fairy into a flower, as if she was resting there, and added some shading under her foot using a green pencil. I stamped a sentiment from Words to Dazzle and Sparkle to complete the card.

I have used a mixture of stamps to create my next card. I found a background paper designed by Lesley from my stash, and used the colours as the basis for the colour scheme. I added a dandelion head from Not More Flowers! and some dandelion seeds from Seasonal Fragments. The foliage stamped in green and heather tones is from Autumn Hedgerow, stamped in first and second generation stamping. The fairy blowing the dandelion appears to be making a wish, so I have used the same sentiment as before because it fits this card so perfectly.

I have used a couple of the smaller stamps from the May Fairy stamp set to create a little bookmark. I cut a rectangle of Drawing Cartridge and stamped the iris and butterfly from the stamp set. I added a sentiment from the Mindfulness stamp set. I painted the images with watercolour paints. I created a border with black card, punched a hole at the top and bottom and added some ribbon. This was quite a quick project, and you could make several of these in a session to give as gifts.

I made a pretty Floral card using the main image from the new Floral Abundance stamp set. I stamped this using a heather coloured ink for a change onto smooth stamping card and coloured the image with pencils. I created a background by stamping the Mindfulness word cloud repeatedly over a Distress Ink background. I used the same Heather coloured ink for the stamping to tie everything together. I used the Mindfulness stamp loose in my hand, rather than on an acrylic block, so that I could partially stamp the image in the little gaps between the circles, thereby creating a complete background.

Finally, I am sharing a quick progress photo of my concertina book. I am making this throughout the year using the patterned papers that Lesley designs each month, and using the fairies from each month's stamp sets. Once I had constructed the book, and added the black matting layers to each page, all I needed to do each month was to create the individual pages. The covers are designer papers from another set that Lesley created. I have decorated the front cover with stamps from the first half of the year, and intend to decorate the back cover with stamps from the second half of the year. It will be great to see this project through to the end and to look back at all of the designs once I have finished my book.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits are always much appreciated. xx

New Year Wish

Hello everyone, I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying a bit of quiet time over the festive break. This year seems to have gone so fast, and has brought many changes, I even made my first tentative steps onto live TV! Whatever you have done and are looking forward to in the months ahead, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and a healthy, creative 2018.

I have some cards to share with you today using stamps featured in last month's TV shows on Hochanda. I made a background using Brushos, spritzed with water. I wanted to create a Wintery sky, and so I chose Turquoise, Lilac and Grey for the background. I stamped a large butterfly from the Tangled Garden stamp set using Stazon Jet Black Ink onto a piece of sparkly acetate, and stuck this to a piece of coloured background that I had in my scrap box. By chance, this was a very similar colour to my Brusho background. I fussy cut the butterfly out, omitting the antennae.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the Words of Inspiration stamp set, and an image from the Seasonal Fragments stamp set onto the background using Versamark and silver embossing powder. I added a few sparkly gems randomly throughout the fragment images. Just before I stuck the butterfly to the background, I stamped the antennae onto the background, using black ink.

Here are a couple more of my show projects, a pretty gelli plate card using another image from the Tangled garden stamp set:

A necklace and tag using images from the Bold Blooms and Words of Inspiration stamp sets. I have used shrink plastic to create the necklace:

Finally, a card made using Soft Form Relief Paste to create the focal point, adding gilding wax over the top, to pick out the fabulous detail of the stamp:

Thanks for stopping by,

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

Autumn's Smile

Hello everyone, I have three  projects to share with you today, using the current stamps of the month from Chocolate Baroque. Along with the rest of the Design team, I have been enjoying working with these stunning stamps from Sue Page, there are four beautiful women, one for each season of the year, and a gorgeous tangled tree, perfect for any time of the year, depending on how you choose to use the stamp. As Autumn is my favourite time of the year, I have created three cards celebrating that particular season, using the rich colours that can be seen before the Winter pulls in.

My first card uses the Autumn Medley rubber stamp to create an Autumnal card. I stamped the image using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and masked it before creating a leafy background, using leaves from my garden and Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.  I coloured the image with Distress Markers, and added extra detail with watercolour pencils afterwards. I added one of my all time favourite sentiments, taken from the Nature's Peace stamp set. I matted the background onto green card, before adding it to a black card blank.

For my second card, I have created a wrinkle free Distress background, using Wild Honey and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I stamped the Tangled Birch individual stamp and added stamps from the Patchwork Landscape stamp set, before masking the tree and adding a stamp from the Seasonal Fragments stamp set to the tree, to create a scene. I coloured the images with Derwent Inktense and Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils.

My last card uses the lovely Autum Medley stamp once again, and I have created a border around the image, using stamps from the Autumn Poppy stamp set. I stamped the foliage using various colours of Archival Ink, and then coloured everything with Polychromos pencils. I decoupaged some of the leaves on the main image for added interest. I love the rich colours of Autumn, and have tried to reflect the changing leaf colours in this final sample.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

We've been collaberating again!

Hello everyone, Lesley and I have been crafting together again. We decided to make a couple of tags this time. We each made a background using the same colours, and then swapped them with each other. We made the tags on a recent craft day together, and it was great to be in the same place, as geographically, we live about 230 miles apart.

Here is a picture of our two tags side by side:

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, but I knew that I wanted a photo of these before they went on their separate journeys, but it was a very speedy photo. The tag on the left is Lesley's tag, she coloured the tag and spritzed it with water before giving it to me. The tag on the right is mine. I sponged acrylic wax across the tag, which I heat set before I added the colour to the tag. We decided to use a colour palette of Squeezed Lemonade, Shabby Shutters and Dried Marigold for our backgrounds.

To complete Lesley's tag, I die cut two honeycomb fragments, and coloured them with the same colours before adhering them to the tag. I stamped a sentiment from the See Beauty clear stamp set onto the tag, and added some raindrops from The Seasonal Fragments stamp set. I stamped the Snake's Head Fritillary and some bees from the Honey Bee stamp set onto a sticky label, and coloured them with Polychromos pencils.

I hope that you will pop over to the Design Team blog to see what Lesley has done to my tag. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Christmas Masterboard

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you today using the current stamps of the month available from Chocolate Baroque. I have used one of the leafy Seasonal Fragment designs to create a masterboard with contemporary colours, and then turned it into a Christmas card by using a seasonal greeting and poinsettia style flowers.

I started my background by colouring a piece of smooth white card with Aqua Adirondack Ink, then stamping the leaves using Red Geranium and Library Green Archival Ink. I completed the background using the same leafy stamp and Aqua Ink for a softer feel.

I die cut a long shape, and sponged the edges with Aqua, leaving the die in place, to create a white border, then stamped a sentiment, using Versafine Crimson Red Ink. I hand cut a matting layer using dark red card. I used the same red card to cut out some Crealie shapes to make some flowers, and cut some Crealie leaves using dark green card. I spritzed the flowers with water and scrunched them up slightly to get a more dimensional feel. I put three layers together and added a brad.

I hope that you will give this technique a try, I had more of this background left over for another project;

which is great when I need to make so many Christmas cards! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Falling Leaves

Hello everyone, it's a new week over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, and my turn to make a card for inspiration as part of the Design Team. The colours on the colour swatch seemed very Autumnal to me, and so I decided to create a leafy card for my project.

I started to make my card, by stamping the line of trees using Potting Soil Archival Ink, and embossing it with clear embossing powder. I wanted a crisp clear image that would stand out amongst the multitude of leaves that I was going to add afterwards. Adding the embossing powder just sharpens the image.
I added some Aqua Adirondack Ink above the trees, and some Dried Marigold underneath, and then completed the background with Memento Pear Tart Ink. I stamped the leafy fragment using Olive and Orange Blossom Archival Ink, using first and second generation ink. Any gaps that were left, I filled in with stamping using Pear Tart for a fainter impression. I inked around the edges using Memento Potter's Clay Ink. I then stamped some leaves onto scrap paper from my scrap box, sticking to colours within the challenge colours, and once I had cut them out, arranged them randomly across the page before gluing them down.

I added a bit of shading under the trees using a couple of pencils. Finally, I matted the background onto some terracotta card.

I have purposefully left this card blank as a handy storecupboard card. It will be useful as a masculine card, or even a sympathy card if necessary.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Making an Impression

Hello everyone, I have a textured card to show you today using the stamps of the month currently on offer at Chocolate Baroque.

I created my background by cutting a piece of smooth watercolour paper slightly smaller than my card blank, and covering it with water. I added some acrylic paint that I had diluted to the paper to give a watery wash over the background. I chose three colours of paint; yellow, saffron and a plum colour. I dried the background with my heat gun, and as is it was quite rippled, gave it a good iron to get it nice and flat again!

I stamped the linen texture stamp using Saffron Archival Ink, and added the flower heads using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set onto some hand dyed ribbon that I had left over from another project, and attached this to the background.

I rolled out three pieces of polymer clay and cut them into circles. I pressed the flower head stamp firmly into the clay, and following the maufacturer's instructions, I baked the clay in the oven. Once the pieces had cooled down, I painted them with the same colours of acrylic paint that I had used for the background of the card. Once they were dry, I added some metallic wax to pick out the details of the flowers.

These stamps are great for adding texture to all sorts of surfaces, and I hope that you will experiment and try something like this out yourself. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Dandelion Clocks

Hello everyone, I have a card to share with you today, using some of the new Seasonal Fragments stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I wanted to create a little scene using one of the older dandelion clock images from the Fragrant Honeysuckle stamp set and add the clock seeds as if a fairy was blowing them off the flower head. I used to do this as a child and make a wish, did you?

I stamped the main flower image onto a piece of card, and then added the flower fragment across the bottom of the card. I added some colour to the background using Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks. I stamped the seed fragment, and added a fairy from the Spring Fairy stamp set. I coloured the images with Inktense pencils, and added a little bit of Stickles glue on the flowers, seeds and fairy wings as an accent. I stamped a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set to finish.

I created a larger mount for my image using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink once again to colour the background card, and stamped the seed stamp around the edges using the same colour for a tone on tone effect. I attached both pieces of card to a large white card blank.

 I'll be back with more cards using these great new stamps in a few days' time. Thanks for stopping by, xx