Beautiful Autumn

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. We are really into the Autumnal weather now, the leaves are falling and the windy days are here. I love this time of year, we still get the odd sunny day, and it is not too cold for a good walk.

I have three projects to share with you today. My first card was created on a left over background from another project. I had painted over a piece of scrapbook paper with a wash of white acrylic paint and added some stencilling with blue and orange Distress Oxide Ink. Some subtle stamping had been added with the same colour ink; butterflies, clocks, and splatters, etc. These colours dictacted the colours that I then chose for the rest of my project. 

I stamped Beauty is in the Eyes using Versafine Onyx Black and extended the bottom frame using a fineliner pen. I used the same pen and a circle stencil to draw extra bubbles on the right hand side. I coloured the image with pencils, and added white highlights with a gel pen. I had another scrap background for the larger background, created using acrylic sprays. Always keep your left over backgrounds, you never know when you might need them! I matted both backgrounds with black card for extra drama. The little word 'Focus' comes from the same stamp set.

My second project is a small chipboard panel. I used a piece of decorative paper and stamped one of the leaves from From Nature 1 across the background using green ink. I stamped and embossed the large leaf spray from the same stamp set onto kraft card using white embossing powder. I also stamped and embossed just the face from Beauty is in the Eyes, and the flower from Floral Grunge, also onto kraft card using white embossing powder.

I added a sentiment to the background paper, before attaching it to the chipboard panel with matte medium. Once the adhesive was dry, I sanded the edges to get a white edge. I coloured the face and flower with pencils, and inked the leaves with Distress Ink. I attached all of the images to the panel for a collaged effect.

My final project mixes and matches stamp sets, something that I really enjoy doing. I have used Distress Inks to create a blended background, and then taken a branch from the Sticks and Stones stamp set which I have stamped in first and second generation stamping, using a brown Versafine Clair ink. I have coloured in the first generation branches using brown pencil, and the second generation using a mixture of grey and brown pencils, to make them appear to be in the background. I have then used a mixture of Autumn colours to stamp the lovely leaf from From Nature 1 in first, second and third generation stamping across the branches. Finally I have added my absolute favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment to the card. This comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set. As Design Team Leader for Chocolate Baroque, I should probably not have favourites, but I am still human, and I adore this stamp! I knew as soon as saw the stamp set From Nature 1 that I wanted to create this card, sometimes a card design just pops into your head.

Thanks so much for stopping by, take care, xx

Tree of Hope

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well during these uprecedented times. Life is still very uncertain for lots of us, and for this blog post, I wanted to create a card with a message of optimism.

I started my project with a piece of kraft card, and stamped a large image from Trees a Crowd, using brown Archival ink. I added a little image from Sticks and Stones as foliage, using first and second generation stamping. I coloured the image using Koh-I-Noor watercolour pencils, and ran a waterbrush only over the first generation stamped images, as I wanted the colours in the other images to remain very soft. Adding water tends to brighten the colour somewhat. I added some colour under the tree to ground the image. A sentiment from Patchwork Landscape was perfect for this card.

To create a border, I ran the edge of an old credit card through the inkpad, and drew it along the card at various angles around the edge of the background. I added some shading with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by, and take care, xx

Song of the Kingfisher

Hello everyone, goodness my second post in two days! I hope that you managed to catch Lesley's fabulous One Day Special Shows on Hochanda on 31st January/1st February.  She shared some wonderful techniques with the latest stamps from Chocolate Baroque, the stamps are exclusive to Hochanda for ten days, but after that, you will be able to order them from Chocolate Baroque as usual.

I have a couple of cards to show you today that were featured on the TV shows, which utilise several of the new stamp sets. I love to mix and match stamp sets, and so having lots of new stamp sets to work with all at once was just perfect for me.

For my first card, I created a gelli plate background, using Salty Ocean and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and used the bubbles stamp to stamp directly onto the gelli plate before I took a print from the plate. This created a cloudy effect on the background. I then stamped a couple of the kingfishers onto the card, and masked them. TIP: To be able to use the bottom left kingfisher, I needed to mask off part of the stamp image before inking it up, as it belongs to a larger scenic image. I simply used masking tape, inked the bird, and removed the masking tape before I stamped the image onto the background.

I added branches and foliage, using various colours of Archival ink, and then used the bubbles stamp once again to create foliage for the branches. I coloured the birds with watercolour pens and a water brush. I edged the panel with teal coloured ink. I stamped a greeting onto some sage green seam binding ribbon, using Archival Ink, and then adhered the ribbon across the bottom of the scene, before attaching the panel to my card.

To create my second card, I stamped the large Kingfisher onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and masked the image, before stamping the large branch a couple of times. I added Orange, Sea Green, Emerald Green and Turquoise Brusho powder, and spritzed them with water, blotting off the excess liquid with a spare piece of card. (I saved this piece of card for another project). Once the background was completely dry, I stamped the small leafy sprig using three different colour greens, and I used first and second generation stamping to give a feeling of depth to the foliage.

I removed the mask from the Kingfisher, and coloured the image with watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, and edged the panel with teal coloured ink, before matting the panel onto a deep green card.

Please do keep visiting the Design Team blog each day for more beautiful designs from my team mates. Thanks for stopping by, xx