End of an Era

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. Firstly, before I share my project for today, I have to announce that we will be bringing the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog to a close at the end of this month. The Design Team will no longer be posting on the blog, as we are finding that our vistor numbers are sadly dwindling, and the preference these days is for Facebook and Instagram. We have a dedicated Facebook Group which is very friendly, you can join and see lots of inspiration over there. The Design Team share their projects there too, and we are always dropping in to answer questions if you want to ask us anything. You can post pictures of projects you have made with Chocolate Baroque stamps, we would love to see them. We have an Instagram Page too, which is full of fabulous projects. You can give us a like, or leave a quick comment, we really appreciate a visit.

We would like to thank you for your support over the years, and appreciate all of your visits and comments. The Blog was created for you, our readers, and would not have kept going for so long without you.

I will still be posting regularly here on my own blog, and would love it if you still popped by to see me here. I will share my tips and projects as always each month here and on my own Instagram page @judithatpoppycottage

Now onto my project for today. I decided to create a panel using one of the long collage stamps from last month's TV show, stamped onto a serviette for this project. We often use patterned serviettes in our mixed media projects, and peel away the two or three layers behind, which get discarded or do not get used for anything. These plain layers are great for stamping on, and using just like their patterned counterparts.

I stamped the large The Phenomenal Butterfly Slim Strip image using Versafine Clair Nocturne and left it to dry for a few moments. Also using Versafine Clair Nocturne, I stamped some of the images from The Phenomenal Butterfly Elements and Out of the Trees Elements over the MDF panel, checking that they were in the area that would not be covered by the serviette once it was stuck down. 

I covered the reverse of the serviette with Matte Medium and adhered it to the panel. Now this worked fine twice at home, but in the studio, with the air conditioning blasting away, it was a completely different matter! The serviette was wafting about all over the place, and anyone who saw the show will have seen that I had a heart stopping couple of minutes while they turned the air con off and I attempted to lay the misbehaving serviette onto the MDF panel. Phew!

I gently brushed a bit more Matte Medium over the top, and this does take a very gentle touch, as too much can cause the serviette to disintegrate. I left the surface to dry completely before moving on to the next stage. I painted the image using transluscent paints in several colours. You could water your opaque paints down obviously, but I wanted to paint my colours neat, so this option worked for me. I chose a limited palette of colours.

I really like the unfinished MDF against the painted area, and hope that you will try this idea for yourselves.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Launching Fifteen Minute Cards Again!

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I am sharing a few projects to launch an old favourite on the Chocolate Baroque Facebook Group and also on Instagram today. I used to run the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge Blog, and a regular monthly feature was the Fifteen Minute Card feature. Myself and the Design Team used to create cards in fifteen minutes or less using stamps from Chocolate Baroque. We used up scraps from our stash, or made clean and simple cards, any style of card was achievable really, but this style of card was great for batch cards, craft fairs, Christmas cards, Wedding Invitations, etc. If you needed a card in a hurry, or wanted to make a quick card or two for your collection, being able to make a card in fifteen minutes is such a good idea. It's great for beginners too, as you do not need to make anything complicated, and can try out lots of ideas quickly.

I am sharing lots of familiar ideas in this post, and I will be creating a post once a month, roughly around the middle of the month. I won't post on exactly the same day, life gets in the way; holidays, and other commitments, but I will always share what I have made, and let you know where you can post your projects if you would like to create along with me and the Chocolate Baroque family. I hope that you will enjoy yourselves, just playing with your stamps and materials for fun. After all, hopefully we can all spare fifteen mintes every now and then!

For my first two cards, I created backgrounds using an acrylic block. I added Distress Ink to the block for my card, and spritzed it with water. I placed the block onto a square piece of Drawing Cartridge, pressing down all over the block. I peeled the block away and left the background to dry. (I created several backgrounds all at the same time while I was doing this background, and so I timed myself for four cards in an hour). I could have dried the background of with a heat gun, but it would have faded the background colours a bit.

Once the background was dry, I stamped the tree from Fantasy Woodland onto the background. I added foliage from Silhouette Grasses along the bottom, and a sentiment from the From Nature 2 stamp set randomly over the background. I coloured the tree with Koh-I-Noor pencils, just using two colours for the fruit, and two colours for the leaves. It was really quick, and took me just a couple of minutes. I trimmed the panel and edged it with green ink before attaching to to a piece of linen card.

For the second card, I used Distress Oxides on the acrylic block, creating a background as before. I chose a selection of stamps from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set, and using Versafine Clair Ink, I created a meadow scene. I added a sentiment from Words to Dazzle and Sparkle.

My third card was stamped directly onto a card blank, and was so quick to make. I used a circular gelli plate, and added Distress Ink to the plate before 'stamping' this onto the card blank. I stamped two dragonflies from The Phenomenal Butterfly Elements stamp set onto the card, and masked them, before adding a couple of script rings from the same stamp set. I masked these as well, and then added a couple more stamps to complete the collage effect. I removed the masks and coloured in the dragonflies and script rings with pencils. The coloured circles are from the Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set.

My final card was created by using a piece of patterned paper. Lots of the work is already done for you when using patterned papers, but you can add so much detail over the top. We all have bits and pieces lurking in our stash, don't we? I stamped the beautiful dandelion clock from Not More Flowers! and added elements from Making More Marks, all using Archival Ink.

I hope you have enjoyed my selection of cards this month, and that you will join in making a few quick cards yourself. Head over to the Chocolate Baroque Facebook Group, where I have created an album, look for Media at the top of the page and search for the August 2022 Fifteen Minute Cards Album. Alternatively, head over to Instagram, and upload your cards with the hashtag #chocolatebaroquefifteenminutecards

Take care, and thanks so much for stopping by,

 

xx

Playing with Elements

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today showcasing the stamps that we featured on last month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project was a particular favourite demo on the TV shows. I love the colours, purple and turquoise, and the images are really beautiful too. I created a Distress Ink background and stamped several images from The Phenominal Butterfly Elements and I also used the circles from Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set with toning ink over the top using Versafine Nocturne ink. I die cut a circle of Drawing Cartridge and blended some Distress Oxide over the top, then spritzed the ink with water. Once the background was dry, I inked up The Phenominal Butterfly Slim Strip stamp and pressed the circle onto a section of the stamp. I coloured the dragonfly and butterfly with Artway shimmer paints for maximum impact.

For my next project, I drew a circle in pencil onto a piece of smooth white stamping card. I added flowers from the Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set, and covered them with Masking Tissue. I added leaves, and covered them with Masking Tissue as well. Finally, I stamped the script rings in the gaps that were left. My circle is a bit random, and I could have worked it out to be a little bit more refined, but I wanted it to look quite natural.

I removed the Masking Tissue and coloured all of the images with Koh I- Noor pencils, adding deeper colours for shading, and grey pencil around the edges for touches of shadow. I added some script on the background from the Out of the Trees Elements stamp set.

A little bit of inking with green ink around the edges takes away the whiteness of the background.

I wanted to show how you could use up some of your tiny offcuts of patterned paper and make a much simpler version of this wreath. In my picture below, I stamped various elements to create the ring, and added the leaves and flowers cut from patterned paper.

I hope that I have given you lots of ideas for these very versatile stamps. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care, xx