Happy New Year

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well and that you have had a good break over the festive period. I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the very best for 2022. 

I am sharing a couple of projects with you today showcasing stamps that were featured on last month's shows on The Craft Store. The first is a little book made from a huge tag and I have used the Damask Panel stamped three times onto a Brusho background, using a metallic embossing powder.

I adhered the pieces onto the tag, and then cut away the excess from the third piece to get the tag shaped end. I added some pretty scrapbook paper on the inside of the tag, and punched the hole again at the top of the tag.

I scored inbetween the pieces, to create the book. I cut a few pages, and sewed them into the book using bookbinding thread. 

 

I added a piece of teal ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag to allow the book to be closed. This simply wraps around the book, and ties in a bow. These little books make great gifts, and are really quick to make. You could add any kind of pages; old book pages, kraft paper, watercolour paper, whatever you like, to create a mixed media book, but I used drawing cartridge for my sample.

My second project is an old project, which I thought I would share again. I stamped Ophelia onto a piece of Drawing Cartridge and masked the image with Masking Tissue. I coloured the background with Distress Inks and splattered the background with water, which I blotted with tissue. I added some stamping over the top using a stamp from the Texture Fragments stamp set. I stamped and embossed the fronds from the Underwater stamp set before removing the mask. I coloured Ophelia with pencils. I added some foliage from the Song Thrush Silhouette stamp, which coloured this way tie in with the flowers in her hair quite well. I added a bit of Glossy Accents to the centres of the flowers.

I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you, take care and thanks for stopping by, xx

Underwater Inspiration

Hello everyone, I have a couple more watery creations for you, using the sea themed stamp sets that we have been showcasing all month at Chocolate Baroque.

My first card was created by making a background using Distress Oxide Inks in shades of blue, yellow, pink and green. I created lots of layers until I was happy with the result. I stamped the shells from the Seaside Dreams stamp set, and masked the image before adding the second image behind. I painted both images using the little Koh I Noor palette, and then added some Inktense pencil detail and white highlights. Finally, I stamped the sentiment onto three pieces of scrap card, and attached these to the background. I edged all of the card pieces with blue ink before constructing my project.

For my second card, I used a background from my stash that had been made by painting Turquoise and Sea Green Brushos over the background with lots of water to make a colour wash. Sea salt had been sprinkled over the top and left to dry, which had created small bubbles randomly over the background.

I added some stencilling using coordinating Distress Ink, and stamped the small seahorse using first and second generation stamping. I added some stamping along the bottom using stamps from the Mermaid Queen and Underwater stamp sets. The bubbles were created by dipping a pen lid into white acrylic paint, and pressing it onto the background. I added a white highlight to each bubble to represent the light reflecting on the bubbles. I painted the foliage using the Koh I Noor palette once again.

I stamped the large seahorse onto a scrap of card, another background left over from a previous project, and cut the image out, leaving a small border around the edge. I attached the image to the background, and added a sentiment from the Seaside Dreams stamp set. Finally, I edged the background with teal ink, before adhering it to a white card blank.

Don't forget that there is a callout for new members for our Guest Design Team. Do check out the post on the Shop Blog for details of how to apply. The deadline is 23rd February, so there is plenty of time to apply. We are a really friendly Team to work with, and you could get to see some of your designs on the TV!

Thanks for stopping by, I will be back with some floral inspiration for you next month. xx

Mermaid Queen

Hello everyone, I have a card to share today using the stamps featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda. The images I have used were from the Mermaid Queen and Underwater stamp sets.

I had a pretty background lurking in my stash created using inks and mica powder with cling film onto a piece of plain card, which when dried created beautiful silvery patterns on the card. I felt that this would be a perfect backdrop for a watery scene. I wanted a feeling of looking through the water at the images, and so I stamped straight onto the background with Jet Black Archival Ink, and coloured the images using Derwent Procolour pencils. The mica on the background gives a floaty effect of water both in front of and behind the images.

Where there were gaps between the three individual images, I used a fine permanent marker pen to join the images up using small dots, as Sue has drawn on the images themselves. This way, it looks as if the three images all form part of one larger piece. I have also used common colours across the three sections to tie everything together. Creating a scene this way avoids the need to mask any images, and speeds up the process considerably.

Finally, I edged the background with Lucky Clover Distress Ink before attaching it to a large white card blank.

I hope that my card will inspire you to create something using these lovely stamps yourselves. I will be back later in the month with another nautical project. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Going Live!

Hello everyone, I have three projects to share with you today, which I took with me to last month's TV shows on Hochanda to use as demos on the shows. If you watched the shows, you will have seen two of these projects in action, but the third one did not make it to air, because the stamp featured sold out so fast. That's the nature of live TV!

For my first project, I created a watercolour background on a large piece of cartridge paper, and stamped a selection of stamps from the Underwater and Mermaid Queen over the top. I cut a postcard sized piece of cartridge paper, and stamped the seashells from Seaside Dreams, and masked the image. I added a watercolour wash over the background. I coloured the shells once I had removed the mask, using just three colours of Distress Ink, Salty Ocean, Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge, mixing the three colours to create a variety of different shades. I added a sentiment to the bakground.

I created a postcard back by drawing some lines using a fineliner pen, and adding images from the Mail Art stamp set. Once I had completed all of my elements, I assembled the card.

To create my second project, I used the same selection of stamps to decorate some brown paper using brown, orange and red tones of ink. I used the paper to make first some wrapping paper for a present, addng some red hessian and some string as a decorative feature. I stamped and embossed some shell images onto kraft card using gold embossing powder, and added some colour using Distress Ink, before cutting the images out, and attaching them to the parcel. The card was made in exactly the same way.

To create my final project, I made a watercolour wash for a piece of watercolour card using Turquoise and Sea Green Brushos, and sprinkled sea salt over the background while it was still wet. The salt draws some of the liquid away and creates beautiful patterns. Once the background was dry, I brushed the salt away, and stamped a seaweed image from the Underwater stamp set across the background, using first, second and third generation stamping. I also added a sentiment.

Finally, I stamped the Ammonite image onto cartridge paper using some of the left over diluted Brushos, which I picked up from my craft mat, directly onto the stamp. I used a water brush to draw some of the colour from the outline of the image. I cut the image out, and attached it to the card using 3D foam pads.

I will be back with more watery inspiration for you in a little while. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Bird for all Seasons and Ophelia the Mermaid?

Hello everyone, I have a project using one of the new individual cling mounted stamps from Chocolate Baroque, called Song Thrush to show you today.

I wanted to show the diversity of this lovely stamp, and how it could be used to create cards all year round, so I have made a Christmas card for my sample. I started by embossing the image a three times, using white embossing powder on some green scrapbook paper, and colouring the image with pencils. I decoupaged the flowers and bird. I layered the image onto kraft card, using some dark red card as a mat for contrast. I also added some holly die cuts, and some more stamping, using a berry stamp from the Woodland Dreams stamp set which I also coloured with pencils. I tucked some flowers from a spare image under the main frame, along with the holly die cuts. I added some shading around the edge of the kraft background, using Festive Berries Distress Ink. Finally, I added a sentiment taken from the Warm Christmas Greetings clear stamp set.

I always start out with good intentions to make Christmas cards throughout the year, in order to be ready when December comes around. Hopefully my card will have given you some inspiration.

For my second sample, I stamped Ophelia onto a piece of heavy weight cartridge paper, and then masked the image. I coloured the background, by blending Shabby Shutters, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Inks randomly all over the page. I stamped an image from the Texture Fragments stamp set onto opposite corners, using Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I then flicked water onto the other areas of the page, and dried it with a heat gun, to emphasise the watermarks.

I stamped and embossed a seaweed image along the bottom of the page, from the Underwater stamp set,  using a blue/green metallic powder. I then added some flowers which I had cut out and coloured with pencils from the Song Thrush Silhouette image. It just goes to show that you can add flowers to just about anything! I coloured Ophelia using pencils, and matted the project using toning coloured card.

For a bit of underwater shine, I added Glossy Accents to the centre of my flowers. Thanks for stopping by, xx