Springtime Wreath

Hello everyone, I have a floral project to share with you today, using some of the stamps from last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

I have created a wreath with a touch of Spring, by choosing pastel colours for the flowers. I created the project by first drawing a circle on a piece of card, and then stamped the blossom image from the Tranquility stamp set around the circle. I masked the images as I went along, and stamped an image from the Wisteria Lane stamp set, using first and second generation stamping.

I coloured the flowers and stems with Koh-i-Noor pencils, lengthening the branches to create a continuous wreath. I added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set, and finally added some inking around the edge of the background, using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I chose a coordinating dark green card to mat the background onto before adhering it to a large card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Stamping on Fabric

Hello everyone, I have some projects to share with you today incorporating fabric. I really like to add some texture into my projects whenever I can, as it adds a bit of interest and makes the project look and feel quite expensive, for very little cost. I demoed these three projects on last month's TV shows on Hochanda, and I hope that you managed to watch Lesley and I in action.

To create the first card, I cut some small pieces of cotton fabric, and put some Distress Ink onto a craft mat, which I spritzed with water. I chose relatively earthy colours, Fossilized Amber, Ripe Persimmon and Shabby Shutters. The colours are quite muted, and you could go for much bolder colours if you like, it depends on what sort of look you want, I just wanted a subtle backgrop for the stamps on this occasion. I patted the fabric into the ink, moving it around to blot up the ink. I added more ink and water if necessary to get a good coverage of the fabric, but was happy to leave some areas uncoloured. I left the pieces of fabric to dry by themselves, so that the colour did not fade too much, drying the fabric with a heat gun would cause the colour to be much lighter in the end.

I frayed the edges of each piece of fabric, and stamped a silhouette image from one of the stamp sets: Tranquility, Serenity, Wisteria Lane or Eastern Grasses, and added a sentiment as well. I chose words from Artistic Affirmations, Amazing Mackintosh Words, and Words to Dazzle and Sparkle. I used Archival black ink to stamp all of the images onto the fabric, leaving the stamp on the fabric slightly longer than I would on card or paper, to allow the ink to grab onto the fabric. You do not need to press any harder.

I attached the fabric pieces to a piece of black card before matting them onto a card blank. A little button with paper string tied through was a finishing touch to each card.

For my next card, I created a paint swatch effect by masking sections of a piece of cartridge paper, and inking three toning colours of  Distress Ink. I chose Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean and Shaded Lilac. I stamped the silhouette image from the Eastern Grasses stamp set onto the piece of card. I matted the panel onto black card before adding the panel to a piece of linen card.

I coloured a piece of cream ribbon with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and stamped it with Archival Ink as before, using a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set. I attached the ribbon to the background and then placed the background on a square card blank. I like to colour my ribbons to match projects, it is so quick and easy, check back to this project for another example.

For my final project, I used a Crafty Individuals tag, and stamped the main image from the Tranquility stamp set across the bottom of the tag. I coloured the image with pencils. I added the wisteria image using water based markers across the top, using first and second generation stamping for a fuller effect. The ribbon was made in exactly the same way as before, picking up colour from the craft mat, and then once dry, stamping with Archival Ink. I used a word from the Serenity stamp plate.

 

I hope that my projects will inspire you to try some stamping on fabric, I will be back later in the month with more projects to share. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Affirmation Journal

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all enjoying your Easter break. If you are in the UK, then like me, you are probably wishing that you were somewhere a little bit warmer! However, there is always something to be positive about, and that is what I hope my project will help you to discover.

I have made a little journal full of individual cards with positive and motivational phrases. You could make this project for yourself, or to give to a friend, who is struggling with their creativity at the moment. I have covered some pieces of white card with an injection of bright colour, and left the backs either blank, or covered them with plain paper to write your own thoughts. You could add extra stamping if you wish.

I started my project by blending two colours of Distress Oxide Ink over the pieces of white card, and spritzing them with water. I blotted the cards with kitchen towel so that the background had a lovely splattered effect.

 I added a border or background to the cards by selecting some of the stamps from either the Artistic Affirmations, Wisteria Lane, Serenity, or Tranquility stamp sets. I chose a phrase from the Artistic Affirmations stamp set, and added this to each card using black ink, then I added some white highlights to the words to make them pop.

I created some pages to contain the cards by cutting some A4 sheets of black card in half. I then scored these sheets at the 10cms point, and then took half a centimetre away, leaving a 9.5cms flap. I trimmed this flap down to 7cms high and stuck down the side and bottom edges with very thin double sided tape, to create a pocket. I stuck two pages back to back, and then punched two holes a third of the way along from the top and the bottom.

The outside covers were made just a fraction bigger than the actual pages, with black card, and then I coloured the slightly smaller pieces of white card in exactly the same way as I made the little journal cards. I used two book rings to attach everything together, which allows me to add more pages whenever I want to make some more.

I really enjoyed making this project, and hope that you caught my demo on last month's TV show when I made a couple of the cards.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Tropical Bird

Hello everyone, I have a project to share using the Birds of Paradise Multibuy stamps that are currently on offer this month from Chocolate Baroque. I have chosen to use a colour palette that is outside my usual comfort zone, but I really wanted to create a tropical feel to this card.

To make my background, I spritzed a piece of smooth watercolour paper with some Dylusion sprays, and then used a Crafter's Workshop stencil to add some depth. I used Distress Inks to add the shading; Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles.

I used a little flower spray from the Wisteria Lane stamp set to create some branches to hang the bird cage from. I stamped the image randomly around the top edges of the background, using Library Green Archival Ink. I stamped and embossed the birdcage using gold embossing powder, ensuring that the background was completely dry, so that the embossing powder did not stick to the rest of the background.

I stamped the bird onto the background, and then again onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the second image with Polychromos pencils and cut it out before adhering it to the background. I added a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set. I matted the background onto a piece of dark green card to complete my project.

I hope that you will experiment with your colours as I have done when creating your projects, you never know where the journey will take you! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Brusho Bird

Hello everyone, I have a Design Team card for Chocolate Baroque to show you today. It is an Oriental themed card, using my favourite colours and some wisteria stamps taken from the Serenity and Wisteria Lane stamp sets.

I created my card by stamping and embossing the bird and bird cage from the A Little Bird Told Me stamp set onto smooth watercolour paper using white embossing powder. I dropped Brusho crystals over the background, choosing green and turquoise for the bird, and violet and lime green for the background. I spritzed my card with water, and blotted it with kitchen towel, to lighten the colours, and mop up the excess water.

I stamped the wisteria images using Distress markers around the edges of the card, using Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord. I added some detail to the bird and birdcage using Copic markers.  Finally, I matted the background onto a white card base.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Altered Tag Book

Hi Folks,  I have a project for you today showcasing the Fancy Flowers stamp sheet from Chocolate Baroque



I have a huge amount of alterables lurking in my stash, and knew that I wanted to make some tags using these new stamps. So I decided to use a tag book which I covered with patterned papers. I then  stamped the edges of the front cover with a flower stamp from the Wisteria Lane stamp sheet. I added a sentiment from the Artistic Affirmations stamp sheet. I stamped the flower head three times onto white card, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured the images with my Copic markers. Once I had worked out the position of the flowers on the tag, I stamped the dotty stems, again, from the Wisteria Lane stamp sheet, onto the background. I then attached the flower heads.

For the tag, I stamped the texture background from the Texture Fragments stamp sheet, using clear embossing powder. I coloured the background using Distress Inks, and then ironed off the clear embossing powder, to create a faux batik effect. I sprinkled the background with water, and dried it with a heat gun. I stamped the flower image twice, using archival ink, masking the first image, before I stamped the second one. I bleached the images, and then coloured them using Inktense pencils and a waterbrush. I added a sentiment from the Artistic Affirmations set to my tag, and a piece of lace that I coloured with Distress re-inkers and water. The swirls around the edge are from one of the flowers that also belong to this stamp sheet.

I die cut a couple of Crealie butterflies, then ran them through an embossing folder, before swiping some black ink over the raised areas. I added some yellow flat-backed pearls to make the bodies. I have added some crinkly green ribbon to the top of the tag for now, but will take it out if I put the tag into my book.

I'll be back in a few days with another sample to show you, thanks for stopping by, xx

Wisteria Peacock

Hi Folks, here's a sample using the Peacock Parade stamp set from Chocolate Baroque

I created a reverse mask by cutting a circle in a piece of paper, and stamping through the hole onto my card. I was inspired by some lovely wisteria that is currently in bloom in our garden, and decided to create a scene using stamps from the Wisteria Lane stamp set. With the mask still in place, I placed some extra masking over the peacock and some of the flowers before I added some colour around the edge of the circle with a mixture of Adirondack and Memento inks. I coloured the images with pencils, and added Glossy Accents to the peacock feathers. I die cut some tiny butterflies from some iridescent paper to tie in with the overall colour scheme. Finally, I added a frame of white textured card to the front of my project to finish.

The new stamps are currently available as a multibuy with another peacock stamp set Tangled Peacock, and I will be showing you some samples using stamps from both sets across the month.

Keep popping over to the Design Team Blog as my team mates have some stunning samples to show you this month. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Art Nouveau Friendship Card

Hi folks, here's another card made with some of the great new stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque I really like this stamp plate, it's called 'Wisteria Lane', and there are some great stamps on this one. I particularly like the large stylised flower, as it reminds me very much of the Art Nouveau era. I set about creating a card with that theme in mind.
I chose to go with a very strong colour theme for this one, and used Butterscotch and Caramel Adirondack inks to create the background for the card. I used one of the smaller flourish stamps to finish off the larger piece of card, using Black Archival ink. I then stamped the large flower onto the smaller piece of card.

I decided to use a Crealie Doily Element Die (Number 8) to mat the smaller card piece, which added definition to the piece. The shape of this die really fitted in well with the Art Nouveau theme. I cut the pieces out, and just put them on the back of the piece of card by eye, I didn't use a template, then stuck them down with double sided tape. I started with the corners, and then worked the other pieces in to fit, adjusting where necessary.

I added a sentiment from another Chocolate Baroque stamp set 'Art Nouveau Birthday', which is sadly soon to be retired. The font is great on this.

Don't forget to pop over to the Design Team Blog to see what the other Design Team members have been up to with the new stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Wisteria Doorway

There are some new stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque and as a member of the Design Team, I have been creating some samples with them. There are some great flower stamps in these new sets, dandelion clocks, honeysuckles, rose trees, and some fabulous little insects too.

The first card that I have made to show you combines some of these new stamps with a great door stamp from the 'Echoes of Italy' stamp plate. I stamped this first, and masked it off, sponging Distress Inks over the card. I coloured the image with Polychromos pencils, layering up the colour to create depth and shade on the door.

I used several different colours of Versamagic chalk inks to stamp the flower head in the foreground, starting with the lightest, and moving through to the darkest. I then went back to the lightest colour to fill in the gaps, and add a bit of light to the foreground. I used Versamagic to stamp the wisteria at the top of the card.

Finally, I stamped the butterflies with Versafine Onyx black ink, and coloured these with Polychromos pencils again, before adding them to the picture with some stamens. The picture was matted onto lilac and purple card to tone in with the flowers.

I have used stamps from 'Wisteria Lane' and 'The Rose Tree' to complete this card. Do pop over to the Design Team Blog to see what the other Design Team members have been up to with these stamps over the next few days. Thanks for stopping by, xx