Ten Minute Makes

Hello everyone, we are quite often aware that our Design Team cards are elaborate and complicated, which can be a bit off-putting for a newbie or less experienced crafter. With this in mind, we are running a series of 'Ten Minute Makes' over on the Design Team Blog, showing some simpler designs.  I have a couple of quick cards for you today, using the Mellow Fruitfulness stamp set. For my first card, I punched out four squares of smooth watercolour paper from my stash of scrap card, but any smooth card will do. I coloured three of the stamps using Distress Markers, and then stamped them onto the squares. I embossed them with clear embossing powder. I used one of the sentiments for the fourth square. I used Festive Berries Distress Ink to add a bit of colour to all of the edges of the squares. To finish the card, I simply chose some deep red card, and a piece of gingham ribbon. The ribbon reminded me of jam jar covers, so I felt that it fitted the theme quite well.

I quite liked one of the images on my first card, and so I decided to use it again on my second card.I stamped it again onto a die cut oval, embossing it as before with clear embossing powder, and adding a touch of red Distress Ink around the edges. I chose another sentiment which I turned into a little tag with the addition of a hole and some string.

I found some gingham paper in my stash and used some more of the red card, with a touch of green ribbon this time, to tie all of the elements together.

 

Two very quick cards, using these lovely stamps, showing that you do not have to spend ages to create a fun project. I hope that I have given you some inspiration, thanks for stopping by, 

Weekly Stills

Hello everyone, life of late has been very busy, rushing about here, there, and everywhere, and although I am technically a 'lady of leisure', I find myself very occupied with lots of different things that need to be done. I do not have time to blog as much as I would like, and with this in mind, I have decided to make time for a weekly post of photographs relating to what has been going on in my life. It will be, I'm afraid to say, mostly crafting, cats and garden related, because they are the things that interest me. However, the changing seasons in the garden never fail to captivate me, and I hope that you will enjoy the journey through my garden as well.

I saw the idea for weekly stills on A little Woolie who links to another blog where she in turn saw the idea, The Beetle Shack. I do think that it is a lovely idea, and will add some balance to my blog which has become very stilted of late. I do have plans for more adventures, so keep watching!

Anyway, my photos reflect a little bit of travelling that I did this week, with a crafty play session combined, a wander around my garden to find some odd bits of colour still popping up, and of course, my beautiful furry companions, Poppy, Cody and Bella.

I cannot get used to these early evenings, or the cold snap that we are now having after the mild weather. I am starting to get a little bit of arthritis in my hands, so the wrist warmers are out again. My fingers always look fat in photographs, but at least my nails are colour co-ordinated!

I'll be back next week with another slice of life, take care and keep warm. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Changing Colours of Autumn

Hello everyone, I have a couple of projects to share using the new stamp sheets of the month for November.

My first card uses the lovely artichoke stamp from the Mellow Fruitfulness stamp set. I stamped the image onto smooth watercolour paper and then masked the image before adding a thistle image from the Wild Meadow stamp set. I added some texture in two corners of the background using a Crafter's Workshop stencil and some texture paste. I coloured the background using Adirondack Inks, and then stamped an image from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set over the top. I added some metallic gilding wax to the stencilled area for a bit of interest. I coloured the stamped image using pencils. I stamped a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set in one corner, and then added some plum shading around the edges of the background, before matting the whole thing onto purple card.

My second project was made using an oval cut from smooth watercolour paper, onto which I stamped and embossed the row of trees from the Autumn Edges stamp set. I used Versafine Onyx black ink and a clear embossing powder for a nice crisp image. I then used various tones of Distress Ink, and washed the colour loosely over the background with a large brush and some water. Once this was dry, I added deeper tones using Distress Markers for shading, and blended them  with a water brush. I added lots of little dots in Autumn tones to the grassy area to resemble leaves. I stuck the oval to a large kraft card blank.

I stamped the row of open leaves several times onto scraps of paper that I had left over from other projects. Some papers I had coloured myself, and some papers were ready made scrapbook papers, but I chose colours that were suitably Autumnal. I cut the leaves out and arranged them in a pleasing fashion around the edge of the image, before sticking them down. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Amazing Birthday clear stamp set. 

Thanks for stopping by,  xx

Fabric Book

Hello everyone, it's not often that I write a post these days without my DT hat on, as life tends to be very hectic and I do not have much time for any extra crafting. However, this post is one of those times, and I have a project to show you that I made at a recent class taught by the lovely Lin Brown at It's Crafting Time run by the equally fabulous Nina.

We made a fabric covered book, with hand stitched binding, using Donna Downey stamps, Paper Artsy paints, and Luminarte Silk Acrylic glazes. It was a very full on day, with lots of concentration needed. I was not feeling very well on the day, and it was a real struggle to make the book, which I have actually finished at home. I am so glad that I went, because it is such a beautiful project, and I always learn so much from Lin. She is a very generous teacher with her tips and suggestions.

The book is lined with some lovely floral fabric which is painted, and the gold outlining shows through the paint:

Here is the back cover, showing the lovely Donna Downey birdcage, which was appliqued onto the cover:

Some of the lining fabric also forms the spine, and you will see that I have picked the colour out in my flowers on the front cover:

The dimensional flower has been stamped and gathered, and the lace and trim has also been painted. I would really love to make some more of these books as gifts now, because they are so pretty, and feel lovely to hold. I am a bit of a notebook collector, and love to buy pretty books. Now, I can make my own. I'm sure that it won't stop me buying more though!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Colours of Autumn

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping dry and warm in the changeable weather that we are having at the moment. It really feels like Autumn now, doesn't it?

I have some projects using the Autumn Poppy stamp set to show you today. I created a background using my gelli plate, covering the plate with Adirondack Ink using a brayer and then stamping some of the images around the edge to create a frame, before I took a print. I then stamped some of the mushroom images onto adhesive labels, and coloured them with a mixture of Distress markers and pencils. I cut the images out, arranged them onto the background, and then added some grey shading with a pencil.

For my next two cards, I stamped a sentiment taken from the Amazing Birthday stamp set onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and then added some images from the same stamp set as before. I coloured the images with Distress markers and a water brush. 

I made the backgrounds using leaves from my garden. This is a technique taught to me by my dear crafty friend Elaine and is a reminder of happy times spent together. In a nutshell, you choose an ink colour which you apply in patches to a pale coloured piece of card, using a brush. You then take your leaf, and using a complimentary colour, and pounce around the edge of the leaf using the ink and a brush. You then move the leaf slightly and apply the ink again. Keep doing this until you have filled the original leaf shape up. Move to another area of the background and start the process again. I have explained the process very quickly and Elaine has a tutorial on her blog which shows the process in much better detail.

These cards will serve as great store cupboard cards for when I need a card in a hurry. They will suit both men and women, so are really versatile. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Mushroom Tag

Hi folks, it's time for a new challenge over on the Chocolate Baroque challenge blog. So hop over to take a look at all of the information and the inspiration provided by the rest of the Design Team.

I have made a tag as my little piece of inspiration. I started with a large white tag, and stamped a mushroom image at the bottom. I covered the image with a mask, and used some Milled Lavender Distress Paint through a stencil over parts of the background. I dried the paint before applying several shades of Adirondack Ink to the background.

I stamped a large leaf using currant Adirondack ink, and pulled some of the colour over the image, using a water brush. I coloured the mushrooms using Distress Inks and a water brush, adding extra shading with some pencils. Finally, I stamped a fairy using black Speedball Block printing Ink.

The colour swatch for the challenge uses an original piece of artwork from Lesley:

You can use any paints, pens, pencils or inks that you like, just as long as you stick to the colours in the swatch with the addition of black, white and neutral including skin tones. So, I hope that you will join in the challenge, there is the chance of winning a £15 prize if you use current Chocolate Baroque stamps.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Haunted House

Hello everyone, I have a Halloween make for you today, using a combination of old and new stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

I started off by making a crackled background using this technique, with Distress stains and Perfect Pearls. I then stamped and embossed a tree from the Design a Tree multi-buy stamp set and the ruined building from the Things that go Bump stamp set, using archival ink and clear embossing powder. I added a couple of birds and some bats from the Nevermore stamp set and some cobweb edging from the Book of Spells stamp set, all using Speedball black block printing ink. (This ink is great, because it gives great coverage over more difficult surfaces, and is a really deep black. Another bonus, being water soluble, your stamps and brayer clean up really easily!) I painted the windows in the ruin using yellow Speedball ink and a water brush.

I added a little bit of Pumice Stone Distress Ink underneath the tree and the ruin to 'ground' the images. Finally, I matted the background onto a black card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn Tones

Hello Folks, I have some cards to share today, using some of the lovely new stamps that have been recently launched over at Chocolate Baroque .  This has to be my favourite time of year, as the leaves start to fall, and there is a riot of different colours displayed in the trees and hedgerows.

For my first two cards, I made a wrinkle free Distress background, using Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks. I have used a stamp taken from the Poppy Edges stamp set, and stamped around the corners of a piece of the background, using plum archival ink. I masked the corners, and then stamped an image from the Poppy Meadow stamp set over the background using the same orange ink that I used to make my background. However, I stamped the image onto scrap paper first, before I stamped onto the background, as I did not want the image to be too vibrant. I masked off part of the poppy edge stamp with masking tape, before I inked up one of the flowers, and then peeled off the masking tape. I then stamped the single flower onto a piece of stampbord. I coloured the image with pencils, and then covered the surface with three layers of ultra thick embossing powder, to create a tile effect. I added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set.

On my second card, I used a strip of the same wrinkle free distress background, matted onto burgundy card, and placed it onto a kraft card base. I stamped the poppy edge four times onto card, and coloured sections of the image with pencils, before cutting them out, and layering them onto the background. I added two of the little bees, which were also coloured with pencil. The sentiment was taken from the Amazing Birthday clear stamp set.

For my final card, I made a gelli plate background, using a selection of green inks, and stamped the single leaf and foliage stamp taken from the Autumn Poppy stamp set randomly over the plate. I took a print from the plate and trimmed it to size, before edging the background with a Tea Dye Distress Ink. I stamped the main image onto a large oval die cut, adding some colour to the background with green and orange Distress Inks. I coloured the image with pencils. The sentiment comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set, and is one of my favourites.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Angels and Penguins

Hello Folks, I have some more Christmas card ideas to share with you today. I am aware of Christmas creeping up on me now, with the nights starting to pull in and the festive television schedule starting. So, the more cards that I can get made, the better!

Mt first card is using the lovely angel stamp from the A Child is Born stamp sheet. I do love this image. I stamped the angel onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, but any smooth card will do, and then masked the image, by stamping the image again onto masking paper. I then stamped a window taken from the Gothic Fragments stamp set onto the background, and masked this as well. I coloured the background using a range of Distress Inks; Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Weathered Wood, Tea Dye and Pumice Stone. I then added stamps from the Gothic Fragments, and the Harlequin Fragments stamp sets, using the same coloured inks. The last two strips were embossed with platinum Wow embossing powder. I removed the masks, and coloured the window and the angel with Distress markers and a water brush. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Christmas Sentiments Multi buy stamp set.

My second offering uses the Snowy Penguins clear stamp set. I have created a couple of gelli plate backgrounds, using Memento inks in shades of blue and teal, and then stamped the snowflakes directly onto the gelli plate using Versafine Ink, before taking a print. I stamped the images onto a piece of smooth white card, and edged them with blue ink. The images were coloured with pencils.

These images are perfect for children's Christmas cards, or for children to give to their parents or grandparents. Making gelli plate backgrounds ensures that you can run up a batch of these very quickly.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Christmas Circles

Hello Folks, I have some cards on circular theme for you today, using the stamps of the month from Chocolate Baroque

For my first sample, I created a background using gelatos in shades of green and purple, which I added to a wet background and blended with my fingers. I dried the background then added a circle mask in the centre. I stamped an image from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set around the edge of the mask, using Pear Tart Memento Ink. I sponged a little bit of ink around of the mask to add some shading, before removing the mask. I stamped and embossed the holly and bell images from the Holly Bells stamp plate using gold embossing powder. I also stamped another set of  images onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the spare images with Distress markers and a water brush  and decoupaged them onto the background. I added some hand drawn 'string'. The sentiment is from the Christmas Magic stamp plate.

I have a couple of CAS cards that I would also like to show you. In these days of rising postage costs, flat cards are always useful to make, and these two cards would make good batch cards, that you could make in lots of different colour options as well. The first card was made using blue, lilac and grey Distress Inks, and I simply created a reverse mask, sponging coloured ink through a circle aperture onto my card. I coloured the top and bottom circles first, and overlapped the middle one last. I then selected three baubles, taken from the Santa Baby/Holly Bells Multi-Buy stamp set, and stamped them in the same inks that I used to create the circles, giving a tone on tone effect. The sentiment was taken from the Christmas Sentiments Multibuy

The last card was made in much the same way, except that I created a single circle, blending Dandelion and Pear Tart Memento Inks, and chose Orange Blossom Archival Ink to stamp the bells, giving a stronger contrast. The sentiment comes from the Bold Christmas Words stamp set.

I hope that I have given you a few more ideas with these stamps, and I will be back soon. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Blue Christmas

Hello Folks, I'd like to show you a coupe of cards using the newly released stamp sets fron Chocolate Baroque

My first card uses the Santa Baby stamp set. I wanted to use the sleigh flying through the air pulled by a reindeer, and so I looked through my older christmas stamp sets and found the perfect match on the Damask Reindeer stamp set. I stamped both of the images onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and then covered them with a mask. I also added a circle mask at this point. I coloured the background with a variety of blue Distress Inks, graduating to a deep purple at the bottom of the page. Around the circle, I added some yellow, to create a glowing effect. I spritzed the background with water to create a starry feel to the background, and added a little bit of Perfect Pearl spray for some extra shimmer.

I removed the masks, and coloured the images with Distress markers and a water brush. I stamped a tree from the Stained Glass Christmas stamp set along the bottom of the background, using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink and clear embossing powder. I added some grey shading to the moon, and stamped a sentiment taken from the Christmas Magic clear stamp set using black ink.

I have also created a card using the A Child is Born stamp set. I stamped the corner snowflake stamp around the edges of some watercolour paper using white embossing powder, and filled in the gaps with one of the smaller snowflakes to create a frame. I created a watercolour background using lots of blue toned gelatos. I blended them with my fingers and lots of water to get a soft effect. I added a touch of Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink around the edge. Once I was finished, I buffed the snowflakes with a piece of kitchen towel, so that they were nice and bright.

 I stamped the angel onto a separate piece of card, and coloured the image with pencils. Finally, I added the word 'Joy' to the background.

 My Team mates have some beautiful inspiration for you over the coming month on the Design Team Blog so please keep checking back. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Playing with backgrounds

Hi Folks, I have some more projects for you today showcasing the Thistle Butterfly/Honeysuckle Butterfly multi-buy stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque

I have really enjoyed working with these pretty stamps, as flowers and butterflies are among my favourite images to use. I have made some slightly different backgrounds for these projects, and one of them was a first time experiment for me!


My first sample was created by using Pan Pastels for my background over a mask, I wanted to create a tartan background to go with the thistle image, it seemed appropriate. (If you do not have a mask, you could just use thin strips of masking tape, it was what I was going to use until I found a mask). I used a pale yellow over my card first, then applied the mask before using a lilac PP and then a magenta toned PP over the top.

I then stamped the image with Coffee Archival Ink and coloured it with Polychromos pencils. I used the floral spray stamp from the Honeysuckle stamp set to stamp around the edges using Lulu Lavender Memento ink. The sentiment is taken from the Amazing Birthday clear stamp set.

My second project was created using water colour paper, onto which I stamped the large honeysuckle image.  I then brushed water over the paper around the image, and sprinkled Leaf Green Brusho over the water. I wanted a very pale background, so I spritzed the Brusho with water, and dabbed it with kitchen roll, to take the darkest patches away. I then dabbed between the areas of the image that were still white with the coloured kitchen roll to add some colour. This technique worked really well, and as a first time experiment, I was really pleased! I used the tiniest amount of Brusho, so these powders are going to last me a long time.

I stamped the image again onto a scrap piece of card and coloured the images with Distress markers and a water brush. I decoupaged the butterflies from the second image onto the main image. I stamped the small honeysuckle stamp from the Elegant Edges stamp set around the edge of the background.

 Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx