Falling Leaves

Hello everyone, it's a new week over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog, and my turn to make a card for inspiration as part of the Design Team. The colours on the colour swatch seemed very Autumnal to me, and so I decided to create a leafy card for my project.

I started to make my card, by stamping the line of trees using Potting Soil Archival Ink, and embossing it with clear embossing powder. I wanted a crisp clear image that would stand out amongst the multitude of leaves that I was going to add afterwards. Adding the embossing powder just sharpens the image.
I added some Aqua Adirondack Ink above the trees, and some Dried Marigold underneath, and then completed the background with Memento Pear Tart Ink. I stamped the leafy fragment using Olive and Orange Blossom Archival Ink, using first and second generation ink. Any gaps that were left, I filled in with stamping using Pear Tart for a fainter impression. I inked around the edges using Memento Potter's Clay Ink. I then stamped some leaves onto scrap paper from my scrap box, sticking to colours within the challenge colours, and once I had cut them out, arranged them randomly across the page before gluing them down.

I added a bit of shading under the trees using a couple of pencils. Finally, I matted the background onto some terracotta card.

I have purposefully left this card blank as a handy storecupboard card. It will be useful as a masculine card, or even a sympathy card if necessary.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn Mushrooms

Hello everyone, I have a couple of DT projects to show you today, showcasing the Autumn Edges stamp set. On my first card, I wanted to show how well the various stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque mix and match together, so I have used the Nature Table stamp set alongside the mushroom edge stamp to create an Autumn scene.

I began by stamping the mushroom border and a mushroom cluster from the Nature Table stamp set along the bottom of the card. I used a permanent black pen to add a few lines to join them together. I masked the images before stamping the mushrooms on a tree twice on the left hand side of the page. I drew a continuation of the tree to the top of the page, adding in some detail on the tree, and again masked all of these images.

I coloured the background with Brushos, using a combination of yellow and orange, with a hint of violet, until I was happy with the overall colour. I dried the background with my heat gun, and then added foliage stamping along the edges and behind the mushrooms, using various shades of archival inks. I used bleach to remove the colour from some of the foliage, and then proceeded to colour all of the images with watercolour pencils. I also coloured the foreground with watercolour pencils.

I stamped lots of small leaves onto oddments of scrapbook paper and other bits of backing paper that I had left over from various projects, and stuck these onto the card, some on the ground, and some tumbling down randomly, as if they were falling from the trees overhead.

 

I am aware that this first card might seem a bit daunting to a beginner, and so I wanted to show how a much simpler card could be made using the same mushroom stamp, taking much less time, but producing a really pretty card nonetheless. I made a mask with an oval aperture in the centre, which I placed onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper. I then stamped the mushroom border onto the paper, and coloured it using Distress Inks and a waterbrush. I used a loose style, not trying to be too precise. I used Pumice Stone and Weathered Wood Distress Inks to colour the mushrooms. I dried the image and then covered it with the mask that I had used from my first card. I added a small circle mask to represent a moon, and then coloured the sky, using a combination of three Distress Inks in Dried Marigold, Stormy Sky and Seedless Preserves. I removed the circle mask and added a little bit of Weathered Wood to soften the starkness of the moon, before swiping some Mustard Seed Distress Ink across the moon and a bit of the sky to either side.

I removed the mushroom mask, and coloured the tops of the mushrooms with a bit of Mustard Seed DI as well, to represent the light from the moon. I then coloured in the ground with a bit of Milled Lavender. I added a streak of Mustard Seed for the moonlight, deciding where it would shine.

I stamped the sentiment taken from the Bewitched Moonlight stamp set, and a fairy from the Summer Fairy stamp collection using Versafine Onyx Black Ink.

A much quicker card, and hopefully something that would appeal to the CAS lovers out there as well. I hope that I have given you some inspiration with these versatile stamps. Thanks for stopping by, Judith 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