Beautiful Autumn

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. We are really into the Autumnal weather now, the leaves are falling and the windy days are here. I love this time of year, we still get the odd sunny day, and it is not too cold for a good walk.

I have three projects to share with you today. My first card was created on a left over background from another project. I had painted over a piece of scrapbook paper with a wash of white acrylic paint and added some stencilling with blue and orange Distress Oxide Ink. Some subtle stamping had been added with the same colour ink; butterflies, clocks, and splatters, etc. These colours dictacted the colours that I then chose for the rest of my project. 

I stamped Beauty is in the Eyes using Versafine Onyx Black and extended the bottom frame using a fineliner pen. I used the same pen and a circle stencil to draw extra bubbles on the right hand side. I coloured the image with pencils, and added white highlights with a gel pen. I had another scrap background for the larger background, created using acrylic sprays. Always keep your left over backgrounds, you never know when you might need them! I matted both backgrounds with black card for extra drama. The little word 'Focus' comes from the same stamp set.

My second project is a small chipboard panel. I used a piece of decorative paper and stamped one of the leaves from From Nature 1 across the background using green ink. I stamped and embossed the large leaf spray from the same stamp set onto kraft card using white embossing powder. I also stamped and embossed just the face from Beauty is in the Eyes, and the flower from Floral Grunge, also onto kraft card using white embossing powder.

I added a sentiment to the background paper, before attaching it to the chipboard panel with matte medium. Once the adhesive was dry, I sanded the edges to get a white edge. I coloured the face and flower with pencils, and inked the leaves with Distress Ink. I attached all of the images to the panel for a collaged effect.

My final project mixes and matches stamp sets, something that I really enjoy doing. I have used Distress Inks to create a blended background, and then taken a branch from the Sticks and Stones stamp set which I have stamped in first and second generation stamping, using a brown Versafine Clair ink. I have coloured in the first generation branches using brown pencil, and the second generation using a mixture of grey and brown pencils, to make them appear to be in the background. I have then used a mixture of Autumn colours to stamp the lovely leaf from From Nature 1 in first, second and third generation stamping across the branches. Finally I have added my absolute favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment to the card. This comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set. As Design Team Leader for Chocolate Baroque, I should probably not have favourites, but I am still human, and I adore this stamp! I knew as soon as saw the stamp set From Nature 1 that I wanted to create this card, sometimes a card design just pops into your head.

Thanks so much for stopping by, take care, xx

Autumn Tree

Hello everyone, over on the Design Team blog today, you will be able to see a fabulous jam-packed blog post containing lots of inspirational projects from the Design Team that have been made in fifteen minutes or less. We contribute to this post every month, written by yours truly, to show how the stamps from Chocolate Baroque can be used in lots of different ways to create cards quickly and easily, but still end up with amazing creations in a very short amount of time.  I know myself that I spend far more time thinking about a design than actually putting it together, and once I have a design in mind, I can often just change a colour, or create a production line of cards, turning the process into a set of batch cards quite quickly. Lots of our ideas in these monthly blog posts could easily become great batch cards for Christmas cards, Wedding invitations, thank you cards, etc. or you could make multiple cards for craft fairs if you wanted to.  Do take a look at everyone else's samples over on the blog, as there are some gorgeous designs.

To create my card, I cut a piece of smooth cartridge paper, and coloured the tree image from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set with Distress Markers, choosing a range of Autumn colours for the leaves, and dark brown for the trunk and branches. Once I had stamped the image, I added a mask, and sponged Peeled Paint Distress Ink along the base of the tree to ground the image, creating a landscape.

I stamped some leaves from the Nature Table stamp set, using Distress Markers as before, across the top corner of the background, as if they were blowing away in the wind. Using a waterbrush, I pulled some of the colour from the edges of the leaves. I added my favourite sentiment from the Nature's Peace stamp set using Potting Shed Archival Ink. Finally, I added a border of shading around the background using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

It's about the Little Things

Hello everyone, I have a few projects to share with you today which were featured on Lesley's recent TV shows on Hochanda. I had the opportunity to viit the TV studios and see Lesley in action close up. It was very interesting to see the processes involved.

I am focusing on the DL sets that were on the show, using some of the little worker stamps, and showing how they can be used in a variety of ways.

For my first card, I created a very pale wrinkle free distress background, using a Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet Distress Ink, before adding an oval mask over the top. I added a bit more Distress Ink, and some shading around the edge of the mask and the edge of the card with Paris Dusk Memento Ink, to give the feeling of some shading and depth to the background. I also added a bit of grey pencil around the edge of the oval mask. Adding the grey pencil really helps to create the impression that the oval is a separate layer on top of the background.

Using one of the silhouette images from the Autumn Hedgerow stamp set, I stamped over the background, using a variety of ink colours in tones of blue and plum ( Memento Teal Zeal, Nautical Blue and Archival Plum), using first and second generation stamping, to give a bit of depth to the background. I removed the mask, and stamped an image from the Pretty Poppies stamp set, using Archival Cobalt Ink, and added a sentiment from the same stamp set inside the oval. I coloured the image with Distress Inks and a waterbrush.

For my second project, I created a gelli plate background, by brayering some Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto my gelli plate, and then scrunched up a piece of cling film and dabbed some Fired Brick Distress Ink onto the gelli plate with the cling film randomly. I took a print from the gelli plate and trimmed a piece of background to size. From the spare offcut, I stamped and embossed the two butterflies from the Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp set, using copper embossing powder, and added some extra colour, using Distress Ink.

I created another panel using Shabby Shutters and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, and then using a mixture of the small stamps from the Autumn Hegdrow stamp plate, I stamped and embossed the focal image using copper embossing powder. I added background stamping afterwards, using a mixture of Autumnal colours and first and second generation stamping, building up the design until I was happy with the result.

To create the card, I added some hessian ribbon and some olive green ribbon to tone in with the overall colours that I had used. I added my all time favourite sentiment, taken from the Nature's Peace stamp set.  I adore this sentiment, and love the opportunity to use it whenever I can.

For my final card, once I again, I created a gelli plate background, in much the same way as the previous card, using the same colours. From the offcut, I die cut a small rectancle, and stamped the small berry image from the Nature's Peace stamp set over the background, using second generation stamping, as I wanted a very pale effect. I stamped and embossed the verse from the stamp set, using Potting Shed Archival Ink and clear embossing powder.

For the main background, I stamped another small image, the leaves and nuts this time, again using brown ink. I coloured the images using Polychromos pencils, for a vintage feel. I matted my layers using dark brown card, and created a very masculine card, great for lots of different occasions.

I hope that my projects have given you lots of ideas using these great little stamps, either by themselves, or mixing and matching with stamps from other stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Christmas Old and New

Hello everyone, I am sharing some Christmas projects with you today that were featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

For my first project,  I created a background, using soft blues and pinks to represent a Winter sky. I added some deeper blue hills using torn paper masks, and stamped the tree from the Frosty Trees stamp set and the sentiment from the Let's Get Festive stamp set, using Cobalt Archival Ink. Ensuring that the background was completely dry, I added some snowflakes using white embossing powder, and then used some flat-backed gems for added sparkle.

Using another tree from the same stamp set, I created an icy background using metallic paints, and on a smaller scrap of the same card, I stamped and embossed the tree panel using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and clear embossing powder, for a crisp image. I matted the layers onto black card, and added some small black gems. The sentiment comes from the Let's Get Festive stamp set once again.

 I wanted to create a piece of home decor especially for Christmas using my favourite sentiment from the new stamp set. I painted a chipboard heart in soft blue chalk paint, adding some crackle medium here and there, and then added a vintage white paint over the top. I then stamped the sentiment in Red Geranium Archival Ink before adding the fabulous pine cones from the New England Winter stamp set around the edges. I used Distress Markers to colour the stamps, allowing me to add colour exactly where I wanted. A red ribbon completes the project.

This next card is an adaptation of an old card that I first made several years ago, using the Winter Birds stamp set, but I have made it in a different size. These days, I like to make 8" x 8" cards, and so the card does look slightly different from the original. I have added one of the new sentiments this time around as well.

Finally two golden oldies for you, which I hope you will forgive seeing again. I remade the first one, which was originally given as a Birthday card to someone. It just goes to show that these beautiful stamps can be used at other times of the year, not just at Christmas, with a change of colour. I have used the large image from the Reindeer Landscape stamp set, embossed with copper embossing powder, and coloured with Distress Inks and a water brush. The background was also created with Wild Honey and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks, and I have then stamped leaves from the Sunny Sunflowers stamp set, and coloured them with Polychromos pencils. The sentiment, which is my all time favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment,  comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set.

Finally a luminary, also using the large image from the Reindeer Landscape stamp set. I die cut an aperture from four large printed tags. The images were stamped and embossed onto parchment using white embossing powder, and coloured from behind. I used metal tape to join the tags, which I embossed, and aged with a little bit of black paint.

I hope that my projects have given you some ideas using these fabulous stamps. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn Journal Pages

Hello everyone, I have a final Autumn project to share with you this month, and decided to mix up some of my old favourite stamps to create a couple of pages in my Pink Pig journal. I created these pages using lightweight cotton fabric and used iron on interfacing to attach the pieces to my journal pages.

I coloured the fabric with Distress re-inkers, I chose Ripe Persimmon, Shabby Shutters and Fossilized Amber. I created lots of fabric, and then worked out which images I wanted to use as my main focal images, stamping these in Black Archival Ink. When stamping on fabric, you do not need to press extra hard, just allow a bit more time for the ink to settle onto the fabric.

Once I had stamped all of the main images, I added some background stamping to the larger pieces of fabric, using Sepia, Plum, Olive and Potting Soil Archival Ink. Although some of the background images are different, I used some co-ordinating images to tie the pages together. I frayed the edges of the fabric before adding the interfacing, as it is much harder to do this afterwards.

I love the texture of fabric and when I am working with it, I often wonder why I don't create more projects in this way! Here are some close ups of each page:

 
I  have chosen lots of Autumnal stamps from my favourite sets: Autumn Poppy, Essence of Nature, Nature's Peace, Autumn Fairy Collection, Words of Wisdom, Woodland Design a Tree, and used rich, warm colours that remind me of the season. Although I have created journal pages here, you could easily use the general design that I have created to make cards, and they would suit both men and women, with these rustic colours.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Nature's Peace

Hello everyone, I love this time of year, when the countryside is filled with warm colours, and the leaves are turning shades of orange, brown, gold and plum.We still have plenty of warm sunshine to enjoy the changing season, and it really is a time to marvel at the natural colour palette all around us.

I have created a card using some left over pieces of watercolour card from a previous project. I had created a Brusho background, and used these pieces of watercolour paper to blot the originals. I simply added some stencilling and stamping to the top layer, and then added some shading around the edges of the layers, using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, to add a warm plummy tone to the background.

I have used a lovely tree from the Nature's Peace stamp set, which I inked with Distress Markers, enabling me to incorporate the various colours that I had used in my background. I also stamped around the edge of the background using a favourite tree from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set. I used Seedless Preserves and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to add the leafy pattern.

This really was a quck and easy card to make, and by varying the colours, could become a very masculine card.
Thanks for stopping by, xx

Autumn's Smile

Hello everyone, I have three  projects to share with you today, using the current stamps of the month from Chocolate Baroque. Along with the rest of the Design team, I have been enjoying working with these stunning stamps from Sue Page, there are four beautiful women, one for each season of the year, and a gorgeous tangled tree, perfect for any time of the year, depending on how you choose to use the stamp. As Autumn is my favourite time of the year, I have created three cards celebrating that particular season, using the rich colours that can be seen before the Winter pulls in.

My first card uses the Autumn Medley rubber stamp to create an Autumnal card. I stamped the image using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and masked it before creating a leafy background, using leaves from my garden and Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.  I coloured the image with Distress Markers, and added extra detail with watercolour pencils afterwards. I added one of my all time favourite sentiments, taken from the Nature's Peace stamp set. I matted the background onto green card, before adding it to a black card blank.

For my second card, I have created a wrinkle free Distress background, using Wild Honey and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I stamped the Tangled Birch individual stamp and added stamps from the Patchwork Landscape stamp set, before masking the tree and adding a stamp from the Seasonal Fragments stamp set to the tree, to create a scene. I coloured the images with Derwent Inktense and Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils.

My last card uses the lovely Autum Medley stamp once again, and I have created a border around the image, using stamps from the Autumn Poppy stamp set. I stamped the foliage using various colours of Archival Ink, and then coloured everything with Polychromos pencils. I decoupaged some of the leaves on the main image for added interest. I love the rich colours of Autumn, and have tried to reflect the changing leaf colours in this final sample.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith 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