Two Projects, Two Ways

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have some projects to share with you today featuring stamps that we brought to you on last month's TV shows on Create and Craft. Both sets of projects feature the ideas in two different ways, showing how you can vary the project depending on what sort of look you would like to create.

My first project is a little plaque using the Canary Bird Rose stamp and some of the Black and White papers available on the website. I chose to use a blank piece of the papers to create my own patterned piece of paper and stamped the main image using black Archival ink. I added a sentiment from the stamp set, plus elements from Gerbera and Friends using grey Archival ink. I coloured the flower with pencils before adhering the paper to a painted panel using matte medium. 

Once the glue was dry, I sanded the edges, and added a bit of ink with a blending brush around the edges.

 

An alternative version was created by stamping the same flower image onto a patterned piece of the papers, and simply colouring it with pencils. I added the sentiment with black ink this time. I attached the paper to a panel as before and once the glue was dry I sanded the edges. I dry brushed some paint around the edges and added some stencilling for added interest.

I wanted to create a couple of masculine cards using the Sunny Sunflowers stamp set, and picked a selection of the leaves. They are really lovely designs and make a beautiful card by themselves, without the addition of the flowers. For my first card, I picked a selection of green inks, some VersafineClair, some Archival, and some Distress Oxide, whatever colours seemed to go together well. I stamped the images in first, second and third generation, and finally added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set, using black ink. I stamped everything straight onto the card blank for a really quick card, and you could easily make a whole batch of these in an afternoon.

My variation was stamped onto a piece of kraft paper using Autumnal coloured inks, and I chose to stamp and emboss the sentiment to make it stand out a bit more.

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects as much as I enjoyed creating them. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Life is Wonderful- a Quick Watercolour Card

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a very cheery project to share with you today, a demo that I created for last month's TV shows on Create and Craft, featuring the large image and a sentiment from the Life is Wonderful stamp set. 

I scribbled onto an acrylic block with a couple of Zig Clean Colour markers and spritzed the area with water, before pressing a piece of Drawing Cartridge onto the block. This created a very quick watercolour background. I let the Drawing Cartridge dry naturally and then stamped the images with Versafine Ink. I scribbled more of the Zig markers onto an acrylic block, this time picking them up with a paintbrush dipped into water, and painted the images. I used just three colours, sometimes blending them, to achieve lighter and darker versions of the base colours, so that I could add shading.

I chose a patterned paper from one of Lesley's Designer paper packs which toned in perfectly to create a mat for the image, and added layers of black card to mat the design and patterned paper.

I had great fun creating this card, and hope that my design will give you some inspiration to create something yourself.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Playing with Elements

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today showcasing the stamps that we featured on last month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project was a particular favourite demo on the TV shows. I love the colours, purple and turquoise, and the images are really beautiful too. I created a Distress Ink background and stamped several images from The Phenominal Butterfly Elements and I also used the circles from Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set with toning ink over the top using Versafine Nocturne ink. I die cut a circle of Drawing Cartridge and blended some Distress Oxide over the top, then spritzed the ink with water. Once the background was dry, I inked up The Phenominal Butterfly Slim Strip stamp and pressed the circle onto a section of the stamp. I coloured the dragonfly and butterfly with Artway shimmer paints for maximum impact.

For my next project, I drew a circle in pencil onto a piece of smooth white stamping card. I added flowers from the Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set, and covered them with Masking Tissue. I added leaves, and covered them with Masking Tissue as well. Finally, I stamped the script rings in the gaps that were left. My circle is a bit random, and I could have worked it out to be a little bit more refined, but I wanted it to look quite natural.

I removed the Masking Tissue and coloured all of the images with Koh I- Noor pencils, adding deeper colours for shading, and grey pencil around the edges for touches of shadow. I added some script on the background from the Out of the Trees Elements stamp set.

A little bit of inking with green ink around the edges takes away the whiteness of the background.

I wanted to show how you could use up some of your tiny offcuts of patterned paper and make a much simpler version of this wreath. In my picture below, I stamped various elements to create the ring, and added the leaves and flowers cut from patterned paper.

I hope that I have given you lots of ideas for these very versatile stamps. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care, xx

Patterned Papers

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few projects to share with you today showcasing stamps from last month's TV shows from Create and Craft.

My first project is an 8" x 8" journal page, using one of the beautiful patterned papers that were available on the show. I stamped the large Floral Paraphernalia Slim Strip rubber stamp down one side using black Archival Ink. I added images from Floral Paraphernalia Elements over the background using Archival Ink and Memento Ink in first and second generation stamping. I coloured the main image with Koh-I-Noor pencils, and added a bit of a splatter from the Numerology stamp set.

For my next set of cards, I wanted to create a clean and simple look in three different ways. I die cut three circles from the papers, and inked up the same strip stamp. I pressed the circles onto various areas of the stamp, reinking it each time. For the first card, I used the large and small circle from the corresponding Elements stamp set and made a background on a 6" x 6" card blank, using red, blue and yellow Memento inkpads.

For the second card, I used the splatter stamp from the Numerolgy stamp set as before, and also a mathematical image from Floral Paraphernalia Elements, both of which I stamped using black ink.

For my final card, I simply mounted the circle onto a piece of linen effect black card, and added a little button as an embellishment. All of the images were coloured with pencil.

These die cut circles are a great way of using up your small offcuts of papers that you might have left over from another project. I love getting the most use out my patterned papers and try not to throw any pieces away.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating all of these projects, and hope that I have given you a few ideas. Thanks so much for stopping by, xx

 

Quick Birthday Card

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a card to share with you today that I made for a recent family Birthday. The recipient has now received the card, so I know that I am safe to share it.

The card was for a significant Birthday, but I did not wish to add any numbers, etc, so I chose to keep the front of the card free from any wording. 

I used a background that I already had in my stash made from Distress Oxides made in a previous crafting session. I stamped the pretty images from Darkroom Door using Versafine Clair Nocturne and coloured them with Luminance pencils.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

All a bit Horizontal!

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today showcasing stamps that we brought to you on last month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

It was so nice to meet up with Lesley again after a two year break and to get the chance to demo again on the TV shows. I hope that you managed to watch some of the shows and to see Lesley and I in action. My projects today were both demos on the shows, and I am focusing on a couple of the long horizontal stamps for this blog post.

My first card was a really quick project. I made a quick background with a strip of Drawing Cartridge, adding some Distress Oxides to the very long acrylic block that Lesley is hoping to obtain for the website again very soon, and spritzing this with water. You could smoosh some ink onto a glass mat or kraft mat instead. I placed the Drawing Cartridge over the block and pressed it over the ink. I left the background to dry.

Once the background was dry, I stamped the Out of the Trees stamp over the background using Versafine ink. I added a few touches of pencil to some of the detail. I added the strip of background to a kraft card blank, allowing it to wrap all around the card. TIP: I scored the strip where the fold of the card should be first, and attached the strip matching the fold.

 

My second project was created by painting a piece of media board with green paint and leaving it to dry. I stamped one of the pretty papers that were available on the show with the Country Reflections stamp using Archival ink. I added a couple of coordinating stamps from the Country Reflections Elements, Floral Paraphernalia Elements, and Out of the Trees Elements stamp set to complete the picture, and added a few finishing touches with coloured pencils.

I will be back soon with more projects to share, thanks for stopping by,

Take care, xx

Mosaic Circles

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a project to share with you today showcasing stamps from last month's TV shows.

I created a background using Distress Oxides, and then used a stencil to apply colour over the top with blending brushes, and stamped On The Tiles through the stencil with corresponding colours in Archival Ink. I added some words from the Bird of Joy stamp to the background to finish.

I painted a chipboard circle with acrylic paint, mixing white with a dark green to get the colour that I wanted. I added the same words that I had used on my background over the circle. I stamped the Mosaic Flower onto a piece of tissue paper, and coloured it with Luminance pencils, before sticking it to the circle with Matte Medium. I then attached the circle to my background, and used a piece of black card as a mat before adhering the background to a card blank.

I will be back soon with more projects to share with you. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care xx

Mini Cards

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a trio of cards to share with you today using stamps from last month's TV shows.

I have made some little 4" x 4" cards, I really like this size of card, as they are lovely to send as a Thank You card, or just to cheer someone up when they are feeling down. They are perfect for gift tags too, or for popping a voucher or money inside.

I made a gelli print as the background for all three cards in various colours, using Distress Inks, and stamping on the gelli plate with a texture tool to create an interesting patterm before I pulled a print. For one of the cards, I then used the Square Bubbles stamp all over the background, using Versafine Clair ink in a lovely Teal colour. I added a couple of the butterflies and a sentiment from Butterfly Mind and also decoupaged the butterflies, using some Drawing Cartridge that I had coloured with Distress Ink picked up from my craft mat.

For the second card, I randomly stamped the largest butterfly around the edge of the background using black ink, and added another sentiment in the centre.

For the final card, I added a sentiment horizontally and vertically, and then used the smallest butterfly to fill in the gaps. Finally I took the splatter stamp in my hand and added sections of it in between the other stamps.

I hope that I have shown you just how versatile these stamps can be. Even though these cards are small, you can use these ideas on your bigger cards, they will work just as well. I will be back later in the month with more ideas to share with you. Take care, and thanks for stopping by, xx

Butterflies on Film

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today, showcasing stamps from last month's TV shows.

My first project was created by covering a piece of Drawing Cartridge with a wash of cold tea. This is a really quick way of adding a vintage look to your backgrounds, and I tend to colour several sheets of paper at a time, let them dry and save them for another time.

I stamped the film strip from Butterfly Mind down the background, and masked the background, leaving only a segment of the film strip uncovered at a time, so that I could stamp a portion of a butterfly into the area. I moved along to the next portion, covering where I had stamped previously, and rotated the butterfly, for a different angle.

I added the splatter stamp from the same stamp set to the background, using two different colours of ink. I coloured the butterfly wings in toning colours, to match the background splatters. The sentiment also comes from the same stamp set.

The following two projects are not new, but I thought I would share them with you again. I have used the film strip from Butterfly Mind once again, but added it to one of the fabulous flowers available from Chocolate Baroque, Floral Grunge. The film strip helps to create a fabulous collage effect, and with the use of Masking Tissue over the flower, was really easy to create. 

Finally, I created a bokeh effect background over some Brushos, using a stencil and white ink, then added three brightly coloured butterflies from Butterfly Mind. By choosing contrasting a colour for the background, the butterflies really pop.

I will be back soon with more projects to share, thanks for stopping by, xx

More Anything Goes Projects

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today on an 'Anything Goes' theme. There are so many stamps to choose from in the Chocolate Baroque stamp collection that I had a hard time narrowing down my choices for my final blog post this month!

For my first card, I decided to make a useful Birthday card to add to my stash box, handy for when I need a card in a hurry. I took a piece of fabric and frayed the edges. I painted the fabric using watered down acrylic paint, I used an ochre colour. Using Plum Archival ink, I stamped an image from the Brocade Backgrounds stamp set. I stamped a sentiment from Loving Sentiments onto an inked die cut rectangle. To complete the card, I added some pretty pleated ribbon and some metallic card as a mount.

 For my second card, I had a left over background from a previous project created using Brushos. I stamped the large butterfly from Patchwork Butterfly in one corner. I masked the butterfly using masking tissue, and stamped images from Make your Mark and Numerology over the background, plus the sentiment from Patchwork Butterfly. 

Once I had built up the background sufficiently, I removed the Masking Tissue, and coloured the image with Faber Castell Black Edition pencils. I added a couple of grey pencils around the edges of the butterfly to give a shadow and to create the feeling of depth. The pencils coloured over the Brusho background quite well, avoiding the need to cut out another butterfly and decoupage over the top.

I have really had fun dipping into my library of stamps this month, and hope that you have enjoyed my posts. Thanks for stopping by, take care, xx

Tall Grasses

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. I have a project to share with you today, mixing and matching several favourite stamp sets. That's the beauty of Chocolate Baroque stamp sets, once you have them, they can be used with other sets from your collection.

I started this project by stamping a couple of bees from Honey Bee and masked them using Masking Tissue. I worked out where I needed them to be by placing a couple of the foliage stamps on my background, so that I knew how tall they would stand. I then covered my gelli plate with green and blue Distress Oxide Ink and placed my background smooth stamping paper over the top.

I stamped a phrase from Words of Gratitude using third generation stamping in a couple of the corners. I wanted the words to be visible, but not overpowering.

I used a couple of silhoutte grasses from Walk Tall, and various shades of Versafine Clair to create a grassy meadow, using first, second and third generation stamping. I chose shades of green and purple.

Finally, I removed the masks and coloured the bees with Inktense pencils. I added a touch of water using a waterbrush to blend the colour. A touch of grey pencil around the bees makes them look three dimensional, but they are flat on the page.

Thanks for stopping by, I will be back later in the month, with something else to share. Take care,xx

Anything Goes Part 1

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. This month, the Design Team are going to be posting projects on a theme of 'Anything Goes' as we did not have a TV show last month. It is not often we have a chance to run wild through our collection of Chocolate Baroque stamps, and having been on the Team for a very long time, I have a great number to choose from! I did not want to select my obvious favourites, which are mainly Autumnal stamps anyway, not really suitable for this time of year, so I had a really good look at what else I liked in the collection. I am also trying not to use my go to favourite colours either. I hope you like what I have selected.

My first card this month uses the beautiful Parsley Clock stamp set. I stamped the main image onto some green card, (gifted to me by a crafty friend), and added a smaller parsley sprig along the bottom, plus a single butterfly, and the lovely sentiment that Lesley added to the stamp set. The words are perfect for a Get Well card, or maybe for someone that needs cheering up. Equally, the card would make a fabulous Birthday card.

I added the splatter stamp using second generation stamping, so that it was not too overpowering. I then coloured the images with Faber Castell Black Edition pencils, keeping everything to a limited colour palette of yellow, orange, pink and green.

I created a larger background using Brushos, using the same four colours, and once this was dry, I added the splatter stamp in second generation stamping, as before. I matted both layers onto black card.

This is a lovely fresh colour palette for Spring, but you could vary the colours and create a completely different effect. Remember, you do not have to colour the flowers in realistic colours, I have added pink to the Parsley here, because it suited my colour scheme.

 I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you. Thanks for stopping by, xx