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Thursday 31 March 2016

Another Babushka Scene (by Anne)


Good morning. I have created another scene using the lovely Babushka Russian Dolls. I did a bit of masking to create the background but stamped, shaped and cut out the dolls to layer onto the scene.


Happy crafting, Anne x.

Materials used:




How it was done:

  1. Stamped the background buildings using masks to cover the foreground images – straight onto the card front.
  2. Stamped the dolls and cut out.
  3. Used a marker to finish the scene and to edge (frame) the card.
  4. Coloured  the scene and dolls with watercolour pens.
  5. Shaped and glued the dolls onto the scene with 3D glue gel.
  6. Finished with a little glitter glue for sparkle.

Wednesday 30 March 2016

It Takes Two (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a collaberative project to share with you today, created by myself and Lesley. We live a long way apart from each other, and rarely get the chance to craft together. We thought that we would make a joint project with the aid of Royal Mail on this occasion. So, Lesley sent me a selection of scrumptious backgrounds that she had made, and I set to, making a project.

I chose a pretty purple/teal background from Lesley's selection as my inspiration; these are my favourite colours. I chose a floral stencil, and added some gesso to the background through the stencil first of all, before lightly dabbing some blue and teal Dylusions paint over the top. It is no secret that Lesley loves blue flowers, so I had to add some into my design!

I stamped the Swirl Centre Flowerhead stamp onto another piece of Lesley's background, and also a leafy stamp from the Sketchy Doodle Flower stamp set. I added some watered down teal paint to these images, to tone them in with the background. I cut the images out and stuck them to the background. I added a sentiment from the Birthday Words stamp set. Finally, I matted the background onto some teal card.

I had a lot of fun making this project 'with' Lesley, and hope that it is not too long before we get a chance to craft together face to face. Thanks for stopping by,


Tuesday 29 March 2016

Church Domes (by Asha)

Hello there, fellow Chocoholics. Hope you had a fabulous Easter break.  I've got a simple project to share with you - a Confirmation card featuring the Russian Church from the Babushka A5 stamp sheet.

I heat embossed the image with silver embossing powder on watercolour paper and coloured it with Distress Inks. I cut the image out with Spellbinders die and inked the edges, before mounting it (with foam tape) on a black card base. It's not obvious in the photo, but I stamped tiny flowers from the Seasonal Fragments sheet on the card base with Versamark for some subtle background interest.


I finished the card with some Liquid Pearls, few bling, and "congratulations" from Loving Sentiments. That image is perfect for all kinds of occasions with a religious theme - Baptisms, First Communion, Sympathy etc. This little image is pretty versatile!

As always, more details on tools and products used are available on my blog. And be sure to stop by often for more fabulous projects by the rest of the team. Have a brilliant day!

Beijinhos,
Asha


Monday 28 March 2016

Babushka Gifts (by Judith)

Hello everyone, it's my final post of the month using the Babushka stamp set, and I have a couple of gift ideas to share with you today.

I cut a couple of tag shapes from kraft card, making one of them a bit longer, and created a gusset to join to the other tag. I scored  along the middle of the area, and also allowed a small area at the end to join to the back tag.

I coloured a smaller piece of watercolour paper, using Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink, and stamped a small flower from the Spring Bird Daffodil stamp set randomly over the background. I coloured the flowers with pencils. I cut a circular hole out of the background, and a slightly smaller hole from the kraft tag, to create a border inside the circle on the flowery background.

I stamped two of the Babushka dolls onto a spare piece of watercolour paper, and coloured these with pencils, before cutting them out and attaching them to the flowery background. I added a sentiment, and then stuck the back and front tags together at the top with strong double-sided tape. As I did so, I sandwiched the top of the bag of chocolate eggs between the tape.

My second gift is a bit of fun. I make these little bracelets all of the time, using coloured shell and jump rings. I stamped some of the medium sized Babushka dolls onto shrink plastic using Stazon Ink, and then coloured the reverse of the images using alcohol markers. I cut them out and punched holes in the top of each one, before shrinking them with a heat gun. I simply attached them to the bracelet with a jump ring.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx



Sunday 27 March 2016

trifold babushka (by Veronica)



This was an experiment, which i ended up quite liking....

I started by making a trifold card from a sheet of white A4 card, using my old Groovy card maker, and marked a point 2" up from the bottom of the left hand corner. I marked a  diagonal line  from this point to the top right hand corner of the second fold.

The backing papers were made next, using distress ink onto a blending mat and spraying with water and mopping up with white card.
As far as I remember, I used wild honey, barn door and peeled paint inks.
Once this was dry, I cut it into 3 panels before stamping.

The buildings were stamped in the centre of one panel and at the bottom of another using vintage photo distress ink, which was then used with a waterbrush to add shading - once it was dry, I added a few white highlights with a pen.



the babushka dolls were first stamped onto masking tissue and cut out, then stamped onto the last piece of background towards the bottom of the card in the centre. I stamped the two smaller dolls first, masked them off, stamping the largest doll behind them.
They were coloured with a waterbrush, this time using wild honey, barn door and vintage photo inks.

I cut the panel with the dolls to fir the width of the card front and glued it down, The tricky bit then was to cut the card on the diagonal line whilst  remembering to cut around the dolls - a beheaded mother doll doesn't look good!

I lined the panel with the larger building up behind the dolls before trimming it to fit the second fold of the card, the trimmed the third panel to fit the back of the card.

the colours in the scan of the folded card are the more accurate, the sunlight rather bleached out the colours in the photos.

Saturday 26 March 2016

Babushka Birthday Greetings

Good morning, Claire here with a card made using the lovely  Babushka stamps. I do like to add lots of ribbon and embellishments to cards but with the cost of postage I'm trying to make some 'flat' cards which are more economical to post.


I began with a background from my stash, This one was made using the 'Shaving Foam' technique and acrylic inks. I love this technique but it's rather messy so I tend make a batch of lots of backgrounds to make the mess worth while. I stamped the two Babushka images and masked them to add the background stamps. I coloured them with pencils and stamped the greeting (from Birthday Words) with Black Archival ink. I've simply matted the image on black card and added some faux stitching with a black fineliner pen.

Thanks for visiting today,
Claire xx

Friday 25 March 2016

Village in the valley

Hello.
Dominike, here.
I come back with this wonderful set of stamps "Babushka". I am found of the village so I made a new card with it.

Bonjour, c'est Dominike.
Je reviens avec ces magnifiques tampons "Babushka". J'aime particulièrement le village que j'ai utilisé pour réaliser une nouvelle carte.


When I work with the Gelli plate, I use to roll my brayer on the plate and the excess paint on a piece of deli paper. Then I have a lot of beautiful papers I can torn to make my backgrounds. I glue them on a page of an old book and I stamp the village.

Quand je travaille avec la Gelli plate, j'ai l'habitude d'utiliser le brayer et je roule l'excédent de peinture sur du papier de soie. Ainsi j'ai un lot de magnifiques fonds que je peux déchirer et coller comme ici sur une page de vieux livre. Ensuite je tamponne le village.

I like the result. And you ?
J'aime bien le résultat. Et vous ?

Dominike

Thursday 24 March 2016

Babushka Frame Gift (by Debbie)

I've been playing lots with the Babushka Dolls this month and decided to make a gift for my niece for her bedroom. She isn't a chocolate lover so I am not giving her an egg for Easter. Her bedroom has recently been decorated and I thought this framed project would look pretty on her windowsill.
The dolls have been stamped onto cream card with red ink and embossed with clear powder, then cut out. I stamped the mount frame with one of the stamps from Seasonal Fragments.

 
This card will accompany the gift. I dripped ink onto a strip of card and mounted onto red card the drew a broken line onto it to add a little more detail. The dolls have been coloured using distress inks. I attached the dolls with foam squares for dimension.

 
Many thanks for visiting
Debbie

Wednesday 23 March 2016

Guest Post- Gift Wrapping by Gerrina Poncin

It's time for the third and final post this month by our Guest Design Team member Gerrina. Her project in beautiful, rich tones is one that you are sure to enjoy.

Gerrina writes:

It is already the last of my posts at Chocolate Baroque this month, and again I have made something different. If you look closer, you will see that I have only used one butterfly stamp set, a Texture stamp set, black stripes, and a lot of colour for this gift wrapping...

The outside:
The Inside:







With the ribbon:

Materials:

Stamp sets: Just Butterflies, Texture Fragments
Inkpads: Versamark, Stazon Jet Black
Distress Paints
Distress Stains
Gold embossing powder
Other: Sturdy smooth paper, vellum, blue paper paint samples, blue cardstock, black pencil, ribbon

Step by step:

Put different colours of Distress Paint onto your craft sheet, and pull a big piece of sturdy and smooth paper through the colours. You can do that several times until you have the result that you want. Put this paper aside until it is fully dry. When dried, you can cut this paper into pieces of 10cms x 10cms, and two smaller pieces for the little front panel.
Stamp some butterflies onto vellum and onto some paper paint samples with Versamark, and heat set them with gold embossing powder. Cut them all out. You can colour the vellum butterflies on the reverse if you want. I covered some of them with Glossy Accents, and left them to dry overnight.
Stamp on the dried and cut paper pieces with the texture stamps and ink of your choice, then draw some black stripes. Decorate with the butterflies.
Cut and score the cardstock and glue your coloured paper pieces onto it.
Colour a piece of ribbon with Distress Stains or Distress Inkpads, and tie it around the gift wrapping.

Creatieve groetjes, Gerrina

Gerrina's colourful folder would make a lovely gift, and is a really inspirational idea. Thank you so much Gerrina, for sharing your projects over the past three weeks. We have really enjoyed seeing your designs using some of your favourite Chocolate Baroque stamps. Gerrina will be back later in the year to share more of her artwork with us , but don't forget to drop in every day to see what the other Design Team members have to share with you.



Tuesday 22 March 2016

Russian Dolls (by Julie)


Hello and thanks for stopping by. It's my turn to show you my creations and I have two very different cards to whet your appetite for these fantastic Babushka stamp designs.


For my first card I started off by taking some thin masking tape and applying it to the edges of the base card. I then inked up the trio of small Babushka dolls with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped them in rows within the taped area, before colouring with Polychromos pencils. I then lightly applied some Pumice Stone and Fired Brick Distress ink over the base card, before stippling Peacock Feathers Distress ink through a dotty stencil around the stamped images. If you get some of the dots on the dolls you can wipe it off with a damp cloth or baby wipe as the ink doesn't dry quickly on Polychromas pencils.
I then stamped the three main images onto water-colour card using Versafine before water-colouring with marker pens. 
Cut the dolls out, but leave a 5 mm border around each image so that faux stitching can be added and then adhere the dolls to the base card with 3D glue gel.
To finish off, remove the masking tape and then take a ruler and fine tip marker pen to add the faux stitching around the edges. 

My second card is quite a distressed, grungy take and you really do not need to be very precise with the background.
I started by cutting a black matt for my card followed by some water-colour card to go onto the black matt.
Take some Peeled Paint and Dried Marigold Distress ink direct to a large stamping block, spritz with water and then drag the water-colour card across until the whole card is coloured. Dry with a heat tool, before inking up the two church stamps with Onyx Black Versafine to stamp around the background. Colour the churches with Polychromos pencils before stippling Peacock Feather Distress ink and Antique Linen Distress Paint through a dotty stencil.
The main Babushka has been stamped onto white card, coloured with Polychromos pencils and then Tea Dye Distress ink was applied over the top. The card was cut to size, mounted onto black card-stock before adhering to the background. I have also added white hi-lights with a gel pen and dry brushed some white acrylic paint to the whole design. To finish off, add some bling by applying Crystal Stickles to some of the stencil dots.

Thank you for popping in. Please call back tomorrow for some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie x


Monday 21 March 2016

Babushka Scene Card (by Anne)


Good morning, I am just loving the new Babushka stamps. Hope that you like my quick scene. To avoid worrying about masking I chose to cut out the dolls and layer them onto the scene.







Materials:

  • A6 purple card blank and white stamping card (suitable for wet media)
  • Versafine Inkpad (Black Onyx)
  • Alcohol Marker (black)
  • Watercolour markers (purple, lime green and turquoise)
  • Adhesive and 3D glue gel
  • Turquoise PVA pearls and fine crystal glitter



 How to do it:

  1. Stamp the Fountain Scene and Babushka dolls using Versafine. Trim the scene to fit the card front and edge with black marker. Cut out the dolls.
  2. Colour the image and dolls with watercolour markers.
  3. Mount the image onto the card front and glue on the dolls with 3D glue gel.
  4. Finish with PVA pearls and drop on glitter while the PVA is still wet.


Sunday 20 March 2016

Baby Dolls (by Asha)

Good morning, friends. I'm back with a card project featuring the new Babushka stamp set. These are lovely stamps but if you're finding it difficult to get creative with them, why not consider taking the Clean and Simple route.

These dolls take centre stage on my card. They have been coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut before adhering to the embossed background with foam tape. Or you could go hardcore CAS and adhere the dolls to a plain white background.

There are no bulky embellishments on this card, making it perfect for mailing. For added sparkle I applied Stickles to their head scarves and to accentuate the embossed design, I very lightly inked around the edges of the card. Couldn't be simpler!

As always, more details on tools and products used are available on my blog. And be sure to stop by often for more fabulous projects by the rest of the team. Have a brilliant day!

Beijinhos,
Asha


Saturday 19 March 2016

A riot of colour (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have more projects to share using the lovely Babushka stamp set. I love to mix and match new stamps with older stamp sets, and I have tried to do that with these projects.

I wanted to create the feel of brightly painted wooden dolls on these cards, so on my first card, I used kraft card throughout, and used a simple colour palette of bright colours. I used a Big Bold background Belle Flowers, to create the background, stamping the image using gold embossing powder. The big stamps are great for creating a background quickly. I coloured the images using alcohol markers.

I cut an oval shape, and stamped a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set, using black ink. Finally, I used some black card to mat the layers.

My second project shows that these stamps can be used all year round, as I have chosen to make a Christmas card using the stamps, and combined them with some trees and snowflakes from the Sparkling Trees stamp set. I have added lots of glitter to the trees, snow and rooftops for a bit of Christmas sparkle. You can find out more about this card on my own blog.

Do keep checking back for more inspiration from my Design Team mates. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Friday 18 March 2016

Blue babushka




I had some blue card blanks left over from a workshop, and decided to try using them with the babushka stamps, and this is the eventual result. The colours in the indoor photo and scan are nearer life than the ones taken outside in the sun this morning , and my editing skills are not up to fiddling with the colour balance!
I think this is called a shutter card, and I have included a scan of the flat card in an attempt to show how it goes together on an A4 sheet of card, and  folds down to DL size.



I stamped the buildings onto the outer edges of the card using versamark and copper embossing powder, and again twice onto a panel of blue card to fit the centre cutout, masking thefirst image. I used some old H2O paints to colour the buildings, and added a mat of copper card to the centre piece.















Babushka dolls were stamped in black memento ink onto white card, coloured with marker pens and cut out. they were then layered onto the front of the card, trying to remember to add the glue to the actual card rather than the dolls for the two larger ones so that they don't stick to the centre panel as well (guess what happened to the first card!)

Thanks for looking today, and check back for more ideas from the girls. we have all had fun playing with these stamps
Veronica

Thursday 17 March 2016

Steampunk Babushka (posted by Claire)

Good morning folks, Claire here with a  fun card using one of the gorgeous new Babushka stamps from Chocolate Baroque, these stamps are so cute but I thought it would be fun to give this little lady a bit of a steampunk twist.
I began by creating a 'marbled stains' background using Burnished Pewter, Walnut Stain, Tarnished Brass, Picket Fence and Tea Dye. Next I cut a square for my background and stamped Babushka on another scrap of the background with Archival black ink and coloured her with coloured pencils. I stamped the cogs from Punky Romance on the background with versamark ink and embossed with Gold embossing powder. It looks almost black in the pic but that's my bad photography lol. I stamped 'Imgine' (from Artistic Expressions) with Versamark and again embossed with gold embossing powder.

 I took a scrap of vellum and stamped the 'bat' wings from Steampunk Butterfly and embossed with black embossing powder. I cut them out and stuck them to the back of Babushka and layered her up on the background with 3d foam pads.

 Don't forget to keep popping back to see what my talented teamies have been creating. Thanks for visiting today
Claire xx

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Guest Post- Winter Skies by Gerrina Poncin

Hello everyone, it's time for Gerrina's second post this month on the Design Team Blog. She has created something a little bit different for you, so relax and enjoy her post.

Gerrina writes:

Today is the second post this month from me, and I have a lot of photos for you. Next to stamping, I really like to take photographs. Through taking photos I started scrapping and by using a few little stamps in my photo scrapbook, I started stamping more and more, so now I can say that I am addicted, (in a healthy way), to stamping....Of course I still take pictures, and there is nothing better than combining these two hobbies in a Project Life kind of way.

Materials:

Stamp sets: Tall Trees, Patchwork Landscape

Versafine Onyx Black Ink
Distress Inkpads: Black Soot, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Antique Linen
Memento Inkpads: Desert Sand, Peanut Brittle, Elderberry, Rose Bud, Teal Zeal, Summer Sky
Other: Aquarel paper, Elegant Writer pencil, waterbrush, pencil, (and eraser), White Sharpie, Wink of Stella pencil, blue finewriter, brush and water, blue and purple cardstock.

This was the view from my craft room on 25th January this year. I took some pictures. The view inspired me to try and make some skies the same way that Nature showed me, and I put them together in a book:


Stamp the trees three times and use a waterbrush, bigger brush and water with Distress inkpads to colour your scene. Glue the picture and photo onto a piece of cardstock, and then onto a piece of purple cardstock.

For this picture, colour your stamp with the Elegant writer, or other water based marker, and mist some water over the stamp. Stamp it onto aquarel paper, and use a waterbrush, bigger brush and water to let a little bit of the blue and purple pigment show. The sky is made with Distress Ink and a waterbrush.

This is a simple quick card; put the different ink colours directly on the stamp, and stamp on the paper. Place the second image a little lower. Draw three lines and add a sentence that fits the images.
This card is made in a similar way to the second card, just use even more water on the card after stamping, and stamp the text with black ink.

Creatieve groetjes, Gerrina

Thanks Gerrina for such an informative and creative blog post. Your photos are beautiful, and your matching cards capture the feeling of those Winter skies perfectly. Look out for Gerrina's final post of the month next week.

 

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Babushka by Zoe pt 2

Good morning Lovelies, well I'm back for my second post this month using the fab new Babushka stamp set

This card I just stamped directly onto my card base, even over the folded bit, I started by making masks for my dolls and one of the buildings by stamping them on some scrap paper and cutting them out, so I first stamped my smallest Doll, covered with the mask then stamped the next using the same method, until they are all stamped behind one another, I opened the card out and did the same with the building and finally one of my favourite stamps Dusky Damask background which I used Blueprint Sketches Distress ink for, I then coloured all the images in using pencils, stamped the sentiment, added a few gems and voila!

Thank you for taking the time to visit today, please pop along each day to see my wonderful teamies creations, have a great day xx Zoe xx

 

Monday 14 March 2016

Babushka Doll, Quick Make (by Debbie)

Hello.
I have a quick make card to show today which is very different to my last project.
 
 
I sat one evening in front of the television, colouring an A4 sheet of the Babushka dolls that I had stamped and embossed with black ink and clear embossing powder. They are coloured with distress inks and a watercolour brush then cut out.
I kept the layout to the card simple and haven't added a sentiment as this card is going into my card stash box.

Many thanks for visiting
Debbie

Sunday 13 March 2016

Russian Dolls (by Julie)

Hello! Hope your weekend is going well. Today I have two cards made with the fabulous new Babushka Dolls. I have to confess that after being a little apprehensive about working with this very different set, I am pleased to report that they are loads of fun and more importantly, very versatile so I hope you like them as much as I do.


My first card shows a parade of dolls emerging from the temple. As they are different sizes you can play around with perspective to see what suits you best. A swirly corner stencil was used to create a garden and another texture stencil was used the other side of the pathway. The design has been coloured with a mixture of Brush-markers and Distress inks and finished off with a birthday sentiment from the Amazing Birthday clear sentiment set.


My second card is a very simple card and it is made even easier if you keep the three, smallest Russian dolls together when you cut your stamps out.
I have inked up the trio with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped onto a piece of spare card before water-colouring with brush markers.
I cut the card into a square to fit the centre of my base card and brushed the edges with Tea Dye Distress ink. The crackled edges on the base card were stamped with the crackled egg from the Natural Eggs clear set and finished off with the Tea Dye Distress ink as before.

Many thanks for stopping by and please call back for another Design Team member's inspiration.

Julie xx