Indian Elephants posted by Claire

Good morning, my card today features the beautiful Elephant stamps from one of the new stamp sheets 'Indian Elephant' and the silhouette stamp from  Indian Textiles (you can find them both here)

I've used promarkers and Graph'It Markers to colour the elephants and then cut them out. To create the background I used one of the lovely backing papers from the Leafy Brocade download collection and over that I added a die cut circle which frames the silhouette stamped on some 'Caught in crystal' acetate. I love this technique, it always creates some interesting effects (and messy hands lol). To finish off i''ve added a bow to the top of the frame.

Thanks for popping by today, do keep checking back to see all the fabulous projects created by the DT with this months new stamps. 

Claire xx

Stamp(s) of the Month - Inspired by India

We usually launch new stamps at the start of the month, but Easter weekend has brought our launch date forward by a few days and April's new stamps are out already.

Inspired by Indian block prints and textiles, I give you Indian Elephant and Indian Textiles:

Also available as a multi-buy offer.  As always, we have introductory prices (that goes for our wholesale customers too) for one month only and the multi-buy is where you will get the best savings.

I've had the privilege of seeing the artwork created with these stamps by our wonderful Design Team and I suggest you get some superglue for your socks, though even that might not stop them getting seriously blown off.

So watch this space for some scrummy artwork coming your way soon.  I've used these stamps in the first of my new Mojo Monday emails which goes out on April 1st - Chocolate Baroque's second birthday.

If you've missed the buzz about Mojo Monday, please click on the image below for more information and a simple sign up form.

There's still a few days left to take advantage of our March new stamps at their introductory prices and we have free UK delivery on all weekend too.

And as if that wasn't enough, we've won an award, we're having a birthday and we're doing a super duper promotion throught the weekend - click here to read all about it.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, hope it's a good one!

Rosebud slide hanger (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample using this months new stamps. This time i've used the delicate little rosebud from Periwinkle Corners and Rosebud clear stamps.

I drew round a microscope slide twice and  stamped the rosebud with black archival ink and coloured with Derwent inktense pencils and added stamped a little text here and there. Inktense pencils blend beautifully and once dry, the colour doesn't seem to run so they are ideal for a project like this. I took two microscope slides and stuck them to my coloured images using glossy accents and left them overnight to dry.

Once they were thoroughly dry I cut them out and used more glossy accents to stick them together. I sealed the edges with silver embossing powder and added a glue on bail to the top and little metal corner to the bottom. The silver butterfly, little pearls and beads are from my stash.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Floral Damask & colouring (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.

I've been inspired by the colouring of backgrounds by my talented team mates using the new Big Bold Background stamps.    I also wanted to try Miranda's technique of stamping with white ink and then colouring over top with Pencils.    


 

I stamped the Floral Damask Background with Brilliance Moonlight White onto a sheet of Basic Grey paper that has a slight variance in the colour.   I decided to colour/highlight the centre portion of the Floral Damask design with my Prisma Pencils and left the rest to 'fade' out. 

Once I started to colour the detailed design of this beautiful image I fell in love with it a little more!

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Easter!
Shirley 

Periwinkle Corner (posted by Claire)

Good morning folks, Claire here with a sample using Periwinkle Corner, one of the new clear stamps. I thought this pretty little flower would make a lovely little narcissus and set to stamping to create a frame. Clear stamps make it so easy to position the image when you're creating a frame like this.

 I stamped all the flowers with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with distress markers. I inked liberally with lots of distress inks in yellows and greens and used some olive green card to mat and layer.

The sentiment is from Words of Comfort and Cheer, die cut with Spellbinders Marvellous Squares and inked up with distress inks. To finish off i've added some green ribbon and some paper flowers from my stash.

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Leafy Trails with a Single Rose (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have a card today using one of the new Big Bold Backgrounds -  Leafy Trails.   I've combined it with the single Rose from the Rose & Thistle set.

I stamped & embossed all the images with Gold and painted with my mica water colour paints.   Before I painted,  I blended Tattered Rose Distress Ink around the background.    The ribbon is hand painted silk which is a richer colour than the photo shows. 

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day !
Shirley

Stamp(s) of the Week - Butterfly Collage Sets

 

Next weekend is Easter, so I've planned ahead and I'm doing two sets of stamps on offer for two weeks instead of the usual one week only deal.

Even better than that, we've set up a multi-buy for the two, so you can make an even bigger saving if you want to.

The stamps are Butterfly Daisy Collage and Butterfly Poppy Collage - both large A4 sets packed with lots of images.

The card above was made with watercolour pencils.  I changed my mind about the colouring of the butterfly so I decoupaged another one over the top.  The sentiment is stamped over a brayered background - I stamped the daisy harlequin in Versamark onto glossy card, then brayered colour over the top and the stamped image resists the ink and shows up white.

Here's a closer look at the two sets.  The large flower shapes on these sets are perfect for making paper roses and I love all the variations Sue (our wonderful stamp artist) has managed to get in the different butterflies. 

 

 

So both sets are on offer until Friday 5th April 2013 after which they will go back up to full price. 

Happy stamping!

Burgundy Roses (by Clare)

Spring has arrived, but our roses aren't in bloom yet.  The plants have new leaves on them, and they are such a beautiful dark burgundy color.  Here's a card with roses all over it!



The long rose stamp is from the set, "Rose and Thistle" on the green background, cut into an oval to fit behind the white die cut.  Only the leaves were shaded in with green.  The Rose Corners were stamped in black on white cardstock, and colored with markers.  This was a very simple card to make!

New Florals (by Clare)

What a wonderful way to welcome Spring!  Chocolate Baroque has made some fantastic new floral stamps, but in a larger background size!  I have made a sample using the Floral Damask background.  This card is 5" by 5 1/4" square, and the background stamp covered it, plus some!  I stamped it twice, once in black ink on white cardstock, then again in black on burgundy cardstock.  The two flowers in the center were heat embossed, as well as the little border at the bottom.  The two flowers are just a sneaky-peek at what's to come!

 

Next is a card made with the Belle Flowers large background stamp.  I just love this one, and it's so fun to color!  The "Easter Greetings" sentiments are from the set, "Easter Traditions".

 

I'd like to wish each of you a very blessed and happy Easter!  Thanks for visiting!

 



Big bold backgrounds full of colour......

Hello there,

It's been a while but I am back from the 'project' which I have finished and I will soon reveal what kind of project that was.........so please be patient......
I've finished playing with the new backgrounds of Chocolate Baroque and will show them now. They are so lovely and great for colouring which I've been doing.
The first one is the Big bold background 'Leafy Brocade'. I stamped the first card onto kraftpaper and coloured it with a borrowed large box of Prisma colours and I must say 'they are gorgeous' to colour with! Beautiful vibrant colours and they are so full of pigments. The colours really pop out over the white ink. I only added a Word from the Artistic Expressions because I did not want to cover up this background.  I've been colouring that for a few hours so that would be a waste mmmm?

The 2nd one with this one is stamped onto Basic Grey scrappaper in a lovely lime colour. Also coloured with the Prisma's. I've added only a very open butterfly from Memorybox which I've embossed with clear Utee. And the word 'Bliss' from the Artistic Affirmations. Those 2 word sheets are really my favorites! 

The 3rd card is made using the big bold background 'Wildflower', a lovely sweet floral pattern. Also stamped on the same Basic Grey paper and coloured with the Prisma's. Here I've added an acrylic tag and embellishment with a word from the Artistic Expressions. 

And the last one.......is stamped onto pink Basic Grey paper with a soft canvas print. And again coloured with the Prisma's to which I have to say goodbye.......I really hope I can buy them in the future......The little rose image is a new clear stamp from CB and called 'Wild Rose sprig'

Well, I hope I have inspired you to stamp and get your pencils out and colour!

Creative greet,

Leafy Brocade and some recycling (posted by Claire)

Good morning everyone, Claire here with a project featuring one of the beautiful new Big Bold Bacnkground stamps, Leafy Brocade and some recycling

I began by dry brushing gold paint on some corrugated cardboard. My next layer was created by stamping the Leafy Brocade stamp on acetate with black stazon and layering that up over some textured card coloured with the scrummy paints from the Vintaj Patina 'Weathered Copper' set and attaching with some brads.

The large flower was made by cutting open a pop can and die cutting the metal with my tattered florals die, I used the same paints to colour the metal and the button in the centre. I also stamped with the gorgeous Leafy brocade background stamp. I curled the petals and layered them up over a flower i'd cut from a scrap of black funky foam. This was the first time I'd made one of these flowers and although the metal is very sharp when you cut the can, its not too bad once it has been die cut. I've added some ribbon and lace from my stash and a couple of flourishes, die cut with a Dienamics Flourish die. Here's another pic to show the dimension of the flower:

I used ranger memo pins glued into the top of the wall hanging and some chain from my stash to create the hanger

I hope you're enjoying the new stamps, as you can see I had a lot of fun with them

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Floral Damask with a Bold Bloom (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

I have a couple designs today using one of the new Big Bold (& Beautiful) Backgrounds,  Floral Damask.     I've combined the first one with a flower from the Bold Blooms set.

I used peacock coloured designer paper for the background, stamped the Floral Damask background with Versamark, embossed with clear and blended Gathered Twigs Distress Ink over top.    It's a different effect as the image is not 'sharp'.

I embossed the Flower & Leaves from Bold Blooms & Fresh Blooms with a metallic mix EP (gold, silver & bronze) twice, coloured with Distress Inks and added some glitter to the decoupaged center.

I decided to not add too much to the background of this second card below.

I used a gold embossing power that has a bit of glitter chunks in it.   As you can see, the image is sharper this time.  I blended Distress Inks (Peacock & Raspberry) over and then added the sentiment from Birthday Words with Spellbinder label behind (S4-235).

Please keep checking here as my talented teammates have lots more designs using the new stamps.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day,
Shirley

Big Bold Brocade in reds by Debbie

The Leafy Brocade stamp reminds me of luscious velvet fabric so I had red in my mind when starting this card. For the backing I stamped red onto Kraft card with the Wildflower big and bold stamp. Then with versamark ink stamped onto red card and used clear embossing powder. For the nearest panel I stamped onto white with versamark and carefully added black, bronze and red WOW embossing powder. Each of the panels had the edges distressed and mounted onto black for definition. The main image is one of the dress forms from the Haberdashery stamps. The ribbon in the corner was white and was coloured with alcohol pens. The roses and pins finish it off. Thanks for visiting Debbie

Stamp of the Week - Key to My Dreams

This week's Stamp of the week is Key to My Dreams, a lovely A5 set that contains some beautiful ornate keys and keyholes and a couple of really lovely sentiments.  Here's a closer look.

This is a tag that I made a couple of years ago with it - the shape of the longer keyhole lends itself to repeat stamping so I used it in a very soft orange to create a background.  I went to town a bit with the crystals to create the jewel-encrusted key.

 

As always, this is on special offer for just one week - click here for details.

Have a great weekend!

PS - a couple of dates for your diary - April 1st is Chocolate Baroque's second birthday and we'll have some celebrations on the day - make sure you're signed up to our email list to find out more.

Secondly, Friday May 3rd, we are having a one day Warehouse Sale at our premises in Barnard Castle - again details will be coming up in our weekly emails.

Leafy Trails Tissue Box plus template (posted by Claire )

Good morning folks, Claire here with a project featuring one of the lovely new Big Bold Background stamps, 'Leafy Trails'. I've used distress markers to colour the images and distress inks to add some colour.



I've used a border punch around the edges of the lid and added a nestie die cut circle over the hole in the top of the lid. I thought some pretty roses and a fresh green bow would  make a lovely finishing touch



I've drawn a template if you'd like to have a go at making one of these tissue box covers:

Here are a couple of tips that may be helpful if you make one:

If (like me) you don't have one of the larger die cutting machines you can still die cut a hole in the centre of the box lid. If you fold in the sides, it will fit through your cuttlebug

Its very difficult to get the hole in exactly in the same place on the box lid and on the mat but if you make a little frame using your nesties it will cover any untidy edges and look really pretty.

Make sure you use strong pva glue or tape, I used wet glue and held the corners in place with paper clips for a few minutes to dry.

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Wildflower Wedding Card by Debbie

I was delighted when Glenda announced to the Design Team that there were large stamps being produced. There are six to choose from unless like me and you love all of them and need them all. For this card I used the Wildflower Big Bold Background and Memento Teal Zeal ink. The card is an A5 size and I added the ribbon to cover where the stamp joined. I'm so impressed how crisp the image came out. I used the flower glass from Floral Bouquet with versamark ink and silver embossing powder then added hint of colour with pens to the flowers. I added a sentiment making it into a wedding card. These Big and Bold stamps are so versatile. Try to visit again as the girls on the Design Team have more fabulous creations coming. Debbie

Birdsong (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here's another project using the new large background unmounted stamps. This time, I have tried to create a vintage feel by stamping the Belle Flowers unmounted stamp onto sticky back canvas. I then coloured the image with Distress Markers. After some experimenting, I found that they were the option that did not bleed.

I have stamped a floral design using gold embossing powder from the Texture Fragments stamp set onto a piece of background paper. I have also added some little birdcages stamped onto acetate. These are from the Pretty Birdcage stamp set. I added some gold ribbon to 'hang' them from, and made little bows to add to the top of the birdcages. I embossed a bird from the Fly Away with Me stamp set, adding co-ordinating inks. Finally, I added a sentiment taken from the Sing Your Song stamp set to complete the project.

I have even used some recycled cardboard and dragged out my sewing machine for this one! Keep checking back for more fabulous projects from my Design Team mates over the coming days, thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Periwinkle Corners (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.

Here in Ontario, Canada we are still looking out our windows at piles of snow, but the sun is shining and they are starting to melt.     I have a card today using one of the new clear stamp sets,  Periwinkle Corners & Rosebud, which includes three pretty & delicate designs.   

I stamped the Periwinkle Corner onto Kraft paper and coloured with my Prisma Pencils.  I used a die cut oval and blended a little Crushed Olive and Black Soot Distress Ink around the edge.   I used a stamp from Textured Fragments around the first background.   I stamped the Periwinkle again around the 2nd background on Kraft Paper with black ink & blended Crushed Olive DI again.   I added little half pearls to the centers along with glitter.

Please keep checking back as my talented Teammates have many beautiful designs that will be posted here.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

An Indian Theme (posted by Elaine)

I have always loved the richness of the damask themed Chocolate Baroque stamps, so the big bold background stamps are right up my street!

I used four shades of metallic EP for this background in shades of green, teal and blue. I then shaded with Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire Distress inks. I added the fan from the Paisley Elephant plate, one of my all time favourite CB sets. This was embossed and inked, with highlights added with pencils. I added little gems, flower sequins around the edge and a little elephant charm in the centre.

The flowers are made from sari ribbon, stiched into flowers with beaded centres. I saw a textile supplier at the NEC trade show recently, using the ribbon in this way and felt inspired to get out my needle and thread and have a go myself!

I made another similarly embossed and shaded card with this stamp, this time in a green colour scheme.

You can read my recipe for this card over on my own blog here.

There is plenty more inspiration coming from my DT team mates very soon!

Elaine

Stamp of the Week - Baroque Eggs

This week's stamp of the week is the delicious Baroque Eggs.

When we launched this set last year, I made a video showing a gatefold Easter card - here's the card

and here's the video.

This is a lovely A4 set and it's definitely not just for Easter.  The texture in these stamps is amazing and they stamp into clay or UTEE with beautiful results.  I like to use them as a background for die cuts, stamped in a very pale pastel coloured ink.

 Here they are stamped into UTEE and decorated with Perfect Pearls.

Remember our Stamp of the Week prices are just what they say - only available for one week - so this set will go back up to full price on Friday 15th March.  Click here to see what our special offer price is.

Have a great weekend everyone!