Buddha creations by Miranda

Hi there,

I hope everyone has had a joyful Christmas and I wish you all a lovely and healthy 2014! I hope we can share a lot of new inspirations and make the world a bit more beautiful with the lovely designs of Chocolate Baroque.

I have worked with the new beautiful stamp designs of the Buddha's! The sheets are called 'Serenity' and 'Tranquility'. They are just up to my street as I love Buddha's. I was inspired by stone and wood images of Buddha's so here is my interpretation.......... I've used the 'Serenity'sheet here.
The first one is the 'stone' version made on grey Canson paper and cool shades of Pan Pastel and pencils. On the background I've used the Abstract elements, the craqueled stamp of the Echoes of Italy and one of the ornaments of the Indian stamps because they are such a good match with these Buddha's.

The quote is from the Words of Inspiration........

Here you can see the lovely shine of the metallic Pan Pastel added over an Indian ornament.

The 2nd one is the 'wood' version made with warm shades and gold accents. I've used also the Abstract Fragments , the Textured fragments and the Indian stamps in the background. Also made the base with Pan Pastels on brown Canson paper and added  accents with pencils afterwards.

the rich shine of the metallic bronze Pan Pastel......

I hope I gave you some ' serenity and tranquility' after these festive days and also some inspiration with these gorgeous stamps! Just one more day to go in 2013 and than up to the next year, 2014!

See you next year,

Serenity Tag Card (by Debbie)

Good morning. I hope everything is good and crafty today. I've certainly been enjoying the festive season with family and friends. I have also managed to enjoy a few hours play time with ink and stamps. These new stamps definitely help to bring a little serenity while working with them, the images are so beautiful.

I started with a large tag shape and stamped the serene lady with Memento Onyx Black which allowed me to colour with alcohol pens. I restricted myself to flesh colours as I wanted to add lots of colour to the background. Before colouring the background I cut a mask of the stamp and laid over the image. For the background I used Mown Lawn, Tumbled Glass and Ripe Persimmon distress ink then spritzed with a little water. I dried with a heat tool and stamped the flowers and blossom with French Ultramarine archival ink. I mounted onto black and found a piece of orange card and trimmed them to the shape of the tag. Many thanks for visiting and I wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Debbie

Tranquility in a Garden of Meditation (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

It's still a busy season so maybe you can use a little break in a tranquil garden.    I created this design using the new gorgeous Tranquility set.    

The background was created with Seedless Preserves and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks using an Acrylic block.   I stamped over the background with five different images from Tranquility mainly with Cobalt Archival ink.   The blossoms were stamped with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.    I coloured over it all with Prisma Pencils and added glitter to highlight which you can see in the photo below.

Thanks for your visit, I hope you can come back often to see what my talented teammates have to show:)

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year !
Shirley

Blue Skies (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with my first sample created using this months new stamps Tranquility and Serenity (you can find them here) I really enjoyed making this, it was such a nice change from all those Christmas cards.

I stamped the images with Mememto Tuxedo Black ink and added the Heron from Oriental Crane and coloured them with Graph'It markers. I used PanPastels to create the background and stamped the two little birds. The beauty of panpastels is that you can erase them so you don't need to worry about masking, if you go over on to your images just grab a pencil eraser and the PanPastel disappears. To finish off I've inked lightly around the edges with Broken China distress ink. Thanks for visiting today, keep popping back as my teamies have made some absolutely gorgeous projects with this month's new stamps.

Claire xx

A little Serenity and Tranquility (by Glenda)

I hope you have all enjoyed your Christmas Day and are having a relaxing break.  It is Boxing Day today and it is also the last Thursday of December which means this is our normal day to launch our new stamps for the following month.

So here's a little antidote the madness of all that rush and bustle that comes before Christmas - Tranquility and Serenity. 

They are both unmounted rubber A5 sets (approximately 14 x 20 cm) which will coordinate beautifully with many of our clear oriental sets.  There is also a multi-buy available and as always, they are at introductory prices as they are both our Stamps of the Month for January.

This one is called Serenity

And this one is Tranquility

The card below has a background created with Dylusions sprays and Crafter's Workshop templates.

I stamped the serene buddha on white card and coloured it with Inktense pencils then cut it out and put it on the background with just a simple flower.  With the background so busy, there was no need for anything else - she is the serene oasis, calm amongst the colour and pattern going on around her.

I'm really enjoying colouring in these beautiful new stamps and as I'm doing so, I'm finding myself wanting some new word stamps to go along with them, so I may just be presenting Adrian with a new set of word stamps at some point soon.


I hope you are all getting a chance to relax and play during the holidays.

Take care,

PS: We will be picking a winner again in January from all the comments left in December.  As we did last month, each DT member will nominate one commenter and I will select randomly from those names and the winner will get a Chocolate Baroque stamp voucher worth £20.00.    

Merry Christmas

Wishing you joy, health, love and peace this Christmas day.  May you enjoy good food, good company and good cheer!

 

With love from Glenda, Adrian and Lesley

Steampunk Owl (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a sample made with the gorgeous Steampunk Birds stamps. I'm really enjoying working with these stamps, really versatile and such fun designs too.

I've used the adorable owl stamp from the set, coloured with Graph'It Markers over a dry embossed background highlighted with gilding wax. The background was made with a cog stamp from Steampunk Butterfly and metallic PanPastels. The sentiment is from Steampunk Birds, die cut with a spellbinders die and topped with a little owl. I made the little owl with shrink plastic, coloured with Graph'It Markers and then dipped in UTEE.

To finish off I've added some screw brads and some gold ribbon.

Merry Christmas to you all, I hope Santa brings you lots of crafty goodies

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Colourful Steampunk Birds (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well during this busy Season.

I have a couple more designs today using stamps from the new Steampunk Birds set, the first one features the super cool Rooster, I love him !

The background started with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block technique.   Next I stamped the cog fragment from Steampunk Butterfly with Dusty Concord DI.   I stamped the grasses from Floral Edges with Seedless Preserves DI.   The Rooster was embossed with copper powder on separate card stock, coloured with Inktense pencils, cut out and attached.    The sentiment is from Birthday Words.

I used the quirky bouncing birds and birdhouse from Steampunk Birds to create the design below.

 

I started by stamping cogs from Punky Flowers with white Colorbox Pigment ink.    I blended green and blue pigment inks over top and then rubbed ink off the cogs for the ghost effect.   Next I blended a little Broken China Distress Ink with TCW Gears stencil at the top for the 'clouds'   The birdhouse, bouncing birds and sentiment from Steampunk Birds were stamped with Cocoa Memento Dye ink and coloured with Prisma pencils.    

Also, just in case you missed Glenda's exciting post yesterday, here is the link to her Open Design Team call.

Thanks for stopping by, 

Seasons Greetings!

Shirley

Design Team Call

I'm very excited to announce that Chocolate Baroque is currently looking for new people to add to our Design Team!  It's the first time we've ever put out an open call for new DT members, so we would absolutely love to hear from you.


I've drawn up some basic guidelines to try and answer any questions you may have and put it on a separate page - click here to read the information and get details of how to apply.

Please feel free to pass on this DT call to your friends or any bloggers out there who you think would be interested, we'd love to hear from you.

If you are attracted by the idea, but are worried about the commitment or the timing, why not apply anyway because we can always talk about those things.  Maybe you'd like to just do the odd guest post rather than have the commitment of regular monthly submissions - that's a possibility, but the application process is still the same.

If you have any questions not answered below, you can email me, but over the Christmas holidays, a better bet would be to message me on Facebook.

If you're tempted, but maybe not very confident then please be brave and have a go.  All communication is completely private and confidential and who knows, it could be the start of a whole new creative adventure! 

More Beautiful Florals (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and enjoying this busy time of year. 

I have two more floral designs using the new beautiful Floral clear stamps.

For the card above, I stamped the Big Bold Background - Wildflower on an orange/yellow sheet of designer paper with brown dye ink.  I also stamped the Peony with the brown ink and coloured both the background and main image with my Prisma pencils.  Joy is from Artistic Expressions.

And below is another design using the gorgeous Magnolia in a different colour combo.

The background was created with Seedless Preserves Distress Inks using the Acrylic Block technique.    All stamping was done with black Versafine Ink.   I coloured the Magnolia with Prisma pencils.  The corner flourishes are from the beautiful Fancy Flourishes clear set which I highlighted with a Gelly Roll pen and turquoise Pencil.

Thanks for your visit and enjoy the Season !
Shirley

Simple Flower cards (posted by Claire)

Good morning, my project today is a set of little cards made using the beautiful new clear flower stamps, these stamps are so pretty they don't need a lot of embellishments.

I've stamped the images on kraft card and coloured the images with Derwent Coloursoft Pencils and matted them on some green card. Quick and easy little cards, perfect for saying thank you for all those Christmas pressies 

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

A Trio of Cornflowers (by Debbie)

In the middle of the rush towards the festive season, I have a card that reminds me of days walking through the fields during the Summer. It won't be long and the dark nights will start to get shorter. The flower single Clear Stamps are delightful to colour.

When I had stamped the Cornflower three times with Memento black, I did a search of Pinterest to find pictures of the flower, the colours are amazing. I coloured with alcohol pens, the same for all three then trimmed and mounted onto a blue card. I was a little stuck for a background as I didn't want it to be to fancy working against the flowers so I set too with the pens I'd used to colour the Cornflowers. With my glass matt and a ruler I drew lines with the fine tip of the pen creating a checked background. I started by drawing the darker blue at one centimetre intervals and five millimetres and then in between with the lighter blue and green pens. When finished I trimmed the background, added a sentiment and the stamped images, the centre flower is raised on foam pads.

Many thanks for visiting, Debbie.

Love with a Steampunk Owl (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

I have a card today featuring the fun Owl from the new Steampunk Birds set.  I plan to give this to my husband on his next birthday as he really likes the Steampunk designs.

 

The background is Turquoise Dylusions Ink which I stenciled over with TCW Gear stencil.    I stamped the cog fragment from Steampunk Butterfly with Peacock and Walnut Distress Inks.    Love is from Artistic Expressions.   The Owl was embossed with copper powder and coloured with Tombow markers.  I carefully cut him out and popped him up on the background. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Delightful Flower (by Debbie)

There are so many beautiful flowers in bloom during the spring and summer seasons that treat our eyes to a festival of colours and the Fritillary amazes me with its checked petals. Nature has created the most amazing patterns.

For the flower I stamped with black Versafine, embossed with clear powder and coloured with a Graph'it pen the colour is Bougainvillea which is a beautiful deep purple colour. I lifted a little of the colour near the tips of the flowers with Copic blender pen. I purchased the Nestablities 5x7 Elegant Labels set during the Summer and used it to cut out the flower panel and background from purple. I added a rectangle of white card and fixed it to a purple card. These dies are so detailed I only need to add a sentiment to the bottom. Thank you for stopping by, Debbie

Steampunk home (posted by Claire)

Good morning everyone, my sample today features the fabulous  Steampunk Birds, these stamps are such fun and so versatile. I decided to create a new home card combining the new stamps with one of the quirky little cottages from Sunburst Scenes

The background was made using PanPastels, I used a die cut cog as a stencil to create the sun. I coloured the cottage with Graph'It markers. The main images were also coloured with Graph'Its and decoupaged for a little depth. The sentiment is from Home Sweet Home. I matted the scene on some brown card and layered it up on some Kraft resist paper that I'd coloured with Forest Moss distress ink.

Thanks for visiting today,

Claire xx

Baby duck (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a Steampunk sample of a softer variety to show you today. I wanted to create a congratulations card for a new baby using the paddle duck image from the Steampunk Birds stamp set, and so I chose soft pastel tones to create my card. I created a background using a texture stamp from the Nature Fragments stamp set, which I embossed with white embossing powder. I then covered the card using Squeezed Lemonade and Spun Sugar Distress Inks, before stamping the texture stamp again with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. I decoupaged the duck image, using three layers (the base layer is on the card), and I coloured the image with Distress Markers. I added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set.

Some green lace and pink safety pins finish the card.Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Steampunkbirds by Miranda....

Hello there,

Today it's my turn to show you some of my creations with these funny Steampunk birdies! It is such fun playing with them and combine them with gears ,embossingfolders, stencils and also with the TH tissuewrap. I've used  technique tiles this time, a chipboard material in all kind of shapes. I've used the circles.(2nd card) I've combined the steampunk owl with the steampunk trees from the Steampunk Christmas sheet.

I've made the first card in real Christmas colours and used the owl. The quote is also suitable for Christmas I think, because without love it all means nothing mmm? I've used Distress inks Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries. The white dots are a chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous. The owl is coloured with twinkling H2o's and some gold ink.

Now on to the 2nd card where I've used the tissue wrap and the technique tiles. The pattern you see in the technique tile is from the Abstract Fragments, such a versatile sheet to use. I love all the fragment sheets.......The tissue wrap is also great to use in every way and on every shape or material. I've blended the tissue wrap a bit with Distress inks and beneath it I've stamped the fragment of the Punky Romance sheet. You can see a glimpse of it shining through the tissue wrap. I glued the tissue wrap with Glue 'n seal and coloured the butterfly with Distress inks. I've attached all the elements and added some metal wire. 

How did I make the tiles:

I've blended them with Distress inks and stamped the birds or the fragment pattern onto it. The birds were coloured with Distress markers. Than I've triple embossed with clear EP using Versamark and when the layer was still warm I've pressed the clean stamp into it. Than I've applied some perfect pearl powder in the relief which gave it a lovely shine.

Just adding a 3rd card which I've already posted on my own blog but maybe you did not seen it yet.....

if you want more details you can take a look there;

http://miracleartinspirations.blogspot.nl/2013/12/steampunk-birdsnew-stamps-chocolate.html

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask and I hope I have inspired you!

Thanks for watching and your visit and comments are always appreciated,

till next time,

Two little dickie birds (by Debbie)

sitting in a tree (well flowers for my card). The title came from a rhyme my Mum used to say to me, one was called Peter and one called Paul. While making this card they verse constantly went around my head.

This card definitely evolved from the birds I stamped and coloured, I used alcohol pens and triple embossed with clear powder. The background needed to be colourful but dark to help the birds stand out from it. I used salty ocean, peacock feathers and picked raspberry and smooshed them randomly onto white card. The birds needed something to perch on so I reached for the flowers from the Punky Flowers and stamped and coloured them with water colour pencils. I added clear Wink of Stella glitter, I think the photograph shows how rich these pens are with sparkle. To create a border I stamped one of the flower heads with picked raspberry randomly around the edge. Finally, I used a bright pink, black and bright blue card to triple mount, highlighting the colours I used. Thanks for visiting. Debbie.

Bliss with Gorgeous New Florals (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

I love the new gorgeous Floral clear stamps and thoroughly enjoy working with them.  I used the new beautiful Snake's Head Fritillary on this card:

   
The background was created with Vibrant Turquoise and Cut Grass Dylusions spray inks.   I added a little sea salt while the inks were still wet.   I stamped branches from Spring Foliage with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink and the rest of the stamping was done with Cobalt Blue Archival ink.   The foliage at the top is also from Spring Foliage and the bottom edge is from Floral Edges.   I highlighted the Fritillary and branches at the top with Prisma Pencils.   Bliss is from Artistic Affirmations, another word stamp set that I use frequently.  I also added glitter on the top branch and on the leaves of the Fritillary.

Thanks for your visit and I hope you can come back often, as we have lots to show you:)
Shirley

Marvellous Magnolia (by Debbie)

I'm delighted that one of my favourite flowers is now available for me to play with. I have a four year old Magnolia bush in the garden that we planted five years ago and it is such a pleasure to see the buds bursting through, one of the signals spring is on its way. It releases the most beautiful perfume during the evening.

The stamp is a lovely size and I stamped it twice with black Memento ink. I coloured with light pink onto the base of the petals and green alcohol pens for the branches. I trimmed around the flowers and as they are at the edge of the card I added pink card behind. Next, I stamped the sentiment onto white and die cut with a nestablilitie. With next size nestablitie I cut out a pink backing, glued together and added to the card. I tied a white organza bow around near the folded edge. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day. Debbie

Well done to our November winner

Last month I announced that I would be doing a different kind of blog giveaway based on asking each DT member to pick their favourite comment from the month.  I would then put the list into the random number generator choose one person to win a £20 gift certificate.

So the girls duly sent me their choices and the outcome was actually unanimous - they had all chosen comments by the same person!

So I'm delighted to announce that Paula (PEP) is this month's voucher winner!!

Congratulations Paula - we all really appreciate you taking the time to leave such thoughtful and detailed comments.  You win £20.00 to spend on stamps of your choice from the Chocolate Baroque stamp range (clear or rubber).  I will be in touch with the details.

We are going to continue with this, so please take a moment when you read any of our blog posts to just leave a little word or two of praise or encouragement - it really helps the girls to feel valued and stimulates them to keep on exercising those creative muscles to bring you fresh inspiration.  Who knows, it could be you winning the voucher at the end of December!

Steampunk goes French Country (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have another sample using the Steampunk Birds rubber stamp set to show you today. I love this image, and wanted to give it a French Country feel, as soon as I saw it. I have coloured the image with Inktense pencils, and inked around the edge of the card with Distress Ink. I have used dark green card to mat my layers, and added some gingham ribbon and a couple of cogs, in keeping with the steampunk theme. The sentiment is from the Loving Sentiments stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Owl you need is Love (by Debbie)

Hello. I decided to make a bright and colourful background for this little owl to sit against. So out came the inks, stamps and stencils.

For the owl I used glossy card and distress inks and stamped with Archival black as I used Versafine wasn't drying on the card. He is a little cutie and not so tricky to cut out. For the background I started colouring a white piece of card with squeezed lemonade, peeled paint and peacock feathers. With stormy sky I stencilled through a circle mask and then stamped with the wavy lines stamp from Abstract Fragments. I had my melt pot handy and poured UTEE onto the stamp and cut out a wavy edge heart. When it cooled I rubbed with gold wax to highlight the detail. Finally I stamped the sentiment and added to the top corner. The Design Team have lots of beautiful samples to show so please pop back. Thanks for visiting. Debbie

Christmas Farewell (by Clare)

Hello!  It's almost that time of year again!  Christmas!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by, although having to sit without being able to do much makes time seem to drag by.  I am so sad to say that after having a fourth surgery on my left shoulder, one on my right elbow and right shoulder upcoming, I am stepping down from the design team for a while.  I haven't been able to keep up with all my talented and creative team mates!  I hope you enjoy these few last cards of mine.  I wish each and every one of you Merry Christmas, a blessed holiday, and a prosperous and healthy New Year!  I will miss you all!

This first card was made with two stamps.  The background is from the Winter Edges set, and the main image is from the Reindeer Landscape set.  I used a wood-look embossing folder on the blue base, and placed two rows of glue and blue chunky glitter across the bottom.  The background was stamped in dark blue on white cardstock, then cut in half to fit across the 6" width behind the main image.  The deer landscape was stamped on white and heat embossed in teal blue.  I used a sponge dauber and blue inks in three different shades on the top and bottom.  There is light blue sparkle sheer ribbon 1" wide tied around the top, with a small piece of teal 1/8" wide satin ribbon tied around the center and a plastic snowflake button glued over that. I adhered the main panel over all with dimensional squares.

The card just below was made using the ornament edges from the Christmas Edges stamp set, and a bauble stamp from the Pears and Baubles set.  The white card base background was stamped in dark green with the bauble edge stamp after cutting the card out with a large die. I cut a smaller green panel with a smaller die, then positioned a scalloped-edged die in the middle of the green card cutting it twice to create the desired effect.  A white oval was die cut and lifted off the green panel with dimensional dots.  The beautiful bauble was stamped and heat embossed in white on dark green cardstock, then touched up with a silver marker.  I hand cut this out then positioned it on the white oval with dimensionals.  A piece of 1/8" wide silver ribbon was tied around and rhinestones placed to enhance.  (the green is a dark forest green, not teal as this looks)  The final touch was a thin line of silver marker around the periphery.

The next card is a favorite of mine!  I love the color purple (for royalty) and this turned out so pretty combined with the plum and silver.  My camera shot didn't do it justice!  I made a card base from white cardstock, and covered the front completely with purple/lavender paper.  I heat embossed both the deer image and the trees, using purple and silver, respectively.  Purple and plum ink was daubed onto the top and bottom of the image, as well as on the horizon.  The trees were hand-cut, and positioned with dimensional dots, giving the view some depth.  Some iridescent silver ribbon 1/8" wide was glued around the outside edge of the image, and was very easy to do.  A super CAS card!  The stamp set I used is Reindeer Landscape.

I'm really fond of this next card, because I love Poinsettias, and Chocolate Baroque has really done a great job with these Zentangled ones.  The stark red and black on white is really striking!  I've used two stamp sets on this card - Christmas Edges, and Joyful Christmas.  The card base is white, with dry embossed dots across the top half of the front.  The Christmas Edges poinsettia stamp was used in black across the bottom, and I applied some tiny little shiny red stickers for the centers.  Red was daubed all around the outside edges of the card.  Red 3/8" grosgrain ribbon was glued across the center of the card, with red cording glued over that.  I stamped the larger flowers from the Joyful Christmas set two times, then cut them out and layered them for dimension.  Yellow rhinestones were glued to the centers.  I framed the sentiment with red cardstock after stamping in black, then glued on.  A very easy card to make!
  

This next card is an easel.  It's  4 1/2" wide by 11" total length, scored at the 2" and 4 1/2" marks.  It's folded in half, then the bottom 2" flap is folded up.  I cut a piece of coordinating card stock (red) to 4 1/2" wide and 4" top to bottom, then scored in half widthwise.  Unfolded, I die cut the top edge (inside) with a scalloped edge, the inside the bottom, used another scalloped edge die to make the design through which the white card base is seen.  I stamped the sentiment in black.  With this flap folded down, I glued a little plastic snowflake button in the center for the top front to catch on forming the "easel".  For the top front, I cut a piece of patterned coordinating paper to fit, leaving only 1 3/4" of the white card base showing at the bottom.  Using a scalloped die, I cut the same as on the front in the bottom white edge.  On the bottom right of the patterned paper, I stamped in black the tree grouping from the Winter Edges set.  I placed some red shiny sticker circles on the garlands on the trees.  At the top of the card in the score line, on the left about 1 " in from the left edge, I used a craft knife to cut  a 1/8" cut to thread the yarn through with a needle.  Before tying into a bow, I threaded a plastic tree onto the yarn to finalize the card.

This next card is another favorite of mine, and I love the icy feel of it.  I used an "all-over" punch to make the snowflakes in the white panel which was glued over the white card base, shaded with stamp paints in blue and lavender.  I stamped the three different snowflakes and embossed in silver, tinting the center or the edges with light blue ink and a dauber.  I cut them out by hand.  The snowflakes and trees are from the Reindeer Landscape set.  The trees were stamped on white with silver embossing, then shaded in with markers.  I stamped the sentiment "Winter Wonderland" from the set Bold Christmas Words on blue cardstock then embossed it in white.  I cut it out with a large banner die, and shaded the edges in blue stamp paint.  Before gluing everything down, except for the snowflakes which I adhered with dimensional dots, I tied a piece of 1" wide sheer blue ribbon around the bottom, and tied a bow, gluing a small blue snowflake brad in the center.

This last card is a wonderful image of a winter fairy.  She originally had a fall of roses in her hands, but since I was making her for Christmas, I changed it up with holly boughs.  She was so much fun to color!  Love those wings!  She comes from the new set, February Fairies.  For the top and bottom borders, I used the holly edge stamp from the newly released Christmas Edges. 

Again, I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy and Healthy New Year, and I've really enjoyed working with all the wonderful design team ladies!  Please continue to check back for their amazing work!  Here's to better health, healing and getting back into the swing of everything Chocolate!  Yum, yum! 

I'd like to thank Glenda and Adrian for being so generous, and their patience during my learning how to manage a blog entry, working with editing of photos, and computer glitches.  Lesley, I wish you continued healing, and pray that you will be back to "normal" very quickly!  Sue, thank you for drawing up some gorgeous "must-have" stamps!  You're amazing! 

Merry Christmas, with love!

Clare