New stamps - Glasgow style

Firstly I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to send in an application to join our Design Team.  When I first launched the call for new Designers, I felt like an anxious hostess at a party, wondering if anyone would turn up.  Well I needn't have worried, we have received far more applications than I anticipated and it's been a real treat seeing all your artwork.

Tomorrow (Friday 31st Jan 2014) is the absolute last day I will accept any more applications, then we have the mammoth task of going through them all carefully.  Everyone who applied should have received an email from me just to acknowledge that I have received the application.  If you have sent me your application and not heard anything, please get in touch.

Now onto today's news - it's end of the month which means we are launching our February stamps!  This month we've taken Charles Rennie Mackintosh as our inspiration and our talented artist, Sue, has once again come up with a beautiful interpretation of that very classic Glasgow style.

We have Mackintosh Windows:

and Mackintosh Beauty:

Naturally there's a money saving multi-buy if you can't choose between them.

And finally, I've put together a little mini set of sentiments using some really lovely Mackintosh inspired fonts.

Click on any of the images above to go to the product on the website.

This card features the lady from Mackintosh Rose, watercoloured with a mix of Distress and Memento markers (scribbled onto an acrylic block and mixed with water).

She is stuck onto an embossed panel then I've added some very subtle shading in the background using a Crafter's Workshop Template called Echoes.


Professor Polymer is busy making the Mackintosh Sentiments as fast as his little fingers will go, but we sold out of our first batch by lunchtime, so we can see this is going to be a very popular set.  Even if we are out of stock, you can still order them, just allow an extra day or two for us to process your order and get them sent.

Watch out as always for the lovely artwork coming up and have a great weekend!

Because I Care (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have card today that was 'quick to make' using the gorgeous new sets Tranquility and Serenity.  I thought this would work for an occasion when you want to cheer someone up or even as a sympathy card.

The background behind the tree and bird was created with alcohol inks on glossy paper.    I stamped the tree and bird from Serenity and sentiment from Pretty Poppies with black Archival Ink.   The second background was created with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink using the Acrylic block technique.  I over stamped with the vine from Tranquility using Seedless Preserves DI.   

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Blog Winner

Oh my, where has the month gone?!  Seriously, I am so behind with stuff thanks to some sort of virusy-bug thing which wiped me out for a few days.  So I'm playing catch up and I'm here to announce that our star commenter for December is Pat of Colourful Card Creations.

Congratulations Pat, you win a £20.00 voucher to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps!   Can you drop us a quick email to confirm your email address and I'll send you your gift certificate.

Thanks to all of you for leaving such lovely and encouraging comments.  We will be giving out another prize next month to one lucky commenter picked from all the January blog posts, so it could be you!

Serenity (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a card made using one of the beautiful new stamps 'Serenity'

I've coloured the image with Graph'It markers and layered it up over a gold embossed image. The backing paper is from the Prima Firefly pad, stamped with one of the Gothic Fragments and embossed with gold. I've edged the paper with a gold krylon pen

thank you for visiting today

Claire xx

Oriental Screen (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here is a sample showcasing some more of this month's oriental stamps, and mixing in a couple of older stamps as well. I have detailed the construction of the project on My Blog so take a look if you are interested.

I stamped the background stamps taken from the Tranquilty and the Moonlit Waterfall stamp sets onto some backing paper, and coloured them with Inktense pencils. I then used Images from Oriental Crane and Serenity/Tranquility Multibuy to stamp my main images, which I also coloured with pencils.

I punched a leaf image from the top of each screen panel, and added some tiny gems for decoration.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

a bit a la Monet.......by Miranda

 Hi there,

Today two cards made with the new Buddha sheets from Chocolate Baroque. You already know they are up to my street, they are so lovely to play with........ When I've used a Crafters stencil on the background..... stamped and coloured the images....I thought it looked a bit like the paintings of Monet......just a little bit.....I've used a great product, Crystal gel hologram from Viva Decor. It's a transparant gel with glitter and pieces of mica and it has a lovely sparkly shine. I've used one of my favorite Crafters stencils 'Cell theory'

And the 2nd card, also made on a background with the acrylic bloc technique using the same stencil and a product called Viva Decor Kristall hologram gel. I've used also some of the lovely Memorybox dies. 

For a better view at the structure ......doesn't it have a great sparkly effect?

May your day sparkle too! Thanks for visiting......

Japanese Water Garden (posted by Judith)

I have created a scene for you using the Serenity Tranquility Multibuy stamp offer. I have stamped the main images, and then masked over them before stamping the flowers to fill in the background. The path at the bottom was created using the Landscape Edges stamp set.

I have coloured the project with pencils.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Joy is Not in Things (by Shirley)

Hello everyone !  I hope you are having a great January. 

I have another Buddha Lady from the gorgeous new Serenity A5 set.  

The background is Turquoise Dylusions Ink over stamped with various images from Tranqulity, Serenity, Wisteria Lane, and the bubble edge from Decorative Edges with Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks and highlighted with Prisma Pencils.   The background landscape behind the Buddha is sponged Distress Inks using ripped paper and a circle cut-out.   The fantastic sentiment is from Words of Inspiration.

I cut the Buddha out (removed the structure she was in), coloured with Prisma Pencils and popped up her up.   I added some glitter to her lotus seat.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Sunny lotus (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another samples using this months new stamps. I thought it would be nice to make a bright sunny card, perhaps a get well card or even for Mothers Day. 

I've used this beautiful image from Serenity and stamped the lotus with Memento Ink before colouring with Graph'It markers. I've die cut with spellbinders Floral Ovals. The background was made using Wild Honey, Scattered Straw and Rusty Hinge  distress inks and the acrylic block technique before roughly stamping the flower with versamark and embossing with white embossing powder. I've added some lace, gingham ribbon and matted it  all on a scalloped card blank.

Thanks for popping by, hope you're enjoying the new stamps as much as we are

Claire xx

Tranquil Tree (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I wanted to create a masculine card with an oriental feel using the stamps of the month. I created a background by embossing some kraft card with a stencil through my die cutting machine and then adding a soft touch of colour for definition. I added a wash of colour to a piece of handmade paper and stamped the tree and bird from the Serenity stamp set using brown archival ink.

I made a 'stone' by cutting a piece of card into an oval shape and punching a hole in one end before applying some texture paste. I stamped the word Tranquility taken from the Tranquility stamp set. I added some acrylic paint over the top in various shades of brown, and blue, drying the paint after each application. Finally, I added some dark brown, which I wiped away before it was dry. The paint settled into the letters.

I tied the 'stone' to the card using some string in a criss cross design.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A Tranquil moment captured in a frame (by Debbie)

Good Morning. Rather than making a card with these beautiful stamps, I chose to make a piece of art to frame and display in my craft room. At the moment the walls are all white after being newly decorated and I've decided they will stay that colour as it feels a lot bigger to work in.

The lady is from Serenity and the branches and irises are from Tranquility set of stamps. I stamped the lady with Versafine Onyx Black and embossed her with clear powder then coloured with Alcohol Pens. I cut out the lady so I could add her to the scene. For the background scene I used Distress inks with highlights of white pen. The frame came with a mount and I stamped it with a paisley style stamp from Dusky Damask and embossed with gold powder and then rubbed with red guilding wax and buffed to gain a sheen. I have taken photographs as I worked to make the background and will add these to my blog today, Craft Flossie . Thank you for visiting today. Debbie xx

Serene Bamboo (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here's a sample from me using the lovely Serenity stamp set. I created a background using Distress Inks, and added a segment of bamboo stalks by spreading some texture paste through a stencil. I used another stencil to create the feeling of stonework on the background, repeating my original colours. I stamped the bamboo stalks from the Moonlit Waterfall stamp set.

I coloured the buddha image with Distress Markers and then stuck the image in front of the bamboo stalks. I added a sentiment before matting the project onto green card.

There have been some great samples this month from my Team mates, keep checking back for more inspiration in the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Texture and a Lotus Flower (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope 2014 is starting out wonderful for you.

I have another design today using images from the beautiful Serenity and Tranquility A5 sets.

I started by creating texture using a stencil with light molding paste.  Chocolate Baroque has a  great stencil selection here.    After letting it dry I sprayed with Dylusions inks (Cut Grass, London Blue & Turquoise) and rubbed Inka Gold over parts of the raised areas.    I stamped the water Irises from Tranquility on the bottom RH side with Peacock Feathers DI and the vine also from Tranquility at the top LH side with Mowed Lawn DI.  I highlighted the background images with Prisma pencils (a technique inspired by Miranda).

I stamped the  Lotus flower from Serenity with Cobalt Archival ink, sprayed again with Dylusions and then coloured with Prisma pencils.  I added a little glitter to the water and centers of the flowers.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Gelli Landscape (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample made with this months gorgeous new releases.  I was inspired to have a play with my Gelli plate after seeing Glenda's fabulous landscape project a couple of weeks ago (you can see it here)

I actually made a whole batch of backgrounds using this techniques and this was one that I wasn't really keen on until I added some distress ink. I began by using a sponge to apply some pearlesent white acrylic paint on to my gelli plate with a sponge, I then applied bronze acrylic paint with a palette knife to create the landscape. I pulled of several prints and once they were dry I added some distress inks. This one used Weathered Wood over the sky and vintage photo over the sand.

Next I stamped the lanterns (from Tranquility and Serenity) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and added colour with Graph'It Markers. I stamped the tree in with black archival ink and then added the sentiment (from Artistic Affirmations) and matted the scene on white and then grey cardstock

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Tranquil Wisteria (by Glenda)

And breathe ....

We've just had the busiest two days ever at Chocolate Baroque as we battled through the mountain of orders placed during the holidays (thank you everyone!).  Our stamp pixies have been working the presses as fast as their little fingers could fly and packets and parcels have been flying out of the door. 

So a little Tranquility is just what's needed to recharge the batteries this weekend.

 

If you click on this image and zoom in on the detail, you may think the skin looks a little weird.  Actually in real life it looks ok, but the camera has bounced light off the white and it's ended up looking like a bad case of eczema!  You see the whole thing has been stamped onto a coloured background.  I decided to lighten the skin with my Picket Fence marker before colouring with skin tones and it didn't really work.  The marker didn't seem to do much until I added colour over the top, at which point it looked a little blotchy, so I went over that with pencils.   

I stamped the wisteria by colouring the stamp with distress markers and misting with water before stamping several times in various shades of purple.  Some have come out quite watery and abstract, while others are sharper. After it was dry, I stamped a few times with archival ink over the top.

The main image is watercoloured with distress markers and there's a bit of coloured pencil over the top too.  The background card is stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray.

Here's hoping you get a little tranquility into your weekend too!

Tranquility is one of our Stamps 

of the Month for January 2014

Tranquil Tags (by Debbie)

Happy New Year and all the best for the coming year. I have made a couple of tag cards from the firstly Tranquility Stamps and any one with an eagle eye will spot I mixed the wording up on them, so sorry if I've confused. The two sets work so beautifully together it's hard not to use a combination of both.

I started with stamping the Buddha Lady sitting on the stones with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured her with Alcohol Pens. I then cut a paper circle to mask a moon and laid over the image. Tumbled Glass Distress Ink was used for the sky and I was careful to not put to much ink over the area already coloured. The branches from the tree on the Serenity set is ideal for framing the scene.

The second tag is made from stamps from the Serenity set. Again, I started by stamping the main images of the water flowers and the lantern and coloured with pens. For the water and hills I used torn paper as masks with sponges and various colours of distress inks. I love the moon rising against a pink/blue sky of a sunset. Many thanks for visiting. Debbie

Serenity for 2014 (by Shirley)

Happy New Year!   I hope 2014 brings you happiness, health, serenity and lots of creative activities.

I have a design today using the new gorgeous Serenity A5 set.

The background is Teal & Turquoise Dylusions ink.  I stencilled a little over top with TCW Pointy Circles and stamped in the background with a beautiful feather image from Peacock Parade.   I embossed with gold UTEE around the edge of the background.

I embossed the Buddha from Serenity with gold directly over the background.   I stamped a second Buddha image with Cobalt Archival ink and embossed a third image with gold powder on separate cardstock.   Next I decoupaged the cobalt Buddha and the gold Lotus chair and layered over the main image.   I embossed the smaller feather images also from Peacock Parade with gold and decoupaged as shown.  All the images were coloured with Prisma and Inktense pencils. 

Thank you for your visits and comments, we appreciate them all and hope you can come back often.
Have a great day
Shirley