Steampunk Valentines (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have two designs to show today using the fabulous new Punky Hearts set.

The card above has a batik painting look to it (at least to me it does).   I used Sapphire Distress spray in the background.  I stamped gears from Steampunk Butterfly with Sapphire & Mahogany Distress Inks.

Next I stamped the roses with Cobalt Archival ink and bleached (using bleach, water & brush and blotting with a paper towel roll) where I wanted to paint.   I used Distress Paints to colour and highlighted a little with a white pen.   I embossed with a cog folder on the white mat.

 And below is the large steampunk heart from the fabulous set:

I created the small background with Tea Dye, Tattered Rose and Bronze Distress Stain Sprays but you could also use Distress Inks.     I stamped using the hearts with Walnut Distress Ink and painted with copper acrylic paint using a harlequin stencil.

The large heart was embossed with copper and painted with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress ink (using water and ink on my craft mat).

The large background was created with Broken China Distress Paint and stamped with a fragment from Harlequin Fragments with Broken China Distress Ink.

My husband likes both of these designs, I think I'll give him the bottom one.

Thanks for your visit and have a great Valentines Day!
Shirleyx

Gelli Heart (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a Valentine card made using 'Punky Hearts', I love these new stamps and had a lot of fun making this card.

I began by taking making a background using my gelli plate and brayering on some Rhubarb Stalk Memento Ink. I used the 12x12 Prima 'Flowers' stencil and took some prints. I used one as a base for this card, over stamping with the heart background stamp and also inking in some of the flowers using the same stencil. I used a corner punch to round the corners and matted on white and then black card.

To create the topper I stamped and embossed the clockwork heart stamp with Gold Embossing powder and added colour with pencils before inking around the edges with Rhubarb stalk and black ink. Again I matted on white and then black card.

I used a red card blank and popped the heart topper up on 3d foam pads and added a red bow topped with a black button to finish off.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

New stamp launch (by Lesley)

It's hard to believe that I am already announcing our new stamps for February. There's snow on the ground and it is decidedly chilly but in stamp land it can be whatever season we choose so hopefully these new sets will remind you of warmer, sunnier days.

You will be spolit for choice with these two fabulous A4 sets - first there is Sketchy Doodle Landscape

followed by Sketchy Doodle Flowers

and of course we have our usual money saving multi-buy.

Click here to see these stamps on the website now.

What is really exciting this month is the fact that we are also have some of these designs as individual cling mounted stamps.

Click here to visit our new Cling Singles department where you will find all of Chocolate Baroque's individual cling mounted rubber stamps.

There are some good sized images in both of these sets which will allow you to make a real impact on your artwork.

Here I have stamped a selection of flowers onto a coloured background, cut them out and mounted onto a black card, adding a simple sentiment to finish.

There is so much scope in these designs that I just know that you will find a myriad ways to use them.

I've seen some of the DT artwork coming up with these stamps and I think you better get your sunglasses out - there's a colour riot coming along - don't forget to check in every day to see a new piece of artwork.

Guest Post - Butterfly Canvas by Julie Smith

How soon the weeks pass, we are already at Julie's last post as a guest designer and this week she has a stunning canvas to share with us.

Hello to you all, today I have a canvas for my third and final post as January's guest designer which I have created using the fabulous Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts stamp sets.

I started by covering the canvas board with Golden Molding Paste and dragging a contour tool through the paste to create texture. I added jute, wooden butterfly and bird charms, micro glass beads and a chipboard die cut cog to the wet paste and then set aside to dry.

Once dry I painted it with light pink and mint green acrylic paint so that the base was as light in colour as possible. Once dry I darkened the canvas by stenciling green dots and adding a variety of distress inks over the top. The flower was created by stamping the smaller heart four times from the Punky heart set. The centre of the flower is a small die cut circle layered up with a cheap bracelet charm picked up from Primark!

The butterfly and heart was stamped onto Clearly For Art Modeling film, I then sprayed alcohol pens on the reverse and then painted over the reverse with white Gesso to make the colour pop.

I stamped the jewelled heart using black Versafine and coloured with green and red chalks. I then punched a hole to add an eyelet and jump ring so that I could attach the chain to the steampunk style heart.

The steampunk heart was created by spreading Iridescent Paste over the rubber stamp and leaving over night to dry. Once dry I coloured the heart by spraying various alcohol pens and then attaching an eyelet to the key so that the chain could be attached.

Thanks to everyone that has left a very kind and very appreciated comment, I have really enjoyed being a guest designer and you have all made me feel very welcome.

Thank you for this inspiring project Julie and for being our guest for the last three weeks.  I am sure you will want to show your appreciation for Julie's final work of art and remember to check out her blog, Julie's Crafty Bits.

Love is in the air (by Debbie)

 

 

Good morning. We take inspiration from many different places and my card today

was inspired by our Design Team member Doreen. She has made a couple of cards using her Gelli Plate and it prompted me to find mine and have a play.

 

 

 

I like to use Adirondack dye ink pads as the ink doesn't puddle on the Gelli Plate.

I inked the plate with a brayer using Stream coloured ink pad then place the heart stamp from Fluttering Hearts onto it. Each time I cleaned the stamp with kitchen paper to remove the ink.

 When I had filled the plate I laid the card onto it, taking a print. The advantage of using the ink is that the plate is much easier to clean.

The topper is stamped with Black Memento ink and coloured with alcohol pens. I love the blue and red together so matted onto red card.

 

At the end of last year I attended a journal class. I decided I would use it for techniques that I love

 and would be able to catalogue my favourite bits and bobs.

The background for these pages was a sheet of card that I had sprayed inks and shimmer sprays.

I glued it into my journal ready to add to at a later date.

I stamped the hearts with red ink and stencilled onto the pages.

The words are from Artistic Expressions and I think they fit well with the Rose and Punky Heart which were stamped onto card, coloured then cut out and glued onto the pages

 

 

Thanks for visiting

Debbie

A Wooden Door Plaque by Doreen

Hello to you all, I am  back sharing a sample made from the new stamps

 that have just been released for January .

"Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts"

I have decorated a wooden Plaque this time,first covering this with blue and white acrylic paint and sanding it down before stamping my image on.this was then coloured with distress inks Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn.

 The butterflies have been stamped onto paper coloured with distress ink Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers and fussy cut.

True Love (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Today I have 2 more card projects to show you, featuring the Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts stamps.

First up is an easel card, made using the the big heart stamp from the Fluttering Hearts A5 sheet. I heat embossed in white, blended some the Distress Inks and fussy cut to create His and Hers hearts. More Distress Ink for the background with some tone-on-tone stamping using a leaf from the Autumn Poppy A4 sheet. To finish this card I added some bling and ribbon.

For my second card I wanted to "soften" the punk in Punky Hearts. I started by creating a faux vellum feel for the background - made entirely with Distress Inks and a stencil. I also did some zigzag stitching to bring back some edginess. I coloured the rose with alcohol markers, fussy cut and adhered it to the card base. To bring back the punk - Metal!  Silver marker, silver eyelets and silver thread offer the perfect finishing touch.  The sentiment is from the Loving Sentiments A5 sheet.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner these love-inspired Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts stamp sheets will get plenty of use! As always, details of inks, colours, tools and other products used to create these cards are available on my blog. Don't forget to swing by regularly for more crafty ideas from the rest of the DT.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Valentine Rose (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you today using the Punky Hearts stamp sheet, currently on offer on the website.

I began my project by stamping and masking the punky rose on a piece of smooth watercolour paper. I then covered the background with a stencil, and using a light brown inkpad, I coloured through the stencil. With the stencil still in place, I stamped the crackle stamp from the Echoes of Italy stamp set all over the background, using a darker brown ink. I stamped the image onto scrap paper each time first, so that I got a lighter image. This is called 'second generation stamping', as I did not want the ink to be too dark. Once the ink was dry, and with the stencil still in place, I brushed a layer of acrylic wax over the top, and allowed this to dry.

I removed the stencil, and covered the rest of the background with a soft lilac, and then added a darker colour around the edges. The wax acts as a resist, protecting the area that was covered earlier. I buffed the wax areas, to remove any of the lilac ink, and the contrast between the two areas became much sharper.

I removed the mask from the rose, and coloured the image using co-ordinating dye ink stamped onto an acrylic block, which I picked up with a waterbrush. I picked out the 'metal' areas of the rose using a gold pen. I added a die cut sentiment, and matted the project onto green card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Song Thrush in two variations (by Miranda)

Hi there,

Today I show you you two creations made with the lovely Song Thrush stamp. It's also available in a silhouette variation. 

On the background which I've made with fluid inks(like Ecoline) and water misting I've used the beautiful Sunny Sunflowers. I stamped them with Distress inks and a white ink too. The center is accentuated with glitter. The bird panel is embossed with Wow silver embossingpowder and coloured with water based markers. If you don't have markers than you can use the fluid inks or the Distress inks and a water brush to color the image.

I've embossed a flower and some leaves from the sunny sunflowers and decoupaged them.

The other one is made on a background made by our 9 year old son. He pretty much enjoys it to get messy and play with inks and water. ( like his mother) He coloured also the first layer of the bird panel  with pencils and I did finish it by shading and a more intense coloring. I stamped the fragment of the Lace fragments onto the background and also embossed some using the fabulous Wow Sensational Sage embossing powder. It really is sensational! It's a shame that I can't catch it on the photo.

Well, hope to have inspired you! Thanks for your visit, please ask if you have any questions and hope to see you next time!

Birthday cards (by Maria)

Hello  everyone,

Aren't these stamps lovely for some sweet Birthday cards? I really think they are!

This card I made with a Tim Holtz technique.  First I took some smooth white paper, a mask and some  Antique Linen Distress Paint.  I let it dry, then I went over it with 3 different colours of Distress Stains, and again I let it dry. With Versafine Ink, I stamped  my flower border from the Poppy Edges stamp set and I stamped the flowers again on masking paper, cut them out and masked the flowers with the mask. Then I stamped the flowers from the new stamp set Fluttering Hearts behind the flower border. With my alcohol markers I coloured the flowers, but first I took out the colours from the flowers with some bleach. With my white gelly pen I gave the card some white accents, and on the border of the card I made a golden frame with Versamark and some golden embossing powder.

The second card is made with the same technique as the first one, I really hope you like my cards, and that you try out this technique it was really fun to do! Have another great crafting day, and enjoy!


Greetings,
Maria

Guest Post - Up in the Air by Julie Smith

Welcome to the second post from our guest Design Team member Julie Smith.  This week Julie has used both the Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts to turn a plain frame into a thing of beauty. So sit back and enjoy.

Hello everyone, firstly I would just like to say thank you to everyone that left a comment on my first guest design team post, I really appreciated all the kind comments.

Today I have another up-cycled picture frame but instead of UTEE I have used Sculpey clay. I pressed the heart stamp into silver and black Sculpey Clay tiles which I have then glued to the frame.  I found spritzing the stamp with water and glycerine before pressing into the clay made it much easier to release the stamp and after baking the clay I rubbed over the tiles with a red gilding wax.  The 4cm square cutter I used for the tiles didn't quite fill the picture frame so to fill the gaps I applied some Mixiton Relief which, when dry, allowed for copper gilding flakes to be added. 

I added black glitter glue to the edges of the tiles and stuck a black 1cm jute ribbon around the inside and outside of the picture frame,  just to tidy up any raw edges.

The heart embellishment was made in the same way but I used gold Sculpey clay and when it was baked I glued a black cord around the edge so that I could stitch the crystal seed beeds around the edge. I added crystal Stickles glue and red Gilding Wax to finish.

The main picture was created by stamping the balloon onto the base card and creating the sky with distress ink. I then stamped the balloon a further 5 times, coloured each balloon with coloured pencils and then cut and folded each of the balloons in half before glueing the outside edges together to create a 3d effect. I decoupaged the flowers in the balloon basket and finished off by adding Crystal Stickles glue to the flowers and the trailing flag.

I really enjoyed creating this frame and hope you like it too.

I just love the texture and three dimensional nature of this beautiful project which would grace anyone's home. Please add your thanks to Julie by leaving a comment and don't forget you can catch up with her on her blog  Julie's Crafty Bits