Love Spring (by Julie)

Hello and thank you for stopping by. Spring is my favourite season so I really enjoyed playing with the Spring themed stamps that Chocolate Baroque have featured this month. The stamp set used for this card is Spring Foliage, hope you like it.

Start by inking the edges of the base card with Dusty Concord Distress ink and then cut a piece of stamping card slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a heart from the centre. Stamp the Bluebell flower onto the die cut heart and colour with watercolour pencils and Distress inks. For decoration I added three flat back gems to the top right of the heart and the Spring sentiment to the left. (The sentiment is from Breath of Spring)

Stamp the Spring Foliage around your previously cut stamping card and colour with Distress inks. To create the shadow, just stamp again without re-inking.

Assemble the card by placing the heart in the centre of the card blank and gluing into place then using 3d glue gel, adhere the stamped foliage card onto the card blank, making sure that the die cut hearts match up.

Thank you for taking a peek at our blog. Please call back again very soon for some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Launching our latest stamps (by Lesley)

Well, I bet you thought I was just a figment of everyone's imagination! It is a severely long time since I posted anything on this blog, let alone actually write it from scratch, but as you may appreciate things have gotten a little hectic for us here at CB towers and I have left all the clever talented stuff to our brilliant Design Team.  In fact I feel a little bit of a fraud writing here today as I haven't even got a piece of my own completed artwork to show you. How bad am I?

Anyway, if you have been following our exploits on Hochanda you will know that last week saw us launching a stamp collection entitled A Taste of Russia.  This collection includes five new A6 unmounted rubber stamps and our very first set of masks and stencils. 

The A6 stamps are Silhouette Palaces, Large Crackle Background, Russian Floral Egg, Russian Exquisite Egg and Katya.

The masks are Silhouette Palaces 1 and 2 and then the Russian Spires Stencil.

All of this collection will be available to purchase as from tomorrow, 31st March.  Below are just a few examples from the Design Team's samples which appeared on the tv shows.  You will be able to see more of their inspiring work during April.

I have to say that once again Sue has come up with some brilliant and unusual designs whilst the DT girls really did us proud with their beautiful artwork.  And of course your support means the world to David and I, we realise just how lucky we are to be surrounded by our wonderful team and by you;   please keep sending us photos of your creations with our stamps because seeing what you do with them always amazes and delights us.

So that's me signing off, I'm sure I shall pop up again somewhere soon until then I shall hand the baton back to the girls who have some fabulous things in store for you.

A little bag (by Dominike)

Hello,
I am back with my little bags. This one is a book I made to illustrate the alphabet.
1 - I realized a background with my Gelli plate and a stencil I made few years ago.
2 - I print the flowers with Versamark ink and Black embossing powder.
3 - I wrote the 3 letters

Bonjour
je suis de retour avec mes petits sacs. Celui-ci est un livre que j'ai réalisé pour illustrer l'alphabet.
1 - le fond est fait à la Gelli plate avec un stencil que j'ai réalisé il y a quelques années à partir d'un modèle Silhouette.
2 - j'ai tamponné les fleurs avec de la Versamark et embossé à la poudre noire.
3 - Les 3 premières lettres de l'alphabet sont écrites à l'encre noire.

You could see the other pages of the book on my blog next week.

Kind regards

Glorious Spring (by Magda)

The last project for this month has a little cute bunny who is ready to jump on an Easter card too.

Step by Step :

1.  Blend a white cardstock with Pan Pastel colours
2.  Stamp with Versafine Imperial Purple some stamps of Spring Foliage in first and second
     generation
3.  Stamp with Versafine Black Onyx the little Bunny and Glorious Spring Rubber Stamp Sheet A5,
     as shadow of the decoupage one and the sentiment, directly on the card.
4.  Stamp with Versafine Black Onyx the little Bunny again and cut around the edges
5.  Glue the second bunny in front of the "shadow" one
6.  Assemble the card, lighten some folige with Stickles Star Dust and glue a paper flower as an
     embellishment.

I hope you liked my monthly projects and you could have some new and different inspirations from my projects. 

Magda

Vintage Birdie Spring Card (by Anne)

WOW, the shows with the Babushka and Russian stamps this week were simply FAB. So many lovely samples from my Teamies and great demos from Lesley.

This morning I am sharing a Spring themed card with you – a Vintage styled project using the Spring Bird Crocus set. I hope that you like it x
 
Materials:

• Spring Birds Crocus and Breath of Spring stamp sets
• 8 X 8 inch card blank, 6 X 6 inch background paper from Crafty Individuals (Shades of Summer), white stamping card, green card and pink glitter card
• Inkpads: Versafine (Vintage Sepia), Versamark, Distress Ink (Broken China, Tattered Rose)
• Heat embossing powders (clear and gold sparkle)
• Watercolour, sparkle and glitter pens (yellows, blues, pinks, greens)
• Alcohol marker (pale blue-grey) and metallic marker (gold)
• Glitter glue (gold)
• Trellis die (to cut glitter card border – a paper doily would also work well)
• Metallic thread (gold) and acrylic gems (gold)

How it was done:

1. The bird scene, sentiment and border were stamped onto the patterned paper with Versafine and embossed with clear powder. Water based pens were used to colour. To bring out the scene a little more from the background I used a grey marker to add a drop shadow.
2. The scene was stamped a second time onto white card, coloured and cut out for decoupage.
3. Broken China Distress Ink was blended in from around the edges. The topper edges were then embossed with a little gold sparkle powder. Decoupage elements were glued down with 3D glue gel.
4. The topper was matted onto green card. I used an offcut from a Trellis die cut (pink glitter card) to layer behind the topper left hand side. Gold thread was added for extra sparkle and texture. A square paper doily tinted with Distress Ink would also work really well if you don’t have dies.
5. The background card blank was stamped using Tattered Rose Distress Ink. Broken China Ink was used to blend in from the edges, and the gold pen used to edge the card.
6. I finished with gold glitter glue and gems (I cannot resist a bit of bling).

Spring Birthday (by Asha)

Hello, friends! It's finally here ... Spring, I mean. So, my for last Spring themed project for the DT Blog, I made a cheerful Birthday card using bright and zippy colours featuring the silhouette tall plant from Spring Foliage. The greeting is from Words To Dazzle and Sparkle and the butterflies are from Baroque Meadow.

I started by blending Distress Inks on a piece of watercolour paper. Here are the colours I used:
Grass: Mowed Lawn and Cracked Pistachio
Sun: Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber. With a stencil, I applied the Wild Honey to suggest rays of the sun.
Sky: Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers

Then I splashed some water to get that splodgy effect. Next came the images and greeting  - all stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black. Final touches - little drops of liquid pearls and some Stickles Black Diamond over the silhouette leaves. All of the products linked above are available from the Chocolate Baroque online store.

I've got more details of tools and products over at my blog. My team-mates have a few more vernal beauties with this stamp to inspire you before we move on to the stunning new stamps introduced by Lesley on Hochanda. Curious? Make sure you swing by the DT blog for more project ideas using these new stamps.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.

Beijinhos,
Asha
SaveSave

allium by Veronica

A very simple card today using the lovely big allium stamp from breath of spring set.
The base card is 5"x7", and the white card I stamped the image on was 4.5"x6.5" - as you can see, this is a large stamp, measuring over 4" in height.  It was stamped in black memento ink, as was the sentiment from words to dazzle and sparkle.
I coloured the image using blue, lavender and green alcohol markers, and edged the card with the lavender marker to give the impression of a matt before adding to the base card.
A very quick card, and a general purpose sentiment to cover almost any occasion.

I hope you are enjoying the new shows on Hochanda today, there are some stunning samples from the girls which will be on the blog soon.....

Spring Bird Daffodil (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a card made using stamps from Spring Bird Daffodil. I think daffodils are my favourite flower, they are so fresh and pretty. Before I tell you about this project, just a reminder to book your place on the sofa to watch Lesley on Hochanda at 7pm as she will be launching some fabulous new stamps!!

 I've  coloured the focal image with Pencils and distressed with Gathered Twigs distress ink. The background was made with more distress inks,glimmer mists, a little stencilling and one of the smaller stamps from the same set, again coloured with  pencils.

 I used one of the smaller stamps with Gathered Twigs ink around the edges and added some seam binding ribbon dyed with more distress ink, a little lace and a paper daffodil. As a finishing touch I made some raindrops here and there on the background with dots of glossy accents, dragged into a drop shape with a cocktail stick. 

Thanks for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Neat storage (by Gerrina)

I can't believe that already we have reached the last week of Gerrina's guest blogging spot, time really has got wings on at the oment. Anyway her final project is a beautiful idea for enhancing your storage, gorgeous.

Already the last of my Guest DesignTeamposts at Chocolate Baroque this month.

This time I made something that can make your craftroom an inspiration place and still is so useful. I have taken a glass jar that I use for markers:

Used materials:

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque Floribunda Net

Ink: Versafine Onyx black,

Other: Glass jar, white linen cardstock and Caran D'Áche crayons

To make:

• Cut a piece of linen cardstock that fits the glass jar that you want to use.
• Stamp the Floribunda Net stamp with black ink several times, starting at the left side and each time masking just the big rose on the left side, untill the end of your piece of linnen cardstock. I used a stamping tool to match the net pattern.
• Colour all the leaves and flowers with crayons.

I hope you have enjoyed my designs and I will see you later in the year. 

Creative greetings,

Gerrina

This is such a great idea and can be applied to any other glassware that you may have. Thank you so much for the last three weeks of inspiration Gerrina, we look forward to your return in the Autumn.

If you have enjoyed this post please drop by again and catch up with our regular Design Team girls' projects and ideas.