All Worries Wash Away (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am closing out the month with a couple more watery creations for you, using the sea themed stamp sets that we have been showcasing all month.

My first card was created by making a background using Distress Inks in shades of blue, yellow, pink and green. I stamped the shells from the Seaside Dreams stamp set, and masked the image before adding the second image behind. I painted both images and then added some pencil detail and white highlights. Finally, I stamped the sentiment onto three pieces of scrap card, and attached these to the background.

For my second card, I used a background from my stash that had been made by painting Brushos over the background with lots of water to make a colour wash. Sea salt had been sprinkled over the top and left to dry, which had created small bubbles randomly over the background.

I added some stencilling using coordinating Distress Ink, and stamped the small seahorse using first and second generation stamping. I added some stamping along the bottom using stamps from the Mermaid Queen and Underwater stamp sets. The bubbles were created by dipping a pen lid into white acrylic paint, and pressing it onto the background.

I stamped the large seahorse onto a scrap of card, another background left over from a previous project, and cut the image out, leaving a small border around the edge. I attached the image to the background, and added a sentiment from the Seaside Dreams stamp set. Finally, I edged the background with teal ink, before adhering it to a white card blank.

We hope that you have enjoyed our nautical creations this month, and hope that they have inspired you to try some of our ideas yourselves. Look out for some floral inspiration next month, based on the sell out shows at the beginning of January on Hochanda.

Don't forget that there is a callout for new members for our Guest Design Team. Do check out the post on the Shop Blog for details of how to apply. The deadline is 23rd February, so there is plenty of time to apply. We are a really friendly Team to work with, and you could get to see some of your designs on the TV!

Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Underwater delights by Zoe

Good morning and welcome to my final post this month, gosh hasn’t that gone fast? Looking forward to spring now!

My first card I used Distress Oxides on my craft mat and spritzed with water, this is called “wrinkle free Distress technique” I did it one colour at a time, drying between each layer so I didn’t get mud, and simply stamped the fab seahorse in Black Onyx Versafine Inkpad and coloured parts of it using a Liquid Chrome marker pen, some faux stitching using a white gel pen to add some finishing off.

My second card I used a gel transfer to stamp my image and hot foil using my laminator and simply blended Distress inks over, the foil creating a resist, I added some water droplets and dried, another very simple card. 

Thank you for visiting and leaving your lovely comments, I really appreciate it.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx

Live in the Sunshine by Brenda

Hello everyone, I hope you are ready for a little more inspiration from the seaside and I hope the thought will warm you all a little during these cold dark January days.

The card above was created my using distress inks and a stencil to make the rope frame, then with the frame still in place I stamped the scene from Seashore Scenes using Versafine black  and coloured the scene with pencils and a little shading using Pan pastels. The quote is from the same stamp set.

Here I have used  a mixture of stamps from Seaside Dreams and Seashore Scenes, stamping all with Versafine black, extending the sky line with a fine marker pen and adding colour with pencils and Pan Pastels. The top sentiment comes from the same sets and the Birthday greeting from Birthday Words.

My final card uses another of the images from Seaside Dreams stamp set, again stamped with Versafine black and coloured in with sparkle pens and matted and layered with coordinating card. The sentiment is from Seashore Scenes.

I hope you all have a good week and find time for some stamping and crafting.

Happy Birthday (by Marga)

Here I am again to show you something that I made for the shows Lesley presented in December.

I made this card by stamping the shells on white paper and colouring them with my pencils. I cut them out and placed them on a piece of kraft paper.

All you need now is a sentiment and the card is ready.

Stamps I used are: Birthday Words, Mermaid Queen, Underwater

Big hugs

Marga

Seaside Delights (by Julie)

Hello, thanks for popping in. 

I have three seaside themed cards to show you so I will get straight on and show my first card:

The background is Distress inks and then over-stamped with the shell and star fish from Underwater

The main image is a selection of shells stamped and masked from Underwater as before and then whilst all the masks are still in place, stamp the large single cling Ammonite shell over the top. When the masks are removed the large shell will appear to have been stamped behind the other smaller shells. The little star fish was stamped onto separate card, coloured with water-colour and then cut out and mounted onto the main image with 3d pads.

The sentiment is from Birthday Words.

My second card is a very simple stamp and colour card. 

The Ammonite shell was repeatedly stamped over the background and shaded with pencil. The lighthouse and seagull are from Seashore Scenes and were stamped onto separate stamping card with Onyx Black Versafine, before being coloured with pencils, cut out and mounted onto black card-stock.

The card was finished off with a sentiment from Seashore Scenes.

My third and final card is stamped using Seashore Scenes as before along with Mermaid Queen.

I started by creating the underwater background with shades of blue and green Distress inks. I applied the ink with cut n dry foam and used the straight edge of some scrap paper as a guide. Apply Picket Fence Distress Stain to add the highlights.

Next I stamped the mermaid silhouette with Onyx Black Versafine. I also reverse stamped this image by stamping the mermaid onto some plain rubber and then pressing the image down onto the design.

The little seahorse is from Mermaid Queen which was stamped with Versafine and then coloured with coloured pencils. The lighthouse scene is from Seashore Scenes , which I stamped onto spare stamping card, before colouring with pencils and then cutting out with a circle die. Before mounting onto the card with 3d pads I edged the circle with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.

Thanks for looking and please call back for daily Design Team inspiration

Julie xx

Floral Notes (by Dominike)

Hello

I am so happy : I got my web connection few days ago. Yes I can post all over the world !
But keep cool. Today I make a little card. Simply. To say, take care all of you. The weather is not fine for a lot of you. These flowers are for you. I am found of these Floral Notes Rubberstamps.

Bonjour,
je suis tellement contente d'avoir récupéré ma connexion Internet.  Je vais pouvoir poster dans le monde entier.
Bon mais restons calme. Aujourd'hui, je vous présente une petite carte. Tout simplement. Pour vous dire de prendre soin de vous. Pour beaucoup d'entre vous le temps n'est pas très clément. Ces fleurs sont pour vous. J'aime particulièrement cette planche.

I used Versafine black ink and clear embossing powder. Some words stamped on a background made with my Gelli plate.

I hope you like it.

J'ai utilisé de l'encre Versafine noire et de la poudre à embosser transparente. Quelques mords tamponnés sur un fond réalisé à la Gelli plate.

J'espère que vous aimez.

Kind regard

A bientôt.

Steampunk Valentine's Card (by Doreen)

Hello everyone, today sees the final post this month from our Guest Design Team member Doreen Sympson. Doreen has created a card using stamps from our fabulous Steampunk range.

Doreen writes:

This card came to mind after listening to men at work and their views on Valentine cards they receive, the main complaint was that they are 'slushy'.

This is not...just needs the one word sentiment, I believe.

Materials:

Punky Romance stamp set
White watercolour card
Sparkle brush pens
Versafine inkpad Habanero
Glitter gel pens
Black card

Instructions:

Make a rectangle using a blue sparkle brush pen.

Drag colour out using a wide wet paintbrush, leave to dry.

Stamp images onto card using Versafine inkpad.

Faux bleach using water, a fine brush and kitchen roll.

Colour areas desired with Metallic Gel Pens.

Thank you for looking,

Love Doreen.

Doreen will be back later in the year with more inspirational blog posts, but you can see more of her projects on our TV shows on Hochanda.

Mermaid in December ( by Magda)

Today I want to show you the samples I made for the TV shows that Lesley had in December on Hochanda.
Both projects were done with the  "Mermaid Queen" stamp set.

For the backgrounds:  I used several blue shades of Distress Ink Pad, spritzed with water and stencilled with clear and white modelling pastes.

For the three decorations:  that Lesley put on the Christmas tree, I stamped the elements of Mermaid Queen with Onyx Black, Green, Red,  Spanish Moss  Versafine Ink.

For the card : I stamped some elements directly onto the background, while the Mermaid  is cut out, stamped with Versafine  Onyx Black and coloured with Koh-I-Noor Brilliant Water Colour.

I hope you liked my projects and please remember that you can have a lots of inspirations visiting the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog.  

Magda

Seaside Mini Hangers (by Anne)

Good morning. I made these mini hangers for the recent sea themed shows. I had so much fun making these, although one of them almost ended up in the bin – tee hee.

On my first project I used stamps from Mermaid Queen, Seaside Dreams, Underwater and the large Ammonite stamp.

1. I started with one of the white board panels (approx. 10.5 X 14.5cm) from a mixed media white board pack (Chocolate Baroque). I used a swirly stencil from my stash and spritzed through the stencil with blue ink containing mica. I then applied blue acrylic paint mixed with sand texture paste through the stencil with a palette knife for texture. When dry I added some sparkle with gold glitter glue and applied silver gilding wax to the edges.
2. I trimmed a piece of greyboard to make the top panel, stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW embossing powder (Detail White). Shells were stamped onto the background using blue pigment ink. The edges were finished with silver gilding wax and gold glitter glue. Holes were punched into the header and main panel and they were joined with string for hanging.
3. I applied Hollographic Crystal Gel over the Ammonite stamp surface and left it to dry for several hours before carefully peeling away. I rubbed over the surface lightly with gold and silver gilding wax to emphasise the detail. I then painted the surface with DecoArt Antiquing Cream (Titanium White). After drying I rubbed away the colour from the surface with a damp cloth (this medium remains water soluble when dry – so can be used to add detail to crevices).
4. I applied StazOn Ink onto the Ammonite and seahorse stamps, then I applied Soft Form Relief Paste (Silver) over the top and left to dry overnight. The embellishments were peeled away from the stamp and rubbed over lightly with gold and silver gilding waxes. The seahorse was glued to the background. I used a fine tipped pen to add in a little more detail (the ink didn’t transfer too well).
5. I stamped the shells onto cartridge paper using Versafine Ink (Onyx Black) and spritzed with orange/yellow and gold inks with mica to colour. The images were cut out and shaped lightly using a ball tool and sponge mat. I die cut a decorative star shape from black card and coated with gilding wax. The embellishments were glued in place with 3D glue gel.
6. White pen was used to add highlights to the pearls and seahorse eye, then Glossy Accents added for shine. I finished with some small embellishments created with air dry clay and silicone moulds from my stash.

On my second project I used stamps from Mermaid Queen, Seaside Dreams, and Underwater sets.

1. I started with one of the white board hearts from a mixed media white board shapes pack (Chocolate Baroque). The background was spritzed with blue ink containing mica. The background weeds were stamped with blue pigment ink and the foreground weeds with Distress Ink (Peeled Paint) and embossed with WOW Embossing Powder (Clear Gloss).
2. I stamped the seahorse and sentiment with Versamark and embossed with WOW Embossing Powder (Silver) and coloured with dark blue sparkle pen then added a layer of Glossy Accents over the seahorse. At this stage it all looked a complete mess and nearly went in the bin – tee hee. I stamped over the top using StazOn Ink (White) and decided to continue with ‘the mess’. Maybe it would be ok when other bits & bobs were added?
3. A fine tipped marker was used to add a drop shadow around the sentiment lettering which made it stand out better.
4. I spread some Viva Décor Crackle Paste (Teal) around the base of the heart and dropped in some blue seed beads for texture. When dry I rubbed over the surface and edges with a little silver gilding wax. I punched a couple of holes in the top to attach a hanging ribbon, and holes in the sides and base for attaching hangers.
5. The seahorses and weeds were stamped onto blue card with White StazOn Ink, cut out and glued with 3D glue gel.
6. The shells were stamped onto cartridge paper and spritzed with blue and gold inks with mica. The shells were cut out, shaped and acrylic modelling paste applied to the backs to make them a little more robust. I applied clear glaze onto the fronts for shine. When dry I created attachment holes and added them to the base of the heart using recycled jewellery chain loops.
7. Finally finished by adding some glitter glue sparkle – just had to be done – tee hee.

seaside nights (by Veronica)

 Maybe I should have chosen to show you more cheerful cards, considering the horrible grey weather outside!
I love trying to capture night scenes, and here are 3 of my latest efforts for the Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda last month
The seaside scene is perfect for this, as it shows a lighthouse and a setting sun - couldn't be better!
I stamped it using black versafine ink onto white card, and coloured it with watercolour pencils and a water brush in greys, adding a touch of yellow and orange to the sun , clouds and sea.
The background uses the big ammonite stamp, stamped in grey ink randomly round the edges of the card blank, with the sentuiment added in black versafine.

The beach huts came next, stamped in black onto pale grey card, shading again with the pencils. I masked off the huts and used distress oxide inks sponged over the sky to create a sunset.
Sentiment stamped in versamark and whitye embossed onto a black card blank, then the beachhuts mounted above it.

Same method for the final card, apart from stamping onto black card, this time with clouds and a moon in the sky.

Thanks for supporting the DT blog, we love to read your comments There are more cheerful samples coming up the the rest of the team, so keep looking - we do try to show you something different!

Springtime Canvas (by Penny)

Hello everyone, Penny is back with another beautiful project to share with you today. You are sure to be inspired by her pretty canvas.

Penny writes:

Hello there, I have a mixed media canvas to share with you today featuring some more beautiful Spring floral stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I have used stamps from the Hyacinth, Lily, and Breath of Spring stamp sets; acrylic paint, black Versafine ink, Distress Inks, Liquid Pearls, and Stickles.

I took a small canvas and stamped a hyacinth directly onto it using black ink then embossed with clear embossing powder. I masked the image with masking tissue and repeated the process twice. I then painted the whole canvas with blue acrylic paint. When the paint was dry I sponged over it with silver acrylic paint to add texture. I then stamped and embossed some silhouette images randomly onto the canvas. I removed the masks and painted the flowers in a Folk Art style to make them look more realistic.

I stamped and embossed the poem from the Breath of Spring stamp set onto a piece of white card, then tore the edges to give them a shabby distressed look. I blended Distress Ink over the whole piece then edged it with a darker tone. Next, I stamped and embossed a butterfly from one of the silhouette images onto another piece of white card. I painted it, cut it out, and attached it to the canvas by the body only, to create movement with the wings.I attached the poem in 3D as well. I added Liquid Pearls to the silhouette images and Stickles to to the centres of the flowers. To complete the piece I rubbed silver gilding wax around the edges of the canvas.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post, I really enjoyed creating the canvas and showing you how I did it! There are step by step details and pictures on my blog.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Penny x

Through the Depths (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a card to share today using the stamps featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda. The images I have used were from the Mermaid Queen and Underwater stamp sets.

I had a pretty background lurking in my stash created using inks and mica powder with cling film onto a piece of plain card, and I felt that this would be a perfect backdrop for a watery scene. I wanted a feeling of looking through the water at the images, and so I stamped straight onto the background, and coloured the images using pencils. The mica on the background gives a floaty effect of water both in front of and behind the images.

Where there were gaps between the three individual images, I used a fine marker pen to join the images up using small dots, as Sue has drawn on the images themselves. This way, it looks as if the three images all form part of one larger piece. I have also used common colours across the three sections to tie everything together.

Finally, I edged the background with Distress Ink before attaching it to a large white card blank.

I hope that my card will inspire you to create something using these lovely stamps yourselves. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Underwater beauty by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies, I’m back today with another sample featuring the gorgeous under the sea stamps that were on Hochanda last month with our fab Lesley and Judith.

Used Distress Oxides on my card which I’d applied to acetate, spritzed and then laid onto my card, I chose this technique because I wanted some white space and a little more control, I then dotted water from my finger tip to get a sort of bubble effect and dried. The fabulous seahorses were stamped onto some card that I’d previously coloured using spray inks, I cut them out and decoupaged onto my stamped background. A very simple card but colourful, I finished off with some matting and layering and few glass beads.

Thank you so much for spending your time to visit and leave comments, have a wonderful day xx I’m back later this month with my final post for January xx Zoe xx 

Katya (by Doreen)

Hello everyone, today sees the second post from our new Guest Design Team member Doreen Sympson. Doreen has created a  fabulous card using our popular stamp Katya.

Here is how Doreen created the card:

Materials:

Stamps: Katya, Words to Dazzle and Sparkle
Shaving Foam (cheapest works best)
White card
Alcohol Inks
Glitter brush pens: grey green and red
Blue Lagoon Versafine inkpad
Clear Detail embossing powder
Glossy Accents
Gems from stash

Instructions:

Using shaving foam and inks, make a marble effect background on white card.

When dry use anti static bag all over card, stamp using Blue Lagoon Versafine and heat emboss with Clear Detail embossing powder.

Take glitter pens, water down in palette or on a craft mat, and colour using a fine paintbrush.

Check this is dry before applying Glossy Accents to gems in headdress, tassels, eyes and lips. Leave to dry.

Mat and layer onto card. Add sentiment and gems.

Thank you for looking,

Love Doreen.

Doreen will be back next week with her final post of the month,

Dreaming of the Beach by Brenda

A very good morning to you all, today I have some more seaside inspired inspiration to share using stamps from last months Hochanda shows.

The card at the top uses elements from Seashore Scenes and Seaside Dreams stamp sets all stamped in Versafine Toffee. After stamping the sky I coloured with Pan Pastels and also stamped the Seagull image. Next I stamped the shell border onto Kraft card, added some white highlights and used a die to cut the aperture to create the frame.......to do this you first cut round the top only of stamped image then place the die onto the card tucking the bottom section behind the stamping as below and it's always a good idea to fix the dies in place with low tack tape to stop them moving..............

                            

You then have a frame with stamping as an integral part to place over the focal image. Finally I mounted onto a base card and added some string.

The focal image on this one is from Seashore Scenes stamped with Versafine black. I placed a sun mask in the skyline before colouring with a mixture of pencils and Pan pastels, added the sentiment from Seaside Dreams stamp set and also some foliage to the fore on the scene using a stamp from the Silhouette Grasses set.

Finally a CAS style card, I used a circle mark to stamp the Seagull from Seashore Scenes stamp set three times using Versafine Toffee, then used the circle from the mask and placed over the stamping and added some soft shading around the aperture using Distress Inks. The sentiment is from Seaside Dreams stamp set.

All of the stamps I have used can be found on the website here or by following the links above.

Fifteen Minute Cards

Hello everyone, it's time for our first monthly post of 2018, showcasing a range of quick and time saving cards created by the Design Team. We hope to inspire and enable you to create lots of different projects yourselves using the various different techniques that we use within these blog posts. If you are a beginner stamper, or need a card in a hurry, these projects will be perfect for you. If you want to create lots of cards for a wedding, Christmas, or a craft sale, then you will be sure to find ideas that you can adapt for your occasion. You can create as many cards as you like using Chocolate Baroque stamps, as long as they are all stamped by hand.

Brenda has created some beautiful cards on a watery theme for us this month. She has used stencils and Pan Pastels to create her first three cards, then stamped over the top using Versafine Ink.

For her final card, she added Distress Ink to an acrylic block which had gridlines. She then spritzed this with water, and placed the block onto her background. The butterflies were stamped with Versafine Ink.

Carole has created this stylish masculine card, using stamps from the Eccentric Edwardian and the Punky Expressions stamp sets. The burgundy and kraft combination is a really great mixture:

We have a lovely selection of cards from Anne this month, the first two floral cards are very CAS in style. She has focused on using some tiny stamps on her first card to make a wreath to surround her sentiment, and used one of the images again for the larger background.

On her second card, she has chosen a monochrome scheme of blue tones, a favourite colour choice of hers to stamp the pretty positive and negative flower image:

For her third card, she has gone for a bold ink background to which she added sea salt to create the pretty patterns. Once the background was dry, she brushed away the salt, and used simple white embossing to stamp the image and sentiment. The oval aperture in the gold card shows off the image perfectly:

Finally, she has created a delightful underwater themed card, using the fabulous seahorse from the Underwater stamp set, placing the image on a beautiful watery background. The background was created by spraying blue, green and gold ink sprays with mica onto the background, and then puffing the background while still wet with air to move the inks around. She added PVA pearls and edged the background with an alcohol marker.

We have two cards from Gerrina next. For her first card, she stamped some flowers from the Sketchy Doodle Landscape stamp set, and added some background stamping using an image from the Tangled Fragments stamp set and a mixture of bright coloured inks. She coloured the images with pencils.

For her second card, She used background stamping using an image from the Tangled Fragments stamp set once again. She chose an image from the Floral Notes stamp set, and coloured the stamp directly with marker pens, spritzing them with water, before stamping the images onto the card.

I have made a quick little card using an image from the Bird Song stamp set, stamped onto a scrap of left over background, found in my card stash. I keep lots of left overs for cards that I need to make in a hurry. I used water based markers on the main image, and a toning ink on the sentiment which comes from the Loving Sentiments stamp set.

 Magda has created a real pot pourri of projects this month, something for everyone. Her first project is a set of ATCs, using Distress Inks for the backgrounds, stencil layers, and second generation stamping.

A masculine Birthday card is next, with some Steampunk stencilling and coordinating stamping.

A pretty floral card, great as a card in a hurry, using a single floral image and added sentiment. If you have left over backgrounds from previous projects, you could use this idea and  make up a batch of cards in next to no time.

Here is another card on a similar theme, with a different image:

Finally a teeny Christmas card, with Distress Ink around the edges, and a bit of added sparkle for some Christmas magic.

That's all for this month, we hope that you have enjoyed our selection of cards and projects. We will be back next month with another crop of quick makes for you. In the meantime, please do keep popping back for a daily dose of inspiration from our regular Design Team posts.

Thanks for stopping by,