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Monday 30 April 2018

April Cards (by Magda)

Hello everyone
this morning I have some quick projects for you made with stamps that Chocolate Baroque demonstrated during the TV shows at the beginning of April

Card with envelope:
For this one I used Dina Wakley White Gesso and Tim Holtz Distress Crayons-Set 1 for the background and Archival Jet Black for stamping the flower of "Wisteria Lane"  on the card and on the envelope. You can find the sentiment "On your Birthday" in Words to Dazzle & Sparkle.


Thank you card:
This time I coloured the flower from the stamp set "Eastern Grasses"with different colours of Distress Inkpad and spritzed it with water before stamping, in order to have a watercolour effect.  The sentiment from the same rubber plate, is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black. 


Napkin rings:
This simple table decoration could be perfect for a summer dinner.  Stamp with Versafine Onyx Black the waterlily of "Serenity" .  Colour the stamp with Aquarelle watercolour pencils and cut out the images.  Use a piece of heavy white cardstock  for creating a napkin ring and colour it with a similar pond colour.  Glue the waterlily on your ring.


I hope you liked the post today and thank you for passing by.
Magda


Sunday 29 April 2018

Make Time to Make Art cards (by Anne)

Good morning. Today I am sharing a few cards created with Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque.

Full of Colour Card
Materials:
  • Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets
  • 9 X 21cm card blank, white stamping card, black card
  • Ink sprays (pink, purple, black)
  • Embossing Powders (pink, yellow, white)
  • Versamark Inkpad
  • Border die
  • Alcohol marker (black)
  • Faux gems and sequins, PVA pearls (pink)
  • Straw to blow inks
How it was done:
  1. Inks were spritzed onto a craft mat and picked up onto the stamping card. The wet ink was spread by blowing through a straw.
  2. Images were stamped with Versamark and embossed with a mix of coloured powders. The sentiment was stamped onto a coloured strip. Black marker was used to edge the card and frame.
  3. The black die cut strip was glued to the top of the card. The sentiment strip attached with 3D foam for added dimension.
  4. Finished with faux gems and sequins plus a few PVA pearls along the die cut border.
 
Make Time Shabby Chic Card

This card uses the same stamp sets but looks totally different.

Materials:
  • Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets
  • 10.5 X 15cm card blank (turquoise), white stamping card
  • Versamark Inkpad and archival dye ink (purple)
  • Embossing powder (silver and gold sparkle)
  • Ink spritzers (purple, turquoise, gold and opaque white)
  • Fine tipped marker (black)
  • Faux gems and organza ribbon
How it was done:
  1. The card blank was lightly spritzed with opaque white ink. The stamping card was coloured with purple, turquoise and gold ink spritzers. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and embossed with silver powder.
  2. The background images were stamped with purple dye ink. Further images were stamped on top with Versamark, heat embossed with gold powder and outlined with fine tipped pen.
  3. The edges of the topper were roughed up with the edge of my scissors. A little turquoise ink was also sponged around the edges.
  4. Finished with a ribbon and faux gems.
Make Time to Make Art

My third sample was different again using a bright sunshine yellow backdrop.
Materials:
  • Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets
  • 6 X 6 inch square card blank, white stamping card, yellow card
  • Versamark Inkpad
  • Embossing Powders (pink, yellow, purple)
  • Mylar stencil with polka dots
  • Alcohol marker (purple) and fine tipped pen
  • Glitter glue (yellow)
How it was done:
  1. I had some cheap glitter glues that were past their best. To use them up I embossed some of my stencils (through my die cut machine) then applied the glitter through the stencil using a palette knife. I used up my glitter glues and created a batch of textured backgrounds ready for my cards.
  2. The sentiment was stamped onto the textured card using dye ink (embossing with stencils only gives a shallow texture so it is fairly easy to overstamp – add just a little extra pressure on the stamp). Note the ‘I’ was left uninked.
  3. The mat was edged with marker and faux stitching drawn around the border of the card blank with fine tipped pen.
  4. The floral stems were stamped onto white card with Versamark, embossed with a mix of coloured powders and cut out.
  5. Cut outs were glued to the card front and finished with a ribbon.

Saturday 28 April 2018

waterlily (by Veronica)


 Today I have a couple of projects to show you using the waterlilies from the serenity set of stamps   and sentiments from artistic affirmations.

The first is a very simple card - I stamped the waterlily three times across a spare piece of white card using black versafine ink, and coloured the centre image with pencils. Added a mat of dark pink card, mounted onto a square white card blank, stamped the sentiment in black at the bottom corner - very quick!

 The cheap wooden box from a local discount store was covered with white gesso and then a rough coat of distress paint, leaving a mottled effect which I hoped would look watery. I stamped the waterlily images direct onto the box using memento ink.- if I could have crossed my fingers while stamping, I would have done!The leaves were coloured with alcohol pens, and the petals with white acrylic paint


My final sample is a cheap mirror, from a well-known flat-pack store, thanks to a friend who was going to pick up some furniture and was happy to add to her list.
I used leftover peces of card coloured with brushos, cut into squares to fit round the central mirror. Two squares were embossed and rubbed with gilding wax, and two stamped. The butterflies from Steampunk butterfly were stamped in black versafine onto more spare pieces, cut out and glued in the corners.
Definitely something that would wake you up in the morning!


Friday 27 April 2018

Eastern Sunrise - by Penny




Morning lovely peeps, it's my turn and my pleasure to bring you today's blog post.  It's a mixed media card that I created for last months 'Eastern' shows, and I've used stamps from the Serenity, Eastern Grasses, Landscape Edges and Artistic Affirmations sets, Distress Inks, black Versafine ink, clear EP, stencils from my stash.



On a piece of white card I stamped and embossed the lady and two lamp images in black, then masked them.  I created the background with Distress Inks, and using a stencil I made a sunrise for the sky then I stamped some trees on the horizon.  The lady is meditating at the edge of a stream or lake so the bottom of the panel is blue and I added some clear paste through a stencil to add texture and movement in the water.



When the paste was dry I removed the masks and coloured the images with pens.  I then added glitter glue to the paste to give a shimmer to the water.




I stamped some floral images and a sentiment onto white card in black ink and embossed them.  I coloured them all in with DIs and cut them out. After matting the background panel onto black card and attaching it to the card I added the florals and the sentiment in 3D. 



This mixed media card is such fun to create, I hope I've inspired you to have a go yourselves.  Just look at your own crafty stash and see what mixed media artwork you can create! 
Thanks for dropping in today, I hope everyone has a great weekend.  You can see more details and pictures on my blog  https://ladypenelopesfabcraftyblogspot.blogspot.com

See you soon,

                                                        Penny

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Steampunk Arch (by Nikki)

Hello everyone, it's time for the last post this month from our Guest Design Team member Nikki. She has made a fabulous steampunk themed mixed media piece for us this week.

Morning everyone, I've got my third make for you today, and wanted to use the brilliant Steampunkery stamp set.

I took a little MDF arch, and painted it with chalk paint in dark grey, crackle medium, and a cream top coat. Next I gave it a wash, (watered down acrylic), of pthalo turquoise and quinacridone gold. The background was stamped with the cogs from the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set. (This is my new favourite stamp).

I painted some greyboard cogs, and part of a clock I had left over from another project, in raw umber and pyrrole orange to make them look rusty. It's a very easy rust colour with just two paints!

I stamped the beetle from Steampunkery twice onto Velvet card, and coloured the images with prussian blue hue and quinacridone gold acrylic paint in washes, to simulate watercolour. On top was a coat of watered down copper acrylic, to give a shimmer. I cut out the clock, beetle shell and wings from one of the images, and layered up, putting the wings behind the main image, and the shell and clock on top. The shell and clock were covered with a triple thick glaze to give shine and depth.

I stamped the Time Flies sentiment, and aged this with acrylic paint. It was edged in Copper and glued to the cogs. I hadn't used the Velvet Card for stamping and painting before, and I am seriously impressed at the way that it took paint, even watered down, without pilling and rubbing off. I will definitely be using this card in the future.!

I hope you like my little arch, I'm a bit in love with this stamp set. (Well, most of them really!)

Thank you for stopping by and joining me here, hope to 'see' you again soon.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K. xxx

Nikki will be back with us later in the year, but you can check out her blog here.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

Spring Wreath (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a floral project to share with you today, using some of the stamps from last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

I have created a wreath with a feel of Spring, by choosing pastel colours for the flowers. I created the project by first drawing a circle on a piece of card, and then stamped the blossom image from the Tranquility stamp set around the circle. I masked the images as I went along, and stamped an image from the Wisteria Lane stamp set, using first and second generation stamping.

I coloured the flowers and stems with pencils, lengthening the branches to create a continuous wreath. I added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set, and finally added some inking around the edge of the background, using Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Monday 23 April 2018

Eastern promise pt 2 by Zoe

Good morning and welcome to my second post this month featuring the fabulous Eastern inspired stamps and Inspirational sentiments.

My first card is an exact copy of a card I created last time of an “alternative wedding card” I loved how it turned out. Using a Greyboard heart from the website and Distress Oxides, heat embossing in black and colouring using Sparkle pens.


Sparkle pens Splodged onto a craft mat and spritzed to create this background and simple stamping, few glitter dots here and there, simple!


The same background for this card as above but I incorporated glitter EP to the stamps, sadly it doesn’t show up in the photo.



Greyboard tag which I thickly Gessod, I used Archival Inkpads to colour it and stencil with White Pigment ink to create a Bokeh effect, a white paint pen to create highlights after stamping.

I think this looks quite space age. Distress Oxides blended and a stencil which I spritzed through and dabbed dry, istamped the flower with various colours of grey and blues, added some white pen for detail.




I hope you like my creations, see you next month, thanks for visiting, have a wonderfully creative day, xx Zoe xx 













Sunday 22 April 2018

Creativity takes courage by Brenda



Morning Peeps, Brenda here with some more Easter inspired creations.

To create the background on the top card I used a combination of Distress Inks and Pan Pastels along with Silhouette Palaces Mask. The focal image and lamps are from Serenity stamped with Versafine black, coloured and cut out before placing over the background. I stamped some Wisteria from Wisteria Lane across the top and crackle using Large Crackle Background around the edges and liquid pearls to finish.


This one has has a background of metallic acrylic ink which I brayered on to give a random finish and also used the rougher side of watercolour card as it adds nice textures to the finished piece. Using Versafine black I stamped two of the quotes from Artistic Affirmations, wisteria from Wisteria Lane and two little Doves from Serenity and finally some liquid pearls and gold glitter to finish.


This one is probably one of my favourites from those I created for the shows, albeit it the colours of Buddha from Serenity are not authentic as my ethics lecturer daughter reminded me several times. The background is made up of acrylic paints and crackle glaze with some stenciling using black DI, then the image stamped in Versafine black and coloured in with pencils and a fine line gold pen. The three words are from Artistic Affirmations.


My final share today has a focal panel created with Pan Pastels through a mask cut from a die, then with the mask still in place I used a stencil to add some background interest before stamping the Agapanthus from Wisteria Lane using Versafine black. After removing the mask I stamped a quote from Artistic Affirmations.

As always, my thanks for popping in today.


Saturday 21 April 2018

Tranquility (By Marga)

Hello everyone, here I am with a new card I made for one of the TV shows on Hochanda last month.


This time I used liquid ink for the background and I coloured the image with pencils. The stamps in the background I stamped with coloured ink. I used a white gelpen for the accents.

Stamps I used are: Eastern grasses, Tranquility


Hope you liked my card

Hugs Marga


Friday 20 April 2018

Artistic Affirmations (by Julie)


Hello again, I have two more cards to show you today.


My first card is a very simple design, which I have stamped using the Artistic Affirmation set.
I started my design by inking up the sentiment "My Creativity is Limitless" with Onyx Black Versafine ink and stamping in the centre. I then cleaned the stamped off and re-inked with red Versafine ink and stamped over my original design but slightly off set so that you get a drop shadow. You may want to practice this technique on scrap paper but if you cut your rubber stamps close to the design it is quite easy to judge. If you have a stamp positioner then it's even easier.

I then went on to stamp the rest of the sentiments and scrolls around the layout, using red, blue and black Versafine inks. I finished off the design by stencilling over the layout with mini diamonds and splats, before mounting onto black card-stock.


My second card has been stamped with Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations. I started by stamping the three main images with clear embossing ink before adding white embossing powder and heating with a heat gun. Distress inks (Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Lucky Clover) were applied over the top, followed by the little flower head being stamped around the design with Onyx Black Versafine.
I finished the design off with the Art sentiment and a doodled border with a black fine line pen.

Thank you for stopping by. Please call back for daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Mixed Media Mini Book (by Nikki K)

Hello everyone, today we have the second of our projects this month from our new Guest Design Team member Nikki Killinger. Nikki has created a fabulous mixed media project for us.

Morning everyone,

I'm here with my second Guest Post for Chocolate Baroque today. I have made a mini book, with stamps from the lovely Butterfly Poppy Collage set for you.



I painted the greyboard mini book in dark grey chalk paint, and then added patches of cream colour. Over the top of this I added patches of chalk crackle medium. The final coat was a pale green/blue chalk paint, and when it crackles it shows both of the other colours through in patches.



On top of this I stamped the text from the Butterfly Poppy Collage in toffee ink. The edges of the book were painted in dark brown to age it.

The greyboard feathers were painted in the blue green, and stamped with the background swirl and text stamp from the Butterfly Poppy Collage set. I love this stamp as you can pick any area of it you want for smaller items. The feathers were then glazed with a triple thick glaze and glued to the book.



I added some pages to the book and a metal feather down the spine on some silver elastic, to tie in the theme.



The word 'Dazzle' was taken from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle set, I just inked the word itself and stamped onto white card, and attached it to a glass dome to magnify it and add an embellished element.


I hope you enjoy the post today, thank you for taking time out with me.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K. xx

Nikki will be back next week with her final project for the month,

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Journaling Card - (by Magda)

Today my step by step is concerning a Journaling Card.

1. Apply white Gesso randomly on an white A4 Cardstock as first mat and let it dry
2. Blend Distress Inkpad considering the light and the dark zone you would like to have and use
    therefore appropriate colours
3. Stamp the images and sentiment of Tranquility with Versafine Onyx Black and colour all with
     watercolors Aquarelle Pencils.
4. Glue your first mat on a second black mat and finally, everything onto your card




Thank you for passing by and have a nice crafting week
Magda


Monday 16 April 2018

Decorative Mixed Media (by Anne)

Good morning. Today I am sharing a couple of mixed media projects created with Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets.

My first is a small decorative hanger.

Materials:
  • Wisteria Lane and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets
  • White board panel (15 X 10cm) and circles (White Board Shapes kit), gold metallic satin card, pink card and turquoise glitter card
  • Decorative lace and border dies
  • Acrylic paints (turquoise, pink, purple)
  • Versamark Inkpad
  • Embossing powders (yellow, pink, purple)
  • Texture paste and gilding wax 
  • Texture stencil 
  • Glossy Accents
  • Scrap lace trim and pink ribbon
  • Faux gems, pearls and sequins
  • Glitter glue and 3D glue gel
  • Variety of small plastic container lids and a straw (for printing)
How it was done:
  1. Texture paste was applied onto the background panel through a stencil.
  2. The white board shapes were coloured with acrylic paints. Plastic lids and a straw were used to print circles. Gilding wax was applied to the edges.
  3. Images were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with coloured powders.
  4. The hanger was extended on the top and base using die cut panels.
  5. Elements were glued down using 3D glue gel for added depth and dimension.
  6. Finished with lace trim, faux gems, sequins and glitter glue for sparkle.

My second is a small canvas.

Materials:
  • Wisteria Lane, Tranquility and Artistic Affirmations stamp sets
  • 20cm square canvas board, white stamping card
  • Embossing powders (yellow, pink, purple) and WOW (Clear Gloss)
  • Viva Décor crackle colour (pearl teal)
  • Ink sprays (pink, teal, purple)
  • Inkpads: StazOn (black), Brilliance Pigment (variegated pink & blue pearl)
  • Sparkle pens (pink, purple)
  • Fine tipped alcohol pen (black)
  • Puffy paint (green)
  • Glossy Accents and silver gilding wax
  • Faux gems and sequins, 3D glue gel
How it was done:
  1. Crackle paste was applied to the outer edges of the canvas and left to dry overnight.
  2. The canvas was spritzed with coloured inks. Some pink spray was also applied so that it sunk into the crackle crevices, excess being removed from the top surfaces with a damp cloth.
  3. Images were stamped onto the background with Brilliance Ink and embossed with clear powder. Floral stems were also stamped onto white card, embossed with coloured powders and cut out for decoupage.
  4. The sentiment was stamped with Stazon and quickly embossed with clear powder. Black pen was used to enhance the sentiment (the canvas is quite textured so detail doesn’t stamp well).
  5. Images were coloured with sparkle pen and floral stems stuck down with 3D glue gel for added depth.
  6. Glossy Accents was added to some of the flower heads, and dotted over the background.
  7. A little silver gilding wax was applied around the canvas edges and over the crackle texture.
  8. Puffy paint was applied along the base of the canvas and heated to give extra texture.
  9. Finished with lots of faux gems and sequins.


Sunday 15 April 2018

Fifteen Minute Cards

Hello everyone, it is time for our monthy offering from the Design Team of quick and inspirational ideas that take fifteen minutes or less to create. We aim to show you a range of projects that will let you see how easily you can make something using the range of beautiful Chocolate Baroque stamps, taking just a few minutes. We hope that if you are a new stamper, just starting out on your crafting adventure, or even someone with more experience, you will find something in these monthly blog posts to interest you. The cards and other projects that we share could be suitable for craft fairs and charity sales, Wedding Invitations, or other batch makes, like Christmas cards, depending on the image that you use. Chocolate Baroque's Angel policy allows you to make as many cards as you like, as long as the images are hand stamped.

So please enjoy what we have to share with you this month, grab a cuppa, and take a look at our projects.

Marga has created two beautiful cards on a circular theme. She has created gelli plate backgrounds for both. On her first card, she has stamped with Versafine Ink and added details with a white gel pen:

On her second card, she has stamped with Distress Ink. The layouts are very similar on both cards, but the small changes make the cards look very different. You could make a big batch of these very quickly and keep them for when you need them.

Rachel has made us some fabulous Eastern themed cards this month. She has created backgrounds using Distress Ink, and simply stamped over the top using black ink, very quick cards to make.




Again, by varying the colours of your backgrounds, you can achieve some very different looks.

Brenda is up next, with a variety of cards and techniques. She shows how you can use white embossing in several ways with her first few cards, and hopefully, this will give you lots of ideas to use what you have in your stash.

For her first card, she has stamped the images and embossed with white embossing. She has then created the background using Brushos and water, the final effect really has a wow factor, but is so quick and easy.

For her second set of cards, she used Distress Inks to create the backgrounds, then once they were dry, stamped and embossed the images with white embossing powder, and added the sentiments with black ink.

For the following card, she again used Distress Inks for the background and stamped and embossed the image with white embossing powder. On this occasion, she bleached out the colour within the image.

The following pretty card was created by inking through a stencil onto a book page with Distress Ink, to add the dots. She then stamped the image and added the sentiment using black ink.

Her final card was created by making a background by adding Distress Inks and water to an acrylic block with gridlines. She then stamped the butterflies over the top of the background using Versafine Onyx Black Ink.

Doreen has created a simple, but very elegant card using one of the beautiful buddha images for us. She has stamped and embossed the image, adding some colouring, before adding a coordinating matting layer of card.

We have some projects from Anne to share next. She has made a gorgeous card and matching gift bag. You can often find dies or ready made bags to decorate, or look for templates that you could download from Pinterest or other websites. Anne has used smooth white card, and stamped with a dark blue Versafine Ink. She has coloured the images with blue sparkle pens and blended the colouring with a clear sparkle pen. The card background was edged with a blue alcohol marker for definition. She has added little pearls and a ribbon to finish.

For her next card, Anne used a background from her stash that had been created by spritzing ink onto the surface and adding salt to create a lovely textured pattern. Once dry, the salt is brushed away. She stamped and embossed the images using Versamark and white embossing powder, before edging the background with Versamark and silver embossing powder.

For her final card, Anne created a washed background using yellow and orange watercolour ink. She stamped and embossed the images and sentiment using gold embossing powder. She used water to create a moon, and detail to the sky, also taking colour from the flowers, blotting everything with some paper towel to remove the colour. She coloured the flowers with alcohol markers and added some shimmer with sparkle pens. She added an edging of sparkly gold embossing to the background.

Penny has created a delightful bookmark using a scrap of card for us. She likes to keep her scraps, which a lot of us do, and they are a useful resource for cards in a hurry. She has stamped the image oto a piece of Kraft card using Sepia Versafine Ink. She coloured the image with pencils, and edged the panel with Distress Ink. She added some lace and a button threaded with fibre for a vintage feel. The panel was matted onto some coloured card with a point at one end. She punched a hole in the card and added some pretty fibres.





Penny has also created two cards for us, the first, was created by stamping images onto black card using Versamark and clear powder. She coloured the images with metallic pencils, and cut each image out so that it was on its own little square. She edged the squares with a gold marker pen, and matted them onto black squares so that they looked like photographs. She created a larger background by stamping a treeline and set of clouds from the Landscape Edges stamp set along the top and bottom of some white card. She attached her 'photos' and added a sentiment.

Her second card was created by stamping several images from Sunburst Scenes and Country Views to create a scene. She decided to limit her colour palette to red, black and white. She used Distress Ink to stamp and watercolour the scene, and a black fineliner pen to connect the images and to create some hills. She stamped the wall image around the edge of a white card blank and watercoloured this. She added silver marker around the focal panel, matted it onto black card, and attached it to the base card.


Julie has created a very pretty card using a floral image from the Tranquility stamp set. She has added a hand drawn frame around the images, and added some soft colouring.

We have two Nature themed cards from Carole next. The first is using one of our tree sets, and the pink and grey colour combination is fabulous. Do not be afraid to choose unusual colours to make your cards, go with your favourites, or something that you have seen that has inspired you.
 



Carole's next card incorporates a lovely flower spray that could be used for so many occasions. The toning ribbon finishes the card off perfectly.

Magda has created her first card by using Distress Crayons for the background, and then stamping over the top using black ink. The vibrant background was very quick to create, and the bold orange contrast gives the card a very zingy feel.

Her second card is more muted in colour, she has inked the stamp with Distress Ink, and spritzed it with water before stamping, to create a watercoloured effect. Magda says that this was a five minute card, very quick indeed!

Her final project is a set of little napkin rings, a lovely idea. She has used the water lily image from the Serenity stamp set, colouring the images with watercolour pencils.

Some projects from Vronnie next, her first card is using up a scrap of background created with Brushos. She has simply stamped the image using black ink, but it looks so effective on the beautiful background.

For her next card, she has stamped the main image with Distress Ink, and drawn some of the colour out with a water brush. She has added some stencilling and colouring with pencils.

Vronnie's final card is a great example of using up your scraps. She has used four squares of left over Brusho creations, and stuck them onto a card blank. She has then stamped the sentiment onto another piece of card, which she has edged with black and matted onto white card, before adding to the centre of the card. This is such an eye-catching, vibrant card, and was just from her left overs!

We hope that you have enjoyed our projects this month, and will try out some of the ideas shown within the blog post. Don't forget, keep those scrap pieces of card left from your projects, you never know when they will come in handy!

We will be back next month with another jam packed blog post for you, but in the meantime, do keep visiting the blog for a daily dose of inspiration from our regular Design Team posts. Thanks for stopping by,