Its all about the sea - by Rachel

 

Hello there - Rachel here today with some more inspiration from the June shows. In this first card I have used mostly stamps from the Mermaid Queen set. I did a little stencilling lightly in the background then stamped the images and created the scene. I painted the scene using mica powders.

In this next card I used the Seashell Collage stamp set - I used distress oxide in the background then I created a little 'wreath' using the images then stamped the beautiful verse and seagull stamp centrally. 

My final piece is a ceramic plate  - I used the Ammonite stamp to make this - I wanted it to look like a bed of rock with fossils in it! 

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Introducing Our New Guest Design Team Member Andrew Bennett

Hello everyone, today we are introducing another new Guest Design Team Member Andy Bennett. We are sure that you will welcome him to the Team. We asked Andy to tell us a little bit about himself and to include a photograph. Here is what he had to say:

 

Just a brief bio of myself:

I have been crafting all of my life, basically started when I was eight and when I came out of hospital (I was born deaf and had to wait until I was eight for the operation to rectify the condition), to take my mind off the overwhelming cacophony of noise my grandmother in her wisdom taught me how to knit.

I still knit to this day and when I want a jumper I go and knit one simples lol

Over the years I have done cross stitch and quilting, my artistic talents have also stretched to being clasically trained on flute and piano even playing and doing solos on respective instruments even at university.

I first got into card making back in 2004 and soon got addicted to stamping. One of the things I cannot do is draw, hence ,my love of stamping as someone has done artwork for me, and therefore within reason lol can do what I want with it.

I have throughout my crafting life deomoed for companies at various shows, ran my own craft club and also stamping club. I love sharing with other people what other people have taken the time to show me.

The majority of my time is now spent knitting, making cards and now having the pleasure of being on Chocolate Baroque Design Team whilst juggling with a full-time job.

Outside all of this I'm also a runner and belong to Plymouth Harriers, so I have done 10k, half marathons and full marathons, even an unltra which is a 32 mile run over Dartmoor.

 

Ammonite

Hello peeps, thank you for dropping by.

Today I'm going to do a card from the recent Chocolate Baroque TV show. Today I'm using the Ammonite stamp.

Cut a piece of Parchment paper to 4.25"x4.25", using Versamark stamp the image on to the parchment paper. Apply detail white embossing powder and heat set.

Turn over and colour using a mid-brown alcohol marker.

With the same side, place on to embossing mat (or old mouse mat) and GENTLY with embossing ball tool emboss the image using the lines in the stamp as a guide.

Mat and layer on to a card and attach to a card blank.

 

From The Deep (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a few projects to share using stamps that were featured on last month's TV shows on The Craft Store.

 My first card was created on a piece of glossy card, and I used an inky plate to create the background. I brayered a selection of Distress Inks onto the plate, and then pressed the card onto the plate to get a print. I trimmed the card to size, and then placed a square of Masking Tissue in the centre. I stamped the images from Mermaid Queen and Seashell Collage around the edges using Archival Ink. I added some shading using grey Archival Ink before removing the Masking Tissue. I stamped the bird and sentiment from the Seashell Collage stamp set within the faux frame, amd added a touch of pencil colouring to the image.

To create my second card, I used a piece of Smooth White Stamping Paper and stamped the Ammonite image in the foreground using black ink. I masked the image using Masking Tissue, and proceeded to stamp the image again in grey ink, masking as I went along, until I had filled the page. I only needed three masks in total to achieve this effect, and as they are reusable, I will be able to put them to good use in future projects. I used colouring pencils to complete the project, choosing a rainbow palette, and using three different colours on each shell to give a good variation of shading. I started with the lightest colour each time. I added a sentiment from Birthday Words.

My third card was created using Drawing Cartridge and Distress Inks. I added salt to the background while it was still wet to create an underwater effect, like bubbles in the sea. Once the background was dry I added some foliage along the bottom from Something Fishy, and completed the sea bed by drawing in some lines and dots with a fineliner pen. I added lots of the fish, and stamped a few extra fish and shells onto to some sticker sheets which I coloured separately, all with pencils. I added a few fronds of colour to represent seaweed using my Koh-I-Noor plalette and a waterbrush. 

This last project is a golden oldie which I am sharing again for those readers who have not seen it before. I used Ink and mica powder on the bckground covered up with scrunched up cling film. Once the background was dry, I stamped all of my images from Mermaid Queen with Archival Ink and coloured them with pencils. I have joined the images up with dots to make them appear to be part of one big scene using a fineliner pen, and used toning colours throughout.

Thanks for stopping by, I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you. Take care, and stay safe,

Judith xx

ephemera

Today I am sharing some pix of a journal I made for the October tv shows.
I don't know about you, but I find that if I try to plan a project out in detail, it always goes wrong - happened again with this journal! It's much safer to just play, get messy and inky and then see what i have got.
I used a Sizzix journal die, and had plans to create a mixed media holiday souvenir journal using all the stamps in the ephemera sets and some older seaside related sets.



The cover went ok, using kraft card as the base with lots of gesso and paint splodged on. and the beach huts stamped in the centre, with the journey word. I also used a mini photo from Creative Individuals
 I ended up salvaging the better of the inner pages to create a slim journal - this one had another  CI image, the beach huts again, ammonite stamp , sea shells and the travel ticket.
I also used the chess stamps, the fountain scene, lighthouse and flower stamps to create the other pages.

 I did have fun - sort of - and next time I won't bother planning it out!

 I also reused an empty coffee can, covering it with kraft card and stamping images using brown ink, adding colour with pencils.

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

Dreaming of the Beach (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have three projects to share with you today, which I took with me to last month's TV shows on Hochanda to use as demos on the shows. If you watched the shows, you will have seen two of these projects in action, but the third one did not make it to air, because the stamp featured sold out so fast. That's the nature of live TV!

For my first project, I created a watercolour background on a large piece of cartridge paper, and stamped a selection of stamps from the Underwater and Mermaid Queen over the top. I cut a postcard sized piece of cartridge paper, and stamped the seashells from Seaside Dreams, and masked the image. I added a watercolour wash over the background. I coloured the shells once I had removed the mask, using just three colours, blue, yellow and brown, mixing the three colours to create a variety of different shades. I added a sentiment to the bakground.

I created a postcard back by drawing some lines using a fineliner pen, and adding images from the Mail Art stamp set. Once I had completed all of my elements, I assembled the card.

To create my second project, I used the same selection of stamps to decorate some brown paper using brown, orange and red tones of ink. I used the paper to make first some wrapping paper for a present, addng some red hessian and some string as a decorative feature. I stamped and embossed some shell images onto kraft card using gold embossing powder, and added some colour using Distress Ink, before cutting the images out, and attaching them to the parcel. The card was made in exactly the same way.

To create my final project, I made a watercolour wash for a piece of watercolour card using Brushos, and sprinkled sea salt over the background while it was still wet. The salt draws some of the liquid away and creates beautiful patterns. Once the background was dry, I brushed the salt away, and stamped a seaweed image from the Underwater stamp set across the background, using first, second and third generation stamping. I also added a sentiment.

Finally, I stamped the Ammonite image onto cartridge paper using some of the left over diluted Brushos, which I picked up from my craft mat, directly onto the stamp. I used a water brush to draw some of the colour from the outline of the image. I cut the image out, and attached it to the card using 3D foam pads.

I will be back later in the month with more watery inspiration for you. Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx