Autumn Breeze (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Today I'm taking a break from the featured stamps for the month by showing you an earlier project of mine. I made this page about a year ago. The inspiration came from everywhere and Chocolate Baroque's Autumn Poppy seemed like the perfect focal point.

I decided on a vibrant blue for the crisp and cool air of autumn. the perfect background for the golden leaves swirling down in the breeze. And to further illustrate the cool autumn breeze, I added texture to the background with a stamp from Chocolate Baroque's Seasonal Fragments sheet and stamped it with Dandelion Ranger Archival Ink. I applied acrylic paints with a baby wipe to create the background.

Here's a closer look at the mushrooms. I think they are just magical! I coloured them with alcohol markers, fussy cut and adhered down with Ranger multi medium matte. I used a white gel pen to add some highlights to the mushrooms.

I hope you like this page. Personally, I love the blue - orange combo, especially for autumn. For more details on tools and products, check out my blog post. Have a lovely autumn season everyone... and wrap up warm!

Beijinhos,
Asha

We Will Remember Them (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! We are almost at the end of October and while a Halloween project would be the obvious choice, I decided to hop off the bandwagon and pursue a different theme. Looking ahead to November, I decided to play with the Pretty Poppies stamp sheet to create a Remembrance Day inspired page.

It's a simple page, no unnecessary embellishments, textures or distractions. Just a field of red poppies against a clear blue sky. A telling contrast... lest we forget the price of peace.

I used acrylic paints for the background and stamped the poppies directly on the page with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I coloured the stems and leaves with alcohol markers. Then I stamped the poppies and buds separately, coloured and fussy cut them before adhering them to the page.

As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Falling Leaves (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! The leaves are falling, the air is cooler and the days are getting shorter... hellooooo Autumn!

It's my turn to show and tell on the DT Blog and I've created an art journal page with a seasonal theme. Just so you know how wonderfully versatile Chocolate Baroque stamps are, I'm featuring a stamp not usually associated with autumn: the Flora Musica rose.

The falling leaves are cut out of gold tissue paper and I've layered them for texture and dimension. The floral image is stamped directly onto the background using Plum Ranger Archival Ink and I've coloured it with polychromos and alcohol markers.
 
As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Glow! (by Asha)

Hello again, friends! Time my monthly Art Journal post featuring Chocolate Baroque stamps. Today I'm featuring 2 new products: the Chequered Flowers Single A6 stamp and the Useful Leaves Mask / Stencil.

I've gone with bold colours for the background: intense shades of red and gold, and to add contrast I chose deep blue.

The glittery swirling leaves are texture paste coloured with metallic gold acrylic paint, spread over the Useful Leaves Mask / Stencil and sprinkled with fine gold glitter dust. I also used the same paint to splatter the background. To add depth to the stencilled leaves I added shading with a gold glitter pen.

The main attraction is the Chequered Flowers Single A6 stamp. I kept it very simple by heat embossing it in white ... and left it at that.

These new floral singles are so versatile. They work so well for all sorts of projects.

As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Beauty Blooms With Grace (by Asha)

Hello again, friends. I come bearing an Art Journal featuring stamps from two utterly gorgeous sheets: Mackintosh Beauty and Mackintosh Windows.

I created the floral arrangements in the corners by cutting up the various images from both sets and adhering them together to form a bouquet. I framed the page with a lace stamp from the Texture Fragments sheet, stamped with light grey ink.

The background is a blend of soft shades of pale pink and lavender acrylic paints.

As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Let Your Dreams Take Flight (by Asha)

Hello, friends! It's the start of a new month and let's get this party going with another collection of amazing stamps. I made a dreamy, pastel candy floss inspired Art Journal page showcasing 3 stamps sets that the Design Team will be featuring this month.

The butterflies, coloured with alcohol markers, are from the Just Butterflies DL sheet. The white swirly design is from the Patchwork Butterfly A4 sheet, stamped with white acrylic paint. The little dragonfly silhouette is from the Butterfly Blush DL sheet. To add some background interest, I stamped the leafy stalk from Briar Rose Butterfly A5 sheet and script from Mini Scripts A6 sheet.

That lovely sentiment is from Butterfly Dreams A4 sheet.

As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team. Wait till you see what they have in store for you ... AWESOME!

Beijinhos,
Asha

May Day Magic (by Asha)

Hello and welcome to the start of a brand new month of creative inspiration here at Chocolate Baroque. Let's get this party going with a little May Day Magic! Here's an Art Journal Page depicting just what that looks like in my head. :)

This project features the fairy from the May Fairy DL sheet, which is part of the Spring Fairy Collection. You would have seen our Lesley showcase these stamps on Hochanda.

The extra foliage and flowers are from the June Fairy and July Fairy DL sheets, respectively. These stamps are also available as the 3-stamp set called Summer Fairy Collection.

As always, on my blog, you'll find more pics as well as details of paints and inks I've used to create this page.

Please swing by often for more project ideas from the rest of the team.

Have a Magical May, everyone!

Beijinhos,
Asha

You Inspire Me (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! What do you think about the lovely new Russian-themed stamps showcased by the team this month? Seriously amazing, right?!

Here's an Art Journal page from me, featuring the lovely Katya. I embossed her with WOW Rich Gold EP and coloured her with alcohol markers.

I added texture around her by stamping the Large Crackle Background using Ranger Archival Ink Plum. Along the bottom edge of the page, I stamped the smaller stamp from the Silhouette Palaces set using Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black. The sentiment is from Words Of Inspiration, also stamped with Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black.

Hope you're having fun with these new stamps. I have more pictures and details of products used over on my blog. Don't forget to swing by often for more amazing projects by the rest of the DT. Thank you for stopping by and have a magical day!

Beijinhos,
Asha

Tree Of Love (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! We are starting the month of July with one of our brand new stamps. Today I'm featuring the Tangled Birch stamp on a fun and playful Art Journal page. For this project I grabbed bright colours, used some of my favourite dies for cardmaking and created this whimsical piece.

I started by applying a gesso and acrylic paint in the background. Next, I added interest with the wavy woodgrainy stamp from Harlequin Fragments.

I stamped the Tangled Birch and water coloured it before fussy cutting. Ooops! I accidentally cut out the moon from the original stamped image.  I fixed it by die cutting a circle and adding the moon behind the branches. A different look but at least I saved the trees!

Don't forget to swing by often to see more lovely work from the rest of the team. You'll find details of tools and products used in this project over at my blog.

Beijinhos.
Asha

Dreams Rise In The East (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! I'm back with 2 more projects featuring the brand new Teardrop Baroque Ornament.

First up is an Art Journal page. Actually, its my very first attempt at art journalling. The design is inspired by a Dreamcatcher dancing in the wind at sunrise. I heat embossed the Teardrop Baroque Ornament, with black EP, onto a piece of vellum. I also heat embossed the tassels in the same way. These little elements are from Indian Textiles and Indian Elephant. To create the background I used Distress Paints. For texture and interest, I used the Miniscript from the Mini Stamps Multibuy set and randomly stencilled in some texture paste. To put it all together, I fussy cut the Teardrop Baroque Ornament and supporting elements and adhered them to the page. Finally, I added some string to the tassels.

The second project is an easy one. This time I heat embossed the Teardrop Baroque Ornament onto some black cardstock using white EP and coloured it with Faber Castell Polychromos. For a dramatic finish I added little dots a Silver Sharpie.  And there you have it - a super simple all occasion card.

If, like me, you find Art Journals intimidating, I'd like to encourage you to give it a go. It can be a stratifying experience. Unlike a card, an Art Journal isn't going anywhere. It's for your pleasure and, best of all,  you don't have to worry if the recipient is going to like it. Over at my blog I've got more pictures and details of all the materials used on this project.

Have a lovely weekend and don't forget to swing by often for more fabulous ideas from the rest of the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha