Two for one (by Lesley)

I love turning office stationery products into craft items and today I am using good old fashioned blotting paper to create this card. Bit of a long post but I hope you enjoy the technique.

Take a piece of blotting paper approximately 30 x 9cm, mist thoroughly with plain water and then spritz with spray inks of your choice. I used Dylusions Ink Sprays in Squeezed Orange, Lemon Zest, Bubblegum Pink and Cherry Pie. Pick up the paper and allow that colours to run into each other. Soak up the excess moisture with kitchen roll and then dry gently with a heat gun. Keep turn the blotting paper over as it will curl as it dries.

Once dry you will have the bright side on which the inks were sprayed and the reverse will be a paler version. Fold a piece of white card measuring 14.5 x 21 cm in half to make a tall thin card. Draw a curve across the top of the card and then cut out. (You can use a cup, mug or other circular object you have as a template). Using wet adhesive attach the blotting paper, pale side uppermost, to the card. Allow to dry.

Ink up the bird image from A Little Bird Told Me using Versafine Onyx Black and stamp on to the front of the card. Ink up the leaves only on the large bird image from As Free as a Bird (use a baby wipe to remove any ink that may have strayed on to other parts of the image) and stamp across the top of the card. Set aside to dry.

Take the remaining piece of blotting paper and ink the bird again, but this time just the body and stamp on to the bright side. Cut out and set aside. Ink up the leaves again and stamp onto the bright side of the blotting paper, repeat. Cut out the leaves plus the berries and leaf.  Attach the body of the bird over the stamped image on the card. Add the leaves and berries to the branch as shown and finish with a sentiment from the Amazing Birthday clear set.

By using the front and reverse of the same piece of blotting paper you can be sure that all the colours tone in together. And there is nothing to say you couldn't use the bright version for the background and stamp the bird and leaves onto the paler side.

Hope this inspires you to try using blotting paper as part of your crafty creations. Experiment with it and see what else you can do; it makes great paper flowers by the way!

Thank you for for stopping by and please call in again to see more ideas from the Design team.

Elegant black & white and colorful tropical (by Miranda)

Hi there,

Today my last two creations made with the birds of Paradise. All along I had the idea to create something simple only using black, white and a hint of gold. Just a simple but elegant card.

I had this black die cut frame in my stash and decided that it was perfect for this card. I had the feather dies also for quit a while and this was a good time to use them!

I have stamped the bird from ' as free as a bird' with Versafine black and added some accents with a gold ink. I have stamped the tail of the bird onto the die cut flower and coloured with the gold.

On the frame I have added some gold pearl pen accents.

Here you can see the gold ink a little better........

And now onto more colorful tropical spheres.............. quite different...isn't it?

I have used the same die cut feathers and flower. I have stamped the bird from the ' as free as bird' sheet with Archival Olive onto a distress ink background and coloured it with color pencils. I have stamped one of the fragments from the Rustic fragments on the flower and draw the same pattern as on the stamped image on the die cut leaves. I think the flowers look a bit like strawberries!

some gold accents on the tail with ink.......

Thanks for your visit and you know....I always enjoy to read your comments!

Hope to have inspired you with these lovely birdies!

Till next time,

Birds of Paradise (by Julie)

Hello, hope you are loving the bird theme for this month. I think they make fabulous designs for any occasion which makes them so versatile. For my first card I have taken the bird cage from A Little Bird Told Me and the bird stamp is from As Free As A Bird. The leaves stamped around the bird panel are from Seasonal Fragments

The bird and leaves have been coloured with coloured pencils and I have added white highlights with a marker pen and Crystal Stickles. To create the cage, I inked up the stamp with Onyx Black Versafine and then spread over Molding Paste and set a side for at least 12 hours to dry. Once dry I very carefully peeled the paste from the stamp and coloured with a yellow alcohol pen. For the background I spritzed water onto water-colour card and then dropped on some pale blue, liquid water-colour and dried with a heat tool. I then applied Fossilized Amber and Fired Brick Distress ink with a wet wipe and when it was dry I added some Crystal Stickles.

As you can see my second card is in a similar style to my first and they were both created in a similar way. The only differences are that on the background, instead of dabbing the Distress ink, I took a wet wipe and swirled the Pickled Raspberry Distress ink.

For the birdcage I cut and stamped the image 5 times, then using one of the cages as the base I folded the remaining 4 cages in half and glued them together. Before gluing them to the base cage I ran a length of thread, from the top of the cage to the bottom and attached jump rings to each end so that the chain and beaded head pins could be attached.

I attached the cage chain to an eyelet that I had set in a die cut border and used silicone glue to glue everything to the base card.

Thanks for stopping by and please come again soon xx

As Free As A Bird and A Little Bird Told Me - Cards and a 10 minute tag By Florence

Good Morning everyone

Thank you for stopping by.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend.

A big warm welcome if this is your first visit to the Chocolate Baroque blog.

Today I would like to share with you two cards and a very quick tag made using the new "As Free As A Bird" and "A Little Bird Told Me" rubber stamps Sets.

My second card is very similar in design as the first.

To make these cards

Apply some Distress Ink to white card stock using a foam sponge and then lightly spritz with water and let dry.
Stamp the floral branches and color.

Stamp the bird and the bird cages, color the images and cut them out.

Make up the cards as seen using foam pads or silicon to attach the bird and the cages.

The Floral Branches are a stamp from the Clear Set "Lily Pad".

My last project for today is a really quick tag.

To make this tag

Apply some Distress Ink to the tag using a foam sponge.

Lightly spritz with water and dry.

Take a circle stencil and apply some Distress Ink using a foam sponge.

Move the stencil to another position on the tag and apply more Distress Ink.

Stamp the bird cages and add a hint of color.

Stamp the tail feathers of one of the birds to add a flourish pattern.

Stamp the sentiments and mat and layer it.

Do check the older posts to see the amazing projects made by the team.

Happy Stamping

Florence x

The birds have flown (by Lesley)

Whilst browsing around the internet recently I was reminded of a technique that I haven't used for several years. So today's project features a background which starts with masking tape.

• Cover greyboard with masking tape, then cover with white gesso. 
• Add several colours of acrylic or chalk paint, drying each colour before adding the next.
• Stencil the leaves from the ColorBox Tropical Art Screen and stamp a selection of cages from As Free as a Bird and A Little Bird Told Me using white gesso and paint. Add shading with a charcoal pencil to finish.

Just playing with colour and creating backgrounds can be so theraputic. It doesn't have to be paint,
you could try the acrylic block technique or sponge over several Distress ink colours onto heavyweight cardstock or a canvas. Build up a selection of a variety of backgrounds and then you have a ready made backdrop for your next exciting project.

Thank you for visiting us today, please keep dropping by to see what other inspiring creations the Design Team girls have in store for you.

As free as a bird (by Miranda)

Hi there,

Today it's my turn to show you what I have done with these new beautiful birds and birdcages........I've mainly used the 'Free as a bird' sheet but also used some of the birdcages of the ' a little bird told me'.

I have used a background made with fluid inks, like Ecoline on watercolor paper. 

I have stamped the 3 birds of the ' as free as a bird' sheet using green and purple Memento inks. Than I extend the branches by drawing with a black fineliner 0.1 mm. Than I stamped the birdcages using black ink. In the two corners I have stamped a fragment of the bird with flowers and leaves.

Than the fun started.....colouring with color pencils and some accents with a white marker.

The sentiment is from the ' a little bird told me' sheet.

Hope to have inspired you with this one and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Thanks for your visit and till next time,

A Little Bird Told Me and As Free As A Bird - Gift and Card By Florence

Hi everyone

I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Happy 4th of July to our friends over in America.

Today I would like to share a gift and a card made using the new "A Little Bird Told Me" and "As Free As A Bird" rubber stamp sets.  The two new sets are absolutely gorgeous.  The multi-buy option can be seen here.

The birds are so beautiful in both sets and after using the two new sets it struck me that the bird cages make such a fabulous combination and compliment the birds so well.

I know you are going to love these sets.

I decorated the covers of a blank note book for my first project.

My next project is a little card which I made to accompany the note book.

Both projects have been made in the same way.

I used a little mdf bird cage on the book but on the card (below) I stamped and cut out the larger bird cage and used that as part of the embellishments.

The projects have been made as follows

Base coat the surface (the base book cover or thick card) with 2 coats of Gesso.

Apply 1 to 2 coats (depending on coverage) of greyish blue colored craft paint and leave to dry.

Apply a coat of Weathered Wood Crackling Medium and leave to dry.

Apply one coat of white craft paint and leave it to dry and crackle.

Use a light blue ink and stamp the bird cages.
Use a slightly darker blue ink and stamp the script.

Chocolate Baroque script stamps Eccentric Edwardian and Mini Scripts.

Tip:  If decorating a cover of a note book, place a piece of A4 copier paper between the inside cover and the pages.  This will stop any paint from straying onto the nice clean pages of your book.

The embellishments

Stamp the bird onto white card stock, color it and cut it out.

Stamp the bird cage onto white card stock, cut it out and add a little shading to the outside edges using a sponge and ink.

Cut out some flowers, add a little ink to color the petals and attach the buttons.

Attach the embellishments to your project using silicon or hot glue.

 I have used die cuts for this project but there are many flower stamps in the Chocolate Baroque range that would work equally as well ie., Sunny Sunflowers, Diamante Delights and Sketchy Doodle Landscape are just a few ideas.

Larger photos of these projects can be seen on my own craft blog here.

If you have any questions please use the comments box below.

Thank you for looking.

Happy Stamping

Florence x

Birds of Paradise (posted by Julie)

Good morning, hope it's lovely and sunny where you are. I think Summer has finally arrived here in England along with some brand new stamps. 

Today I have two cards made with the fantastic new Birds Of Paradise stamp sets.

This card was made with the lovely new A Little Bird Told Me stamp set and all the stamping has been done with Onyx Black Versafine.

The bird was stamped onto separate card and coloured with pencils. To make the bird look like it was peeking out of the panel, I cut around his head and then placed the cutting die behind the birds head to cut the panel.

The borders have been created from the little decorative stamp in the set and the base card was coloured with Tumbled Glass Distress ink that I brushed on, over a cloud template that I had cut from copier paper.

My second card is quite simple to do and was created from the As Free As A Bird set.

I cut a panel of black card to fit the card base, inked up the tail feathers of one of the birds from the set with Versamark and stamped around the edges, followed by dusting over with gold Pan Pastel.

On separate card I stamped the main bird image with Onyx Black Versafine and again used the tail feathers around the edge as previously described.

Using foam pads I mounted the panel onto a gold card-stock matt and to finish off, I used a die cut  flower and leaves to decorate the top left corner. For added interest,  I over-stamped them with the little decorative die from the set.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you here again tomorrow.xx

Paradise found (by Lesley)

Well here we are, almost the end of another month. We have had the longest day already and with a distinct lack of Summer sun I think it is time we all went a little exotic.

Today sees the launch of our July Stamps of the Month and both A5 sets are themed around the glorious Bird of Paradise.

First we have As Free as a Bird

followed by A Little Bird Told Me

and, of course, both stamps are available as our usual money saving multi-buy

The elegance and majestic nature of these images are a treat for those of you who find calm and peace in colouring your stamped designs.  And with the subject matter you can be as flamboyant with your colour choices as you wish.  And don't forget that those swirly tails make great corners and stunning backgrounds.

The card I have made illustrates how you can combine patterned paper with stamping and colouring.

• Using a background paper from the new Crafty Individuals Paper Pad, Weekend in Seville, stamp the bird from A Little Bird Told Me directly onto the paper using Versafine Onyx Black. 
• Stamp just the body of the bird onto a self adhesive label and colour him according to your taste (I used Faber-Castell Aquarelle and Polychromos pencils). 
• Fussy cut the bird, peel of the backing and stick into place matching up with the stamped image on the background paper. 
• Stamp the two birdcages and use a black fineliner and rule to give the illusion of them hanging. 
• Add the sentiment, mat and layer on to red card and then on to a folded 7" square white card.

I am sure you are going to love playing with these and there are masses of inspirational projects to come over the next month from our brilliant Design Team girls. So keep watching and enjoy.