Katya again

 two more samples using the lovely Katya - you can tell she was my favourite, can't you!
Katya stamped with black versafine, clear embossed and masked with masking fluid. The buildings from the babushka set were stamped using an old multi-coloured dye ink pad that was so old the colours had all merged into an apology for black - very different from the original! It worked for the buildings, as there were still traces of the original colours when the background was spritzed with water to activate the brusho powders, so I got a misty skyline effect.
Once everything was dry, I rubbed off the masking fluid and coloured her using watered down aztec metallic paints.







The second version is a bit more dramatic , and a tad more complicated.
It started out the same way, stamping and masking Katya before stamping the castle from the fantasy castle set, as I thought it looked sufficiently Russian. I coloured the castle with brusho powders and a waterbrush, mostly using sandstone, lemon and leaf green powders. Katya was coloured with mica powders and a waterbrush. I created a layered effect by trimming the castle to a square and cutting round Katya where she was outside the square. I added a square gold mat behind the castle.
The background was randomly stamped with the silhouette palaces stamp using the same ancient ink pad and grey, purple and black brusho powders which all sort of merged into a misty nighttime effect.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing the wonderful samples from the team over the last month, we certainly enjoyed making them!

Stampbord domino book (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a little domino book made using stamps from Babushka and Silhouette Palaces.

I made the covers from Stampbord dominos, I love stampbord as it takes ink beautifully. I stamped the little skyline from Babushka and added colour with Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush. Once that was dry I added some gold embossing and some glossy accents. I also embossed around the edges with WOW Gold EP

To make the concertina pages I cut a strip of card to size and folded it to fit the stampbord covers.  I stamped  the Silhouette Palaces with versamark and embossed with black EP. I then used Twinkling H2Os to paint in the sky before adding a few stars, white highlights to the towers and a little moon with silver paint.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

From Russia with Love by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies, I'm back again with my final post for Chocolate Baroque DT, featuring the stunning Russian themed stamps that were featured on Hochanda.

My tag I used Distress Inkpads spritzed with water and heat dried for that fab marbled background, I stamped one of the Silhouette Palaces in Grey Versafine ink and again using Black and heat embossing, the Babushka dolls I coloured in, cut out and covered with Glossy accents, once dried I adhered them using hot glue to get dimension.

My first card I used a circle stencil/mask and torn paper to create a moon and hills, I used dye-based inkpads applied with brushes to get a more airbrushed effect, I used a filigree stencil which I spritzed with water and dabbed dry in places to create some interest, I finally stamped the Silhouette Palace using Versamark Inkpad and heat embossed in gold.

My final card I started with the Katya which was stamped with Versamark Inkpad and heat embossed with black embossing powder. I then used Drawing Gum to colour her in, then once dry I used Distress Inkpads with water again and stamped the Silhouette Palaces with grey ink. I then rubbed off the drawing gum with my finger, coloured her in using watercolour paints.

  

 

I hope you like my creations, I had such fun making them. Thank you so much for visiting and leaving a comment.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx 

Babushka (by Marga)

Hello all, here I have a label to share with you this time, also fun to make sometimes.

The background I made with the Distress inks. I stamped the image Fountain Scene with a light brown ink, and coloured the trees. I stamped the Babushkas on a different paper coloured them with Distress Ink and cut them out. 

Stamps I used: Babushka, Fountain Scene.

Hugs Marga

Babushka and Katya (by Julie)

Hello again, Julie here to show you two more card ideas with the fabulous new designs Chocolate Baroque have for you this month.

For my first card I coloured the base with Distress inks and stamped the Silhouette Palaces along the top and bottom of the card. I placed the mask of Silhouette Palace 1 onto watercolour card and spritzed with spray inks. Remove the mask and leave to dry then colour the palace with Distress inks. Cut out, mount onto black card and attach to the base card. Using the dolls from the Babushka set, ink up with Onyx Black Versafine and stamp onto separate stamping card. Colour with brush markers, cut out and attach to the front with 3d glue gel.

For my second card I have stamped Katya onto black card and heat embossed with silver. I coloured her with Antique Bronze, Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass Distress Stain. I dabbed the Brushed Pewter around the edge of the card and mounted onto silver mirri card that I had stamped with the Large Crackle Background

For the background I stamped the Silhouette Palaces with Onyx Black Versafine and then with a sweeping motion I applied Antique Bronze, Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass Distress Stain. The Distress Stains seemed to blend really well on their own but I just helped them along with a dab of a baby wipe here and there. I mounted the card onto mirri card as before that I had stamped with the Large Crackle Background. As it is mirri card I used black Staz on for this job.

Thanks for popping by

Julie xx

ATC Russian Collection (by Magda)

I thought that the best way to enhance these beautiful Russian Theme Stamps, is to run a collection of ATC.

Here the recipe :

1.  Cut in ATC size The Pink Pig A4 Ameleie 275 grm Matte Watercolour paper

2.  Prepare the backgrounds with Brusho Crystal Colours 

3.  Use Versafine in different colors for stamping your chosen images

4.  The Russian stamps I used for this projects are the following

      Large Crackle Background Single Rubber stamp A6

      Babushka Rubber Stamps sheet A5

      Russian Exquisite Egg Single  Rubber stamps A6

      Silhouette Palaces Rubber stamps A6

      Katya Single Rubber stamp A6

 5.  Colour your stamped images with Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle Pencils

 6.  Highlight some details of the ATC with Stickles spots

I hope you will love the Russian Stamps too and thanks for passing by 

Magda

Katya Missing Home (by Anne)

Good morning. Here is the last of my TV show samples using the lovely Katya stamp (recently featured on Hochanda). The idea was to create a sort of dream scene depicting Katya missing her home.
 
Materials:

• Katya, Silhouette Palaces, Babushka and Words to Dazzle & Sparkle stamp sets
• 8 X 8 inch card blank (white stamping card), copy paper to make masks
• Distress Inkpad (Tumbled Glass), Multi coloured dye based inkpad (blues & purples)
• Glitter pens (blue, purple) and sparkle pens (teal, clear)
• Clouds stencil

 
How it was done:

1. I first stamped Katya 4 times onto the corners of the card, leaving ink off the bottom portion of the stamp. I chose Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to get a pale effect.
2. I cut a circle mask from copier paper. Covering the central section I then applied Distress Ink through the cloud stencil, lightly using a sponge. I coloured Katya’s headdress with glitter and sparkle pens using a water brush to get some shading.
3. I edged the card with Distress Ink and stamped the sentiment around the border.
4. Using the other part of my paper mask I covered the background leaving just the central opening to work though. I stamped and cut out the buildings from copier paper to make more masks. I first stamped the foreground image (using multi coloured ink), then covered it with the mask before stamping the next building behind. Finally I covered both foreground images and stamped the silhouette palace at the back.
5. I used the cloud stencil again to add detail to the sky area. I then coloured the images picking up ink from my mat with a water brush.
6. Finally I added a little spatter by picking up watered down ink and sparkle pen from my mat onto an old toothbrush.

Katya Frame (by Brenda)

Hello everyone, today sees the second of this month's posts from our Guest Design Team member Brenda Weatherill. She has created a beautiful project using the individual stamp Katya, from our latest release of Russian stamps.

Brenda writes:

My starting point was a primed 8" x 8" wooden frame with a removable canvas central panel. I painted the canvas with deep pink, purple and gold acrylic paints and once dry, stamped the Katya image with Versafine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with detail clear embossing powder. I then used gold paint to highlight areas of the image.

Next the frame was given a base coat of the same pink and purple paints, then random areas were covered with crackle glaze, dried, and a coating of light lilac paint plus some of the darker colours were added here and there with an almost dry brush. I also stamped some added crackle with the Large Crackle Background stamp and a gold pigment ink.

Across the bottom of the frame, I stamped a church from the Silhouette Palaces stamp set, and another from the Babushka stamp set, and heat embossed both with detail gold embossing powder. Along the top of the frame, I stencilled some vines and butterflies, and brushed them with mica powder.

Thank you Brenda, for another inspirational project. You can see Brenda's final project for the month next week.

babushka (by Veronica)

Apologies for the picture-heavy post, thought I ought to show some photos of how it was done!
Thought I would try something a little different with the babushka dolls, and make a pop-up box card. Normally I would cut out the box, but as I had some ready-made blanks I used those for speed - they were rather shorter than I would have preferred, but worked quite well in the end.
I used the babushka dolls plate and the silhouette palaces stamps with a mixture of markers, pencils, brushos and distress inks.
The folded flat box fits into an 8"x8" square envelope, and the top panels are 85x80mm, side panels 85x105mm , and the back 85x185mm - sorry for the mix of measurements.

 I stamped the buildings from babushka onto
80x75mm panels for the fold-down flaps, and also at the top of a 80x180 panel for the inside back of the card,using black versafine ink. They were coloured with watercolour pencils.
The pic shows how they were glued onto the base card.

 The side panels were 80x100mm, and here I stamped the smaller stamp from silhouette palaces using black archival ink, then sprinkled lemon, rose red and turquoise brusho powder before spritzing it for the sky.





The same stamp was used at the bottom of a 80x180mm panel for the back, this time using smoky grey distress ink and sponging round the edges with the grey as well.

I stamped 2 large and 1 medium dolls onto white card using versafine again and coloured them with marker pens so that they stood out a bit from the background.
The blank came with 2 bars for the inner box, so the smaller doll was glued to the front of the back bar and the other to the front and back of the front bar

two more photos of the completed box from different angles

Heartfelt Thanks (by Marga)

Hello all, today I would like to show you a card made with some new and some old stamps.

The background I made with Distress Inks and I splattered some water on it.

In the corner I stamped the leaves from the Wisteria Lane set with two different colours of ink.

Then I stamped the Silhouette Palaces with a brown ink and masked them a little so I could stamp the oriental houses from the Babushka set. These houses I coloured with ink. The sentiment is from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle set.

Stamps I used: Words of Dazzle and Sparkle, Babushka, Silhouette Palaces, Wisteria Lane.

Hugs Marga

Katya (by Marga)

Hello All, today I may show you a card made with the new stamps. What a great stamp this is again.

I coloured the background with Distress Inks and splattered some water on it. Then I stamped the stamp Katya with a light brown ink and colored it on some places with my pencils.

Then I stamped from the stamp sheet Babushka the oriental homes with black.

Stamps I used: Katya, Babushka

Hugs Marga

Babushka Dream (by Magda)

What's the difference between Babushka and Matryoshka ? 

There is no differences if not in the origin of the name, and it is very interesting to read about the tradition and the meaning of these nested dolls. They are special and have their own charm, as the new stamp set of Chocolate Baroque, that  inspired me to do this page.

Step by Step

1.     Put white gesso randomly on a journaling page.

2.     Colour here and there with Distress Crayons using black and white and Hickory Smoke.

3.     Wipe with baby wipes.

4.      Repeat points 2 and 3 till you are happy with the result.

5.      Stamp with Distress Inkpad Ground Espresso the houses of Babushka stamp set.

6.      Stamp with Versafine Onyx Black some grass of the Floral Edges stamp set.

7.      Colour with Distress Broken China through a stencil pattern between the houses.

8.      Colour randomly with white embossing paste or white gesso mixed with gold embossing powder or gold Stickles through Mini Gothic Romance stencil to lighten.

9.      Stamp with Versafine on a separate cardstock the babushka dolls, colour them and cut out the figures.

10.  Cut out some pictures of Moscow in a suitable size.

11.  Stamp the sentiment with black Versafine and glue the dolls, the sentiment and the pictures on the journaling page.

Have fun with the cute Babushka set! 

Magda 

Another Babushka Scene (by Anne)

Good morning. I have created another scene using the lovely Babushka Russian Dolls. I did a bit of masking to create the background but stamped, shaped and cut out the dolls to layer onto the scene.

Happy crafting, Anne x.

Materials used:

• Babushka and Magical Landscapes stamp sets
• A6 shaped card blank and white stamping card
• Waste copy paper to create masks
• Ranger Archival Inkpad (Coffee)
• Watercolour pens
• Stickles glitter glue (Diamond)
• Brown marker pen

How it was done:

1. Stamped the background buildings using masks to cover the foreground images – straight onto the card front.
2. Stamped the dolls and cut out.
3. Used a marker to finish the scene and to edge (frame) the card.
4. Coloured  the scene and dolls with watercolour pens.
5. Shaped and glued the dolls onto the scene with 3D glue gel.
6. Finished with a little glitter glue for sparkle.

Church Domes (by Asha)

Hello there, fellow Chocoholics. Hope you had a fabulous Easter break.  I've got a simple project to share with you - a Confirmation card featuring the Russian Church from the Babushka A5 stamp sheet.

I heat embossed the image with silver embossing powder on watercolour paper and coloured it with Distress Inks. I cut the image out with Spellbinders die and inked the edges, before mounting it (with foam tape) on a black card base. It's not obvious in the photo, but I stamped tiny flowers from the Seasonal Fragments sheet on the card base with Versamark for some subtle background interest.

I finished the card with some Liquid Pearls, few bling, and "congratulations" from Loving Sentiments. That image is perfect for all kinds of occasions with a religious theme - Baptisms, First Communion, Sympathy etc. This little image is pretty versatile!

As always, more details on tools and products used are available on my blog. And be sure to stop by often for more fabulous projects by the rest of the team. Have a brilliant day!

Beijinhos,
Asha

Babushka Gifts (by Judith)

Hello everyone, it's my final post of the month using the Babushka stamp set, and I have a couple of gift ideas to share with you today.

I cut a couple of tag shapes from kraft card, making one of them a bit longer, and created a gusset to join to the other tag. I scored  along the middle of the area, and also allowed a small area at the end to join to the back tag.

I coloured a smaller piece of watercolour paper, using Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink, and stamped a small flower from the Spring Bird Daffodil stamp set randomly over the background. I coloured the flowers with pencils. I cut a circular hole out of the background, and a slightly smaller hole from the kraft tag, to create a border inside the circle on the flowery background.

I stamped two of the Babushka dolls onto a spare piece of watercolour paper, and coloured these with pencils, before cutting them out and attaching them to the flowery background. I added a sentiment, and then stuck the back and front tags together at the top with strong double-sided tape. As I did so, I sandwiched the top of the bag of chocolate eggs between the tape.

My second gift is a bit of fun. I make these little bracelets all of the time, using coloured shell and jump rings. I stamped some of the medium sized Babushka dolls onto shrink plastic using Stazon Ink, and then coloured the reverse of the images using alcohol markers. I cut them out and punched holes in the top of each one, before shrinking them with a heat gun. I simply attached them to the bracelet with a jump ring.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

trifold babushka (by Veronica)

This was an experiment, which i ended up quite liking....

I started by making a trifold card from a sheet of white A4 card, using my old Groovy card maker, and marked a point 2" up from the bottom of the left hand corner. I marked a  diagonal line  from this point to the top right hand corner of the second fold.

The backing papers were made next, using distress ink onto a blending mat and spraying with water and mopping up with white card.
As far as I remember, I used wild honey, barn door and peeled paint inks.
Once this was dry, I cut it into 3 panels before stamping.

The buildings were stamped in the centre of one panel and at the bottom of another using vintage photo distress ink, which was then used with a waterbrush to add shading - once it was dry, I added a few white highlights with a pen.



the babushka dolls were first stamped onto masking tissue and cut out, then stamped onto the last piece of background towards the bottom of the card in the centre. I stamped the two smaller dolls first, masked them off, stamping the largest doll behind them.
They were coloured with a waterbrush, this time using wild honey, barn door and vintage photo inks.

I cut the panel with the dolls to fir the width of the card front and glued it down, The tricky bit then was to cut the card on the diagonal line whilst  remembering to cut around the dolls - a beheaded mother doll doesn't look good!

I lined the panel with the larger building up behind the dolls before trimming it to fit the second fold of the card, the trimmed the third panel to fit the back of the card.

the colours in the scan of the folded card are the more accurate, the sunlight rather bleached out the colours in the photos.

Babushka Birthday Greetings

Good morning, Claire here with a card made using the lovely  Babushka stamps. I do like to add lots of ribbon and embellishments to cards but with the cost of postage I'm trying to make some 'flat' cards which are more economical to post.

I began with a background from my stash, This one was made using the 'Shaving Foam' technique and acrylic inks. I love this technique but it's rather messy so I tend make a batch of lots of backgrounds to make the mess worth while. I stamped the two Babushka images and masked them to add the background stamps. I coloured them with pencils and stamped the greeting (from Birthday Words) with Black Archival ink. I've simply matted the image on black card and added some faux stitching with a black fineliner pen.

Thanks for visiting today,

Claire xx

Russian Dolls (by Julie)

Hello and thanks for stopping by. It's my turn to show you my creations and I have two very different cards to whet your appetite for these fantastic Babushka stamp designs.

For my first card I started off by taking some thin masking tape and applying it to the edges of the base card. I then inked up the trio of small Babushka dolls with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped them in rows within the taped area, before colouring with Polychromos pencils. I then lightly applied some Pumice Stone and Fired Brick Distress ink over the base card, before stippling Peacock Feathers Distress ink through a dotty stencil around the stamped images. If you get some of the dots on the dolls you can wipe it off with a damp cloth or baby wipe as the ink doesn't dry quickly on Polychromas pencils.

I then stamped the three main images onto water-colour card using Versafine before water-colouring with marker pens. 

Cut the dolls out, but leave a 5 mm border around each image so that faux stitching can be added and then adhere the dolls to the base card with 3D glue gel.

To finish off, remove the masking tape and then take a ruler and fine tip marker pen to add the faux stitching around the edges. 

My second card is quite a distressed, grungy take and you really do not need to be very precise with the background.

I started by cutting a black matt for my card followed by some water-colour card to go onto the black matt.

Take some Peeled Paint and Dried Marigold Distress ink direct to a large stamping block, spritz with water and then drag the water-colour card across until the whole card is coloured. Dry with a heat tool, before inking up the two church stamps with Onyx Black Versafine to stamp around the background. Colour the churches with Polychromos pencils before stippling Peacock Feather Distress ink and Antique Linen Distress Paint through a dotty stencil.

The main Babushka has been stamped onto white card, coloured with Polychromos pencils and then Tea Dye Distress ink was applied over the top. The card was cut to size, mounted onto black card-stock before adhering to the background. I have also added white hi-lights with a gel pen and dry brushed some white acrylic paint to the whole design. To finish off, add some bling by applying Crystal Stickles to some of the stencil dots.

Thank you for popping in. Please call back tomorrow for some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie x

Babushka Scene Card (by Anne)

Good morning, I am just loving the new Babushka stamps. Hope that you like my quick scene. To avoid worrying about masking I chose to cut out the dolls and layer them onto the scene.

Materials:

• Babushka and Fountain Scene stamp
• A6 purple card blank and white stamping card (suitable for wet media)
• Versafine Inkpad (Black Onyx)
• Alcohol Marker (black)
• Watercolour markers (purple, lime green and turquoise)
• Adhesive and 3D glue gel
• Turquoise PVA pearls and fine crystal glitter

 How to do it:

1. Stamp the Fountain Scene and Babushka dolls using Versafine. Trim the scene to fit the card front and edge with black marker. Cut out the dolls.
2. Colour the image and dolls with watercolour markers.
3. Mount the image onto the card front and glue on the dolls with 3D glue gel.
4. Finish with PVA pearls and drop on glitter while the PVA is still wet.

Baby Dolls (by Asha)

Good morning, friends. I'm back with a card project featuring the new Babushka stamp set. These are lovely stamps but if you're finding it difficult to get creative with them, why not consider taking the Clean and Simple route.

These dolls take centre stage on my card. They have been coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut before adhering to the embossed background with foam tape. Or you could go hardcore CAS and adhere the dolls to a plain white background.

There are no bulky embellishments on this card, making it perfect for mailing. For added sparkle I applied Stickles to their head scarves and to accentuate the embossed design, I very lightly inked around the edges of the card. Couldn't be simpler!

As always, more details on tools and products used are available on my blog. And be sure to stop by often for more fabulous projects by the rest of the team. Have a brilliant day!

Beijinhos,
Asha