Let the Adventure Begin by Brenda

Morning all, Brenda here with my last post for November featuring lots of lovely Butterfly stamps.

For the card above I used one of the images from Butterfly Daisy Collage, stamping with Versafine black onto a Distress Ink background, quickly created by randomly brushing three different colours. The harlequins on the background layer are from Decorative Edges and the sentiment from Artistic Affirmations.

A little wall hanging using Briar Rose Butterfly stamped onto a piece of  stamp board which I first coloured with Distress Inks and added some stencilling using Useful Leaves. The image is coloured with Distress Pens and mounted onto a piece of hessian and some beads added to decorate.

I used a rattan heart shape to create this piece stamping images from Butterfly Daisy Collage onto different coloured vellum's using Versafine and detail white embossing powder.  After cutting out I layered the flowers, added a few ready made flowers and leaves from Tangled Garden which are also stamped onto coloured vellum and heat embossed.

This one features Harebell Butterfly stamped onto a background of Distress Ink which then had some of the coloured removed by sponging diluted bleach through a stencil. The image is coloured in with Distress Pens.

Many thanks as always for taking a peek at today's post.

My own unique self (By Marga)

Hello everyone, here I am again, my own unique self.

This time with a card. I made the background from this card with Brusho and stamped the edges and the sentiment with Versafine Onyx black. I put some white gel pen drops in the bubbles and in the flower edge I put some colour with my pencils.

Stamps I used are: Artistic Affirmations and Decorative Edges

Hugs 

Marga

Edged Perfectly (by Julie)

Hello, my cards for today are created with Decorative Edges, Floral Edges , Amazing Mackintosh Words and Butterfly Lady

I love Chocolate Baroque's Edge collection as they have so many uses. You can use them as the main feature of a design or as the name suggests, edge your finished design.

To start with I inked up the harlequin diamond design from Decorative Edges with a blue dye based ink and stamped it top and bottom of my card. Don't worry about the middle looking messy as that is covered by the black card-stock strip and stamped sentiment from Amazing Mackintosh Words. Once you have your background, ink up the leaf design from Floral Edges with Onyx Black Versafine and stamp over the top of harlequin background. Then do the same for the grass edging at the bottom of the design. 

Trim the card, mount onto black card-stock, before attaching to the front of your card blank.

The flower border from Floral Edges which has been stamped top and bottom on this DL card, matches really well with the Butterfly Dress. I stamped the Butterfly Dress onto spare card-stock before colouring with Polychromus pencils. Once coloured I buffed the design with a soft cloth to blend the colours and create the soft edging that surrounds the Butterfly Dress lady. The design was then cut out and matted onto black card-stock before attaching to the front of the DL card. The sentiment is from Amazing Mackintosh Words which was stamped with Onyx Black Versafine before being cut out and mounted onto black card-stock.

Thank you for taking a peek. Please call back for daily Design Team inspiration

Julie xx

A stepper and using gold relief paste (by Rachel)

Hello there! Rachel here with a couple of cards from the September shows. The first is made using the auricula script stamp and one from the floral edges set. The card is a ready made stepper that I decorated using distress inks then added the auricula stamp as a topper.

In this second one I used the gold soft form relief paste on the birdcage collage. I love this stuff - you just spread it on, wait around 24 hours then once dry, peel it off! I have used the decorative edges stamp at the base of the card and stamped in flitterglu and added flake. I think the two techniques compliment each other.

I hope you have enjoyed these two makes and I look forward to sharing more with you next month.

Hugs Rachel x

A Collage of Colour (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a mixture of projects to share with you today, showcasing the stamps featured on last month's TV shows from Hochanda.

My first project uses the lovely Birdcage Collage stamp as my focal point. I created a colourful background using Brushos spritzed with water, and pressed a piece of crumpled cling film over the top, to add a bit of texture to the background. Once the Brushos had dried, I removed the cling film, and stamped some of the words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp plate over the top, using black ink.

I stamped the Birdcage Collage onto a spare piece of Drawing Cartridge, and coloured the image using water based markers and a water brush. Finally, I cut out the image, and attached it to the background.

For my second card, I created a piece of background using Distress Inks, which I had added to my craft mat and spritzed with water. I picked these up on the Drawing Cartridge a couple of times, drying each layer in between. I coloured a piece of Stampbord with the same colour of inks, and the stamped the deco edge from the Decorative Edges stamp set on both the Stampbord and the background, using a plum coloured ink. To finish, I added a piece of ribbon, and some Little Birdie flowers.

My final sample is a reproduction of one I made a long time ago, however I liked the design, so why not? I stamped the Butterfly Dress image onto a piece of smooth card, and masked the image. I stamped the Floral Edges image across the bottom twice. I added clouds using a stencil and blue ink, but you could use torn paper or a frilly die cut to achieve a similar look.

I stamped the Butterfly Dress image twice again onto spare card, and then coloured the flowers and butterflies, plus the main images all with pencils. I added the extra butterflies to the background flying around the lady, and along the floral border.

Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Monochromatic Butterflies by Brenda

Hello everyone, Brenda here and I hope you are ready for some more inspiration using the stamps Lesley showcased on Hochanda in September.

I rather fancied the idea of making monochromatic card with the lovely Butterfly Dress image so I started by stamping her with Versafine black onto my cardstock, followed by one of the stamps from Floral Edges along the bottom and another from Decorative Edges across the top. Next I used some sticky noted to roughly cover the focal image, masked a sun/moon and flicked some watery Distress Inks. I then stamped the image a couple more times, cut out the Butterflies and added to her skirt, three more fluttering past and some shading around the moon.

A grey board tag was my starting point here which I inked with Distress Inks and used Floral Edges along the bottom and around the top stamped with Versafine Majestic Blue. Some stencilled bricks and flowers stamped from the same stamp set, coloured and arranged on the tag. Finally some ribbon and sentiment from Amazing Mackintosh Words.

After masking a sun I used stamps from Floral Edges joining them to extend across the card using Versafine Olympia Green, sponged some sun rays using a piece of torn paper.........I find it easiest to start from the top and keep moving the paper down so that you can see where you have been. Finally a sentiment from Words of Inspiration, I have had this set for years and it remain a firm favourite which I use repeatedly.

For the background panel I used one of the stamps from Floral Edges, stamped with Versamark, heat embossed with detail white powder and then added Distress Inks. Lady's Slipper Orchid has been stamped with Versafine black onto a piece of card coloured with the same inks. A bow and sentiment from Amazing Mackintosh Words.

Finally one more using Butterfly Dress stamped with Versafine black onto a Distress Oxide background, coloured with pencils and some random background stamping using Decorative Edges. Again the sentiment of from Amazing Mackintosh Words.

I hope I have inspired you to go and check out these lovely stamps on the website.

Pastel Auricula (by Julie)

Hello, today I have a card in pastel tones that I have stamped with  Decorative Edges and Auricula Script

I inked up the border from Decorative Edges with grey Versafine ink and stamped around the edges of a piece of stamping card. Masking tape was used to create a mitre in each corner so the stamp design doesn't overlap. I then applied a pink dye based ink over the stamped border before mounting onto black card stock that has been cut slightly smaller than the base card, allowing a tiny border of white to show through.

The Auricula Script was then inked up with grey Versafine and stamped onto spare card-stock and coloured with Polychromus pencils. The edges of the design were inked with Hickory Smoke Distress ink before being mounted onto the base card with 3d foam pads.

Many thanks for stopping by and please be sure to call back for daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Free as a Bird - by Penny

Goodly morning everybody, I'm back again to tempt and inspire you all with the first of my samples from last months Chocolate Baroque shows.  This one features stamps from the Birdcage Collage, Amazing Mackintosh Words, and Decorative Edges sets; I also used Distress Inks, marker pens, and a few bits and pieces from my stash.     

I began with a piece of white card and blended the inks on it.  I then stamped and embossed the Harlequin border on one side of the panel, matted it onto black card and attached it to a white base card. 

On a seperate piece of card I stamped the Birdcage Collage image and coloured it with pens.  I then fussy cut the image and attached it to the card,  I added a couple of die cut feathers and a couple of pearls from my stash.  To complete the design I stamped and embossed a sentiment onto white card, die cut and embossed it, added ink and some pearls then attached it to the card. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading my post today, thank you for dropping in and spending a little time with me. 

I'll be back later in the month with another crafty project,

see you then,

                      
                                      x Penny x

Tranquil Times (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have two projects to share using the stamps featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

My first project is a piece of home decor which I created by colouring two pieces of drawing cartridge with Distress Ink in tones of blue and green, blending the colours where they met. To the larger piece, I added background stamping, adding the harlequin edge from the Decorative Edges stamp set, and the bubbles image as well.

On the smaller piece, I created a mask from masking tissue in the shape of the headdress, and placed it on the the background, and stamped the bubbles image through the mask. I then used some blue Koh-i-Noor paint to paint the rest of the image freehand, adding some blue, green and orange shading to complete the image. I added some orange shading around both panels before attaching them to a piece of grey mountboard.

Finally, I stamped the Butterfly Dress image onto a spare piece of card, and coloured the butterflies using green and orange tones, before cutting them out and attaching them to the panel. Some words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set complete this project.

For my second project, I wanted to create a tranquil scene with a coloured panel spotlighted in the centre. I used torn paper to create the hills and ensured that they lined up on the background and extra panel. I used grey/lilac tones for the larger panel, and greens and blues, with a hint of lilac for the foreground panel. I then added the foliage from the Floral Edges stamp set to complete the project, with a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set, as before.

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects today, I will be back later in the month, with more ideas to share with you. Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Butterfly garden by Brenda

Good morning Peeps. Brenda here with some more inspiration using the lovely stamps Lesley showcased on Hochanda last month.

My first creation is one using lolly sticks which I glued together to form a stamping case and then coloured with Acrylic Paint after fixing a masked sun in place. Next I stamped the beautiful Butterfly Dress image and stamped her again a few more times so I could decoupage her dress. Using one of the stamps from Floral Edges I added some leaves across the bottom to ground her. Next I coloured everything including the additional flowers and Butterflies and built up her skirt adding a few more flying around her garden.

The next one below features Auricula Script which I stamped onto cardstock coloured with Distress Oxides and heat embossed with Lapis Lazulite embossing crystals. The sentiment strip across the bottom is from Amazing Mackintosh Words.

Some more inkiness with the next one using Distress Oxides and the harlequins from Decorative Edges to create a background and I was fairly liberal with the water spritzed onto the inked stamp to achieve a rather messy and random finish and then inked the edges and heat embossed with detail copper powder. I used the same inks to create a background for the Lady's Slipper Orchid image, stamped with Versamark and used the same embossing powder and bleached out the colour from the bloom.

The background on the next one was a bit of an experiment using a piece of kitchen tissue and alcohol inks to create a background. I then stamped Birdcage Collage with Versafine black and added a little white highlighting.

Thank you so much for popping in today, myself and my team mates always appreciate your kind comments.

Lady's slipper orchid and decorative edges (by Rachel)

Good morning! Rachel here with you today to show you some of my makes with the lady's slipper orchid stamp plus a little pottery painted using one of the decorative edge stamps.

In this first one I stamped the image in flitterglu and then added metallic flake. Before I cut the whole thing out I also used metallic pens to colour the flower.

In this card I stamped three times but only coloured the central image using pens. 

And finally my ceramic recipe book stand - I used one of the decorative edges here - I thought it looked very art deco so teamed it up with some writing of the style.

I do hope these pieces have brought you a little inspiration today.

Big hugs and best wishes for a great day!

Rachel xx

Floral (by Corine)

It almost the end of the month and this is the last project from Corine for a while. She has already treated us to two very beautiful projects and today's is no exception. All that said I shall hand you over to Corine.

Hello!

Today it is my 3rd and last time to post a card as guest designer. I hope you enjoyed my samples.

I used stamps from the sheets:

Floral Notes

Fresh Blooms

Decorative Edges 

• Stamp on watercolour paper the harlequin stamp several times, with two colours of Distress Oxide ink, using the Stamping Platform. Let dry!
• Stamp the flower with Stazon Jet Black and colour with aquarel pencils. 
• Highlight details with a glitterpen.
• Stamp text with Stazon Jet Black.
• Mat and layer onto complementary card.

Thank you for joining me for these weeks, see you again soon.

Kind regards,

Corine van Kuilenburg

It has been a pleasure to feature your inspiring projects over the last three weeks Corine and we shall look forward to seeing you again later this year. If you would like to see more of Corine's gorgeous artwork then please visit her blog.

Join us again soon for more stunning creations from our talented design team ladies. 

Wish by Brenda

Morning Peeps, my turn to share some more inspiration from Lesley's Chocolate Baroque Birthday shows on Hochanda using the gorgeous new floral stamps and colouring pages.

My starting place for the above card was to use Distress Inks to colour a piece of Bristol Vellum card stock and then add some stenciling. I stamped Wish Flower with Versafine Black, colour in with glitter pens, cut out and fix onto my background. Using sticky notes as masks I stamped the words individually onto cardstock coloured with the same Distress Inks, cut out and added to my card, then mat and later onto the base card.

This once did take a little time but I really liked the finish result. Using Wish Flower again, but using just the smaller of the two blooms masking the stamp with sticky notes and inking and stamping each flower one by one........make sure you don't forget to remove the mask for each stamping. I then coloured the flowers with pencils, stamped a sentiment from Birthday Words onto a piece of ripped velum and fixed across the stamped panel before matting and layering onto the base card.

This is one of the Colouring Pages which has the lovely Macintosh Beauty image on it, I simply coloured with pencils and framed.

My final piece of artwork today used the focal flower from Mosaic Flower. I started by using Distress inks to add watery colour to a piece of watercolour card the added some random stamping using the harlequins from Decorative Edges and Versafine Black. I cut two die cut circles coluring them with the same DI's as the background, then stamped the flower onto the smaller circle and added some colour again using the same inks. Next I placed some twine onto the base and fixed the circles and also added a few back sequins.

Flora Musica (by Brenda)

Good morning all you crafty Peeps, I hope you week is going well.

Today I have some creations to share using the stamps that Lesley showcases on Hochanda in August, the first show featured a wonderful collection of Vintage inspired floral stamps and the second show was all about Winter and Christmas. I will share a few of my samples for both shows with you next week.

Starting with the card at the top which features Flora Musica which I stamped onto a Distress Oxide background and the used DI's to colour the image. Using Decorative Edges I stamped some random harlequins using the same Oxide inks, a little Butterfly from Just Butterflies and sentiment from Words of Inspiration which I think is my all time favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment set.

For this card I again created an Oxide ink background and the overstamped with the holly from Winter Birds using Versafine blue ink. The central panel has a sentiment from the new Christmas Word Plate and again the same holly around the edges.

This one was a bit of an experiment !! Yet another Oxide ink background............yes I am a bit obsessed with them and over stamped with Harlequin Bouquet which I stamped with Versafine black and coloured in with the same DI's. I then covered the whole piece with three layers of  Versamark and heat embossed each layer with detail clear poweder and then the madness set in..........I cut the piece into seven piece and rearranged onto a piece of coordinating cardstock, but do quite like the finished effect.

For my final card I used Kraft card, a mask and a white inkpad to create the Christmas bauble shape and with the mask still in place stamped the house from New England Winter using Gathered Twigs DI and finally the little sentiment set from Frosty Trees and a white bow to finish.

As always my thanks for popping in today and I hope I have inspired you to go check out the lovely stamps from the shows.