When Ghouls Come Out To Play (by Asha)

Ghoul Morning, friends! It's almost that time of the year .... when ghouls come out to play. I have a couple of easy projects for you. All you have to do is ink and stamp - that's it. I also want to show you how well Chocolate Baroque's older Halloween stamps coordinate with the latest release.

My first card depicts a dark and creepy night where ghosts wander in the mist. I inked up the background with Distress Inks. The trio of ghosts in the foreground are from the new Put A Spell On You A5 sheet, which I heat embossed on vellum. The ghosts in the background is heat embossed directly on the card. The trees and greeting are from the new Hocus Pocus A5 sheet. The clouds and the single bat are from the older Spookilicious A5 sheet.

The second card is slight more "cheery" ... on account of a few smiling pumpkins. Again, I inked the background with Distress Inks and masked the moon. The pumpkins on the ground and the spider are from the new Put A Spell On You A5 sheet. I coloured the pumpkins with Faber-Castell Polychromos. You could even paper-piece these pumpkins and speed up the process. The flying bats and crow are from the new Hocus Pocus A5 sheet. The scarecrow is from an older A5 sheet called Witching Time. These stamps work so well together!

I hope you enjoyed these cards and will try making them. Be sure to stop by often for more frightfully fabulous projects from the rest of the Design Team. As always, a full description of products and tools will be available from my blog.

Beijinhos, 
Asha

Tag Fragments (By Judith & Lesley)

Hi there, today is a joint contribution between Judith and myself.  A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to have a play day together and in between the catching up chat you have with a friend you haven't seen for a little while we managed to get a little inky! Strangely enough we both started to use the same colours on a tag and so decided that we would do a tag swap. And here are the results.

So first we have Judith's tag. I coloured the background with Distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Squeezed Lemonade and Dried Marigold, splashed water over the top and patted dry with kitchen towel to give a partially faded look. Then Judith took over.

• To make the tag stamp the raindrops from Seasonal Fragments with Potting Shed Archival ink. 
• Next stamp the Snake's Head Fritillary and Honey Bees on to a self adhesive label with Versafine Black Onyx. Colour with pencils of your choice (Judith used Polychromos) and fussy cut. 
• To finish add die cut corners, tinted with the same Distress inks as the background or stencil a similar image with the inks. Remove the backing from the images and stick into place. 
• Finally stamp the phrase from the See Beauty clear stamp set with Black Onyx. 

For my tag Judith dabbed some Acrylic Wax randomly over the tag and then sponged the same Distress inks over the top. She then used kitchen roll to polish the tag, thereby removing the ink from the wax to leave her faded background. Here is what I did next.

• To make the tag stamp one of the floral style images from Seasonal Fragments three times on to 160gsm cardstock with Dried Marigold.  
• Use a water brush to paint over the images with Squeezed Lemonade.and when dry cut around all three images, cutting one of them slightly smaller than the others. 
• For the flower centres die cut three circles, two x 30mm and one x 15mm, stamp them with the image from Rustic Fragments using Versafine Olympia Green and colour with watercolour pencils in several shades of yellow and orange (I used Aquarelles). 
• To give the effect of meadow grass stamp the image from Rustic Fragments along the bottom edge of the tag using Olympic Green. 
• Stamp the images again on smooth white paper and choose three parts of the image to make stems for the flowers. Colour with Shabby Shutters and when dry cut out and stick to the tag with wet glue. 
• To complete, attach the centres to the flowers with glue gel and then the flowers to the stems with wet glue. Stamp the phrase from Amazing Birthday with Olympia Green.

It is so interesting to see that, although Judith and I completed our tags over 200 miles apart, we have both focused on a flower theme. I hope you like our joint designs, it is really good fun to start a project and then had it over to a crafty friend to finish.

Thank you for joining us today and I hope you come back soon to see some gorgeous projects created by the Design Team using the new Birds of Paradise stamps.

Fragments for Autumn (by Asha)

Hello there! It's my turn to share a project and I'm playing with 2 stamps with an autumnal look from the Seasonal Fragments sheet. To be honest, I'm not sure if these are meant to be autumnal but just roll with me here! :)

First I created a rich, spicy background by blending various shades of orange, yellow and brown Distress Inks. Then I stamped the fragments. The mushrooms are from the Autumn Poppy A4 sheet, coloured with alcohol markers, fussy cut and adhered to the card.  Then I applied flicks of silver like its catching the moonlight.

These fragments stamps are so versatile and you'll be reaching for them all the time. The rest of the Design Team have more ideas for these stamps so make sure to swing by often.

As always, details of tools and products used in making this card is available on my blog. Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Beijinhos,
Asha

A Little Summer Rain (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow Chocoholics! It's my turn to show you a project using one of the new stamp sets released in June called Seasonal Fragments. There are 12 adorable stamps in this set, each with a seasonal connection. And that mean you'll get plenty of use from it all year 'round.

Today's card is a simple make. I've used the water droplets as falling rain and paired it with little blooms form the same set. First I heat embossed the rain in white followed by some background blending with Distress Inks. Next I stamped the sentiment from the Loving Sentiments sheet, followed by the little blooms from Seasonal Fragments. I added a little colour to the flowers with pencils and finished the card with a fabric flower, held in place by a brad.

So there you have it - a little summer rain can be a good thing! Thanks for dropping in today. Do swing by tomorrow for more wonderful ideas from the rest of the Team. As always, products and tools are listed on my blog.

Beijinhos,
Asha

A Little Sunshine (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Have you seen the new stamps for June 2015? They are AWESOME! I'm playing with the Seasonal Fragments A4 sheet. There are twelve designs, each group of 3 depicting the seasons in the year. 

My card features one of the two leafy fragments from the sheet. I've paired it with a bold sunflower from the Sunny Sunflowers A4 sheet and a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments A5 sheet.  I blended a couple of green Distress Inks in the background and coloured the images with Polychromos. Finally, for some texture, I added little dots of Liquid Pearls in the middle of the sunflower, which I fussy cut and adhered to the card with some foam tape.

As the name suggests, the entire sheet is made up of little fragments but there's so much you can do with them. I hope you'll have fun with your Seasonal Fragments stamps too. Come back tomorrow for more amazing ideas from the rest of the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Auricula (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow Chocoholics. Today I'm playing with the new Auricula Script cling stamp.

For my card project, I heat embossed the image with silver embossing powder and sponged it with Distress Inks. After a little fussy cutting, I adhered the image to a piece of red card stock and secured it to a couple of pieces of green card stock with little green brads.

The sentiment is from Pretty Poppies, heat embossed in white. I finished the card with a little green twine and tiny yellow bling in the middle of the flowers.

Thank you for stopping by today. As always, details of tools and products used are available on my blog. Don't forget to swing by often for more exciting ideas from the rest of the design team.

Beijinhos,
Asha 

Dancing Tulips and a Shaker Bird (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow Chocoholics. It's my turn again to show you what I've been up to with the gorgeous March release stamps. Today I'm playing with the Spring Bird Tulip DL sheet.


These are delicate flowers and I felt that water colouring would be best. I started by applying Winsor & Newton's Masking Fluid on the tulips before giving the background a wash of blue and green. Next I worked on the flowers with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Winsor & Newton water colours. I also added some Iridescent Medium to the water colours to give the blooms a delicate shimmer. I finished the project by tying some green ribbon in a simple knot. The sentiment is from the Easter Traditions A5 sheet.

My second project is a shaker card and for this I'm using the nesting bird stamp from the Spring Bird Tulip DL sheet. The focal image is water coloured while a simple frame maintains attention to the Spring Bird.  I used just a few pastel sequins on the inside so as not to lose the image in unnecessary clutter and also to emulate falling blossoms. The greeting is from Birthday Words A5 sheet, heat embossed in white.

So there you have it - 2 water colour projects that work for any occasion. As always, I have more photos on my blog together with details of products and tools used in making these cards. Don't forget to swing by often for more crafty inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.


Beijinhos,
Asha

Thank You

 I am sharing another sample made from the new stamps 

that have just been released for February 

Sketchy Doodle Flowers

I started by inking my card with Distress inks Spiced Marmalade, Broken China and Picked Raspberry,then  sprayed some water through a circle stencil and after a few seconds dabbed it with some tissue . I then  stamped my main image  and the leaves with Black Arcival ink. I cut a piece off the top of my card to use for the sentment. I then matted this onto some white card to make it pop.xxx

Tropical Flower (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! I have a simple project to share with you showcasing stamps from the Sketchy Doodle Flowers A4 sheet. Today I'm combining 2 of my favourite techniques: embossing and water colouring, to create an easy birthday card. I was inspired by a silk scarf I purchased in Hawaii many moons ago. It has a huge pinkish red hibiscus surrounded by swirls of delicate foliage.

I started by heat embossing the leaves in white on a piece of heavy water colour paper before colouring them in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The background is colour washed with Distress Ink and I did some free hand swirls. The greeting is from the Birthday Words A5 sheet.

I also heat embossed the bloom, this time with rose pink embossing powder, followed by Distress Inks, adding a darker shade of red each time. When dry, I fussy cut the flower and adhered it to the card over the leafy background and off the card base. Finally, I gave in to a little shine with the Wink Of Stella Brush Tip Glitter Marker in Clear ... couldn't be helped!

This really is an easy card and the embossed outlines make water colouring a breeze. You know me, I don't go for complicated techniques! These sketchy images are perfect for colouring in the lines. The card is also flat as a pancake - ideal for mailing!

As always, I have details of products and tools on my blog. Don't forget to swing by often for more crafty inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.


Beijinhos,
Asha

Sketchy Flowers

Hello to you all, I am sharing a sample made from the new stamps 

that have just been released for February

"Sketchy Doodle Flowers"

I started by inking my card with Distress inks Spiced Marmalade, Broken China and Picked Raspberry,then  sprayed some water through a circle stencil and after a few seconds dabbed it with some tissue . I then lightly stamped one of the flower images in the background and  stamped my main image with Black Arcival ink.

Using some distress inks I then coloured in some of the leaves. Last of all came the sentiment,from the Mackintosh clear sentiment set.xxx

Buds and Bugs (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow Chocoholics! It's my turn to play with the new Sketchy Doodle Flowers stamps. I've got two card projects to share with you today: Buds & Bugs.

Let's start with the Buds. This card features the big bold sketchy blooms coloured with alcohol markers before fussy cutting them. To create background texture without bulk I used thick water colour paper, Distress Inks and lots of water. When dry, I stamped the bubbly image from Texture Fragments with Distress Ink. The stems for the flowers are from the Wild Meadow sheet, stamped with Distress Ink.  To finish the card: a greeting from Birthday Words and a few tiny gems.

*********************

And now we move on to the Bugs. For this project, I'm showcasing the butterflies from Sketchy Doodle Flowers A4 stamp sheet. 

To create the background I did some emboss resist using the floral fragment from the Texture Fragments A4 stamp sheet and white embossing powder, followed by some good old fashioned blending with Distress Inks. For texture and shine I added Distress Glitter and went 3D with paper flowers from my stash. The scene is now set for the bugs. I coloured these sketchy butterflies with alcohol markers, fussy cut and adhered them to the background. To finish: a greeting from Butterfly Dreams. And voila!

I wanted to show you how versatile these stamps are by mixing and matching them with other stamps and materials from my stash. You don't need to go mad on technique to make these stamps shine. Keep it simple,  play with colours, break a few rules and have fun! You'll be surprised what you can do with these sketchy doodle stamps. As always, I have details of products and tools on my blog. Don't forget to swing by often for more crafty inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.   

Beijinhos,
Asha

A Wooden Door Plaque by Doreen

Hello to you all, I am  back sharing a sample made from the new stamps

 that have just been released for January .

"Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts"

I have decorated a wooden Plaque this time,first covering this with blue and white acrylic paint and sanding it down before stamping my image on.this was then coloured with distress inks Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn.

 The butterflies have been stamped onto paper coloured with distress ink Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers and fussy cut.

True Love (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Today I have 2 more card projects to show you, featuring the Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts stamps.

First up is an easel card, made using the the big heart stamp from the Fluttering Hearts A5 sheet. I heat embossed in white, blended some the Distress Inks and fussy cut to create His and Hers hearts. More Distress Ink for the background with some tone-on-tone stamping using a leaf from the Autumn Poppy A4 sheet. To finish this card I added some bling and ribbon.

For my second card I wanted to "soften" the punk in Punky Hearts. I started by creating a faux vellum feel for the background - made entirely with Distress Inks and a stencil. I also did some zigzag stitching to bring back some edginess. I coloured the rose with alcohol markers, fussy cut and adhered it to the card base. To bring back the punk - Metal!  Silver marker, silver eyelets and silver thread offer the perfect finishing touch.  The sentiment is from the Loving Sentiments A5 sheet.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner these love-inspired Punky Hearts and Fluttering Hearts stamp sheets will get plenty of use! As always, details of inks, colours, tools and other products used to create these cards are available on my blog. Don't forget to swing by regularly for more crafty ideas from the rest of the DT.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Purple and Pink Heart by Doreen

Hello to you all, I am sharing a sample made from the new stamps 

that have just been released for January 

"Punky Hearts"

I used one of my Gelli Plate papers for this card and just overstamped with the hearts.My main image has been clear embossed with black Versafine ink and then coloured with distress inks Seedless Preserves and Spun Sugar.

A Door Plaque

Hello to you all I do hope you have had a nice Christmas.

 I am  sharing a Door Plaque today, made from the new stamps that have  been released for December

I started by making my background using acrylic paints and a circle stencil. I then stamped the bottom image and coloured with distress inks, the fish was stamped onto scrap paper coloured with some silver paint and fussy cut . The cogs were die cut and covered with brown and silver acrylic paint .

Seahorses

Hello to you all, I am  again sharing a sample made from the new stamps that have just been released for December 

I first made my background using acrylic paints, I then used a circle stencil and distress ink to make some bubbles.....My Seahorses were stamped, coloured with Gelato's and fussy cut,before gluing these to my tag I stamped some fish and glued down the diecut cogs. To finish off I inked all around the tag with Black Soot Distress ink and added the ribbon.

The Beautiful Briny Sea (posted by Lesley)

For my first post using the gorgeous new Steampunk marine themed stamps I wanted to create the illusion of sea foam and bubbles and a great way of doing this is to use Acrylic Wax. This product is manufactured by the company that created Brusho. It is a white fluid that dries clear and is water and heat resistent and was actually developed to use with fabrics, but I have been putting it through it's paces with paper and cardstock.

This is a slightly longer post than normal as I want to explain how you can achieve this technique.

• Squeeze out a small amount of Acrylic Wax onto a piece of scrunched up kitchen roll and randomly dab across a blank cardstock tag. To try and achieve the sea foam effect I dabbed across the tag in four places, applying more or less wax as I went. TIP: Make sure you don't cover the entire tag or you will not be able to apply any colour. Set aside to dry thoroughly. Depending on how thickly you have applied the wax this can take up to an hour. You know when it is ready because you should be able to rub your finger over the surface without it feeling tacky.
• Next apply the colour using either brushes, sponges or Cut 'n' Dry Foam. I used Distress inks in Mustard Seed, for the sand, Peacock Feather in the middle and finished at the top with Broken China. Allow the ink to dry and then buff the whole tag with kitchen roll. 

• Because the wax acts as a resist it sealed in the plain colour of the tag underneath and only taken on the distress inks where there was no wax. For a more subtle, distressed, worn looking background apply a much thinner layer of wax, using a stroking rather than dabbing action.
• The seahorses are from Steampunk Funky Fish and they were stamped onto self adhesive labels using a Memento inkpad, coloured with alcohol markers and then finished off with coloured pencils. 
• To add interest to the bottom of the sea I stamped the coral edge stamp from Seaside Dreams using Archival ink in Orange Blossom. To get the faded appearance of the image I did second generation stamping i.e. stamped it first onto copier paper and then onto the tag.
• Finally the seahorses were cut out, stuck into place and a jumbo brad was attached at the top of the tag to finish.

I hope you get the feeling of bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea (a line from the song in the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks) and that you may be inspired to play with the Acrylic Wax.

Thanks for stopping by and watch out for more delicious creations from the girls.

A Trio of Tags

Hello to you all, I am  back sharing samples made from the new stamps that have just been released for December

I have made a trio of tags using various mediums

This has been made using some distress inks as the background and simply stamped the images using black Archival ink

This has blue and white acrylic paint brushed on for the background, again I stamped the image with black Archival ink and coloured in with water colur pencils I used a white gelly pen for the sails to make them stand out more.

Distress inks and a stencil for the bacground ,I stamped the images with black Archival ink and again coloured with pencils. I used the white gelly pen again for highlights.

Each one of these took less than ten minutes to make.

Artichokes and Diamonds (posted by Lesley)

This tag started out as a three colour challenge set for me by Glenda when I was up visiting her in Scotland..She picked three colours of Distress inks for me - Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint and I used these to colour the background on the tag. It was then left lying around for a couple of days because, although I loved the colour combination, I didn't know where I wanted to go next.

Eventually I decided to use the artichoke image from the Mellow Fruitfulness set. I stamped it onto a self-adhesive label and painted it using the same three Distress ink colours used to colour the tag.. I added some texture with soft relief paste (watch out for this product coming to the website soon) and the Blazonry stencil, then stamped over the top with a script stamp from Eccentric Edwardian. 

Next I randomly stamped the image from Harlequin Fragments, and stamped the stamens of the artichoke using white paint. I cut out the artichoke images and split them up before sticking into place. Just a few scraps of toning ribbon finished it off.

Sometimes it's good to walk away from a project rather than just keep going because you feel you have to finish something.  If you give yourself some space you return to it with fresh eyes and often a sudden influx of inspiration. 

Thanks for joining me today and keep tuning in for some gorgeous creations from the girls with the fabulous new steampunk stamps.

Fruitful Birthday (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Today I want to share with you a card project featuring the cherries from the new Mellow Fruitfulness A5 sheet. These colours are my current favourite combo of warm orange and yellow with a sprinkling of olive green and a pop of red. Leaves from last month's Autumn Poppy A4 sheet is making a guest appearance too, stamped in the background. I've fussy cut the leafy border from the new Autumn Edges A5 sheet and finished the project with a greeting  from the Birthday Words A5 set.

Here's a closer look at the card. The background is a blend of various Distress Inks and I used alcohol markers to colours the images. Check out the deliciously ripe gloss of the cherries!  And to make sure you don't miss it, I've fussy cut the image and mounted it on foam tape. Details on how I created this card will be posted on my blog.

So there you have it - a warm and mellow card... perfect for these cold November days. Don't forget to swing by the DT blog regularly for more card ideas by my team-mates. Happy crafting!

Beijinhos,
Asha