Back to Nature (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am sharing a few more cards showcasing the beautiful stamps that were featured on last months Hochanda TV shows. You may have caught some of these cards on the shows.

For my first card, I have used one of the very versatile whiteboard shapes made by Tando, exclusively for Chocolate Baroque. These shapes are great, already being white, as they can be inked up straight away without needing any preparation. I added a bit of soft colour in tones of orange and green, and did the same to a piece of drawing cartridge that was going to become the card background. Using a honeycomb stencil, I added some colour using Distress Ink, repeating this on the background. I stamped a bee on the heart, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and masked the image, before stamping a foliage image from the Essence of Nature stamp plate. I coloured the bee with pencils, and added a sentiment to the heart.

To complete the background, I stamped the honeycomb image from the Honey Bee stamp set, again colouring the bees with pencils. I added stickles to the bees' wings. To complete the card, I added some green ribbon and green card as a matting layer.

For my next card, I chose an old book page and stamped the pretty foxglove image on to the paper. I added two bees, and coloured the images with pencils. I added some shading around the edge of the page, and then stamped a pretty fern image from the Wild Meadow stamp set around the edge, using two coordinating colours. I used the same foxglove and bee images to stamp over some kraft card to complete a background for the book page focal image. I selected some deep plum card to mat the layers.

My final card was a fairly quick card showcasing the fabulous Textured Art card that is available on the website. I coloured the card very quickly by placing Distress Ink on my craft mat, spritzing it with water, and laying the card on top. I stamped the lovely butterfly tree from the Essence of Nature stamp set, and added the small tree either side, to create the appearance of a little woodland. I added some colour under the trees to 'ground' them, and painted the butterflies.  Adding the main sentiment was all that was needed to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

In an English Country Garden by Brenda

Good morning, it's my turn to share some more inspiration using the beautiful cottage garden flowers which featured in some of Lesley's recent Hochanda shows.

I adore Digitalis so the Honey Bee stamps set used on the above card really appealed to me, well all flowers do but anything associated with a traditional cottage garden reminds me of my childhood which is now reflected in my own gardens.

I started by stamping the Digitalis twice onto a piece of card, then cut around part of the blooms so that I could use a die to cut a square aperture.........by doing this you can carefully place the cut section outside the die so that they then lay over the aperture.

Next I have a 6"x8" canvas, it was a pre primed canvas but I gave it another coat of gesso  before building up the colour with acrylic paints and then added some texture with a stencil and texture paste coloured with the same yellow acrylic paint. I did the same with the tiny blue dots and then stamped around the edges with the honeycomb stamp from the Honey Bee stamp sheet. The digitalis were coloured with the same paints but watered down and the each cut out to place onto the canvas. The sentiments are from Amazing Macintosh Words.

The base of this card is brown and gold metallic acrylic paint brushed in both directions across the card and water added to give a ramdom look, he the honeycombe from Honey Bee stamped around the edges with Versafine Toffee. I stamped, coloured and cut out six of the Sunflowers from the same set, layered them up and added a sentiment from Words to Dazzle and Sparkle.

For my final card I usea a piece of black card for the base layer, a stencil and sprayed mica which was simply gold mica powder and water mixed together. The flowers from Fragrant Honeysuckle and Bee were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with detail white powder then coloured in with sparkle pens.

As always I really appreciate your visits and kind words.

Bees (By Marga)

Hello everyone, today it's my turn again.

I made this card using Distress Ink for the background, also colouring the images. I also used some white paint. I stamped the small bees with brown ink on the backround and the big bees on other paper, coloured them and then cut them out. The sentiment I put on last and stamped with Versafine Onyx Black.

The stamp I used is : Honey Bee

Big Hugs 

Marga

Honey Bees (by Veronica)

Good morning everyone, it is another beautiful day here and I am sharing some of the samples for the last show using the honey bee stamps - I haven't seen many bees around this year though...
 My first is a simple tag, coloured with Distress Inks - Lemonade in the centre and Hickory Smoke round the edges. The foxglove, words and large bees were stamped using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then coloured with watercolour pencils.
I added a bit of sparkle to the wings with a clear Wink of Stella pen, but it doesn't really show up.

For the card I created a background using the honeycomb stamp and a honeycomb stencil, and various shades of yellow and orange Distress Inks, spritzed with water to soften the edges.
The foxglove was stamped on the left using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, masked with Pebeo Drawing Gum then stamped again using Smokey Gray Versafine Ink. The bees were all stamped with the black ink. The foxgloves were coloured with Distress Ink and a waterbrush, and a bit of colour was added to the bees and some sparkle to the wings. The background was mounted onto white card with a layer of purple card.

I will be back later in the month, with more projects to share, Vronnie.

Bee-utiful Bees by Penny

Hi there Peeps, I'm back again to share a couple of cards with you all, featuring the 'bee-utiful' Chocolate Baroque Bee and Floral stamps from last month's tv shows.

Buzz-y Bees

The first card I want to share with you features stamps from the Honey Bee and Rose Tree sets, Distress Inks, sepia Versafine ink, masking tissue and an embossing folder from my stash.

I stamped and embossed the bee hive image and a couple of bees onto white drawing cartridge card using sepia ink.  I used masking tissue to cover the images and created a colour wash with the Distress Inks.

While the images were still masked I stamped the silhouette Foxglove image repeatedly across the background panel.  I then removed the masks and coloured the images with pens.  I matted the panel onto dark brown card to compliment the Sepia ink.  On some spare card I stamped and embossed the large Foxglove and Sunflower images, and coloured them with pens before cutting them out.   

Using a cream base card I embossed the front in a folder with a 'honeycomb' style pattern.  I added some DI around the edges and attached the background panel.  I then attached the flowers with 3D glue.  I stamped a sentiment onto white card, embossed it and die cut it.  I added some ink through the die, stamped a couple of tiny bees and attached the panel with 3D glue.





Roses are Red.

My second share is a simple but elegant card featuring stamps from The Rose Tree and the  Amazing Mackintosh Words sets; pearlescent acrylic paints, gold embossing powder and Versamark ink.

On a piece of black card I stamped and embossed the Rose Tree image in gold, then painted it with pearlescent paints.  I then matted the panel onto gold mirror card. 

Using some spare black card I stamped and embossed a couple of butterflies and the ladybird in gold and painted them as before.  I then cut them out.

I attached the focal panel to a white base card then attached the insects with 3D glue.  Using some more spare black card I stamped and embossed a sentiment in gold on two small panels, added gold pen around the edges, and attached them with 3D glue again. 

Thank you very much for dropping in today, I hope you've enjoyed your visit and that I have inspired you to create something lovely with your stamps! 

Until next time, sending you all crafty hugs,

                                                                                  Penny

Fragrant flowers by Brenda

Good morning all you crafty Peeps, I hope you are enjoying Spring now that it has finally arrived.

Today's it my turn to share some inspiration using the beautiful stamps Lesley showcased on Hochanda recently, it's was all about Floral's which was right up me street. The collection at the top uses stamps from both the Honey Bee and Fragrant Honeysuckle stamp sets all stamped using Distress Markers direct to stamp and a spritz of water to help blend the colours. The base cards and matching box were all made using dies and before I assembled the lid I stamped around the edges with the same stamps, used a honeycomb die to created the inner of the lid and added little bees stamped, coloured and cut out from the Honey Bee set.

For this one I created a central square mask and then a narrow square mask using dies, with them in place (the white areas) I repeat stamped one of the images from the Fragrant Honeysuckle set, again using Distress Markers and then coloured the flowers with sparkle pens.........only after doing all of this did I remove the masks to reveal the finished 'pattern'. Finally a Butterfly form Just Butterflies.

This fan was just a bit of fun rally, I came across the chipboard kit hidden in a box and long forgotten so it seemed the perfect time to give it some paint and ink as the Digitalis from the Honey Bee set fitted the panels beautifully. I painted all the elements of the fan with purple and gold acrylic paints and then stamped the Digitalis using Versamark and detail gold embossing powder on the purple sections and Versafine black on the gold section, colouring those flowers with the same purple paint. Once dry I fixed the top section of the fan over the decorated base and added a tassel and embellishment.

More Digitalis using Honey Bee, this time stamped onto an Oxide DI background which I applied after using masking fluid to cover a circle before applying. I stamped the flowers with Versafine black and coloured in with sparkle pens and stamped some of the smaller Digitalis onto the background before adding some stenciling and a sentiment from Words of Inspiration.

Happy weekend everyone and my thanks for popping in to take a peek at my shares.

Honey Bee (By Marga)

Hello everyone, today its my turn to show you something. This time two cards.

The first card I made with the Honey Bee stamp, I stamped the stamp with Versafine Onyx Black and coloured the image with Distress Ink. At the end I put some drops on the flower with Glossy Accents and stitched the card by hand.

The second card I made with my masking paper and coloured the images with Distress Ink.

I put some different dots on it and a sentiment.

Stamps I used are:

Honey Bee and Birthday Words

Hugs Marga.

Honey Bee Blossom (by Julie)

Hello, today I have two Spring themed cards to show you.

My first is a DL card that I have stamped with Honey Bee. I started by colouring the Foxglove style rubber stamp with a pink watercolour pen and then before stamping it onto water colour card, I gently spritzed it with a fine mist of water. The water helps to loosen the ink and give it a water-colour painting feel. After stamping the first image I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped twice more, so the image gets more faded with each press of the stamp. I added more colour to the petals with the water colour pen before stamping the bees and the honey combe background. I added a touch of yellow and orange to the bees and finished off with a sentiment from Birthday Words. 

.

My second card is stamped with Essence of Nature.

I inked up the naked tree with Sepia Versafine and stamped twice onto my stamping card. I made a wash of greens and greys for the foreground and a pale blue for the sky and when dry I stamped around the edge of the card with the branches of the stylised tree using grey Versafine. 

The blossom was created by applying pink and white acrylic paint with a torn sponge and I darkened the edges with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.  

Thanks for popping in and please call back for more daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Honey Bee Decorative Ornament (by Julie)

Hello and thank you for popping in. Today I have a little project made with Tando Twinchies. For those that are not sure what twinchies are, they are a 2 inch square tile, that can take all sorts of medium, which makes them great for any mixed media project.

I covered three of my tiles with Tumbled Glass and the remaining three with Antique Linen Distress inks. Then I inked up the various images from the Honey Bee set with Onyx Black or Imperial Purple Versafine and stamped onto each of the tiles. All of the images were coloured with Polychromos pencils and the bumble bee wings were highlighted with Crystal Stickles. Before gluing the tiles together I applied gold gilding wax to all of the edges, however leave the top tile as you will need to attach your wire hanger inside the mini box beforehand.

I have used 28 gauge beading wire for the hanging loop and threaded whatever beads I had lying around. The flying bees were stamped with black Staz-On onto thick acetate. A little hole was made through the acetate so that the wire could be threaded through and secured in place with a little dab of Glossy Accents. The opposite end was wound around the main hangar while I was threading the beads. 

 I wrapped some florist tape around the loop to neaten the ends and coated the tape with gold gilding wax. 

I hope you get the idea of this fun little project as I didn't realise how hard it would be to photograph, so not sure I have really captured it at its best.....

Anyway I have some more Twinchies on order so I am sure another little ornament will be on the way.

Thank you for looking and please call back soon for some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie x 

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.

Mellow Fruitfulness and Autumn - Wooden Box By Florence

Hi everyone

I was so excited when I saw the new Stamps for November especially as, like many of you, I am in the middle of making gifts and stocking fillers for Christmas....I am not quite in panic mode yet though!

If you are making gifts for friends, family or to sell at School and Church Bazaars do check out not only the new stamps but the other stamps in the CB range. The image design and the quality of the stamps with the deep etching allows you to stamp onto not just card but they stamp fabulously on wood and fabric. 

Today I would like to share with you a wooden box I painted and stamped onto which is one of the Christmas gifts I have made for this year.

This really is not as complicated as it may look.  Do give it a go you will have so much fun.

I prepared the box for painting just by removing all hinges and clasps, cleaning it and sanding it down.

I then Painted the base and lid of the box, inside out, with 2 coats of Gesso.

I then painted the base and lid of the box, inside and out, with 3 coats of white craft paint sanding lightly between coats. I like to use 3 coats in case I need to remove any paint as mentioned in later stages below.

I diluted some blue craft paint with some water (to a milk consistency) and applied it to all of the outside edges of the box base and lid using my fingers.

Tip:  If you do put too much paint on or you do not like the look you have created quickly take the paint off with a wet wipe but do leave to dry before adding any more paint.

So when you have base coated the box in white and added the distressed blue edges you are ready to stamp.

Mix a small amount of blue paint (say, a tea spoon full) with equal parts of Stamping Medium (details can be seen on my craft blog HERE). You can mix more paint as and when required.  

 The stamping medium is optional.  I like to use the mix because I find it gives me a better stamped paint image.

Using a bathroom sponge, apply the paint mix to your rubber stamp and then start stamping.  

Tip:  I would recommend that you start stamping at the front of the box, both on the lid and the base.  That way you can alter any stamping at the back.

Tip: If you do make a mistake stamping or you do not like the position of the image you have stamped, as mentioned above, take it off with a wet wipe.  Do leave it to completely dry before you stamp onto the area again.

To create the crackle effects, I painted on one coat of Weather Wood Medium and left it to dry.  

I then painted on one coat of One Step Crackle Medium and left to dry.

This was a happy accident and I was pleased with the results.  

You can just use one coat of One Step Crackle Medium and leave off the Weathered Wood Medium if you wish.

I then diluted some paint with water and rubbed this over the surfaces of my box, in small areas at a time, just with my fingers, taking off any excess with a piece of kitchen paper towel.

Tip: If you rub/paint on too much paint and if some paint drys you can remove it by very gently wiping it over with a wet wipe.  Please do leave the surface dry before reapplying any more paint.

To seal the decorated box I use two coats of Gel Medium.  

An alternative to this would be to use household wood varnish or Mod Podge.  As this surface has been stamped in water base craft paint you can use most mediums. 

Thank you for looking.

Happy Stamping

Florence x

Poppy Mirror (posted by Claire)

Good morning folks, Claire here with a recycled mirror using the beautiful 'Poppy Meadow' stamps

I created the background by giving the mirror a couple of coats of cream acrylic paint and then dry brushing pale blue acrylic paint. I stamped the images with black stazon ink and used Derwent Inktense pencils and a waterbrush to colour them. I edged the mirror with some gold gilding wax and made some glittery butterflies and a bee to finish off. These were very easy to make - just stamp the images (Butterfly Daisy Collage and Honey Bee) from  on heat resistant acetate with versamark and emboss with gold embossing powder. Add glitter to the back (you can either use a quickie glue pen and dry glitter or stickles) and once they are dry cut them out. I sealed the frame with some spray sealer before attaching the acetate embellishments

Thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Honey jar label (posted by Elaine)

This is my last project from the delicious new Honey Bee plate. I love making preserves and so wondered about combining stamps from the bee set and the flower from the Pretty Bird Cage plate to make a label for a jar and a cloth lid cover. Here are the results.

For the label I stamped in brown memento ink, before colouring with Coloursoft pencils. I pieced the beehive and flower images together, adding the word honey at the bottom. A friend has just given me a Xyron adhesive machine and I realised after I had finished this label, this would probably have been a great project to try it out on and stick it down more evenly.



For the lid I cut a circle of natural calico with pinking shears to stop the edges fraying. I stamped the image with Versacraft ink which is especially designed to stamp onto fabric. I coloured the image with Inktense colouring pencils. Finally I edged the lid with honey coloured ric rac and tied the lid cover onto the jar with yellow and white baker's twine.

I hope you have enjoyed the variety of projects that my DT teamies have been posting with the newly launched stamps recently - aren't they great?

Happy New Year crafters!


Elaine

Bee-ing organized

Well the big day has been and gone. I hope everyone had a lovely day and that everything on Santas long wish lists was delivered. Looking to the New Year I'm going to try and be more organized.

I made this box that holds a selection of cards made from the Honey Bee stamps.




The hexagons which are coloured with dried marigold and wild honey. The bees etc are stamped using Versafine Vintage Sepia.

Inside are a selection of quick make cards which I will post photos on here and my own blog.

I tried to write the instructions to make the box and when I read them back they were a little confusing. You could make your own box and fill with cards as a gift or just to help you be more organized.

Enjoy Boxing Day and pop back for more inspiration from the Design Team.

Debbie

Bee Happy! (Posted by Elaine)

When I saw these lovely Honey Bee stamps I was buzzing with ideas! (Sorry couldn't resist!). I have quite a few samples to share with you, because I love bees so really enjoyed a good play when we had our DT delivery of these stamps.

Here is my first - a fairly simple card.

I started with a 6 x 6 black card blank as I wanted good contrast as a border. I cut a slightly smaller square of white card and used the honeycomb stamp to cover the card using black achival ink. I needed to use the stamp positioner and some masking to add little parts of the stamp to the gaps. I added shading with Sunshine Yellow Adirondack and Wild Honey Distress Inks. I used a white pen and a white glittery gel pen to add highlighting to the small bee wings. I then cut a strip of card for the sentiment and used the Words of Wisdom happy word stamp and positioned the larger bee instead of the word. I coloured the bee's body with a honey coloured marker, added white glittery pen to the wings and glossy accents to finish the body.

I have posted another of my projects - a bee canvas - on my blog today here please pop over and have a look.

Elaine

Springtime Stamps

I know, I know, Christmas isn't even here and we're already releasing stamps with a definite springtime theme.

Well I wanted to get these on the website before our Christmas break, so here they are, two new A5 stamp sets:

Pretty Birdcage

Honey Bee

Main image coloured with prismacolour pencils

The team have come up with some really lovely ideas for these stamps and over the Christmas break we'll be scheduling some posts featuring their gorgeous artwork.

In the meantime I have one of each set to give away so leave a comment to be in with a chance of winning.  I'll pick winners in a week (Wednesday 21st December) so I can get the prizes sent out before Christmas.

PS - if you think these stamps would make an ideal addition to your Christmas stocking, check out this article on my blog about the Amazon Universal Wish List button - it's such a neat idea!