floral notes (by Veronica)

 For my last post this year I have made two cards that could be used as thank you cards

Both cards have brusho backgrounds, and use the same stamp from the floral notes set. For both cards I stamped the image first using versafine and clear EP, then masked it using masking fluid.  I sprinkled the brusho powders over and spritzed with water, then rubbed off the masking once the card was thoroughly dry.

For the first card I coloured the image with promarkers, then diecut it and added a diecut matt.




The second card I left the image white, and used silver mirri and black matts, and added the sentiment from Mackintosh sentiments clear stamp set.

I wish you all a  very happy, healthy and crafty New Year.

Veronica

Floral Notes With Love card created for Chocolate Baroque

Good morning. Today I am sharing a quick card using the lovely new Floral Notes stamp set. There are so many gorgeous images in this set.

Materials:

• Floral Notes and Mackintosh Sentiments stamp sets
• A6 scalloped card blank (red), white stamping card and a strip of copy paper
• Versafine inkpad (Onyx Black)
• Pencil and watercolour paint (red)
• Alcohol marker and fine tipped pens (black)
• Sparkle brush pen (clear)

How to make it:

1. Trim the stamping card to fit the card front. Cut a strip of copy paper and lay onto the card front (mask). Stamp the images in black. Stamp again onto spare card and cut out one of the flower heads.
2. Using the fine tipped pen draw the border and fill in any little gaps in the stamping (i.e. so that they join up with the border). Colour the lower edge of the border with pencil.
3. Colour the flower head with watercolour. Curl the petals slightly and glue to the card.
4. Brush over the flower petals with sparkle pen. Difficult to see in the photo but it just gives a little lift to the design.
5. Outline the topper with alcohol pen and glue to the card front.

Sunflower Trio (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am back for my second post of the month, sharing some of my texture themed projects with you again.

I have created a card, using stamps from the Sunny Sunflowers stamp set, stamping the flowers and leaves, masking them as I went along, to create a cluster of flowers in the corner of the card. Once I had masked all of the images, I created a Brusho background, using reds, yellows and browns.
I embossed an image from the Texture Fragments stamp set around the edge of the background, using gold embossing powder. I then coloured the images in using water based markers, and added some shading with pencils.

Finally, I added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set, and matted the background onto a black card blank.

Once I had created my card, I had quite a bit of left over colour on my craft mat. I used a large watercolour tag to mop up some of the colour, and dried it completely. I repeated the process a couple of times, until I was happy with the overall colour on the tag. I stuck the tag to a thick piece of burgundy card, and added some shading, using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

I stamped some more sunflowers and leaves onto some spare watercolour paper, and coloured them in using water based markers. I arranged the flowers and leaves onto the tag, adhering them with a dries clear glue. I added some micro beads to the centre of the main flower for some added texture. Some toning ribbon completes the tag.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

favourite flowers (by Veronica)

This rose image from the harlequin rose set of stamps has to be one of my favourites, it is a lovely big image, and doesn't really need anything else to make a card - very useful when you need a card in a hurry!
I used a fairly heavy white card to stamp and emboss the image, then added another favourite, brusho powders. I used the dinky spoons that were on the website last year, and sprinkled yellow, orange and green powders onto roughly appropriate areas of the stamp, then heavily spritzed it with  water, using enough water to let the colours spread out around the image.
Once it was dry, it was trimmed down, matted onto black card, then onto a white 5"x7" card blank.

Another very simple card using another of my favourites from pretty poppies this time.
Again stamped and embossed in black, then sponged with distress inks. Sentiment is from mackintosh sentiments set of clear stamps- so much easier to get the sentiment in the right place with clear stamps!

Everyone has been busy looking out old favourites, maybe one of yours will be next!

Veronica

Spring Greens (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a lot of Chocolate Baroque favourite stamps in my stash, which I have collected over many years, as you can well imagine! I have been taking a look through my collection, and have tried to pick out just a few to share with you today.

For my card, I have chosen a lovely tree stamp from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set. I love the versatilty of this stamp set, so many different stamps, offering many possibilities. I stuck an old book page onto some thin card, and then stamped the tree image onto the card. I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and a water brush. I also tore some jagged strips of book page, and coloured them with various colours of green Distress Ink, darker at the top, and paler at the bottom.

I added a circle mask to a white card blank, and coloured the top portion of the card pale blue, using Distress Ink. I then removed the circle mask, and added a bit of yellow ink to the circle. I stuck the book page strips to the lower end of the card, and trimmed off the rough edges.

I stamped the tree image directly onto the card, and added a bit of shading under the image using a dark green pencil. I decoupaged the image that I had stamped onto book paper over the background image. I stamped three birds from the Landscape Edges clear stamp set over the sun, and added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Some old favourites (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am taking a look back at some of my favourite stamp sets during this blog post, and I daresay that those of you who know me will not be too surprised to see poppies featuring heavily in my designs!

For my first card, I have chosen to combine stamps from the Poppy Meadow and Flora and Fauna stamp sets. I have stamped these images, and after masking them off, created a sponged background using Distress Inks, and a stencil. I have added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set.

My second card uses a stamp from the Poppy Edges stamp set, which I have stamped several times onto watercolour paper sprayed with coloured inks. I cut the images out, and stuck them onto another sprayed background, adding a smaller image from the Poppy Meadow stamp set. I used some black card to mat and layer the background, and then added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set.

Please pop back for more retrospective projects from my Team Mates over the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Guest Post - Masking Technique by Corine van Kuilenburg

Today it is my pleasure to introduce the last, but by no means least, new member of the Guest Design Team, Corine van Kuilenburgh. Many of you may know this lovely lady from blogland and other social media and we are delighted to have her on board.  Today is her very first post in her new role, so it's over to you Corine.

Hello there! My name is Corine van Kuilenburg and I am delighted to be joining you for the first time as a member of the Chocolate Baroque Guest Design Team! I do hope you will enjoy what I have made for your inspiration.

My first piece shows a card made with the masking technique. I used Stazon Jet Black, Distress Ink and three stamps. The stamps I used are from the Tangled Fragments, Mackintosh Sentiments and DecorativeEdges. I will explain you how I made this card. 

1.  Stamp the rubberstamp on white cardstock with Stazon Jet Black.
2.  Stamp again on masking tape. Cut the biggest piece and place the masking tape exactly on the  stamped image.
3.  Use 2 or 3 colours Distress ink and sponge the image.
4.  Stamp the bubbles from Decorative Edges with Distress ink.
5.  Remove the masking tape.
6.  Use a water brush and Distress ink to the white part coloring.
7.  For a finishing touch you can place a text on your card.
8.  Paste your image, when its finished, on brown cardstock and on a topaz card.
9.  Finally the card measures 13.5 x 13.5 cm.

I hope you have enjoyed what I have done with these beautiful stamp!

Big Hugs

Corine

We love the rich golden shades of this card, thank you Corine, we look forward to what you have designed for us next week. In the meantime, please keep calling in regularly to see what other delights have been created by our talented Design girls.

 

Lattice Orchids (by Julie)

Hello, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and as this is my last post for this year I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year! I have two projects that I hope you will like, made with two of the fantastic background stamps. My first is this plaque, made with the Baroque Orchids cling mounted stamp.

 

The base of this plaque is a large square of chipboard and I have stuck a piece of spare chipboard on the back to make a stand, much the same way as a standard picture frame works.

The centre is made up of letters cut with an electronic cutting machine and then over stamped with the Baroque Orchid using Onyx Black Versafine. The "O" is a piece of white polymer clay, cut with a heart cookie cutter and over stamped using the Versafine. Once baked I added a piece of cord around the edge of the heart with a hot glue gun and then stitched some seed beads around the cord edge, before adhering to the plaque with more hot glue. I have added layers of silver mirri card, black card and a stamped background using the Baroque Orchid.

This card has been made with the Studded Lattice cling mounted stamp along with Wild Meadow and Mackintosh Sentiments sets.

The base card was created with Pan Pastels. I then inked up the Studded Lattice with Versamark and randomly stamped around the background before brushing black and metallic Pan Pastel over the top. I then applied a fixative spray over the top.

For the decorative panel I stamped the Studded Lattice onto white card and coloured with Polycrhomos pencils. The wild grass is from the Wild Meadow set and was over-stamped with Onyx Black Versafine.

To finish off I inked up the With Love sentiment with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped over the Pan Pastel Background.

Many thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again very soon,

Julie x

Weave Collection (by Julie)

Hello, thanks for dropping in. I hope you managed to catch one of Lesley's shows on The Craft Channel at the beginning of December. Not to worry if you didn't as I have two projects that use two of the fantastic new background stamps from the shows.

My first card is stamped with the Open Weave cling mounted stamp. I stamped the base card using the Weave stamp on a slight angle and continued until the card was completely covered. The main image was simply stamped with Onyx Black Versafine, doodled with a fine tipped micron pen and then coloured with Polychromos pencils. I then edged with Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink before mounting onto black card. I created the flowers by die cutting 3 black flowers and 3 white. I stamped the Open Weave over the white stamps and doodled and coloured as before. The sentiment is from Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set.

My second project is a decorative picture frame and could be made for a last minute Christmas present. The background has been stamped with a pink dye based ink using the new Floral Weave and edged with Peacock Feathers Distress ink. I have added flat back gems and dots of Crystal Stickles for added interest. The butterflies are from the Honeysuckle Butterfly set which I have coloured with Peacock Feathers and Pickled Raspberry Distress ink. The background has been stamped four times so you may have a couple of places where you haven't been able to make a neat join to the next image.....this is the perfect place to add your stamped butterflies....!

The white frame immediately around the stamped image has been covered with Viva Crystal Gel  and the picture frame was painted with white Gesso and dry brushed with a deep pink acrylic paint.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. 

Julie x

Super Sunflowers (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have another floral project to share with you today, using one of the Flowerhead Collection cling mounted stamps. I have chosen to use the Daisy Ring image to create my card, as I liked the versatility of this design, with the open centre.

I have added some leaves from the Sunny Sunflowers stamp set, and butterflies from the Thistle Butterfly and Briar Rose Butterfly stamp sets. The sentiment is from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set.

I have used a combination of stamping and masking to create the cluster of sunflowers at the bottom of my card. I decoupaged the central flower and the butterflies for a bit of interest.

Sunflowers are my Mother in Law's favourite flower. They are so cheery, and would brighten up anyone's day. If you would like to know how I created this card, please pop along to my blog for full instructions. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Floral Delight (by Julie)

Hello, hope it's not too wet where you are, but hopefully these brand new Chocolate Baroque flower stamps can bring in some cheery sunshine to chase the rain away.......

From the set of six stamps I have chosen to use the Daisy Ring Centre and Swirl Centre. My favourite has to be the Daisy Ring as you are getting two flowers in one. You can leave the double layer of petals as it is or as I have done for this door hangar, cut away the outer petals and be left with a smaller flower. 

I covered the wooden hangar with Marigold Distress Stain and a few dabs of Picket Fence Distress Paint, before stamping the Swirl Centre flower directly onto the hangar. I used Picket Fence and Evergreen Bough Distress Paint.

The flowers have been painted with water colour and glazed with a clear, glitter spray varnish and to add interest I applied some seed beads with glossy accents to the centres of the two smaller flowers.

My second project is a simple birthday card using the Daisy Centre Flower Head, a floral stamp from Seasonal Fragments and the sentiment from Mackintosh Sentiments

I inked up the Seasonal Fragment with red Versafine and stamped over the base card which I masked with torn paper strips. (Much like Lesley's demo on the Craft Channel with the Seasonal Edges) Then I applied Mermaid Lagoon over the top and took a baby wipe to sponge over red Versafine to the masked areas. I then applied Antique Linen all over the base card before stamping the sentiment with Onyx Black Versafine. I stamped the flower with red Versafine and coloured with watercolour before cutting out and finishing off with a white highlighter pen and Crystal Stickles.

Many thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.

Julie x

Butterfly Stepper Card using Exquisite and Owl Edges (by Anne)

The new Edge stamp sets are gorgeous – they are so versatile and can be used in so many different projects and mixed & matched with other stamps in your collection. I have combined mine with some patterned paper and stamped butterflies. I hope that you like it.  

 

Materials:

• Exquisite Edges, Owl Edges, Mackintosh Sentiments and Just Butterflies stamp sets
• A5 stepper card blank with main panel approx. 6 X 6 inches
• 6 x6 decorative butterfly paper from Crafty Individuals Background Papers ‘Book 3’ Springtime
• Multicoloured dye based inkpad (blue, purple, green)
• Alcohol ink pens (blue, pink, yellow, green, purple), fine tipped marker (purple), Polychromos coloured pencils (pinks, turquoise, green)
• Clear glitter glue (crystal), Glossy Accents
• Decorative die cuts (from white card) and adhesive

How to make it:

1. Stamp the border along the top and bottom edges of the decorative paper.
2. Stamp the sentiment and small floral motif. Extend the stems by drawing with fine liner pen. Colour the floral motifs with pencil.
3. Trim the paper slightly to fit onto the card base and give a fine border of the white card showing. Enhance the edges with green ink and glue on the die cuts.
4. Stamp the steps masking the card where needed using a sheet of scrap paper. Glue on the card front.
5. Stamp the butterflies and colour with alcohol ink pens. Glue to the card.
6. Add Glossy Accents to the butterfly bodies. Finish by adding sparkle with glitter glue.

Happy Stamping, Anne x.

Making an Impression (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a cheery card to show you today, using the current stamps of the month, Rustic Fragments/Seasonal Fragments multi-buy.

I created the background by painting a piece of smooth watercolour paper with acrylic paint. I used the paint in a very diluted fashion to give a washed effect to the background. I added a large textured linen stamp across the background using a saffron coloured ink, and then filled in the rest of the background with the flower head design, using a plum coloured ink. I stamped a greeting from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set across a piece of hand dyed ribbon that I had left over from another project. I attached this to the background.

To create some added texture for the card, I rolled out three pieces of polymer clay, and cut them into circles. I stamped the flower head stamp into the clay, and following the manufacturer's instructions, I baked them in the oven. Once they had cooled down, I painted these with the same acrylic paint as I had used on my background. I added a bit of metallic wax to pick out some of the details of the flowers.

I hope that you feel inspired to try something like this out for yourselves, as these stamps are great for adding texture to all sorts of surfaces. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Bodice And Bouquets (by Julie)

Good morning, I hope you have been enjoying this months sewing theme. Today I have two cards created from the two new sets that Chocolate Baroque have to offer which are The Floral Mannequins and The Sewing Room. I have used elements of both sets on both of my cards.

 I tried to keep this floral card as clean and simple as possible which I generally find quite hard to do. The floral ribbon has been stamped with Sepia Versafine and coloured with pencils. The three lace flowers have been decoupaged and stamped with blue Versafine onto light-blue card and the leaves were die cut from green card which I had previously stamped with the ruffled ribbon from the Floral Mannequins and one of the vintage mannequins from the Sewing room. I think the sentiment is very fitting for the card and comes from the Mackintosh Clear Sentiments set.

My second is a DL card and is created using basic masking techniques and again I have taken stamps from both sets. I started by stamping the button, thimble and cotton reel onto multiple layers of sticky notes so that when I cut them out I had more than one of each mask. I then applied a length of masking tape from top to bottom and approx. 3 cm in from the edge of the card before stamping the button, thimble and cotton reel, remembering to cover with  masks as I went along. After stamping I coloured the panel with Marigold and Mustard Seed Distress ink, then moved the masking tape so that it covered the coloured panel. You can then start stamping the Peacock Feather Distress ink panel. This panel is very much easier and doesn't require any masking. I stamped a selection of the haberdashery items along with the lacy ribbon using grey Versafine before sponging on the Peacock Feather Distress Ink.

On a separate piece of card I stamped some of the haberdashery items using the grey Versafine before over stamping the vintage mannequins with black Versafine. I then coloured them with pencils before cutting out and adding them to the card with silicone glue.

The finished panel was mounted onto the base card that I had edged with Black Soot Distress Ink.

Thank you for stopping by and we hope to see you tomorrow with some more Design Team inspiration.

Mackintosh Ovals (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are enjoying the inspiration provided by my team mates this month. I have a card to show you today, using one of the images from the Floral Eggs clear stamp set, along with some older favourites of mine.

I started my card by stamping and embossing the Mackintosh style egg repeatedly onto a piece of black card, using Versamark and some platinum embossing powder. I also stamped and embossed the oval part of the central image several times onto a spare piece of black card. I mixed some blue and green Brusho powder with iridescent medium, and coloured areas of the images and left them to dry. I cut out the ovals from the spare piece of card, and stuck them to the background card inbetween the Mackintosh egg images.

I stamped the main image, from the Mackintosh Windows stamp set, onto a piece of white card, using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and embossed it using clear embossing powder. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils and a water brush. I coloured a die cut of white card with pencils and a water brush before stamping a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set. I chose a toning green pearlescent card to mat all of the layers before assembling my card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Spring Birds (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I would like to show you some cards made using the Spring Birds multibuy stamp set. These stamps are perfect for this time of year, as our thoughts are turning towards the Spring time, and the warmer weather.

I started my first card by making a wrinkle free distress background; placing some Distress Stains onto a craft mat, and spritzing them with water. I also spritzed a piece of watercolour paper with water and then placed it onto the craft mat, ensuring that the paper was covered with colour. I dried the paper with a heat gun, and then patted it randomly onto the droplets of colour left on my craft mat, creating a second layer of colour on the background. I also dried this with the heat gun.

 I stamped some dog roses and a bird from the Pretty Birdcage stamp set along with a bird taken from the Spring birds stamp set onto the background. I masked the main dog roses before adding the birds and extra roses. I coloured the images with pencils. I added a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments stamp set to finish.

I decided to create an easel card for my second project, and if you would like the full instructions for the assembly, you can check out the details on My Blog. I stamped the Leafy Trails Big Bold Background stamp twice onto plain card, and coloured this with waterbased markers. I edged the card with Distress Ink.

I die cut two circles, and whilst the dies were still in place, I added some colour with Distress Ink. Once I had removed the dies, I then stamped the bird image onto the larger circle, and a sentiment from the Amazing Birthday stamp set onto the smaller circle. I hand cut the mounts for the circles, by drawing around the dies onto some card left over from the easel card. Some toning ribbon completed the card.

   

My Design Team mates have been very busy this month making some beautiful projects with these stamps, so be sure to keep checking back to see what they have made. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

On kraft paper (by Maria)

Hello crafters, here are some more samples with the Sketchy Doodle Flowers stamp set.

This time, I have made you some samples on kraft paper.  Using Versafine black ink on your stamps, stamp the flowers on some kraft paper. My white cardstock is 30cms x 11cms. I folded it in two so that I had a card of 15cms x 11cms. I took some larger kraft paper stamped my flowers, and looked at how I could  take the best part of the card and cut it out 1cm less than my cardstock so, 14cms x 10cms. I coloured the flowers with pencils and the white part I coloured with my white gelly pen. I placed the sentiment on a free spot, put some golden pearls for the contrast, then I took some black cardstock to frame the kraft paper with. I put it all on my white card. I hope you like these cards, they were very easy to make, enjoy!

Greetings,
Maria

Flower Power (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have a couple more designs to show today using the fabulous Sketchy Doodle Landscape set.

The background was created with Dylusions and Brusho inks.  I over stamped with fragments from Abstract Fragments.and Harlequin Fragments.   I also added circles with white Acrylic paint and a small empty bottle.

The flowers were stamped with archival ink, sprayed with Fuchsia Dylusions ink, highlighted with a white pencil, carefully cut out and attached to the background.

The card below was quick to make:

The background was stenciled (TCW Echoes) and the main image was coloured with pencils.  Best Wishes is from Mackintosh Sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirleyx

Sending a bouquet.........by Miranda

Hi there,

Today it's my turn again to show you a creation made with the lovely Sketchy Doodle Landscape. And this time I have used the landscape stamp and decorated this with a lot of decoupaged flowers and leaves from the same sheet. Maybe not a very quick card but still very easy.....no techniques........only plain black stamping onto coloured scrap paper, cutting and layering. So take out your left over papers and have a go.........

Because I love to color I also played with my color pencils too. And finally added some white marker accents and pearls.

The matching sentiment is from the Mackintosh sentiments.

I was in the mood for lots of color, vibrant and joyful colors! The sun is shining here today and it's very cold. But on this card it's already Spring!

from a different angle........

and a close-up of my beautiful flower garden.........

Well, I think it will be a card for somebody who can use a little sunshine, color and warmth!

Hope to have inspired you, thanks for your visit and I always enjoy to read your comments,

till next time,

Vibrant Retro Flower (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.

I've been working with Sketchy Doodle Landscape this month.  These stamps are great fun and seem to beg for vibrant colours but they are also great in subdued designs.

The background was created with Dylusions Inks along with white Brusho crystal inks.  It's not difficult - I spray Dylusions inks, spritz with water, sprinkle a tiny bit of white Brusho powders and spritz a little with water (if needed) again.   Once the background was dry I over stamped with a fragment from Abstract Fragments.  I embossed the main images from Sketchy Doodle Landscape with black, coloured with Dylusions ink (using a brush and water on a craft mat).    'With Love' is from Mackintosh Sentiments.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day.
Shirleyx