Partridges, Turtle Doves, Pears and an Elegant Tree (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.

I had great fun last month creating Christmas cards and have two designs to show you today that feature stamps from the new Turtle Doves set.

The background above was created with Raspberry & Persimmon Distress Inks using the acrylic block technique.   I stamped a flourish from Fancy Flourishes with Raspberry DI.

The pear tree branches & turtle doves from Turtle Doves and pear from Pears and Baubles were stamped with Imperial Purple Versafine ink.   I coloured the background branches with Prisma pencils.  The pear and birds were coloured with distress inks (using a mat, water & brush), decoupaged and popped up over the background.  I also added glitter paint to the larger birds and outlined with a white Gelly Roll pen.   Merry Christmas is from Warm Christmas Greetings.

And the card below is in a clean style:

I embossed a tree from the Turtle Doves set with gold and embellished with lots of little half pearls.  I added gold embossing to the edge of the background.  The die is from Spellbinder - Elegant Labels 4.

This will be my last post here for a couple of months as my husband and I are moving into a new home.   We found it was time for us to downsize (or 'rightsize').   We had a lot of work with purging and digging to move garden plants.   It's been a very busy time for us and I am very appreciative and thank Glenda & Lesley for allowing me a break while we get settled.   I can't wait to be back again working with Chocolate Baroque's gorgeous stamps again this Fall.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Christmas Magic (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have some Christmas projects for you today, using the lovely selection of seasonal stamps currently on offer.

My first card uses stamps from the Snowy Scenes/Turtle Doves multibuy stamped onto green paper using white embossing powder. I added tiny red gems to the tree and snowflakes for a little bit of Christmas bling. To complete the background, I added a stamp from the Nature Fragments stamp set, stamped in dark green ink. I also stamped a sentiment from the Christmas Magic clear stamp set in the same colour onto a piece of scrap paper. I edged all of the pieces of paper with green ink and then matted them onto dark green card before assembling my project.

My second card was created by stamping a large ornate pear from the Pears and Baubles stamp set onto my background using brown ink. I coloured the pears using a mixture of green and yellow coloured water based marker pens and a waterbrush. I filled in the background between using a blue marker pen and a waterbrush. The main image was stamped onto a die cut piece of card using gold embossing powder, and coloured in with the marker pens in the same way. I edged the background with toning blue ink. I added a large flourish from the Butterfly Dreams stamp set, using gold embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Christmas Birds (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a couple of Christmas samples for you today, using stamps from our Snowy Scenes/Turtle Doves multi-buy offer. Generally, I like to work with bigger cards, but I found myself making some cute 6" x 6" cards with the lovely images.

My first card was created by stamping the owl image down the side of the card, and extending the tree trunk to the bottom of the card with a black pen. I masked over the image, by stamping onto masking paper, and then stamped a tree image from Reindeer Landscape onto the background twice. The sentiment comes from the same set.

I embossed some snowflakes from the multibuy set onto the background using white embossing powder, and then coloured the background, using Distress Inks. I removed the mask from the owl image, and coloured it with pencils. I added a little bit of glitter glue to the hills, and once this was dry, I attached some organza ribbon before I matted the background to some black card.

My second card was created by sponging a piece of white card with green ink, and then stamping around the edges with the end of the swirly bird and pear image, using the same colour green ink. This gives a subtle tone on tone effect. I die cut a pear image from a piece of old book paper, and coloured this with green and orange inks, before sticking it to my background.

I stamped the bird and pear image in black ink over the die cut pear. I stamped the image again onto a piece of white card, and coloured it with pencils, cutting out the bird, leaves and pears. I decoupaged these onto the die cut pear. I added a sentiment from the Pears and Baubles stamp set.

 

Keep checking back for some lovely samples from my team mates using these stamps. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Christmas Farewell (by Clare)

Hello!  It's almost that time of year again!  Christmas!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by, although having to sit without being able to do much makes time seem to drag by.  I am so sad to say that after having a fourth surgery on my left shoulder, one on my right elbow and right shoulder upcoming, I am stepping down from the design team for a while.  I haven't been able to keep up with all my talented and creative team mates!  I hope you enjoy these few last cards of mine.  I wish each and every one of you Merry Christmas, a blessed holiday, and a prosperous and healthy New Year!  I will miss you all!

This first card was made with two stamps.  The background is from the Winter Edges set, and the main image is from the Reindeer Landscape set.  I used a wood-look embossing folder on the blue base, and placed two rows of glue and blue chunky glitter across the bottom.  The background was stamped in dark blue on white cardstock, then cut in half to fit across the 6" width behind the main image.  The deer landscape was stamped on white and heat embossed in teal blue.  I used a sponge dauber and blue inks in three different shades on the top and bottom.  There is light blue sparkle sheer ribbon 1" wide tied around the top, with a small piece of teal 1/8" wide satin ribbon tied around the center and a plastic snowflake button glued over that. I adhered the main panel over all with dimensional squares.

The card just below was made using the ornament edges from the Christmas Edges stamp set, and a bauble stamp from the Pears and Baubles set.  The white card base background was stamped in dark green with the bauble edge stamp after cutting the card out with a large die. I cut a smaller green panel with a smaller die, then positioned a scalloped-edged die in the middle of the green card cutting it twice to create the desired effect.  A white oval was die cut and lifted off the green panel with dimensional dots.  The beautiful bauble was stamped and heat embossed in white on dark green cardstock, then touched up with a silver marker.  I hand cut this out then positioned it on the white oval with dimensionals.  A piece of 1/8" wide silver ribbon was tied around and rhinestones placed to enhance.  (the green is a dark forest green, not teal as this looks)  The final touch was a thin line of silver marker around the periphery.

The next card is a favorite of mine!  I love the color purple (for royalty) and this turned out so pretty combined with the plum and silver.  My camera shot didn't do it justice!  I made a card base from white cardstock, and covered the front completely with purple/lavender paper.  I heat embossed both the deer image and the trees, using purple and silver, respectively.  Purple and plum ink was daubed onto the top and bottom of the image, as well as on the horizon.  The trees were hand-cut, and positioned with dimensional dots, giving the view some depth.  Some iridescent silver ribbon 1/8" wide was glued around the outside edge of the image, and was very easy to do.  A super CAS card!  The stamp set I used is Reindeer Landscape.

I'm really fond of this next card, because I love Poinsettias, and Chocolate Baroque has really done a great job with these Zentangled ones.  The stark red and black on white is really striking!  I've used two stamp sets on this card - Christmas Edges, and Joyful Christmas.  The card base is white, with dry embossed dots across the top half of the front.  The Christmas Edges poinsettia stamp was used in black across the bottom, and I applied some tiny little shiny red stickers for the centers.  Red was daubed all around the outside edges of the card.  Red 3/8" grosgrain ribbon was glued across the center of the card, with red cording glued over that.  I stamped the larger flowers from the Joyful Christmas set two times, then cut them out and layered them for dimension.  Yellow rhinestones were glued to the centers.  I framed the sentiment with red cardstock after stamping in black, then glued on.  A very easy card to make!
  

This next card is an easel.  It's  4 1/2" wide by 11" total length, scored at the 2" and 4 1/2" marks.  It's folded in half, then the bottom 2" flap is folded up.  I cut a piece of coordinating card stock (red) to 4 1/2" wide and 4" top to bottom, then scored in half widthwise.  Unfolded, I die cut the top edge (inside) with a scalloped edge, the inside the bottom, used another scalloped edge die to make the design through which the white card base is seen.  I stamped the sentiment in black.  With this flap folded down, I glued a little plastic snowflake button in the center for the top front to catch on forming the "easel".  For the top front, I cut a piece of patterned coordinating paper to fit, leaving only 1 3/4" of the white card base showing at the bottom.  Using a scalloped die, I cut the same as on the front in the bottom white edge.  On the bottom right of the patterned paper, I stamped in black the tree grouping from the Winter Edges set.  I placed some red shiny sticker circles on the garlands on the trees.  At the top of the card in the score line, on the left about 1 " in from the left edge, I used a craft knife to cut  a 1/8" cut to thread the yarn through with a needle.  Before tying into a bow, I threaded a plastic tree onto the yarn to finalize the card.

This next card is another favorite of mine, and I love the icy feel of it.  I used an "all-over" punch to make the snowflakes in the white panel which was glued over the white card base, shaded with stamp paints in blue and lavender.  I stamped the three different snowflakes and embossed in silver, tinting the center or the edges with light blue ink and a dauber.  I cut them out by hand.  The snowflakes and trees are from the Reindeer Landscape set.  The trees were stamped on white with silver embossing, then shaded in with markers.  I stamped the sentiment "Winter Wonderland" from the set Bold Christmas Words on blue cardstock then embossed it in white.  I cut it out with a large banner die, and shaded the edges in blue stamp paint.  Before gluing everything down, except for the snowflakes which I adhered with dimensional dots, I tied a piece of 1" wide sheer blue ribbon around the bottom, and tied a bow, gluing a small blue snowflake brad in the center.

This last card is a wonderful image of a winter fairy.  She originally had a fall of roses in her hands, but since I was making her for Christmas, I changed it up with holly boughs.  She was so much fun to color!  Love those wings!  She comes from the new set, February Fairies.  For the top and bottom borders, I used the holly edge stamp from the newly released Christmas Edges. 

Again, I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy and Healthy New Year, and I've really enjoyed working with all the wonderful design team ladies!  Please continue to check back for their amazing work!  Here's to better health, healing and getting back into the swing of everything Chocolate!  Yum, yum! 

I'd like to thank Glenda and Adrian for being so generous, and their patience during my learning how to manage a blog entry, working with editing of photos, and computer glitches.  Lesley, I wish you continued healing, and pray that you will be back to "normal" very quickly!  Sue, thank you for drawing up some gorgeous "must-have" stamps!  You're amazing! 

Merry Christmas, with love!

Clare  



Happy Christmas, Winter Wonderland and a Sneak Peek

Hi, Chocolate Baroque friends!  We are in the midst of releasing new winter and Christmas stamps, and I'm sure you're going to love them!  My first card uses elements from three different stamp sets, that go very well together!  Two were made to match! 

I embossed my white cardstock with tiny dots, then sponged red stamp paint around the edges.  At the bottom of the front, I stamped the poinsettia edge in black, from the new set Christmas Edges.  In the centers, I placed some little sparkly stickers.  I touched up around the bottoms of the flowers with a black marker so they'd stand out a little more.  Red satin ribbon was placed around the card where the embossing stopped, and red cording placed over that.  Next, the large poinsettia's from the set Pears & Baubles were stamped twice in black on white cardstock.  I colored in the flowers with a red marker, and used a black marker to touch up parts of the leaves.  I sparkled the flowers up with red stamp paint, then applied yellow rhinestones to the centers.  After cutting them all out, (the second set was cut apart into two separate poinsettias) I used some dimensional foam to pop them up off the card, turning the second set slightly to offset.  "Happy Christmas," from the Joyful Christmas set was stamped in black on white, then layered onto some red patterned paper.  This was a very easy card to make, and the black, red and white is very striking!

 

Next is a card I call Winter Wonderland, and I have used images from the new Reindeer Landscape set.  This set is fantastic!  The trees were so much fun to color, and I used blue stamp paint to highlight the snowflakes and banner.  The snowflakes were heat-embossed in silver.  The card base is white cardstock, shaded in blues and lavenders, then overlaid with a white cardstock sheet that has been punched out.  The sentiment is a sneaky-peeky to what is coming soon!  I heat-embossed the wording in white on lavender cardstock.  The images were cut out, then popped up with the foam dimensionals, and a lavender ribbon tied around all before mounting it onto the white card base.  The blue snowflake on the bow is from my stash.

These new stamps are certainly getting me in the Christmas mood, and I may start my Christmas gift shopping!  I love this time of the year, but I really want to enjoy the fall colors and cooler weather first.  Watch for more beautiful work from my design team buddies!  Take care!

Poinsettia Edges (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.   

We've been having a great time 'playing' with the new Christmas designs.   The following three cards all feature the Poinsettia Edge from Christmas Edges.   The new Edge stamps are fantastic, I love them (yes I know I say that about ALL of CB's designs, it's true I'm 'in Love').

I started with Distress Inks (Festive Berries & Fired Brick) using the Acrylic Block technique.   I over stamped the background using the Mistletoe fragment (another favourite from Pears & Baubles ) with Festive Berries Distress Ink.      I embossed the Poinsettia edge from Christmas Edges along with JOY from Bold Christmas Words on separate cardstock with deep purple powder and coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink using water & a brush.   I decoupaged all three images and adhered along with purple ribbon onto the background.  I also added lots of stickles in the flower centers.


While I was working with the Poinsettia Edge, I kept seeing leaves from the Bold Bloom and Tangled Garden sets in the petals.   I thought I would try to make a poinsettia from the leaves and below is what I came up with :)

 

For the card above I started with Evergreen Bough and Pine Needles Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block technique.  I stamped around all the edges using the Poinsettia edge with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.   Merry Christmas is from the fabulous Bold Christmas Words set.    The Holly Flourish die cut is Cheery Lynn B148.   I embossed the leaves from Bold Bloom & Tangled Garden with gold along with the flower center from one of the flowers from Tangled garden.  I painted the flower petals & leaves with Tom Bow markers and used lots of stickles on the petals & liquid pearls in the center.


This next card was a quick make as I used some glittery designer paper from my stash.

 

I stamped the Poinsettia Edge from Christmas Edges and Sentiment from Bold Christmas Words onto white cardstock with Memento Rhubarb Stalk Dye Ink.   I layered as shown and added a bow & stickles. 

We have lots more to show you in October so I hope you can visit often.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirleyx

Christmas cards, batch style (posted by Judith)

Hi folks, I have a couple of quick cards to show you today. I am always in a hurry as Christmas is approaching to get all of my cards made, and these new Big Backgrounds are just perfect for batch making. My first card uses the Poinsettia background stamp. I have created a background using alcohol inks, and then stamped onto the card using a dark green archival inkpad. The background was so pretty that I didn't want to add anything to the flowers themselves, apart from a few beads in the centres. I stamped a sentiment from the Gothic Angels stamp sheet, and placed this onto a piece of red satin ribbon across the card. This card was made very quickly, and could easily be made in batches.

My second card uses the Snowflake Shadow Big Background stamp.I have embossed the background using clear embossing powder, and then blended three different colour blue Distress Inks over the background. I have added a sentiment from the Pears and Baubles stamp sheet. I die cut a Crealie open flower which looks just like a snowflake when you cut it with white card, and matches the stamp very well. Some organza ribbon and a large gem finish the card.

So, I am well on my way with my Christmas cards, several more to go, but these stamps have got me in the mood to make some batches of cards. I hope that I have inspired you to have a go as well. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Tangled Baubles (posted by Judith)

Hi folks, I have a couple of samples to show you today using the Tangled Baubles stamp sheet. For my first sample, I have created a background using alcohol inks, and then stamped the image using archival ink. I stamped part of the image again onto another spare piece of card, also coloured with the alcohol inks, so that I could decoupage one of the baubles. I added some co-ordinating card to mat and layer the image, and stamped a sentiment from the Gothic Angels stamp sheet.I simply added some ribbon to finish.

My second card uses the Tangled Bauble stamp sheet again as my focal point, and this time, I simply stamped the image with black archival ink. I then watercoloured the background using some red paint, adding shading for depth around the baubles. I stamped a sentiment from the Pears and Baubles stamp sheet onto a piece of card, slightly larger than the sentiment itself. I used a permanent pen to draw a design around the outside, and after making sure that it was completely dry, I used the same watercolour paint to colour the border. I used some co-ordinating card to add some matting and layering again.

This tangled bauble stamp would make perfect Christmas cards for your Zentangle loving friends, and you can personalise it in so many ways.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A Christmas Bauble (by Clare)

Merry Christmas, everyone!  It's that time of year to celebrate again, and the Chocolate Baroque set Pears and Baubles is an awesome one to start your cards with!  The detail on these stamps is so exquisite and fine!  It was a lot of fun, and very relaxing to sit and color all the little spaces!  This is one set I will be using over and over again!  The word "Joy" is from the Chocolate Baroque set, Ivy Trails.  I stamped the bauble in black ink and colored it in with water-based markers, then cut it out close to the outline.  Some little shiny round stickers were placed in the center, on the word 'Joy", around the periphery of the ball, and on the bottom left corner.  I used the smaller ornaments for the inside of the card. 



September's Stamp of the Month

September is here already and the start of the month means we have a new set of stamps for our Stamp of the Month.

This month it is an A4 set called Pears and Baubles, which features, unsurprisingly, pears and baubles! 

There's also a couple of lovely trees, a mistletoe sprig and a really fun background fragment. Don't forget our Stamp of the Month is always at an introductory price for the first month - this set retails for £22.50 normally, but until the end of September you can get it for £18.98*.

The cards featured above were made by DT member Debbie and I just love the simplicity of the embossed image on the kraft card.  It's hard to see in the photo, but she's used twinkly WOW embossing powders which look very sophisticated.  I really can see this being a great idea for a production run, ideal for Christmas and a great way to use up all those scraps of pretty ribbon.

We have a set to give away to one lucky winner, so please leave a comment below to be in with a chance of winning.  I'll do the draw in a week (next Monday) so you need to be quick this time!

And if you haven't already heard, we have something exciting coming your way this Thursday.  Click here for a teaser and a list of ways to get involved.

Mistletoe pearls (posted by Elaine)

I love to work in clean colours and there is nothing better than crisp white and green for a Christmas card. These mistletoe stamps are from the lovely new Pears and Baubles rubber A4 plate

I stamped and heat embossed the mistletoe image four times, watercoloured them with Forest Moss distress marker, carefully cut them out, cut some into pieces and made them into a nice shaped bunch. I added pearls of different sizes for the berries. I mounted them onto an oval panel, with a green scalloped backing. This was mounted onto a dry embossed white snowflake panel. I finally added a sentiment embossed in silver detail powder, mounted with green and white gingham ribbon and matted onto more dark green for definition.

Elaine