Pretty Poppies Card (by Carole)

Hello everyone, this month, we have three inspirational posts from our Guest Design Team member Carole Cann. Carole has created a beautiful card for her first post using a mixture of poppy stamps, (my favourite flower), and here is what she has to say:

Hello everyone,

I am delighted to be doing another series of projects for the Guest Design Team post this month.
My Pretty Poppies card was inspired by one I received many years ago with this colour combination.
Red and gold with brown are not colours I would normally use. Not the brown, anyway! But it works.
When I used these lovely poppy stamps I realized they would be perfect for a design I had in mind. So here it is.

I stamped the corners with Versamark and embossed them onto a piece of card 12.5 cms x 14.5 cms, (5 inches x 5 3/4 inches), leaving a gap between, to put the central poppy panel over.
This has been given an edging with a gold gel pen and mounted onto red card.
The poppy is embossed with the same gold, then coloured with red and green pearlescent paint, which gives it a lovely shimmer.
I used tiny sequin waste and a gold inkpad to make a slight pattern around the poppies. I trimmed the panel to size and mounted it onto gold card.
I then added glazing with Glossy Accents.
The photo does not do the embossing powder justice, as it has a lovely delicate glint to it.
The Best Wishes has been stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear embossed.
I am going to try and make more cards with similar colours as I think they would be great for Golden or Ruby Wedding Anniversary cards.

Stamps used: Pretty Poppies
Poppy Meadow- corners
Loving Sentiments- words
Versamark inkpad
Versafine Onyx Black inkpad
Jeweled gold embossing powder
Clear embossing powder
Brown, red and gold card
Pearlescent paints
Glossy Accents
Tiny sequin waste strip
Gold inkpad

Thank you for looking and see you next week with another project.

Happy crafting, Carole.

Friendship by Brenda

Good morning, today I would like to share a few of my samples from Lesley's Hochanda shows which celebrated Chocolate Baroque's first Birthday with the channel when viewers were treated to some wonderful new floral stamps and colouring pages.

This release was right up my street and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed making these samples and it was only time that prevented me making more.

So to my first card at the top uses the beautiful Medici Flower. On this occasion I only wanted to use the focal flower so I used sticky notes to cover the areas around the flower, inked it with Versafine Black, removed the masks and followed the same process three times. I then masked the  individual stamped flowers and stamped the Poppy heads from Poppy Meadow along with a inspirational quote from Pretty Poppies. Next I flicked some watery distress ink onto the white space and finally coloured the blooms with sparkle pens.

I really love this image, it's called Mosaic Flower but to me it yells out Chinese Lanterns. I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed with detail gold powder, coloured the flower hears with pencils and rubbed some gilding wax around the edges. Some twine and a button tied around before matting onto a pieced of corrugated and then the base card.

I painted this little box with acrylic and shimmer paints, then used a stencil and texture paste to add some flourishes. When dry I used a slightly darker pain to highlight the stenciled patterns and added gilding flakes here are there and along the opening edges. The flowers on the top were cut from one of the colouring pages, coloured in with pencils and fixed to the top along with some die cut leaves.

My final share today used the new Floral Delight stamp which I stamped once, masked and then stamped part of the stamp a second time and coloured in with pencils.  Using a mask I added some sun rays and stamped three of the words from Wish Flower, cut out and added individually to the finished piece.  

Thank you so much for popping in today.

Pretty Poppies (by Julie)

Hello, today I have a couple of floral cards to show you.

My first card is a DL card that I have created with the Pretty Poppies set. I simply stamped the central poppy design with Versafine ink and coloured with pencils. I then inked up the little corner stamp with a dark green Versafine and stamped the border around the outside. No special measuring was needed and if you go slightly wrong don't worry, just treat it as a design opportunity. That is why the little Thanks sentiment is there...haha. 

I finished off the card with Distress inks for the background and dabs of Crystal Stickles.

For my second card I cut a piece of glossy card to fit my card blank and brayered the background with blue and green dye ink. I lifted some of the colour by sprinkling with water and then dabbing the excess off with a kitchen towel.

I inked up flowers from Pretty Poppies and Poppy Meadow to create the floral design. I then stamped the larger flower from Pretty Poppies onto white stamping card and cut out selected areas to decoupage over the top.

I finished off the card with some stencilled butterflies using the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies mask and a sentiment from Pretty Poppies.

Many thanks for stopping by and please call back very soon for daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Transparent Poppies (by Anne)

Good morning. Today I am sharing one of my samples for the recent shows on Hochanda featuring the Pretty Poppies and Poppy Meadow stamps.

I coloured my scene using the fabulous alcohol markers from Chameleon. I simply love the new Color Tops that allow you to blend 2 completely different colours seamlessly – very tricky to do with standard alcohol pens.

Materials:

• Pretty Poppies, Poppy Meadow, Nature Table, Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp sets
• 8 X 8 inch card blank, 6.5 inch square card suitable for alcohol ink (I used Velvet Card) and scrap copy paper (to make masks)
• Inkpads: Versafine (Onyx Black), Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass), Memento Dye Ink (London Fog)
• WOW embossing powder (Clear Gloss)
• Zig 2 way glue (temporary adhesive for masks)
• Alcohol pens (yellow, green, blue, beige and pink): Chameleon Pens (YG3, YL2, BL3) and Color Tops (NU0, PK3)
• Permanent marker (black)
• Coloured pencils (black, green and pink/purple)
• Water based fine tipped pen (light grey)
• Gel pen (Hybrid Ink - black with metallic red)
• Stickles glitter glue (Crystal)

How it was done:

1. The card background was stamped with the honesty stamp and Distress Ink. The corners were stamped with Versafine and the edges blended lightly with Distress Ink.
2. The foreground poppies were stamped onto copy paper and cut out to create masks. Small dots of zig glue were added to the back and left to dry (turns from blue to clear) to create a temporary stick to hold them in place.
3. The foreground poppies were stamped with Memento (water based ink that will not bleed when colouring with alcohol ink pens) and then covered with the masks before stamping the background poppies.
4. The stems were extended where needed by drawing with the fine tipped pen (NB. Make sure it is suitable for colouring with alcohol pens without bleeding – test if unsure).
5. The image was then coloured with alcohol pens. I love the delicate transparent finish – perfect for delicate poppies. I used the new Chameleon pens with Color Tops. These enable really easy one step blending of one colour into the next. Leaves were coloured with YG3 and NU0 Color Top, Flowers with BL3 and PK3 Color Top, Buds with BL3 and NU0 Color Top, Butterfly with YL2 and and PK3 Color Top.
6. A little texture and extra shading was added where needed with coloured pencils. The sentiment was stamped with Versafine and heat embossed with clear powder to emphasise. The card was edged with black marker to frame and glued to the card front with 3D foam for added dimension.
7. The butterfly was stamped with Memento onto a spare scarp of card, coloured with alcohol pens and cut out. To enhance the butterfly details (the grey ink was a bit pale) I overstamped it with Versafine Ink.
8. A little metallic ink was used on the butterfly and stamens. Further sparkle was added with Stickles glue.

We Will Remember Them (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! We are almost at the end of October and while a Halloween project would be the obvious choice, I decided to hop off the bandwagon and pursue a different theme. Looking ahead to November, I decided to play with the Pretty Poppies stamp sheet to create a Remembrance Day inspired page.

It's a simple page, no unnecessary embellishments, textures or distractions. Just a field of red poppies against a clear blue sky. A telling contrast... lest we forget the price of peace.

I used acrylic paints for the background and stamped the poppies directly on the page with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I coloured the stems and leaves with alcohol markers. Then I stamped the poppies and buds separately, coloured and fussy cut them before adhering them to the page.

As always, I have details of the tools and products used on my blog. Thank you for stopping by and drop in soon for more designs by the team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

poppies (by Veronica)

  I am an absolute sucker for poppy stamps, so it was lovely to have these stamps back in the spotlight.
The butterfly poppy set is A4, so there are lots of images to play with. I used the large scripty image to make the background, stamped in hickory smoke distress ink and sponged witht he same ink.
I inked up the main image using distress markers, using one colour at a time and my stamping press to make sure the images matched! Doing it this way meant that the ink stayed damp, and any in the wrong place could be removed easily. This was on white card, sponged with wild honey distress ink after stamping and tearing round the image. I curled up some of the corners as well before gluing down

 The background here is grey again, leafy spray from take it or leaf it. Image from poppy meadow stamped in black versafine ink and coloured with watercolour pencils. Die cut in an oval shape, which was edged with black versafine by running the diecut along the pad.
three small gems to finish





Third card uses the script and poppy head stamps from butterfly poppy to create the background, stamped using wild honey distress ink and sponged edges with the same ink.

The main image was stamped with brown ink onto white card, sponged with the same ink on the harlequin bit and very lightly across the script to try to suggest antiquity. Pured with marker pens, then cut out and glued over the original image - I didn't try to cut the antenna out!

A very quick card using an image from pretty poppiespoppies , stamped using versamark and white embossing powder, then red and green distress inks sponged across the image















                                                                                               Lastly a card using another stamp from pretty poppies, stamped directly onto a 7"x5" card blank using black versafine ink, and coloured with watercolour pencils. Sentiment also on the same plate.
Another very quick card.

A few more cards ... (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with some of the projects made for Lesley's shows on Hochanda.

This first card was made using stamps from Nature's Peace. I began with a PanPastel background and stamped the tree using brown ink, the foliage in the top corner with green ink and then stamped the foliage in the foreground with a dark green ink, over stamping with the berried inked in red ink. The sentiment was stamped and embossed with a vintage gold ink.

This card features Butterfly Poppy Collage, I love this large image it's so pretty.

I made the background by swooshing some white card through Picked Raspberry and Peeled Paint distress inks misted with water on my craft mat. Once the ink was dry I used a harlequin stencil and glossy black stencil paste over the top. While that was drying I stamped the image and embossed with black embossing powder. I painted the image with watercolour painted and splattered a little paint here and there. I distressed the edges and layered it on black card. Lastly I assembled the card adding some pink organza ribbon and a big bow.

My last card today  uses the seed heads collage from Butterfly Poppy Collage. I stamped the image to the side of a linen card blank and then doodles the wiggly edges with a black micron pen. I painted the image with watercolour paints and added some paint splatters here and there before adding the sentiment which is from Pretty Poppies.

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Looking at the Little Stamps (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a few projects to share with you today which were featured on Lesley's recent TV shows on Hochanda. I am focusing on the three DL sets that were on the show, using some of the little worker stamps, and showing how they can be used in a variety of ways.

For my first card, I created a very pale wrinkle free distress background, using a blue and lilac Distress Ink, before adding an oval mask over the top. I added a bit more Distress Ink, and some shading around the edge of the mask and the edge of the card with a deeper blue ink, to give the feeling of some shading and depth to the background. I also added a bit of grey pencil around the edge of the oval mask.

Using one of the silhouette images from the Autumn Hedgerow stamp set, I stamped over the background, using a variety of ink colours, using first and second generation stamping, to give a bit of depth to the background. I removed the mask, and stamped an image from the Pretty Poppies stamp set and added a sentiment from the same stamp set inside the oval. I coloured the image with Distress Inks and a waterbrush.

For my second project, I created a gelli plate background, by brayering some green Distress Ink onto my gelli plate, and then scrunched up a piece of cling film and dabbed some red Distress Ink onto the gelli plate with the cling film randomly. I took a print from the gelli plate and trimmed a piece of background to size. From the spare offcut, I stamped and embossed the two butterflies from the Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp set, using copper embossing powder, and added some extra colour, using Distress Ink.

I created another panel using green and orange Distress Ink, and then using a mixture of the small stamps from the Autumn Hegdrow stamp plate, I stamped and embossed the focal image using copper embossing powder. I added background stamping afterwards, using a mixture of Autumnal colours and first and second generation stamping, building up the design until I was happy with the result.

To create the card, I added some hessian ribbon and some olive green ribbon to tone in with the overall colours that I had used. I added my all time favourite sentiment, taken from the Nature's Peace stamp set.  I adore this sentiment, and love the opportunity to use it whenever I can.

For my final card, once I again, I created a gelli plate background, in much the same way as the previous card, using the same colours. From the offcut, I die cut a small rectancle, and stamped the small berry image from the Nature's Peace stamp set over the background, using second generation stamping, as I wanted a very pale effect. I stamped and embossed the verse from the stamp set, using dark brown ink and clear embossing powder.

For the main background, I stamped another small image, the leaves and nuts this time, again using brown ink. I coloured the images using pencils, for a vintage feel. I matted my layers using dark brown card, and created a very masculine card, great for lots of different occasions.

I hope that my projects have given you lots of ideas using these great little stamps, either by themselves, or mixing and matching with stamps from other stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Autumn Day by Brenda

Good morning Peeps, today it's my turn to share some inspiration using stamps which Lesley showcased on Hochanda recently. The shows were all about Autumn, Trees and Poppies so ticked all the right boxes for me as I love working with Autumnal colours and as those who know me can confirm Poppies are my favourite flower plus I am a self confessed 'Treeaholic'.

For the card at the top I used three panels of cardstock and stamped two with images from the Autumn Edges set colouring with DI's and on the the third panel used the same inks to add the words using the Seasonal Journey stencil.

The lovely Poppy from Pretty Poppies is the focal image on this card, stamped with Versafine Black onto a watery Burosho background, I mopped quite a lot of the colour away as I wanted a subtle finish and then coloured the flowers with sparkly pens, stamping the Butterfly a second time to decoupage. The corners are from Baroque Corners stamped in the same black and then I added a few leaves using Useful Leaves stencil and ties some red ribbon and added a Poppy button.

The same stencil as the top card has been used along with DI's to create the background for this card and the for the focal panel I created a Brusho background and stamped one of the tree from Fantasy Woodland adding a few stenciled leaves using the Seasonal Elements stencil.......I can't begin to tell you how useful these stencils are for building up interest and colour on your artwork.

This is another sample from last weeks shows on Hochanda, this time using one of the images from Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp set, it's an A4 stamp sheet and you get absolutely loads of beautiful images. The background is Distress Oxides, stamped with Versafine black and the colour added to the Poppy heads using the same Wilted Violet ink and Glossy Accents added, plus a little stamping down the left edge, again using the same ink and stamps from Nature's Peace and the same set as the main image.

I am tentatively adding this one as Lesley asked if she could use it as the basis of one of her demos, however I will be away on holiday when the shows are aired and this post goes live so it may or may not have featured. Using a circle as a mask I stamped a selection of flora and fauna from Nature's Table, Nature's Peace and Poppy Meadow, inking with Distress Markers direct to stamp and a spritz of water before each stamping. The horse chestnuts in the corners were stamped with DI and are also from Natures Table. After stamping I removed the mask and used the negative to stamp the focal sentiment, again from Poppy Meadow and added some shading around the circle.

And as I seem to have quite a number of pieces in my gallery which have not been blogged as yet I thought I would share a few of them in this and my following few posts.

A triptych design which was for the August shows featuring the beautiful Harlequin Bouquet stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with detail copper powder on to a Oxide ink background and some stenciling to carry the harlequin design.

This one features the lovely Summer Fayre stamped onto black cardstock using Versamark and detail white embossing powder, then coloured into metallic pencils, the colour is quite subtle but I rather like the soft finish.

Have a lovely day, I am hoping mine will be warm and sunny as today we sail into Rhodes in the Greek Isles.

Summer Song Thrush (by Carole)

Hello everyone, today we have another fabulous project from our Guest Design Team member Carole Cann. 

Carole writes:

Hello again, here is my card for this week as a Guest Designer.

I have used stamps from the Harlequin Rose and Pretty Poppies stamp sets, plus the Garden Lace Scene and Song Thrush individual stamps.
I stamped and silver embossed the panel onto black card and coloured it with mica powders. The whole scene was then glazed, this is a technique I really like on black, as it gives a very dramatic effect.
The border was stamped and silver embossed onto white card and then coloured with Distress Ink. I then discovered, by accident, that the panel sat nicely into the border of the Garden Lace Scene, so I decided to use that as part of the background too. The words are from the Summer Poppies stamp set.

A full description of the project can be found on my blog.

Thank you for looking,

Carole 😃

Carole will be back with her final post for this month next week,

Amazing day (by Brenda)

Good morning Peeps, today I would like to share some more Butterflies with you and judging by how quickly they sold out on Hochanda you love them as much as I do.

For the above card I stamped one of the Butterflies from the Just Butterflies stamp set six times using Black Versafine onto some yellow DP and cut them all out. Using an A5 white card blank I added a piece of the same paper which I matted onto black before fixing onto the base card.

Next I used a mannequin die and cut from black cardstock and mounted onto the card base at an angle and then fixed five of the Butterflies to create a skirt and added a yellow tripe bow at the waist. The sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle is stamped with the same black ink onto white card, matted onto black and fixed to the card with foam pads. I added the sixth Butterfly to the card and used small black pearls down the thorax of all the Butterflies and wire antenna to the single one.

For my second card I stamped the large Butterfly from the Patchwork Butterfly set slightly off the page using Versamark and heat embossing with Detail Gold and Ruby Embossing Powders. I sprinkled some aged Spice Frantage around the image and heated and finally stamped the sentiment from the Pretty Poppies set again using Versamark and Detail Gold Embossing Powder.

For my final card I used Distress Inks Broken China, Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint to colour a piece of card, cut a panel and then randomly stamped the flourishes from the Patchwork Butterfly set using Versamark and Detail Gold Embossing Powder. Using the remainder of the inked piece of card I stamped three Butterflies from the Just Butterflies set and cut them out. The sentiment is from the Words of Love set stamped in Coffee Archival Ink, the Butterflies placed into position with wire antenna added and Liquid Pearls down the thorax and trail.

I hope you all have a lovely sunny day and my thanks for your visit today.

Flight of the Butterfly (by Brenda)

Hello everyone, today we are very happy to announce that Brenda Weatherill, a member of our Guest Design Team, is joining our permanent Design Team. Brenda has been a regular contributor on the blog and for our recent batch of TV shows, and her work will be familiar to you all. Please join us in saying welcome to the Team! As always, we like you to get to know us a little bit at the start of our time with Chocolate Baroque, and Brenda has written a short introduction about herself:

I was 'born and bred' as they say, in the Cambridgeshire Fens, and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else, as I love the flat and scenic landscape which stretches as far as the eye can see.

I am married with a large family of children and grandchildren, and a good few animals in tow as well, including horses and dogs. I was forced to give up full time work soon after I was diagnosed with MS about twenty years ago, but still work part time in my hubby's office, which keeps me out of mischief.

When I look back, I realise that I have been crafting all my life in one form or another, and as a child, spent many hours sticking bits of card and paper together with flour and water, no fancy glues in those days! Like so many crafters, I did cross stitch and when my children were small, had fun creating 'Blue Peter' inspired makes with them.

My cardmaking addiction started many, many years ago, and from the start, I was drawn to rubber stamping. The obsession grew as I discovered new techniques such as brayering, inking and masking, and I have a particular love of silhouette stamps and Distress Inks. I also have a fascination with skies and creating scenes, and many of my pieces feature a moon or sun. I'm not naturally artistic and can't draw for toffee, but I do love colour and experimenting with colour palettes, which to some might be a bit 'off the wall'.

My Dad, who farmed all his life and grew sufficient garden vegetables to supply a village, taught me to appreciate Nature, animals, and all things botanical, and this continues to provide me with constant inspiration in my daily crafting, along with the rural landscape which surrounds me.

I consider myself to be very fortunate to be able to share my passion for crafting with others through classes, demo's and working on the Design Teams I have been privileged to be part of and have met some wonderful friends along the way.

If asked what my style was, I guess the nickname given to me many moons ago sums it up, 'Botanical Brenda'. I rarely do cute, but if I do, then it will usually be accompanied by the addition of a tree or some flowers.

It is lovely to know a bit more about you Brenda, we look forward to seeing lots more of your beautiful creations.

Thank you for the the warm welcome and introduction Judith, I am so thrilled to be part of this super talented team and have even more opportunities to play with beautiful Chocolate Baroque stamps.

Today I have a card to share with you which is one of the samples made for the recent Hochanda One Day Special which was all about Butterflies.

My starting point was a square of 600gsm Fabriano painted with a thin layer of Gesso, then coloured with Distress Oxide Inks Wilted Violet and Vintage Photo followed by a mask and texture paste to create the 'flight' of the Butterfly. When dry I replaced the mask to colour using the same inks.

Next I randomly stamped around the edges with CB Large Crackle Background using the same DI and added a few Butterflies using one of the new CB Butterfly masks. I stamped the large Butterfly from CB Patchwork Butterfly set, coloured with the same Oxide Inks, cut out and fixed to the base card. The sentiment is from CB Pretty Poppies set and finally I added some pearls to the Butterflies thorax and wire antenna.

Thank you so much for visiting and hope your day is a good and sunny one.

Lest We Forget (by Asha)

Good morning, friends. Today is Remembrance Sunday - a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It's a day to lay a wreath and honour all heroes who lost their lives in battle.

I created a wreath of poppies using the single poppy stamp from the brand new Floral Notes A5 sheet. I created a mask and stamped the leaves from Autumn Poppy A4 sheet so that the leaves appear to the back of the poppies.

The sentiment is from the Pretty Poppies A5 set, heat embossed in white. I fussy cut the lower half of the top and bottom cluster of leaves, taking care not to detach them, and flipped it over the diecut piece. The "cross" is now more obvious. I finished the card with a light dusting of Tumbled Glass DI around the edges.

I have more pictures and details of tools and products over at my blog. Thank you for stopping by today and come back soon for more amazing creations by the rest of the Design Team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Remember the Poppy (by Asha)

Hello and welcome to November. Let's start the month by remembering our fallen heroes - the brave men and women to fought and died to secure our freedom. Remembrance Day / Poppy Day / Armistice Day is observed to honour members of the armed forces who died in the First World War and to mark when hostilities formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Here is a card I made using stamps from the Pretty Poppies A5 sheet. I stamped the poppies with VersaFine Onyx Black ink onto water colour paper and coloured it with Winsor & Newton water colours. And for an extra special touch, I adhered a few tiny red bling.

I have more pictures and details of tools and products over at my blog. Thank you for stopping by today and come back soon for more amazing creations by the rest of the Design Team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Oval Aperture Poppy Card (by Brenda)

Hello everyone, today sees the final visit of the month from our Guest Design Team contributor Brenda, I am sure that you have been enjoying her lovely projects this month, and this last design will be no exception. 

Brenda writes:

I started by stamping the poppy image from the Pretty Poppies stamp set onto a piece of card, slightly smaller than an A5 card, and then cut around the flower element only.

Next, I used an oval die cut to cut an aperture, fixing it behind the cut poppy flowers to keep them intact, so that they overlapped the bottom section of the aperture. Using the same die and one slightly larger, I cut a green frame and fixed it in place.

I then stamped one of the images from the Glorious Spring stamp set onto a piece of card and stamped the grass element again onto the opposite side, making sure that it would all fit within the aperture. Masking a sun, I used Pan Pastels to create the background.

The poppies were then coloured in with pencils, foam pads added to the back of them and they were fixed over the stamped scene before matting and layering with co-ordinating card.

A wonderful finale to your month with us Brenda, thank you. Brenda will be back with us next year for another spell on the Design Team Blog. You can see her projects featured regularly in our bi-monthly Fifteen Minute Blog posts, here on the Design Team Blog, and you can visit her own blog here, for more samples of her work.

Framed Poppies (by Brenda)

Hello everyone, today sees the first of three posts in October by Brenda, one of our regular Guest Design Team contributors. I am sure that you will enjoy what Brenda has to share with us this month, her first project is a delightful home decor piece, that would make a beautiful gift.

Brenda writes:

I started with a 8" x 10" frame, and cut a piece of 300gsm watercolour card to fit inside the mount.

Next I stamped Poppies from the Pretty Poppies and Autumn Poppy stamp sets onto the watercolour card, taking care to space them for the stencilling.

Once I had the placement of the Poppies, I used texture paste and a palette knife to stencil the wheat onto the glass front of the frame, taking the stencilling right to the edges, so that it overlapped the mount when placed back into the frame, and sprinkled gold and copper fine glitter over the wet paste.

While the paste was drying, I coloured in the Poppies with sparkly pens and lightly inked the edges with Distress Inks before re-assembling the frame.

Thank you Brenda for a wonderful idea. We look forward to seeing another project from Brenda next week. You can visit Brenda's Blog to see more of her fabulous designs.

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

A Canvas Garden (by Brenda Weatherill)

Today sees our Guest Design team member Brenda sharing her second post for this month.  This week she has chosen to use a combination of stamps to create a fabulous canvas. I know you will enjoy ths one. 

Time for my second share as this month’s Guest Designer and today I have a canvas to share.

My starting point was an 8”x8” canvas which I pained with white gesso. Next I dabbed DI’s Tumbled Glass, Fossilised Amber, Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio onto a large craft mat and spritzed liberally with water before dragging the canvas through the wet liquid. I dabbed here and there with a piece of kitchen towel to soften the colours as I wanted a fairly soft and muted background.

Next I made a mask with a piece of acetate and Tattered Lace dies, laid it to one side of the dry canvas and applied Grunge Paste through the apertures and some ‘blobs’ of paste to represent clouds. When dry I rubbed Gilding Wax around the edges of the canvas and over the Grunge Paste.

Using Archival Watering Can ink I stamped a Poppy from Chocolate Baroque Pretty Poppies stamp sheet, sentiment from the Words of Inspiration set and berry leaves from Autumn Poppies set. Next I coloured the Poppies, leaves and berries with the same colour DI’s and added some gold beads to the Poppy centres. Finally a strip of lace under the Poppies.

Thanks you for visiting my posts the last three weeks, you can find more of my Chocolate Baroque inspiration over at my own blog here.

Thank you for such a beautiful project Brenda, the colours you have used are so soft and calming.  And if you have enjoyed this post, please pop in again to see more tremendouse artwork from our Design Team.