Natural Reflection and a selection of Hearts by Penny

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well, warm and prepared for storm Ciara.  I didn't make any samples for the January shows so I have a few  samples from some of the other shows.  

Natural Reflection.

For this card I have used stamps from the Harmony Tree, Sunburst Scenes and Landscape Edges sets; Versamark ink, white EP, Koh-I-Nor watercolour paints, Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, white paint pen.

On a piece of Kraft card I stamped the Harmony Tree, windmill and tiny tree using Versamark and embossed them with white EP.  I used a white pen to link the images and create a scene.  I then stamped and embossed some birds and words in the sky.  On another piece of card I stamped and embossed the stone wall image twice, then painted them.  I painted the whole scene then blended DI around the edges.  I cut out the walls and attached them with 3D glue along the bottom edge of the panel. 

I took a white base card and stamped the stone wall around the edges using DI,  then used water to move the ink on the stamped images.  Finally I attached the focal panel to the base card. 



Artists Trading Hearts.


Here are a few of the ATHs that I have created as samples.

Thank you for popping in today, I hope that you have enjoyed my first post of this month,  I'll be back later with some more inspiration for you.

In the meantime take care,

                                  x x  Penny  x x

A Distant Folly by Penny

Good morning lovelies, I am so pleased to be back again to bring you this project.  I hope I find you warm and well - and hopefully not snowed in! If you are snowed in then grab a cuppa and a biscuit and join me for a few minutes of crafty inspiration.

This card was one of my samples for the tv shows last month featuring the beautiful Scenic Countryside stamps.  I have used stamps from the Sunburst Scenes, Country Views, Landscape Edges and    Words to Dazzle and Sparkle sets.  I have also used black Versafine ink for stamping and alcohol pens, Brushos and Distress Inks for colouring.

I began this project with a piece of whitecolouring card and stamped the wall image at the bottom of the card.  I used stamping tissue to mask the image then stamped it again to extend it the full width if the card.  I stamped several other images to create a scene and coloured them all in.  I added some hills and slopes with a black liner pen, to connect the separate images.

I used white charcoal to add some clouds to the sky, and some highlights on the river to give the effect of ripples.

I removed the masks from the wall and used a paintbrush to add water to each stone.  I then sprinkled black Brusho over the wet stones, I wanted the random colour burst of Brushos but with a bit more control.  There are so many lovely tones and colours in the black Brusho paint and I think they give a realistic look to the wall.  I wanted the wall to pop a bit more to give the scene perspective so I stamped it again onto acetate in black and embossed it with clear powder.  I then fussy cut it and attached it to the scene.

Using a large white base card I stamped several smaller worker images around the edges in different Distress Inks.  I then blended one of the colours around the outer edges of the card.  To complete this design I stamped a sentiment in black ink on the focal panel, edged the panel with black ink and matted it onto black card before attaching it to the base card.

  

Thank you all for joining me today, I hope that you have enjoyed this project and that it might inspire you to try something similar or at least get your crafty mojo going!

Take care until next time,

  Penny

Village Scenes (by Julie)

Hello, the two cards I have for you today are based around scene building. All of the sets used are so versatile as they can be used on there own or mixed with many other Chocolate Baroque sets, giving you great value for money.

My first card is stamped with Sunburst Scenes , Village Life and English Cottages

Start by taking some stamping card and stamp the cloud and hill scene from Sunburst Scenes and then further down the page, to the right hand side of the design, stamp the house. Take the little wooden fence from English Cottages and extend the fence that is already next to the house in your stamped design.

You should be left with a gap between the cloud and house scene, so it's a perfect place to stamp the fir tree from Village life. I decided for this scene the fir tree would look better without it's trunk so once you have inked up the stamp, wipe any excess ink from the trunk with a wet wipe before you stamp onto your card.

Once you are happy with your design, colour with water colour, cut to size and mount onto your card.

My second card is created with Sunburst Scenes, English Cottages and Birthday Words.

Take some stamping card and towards the top of your page, stamp the bridge scene, next to the sky scene from Sunburst Scenes. To make them fit together, use a fine liner pen to draw in a cloud so it looks like the sky continues behind the tree in the bridge scene.

In the foreground of your design, stamp the house, fence and trees from English Cottages. 

Colour your design with pencils and water-colour and then over-stamp the foreground with the birthday sentiment from Birthday Words. For added interest I have added a dotty border created with black and white paint pens.

Thanks for stopping by and please call back for daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

country views

 Good morning evryone, it is my trun to show you some of the samples from last month's tv shows.
The countryside stamps were right up my street, I love creating scenes, and these stamps are perfect for that!
Both use stamps from sunburst scenes and country views.
The first one uses the pavilion from country views and the sun and bridge scene from sunburst scenes. After stamping both images, I drew in the lines to extend the landscape with a fine line pen.
The image was coloured with sponged distress inks, matted onto black card and mounted onto the white card blank stamped with the sentiment from artistic affirmations.                                                                                                                       
The tree and clouds on this card are from sunburst scenes, and the cottage from country views - the trees were coloured with brusho, ands the rest with distress inks. A black matt again, and the sentiment this time is from words of inspiration
Apologies for the wonky scan here, sometimes I just give up trying to get the scan straight!

Scene Building With Polyester (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a project to share with you that was created for the February TV shows on Hochanda. I wanted to show how to create a scene using polyester sheets as a quick and simple mask or stencil.

I chose two stamps from the Sunburst Scenes stamp set, and placed one of them onto a piece of copy paper where I thought a hill might be in my design. I drew the hill with a pencil, and then using a piece of polyester over the top, drew the line again with a permanent pen. I cut through the polyester along the line and was left with the positive and negative part of the mask. I also planned a set of masks for smaller cards by drawing the shape of a smaller card on a piece of copy paper, and creating a hill in the same way.

Once I had the masks, I stamped the windmill and house onto a piece of smooth cartridge paper that had been trimmed to size, and covered them with an image stamped onto masking tissue. I used my 'hill' mask to draw the hill underneath the windmill, joining up with the line attached to the stamp design. I reversed the mask to add another hill behind the first hill, and then drew the final smaller hill in the foreground by hand. I used both masks to cover over the areas as I needed to, so that I could add colour for the sky and hills. To create a bit of depth in the hills, I added some deeper green once the initial colour had been placed all over the area.

I also created a stencil from polyester using circle dies so that I could add suns or moons in various sizes, and I used one of these to add a sun in the sky. I kept the blue inking quite blotchy, to give an impression of a cloudy sky.

The house and windmill were coloured with pencils once I had removed the masks. I added some birds from the Landscape Edges stamp set, and a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Dutch Scene Card using Country Views and Sunburst Scenes (by Anne)

Here is another of my designs created for the recent TV shows on the Craft Channel using the lovely scene building stamp sets - Country Views and Sunburst Scenes.

I love scene building. I disappear into a fantasy world while creating these.

I hope that you like my Dutch inspired scenic project.

Anne x.

 

Materials:

• Country Views and Sunburst Scenes stamp sets
• White card blank 20.5cm square, white stamping card, blue and white pearlescent card
• Copy paper to create masks
• Distress Inkpad (Chipped Sapphire)
• Fine marker pen and alcohol ink marker (dark blue)
• Adhesive

How to make it:

1. Cut a decorative mat approx. 18cm diameter and back with blue card. Cut small corner elements in blue card. Cut circular topper approx. 13.5cm diameter from stamping card (to fit onto decorative mat).
2. Stamp the scene using Distress Ink. Use masks to cover the foreground images while stamping the ones behind in the background. Complete the scene using the fine blue pen.
3. Colour the image by putting Distress Ink onto a tile or palette and picking up ink with a wet brush.
4. Outline the edges of the topper with blue alcohol ink.
5. Glue decorative mat, corners and topper onto the card blank.

 

Steampunk home (posted by Claire)

Good morning everyone, my sample today features the fabulous  Steampunk Birds, these stamps are such fun and so versatile. I decided to create a new home card combining the new stamps with one of the quirky little cottages from Sunburst Scenes

The background was made using PanPastels, I used a die cut cog as a stencil to create the sun. I coloured the cottage with Graph'It markers. The main images were also coloured with Graph'Its and decoupaged for a little depth. The sentiment is from Home Sweet Home. I matted the scene on some brown card and layered it up on some Kraft resist paper that I'd coloured with Forest Moss distress ink.

Thanks for visiting today,

Claire xx

Spring is in the air (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample using the gorgeous new clear stamps 'Terrific Treescapes'. These stamps work beautifully with so many of the other sets, for this wedding card I've combined them with the little church from Sunburst Scene's

I began by stamping the church image in the foreground and then adding the trees to create the scene. I stamped the images in black archival ink. I've used distress markers to colour the scene and then used Tumbled glass distress ink for the sky.

I die cut the image using a circular die and layered it up over a little doily. I used a backing paper from one of the Guild paper packs and layered a larger doily over that. The flowers are from my stash and the leaves have been cut with crealies dies. I've added some green ribbon and  a little pearl buckle to finish off.

Hopefully this card will be a little reminder of the spring sunshine after the dreadful weather we've been having. Thanks for visiting today

Claire cc

Videos now uploaded

Firstly I must apologise to anyone who viewed the blog yesterday - I'd put the wrong picture in for Country Views and it was also wrong on the website.  Both are correct now, but for the record, here is an image of both - Sunburst Scenes on the left, Country Views on the right.  Also available as a multi-buy special offer.

There are also three videos on YouTube and I am going to try to embed them here for you.

If you can't see the videos here for any reason, try visiting my YouTube channel.

Texture Fragments and other new stamps

Brace yourselves for a flurry of eye candy coming your way - we have new stamps!  Not only new stamps, but new web videos showing you some great ideas for them.


We have three new sets, starting with a full sheet A4 set called Texture Fragments.

As the name suggests, these are superb for creating texture, whether that is in polymer clay, air drying clay, embossing enamel, friendly plastic, shrink plastic, wax or any other medium you can think of.  Your textured pieces can be used to adorn bigger projects - a box maybe or a canvas, or you can use cookie cutters to make smaller items like jewellery.

Several of the images were designed with 1x3 inch microscope slides in mind - I was actually thinking about Suze Weinberg's technique of pouring molten UTEE onto a stamp with a Ranger memory frame on top to contain it.

Aside from all the wonderful possibilities with texture, they can also be used for other cool techniques including kiss stamping and one I think I just made up - "Faketangle".  You'll have to watch the video to see what I'm talking about.

The other two sets came about after the immense popularity of our Home Sweet Home stamp set that we launched earlier in the year.  You loved it so much, it's been one of our best sellers this year, so I hope you will like the follow ups.

Here is Sunburst Scenes

and here is Country Views

Not only will these coordinate with Home Sweet Home, but each set alone will give you a huge range of options for creating pretty landscapes.  Mix the two together and the number of permutations grows so you never need create the same landscape twice.

Here's a card featuring a UTEE piece made with Stained Glass Christmas, layered onto a stamp from Texture Fragments, embossed in clear on a coloured background, then rubbed with Distress Stains.




The DT admitted the Texture Fragments stamps pushed them out of their comfort zone at first, but I think you will find they rose to the challenge magnificently.  Watch out for their artwork coming along over the next couple of weeks.


Meanwhile, the White Christmas Challenge is still open until December 15th.  The prize fund is growing and you can now see my own response to the challenge on my blog. 

You can check out the videos on my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/glendawww