End of an Era (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. Firstly, before I share my project for today, I have to announce that we will be bringing the Design Team Blog to a close at the end of this month. We will no longer be posting on the blog, as we are finding that our vistor numbers are sadly dwindling, and the preference these days is for Facebook and Instagram. We have a dedicated Facebook Group which is very friendly, you can join and see lots of inspiration over there. The Design Team share their projects there too, and we are always dropping in to answer questions if you want to ask us anything. You can post pictures of projects you have made with Chocolate Baroque stamps, we would love to see them. We have an Instagram Page too, which is full of fabulous projects. You can give us a like, or leave a quick comment, we really appreciate a visit.

We would like to thank you for your support over the years, and appreciate all of your visits and comments. The Blog was created for you, our readers, and would not have kept going for so long without you.

Now onto my project for today. I decided to create a panel using one of the long collage stamps from last month's TV show, stamped onto a serviette for this project. We often use patterned serviettes in our mixed media projects, and peel away the two or three layers behind, which get discarded or do not get used for anything. These plain layers are great for stamping on, and using just like their patterned counterparts.

I stamped the large The Phenomenal Butterfly Slim Strip image using Versafine Clair Nocturne and left it to dry for a few moments. Also using Versafine Clair Nocturne, I stamped some of the images from The Phenomenal Butterfly Elements and Out of the Trees Elements over the MDF panel, checking that they were in the area that would not be covered by the serviette once it was stuck down. 

I covered the reverse of the serviette with Matte Medium and adhered it to the panel. Now this worked fine twice at home, but in the studio, with the air conditioning blasting away, it was a completely different matter! The serviette was wafting about all over the place, and anyone who saw the show will have seen that I had a heart stopping couple of minutes while they turned the air con off and I attempted to lay the misbehaving serviette onto the MDF panel. Phew!

I gently brushed a bit more Matte Medium over the top, and this does take a very gentle touch, as too much can cause the serviette to disintegrate. I left the surface to dry completely before moving on to the next stage. I painted the image using transluscent paints in several colours. You could water your opaque paints down obviously, but I wanted to paint my colours neat, so this option worked for me. I chose a limited palette of colours.

I really like the unfinished MDF against the painted area, and hope that you will try this idea for yourselves.

Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Playing With The Elements (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of projects to share with you today showcasing the stamps that we featured on last month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project was a particular favourite demo on the TV shows. I love the colours, purple and turquoise, and the images are really beautiful too. I created a Distress Ink background and stamped several images from The Phenominal Butterfly Elements and I also used the circles from Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set with toning ink over the top using Versafine Nocturne ink. I die cut a circle of Drawing Cartridge and blended some Distress Oxide over the top, then spritzed the ink with water. Once the background was dry, I inked up The Phenominal Butterfly Slim Strip stamp and pressed the circle onto a section of the stamp. I coloured the dragonfly and butterfly with shimmer paints for maximum impact.

For my next project, I drew a circle in pencil onto a piece of smooth white stamping card. I added flowers from the Floral Paraphernalia Elements stamp set, and covered them with Masking Tissue. I added leaves, and covered them with Masking Tissue as well. Finally, I stamped the script rings in the gaps that were left. My circle is a bit random, and I could have worked it out to be a little bit more refined, but I wanted it to look quite natural.

I removed the Masking Tissue and coloured all of the images with pencil, adding deeper colours for shading, and grey pencil around the edges for touches of shadow. I added some script on the background from the Out of the Trees Elements stamp set.

A little bit of inking with green ink around the edges takes away the whiteness of the background.

I wanted to show how you could use up some of your tiny offcuts of patterned paper and make a much simpler version of this wreath. In my picture below, I stamped various elements to create the ring, and added the leaves and flowers cut from patterned paper.

I hope that I have given you lots of ideas for these very versatile stamps. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care,

Judith xx

Phenomenal Butterflies (By Tracy Thompson)

 Today I would like to share with you a couple of creations that were made for March's shows on Create & Craft.  The first one above is using the fabulous stamp The Phenomenal Butterfly, which is a very large long stamp and beautiful to work with.  I started by creating a background with Distress oxides and layering on to my base card.  I then cut three squares and stamped a different part of the stamp on each square.  I then stamped the butterflies and dragonflies again, cut them out coloured them in the same colour inks as the background and covered them in clear embossing powder for a glossy finish.  I placed them over the original image on the squares, I stamped a sentiment from the set called Birthday Words on a strip of card and added to my card.

For my second creation I started by stamping the wall from the Out Of The Tees Elements, I stamped another on some masking paper and covered the original, with the masking paper over the wall I stamped the train in place then stamped that onto masking paper too.  Now that both my main elements were in place I started to create my scene.  Using Distress oxides I created a hill, I then used the trees along the hill line, then behind the wall.  for the foreground I stamped foliage from the Walk tall stamp set.  I removed my masking paper and coloured my main elements.

I will look forward to later in the month when I will share with you a couple more makes from these shows

Thank you for looking

Happy crafting

Tracy x