Rose spotlight by Brenda

Morning everyone, hope you are all OK , I have a few shares from my samples from last month Hochanda TV shows.

As is the norm for me the first two follow an inky route, above Oxides added from acetate and dabbed away to give a soft finish followed by some stencilling using the squares from Strip Stencils and circles using the coffee stain from Make your Mark. Focally Briar Rose Butterfly coloured in and the Butterflies stamped again and decoupaged and a metal spotlight placed over the bud.  Onto some offcuts I stamped the numbers from Edgy Edges, tore the edges and fixed into place. Finally some washi tape. 

For this one I sprayed Oxide Sprays across the top of a pice of card, spritzed with water and held at an angle to persuade the colour to run down the page. I used worker stamps from Make your Mark and Gerbera and Friends to build up the background, quote from Words of Inspiration heat embossed in details gold EP, three Butterflies from Just Butterflies and metal embellishments for their Thorax.

A fairly simple one for my final share, papers from the 8x8 Designer Papers, stamped around the edges with Butterflies from Just Butterflies using Versafine Clair, Honeysuckle Butterfly stamped focally and coloured in with pencils.

Have a good weekend and many thanks for popping by today.

Old and New Together (by Gerrina)

Hello everyone, our Guest Design Team member Gerrina is here today with the first of three posts this month. She has created a collage style card with several of our stamp sets.

Gerrina writes: 

Hello again! I am so glad that I can show you what I made for my first Guest Design Team post of this month! Not only were the stamps from Chocolate Baroque some of the first flower stamps that I bought, but they keep releasing such beautiful new stamps... I had a lot of fun mixing older and newer stamps making the three Guest Designer posts for Chocolate Baroque this month.

This is the first of them. I stamped the flowers (Poppy Meadow) and the butterfly (Thistle Butterfly), masked them off and mixed the background stamps from the Rustic Fragments set on the same half of my page. I coloured the flowers, the butterfly and the pieces of the background stamps with coloured pencils.

I love mixing the many stamps of the beautiful background stamps sets that Chocolate Baroque has released over the years with other stamps, which you can see regularly on my blog.

Used Materials:

Stamps: Poppy Meadow, Thistle Butterfly and Rustic Fragments

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Other: Stamp paper, masking paper, coloured pencils

 

See you again next week,

Creatieve  groetjes,

Gerrina

 

Flutter with me (by Magda)

 Hello girls,

I like to see the first butterflies flutter in the mild spring air and this feeling of joy inspired                       me to create these three cards with Chocolate Baroque stamps. 

Happy Dance 

On a blue Brusho colored white cardstock I stamped Butterfly Dress and colored it with                          Pan Pastel. The little butterflies and the decoupage butterfly are in Just Butterflies, while                        you can find the sentiment in the Butterfly Perfumery plate. I used Distress Ink pad   for                    coloring the butterfly, blending through the stencil and stamping the sentiment Happy Dance. 

Hello

Here I just played with Distress Ink pad   for the background wash, stenciling several                       layering with matching and contrast colors and for coloring the butterfly. You can find                                the butterfly in the big selection of Just Butterflies and the sentiment in                                                Butterfly Flourish Swirls

Spring

For this card I prepared several stamped script paper pieces, I cut them randomly and glued                     on the cardstock.   

I blended with different green and red shades of Distress Ink pad  and colored the decoupage            butterfly of Just Butterflies with watercolor pencils. 

"Spring" of March Fairy was for me perfect to be used for the label 

I hope you liked my butterflies card of today, I wish you all a very nice spring, hugs

Magda

monochrome grasses (by Veronica)

My first post this month shows two cards using the eastern grasses set of stamps, both in monochrome and both 6" square cards.

The base card was stamped with the tall foliage stamp in grey in one corner to make a frame, and edged with black soot distress ink and then the edges  dragged across a black versafine ink pad. The main image was stamped in versamark onto a piece of black card, then embossed in white.

The second card uses the foliage stamp again, this time as the main image. 

The background card was randomly stamped using stamps from make your mark, the small foliage stamp from eastern grasses and the script from ace card and then sponged with black soot distress ink. Once it was dry, the foliage stmap was stamped on one edge using black verafine ink and clear embossed. 

The foliage stamp was stamped onto a piece of black card using white pigment ink then twice more using second generation stamping. Stamped again using versamark ink and white embossed. Edges torn using the new draw and  tear rulers 
 

Beautiful Florals

Hello, I am here today to share some of my cards made for the February show on Hochanda.

These cards feature the main image from Harebell Butterfly, Thistle Butterfly, Honeysuckle Butterfly and Briar Rose Butterfly

My first card I've kept quite simple. I've stamped with Black Archival ink and used watercolour pencils in shades of blue. I've added a sentiment from Patchwork Butterfly and some black and white layers

My next cards use watercolour pencils and markers. I've used stencils in the background and blended around the edges with Distress Inks. I have finished with a sentiments from Artistic Expressions and Artistic Affirmations

Thanks for looking, I'll be back with some more soon.

Sandra x

All about the Butterflies (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have some projects to share with you today created with some beautiful butterfly images that we brought to Hochanda last month. My first card was created fairly quickly using a piece of drawing cartridge, onto which I drew a circle with a pencil. I chose several colours of Versafine Clair in shades of blue and green and stamped an image from the Thistle Butterfly stamp set around the circle. I stamped each colour five times, to ensure an even coverage, varying the direction that I stamped to make the foliage appear more natural. Although these colours are not necessarily true to nature, I love how they turned out.

Once I had finished the wreath shape, I added some splotches with an image from Just Useful, using some of the same colours that I had used in the wreath. I added a touch of shading around the edge of the background with Distress Ink. I added a sentiment in the centre of the wreath from Birthday Words.

I stamped and embossed three butterflies from across the four sets, I just chose whichever butterflies appealed to me most, to be honest. I used some of Lesley's A5 Doubled Sided Designer Papers, they are so useful for this sort of thing, and will last for ages. I used white embossing powder for a delicate touch.

I am sharing two older projects with you today using the Honeysuckle Butterfly stamp set. These two projects were really fun to create, so I hope that you don't mind seeing them again. The first was a canvas that I made using a sheet of old music paper. I painted over the top using a zingy green colour, and decoupaged the image which I had coloured using pencils. I stamped around the edge using Archival Ink. I added lettering to create a collage effect, you could use book paper, die cuts, whatever you have in your stash to create this effect.

 

This next project is more subtle, but again, I loved creating this one too. I used a Brusho background, and added stamping using an image from the Elegant Edges stamp set around the edge of the background. The butterflies are decoupaged, leaving one wing free for real dimension. This card is just waiting for a sentiment for the right occasion. It would make a lovely Mother's Day card, don't you think?

 

Thanks for stopping by, take care and stay safe,

Judith xx

Fluttering by - by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome to my first post this month.

Spring is in the air and it’s so lovely seeing some sunshine and of course with it brings flowers and Butterflies, although it’s actually still a little cold for the Butterflies but these stamps will certainly cheer your day.

So here are a couple of my samples from last months show.

Just 2 of my Envelopes this post as I was unable to make as many samples as I would usually make.

First one is “Kiss Stamping” actually Lesley did an amazing demo on this technique on the show.

Thank you for visiting today I hope you have enjoyed seeing my Envelopes.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx 

Blog Comment Winner for February

 

Hello and welcome to the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog.

 

We truly appreciate the time you take to let us know your thoughts about our designs, so each and every comment is very important to us.

 

Each comment in February was assigned a number and we used Random Org to draw a winner.

 

Congratulations to Cuilliesocks you have won this month's £15.00 voucher to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps.

To claim your prize, please email here to confirm your email address and Lesley will send your gift certificate.

 

Lesley will be giving a £15 gift voucher to another lucky winner drawn from the March comments.

 

The more comments you leave, the better your chances of being the winner.

 

Thank you so much for all the kind comments you leave.

 

Good luck from all on the Design Team

 

Here is another chance to see the beautiful creation by Brenda

 

Butterflies and Pattern building by Rachel

 Hello there,

Rachel here today with three cards from the February shows - two of these feature the flower-butterfly stamps whilst the final card is a pattern builder using one on the worker stamps from one of the other flower-butterfly stamp sets.

In this first one I have used the Briar Rose Butterfly set as the main focus but I have also used stamps from the make your mark set too plus one from the Harlequin Fragments set and one from the Ephemera 2 stamp set. These stamps were used to build up a clean and simple collage design.

In this second card, I used the Thistle Butterfly stamp set to build up a scene on a piece of card I had already layed down a basic landscape using inks and stencil brushes with a masked sun that was inked in later. The stamped image was coloured using a combintion of mica powders and watercolour brush pens.

This final card was built up using a single stamp from the Honeysuckle butterfly stamp set which was stamped onto a pale coloured stencilled background.

I hope you have a great day - I'll be at work but with any luck it will be a good day too!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

artful allium (by Veronica)

Today is my last share from the ODS show on Hochanda last month, this time using the lovely allium stampset.

The first card is very simple, I coloured the stamp using distress oxide inks and stamped directly onto a DL card blank.

The second version was a bit more elaborate, I created a foldback card blank creasing the card into onethird and twothirds, so the front panel was DL sized. 

The images on the back panel were stamped directly onto the card using black soot distress oxide ink. The large letters were from the just useful set.I stamped the main image for the front onto a separate piece of white card, and coloured the stamp using distress marker pens. I used a stamp platform, so could give a good huff to the image to get a stronger coloured image. The card was inked round the edges with a matching pink inkpad before gluing ontot he fron card panel.

This one the image was again coloured with distress marker pens , but then overstamped with grey versafine ink and torn out round the image. The background was created with distress oxide inks spritzed with water, then overstamped with smaller worker stamps using the same inks. The letters from just useful were stamped in black and clear embossed.

My final sample used an mdf panel covered with a  sheet of copy paper randomly coloured with distress oxide inks using a roller. Once it was dry, I stamped the numbers in the blue oxide ink, and the splodges and letters in black.

I used watercolour paint to fill in the centres of the numbers.

 

Ace of Trees

 Hello

I am showing more of my cards from the January show on Hochanda.

I have used the same stamp set, Ace Card,  for my two cards, but coloured to give totally different effects.

For my first card I used a light brown ink for the background and added some splatters from the Just Useful stamp set. I then stamped the main image from the set and coloured with watercolours. I added a sentiment from Gothic Angels . Love this Vintage look....and it's never too early to make a Christmas card!

For my second card I started with a faux batik effect for the background. 

I stamped the wood panel from Fragile Wings in Versamark and embossed with clear powder. I then blended grey distress ink over the top. With a hot iron and some copier paper I removed the embossing powder to leave just the coloured ink. I then stamped and embossed the main image in silver and coloured in tones of blue and green.

Thanks for looking

Sandra x

Dragonfly Dreams (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am sharing my final post of the month, showcasing stamps from last month's One Day Special on Hochanda. These stamps have been such great fun to work with, and I hope that you have enjoyed our inspiration this month. on the DT blog.

I started my project by taking a piece of tea stained drawing cartridge from my stash. I have a few of these ready for a quick start to a project. I added salt when the background was wet for extra texture. I stamped the large playing card image from Ace Card with black Versafine ink, and masked the image with Masking Tissue. I added the small script from the same stamp set along one edge, and then the woodgrain image designed by our great friend Kim Moody from the Fragile Wings stamp set all over the background. 

I stamped out three of the smaller playing cards onto a spare piece of background, plus the sentiment. I added some Seedless Preserves Distress ink around the edges of all of the pieces. I coloured the main image with Inktense pencils and blended the colours with a waterbrush. When the image was dry, I added extra details with darker colours. I used a touch of glitter pen over the dragonfly wings.

Thanks for stopping by, take care and stay safe,

Judith xx

Art for all part 3 by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome to my final post of this month.

Here are the rest of the samples I made for the wonderful Hochanda shows last month.

I love these stamps so much.

I hope you like my creations, thank you so much for spending your time visiting today.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx 

If You Can Dream It...(by Corine)

Hello!

Here I am again and would like to show you my third card as a Guest Designer. This time I made a card with different Distress Inks.

I used the stamps from these sheets:

Sunny Sunflowers

Harlequin Fragments

Words of Inspiration 

Start sponging some acrylic paint through a stencil. I used pink and turquoise colours. Dry the paint with a heat tool. I work on sturdy watercolour paper.

Spray Distress Spray Stain Kitsch Flamingo and Speckled Egg on the paper. Use water to make the ink flow. Let it dry for a while and then dry well with the heat tool. Drop water on the paper, let it soak for a while and dry with a tissue.

Stamp the harlequin three times with Distress Oxide Speckled Egg. If necessary, use a stamping platform to stamp it straight.

Splash with silver acrylic paint on your background paper. Let it dry completely. Using a stamping platform, stamp the text with Stazon Jet Black. Sponge the edges of the paper with Distress Oxide Speckled Egg.

Stamp the flower with Distress Oxide Speckled Egg on watercolour paper and emboss with Distress Glaze Speckled Egg. Colour the flower with watercolour markers. Add some accents here and there with a Gelly Roll Stardust Glitter pen.

I hope to have inspired you again now. If you want to try out the technique for this card, I wish you good luck and have fun.

 

Kind Regards,

Corine van Kuilenburg

Darting Dragonflies

 Hello there. Rachel here today with my final post for this month showing my makes from February. All of these use the fragile wings set. Firstly this black and white tag - I made this using a set similar to that of Jean Hardy from the Comfy pyjamas retreat. I painted my tag and frame in black gesso and added some of Lesley's black and white papers to the tag. I stamped the sdragon fly in black on white card and in versamark (that I set with white embossing powder) on black card. I fussy cut those dragonflies then assembled the piece.

In this next card I used the full design and coloured it using mica powders; I also decoupaged the main dragonfly and matted and layered in colours matching the mica powder colours.

Finally my pot was stamped using the plank stamp from the Just useful set - I stamped the word ART over the top of the plank design and then proceded to paint the lines and letters in glaze before firing in the kiln.

I hope this has given you a few more ideas of ways to use the fragile wings set.

Hugs Rachel x

Yet another Dragonfly by Brenda

Hello and welcome to my third post for this month and I am starting with another card using Fragile Wings as the focal element stamped onto a simple Oxide background and some second generation stamping using one of the number stamps from Just Useful. I inked just the circle element of the focal stamp again and added a few more randomly. The background panel uses the ART image from the same set heat embossed with white EP and spritzed with Oxide sprays in the same colours and the focal panel.

My final share is a simple one using the brush stroke stamps from Just Useful stamped with different colours of Versafine Clair, some cord tied around and a  sentiment from Alium Collage

As always, many thanks for your visit today.

Two cards (by Magda)

 Hello girls,                                                                                                                                                  today I propose to you two cards thinking about spring

For my friend card   is an ochre wiped mat, on which I stamped Mackintosh Beauty, stretched                      the lines with a black marker and coloured the flower with watercolour pencils. For the stenciled  background I blended a very light Pine Needles Distress Ink Pad.  You can find the sentiment stamp in Amazing Mackintosh Words 

Sending Hugs card   the background is blendend with Distress Ink Pad  and stenciled with                        a baby wipe. The mat is a left over piece, on with is stamped the paisley of Nature's Paisley                       and the decoupage flowers, and all is coloured with watercolour pencils.  For the sentiment I used               Amazing Mackintosh Words 

Thank you for passing by, hugs

Magda

nature's ace (by Veronica)

A rather different design from Lesley to share today, the ace card stamp. 

A very delicate image, so coloured with water colour pencils , image cut oput and edged with black ink. Background was stamped in green ink just using the vine part of the stamp, with the small script stamp stamped randomly as well. 

i cheated with the sentiment from the allium collage set by cutting it out the colouring in the hole in the tag shape

My second sample used the woodgrain stamp from fragile wings set for the background stamped using vinatge photo distress ink and brushed with water to spread the colour out.

The main image was stamped onto white card , coloured with watercolour pencils, torn out and edged with green ink. The small card image was stamped twice onto white card, cut out aand tucked behind the main image and the sentiment added to finish
 

Amazing Alliums

 Hello everyone

I am sharing a few more of my cards from the January show on Hochanda.

I have used Alium Collage for my first cards. I sprinkled and spritzed some Brushos onto a piece of cardstock.  I then  stamped the Allium in Black Archival ink. I mixed some Brushos with water to make an ink and coloured the Allium flower.  I finished with one of the sentiment tags and a piece of ribbon

My next card uses the same stamp, but this time I have coloured the stamp with watercolour markers, spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto cardstock.

My last card for today uses the Just Useful set and it really is a useful stamp set! 

I stamped the brushstrokes with Versamark and embossed with coloured powders. I then stamped the numbers and letters in black archival ink. I added some scripts from Ace Card set. The  background is from Fragile Wings which I stamped in grey archival ink

Thanks for looking

Sandra x

Just Useful Collages (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a couple of projects to share with you today. I posted one of the projects a few weeks ago on social media to help promote last month's One Day special on Hochanda, so some of you may have seen this card already. To create the card, I stamped the paint splash onto a piece of drawing cartridge several times using Versafine Clair Ink in three different colours. I chose bold colours for lots of impact. I stamped the dragonfly image from the Fragile Wings stamp set onto the background, and added the slim script  and splatters from the Just Useful stamp set to extend the collage. I also added circles from the Make Your Mark stamp set.

I stamped and embossed the dragonflies onto some patterned paper, and cut them out. I then attached them to the background. The sentiment comes from the Fragile Wings stamp set as before.

                             

I created an acrylic tag as my second project, I really enjoy making these, they are really fun to create. I chose a piece of A5 Double Sided Designer Paper, and using Archival Ink, added lots of detail. I used elements from the Just Useful stamp set to create a collage, showing that you do not need a hero image to create a real focal piece of artwork. You could add this to a card, or give it as a special gift to someone, hang up as a stand alone piece of artwork, or include it on a larger piece of mixed media. The stamps I have used are all great for incorporating in backgrounds and building up your collage pieces. I have some real favourites amongst them already, some real go to stamps. As you experiment and play with them, I hope that you will find yourself reaching for these stamps too.

I will be back later in the month with some more projects to share with you, thanks for stopping by. Take care and stay safe,

Judith xx