Italian Brick Wall (by Debbie)

Good morning.

The New Year started quietly here , just as I like it, sitting with a little bit of colouring in and crochet.

 

I made this card before Christmas for Lesley to take onto The Craft Channel with her and was delighted to see it on the counter displayed. This stamp makes me think of sitting in a beautiful Italian garden drinking a large coffee in the morning sunlight.

 

 

For the white base card, it was die cut with a square die and the flower stem was coloured with blue and green watercolour pens then breathed onto the stamp to activate the ink. A second square slightly smaller was cut from blue card and fixed into position. The Brick Wall stamp was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with black powder. The colouring is done using alcohol pens and watercolour pencils. I only added a little colour to the brickwork as subtle shading because I wanted them to look as though it has been white washed. The stamped piece of card was added behind the frame and the sentiment was fixed to the top corner.

Many thanks for visiting

Debbie

Steampunk Butterfly (by Julie)

Hello, thanks for stopping by. Today I have two projects to show you that have been created with the very versatile Steampunk Butterfly set.

I covered the canvas with a base of pink and green liquid watercolour before inking up the decorative corner with black acrylic paint and stamping in opposite corners of the canvas. I found I got a better image by just using the rubber stamp pressed onto the stretched canvas with my fingers as the stamp block makes it harder to get a clear impression. When the black paint was dry I over-stamped with Picket Fence Distress paint.

The cogs have been die cut from chipboard, painted with black acrylic paint and then stamped with Picket Fence Distress paint using the cog stamp.

The butterfly was inked up with Onyx Black Versafine, stamped into white polymer clay, cut out and baked according to the packet instructions before being painted with watercolour and finished off with gilding wax. The little key stamps were inked with Brass Distress paint and randomly stamped around the canvas followed by black acrylic paint dabbed around the edges of the canvas.

My second project is a DL card. The base has been coloured with Pan Pastels and then sprayed with a fixative before being over-stamped with the cogs. The butterflies and bat have been stamped with Sepia Versafine and coloured with Pan Pastels, sprayed with fixative, before being finished off with black Stickles. To add interest I inked up the trio key stamp with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped around the base card, I then took a white opaque pen to add highlights to the keys.

Please stop by again soon to catch some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Steampunk Travel Turbine (by Anne)

Today I am sharing my first book fold project. I have used the Steampunk Travel stamp set (recently featured on the Craft Channel TV show) to decorate and embellish. This one was quite a challenge, nobody saw me for days (tee hee), but I had enormous fun making it. I just love Fantasy themes.  

 

 

 I hope that my project inspires you to play. Happy Crafting, Anne xxx.  Materials:

• Steampunk Travel stamp set
• Recycled paperback book (440 pages, 220 page folds) – 17.5 X 11cm size
• White stamping card, Kraft card and black card
• Inkpads: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Ranger Archival (Coffee)
• Gilding wax and metallic pen (gold)
• Alcohol ink pens (purples, lilac, dark reds and blues)
• Dies and embossing folders to suit the Steampunk theme
• Air dry paper clay and silicone moulds
• Adhesive and 3D glue gel

Summary of how it was made:  · I created the book fold to make a shape resembling a turbine – suitable for the theme. First I used simple folding to create an upside down vase shape. I then added further folds and some cutting until I was happy with my ‘industrial’ shape. I glued a barbeque stick through the centre to provide a scaffold to build upon on the top.  

  · I added a die cut lattice across the top which divided it into 2 halves. This provided and area to attach embellishments but also made it easier to design something that looks good from all angles. I didn’t want ugly backs of cut out stamped images to be obvious.  · Flowers and leaves were cut from black card, embossed to give texture, and rubbed over with gilding wax to make them look metallic. I also made lots of little embellishments using lightweight air dry paper clay and moulds.  · Images were stamped onto white card with black ink, coloured with alcohol pens, and cut out.

An Old Postcard (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow Chocoholics. My turn today to share a project and I'm playing with one of the new cling singles called Walled Garden. Here's a simple project that you could easily make without getting too inky. I was inspired by my grandmother's very old holiday snaps. 

To recreate this old postcard look, start by stamping the image on cream cardstock. I coloured it with alcohol markers, but pencils will work well too. Lastly, ink the edges with Distress Ink. To soften the wall I added stamped the falling ivy from the June Fairy DL sheet.

I've made a simple card but with this stamp you can do so much more. Come back soon and be prepared to be wowed by the rest of the team. As always you'll find more detail about this card on my blog.

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Beijinhos,
Asha

Celebrate the New Year with New Stamps (by Lesley)

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year and are feeling ready to face 2016.  I wouldn't blame you if you weren't. Rubbish weather, back to work, dark mornings and nights - not a lot to put a smile on your face there. So I hope that seeing these gorgeous new stamps will gladden your heart just a little and inspire to get back to stamping and crafting.

Last month we exclusively launched two new individual cling mounted stamps on the Craft Channel and today they are now on general release.  Walled Garden and Another Brick in the Walled Garden are cling mounted and cut out ready to use as soon as you receive them. And both stamps benefit from having a Free unmounted bonus stamp included in the pack.

Here is the Walled Garden, with the silhouette tree that stamps perfectly in the archway.

Another Brick in the Walled Garden (and yes the association with Pink Floyd's immortal song is intentional!) has a silhouette flower stem that can be used to add extra interest around the wall.

Sue has drawn two wonderful images that will be can be stamped and coloured with whatever medium you choose.  Whether you are a novice stamper or you have a wealth of experience these stamps will be so useful for a variety of projects and occasions.

You will have already seen some of the excellent samples from the Design Team girls and I have to say they really did the stamps justice with all their TV creations. They featured on the TV along with our Steampunk Butterfly and Steampunk Travel sets, so watch out for more inspiration using all these stamps during this month.

Chocolate Baroque Reader's Gallery- your turn in the spotlight!

Hello everyone, and a Happy New year to you all from all of the Design Team. We hope that you have had an enjoyable festive season, and are looking forward to a year full of new crafting possibilities stretching ahead.

Today, we are looking back on your crafting endeavours throughout the month of December, and what you created in Blogland, on the Ning Group, and on the Chocolate Baroque Facebook page. So take a look at a few samples of what we found on our recent trip around the Internet.

Marga created this beautiful Rose card in lovely soft colours:

and another using one of our newest background stamps:

Barbara created this beautiful butterfly frame, so pretty, and shows how the stamps can be used for home decor pieces:

Akkina created a colouful fantasy scene using bold colours behind gold embossing:

Liz Gittins created these fabulous colourful Stampbord pieces:

Spotted on the Ning group, a fabulous card using one of Lesley's downloads, made by Joan Carnell:

Ballie has created a beautiful romantic card, found on her blog:

We hope that you enjoy this month's selection of projects, and find lots of inspiration amongst the wonderful artwork. If you do not have a blog, or have access to the Facebook Group, we would be delighted if you would send good quality photographs of your artwork to Lesley to sales@chocolatebaroque.com and we can then upload them to the gallery for you. We would love to share more of your creative artwork with everyone, so please do not be shy!

Oranges and Lemons (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a cheery project to share with you today, one that will hopefully banish the Winter blues, and bring thoughts of warmer days. I have created a card using the new individual Another Brick in the Walled Garden stamp, and created a garden scene.

I drew a square frame onto a piece of kraft card, roughly the size of the walled shutter stamp, and then stamped the orange tree from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set on either side, with the leaves from each tree creeping over the edge of the frame slightly. I created a mask for each tree, and then stamped the small brick texture stamp from the Abstract Fragments stamp set over the background. I then trimmed away inside the frame, cutting around the tree leaves where necessary.

I stamped the walled shutter image onto a spare piece of kraft card, and coloured the images with pencils. I added the foliage to the tree on the main image by colouring the stamp with a water based marker. I added some shading around the edge of the frame with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I adhered the frame to a piece of dark olive card, and trimmed inside the frame, leaving a narrow border of olive green card showing. I then stuck the main image inside the frame. Finally, I added some Glossy Accents to the lemons on the tree.

Keep popping back to see more inspiration from my Design Team mates across the month, Judith xx

Steampunk travel (by Miranda)

Hi lovely people,

Hope you all did enjoy your Christmastime and holidays! The Old year is gone and a whole New year is ahead of us........

Maybe you have already heard the news on my blog but I will quit doing DT work. I am a bit sad about it because my time with this DT was precious to me. We have and had(all the other DT girls which have been on board during the years) a lovely time together. Always encouraging each other and also in the private sphere.
But sometimes life demands taking action and doing necessary things.
So I won't disappear completely but at this time I don't know exactly where life is taking me.......

Anyway, I want to thank you also for your lovely comments and encouragement along the way! Stay creative and keep on loving Chocolate Baroque!

I will be finishing my promised blogposts for Chocolate Baroque and this time I have worked with the great Steampunk Travel sheet. It's in a multi-buy with the Steampunkery sheet.

I had this background left over from one of the Colour challenges so these colors matches perfect with this theme I think.

I just stamped the center image in plain black and the other ones with gray ink. Coloured with color pencils and added some gears from the Steampunk butterfly sheet. Chocolate Baroque has some lovely Steampunk sheets with that elegant twist.

Hope to have inspired you to get your ' gears' going!

Have a lovely day,

brick wall

Happy New Year everyone, hoping that you have all had a happy Christmas and received loads of crafty goodies - if by any chance you haven't, the Chocolate Baroque sale ends today, so you still have time to put the lack of goodies right!

I have shown a couple of samples from the last TV shows for you today - the first one uses the steampunk butterfly set with a background technique I learnt from Lesley using crackle medium and brusho powders, as well as Lesley's sticky label method.


The second sample uses one of the new garden stamps, which are only now on the website after being exclusive to the Craft Channel. Both of these are big stamps, and come with a mini stamp as well.
I chose to use the brickwall stamp, stamped in sepia versafine onto kraft card, the the bricks coloured with white and brown pencils. I added white and pale blue pencils to the shutters, and green to the leaves of the bush and the ground.
The mini stamp was used to create the background on the card blank.
More details on my blog if you would like to check it out

Thank you for looking, and don't forget to check everyday for some fab samples from the rest of the team - there are some real goodies coming up!

Veronica

Brick wall (posted by Claire)

Good morning and Happy New Year! Here's to another year of fun, creativity and stamping with Chocolate Baroque. It's  Claire here with a card made using one of this month's beautiful new garden stamps, this one is called Brick Wall and features a lovely shuttered window and a pretty tree too. You may have seen this stamp before as it was featured on The Craft Channel recently. 

I made my background using distress inks in shadeds of green and brown and then used a brick stencil and texure paste over the top. I stamped the image and coloured it with pencils, adding some flowers using a little silhouette flower stamp. I tore the coloured image out and distressed the edges with a little Gathered Twigs distress ink before layering it up over some kraft card. 

I've popped a scrap of hessian under the image and added a button topped with an old brass button to finish off. 

I'm sure my teamies beautiful projects are going to inspire you again this month so don't forget to pop back as there is lots of inspiration on its way!

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Blog Comment Winner for December

 

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and Happy New Year.

Once again we would like to thank you all for your visits here at the Design Team blog.  We truly appreciate the time you take to let us know your thoughts about our designs.  
Each comment in December was assigned a number and we used Random Org to draw a winner.  Congratulations to CrafyJo you have won a £15.00 voucher to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps!  Please send a quick email here to confirm your email address and Lesley will send you your gift certificate.
Lesley will be giving a £15 gift voucher to another lucky winner drawn from January's comments. There's lots of inspiration to come from the Team throughout January. The more comments you leave the better your chances to win!

Thank you for your kind words and comments,
Good luck from the Design Team!

 

  

Arched Wall by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and Happy New Year, I hope you all had a fab evening and aren't suffering too badly lol, we stayed in as we are past it lol, plus having a lively 11 month old foster baby to look after I don't think it would help having a hangover lol.

Today I'm sharing with you one of my samples that featured on The Craft Channel, it's one of the new fabulous stamps called "Arched Wall" very simple to create, I heat embossed using Versamark ink and Black embossing powder, using a circle die cut as a mask I inked all over using Distress inks, I removed the mask and then used the negative to ink the moon with Distress inks, and coloured the image using the distress inks and a waterbrush I used a water brush and soft dry cloth to Faux Bleach areas as highlights, I stamped the sentiment "Positive Pants" using Versafine ink.

Thank you so much for visiting today and please pop along each day to look at what my fabulously talented teamies created for you, have a wonderful day and a healthy 2016 xx Zoe xx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Goodbye to 2015 (by Lesley)

As we reach the end of the year I would just like to say a couple of things.

I am thoroughly enjoying being the captain of the good ship Chocolate Baroque. I am surrounded by some very clever and inspirational people who help to keep the ship afloat and, although the seas are not always smooth and calm, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to continue to bring you beautiful stamps and interesting crafty products.

Most of all I wish to thank each and every one of you for supporting me during the past six months. Your constant encouragement and wonderful comments that you leave here and on our social media pages help me realise how lucky I am.

So may I raise a glass to everyone and wish you all a very, very happy and peaceful New Year. May we share lots more fun and creativity on our ship in 2016. Hope you are good at rowing!

Rolled PaperTrees (by Debbie)

I'm finishing my 2015 of blogging with a couple of gifts I made. I have taken inspiration from a few different pinners on Pinterest. The style has popped up in the form of tags, cards and canvas's and I'm not sure where it started but I thoroughly enjoyed making them.

 

 

They are 20cm by 30cm and for the first I used my precious papers from Graphicus, I still have a few in my stash and stroke them from time to time.

The backgrounds for each of them is old book pages and mixtures of paints applied with baby wipes rather than the uniformity of a paint brush. When the paint had dried I stamped with the circles from Decorative Edges and blue ink.

 

 

The second is made in the same way using different colours and paint. The stamp I used is the

 Open Weave with brown ink. The paint background was a little bright so I also used sequin waste with more ink.

 

 

I changed the shape of the tree and added words to it, I have called them Wishing Trees. The rolls of paper were cut to different lengths and as on each tree, added the white pen faux stitching. The stamped background uses the Floral Weave stamp. This photo shows the computer generated words I have used.

 

 

 

Wishing you all 'Best Wishes' for 2016

Debbie

Lattice Orchids (by Julie)

Hello, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and as this is my last post for this year I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year! I have two projects that I hope you will like, made with two of the fantastic background stamps. My first is this plaque, made with the Baroque Orchids cling mounted stamp.

 

The base of this plaque is a large square of chipboard and I have stuck a piece of spare chipboard on the back to make a stand, much the same way as a standard picture frame works.

The centre is made up of letters cut with an electronic cutting machine and then over stamped with the Baroque Orchid using Onyx Black Versafine. The "O" is a piece of white polymer clay, cut with a heart cookie cutter and over stamped using the Versafine. Once baked I added a piece of cord around the edge of the heart with a hot glue gun and then stitched some seed beads around the cord edge, before adhering to the plaque with more hot glue. I have added layers of silver mirri card, black card and a stamped background using the Baroque Orchid.

This card has been made with the Studded Lattice cling mounted stamp along with Wild Meadow and Mackintosh Sentiments sets.

The base card was created with Pan Pastels. I then inked up the Studded Lattice with Versamark and randomly stamped around the background before brushing black and metallic Pan Pastel over the top. I then applied a fixative spray over the top.

For the decorative panel I stamped the Studded Lattice onto white card and coloured with Polycrhomos pencils. The wild grass is from the Wild Meadow set and was over-stamped with Onyx Black Versafine.

To finish off I inked up the With Love sentiment with Onyx Black Versafine and stamped over the Pan Pastel Background.

Many thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again very soon,

Julie x

Bonne Année

Hello everyone.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It is my last post for this year and it is time to say Happy New Year
In French : Bonne Année.

So I send you all a lot of good vibrations. For this, I made two cards with the beautiful new Chocolate Baroque stamps "Baroque Orchids", "Studded Lattice" and "Floral weaves".
I used a CB digital paper printed on my computer and clear embossing powder on black ink.

Bonjour tout le monde.
J'espère que vous avez passé un joyeux Noël. C'est ma dernière publication pour cette année et il est temps de vous souhaiter une Bonne Année.
Alors je vous envoie plein de bonnes ondes. Pour cela je vous ai préparé deux cartes réalisées avec les magnifiques nouveaux tampons Chocolate Baroque.
Pour cette carte, j'ai utilisé un papier digital imprimé à partir de mon ordinateur. J'ai embossé le tampon avec la poudre transparente sur l'encre noire.

For the second one I used a red paper, stamped with Versamark and embossed with black powder. Then I stamped on a white paper and cut just around the flower.

Pour le second, j'ai tamponné l'image de fond sur du papier rouge et embossé à la poudre noire. Les fleurs ont été tamponnées sur un papier blanc et détourées finement.

I hope you will enjoy. I am very to be a part of this wonderful DT and I thank Lesley and Judith for their confidence. Kind regards.

J'espère que vous aimez. Je suis vraiment très heureuse de faire partie de cette magnifique DT et je tiens à remercier Lesley et Judith pour leur confiance. A bientôt.

Art Bag using the new background stamps (by Anne)

I created this sample for the recent TV shows from Chocolate Baroque on The Craft Channel. Lesley Wharton was fantastic and gave some wonderful demos using the new background stamps – Floral Weave, Open Weave, Studded Lattice and Baroque Orchids. They are so versatile for so many projects and styles.  

 I have used recycled curtains to create myself a large Art Carry bag. I used all four of the lovely new background stamps to decorate my fabrics. Now I have a lovely new bag to carry my unframed paintings to exhibition. You could easily adapt the design idea to make a shopping or handbag, or to decorate a ready-made bag.  Materials:

• Floral Weave, Open Weave, Studded Lattice and Baroque Orchids stamps
• Recycled blue cotton curtains with cream cotton lining
• Iron on paper backed fabric adhesive (Bondaweb)
• Sewing and machine embroidery threads
• Black iron fix textile paint
• Cut-N-Dry foam and palette knife
• Dies to cut flowers and leaves

How it was made:

1. I first made a simple strong bag to fit my board mounted artwork pieces. Simply 2 rectangles sewn together with handles to fit over my shoulder. This is a very large bag so it is easy to decorate and sew on the applique pieces while made up. For smaller bags and shoppers it would be easier to decorate the panels before completing the construction.
2. Ironed Bondaweb onto the back of the cream lining. Leaving the paper backing in place cut out flowers and leaves with the dies. Printed the text to create a template for cutting the lettering.
3. Stamped all the cut shapes with textile paint using a random mix of all four stamps (see tip). Left overnight to dry and cure.
4. Stamped the front of the bag with the Floral Weave stamp. Left overnight to dry then fixed the paints with an iron (this makes the paint permanent and washable).
5. Peeled the backing paper off all the cut out shapes and ironed onto the bag. This secures the shapes and heat fixes paints.
6. Finally I stitched around all the shapes using a straight stitch and free machine embroidery. This is where you drop the fabric feed dogs and freely move the fabric beneath the needle (like drawing with a sewing machine and thread).

Tip for stamping with paints: I used to use a standard sponge for applying acrylics or textile paint to my stamp. I would apply paint to a palette then pick up with a sponge, dabbing to remove excess paint before applying to my stamp. After a short while the paint would start to dry on the palette. The detail of the stamping was also gradually lost as clumps of paint built up in the stamp crevices after repeat application of paint. When this occurs you need to stop and clean up the stamp before continuing. I now use Cut-N-Dry foam and the results are so much better. I apply plenty of paint directly to the pad and work it well into the foam with a palette knife. The foam can now be used to apply paint to the stamp repeatedly without reloading. Placing the foam paint side down on a craft mat while not using also keeps the paint moist for ages. I find this method gives much sharper printing, uses a lot less paint and is easier to clean up when finished.  Clean up well and do not leave paint to dry onto your stamp. I use a little soapy water and a soft tooth brush if needed.

His and Hers Steampunk (by Asha)

Happy Boxing Day, fellow chocoholics! Hope everybody had a lovely Christmas.  I've got a couple of card projects to show you.

The first card features the Open Weave cling stamp. I heat embossed it in white on a piece of vellum.  To create the underwater scene I stamped, coloured, fussy cut and adhered elements form the Funky Fish A5 sheet.

The second card is a girly glitzy number featuring the Baroque Orchid cling stamp.  This time I've heat embossed it with Verdegris embossing powder and inked the bckground with Seedless Preserves, Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks. The rose is from Steampunk Butterfly, coloured with alcohol markers. And to glam up the card I mounted the design panel on purple glitter foam.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to come back for more creative inspiration form the rest of the design team. Happy Holidays!

Beijinhos,
Asha

It's Christmas (by Lesley)

Today there is no Design Team inspiration, after all I am sure that you will agree they deserve some time off!

Instead I would just like say to a very Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. I hope it is filled with all that you wish for and that you get some crafty down time during the holiday period.

Enjoy this special day.

Poinsettia Lattice (by Judith)

Hello everyone, my second post this month conveniently falls on Christmas Eve. I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas, and offer my good wishes for 2016. I hope that Santa brings you lots of crafting goodies, and that you have time to relax and enjoy the festive season, whatever you are doing.

I have chosen to create a Christmas card for my final offering of the year, and hope that you will accept it as a card from me to you. I would like to thank you all for the lovely comments that you have left over the year on my posts.

I have used the Studded Lattice cling mounted stamp to create the background, and added some poinsettias from the Joyful Christmas stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx