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

Floral Notes (by Corine)

Hello!

Here I am again and would like to show you my second card as a guest designer. This time I made a simple card.

I used the stamps from these sheets:

Floral Notes

Tangled Fragments 

Stamp the flower with Stazon Jet Black on the watercolour paper. I used my stamping platform for this, so that I can make a nice black print.

Mask the flowers with masking tape. You stamp the flower on post it paper and cut out the buds and flowers. You paste this over the stamped image. Then stamp over your image with Distress Oxide Bundled Sage. I also used the stamping platform for this.

I coloured the flower with watercolour markers.

After the ink had dried well, I applied accents to the open flowers with a Gelly Roll Stardust marker. Unfortunately you cannot see this very well in the picture. It gives a nice glitter effect.

Finally I stamped the text with Stazon Jet Black.

I hope I have inspired you. If you want to try this technique, I wish you a lot of fun.

Kind regards,

Corine van Kuilenburg

Art for all part 2 by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome back.

Here’s my second post for this month, featuring the amazing new stamp sets from last months Hochanda shows.

These stamps are absolutely fabulous, I just love them.

Here are a few more of my samples from the show.

My first is a framing mount which was white, but I inked it and stamped around the inside edge and finished off with gilding wax, the image is simple stamping in black and also on a scrap card to cut out and decoupage, I have used a strip of Acetate which I coloured with Alcohol inks and a bit of randomly placed foil as an overlay, just to add some colour and interest, few tiny gems to finish off.

I used Acetate coloured the same way as above for my Dragonflies wings on my card.

And of course my mandatory Envelope.

Thank you for visiting today I hope you like them.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx

All the Designs in action - by Rachel

 

Hello there! Rachel here again with some more samples from the January shows. The background in this first one was created using a stamp from the fragile wings set - I think this panel effect stamp is so very useful. I stamped it onto a piece of card I had smooshed through inks on my craft mat and left to dry. Onto another piece of card I stamped the Alium collage twice and then cut out the aliums. I layed the background and the aliums onto a card blank and stamped along the edge of the card using a stamp from the Just Useful set.

For the next card I stamped the torn paper edge in different coloured inks onto a card blank then added some of the torn black and white paper centrally. Ontop of that I added three of the Ace cards stamped onto some papers Lesley released last year. I then added some ink to tie in with these papers around the edge of the black and white papers and the outer edge of the card.

This final piece was made using a round piece of MDF from an earlier show that I painted with black gesso. I then stamped from the just useful set the numbers in versamark and heat set with clear embossing powders. Next I used mica powders to paint the numbers and added a dragon fly (from the delicate wings set) that I had stamped on another piece of paper from an earlier show.

I hope you're having a lovely day!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Purple Wings by Brenda

Morning all, my turn to share a few more of my creations from the One Day Special on Hochanda which featured super new stamps.

My card at the top uses the beautifully delicate Fragile Wings along with Ace Card onto a background stamped with the woodgrain stamp from the same set. I have made a simple YouTube video  for this card.

My next share uses Alium Collage stamped onto Kraft card which I brayered with gesso. I used Stayzon to stamp the Alium and then did some random stamping with stamps from Just Useful using Oxide Crackling Campfire.

My final share has a back panel of black stamped with the brush stoke image from Just Useful and embossed with purple EP. Ace Card has been stamped onto an Oxide and stencilled background and the spine from Just useful stamped down the side, some holes punched and a strip of tulle threaded through.

Have a good day everyone.

Daffodils (by Magda)

 Hi and welcome everyone

I have a special feeling to Daffodils and the post of today want to be a contribution                                 and a remind page to a lovely handsome Daffodils bouquet I received years ago. 

From the wide range of Chocolate Baroque stamps, I chose  Fabulous Flappers for the vase                     and  Spring Bird Daffodil for the bouquet                                                                                                    The other items are : white gesso, Archival,  Distress Ink Pad , stencil, colour pencils

I hope you like Daffodils flower too, hugs

Magda

I'm the Happiest When I'm With You (by Corine)

Hello everyone, our Guest Design member Corine is with us this month, creating three blog posts for your inspiration. She has designed a beautiful floral card for her first post. 

Corine writes: 

Hello!

Here I am again. In February I will post three times a card as guest designer. I am very pleased to do this. My first project is a card with watercolour background.

I used stamps from the sheets:

Fancy Flowers

Gothic Fragments

Apply one colour of Distress Oxide to a craft sheet. Use light shades. Spray the ink and mist your paper with water. Run the paper through the wet ink. Let the ink 'run' on your paper and dry with a heat tool. Repeat this with a second colour.

Stamp with Distress Oxide the gothic window. Use bubble wrap to stamp the 'bubbles' with Distress Oxide.

Make sure your card is dry.

Emboss the flower with black embossing powder, colour it with watercolour markers.

Complete your card with a text. I chose a text from a collection of Tim Holtz. You can also stamp a text.

I used the colours Speckled Egg and Picked Raspberry.

 

I hope I have inspired you. If you want to try this technique, I wish you a lot of fun.

Kind regards,

Corine van Kuilenburg

 

brusho dragonflies

Today I have two versions to share using the beautiful dragonfly stamp from last month's shows on Hochanda.

Both very similar techniques, using my favourite brusho powders - very quick results, and different every time!

The first one, the image was stamped in versamark and white embossed before sprinkling grey brusho over the whole thing., then spritzing fairly heavily with water. There are lots of lovely muted colours in the brusho powder including oranges and blues in my tub. Once everything was dry, I used ordinary thin bleach to highlight the wings, then trimmed the card down to fit a 6" square card base with a bronze mat layer.

The second version used truquoise and purple powders, with the turquoise sprinkled over the dragonfly  and the purple over the small circle and on the edges.  The different shades in the turquoise were caught in the embossing of the wings and blended in with the purple for the background. 

Trimmed down for a 6" square card again, with a black marker pen used on the edges.

We have been very lucky with the weather here, the promised heavy snow has become sleet, although the strong icy wind did arrive! 

I hope you are all keeping safe and warm, although the bad weather is at least an excuse to stay in and craft.....

Veronica

Watch the Dragonfly Dance.......

 Hello

I am delighted to be sharing some of my samples from the 4th Anniversary show on Hochanda. 

I just love the Dragonfly stamp that Chocolate Baroque has created!

For my card I cut a piece of drawing cartridge to size and brushed blue and green watercolours over it to give a watery feel. I then stamped the main image from Fragile Wings and one of the sentiments in Versafine Onyx Black. I also added some of the Splatters from Just Useful. I then stamped the dragonfly onto some clear packaging with StazOn and cut it out. Using a glue that dries clear, I added glitter to the underside of the dragonfly. Super Sparkly! I also added glitter to the dragonfly on the card.

Here's a closer look.

My next card uses the same Dragonfly stamp with the other sentiment that comes with the set. This time I embossed in white with a little glitter added to the wings. I mat and layered onto some mirror card.

A different look to this card from the first, which is why I love how versatile these stamps are.

Thanks for looking,

Sandra x

Just Useful Backgrounds (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well. I have some cards to share with you that showcase stamps from last month's TV shows from Hochanda. These fabulous stamps formed part of the One Day Special, and are really beautiful. The Design Team had so much fun working with them. 

 My first card was created by stamping the beautiful Alium Collage stamp onto fabric using Archival Ink. I coloured the image with Inktense pencils, and used a waterbrush to fix the colours permanently. I created the background by stamping and embossing the numbers from Just Useful using white embossing powder onto a piece of Drawing Cartridge. I then blended Distress Oxide Ink over the background, and added a splatter stamp using the same colour of Archival Ink as before.

I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap piece of card and crumpled it slightly before attaching it to the card with some twine and double sided tape.

My second card was created by stamping the large Ace Card image onto a piece of Drawing Cartridge with Versafine Clair Ink. I coloured the image with pencils. I coloured a piece of glossy card with more Versafine Clair Ink and a roller, polishing the card with a piece of tissue once I had covered the card. I stamped several images from the Just Useful stamp set over the top to create a collage effect.

These stamps are just great for creating a whole range of backgrounds really quickly, and you can achieve lots of different effects as you can see by the two backgrounds that I have made here.

I will be back later in the month, thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and take care,

Judith xx

Art for all by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome to my first DT post of the month.

Firstly! I hope you’re keeping well.

So, back to my post, I hope you managed to watch our fabulous Lesley on TV, she was, as always fantastic, so inspiring.

Amazing sellouts too.

Wow! I love, love, love these stamps, they are right up my street and so versatile.

Clean and simple, Grungy, Pretty, whatever your taste, you’ll get it with these.

Here’s a few I made for the show, I do hope you like them.

Thank you so much for spending your time visiting today.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx 

Peaceful thoughts by Rachel

Hello there, Rachel here with you today with two cards I made using the beautiful stamps launched in January. I adore these stamps - so well thought out.

This first card I made using the Alium collage stamp as the main focus. I stamped it onto card and coloured using inks and water colour pencils. The background was stamped directly onto the card blank using one of the Just useful stamps.

This second card was made using the Ace card set. I created the background using the other number set from the Just useful set which I stamped in coloured ink. I also added a little ink lightly over the background. I then stamped the main ace card panel and used the colours from the background to paint it with, bringing the design together.

I hope you can join us again soon for more makes using these beautiful stamps.

Hugs

Rachel.

 

Blog Comment Winner

 

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 January was assigned a number and we used Random Org to draw a winner.

 

Congratulations to Cocofolies  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 another £15 gift voucher to another lucky winner drawn from February's 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 Zoe

 

Climbing Ivy by Brenda

Good morning, I am happy to welcome you to our first post of February where this month we will be showcasing the wonderful new stamps which Lesley launched in the One Day Special to celebrate Chocolate Baroque's fourth Birthday at Hochanda. 

My first share at the top uses using Ace Card stamped onto a background with a little subtle stencilling. I love Ivy and have loads of variants in the garden, much to hubbys annoyance as it does become a bit of a predator. The flowers and leaves are coloured with pencils and some random stamping with numbers from Just Useful and a sentiment from Alium Collage held in place with a tiny bulldog clip.

This card features Fragile Wings stamped into a wreath circle stamped with worker stamps and Versafine Clair, I stamped the Dragonfly a second time and decoupages and used a stenci and the same colour inks around the wreath.

My final card features the fourth new set Alium Collage stamped onto Kraft card with Versafine black. I then stamped a die cut circle with numbers from Just Useful, then stamped the Alium head onto it and used as a spotlight. Some circles created with a stencil and texture paste and random stamping with worker stamped from Fragile Wings and again numbers from Just Useful.

Thanks so much for your visit today, please do pop back as my team mates will be sharing some wonderful inspiration with you this month.