Wish you were here

My card today is from the Echoes of Italy stamp sheet which I must say I fell in love with when I recieved it. The images stamp so well and they are so detailed. They are a pleasure to colour and I think take you to a serene place. I have lots of friends who holiday in Italy and always tell me of the relaxing and refreshing times they have had while there.



I coloured to the trees with various pens and drew under the trees to add a hint of grass. The sky is made from Dried Marigold Distress Ink and Sailboat Blue Adirodack Brights. The grass is Crushed Olive. I mounted onto white and black card then onto an olive green base card.

There's more inspiration to follow from the DT so keep popping back

Debbie

Echoes of Italy

Hi there, my card today is using the newly released 'Echoes of Italy' themeplate. Its decidedly nippy here today so these stamps are a perfect reminder of warm sunny days. There are some gorgeous stamps on this sheet, from tranquil scenes to ornate baroque patterns and a fabulous crackle stamp that will be used again and again. Its a great time to place an order too as Glenda is offering free P&P until 27th October.

For this card, i've used one of the beautiful scenic stamps for the focal images, simply stamped onto white card (from the Essential Card Pack) with Vintage Photo Distress ink and watercoloured with the same inkpad. To create the background I tore a sheet of copier paper to make a mask for the hills and then stamps the trees from the same stamp in rows across a square of white card. I used the reverse piece of the mask to cover the trees and used Cut'n'Dry foam to add the hills again using Vintage Photo distress ink. The backing paper and focal image have been distressed again with Vintage photo and overstamped with the crackle stamp. They are both matted on some copper pearl card. The only embellishment i've added is a little copper organza ribbon overlaid with a die cut border made using Crealies 17

Thanks for visiting today, I hope my card has brought a little sunshine to a chilly day. 

Claire xx

Snow falling on trees

The card I have today I must admit took a little time to work out but once the grey matter in hy head woke up and thought methodically I was on to card number three.

Top tip: Draw a line from front to back of stamp with permanent pen so that you can see where the base of the tree is and it makes it easier to see where the stamps are lined up.



I stamped the trees from the Fat Robin stamp sheet three times onto copy paper using the pen line to help me line them up. Then I tore the copy paper for the snow covered ground. Place the paper mask over silk art card and brayer Adirondack sail boat blue.
When the sky is dry stamp the trees using the pen lines on the stamp to help. Dot the snow using a Inkssentials opaque white pen. I added the Merry Christmas sentiment to the bottom. I used silver mirri and blue card to layer then mounted onto the base card.
The base card has been stamped with snowflakes.
This really is a quick card to make.

Thanks for popping by and please come back as there's more inspiration to come.

Debbie

Fat Robin.......

Hello there,

Today a creation made with the Fat Robin sheet, another beautiful Christmas sheet from CB. I have made this one with one of my favourite techniques, stamping with white ink on black paper and coloured with the Derwent soft colours. As you can see I've added lots of gemstones........and the colour...well it has become a pink robin instead of a red one......I've used the Christmas greetings background paper and also added an acrylic tag.

Enjoy the day and till next time,

Robin and a ribbon

Hi there.
My card today is a quick card that will be ideal for making batches. This is a 5x6 inch white base card. I used brush markers to colour the stamps and as I wanted the robin, leaves and the berries different colours. It's been a long time since I've used brush marker pens and had forgotten how much fun they are to work with.
I added the organza ribbon to compliment the red of the berries.



I hope you are enjoying the samples from the Design Team.

Debbie

Fat Robin

This is my first card as a member of the Chocolate Baroque Design team and the first card I made with the gorgeous new Christmas stamps. I think Fat Robin will be one of those all time favourite stamps that come out every Christmas.

The backing paper is from the Season's Greetings cd, printed on vellum and attached to mats of gold and brown card with brads.

The main image is embossed with brown embossing powder and painted with twinkling H2Os. I added flat backed glass nuggets to the snowflakes attached with gold stickles for some extra sparkle

The flowers are made from Kraft glassine, cut with Crealies Flowers 10, the centres are dots of the new Burgundy Stickles. I added some glassine leaves again diecut with Crealies (shapes 12)

To finish off I added a  c robin embellishment made from clear UTEE, heated and then stamped with the Robin corner stamp while still hot.

Thanks for popping by,

 I hope all the projects from the DT this week are giving you lots of inspiration and ideas for your Christmas projects

Claire xx

Winter trees from the 'Fat Robin sheet'

Hello there,

This one I have made using those beautiful 'crispy' trees from the Fat Robin sheet.They are so detailed and beautiful. I've just stamped them with white ink and added some shades with pencils. I've used the Christmas greetings paper and stamped another pair of trees onto that with Brilliance Thyme/Olive. As you maybe see I've drawn some extra branches in the frame All it still needed was a Nestie label with ribbon. I have kept this one simple and clean. Sometimes the image is so beautiful that it needs almost nothing.

Well have a nice day and till next time,

Stained Glass window..........

Hello there,

Again another creation with the new Christmas stamps and this time I've used the 'Stain glass Christmas' sheet. I enjoyed it very much to colour that beautiful window. I also used a template from Crealies for the star at each side of the card. And again I've used that great Christmas greetings paper. All these papers are so lovely and fits perfect with those stamps. Only added a ribbon and some gemstones.

Well, are you already in the mood for some stamping and colouring............till next time

Candlelit Window (posted by Lesley E)

Good morning everyone,

I hope you've all been enjoying the fabulous inspiration from my team mates this past week.  Today it's my turn to share again so here's my second card made from stamps in this latest release of gorgeous designs.  This set is aptly called Stained Glass Window.

 I embossed a piece of grey pearlescent card with the Tim Holtz texture fades Brickwork Folder and then cut round the edges following the line of the bricks.  I then added a little colour by gently applying pink, bright green and tan cube inkpads over the surface before adhering it to a 19 cm square white card blank with double sided tape.  I then stamped the lovely window image onto acetate with black Stazon ink, applied sheet adhesive to the back and then applied the gilding flakes before adhering this to the card using double sided tape again.

I then restamped the holly from the bottom of the window onto white card with the Versafine, coloured the leaves with Coloursoft pencils, cut them out and decoupaged them onto the acetate image using silicone glue.

I then stamped the sentiment from an old set called Seasons Greetings directly onto the base card as shown.

Finally I stamped the holly/pine spray which comes from the Christmas Tweetings set released a short while  ago, several times onto white card with the Versafine inkpad, coloured with Coloursft pencils before cutting them all out and arranging them on the card as shown using silicone glue.  I always shape my decoupage with a bone folder or my fingers before adding  it to the card.

Finally add dots of red Pearl Pen to the holly berries.

That's all from me today folks.  Keep watching as I'm sure it won't be long before there's more Design Team inspiration for you.  As always, many thanks for your visit.  We do appreciate you dropping by.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Winter's Night by ikki

Hi, my card today uses stamps from the theme plate Christmas Cheer.  I was looking to produce a dramatic  effect to highlight these fab stamps, so chose the colours of black, white and red.  The background is a messy mix of shimmer mist and distress inks on copy paper, overstamped with various snowflakes and the christmas greeting and then diecut with a Grand Nestie Label.  For the white edging I used a glue stick and white embossing powder, I have a liking for this type of embossing as you will see from the edging on the Nestie snowflake!  The centre piece I felt needed little embellishment being such a statement in itself, so I stamped with a black inkpad then tripled embossed with a clear embossing powder,  adding just a touch of colour to the trees and roof to draw the eye in. 

Materials used:

6" black linen textured card

Cardstock : white, black glitter

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque – sentiment, snowflakes, winter scene

Nestabilities: Grand label 1 #2

Snowflake

Perfect Medium

Embossing Powder: black, white

Promarkers: yellow, leaf green, red

Stickles : star dust

Shimmer mist: candy pink, angel mist, sunlight mist

glue stick, foam pads

Hope you're finding interest and inspiration from the DT's artwork using these new stamps.

Back soon with more, until then enjoy your crafting.

ikki

Snowflakes and a sentiment

This is my first card from the Christmas Cheer stamp set.The girls on the Design Team have some fantastic cards that will be posted here.
The background started as one piece of card. I used Versamark to stamp the snowflakes and heat embossed with clear powder. The card was cut into three pieces and coloured with Victorian Velvet and Broken China Distress Ink. These were mounted onto silver card.



The snowflake toppers were easy to cut out as there were no curved cuts. A silver flatbacked gem has been added to the centre. I love the sentiment it's so ornate. I used the Nestabilities Label 18 and it's quickly becoming a favourite.



The team have some wonderful cards to show over the coming days, pop back to take a look.
Debbie

Steampunk Christmas

                                                                                 

Hello there,
Today my creation with the Steampunk Christmas sheet, if you like steampunk than this is really it! And even if you feel uncomfortable with steampunk ......if you work with these stamps you will change your thoughts about that. Because they are a mix of the raw style of steampunk and the  well-known elegance and beauty of Chocolate Baroque. This is definitely one of my favourites!

 I have used a water coloured(salt technique)  piece of paper from my stash in brown/blue shades. Most of the time I make a lot of these papers at one time so I have always something to grab..... I embossed the steampunk flowers with gold EP and coloured them with water based markers. I also used the gear border die from Tim Holtz and added an acrylic tag. All the stamps I've used are from the same sheet.

Hope to have given you inspiration, creative greetz,

Krafty Robins by Judith Smith

When I received these fabulous new Christmas stamps, the lovely robin images appealed to me the most. I decided to create a very simple colour scheme for this particular sample, choosing Kraft and green as my base. I stamped the large image onto a piece of Kraft card with Adirondack Snow Cap ink, and coloured the image with Polychromos pencils, before blending them with a blending solution. I then stamped the smaller image onto the corner of an 8" x 8" piece of Kraft card, colouring it as before.  I cut a frame in the centre of this piece of card, cutting around the outside of the robin. I made a mount of green card to fit inside the Kraft frame, which I then placed over the larger image.

Some gems in the centre of the snowflakes add a little bit of Christmas bling to an otherwise simple card. Keep popping back to see what the other Design Team members have created this week. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Ring Out Those Christmas Greetings .................(posted by Lesley E)

Hi Everyone,

Today I'm sharing a card made using one of the beautiful new stamp sets which is called Christmas Cheer.  I love the greeting on this set as it looks like a pretty hanging sign and I also love the bell surrounded by mistletoe (as well as all the others, lol!).

 I started by making an A5 tentfold card from pale green pearlescent card, and the rest was just matting and layering having first stamped the mid green pearlescent layer with the bell and mistletoe using Onyx Black Versafine ink.  I heat embossed with clear embossing powder and then coloured the bells with metallic gold paint and the mistletoe with Lumiere paints in green and red before matting onto the darker green pearlescent and mounting that onto the card base.

I stamped the Christmas Greetings onto white card, again with the Versafine and clear embossing powder and then softly blended a little Pine Needles Distress Ink.  I matted this onto gold mirri card and mounted this onto the card with 3D foam pads.

This was quite a simple card but the greeting stamp is so beautiful it really doesn't need much. 

Keep your eye on the blog because there is lots more inspiration to follow from the team this week.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

New Christmas sheets.......my first creation

Hello there,

Today I would like to show you my first creation with those new gorgeous Christmas stamps! I have worked with the 'Fat Robin sheet'. They are so great to work with and I would make a compliment to that talented designer of these stamps! I have chosen for those pretty little birds sitting on that table and eating the berries. I have stamped them with several colours of Brilliance ink. So here and there I've added some extra colours with my Derwent pencils. The background paper is from Christmas greetings and I used also the Crealies flowers. I have coloured the seam binding with Copics....works really great! Also added some lace ribbon and a holly embellishment. I have used Petals no.6 and shapes no.17.

Well hope to have inspired you and see you next time,

have a nice creative day,

Shine a light at Christmas (posted by Elaine)

I have been working with the lovely new Peace on Earth and Stained Glass Christmas plates to make this 8 x 8 card. You can find the new Christmas stamps here. I wanted a luxurious feel so worked in black velvet and gold.

I stamped the images and embossed in the fabulous Ranger Queens Gold embossing powder. I added red, gold, block and white opaque glitter to the stained glass panel using a fine glue pen. I added a sentiment from an older plate Light of Christmas embossed in gold.

I added some of my favourite tiny gems to the lamp for a flame and as detailing.

I finished off the card with a gold star, more tiny gems, gold ribbon and large black gems and matted the panel onto gold mirri.

Christmas will be here before we know it so it's time to get cracking on those special cards.

Elaine

Faux Snow Globe by Judith Smith

Hi folks, I just wanted to share this card that I made using one of the lovely images from The 'Fat Robin' set of Christmas stamps just being released at Chocolate Baroque I really like this little scene with the robins on the bird table, with the Christmas pud and the mince pie! I decided to create a faux snow globe effect, by using triple embossing, but adding thick white glitter in the second layer of the embossing.

I placed the image onto some of the lovely Spirit of Christmas papers, now available as a download from Chocolate Baroque. I then created a flower from polymer clay, using the Steampunk flower from the 'Steampunk Christmas' stamp set, painting it with acrylic paint once it had been cooked. The leaves are simply the larger flower stamped onto green card.

Some gingham ribbon, mesh and curly wire complete the card. Don't forget to keep checking back to see what the other Design Team members have created with these new stamps this week. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Little Robin Red Breast by ikki

Hi, today I would like to show you my card using stamps from the Fat Robin set...

Materials used:

Cardstock – A4 dark turq, white

Stamps : Chocolate Baroque – Trees, robin, snowflakes

Perfect Medium

Adironack : oregano

Embossing powder : gold, clear

Glitter pens: red, green

Glossy accents, gems, glue stick foam pads

Method:

Make a 6" x 6" tent card. Randomly apply a glue stick round the edges, cover with gold embossing powder and heat emboss. With a green inkpad, stamp the snowflakes, and just the leaves from the robin stamp round the edges – cover with clear embossing powder and heat emboss.

From remaining cardstock, cut a strip approx 2.l/2" x 5". Stamps trees with Perfect Medium, cover with gold embossing powder and heat emboss. Stamp snowflakes and round edge of strip with green inkpad, cover with clear embossing powder and heat emboss. Colour the trees. Add gems.

Cut another strip of card 2.3/4" x 5.1/4". Apply glue stick to edges, cover with gold embossing powder and heat emboss. Add topper, and mount on base card using foam pads.

Using Perfect Medium, stamp the robin on spare card and cover with gold embossing powder and heat emboss. Cut out and add a touch of colour to the robin. Add to the card using foam pads.

Robins, holly and Christmas trees - favourites of mine for Chrissie cards and I'm not going to mention how many days.... to go, but it's defo getting time to start thinking!!!!!

Enjoy your day,
ikki

Introducing Claire

I am delighted to introduce a new face to the Design Team, Claire Chapman who has been a fan of our stamps for quite a while.  Claire has been good enough to answer a few questions that I put to her on what it is that inspires her and why she loves our stamps so much.

Click on any of the images below for a larger view.

How did you first hear about Chocolate Baroque?

I'd been a huge fan of Elusive Images and Graphicus for a long time since seeing Glenda demonstrate on Create and Craft. I was immediately hooked on the style and elegance of the designs and began my collection of stamps. Soon afterwards I joined the Graphicus Guild and learnt so many techniques from the monthly newsletter. I was lucky enough to find out about Chocolate Baroque as soon as it was launched through the newletter emails and placed my first order that very day.

What is it you like about our stamps?
Chocolate Baroque stamps have their own style and elegance and of course the quality is always superb. The stamps are really well thought out, they work together so well and I love the fact that I can often mix and match stamps from new themeplates with some of the stamps I have had for years. Chocolate Baroque stamps seem to bring out the best in my crafting,

What was the first set you bought?
The first set of stamps I bought was a set of 3 DL sheets, Unicorns, Gossamer Wings and Dragonfly Faeries. I fell in love with the delicate images and I still use them all the time. They are perfect for brayered scenes which I love to make but they combine beautifully with lots of other stamps. I've made so many projects with these stamps and they have all been different, everything from cards to canvases and even jewellery.

Do you have a favourite stamp set?
Its really difficult to choose a favourite stamp set, rather like asking a mother to choose a favourite child lol. Usually its the set I'm currently working and at the minute I'm really enjoying Steampunk Christmas but if I was on a desert island and could only have one set it would have to be Peacock Ladies. This is another set I've used again and again and the stamps lend themselves to so many different techniques they would keep me amused for a long time. I think the set I use the most though is Autumn Hedgerow, this set is always on my workdesk as I use it all the time. The stamps are perfect for creating backgrounds and adding depth to any scene.

Where do you get your inspiration?
I get inspiration from so many places sometimes from crafting magazines or blog hopping. I often find ideas pop up when I'm out and about and see a colour palette in a shop, a beautiful sunset or leaves blowing from the trees. I've had a huge amount of inspiration from the Chocolate Baroque Guild and also browsing all the beautiful artwork on the Chocolate Baroque Group too. Most of my ideas come from the stamps themselves though, as soon as I get new stamps I think about how I'm going to use them, what techniques and materials I want to use and make some notes so I don't forget

Do you have a favourite technique?
My favourite technique is probably trying new techniques. I love making my own background and just messing around with paint and ink. I think my absolute favourite technique is masking as its so useful and can be used in projects. It always seemed very complicated but once I'd got the hang of it I find it gives my stamps a whole new lease of life as I can combine several stamps in one project and get a seamless result . I didn't have a lot of luck with post it notes but now I use Eclipse masking tape and get a much better result. My other current favourite is colouring with pencils and promarkers, I recently took one of Glenda's online courses through My Creative Classroom and I've learnt so much. I find it so relaxing to sit and colour after a long day at work
 

Do you have any tips for beginners?
Tips for beginners..... I think my top tip would be to have a go if you see a technique or project that you really like. A new technique often takes a bit of practice so don't worry about making a mess of things. If it goes wrong you're only throwing some paper or card and often you'll be surprised at what you can do.

My other tips are to use tack'n'peel on your acrylic blocks instead of EZmount if you need to save some pennies and to dust your fingers with an antistatic bag before you handle glossy card for brayering so you don't get fingermarks on the card.

What’s on your Chocolate Baroque wishlist right now?

As a Chocolate Baroque addict, my wish list is always very long but at the top right now is the gorgeous Nature Swirls A4 themeplate which I haven't got around to getting yet. I love the combination of elegant swirls and the whimsical owls and birds in the tree. I've also got my eye on Family Christmas too, I don't know how I resisted that one last year but it will be perfect for traditional Christmas cards especially with the new Spirit of Christmas downloads.

You can see more of Claire's artwork on her blog, Claire's Crafty Creations or on our community site and Claire will be sharing some of her first DT projects both here and on her own blog very soon. 

Yummy Scrummy Christmas Stamps

OK, I know you  have all been waiting to see these, so here are the latest Chocolate Baroque Christmas stamp sets.

Firstly we have Fat Robin - a full A4 sheet of gorgeousness.

Then we have three A5 sets which are all so incredibly versatile and usable.

Stained Glass Christmas

Christmas Cheer

Peace on Earth

The girls have all come up with some stunning artwork to illustrate the possibilities of this set and we have a series of blog posts scheduled over the next few days, so do check back or subscribe to our blog feed so you don't miss out.

I am doing a blog candy giveaway, but I've decided to do it over on my own blog for a change - it's been a while since I did that, so pop over to glendawaterworth.com and check out some of my Christmas makes with these delicious new stamps.

And please check back on Sunday - I have a new Design Team member to introduce to you all!