Inner Reflections Card (posted by Judith)

I have made a card using the Mistletoe Joy and Christmas Reflections stamp plates. I created an A5 card, and covered the front with dark green card, followed by a layer of lime green card. I then used a printed paper from the Spirit of Christmas paper pack. I stamped the Mistletoe ball onto white card, and coloured this with pencils, and blended them before cutting the image out, and matting it onto a white oval. I then matted the oval onto a larger dark green oval, and placed this onto my card.

I lined the inside of my card with the same red printed paper that I had used on the outside of my card. I then took a piece of A4 white card, and scored and  folded it in half. I drew an oval shape in the middle, and cut it out. I then folded each outer edge inwards towards the middle, and created another fold line.

I stamped the holly down each outer edge with Forest Green StazOn, then using Crimson Red Versafine, I stamped the two Peace images at the bottom. I stamped and coloured the Christingle ball, before cutting this out, and used some cotton to hang this from the central crease of the inner card, fixing a small amount of tape behind the card.

I then taped the two outer panels only, where the holly is stamped to the inside of the main card, taping all around the panel for stability. The final touch was to add some red Stickles glue to the berries on the Holly stamp, and leave them to dry.

Keep checking back to see what the other Design Team members have created with the Christmas stamps, thanks for popping by today, Judith xx

A Green Christmas! (posted by Elaine)

This card uses the gorgeous Christmas Reflections A4 stamp sheet.

I randomly stamped and heat embossed the background panel with the small holly stamp in Ranger Queens Gold embossing powder on hammered dark green card. This embossing powder, recommended to me a while back by Glenda and her staff, is my favourite gold, a bright shiny finish, that gives a pleasing effect every time.

The pomander and sentiment are embossed in the same way and then I used dark green H2O paint to highlight the ribbon on the pomander. I used a favourite nestie die from the labels 4 set. I matted all the panels onto gold card and added a dark green velvet trim before matting onto the final medium green 8 x 8 panel using foam tape to give depth.

The finishing touch for this card is poinsettias die cut and embossed from green pearl vellum using a Marianne die, with leaves cut from gold paper with a Crealie die, all held together with large green pearl brads.

I hope this inspires you to get going on your Christmas cards with these lovely stamps.

Elaine

Forest of Christmas trees by Debbie

I usually start my Christmas cards in August so that I'm not last minute churning them out. I've been working (playing) since the beginning of June. I like to have an idea of which I can make in multiples.

The base card is an A4 cut in half, scored along one edge so that it can be opened. Two holes were punched and ribbon tied in a bow to join the two pieces. I coloured the tree stamp from the Christmas Decorations set with different shades of purple. Stamp onto the background three times then stamp another three that are cut out and fixed using foam pads. By varying where you put the inks on the stamps helps make them look different and Waterfall Stickles adds a little bling.

The forest of trees was mounted on purple card and stuck onto paper from Spirit of Christmas papers which will be available in the Printable Downloads section of the website soon.

The Design Team will be posting some more lovely cards this week so keep popping in for ideas.

Debbie

Christmas in July

Well I know some of you will run screaming from the 'C' word, but we are launching new Christmas stamps next month, so have been thinking about Christmas for a few weeks now.

In fact, I set the Design Team a bit of a challenge to create some artwork using some of our older Christmas sets and all this week we will be sharing the results of that challenge.

First up is a card I made using a set called Christmas Reflections.

I made use of torn paper masks to create my little winter scene, flipping them over to make the reflected version.  The starry tree comes from the Frosty Trees set and because it is virtually symmetrical, you can turn it upside down to make the reflections. 

One of the other things I love doing with these big words is stamping them onto acetate.  Because you can use the mirror image version of the text, you can put the foil or glitter onto the stamped side of the acetate, which means that when you flip it over, your text appears the right way round, but can't rub off or get smudged.

Christmas Reflections is currently on offer when purchased as a bundle with Mistletoe Joy - we have a small quantity in old packaging - click on the image below for details or visit the Christmas Specials department to see all our Christmas offers (wholesale offers available too).

Stay tuned for more Christmas cards this week - the girls have done us proud.

 

some creations with the doodle butterflies........

Hello there,

Just want to show you some creations with the doodle butterflies sheet. I like those stamps very much because they are so great to stamp with white ink and colour over with pencils. One of my favourite techniques. Most of the time I stamp with white colorbox ink but recently I heard that the Adirondack white is great to use. So I will certainly try that.... Well off to the cards now...

Maybe I have inspired you to get your pencils out........ and have some fun!, creative greetz, Miranda

Blue Fantastic Florals card (posted by Elaine)

This launch of stamps contains some real beauties and you can imagine my delight at the nature themes as this really is my first love for stamping and crafting generally. This card is another blue one.

This one is an A5 size card. I stamped the square panel on white in Versamark and heat embossed in teal metallic EP. I cut out the panel, leaving the flowers protruding beyond the square panel. I sponged some Chipped Sapphire Distress ink around the edge. I used different shades of blue colouring pencil and a white Inkessentials pen to highlight the flower heads and butterflies. I mounted the panel onto the gorgeous fleur de lys nestie squares.

I stamped and embossed the stylised flower heads on white card and used blue pencils again to shade the flower centres. Again I edged the panel by sponging with the dark blue ink and added the square panel.  I stamped, embossed and coloured a couple of extra butterflies and cut these out and mounted them on the card using silcone glue to give a 3D effect.  I added the sentiment which I matted and layered several times on dark blue and silver card to add height. I finally matted the larger panel onto dark blue card before attaching to the card blank, and added white gems to complete the card.

Elaine

Carousel Horses by Debbie

This card is from the new stamps set Carousel Horses.

When I recieve new stamps for samples I usually stamp them with black ink and have them sitting on the work top in my craft room. I make notes and jot down any ideas I have. I couldn't wait and started applying colour immediately. This horse is stamped with black ink and embossed with clear powder. I coloured with Copic pens. Starting with light shades and adding colour for shading.

The backing was made by stamping and embossing with silver powder so not to take away the focus from the main image. I distressed with Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar. A couple of ribbon strands attatched with a brad to finish it off.

When I stamped the horses I fell in love with them. They reminded me of a past holiday in Euro Disney with the family.

This is one of five horses and there is a length of fabulous bunting on the stamp plate.  Click on the image for a close up.

Debbie

On the fringe!

Hello everyone, hope you are enjoying the artwork from my fellow DT members.

I've not actually posted on here since Chocolate Baroque started - lots of computer complications which I am not going to bother you with. Anyway with the launch of a new series of wonderful stamps I really wanted to create something which I could share with you all.

I have to say that swirls and twirls are always a favourite of mine, they are so useful aren't they? And I always love butterfly images - as I've said countless times, I think the butterfly is the most inoffensive image around and can be used for a myriad of occasions both happy and sad. So I just couldn't resist the large focal stamp from Butterfly Flourish Swirls.

The background was brayered onto glossy card using a Soothing Sunset Big 'n' Juicy inkpad, then I stamped the butterfly image using Lilac Posies Memento and the ivy corners, stamped with Tangelo Memento, are from the Wedding Belle stamp set. This was mounted onto a piece of cranberry card stock and then I added some highlights with Stickles and left it to dry.

I then wanted to add a little more interest to the card and decided on a toning background paper which was from the original guild paper pack. I added a strip of this paper to either side and then proceeded to cut into each strip to form a fringe. Took a little while (and a bit of patience!), but I was pleased with the result. Finally I mounted it onto an A5 card folded from the same cranberry cardstock. Voila!

Hope you like our take on these new stamps - remember to keep popping back to see what other delights the Design Team have to offer.

Lesley (W)
The Paper Engineer

May Each Day by ikki

My card today shows how useful stamps can be when you want to send a card saying you are thinking of someone at a difficult time in their life, and one of the most difficult to make!

I love decorative papers, but sometimes you need a little more.....on this paper from the Simple Elegance designs, the newly launched stamps Nature's Swirls are ideal.

The large flourish stamp is super - you can use different parts of the stamp and it looks like you have used multiple stamps!  Stamped in clear Versamark and heat embossed with White embossing powder it takes the lovely patterned paper to a new level!    When you add a sentiment from the Words of Comfort .....

you have a card for that difficult occasion! 

Materials used:

6" x 6" white card

Peach and white cardstock

Decorative paper: Simple Elegance

Stamps: Nature's Swirls and Words of Comfort

Nestabilities: Grand Square, Mega Rectangle

Inkpads:Adirondack: Salmon, Mountain Rose, Veramark

Embossing Powder : White

Flower, foam pads

My DT mates will be showing you more of their artwork over the next few days, so please come back soon for more inspiration and tips.

Happy Stamping, ikki

Blue swirly tree by Elaine

Well I have been lucky enough to play with these beautiful stamps and I seemed to be in a blue mood this month. Here is one of my cards using the Nature's Flourish set.

I worked on my favourite 8 x 8 sized card. I randomly inked a panel of white card with Stormy Sky Distress ink and Lavender Organza Paris Trunk dye ink. I overstamped with Cobalt blue archival ink using one of the large flourishes from the Nature's Flourish stamp set. I edged the panel with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and matted the panel onto mauve card. I stamped the tree in Versamark and heat embossed using metallic blue EP and then cut the panel with a nestie oval, matted onto a dark blue scalloped oval. I finished off with a mauve ribbon, a sentiment from the Words of Inspiration plate and mounted onto a fancy label nestie die cut and some mauve dew drops. This was one of those colour combinations that is a real pleasure to work on, very soothing tones.

I love anything with a nature theme and these flourishes have oodles of potential for gorgeous designs. I'd say they are an absolute "must have"!

Elaine

We have a lucky winner!

Well, I gathered up ALL the comments left on this blog and on my own (some people have had problems with Blogger and couldn't comment here) and did the random number thing to pick a winner.  There is one lucky lady who I think is going to be very happy ...

And that lady is .....


JEAN STRAW!

Congratulations Jean, I'll be in touch with you about your prize.  Jean has a blog called My Crafty Corner - why don't you pop over and visit, I'm sure she'd be delighted to have you visit her.

Big thank you to everyone who left a comment, it is much appreciated by all of us and please keep checking back as we have more wonderful DT artwork coming up.  You never know when the random prize pixie will strike ...

I'll leave you with a card I made with the Fantastic Florals, chalk inks and Derwent Pastel Pencils ...

Woodland Tunnel Card (posted by Judith)

My card sample uses the Nature Swirls stamp plate. When Glenda sent us these lovely stamps, I loved the two little owls on the branch, and I wanted to make them the focal point of my card. One of our Guild members, Karen, had made a lovely tunnel card and I decided to use this idea as a base for my project.

I printed out a backing paper from the Essence of Nature CD, and stamped and embossed the swirly owl stamp onto the design. I then cut three layers from coordinating Bazzil card and another design from the CD, using Nestabilities in different sizes to create frames in each layer. I stamped and embossed the swirly tree onto watercolour paper, that I had coloured with Distress Inks, then spritzed with water. I also cut out two die cut leaves, using a Marianne die from purple card.

To assemble the tunnel part of my card, I created a concertina of card, by measuring, and scoring one centimetre intervals across two pieces of Kraft card. I stuck my layers to these concertinas at the top and bottom, so that they were seperated from each other, like pieces of toast in a toast rack.

To finish, I stuck the whole thing to a side opening A5 card, and added a little owl charm and a flower made from leftover water colour paper that I had used to stamped my trees onto. I cut the flower out using a Crealie die.

Keep an eye out for lots more samples coming your way from the other Design Team members this week.

Judith xx

Watercolour Spritz

Inkpads aren't the only thing you can use to transfer an image from a stamp - lots of water based products are great for applying straight to stamps.  Whether that's markers, inks or acrylic paints, you can usually get a pleasing result somewhere along the line.  However it does depend what stamp you use.  For images of people, faces or animals, line drawings that you want to colour in and very detailed designs, I would stick to inkpads.  But with slightly more decorative designs, you can experiment and come up with some really nice effects.

The card above was made with a stamp from Nature Swirls coloured with Aqua markers which are watercolour based markers. You could get this effect by painting watercolour onto the stamp, or try water based markers (Copics and ProMarkers won't work).  I spritzed the stamp lightly with water before stamping and stamped onto watercolour paper.  

Without applying any more colour, I spritzed the stamp again and stamped onto a piece of watercolour paper which I had misted with quite a lot of water. The result was this much softer impression.

They both make beautiful images, don't you think?  The second one uses a phrase from Words of Comfort and Cheer - a stamp set which goes beyond the traditional get well greeting and works for a range of situations where you want to convey a heartfelt, genuine sentiment to someone you care about.

I didn't think I would actually need to use the words quite so soon after I produced it, but the card above was one that I sent recently to the wonderful Sue who designs most of our stamps.  She is such a talent, but very shy of any limelight, and I generally respect her wishes and don't mention her much.  However, she recently had to have surgery and although she is now recovering well, I know she's been through a bit of a rough time with it and at the risk of embarrassing her, I am taking this opportunity to say a public thank you for all her amazing artwork that allows us to create such beautiful stamps.

More great cards to follow - watch this space!

Twirly Swirly Goodness

We have new stamps launching this weekend, they start shipping on Monday.

It's been a while since we did any kind of giveaway here on the blog, so I am going to brighten up someone's weekend as I'm giving away a full set of these stamps to one lucky winner.

Here they all are ...

 

I'll be back tomorrow with more details and some photos of cards made with this lot.  Til then, let your imagination dream up some ideas and you might just get lucky if you leave a comment.

It's Only Words ................

Hi Everyone,

A few weeks ago my lovely fellow DT member Debbie suggested a friendly challenge to make a card using only Chocolate Baroque words stamps.  The CB catalogue has some beautiful script stamps on several of the plates as well as some lovely quotes and sentiments.  I have used several different stamps from the various sets to make the card below and if you would like more details just follow the link from the sidebar to my blog.

I love script stamps even if I can't read them so this card was a pleasure to make.

Debbie also made a card for our little challenge which you can see on her blog by following the link.

Have a lovely evening all.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

More shoes from Glenda

I thought it was about time I added some pictures of my shoes here as well.  Like Lesley, this is not normally a project I would tackle, but I enjoyed being able to play with trims and embellishments and surprised myself with what I did make.  I found heels too fiddly so just made mules!

This green shoe has a sole made from the Butterfly Bliss CD and the top is made from a zingy lime  card called Lustre card (a bit like mirri silk).  I wouldn't recommend it actually, it was difficult to bend into shape and had to be severely reinforced underneath with extra strong tape.  I stamped it with Abstract Flowers using purple StazOn and added a lavender sequin trim to it.  The bow is a piece of organza threaded through a copper buckle.

This one uses a paper from the neutrals collection on the Essence of Nature CD and the top has been stamped with a flower from Doodle Butterfly.  The white trim was something I've had for ages and never used (sound familiar?)

This one was actually the first I made and I even got the needle and thread out to sew the ruffled ribbon!  I used a flocked paper that I'd saved from a birthday present and stamped plain card with an ornate leaf design from the Breath of Spring stamp set.  I used a chalk ink that was very similar to the colour of the card, so you can hardly see the stamping.  I added a glitzy ribbon trim all the way round the sole and finished with layered Prima flowers.

I would love to see what artful shoes you can come up with - we have a free shoe template available on the website, so why not give it a go?

Leave a link to your creation here in the comments and if you use Chocolate Baroque products, we may even feature it here on the blog!

If the shoe fits ...

When Glenda asked the Design Team to put together shoes using papers from the companies CDs and stamps, the crafty side of my brain kicked in. There are a few templates around on the internet.
Glenda has put a template onto Chocolate Baroque website. It's a free download.
Print the template onto printable acetate, cut out and then you can place it where you want on beautiful papers. Or print it out on paper and draw around it on card ready to stamp on.



The photographs are a few of the shoes I had fun making and 2 of them were featured in the Chocolate Baroque newsletter.
I hope that the photos we have added will inspire you to have a go.
Have a crafty bank holiday weekend
Debbie

Paper shoe from Miranda.......

Hello dear crafters,

Today I like you to show my version of the paper shoe. My other teamies created also very beautiful shoes....... take a look at their blogs.
You can download a template of the shoe for free at the CB website.

I made this shoe from craftpaper and use of the beautiful sheet from CB paisley Elephant. I stamped with brown ink and added some gold embossing and a white pencil for some accents. It has a eastern look...... hope to have inspired you. Enjoy the paper shoe journey!

Greetz, Miranda

My Shoe...tique! (posted by Lesley)

Happy Bank Holiday to everyone,

When Glenda issued the Design Team with this challenge I have to confess to a sinking heart, lol!  This sort of thing is not normally my cup of tea at all but I decided to give it my best shot and guess what? ...............  I had so much fun!  I had no preconceived ideas of what I wanted to achieve, I just started with a particular paper or a set of stamps and let it flow and this is what I came up with.

For two of my shoes I changed the shape of the toe to a 'chisel'.

For this 'sandal' I printed Glenda's lovely paper design onto Sticky Backed Canvas which I then stuck to co-ordinating card before cutting out the pieces of the shoe.  I then stamped different flowers from the Big Flowers set onto Grungepaper, cut them out, inked them with Distress Inks before shaping, layering and positioning on my shoe and finally adding some Stickles to the centres and petal edges and a few punched leafy branches.

For my second shoe I went back to the pointy toe (that takes me back to my teens I can tell you and it was a loooooooonnnnnnnggggg time ago, lol) and went for Parisienne Chic.  I also gave my shoe a little heel.

After cutting out the pieces of the shoe from plain card, I blended Distress Inks all over and then overstamped with images from the Paris Postcard A6 plate.  Over the toe piece I stamped and gold embossed the lovely script stamp from the Antiquities plate and then assembled the shoe.

 
I stamped just a small section of the Notre Dame Cathedral image from the Paris Secrets plate onto a 1" Stampbord tile and used this as an embellishment together with some trim I found in a charity shop from which I made the flower.

This final shoe was my favourite bit of frivolous nonesense.  I used two paper designs from the Peacock Summer Party cd printed onto a heavyweight paper.  I stamped a lovely lacy border onto tissue paper, trimmed it and arranged it in a frill on the shoe.

I stamped a dragonfly  onto Angelina Fibres and repeat stamped the flower from Butterfly Daisy Collage to make the roses.  I also used some wire stemmed flowers from my stash together with ribbons to create the little arrangements in and on the shoe.

I think I'm going to make one of these with a little tag inside instead of a birthday card for my Mum.  It's just the sort of thing she will appreciate.

I hope you've enjoyed your trip around my little Shoetique and thanks for looking.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Stepping out in Style!

A little while ago, Glenda issued us with a bit of a challenge on the Design Team. She asked us to make some dimensional shoes. I had seen some lovely examples of these around on the Internet, but wanted to give a very distinct feel to my samples, that reflected the style of Glenda's stamps and papers. I wanted my shoes to look as though they were made of rich fabric, but all with a very different colour and texture from each other.
I used the same template throughout for my shoes, using Bazzil card for the base that matched the inks that I chose to colour the rest of the shoe. My first shoe was a very bold pink and black affair, with a handmade button, and lovely satin ribbon. I stamped the black design, using a stamp from the Filigree Fusion stamp plate. I embossed it with clear embossing powder, and then coloured the card with my Memento Lilac Posies Inkpad. The button was made from chipboard, and covered with Glossy Accents.

I made a matching tag with a Birthday greeting to go with this shoe, adding some black pom poms along the bottom.

The second shoe that I made was a much more subtle creation. I embossed a design from the Tall Trees stamp plate, using a pearly white embossing powder. I then applied Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, and stamped a tiny blue flower over the top. I added some pretty white lace to the shoe.

My last shoe was my personal favourite, it reminded me of Marie Antoinette at the French Court. I added a little heel to this one. I started by covering plain card with French poetry, and stamping a small rose from the Harlequin Rose stamp plate randomly all over. I coloured the roses with Inktense pencils, adding shading. I made a flower with a Nestability die, adding a large pearl brad. I used some pretty peach velvet ribbon to trim the shoe.

I thorougly enjoyed making these shoes, which was a very different venture for me. I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my brief foray into paper cobbling! Thanks for looking, Judith xx