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!

another musical note.........

Hello there,

The 2nd one made with the 'Music Fanfare' sheet. I have used the center step card model. You can find the video tutorial from Glenda here. I have used my Derwent pencils for colouring and sponged the rectangle with Colorbox pigment inks. Also the panels with the hearts are sponged. Beneath I have put some mirri paper. The flowers are from Crealies.(no.6) Just added some gemstones and if you take a closer look you can see a bit of rainbow colours in the top of the card. I have a rainbow crystal hanging in front of my window and when the sun is shining it adds those colours on my photo's.

Hope you have a lot of inspiration by now made by all the girls of the DT team! So enjoy your stamping, 

creative greetz,

Ideal for a Chess fan

  
When we recieved our stamps for making samples I recieved the Music Fanfare which I love but with my Hubbys birthday around the corner thought the Art of Chess would be ideal for him.
This is an 8x8 card backed with paper. I cut out a square from acetate and used as a mask along the sides as a suggestion of a board. The chess pieces are stamped in black and brown and the edges are distressed. The centre image is stamped with Brilliance Tiramisu and clear embossed. I turned the ink pad as it isn't as big as the stamp. The shading around the sun is Antique Linen Distress Ink so the white of the palace stands out. I mounted onto brown and black then finished with a sentiment.

Keep popping back as there will be more inspiration coming from the Design Team.

Debbie

A Random Blog Winner

I mentioned a while ago that I might do a random giveaway and I have gone through all the comments since we launched Music Fanfare and The Art of Chess, put the names into the random number cruncher and come up with a winner.

And that winner is ...

Marja's Stamp Addiction

Marja - I can't understand Dutch, but the pics on your blog are just gorgeous.  Can you get in touch with me please and send me your address so I can send a little something to you.

Next week we are launching our main Christmas collection - be prepared to have your stamping tastebuds tickled pink!

Music is my first love and it will be my..............

Hello there,
Music is my first love and it will be my last.....a great song from John Miles. And indeed music is a very important part of my life, so this sheet is fantastic to play with.
I want to show you my creation with that beautiful music sheet. I kept the stamping very simple, so it will be great for a beginner.This time a diamond folded card. I have used an embossing folder for the musical notes and sponged it with Distress Ink. Also used the Crealies flowers/leaves and clef. As you can see I stamped the flowers with the music notes stamp. I stamped the instrument with black and gave some accents with a white pencil. I stamped the clef onto the other areas which you can see in between. Hope to have inspired you and see you next time,

musical greetz,

Show Stockists wanted

It is the start of the Autumn show season kicking off with the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza at Harrogate this weekend, and we are actively looking for trade customers who would like to have exclusive rights to sell Chocolate Baroque stamps at shows.

I am getting so many enquiries about whether our stamps will be at Ally Pally, Harrogate, the NEC, etc, that we would really like to have our stamps out there at shows.  Adrian and I have no intention of doing any of the shows ourselves so this is a fantastic opportunity.

We would be happy to grant exclusivity on a show by show basis, so if you are looking for a brand with exciting and popular designs, service second to none, show special pricing, and marketing support, then please get in touch.  Please email trade@chocolatebaroque.com and let us know which shows you are going to be attending.


For all of you who are off to the shows to shop 'til you drop - if you have a favourite stand, why not let them know what we are looking for and ask them to get in touch. Hopefully we will be able to have Chocolate Baroque well represented for you at shows in the future.

Red, Gold, Cream and Brown (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, well here is another submission from me, using the lovely 'Music Fanfare' set of stamps just launched this week. The title of my post sounds a bit like a colour challenge, doesn't it? I set out to use this colour combination when making my project and the title just stuck.

  I embossed a path of treble clefs streaming across the card in gold, and then sprayed a mixture of red mists across them. I then stamped some of the flowers from the 'Filigree Fusion' stamp set onto cream card and cut them out, adding brown buttons to their centres. I cut brown Crealie leaves to put behind the flowers. The music fragment and floral instrument were stamped onto cream card and 'aged' with Distress Inks.

The mixture of stamps on this music plate is really lovely, and so versatile. It is such a useful set for male and female cards. Keep checking back for more samples from the Design Team this week. Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

Mini Tag Pocket Folder (ala Tim Holtz and posted by Lesley E)

Hello Everyone,

I have another project for you today using the Art of Chess stamps together with a few more from the Chocolate Baroque catalogue.  I made the little pocket folder using a method demonstrated by Tim Holtz on his DVD An Altered Journey.

I used watch stamps and a mesh background stamp to build up a background on the lightweight card I used for my little folder and I tore relevant definitions from an old dictionary to stick in strategic places once the folding was complete.

 I blended inks onto my tags and used some sequin waste as a mask.  I also did some background stamping.  I stamped and embossed the chess pieces onto white card, cut them out and shaped them slightly and adhered with silicone glue to the tags.

On the inside of the folder I stamped some of the smaller chess pieces into melted UTEE (clear UTEE with some ordinary Burgundy Embossing Powder added) using a Brilliance inkpad and again used silicone glue to attach them.

For these two tags I pressed my Distress Inkpads onto my craft mat and spritzed lightly with water.  I scrunched up my tags and opened them out again before pressing them into the ink and then ironed them dry between copy paper.  I followed this with background stamping on the tags and then this time I stamped the chess pieces onto Glassine using Versamark ink and Sticky Stuff before adding the metal leaf, cutting out and adhering to the tags.
I'm sure there's more to come from the rest of the team so keep watching.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

A bit of paper weaving (posted by Judith)

I was very pleased to be able to work with the new set of stamps 'The Art of Chess' when Glenda sent these to us, as I thought that they would be perfect for men's cards. (I also have a fabulous idea for a girly card too, using these stamps!) I decided to keep my colour scheme very simple, and just use black and white.
I marked 11/2 cms sections at one side of my card, and wove white card strips through my top black piece of card, to create the illusion of the chessboard fragment. For balance, I used a fabulous large swirl from the 'Butterfly Dreams' stamp set, which I embossed in white in the opposite corner. I stamped the sentiment, and mounted it onto a Nestability frame, fixing it to my card with two white brads. Finally, I stamped two large chess pieces onto glossy card, one black, and one white.

These are great stamps, look out for more Design Team samples coming your way this week. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Colour my life with music by ikki

When I first saw this new stamp from the Music theme set, I knew I wanted colour and a dramatic look to set of the beautiful image!   Black, White and Orange gave me this look.......

I really enjoyed creating this card with my distress inks and a masking technique using post-it notes.  I stamped the image on the slant to correspond with the PC generated sentiment, then placed 3 post-its round the image and applied ink.  With the completed section covered with another mask you can continue to colour the other sections with different but toning inks by just moving the masks about.   This is a simple way to give drama and highlight an image if you don't mind getting inky fingers!

Materials used:
White textured 6 x 6 card
Cardstock: black, white
Nestabilies: Large square #7/ Grand square #1
Stamps: Music
Ink: Black Memento
DI's: rusty hinge, dried marigold, spiced marmelade, mustard seed
Scoreboard
PC generated sentiment

Thanks for dropping by,

If Music be the Food of Love! (posted by Elaine)

When I saw the music and hearts on this lovely stamp plate this quote popped into my head!

I strated off with a cream background and added treble clefs and the curvy music staves part of the violin stamp to make up a background using Hazel Adirondack dye ink and colouring with Peach Bellini Addirondack and Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo DI.I then heat embossed various elements from the stamps onto gold and copper pearl card using contrasting gold and copper EP and cut them out using tiny scissors. Using the curled leaf from the Brocade Background plate, I stamped in Russet Archival ink and coloured in Wild Honey, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I mixed these with some brown paper leaves to make a trail across the card. I finished the card with a computer generated sentiment coloured with the same inks and cut out with a nestie, added gold ribbon and ric rac and some amber gems.

Keep popping over this week to see what the other girls have been up to with these new stamps. We hope you feel inspired by our ideas.

Elaine

Ebony and Ivory? (posted by Lesley E)

Hello Everyone,

When Glenda first sent us these lovely chess stamps I immediately thought of cards for men but once I got to work with them I thought they would also make lovely feminine cards too especially with the scenic image which is rather romantic.  I don't play chess myself but when I see chess sets I always think of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunnaway in The Thomas Crowne Affair, lol!

Anyway, here is my first project using this lovely set of stamps.

I started with an ivory 8" x 8" base card and punched a border across the top and bottom front edges.  I punched the same border along the edges of a piece of black perlescent card and trimmed them off the main piece adhering them behind the borders on the front of the card.  The piece of black card which was left I embossed down the right half using the Tim Holtz Texture Fades Checkerboard embossing folder  and then sanded off the black surface before adhering to my card front.

I stamped the main image onto ivory card using black Versafine ink, trimmed to the size I wanted and then added touches of colour with Coloursoft pencils.  I masked the image and dusted Stormy Sky Distress Ink round the top half of  the border and Bundled Sage round the bottom border and I then matted it first onto black perlescent card and then ivory card before mounting onto the card front.  Finally, I stamped the King onto white card with black ink and the Queen in white onto black card before cutting them out and positioning them together with the stamped sentiment onto the right side of the card.

I think the chess pieces on this stamp set are excellent for making tags or ATCs too and they also combine well with several other sets.  Keep an eye on my own blog for a card I made recently combining them with the lovely music set and I know there are more projects coming up from my Design Team buddies so lots of inspiration to come.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Beeswax and Butterflies (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, when I received these lovely stamps from Glenda, I had also just bought some lovely chalk inkpads too. I decided that I would like to combine the two elements in a projects, and this card came about. I created a lovely soft background using three different coloured chalk inkpads, blending them together, and then stamping some swirls from the 'Nature Swirls' set around the edges.

I then stamped the music fragment and several hearts onto some cream card and cut them out. I covered all of these with melted beeswax, and then placed the hearts into a flower shape with a brass flower embellishment. I stamped the gramophone from the 'Music Fanfare' stamp set and two butterflies from the 'Butterfly Flourish' stamp set which I cut out and coloured with pencils. I added Glossy accents to the bubbles on the gramophone image, and used a Tim Holtz swirl behind my flower to complete the card.

Keep checking back for more lovely samples from the Design Team this week, using the new stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

Music and Chess

We have a couple of new stamp sets just released this week - Music Fanfare and The Art of Chess.

People sometimes ask me about the sizes, so these are both A5 (half sheets) which makes them approximately 14cm x 20cm (8.5 inches x 6 inches). 

I created a center step card with the chess stamps and liked the format so much I created a template with instructions.  Click here for the template.  I know people learn in different ways and templates work for some people, but others prefer to measure everything, so I put all the measurements on my template, then filmed a short video showing how easy it is to make.  You can find the video on YouTube - click here to visit my YouTube channel.

The DT have once again created some beautiful artwork with these stamps and we have quite a line up of blog posts waiting to be published, so please check back often over the next few days as there will be lots to inspire you.

The two sets are available as a multi-buy deal too and you never know when I might just take it into my head to do a random giveaway!

Happy stamping!

Home Sweet Home Winner

Well it took me quite a while to 'harvest' all the comments from all the blogs, but once I had done that, the random number pixie gave me the magic number and I'm delighted to tell you that the winner of the Home Sweet Home stamp set is

Julie W from Julie's Crafty Space.

Congratulations Julie, could you get in touch so we know where to send your prize - click here for our Contact Us page.

Seems like a lot of you really like the Home Sweet Home stamps, so it will be interesting to see if you like what's coming next .... Steampunk Christmas!

Watch out for that next week.

Sunset grasses

The grasses stamp from the Home Sweet Home stamp plate is such a versatile stamp. It was a real coincidence that my Design Team buddy Lesley and I had come up with a similar idea.

I cut four squares of white card and rounded one corner of each.

The grasses were stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with white powder. Cut a circle of paper to use as a mask and placed over the grasses. I used mustard seed, spiced marmalade, fired brick and vintage photo distress ink to colour each image. Each piece is mounted onto gold and the placed onto the cream base card. The base card is two pieces of cream A4 card cut to 21 x 21cm and joined with a length of ribbon. A little more distressing around the edge of the card to soften. Finally a sentiment and a few punched leaves dotted around.

Glenda will be picking a winner from one of the DT blogs very soon, so check back to see if you have won a set of these delightful stamps.

Debbie

one more 'krafty' Home Sweet Home creation.......

Hello dear crafters,

Just showing you one more 'krafty'( don't know if that's proper English) card made with the sweet HSH sheet from Chocolate Baroque. I had much fun with these stamps. This time I stamped with brown and coloured the image with my Derwent coloursoft's. On the background I used the swirl from Butterfly Flourishes.

Well hope you enjoy those stamps as much as I did! greetz,

New shop opening this weekend in Yeovil

I'm delighted to tell you about a brand new Chocolate Baroque stockist who is opening her shop with a fantastic open day this Saturday 6th August, with the fun starting at 10.00am.

The shop is called Stamp 'N' Craft, run by Beth Pearse and you can find it at Unit 2, Merlin Road, Lynx Trading Estate, Yeovil, Somerset, BA21 3HZ.  Regular opening hours are 10am to 5:30pm Mon - Sat.

Beth has ordered a mountain of Chocolate Baroque stamps for the launch day and I threw in some freebies for her too, so you never know what she'll be getting up to with those.

Beth has started her shop because she felt there was a lack of classes and retailers in the area and she aims to provide a place where people can book time with her or her staff to get taster sessions and mini tutorials as well as full workshops. Crafters can pop in for a chat, and share ideas along with a beverage.

So if you are free this Saturday and in the area, why not go along and support Beth - I wish her every success in her new business venture and if you do pop in, say hello from me!

Krafty cottage (posted by Elaine)

Here is another card from me using the gorgeous Home Sweet Home stamps.

I stamped the main cottage image on kraft card in black archival ink and coloured the image using Coloursoft pencils, blended with Sansador. I inked the edges with my favourite Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I cut the image into an oval with nesties and mounted on a brown complementing scalloped oval and mounted it onto a kraft card panel. I added die cut flowers from a book page (Tim Holtz Tattered Florals) inked with Fired Brick DI and brown Crealies leaves.  Finally I added the sentiment on a nestie ribbon tag and mounted it on cream and black ribbon, before matting and layering a couple of times. I made this as a New Home card, but it could be mounted in a frame as well.

I hope you are enjoying the different ideas from the team this week.

Elaine

Sunray by ikki

Hi, I have another card to show you featuring the lovely Home Sweet Home stamps

Materials used:

Black 6 x 6 Card

Cardstock: Bronze Mirri, Bronze Pearl

Acetate

Nestabilities: Grand Squares (sizes 1 and 3)

Stamps – Home Sweet Home

Inkpads: Black Stazon

Eazi-Scoreboard and Stylus

To make this card:

Cut 3 squares with the Nesties Grand Square #3  :  bronze mirri, bronze pearl, acetate -emboss the edge of the bronze mirri with a stylus pen or in your die cutting machine. 

Place the Grand Square #1 in the centre of the bronze mirri, tape in place and cut to make a frame.

On the pearl square, starting in the bottom left corner, make your first line to the opposite corner to start the sunray effect.   Using the double lines to keep the pattern equal - make further lines, always starting from the same bottom corner.

Stamp the acetate with the grass stamp - You need to take care where you stamp  so that the sun is in the centre of your ray. Cut a circle from the bronze mirri and place behind the sun.

Assemble all your layers and add to the base card. 

This set of stamps were a delight to work with and so useful for any occasion.

Until next time, enjoy your crafting and don't forget to leave a comment here and on my blog and on all the other DT's blogs for a chance to win these stamps.  Glenda will be doing a random draw so the more visits you make - the more chances you have of winning.  Some lucky crafter will be a very happy crafter!

ikki

Home Sweet Home.......

Hello there,

Today a card using the new sheet 'Home Sweet Home'. I have used the smallest image on the sheet and added some lines for this tiny landscape. I have used the sponging technique and put this circle on a Cheery Lynn doily. Also embossed the grasses and sentiment with white EP on the card.

Hope to have inspired you, greetz