Peony Fairy (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with my first sample using this months stunning new stamps. I've used the beautiful Peony Clear stamp for this card, peonies are one of my favourite flowers and I couldn't resist sitting this lovely little fairy from the September Fairies set on one of the flowers

I created the background with Picked Raspberry and a little Shabby Shutters distress inks, I popped some on my ink blending mat, misted with water and swooshed the card through it, once dry I stamped the peony here and there with more Picked Raspberry ink.

To create the focal image I stamped the fairy with black ink, (I only inked up the fairy, not the toadstools) and then masked her to stamp the flowers. I coloured the flowers with Graph'It markers and then used some Fantasy Film from my stash to stamp the wing and attached it with a little silicone glue. I used a shaving brush to dust ink around the image and matted it on white and then black card. To finish off I added some black lace, ribbon  and a little button from my stash.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Grey Parrot with splattered background (by Debbie)

I'm sure we are all guilty of waiting by the door for the postman to deliver goodies through the letter box. When Glenda showed us the first drafts of the Steampunk birds I fell in love with them.

My bird today is from the idea of an African Grey parrot and I wanted to add colour. I set too by stamping the bird with memento black and coloured with grey alcohol pens. Then made a mask to cover him and placed it carefully over. I put a plastic glove on and sprayed a selection of inks into my hand and spattered the inks onto the card. When the inks had dried I lifted the mask and used Broken China Distress Ink around the edge. I mounted onto black and a magenta colour card that was closest to one of the spray ink colours. The sentiment is A clear stamp that can be bought as a single or as part of a multi buy Fairyland Words. Thanks for visiting. Debbie

Steampunk Tropical Garden (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.

As soon as I saw the 'punky' Parrot from Steampunk Birds  I wanted to create a tropical garden for him to hang out in:)     It's been colder than normal here in Ontario, Canada so it would be great to feel warm tropical sunshine.   

I started by stamping cog plants from Punky Flowers on the background with white Colorbox Pigment ink.   I blended a few colours of green pigment ink over top and then rubbed off ink over the images (ghost stamping), but they are hidden into the 'garden'.   Next I stenciled with Distress Inks and TCW Gears (at the top) and TCW Ferns in the centre.

I embossed the Parrot from Steampunk Birds and the flowers from Punky Flowers with copper on watercolour paper, coloured with Tombow markers and cut them out to attach.    I added die cut leaves and a small metal cog.    Imagine is from Artistic Expressions.

I hope you can come back often as we have lots to show you this month.
Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Green feathered Fairy by Miranda

Hi there,

Today one of the December fairies I've played with........I've stamped her on a piece of watercolour paper which was worked on with Dylusion inks. I did use a crafters template(peacock feathers) on the background. The fairy was stamped on the same paper and coloured with Derwent Soft Colour pencils. In the background you can see a fragment of the Nature Fragments sheet. These fragments are such fun to work with and so versatile to use.
Only added some gemstones for a subtle sparkle..........and the quote is from the 'Reindeer landscape', one I am going to use a lot! Believe.......

Thanks for visiting and have a sparkling day!

Miranda

It's a Hoot (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a sample to show you today featuring the new Steampunk Birds unmounted stamp set. I have used a small frame which I have painted with blue and brown paint, and then covered it with Tim Holtz tissue wrap. I added a coat of matte medium to protect the tissue wrap and left this to dry. I added more paint over the areas that I wanted to highlight, like the buildings and the butterflies.

I stamped and embossed the owl using copper embossing powder, and also stamped some flowers from the Punky Flowers stamp set. I coloured these using Distress Markers. I die cut a branch from brown card, and assembled my project, adding some brass cogs, and a spinner. Finally, I added a sentiment from the new stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Steampunk just got wings - announcing STEAMPUNK BIRDS!

We have something for the steampunk fans this month, but if that's not your thing, don't worry, we also have some beautiful individual floral stamps too.

Say hello to Steampunk Birds!

I made this jumbo tag using a distress stain background (covered in Monday Mojo issue 16) and lots of layered stamping.  The birds are coloured with a mixture of Derwent ColourSoft pencils and Derwent Graphitint pencils.  The Graphitint are a mixture of graphite and colour and I thought they would give me that worn, rusty look that I was after.  When I first saw the stamps, I had this vision of mechanical metal birds roaming wild in a steamy rainforest, their bright colours dulling down as they acquired a patina of rust.

Here's a couple of close ups showing the colouring and layered stamping.  I've mixed in stamps from Punky Flowers and Texture Fragments.

I think of these as quirky rather than full on steampunk and they really could be very  useful for masculine cards (Adrian loves the paddle steamer duck).  But for a complete contrast, here's our other new release this month - four delicate and very beautiful floral stamps in our clear range.

Available as single stamps or as a money saving multi-buy, these clear stamps can be positioned accurately exactly where you need them.

More details on this card coming up on my own blog soon.

So there you have our December releases - I hope you are enjoying the girls artwork and don't forget we'll be giving away a Chocolate Baroque gift voucher from comments chosen by the DT this month.

PS - we have lots of offers that will expire at the end of November - don't miss out on introductory prices and our special £10.00 off promotion - click here for details.

Winter Fairy and Snow (by Shirley)

Hello everyone

I have a design today featuring a fairy from the new Winter Fairy Collection and it's starting to snow on her.   I guess fairies don't need warm clothing :)  

The beautiful fairy is from January Fairy and the tree is from February Fairy.   I also used the snowflake edge from Winter Edges.  I love how Chocolate Baroque's beautiful stamp sets work so well together.   The designer is very talented. 

I used blue design paper from my stash that actually has a wood grain pattern, but I liked the colour for the sky.   I did all the stamping with Rich Cocoa Memento Dye Ink and colouring with Prisma Pencils.  I masked the fairy before stamping the trees and 'ground'.    I stamped the bottom part of the snowflake edge on the ground and coloured it in.   I used puff paint for the snow.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day
Shirley

Fairy Dust (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample created using the beautiful Winter Fairy Collection. As soon as I saw these stamps I pictured the fairies flying around in a circle scattering fairy dust as they went.

I began by blending distress inks on some white card (I used Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Broken Chine, Shaded Lilac) and then stamped  the swirls from the January stamp set around the edges. Once the background was dry I stamped the fairies (also from the January set) and the fairy dust (from February) with versamark and then embossed with a sparkly white embossing powder.

The sentiment is from Damask Reindeer, again embossed with the same embossing powder and die cut with Spellbinders, dusting a little more embossing powder around the edges. To finish off I added a bow and some little pearls in the corners.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

A Festive Fairy (by Debbie)

Hello from a chaotic craft room DT member. I have been without a PC and craft room for five days. I'll tell the short version. My hubby and I discussed that in the New Year we would revamp my craft space. He told me last weekend that he needed to drill a hole in the wall from the garage into my room but one of the units was in the way. I got in from work on Tuesday and everything had been stripped out and stored in the garage. Wednesday and Thursday were spent painting and shopping for new storage units, a chair and new flooring. Friday he laid the new floor and we built the new furniture. Saturday I spent carefully retrieving my precious Chocolate Baroque stamps from under the piles of magazines and papers. BUT I'm not going to moan as I now have an amazing space to create in, just a little earlier than planned. I'll post a few photo's on my blog this week when I've sorted a little more.

My Festive fairy is from the February set of stamps and she is a joy to work with. I stamped her onto white smooth card and coloured her with alcohol pens. I added Wink of Stella clear to her wings but unfortunately the photograph hasn't picked it up. Using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink I blended around the edges to add more colour. With the same colour inkpad I stamped the holly flourish to create a background and with black ink stamped the greeting at the bottom. I mounted onto black card and trimmed with a fine bored as I didn't want it to domineer the card. Thank you for visiting. Debbie

Winter Fairies & Abstract Fragments CAS Style (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope your weekend is going well.   It's been colder than normal this week in Ontario, Canada and we've had a little snow!  I'm not ready for Winter! 

I have several 'quick make' cards today using the new stamps.

For the above card, I used TCW Starfall Stencil and Distress Inks to create the background.  I stamped the sentiment, "Magic Happens" and the fairy from December Fairy with black ink.  I used Stardust Stickles on her wings.

I used the same Fairy and stencil for the card below but added holly from the Winter Fairy Collection.

The next two cards I used fragments from Abstract Fragments.

For the above card I used TCW Mod Spirals stencil in the background using Shaded Lilac Distress Ink.  Next I inked over top with TCW Butterflies stencil and while the stencil was in place I stamped with a fragment from Abstract Fragments using Seedless Preserves.  Glenda called it 'stampencilling':)    'Best Wishes' is from Loving Sentiments.

. 
For the above card I used the same stencil and another fragment from Abstract Fragments and the same Distress Inks.   The sentiment is from Birthday Words.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day!
Shirley

Masculine Birthday Greetings (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.  I have a card design today that I think works well for a man.

The background was created with Melted Chocolate (how appropriate) Dylusions Ink.   I stamped using two tree trunk grain fragments from the new Nature Fragments set with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.     I embossed two trees from Fantasy Woodland and sentiment from Birthday Words with brown powder.   I blended Broken China Distress Ink over the trees and label.   

Die:  Spellbinder - Elegant Labels 4 S6-005

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Frosty Fairy (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here is a Wintery sample for you using the Winter Fairy stamp collection. I stamped the main fairy onto a piece of white card, and then created a mask which I placed over the image. I stamped some mushrooms from the Autumn Fairy collection and then created masks for those as well. I made some paper masks for the hills, by tearing some scrap paper, and sponged various shades of green across the background. Fnally, I used some blue ink to create a sky, adding a circle mask to create a sun.

I added some yellow in the circle area for the sun, and embossed some trees using white embossing powder. I then removed the masks and coloured the stamped images using Graph it markers. To finish, I added some glitter glue along the edges of the hills and to highlight the mushrooms.

To create the background, I embossed some snowflakes from the Reindeer Landscape stamp set using white embossing powder, and then covered the background with blue ink. I used a sentiment from the Winter Fairies stamp set, and added some blue organza ribbon and some gems to finish.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Believe in the magic ..... (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with my first sample using the beautiful Winter Fairies . I've used this pretty fairy from the February set, isn't she a beauty???

I've coloured her with Graph'It markers and added some glamour dust to her wings.

 The background was made with PanPastels and a snowflake stamp from Damask Reindeer which I embossed with white embossing powder. The sentiment is also from Damask Reindeer. I've used red card to mat and layer and added a little red bow and a snowflake charm to finish off.

Thanks so much for visiting, 

Claire xx

Warm colours Winter Fairy (by Debbie)

Hello. I can't believe how this year has flown by. My card today was started in August, on a fabulous day playing with lots of crafty goodies at Waterworth Towers. Judith, Lesley and I were invited to spend a day getting painty, inky and generally having fun. It was a day I'll remember for a long time as I love the company of good friends who have a common interest in crafting and learned such a lot from the discussions we had.

The background for my card was made from red, pink and yellow Acrylic paint and the Gelli Plate. I brayered the paint across the plate and laid the Climbing Vine stencil on top then placed paper over it to take a first print. I then lifted the stencil off and laid down black card for the second print which is the one I used for my card. While waiting for the paint to dry I sprayed a strip of white card with yellow, pink and orange Dylusions. When the strip dried I stamped the standing Fairy and sentiment with Onyx Black Versafine. Before assembling the card, I trimmed the edges then mounted the Fairy and background onto black card. I added a few strips of ribbon and finished by attaching to orange card that had been embossed and a white base card. Thank you for stopping by today. Debbie.

Winter Fairies for Christmas (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.

I have a couple of designs today featuring stamps from the new beautiful Winter Fairy Collection.  I used images from December Fairy for the card below.

The background was created with Calypso Teal, After Midnight and White Linen Dylusions spray inks and I sprinkled a little salt while wet.   I stencilled a little over the background using Circle Explosion by TCW.   I stamped the angel with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, embossed with clear, cut it out, matted and coloured with Dylusions inks. 

Next is a beautiful fairy from February Fairy.

I created the background with Festive Berries Distress Ink using an Acrylic Block.   I stamped the trees from Reindeer Landscape with Festive Berries Distress Ink.    I embossed the holly edge from Christmas Edges and Believe from Reindeer Landscape with gold.  The fairy is also embossed with gold, coloured with Tombow markers, cut out and attached.  I added Diamond Stickles to her wings and dress.

I hope you can come back often to see what my talented teammates are creating.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!
Shirley

Thank you Fairies (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a project to show you using the gorgeous new Winter Fairy Collection stamp set. Around this time of year, we have lots of thank yous to send, and so I decided to make a gift wallet containing some thank you cards, using lots of the fairy images from both this stamp set and the Autumn Fairy stamp set.

I started my project by cutting some paper masks from scrap paper and inking through the masks with a variety of inks onto plain white card cut to size.

I blended the colours as I graduated down the area that I was shading to get a soft blend. I removed the mask and stamped one of the fairies from the stamp plate over the shaded area. On each card, I added a sentiment taken from Words of Gratitude or Pretty Poppies stamp sheets. I added black matting to the cards to tie in with the stamping.

I cut two pieces of black card 21cms x 19.5cms.  I then scored 1.5cms at one end of each piece, and overlapped them, sticking them together at this point. I scored 2.5cms at each outer edge, and 2.5cms along the bottom, cutting out a gap where the overlap occurred along the bottom. I trimmed the bottom edges slightly at each of the four ends. I folded the sides and the bottoms inwards, and secured the outer corners with glue or double sided tape.

 I placed a piece of ribbon across the middle of the front of the folder before sticking on the front design. I actually used two pieces of ribbon, a shorter piece on the right, and a longer piece on the left to wrap right around the back.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Welcoming our Winter Fairies (by Glenda)

I'm delighted to announce the latest in our collection of Fairy stamps - meet the Winter Fairies. 

This time we are releasing December, January and February Fairy sets with a multi-buy available on all three.  There's also a new Winter Fairy Inspirations leaflet with some beautiful artwork from our talented DT girls.

The leaflet is free for a limited time when you purchase the three set multi-buy.

I made this little set of four ATCs with a mixture of stamps from all three sets and I will be jazzing them up a touch and offering them for trade on Facebook over the weekend, so why not 'like' our page so you can see what we're up to over there.  (Click here to visit the Chocolate Baroque facebook page.)

We also have a super clear set called Amazing Birthday featuring a collection of sentiments which I have been finding incredibly useful lately.  

They really have motivated me to get many of my stamped bits and pieces turned into finished cards as you can see over on my own blog here.  I'm not a natural finisher, I have a huge box of unfinished 'bits', so it was very satisfying to get that sense of accomplishment from finishing a batch of cards.  (It's also very motivational - I haven't stopped crafting all week!)

As always, the girls have some great cards and projects lined up for you and you really don't want to miss the lovely inspiration leaflet - it will definitely get your crafting juices flowing!

PS - we really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment on all of our DT blog posts, so at the end of this month each DT member (me included) will choose one commenter whose name will go into a hat and one of those names will be drawn randomly to win a Chocolate Baroque gift voucher. 

A Sweet Robin for Christmas (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have a couple of designs today using stamps from the new Nature Fragments set and an another favourite, Christmas Song.   The fragment stamps are wonderful for creating backgrounds, I know I'll use them a lot!

The background was created with Peacock Feathers & Picked Raspberry Distress Inks using the Acrylic Block technique.   I over stamped with the Ice Fragment from Nature Fragments with the same Inks.     The Robin from Christmas Song was stamped with Cocoa Memento Ink and coloured with Inktense Pencils.   I added glitter, rhinestones and died sheer ribbon with Raspberry Ink to match.

 

And below is a second design also featuring the sweet little Robin:

I used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Acrylic block for the background.  I over stamped with the Ice Fragment with both Shaded Lilac and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.   The poem (also from Christmas Song) and Robin were again stamped with Cocoa Memento Ink.   I coloured the Robin with Prisma Pencils.   

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Shirley

Festive Robin with Abstract Fragments (by Debbie)

The crackle background from Abstract Fragments is quickly climbing to the top of my favourite stamps list. I had the colours for this card in my head before I chose the stamp for the main image.

For the background I inked the stamp with Archival Ink Potting Shed and randomly stamped onto white card. The stamp fits together beautifully as it has no straight edges. Around the edges of the card I used Festive Berries Distress Ink. The Robin sitting on the Bird house is form the Christmas Tweetings set was stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold powder. I water coloured the image with Distress Inks, added the sentiment and a little red ribbon. This card will be added to my Christmas card box which will be opened soon. I can't believe how quickly the festive season is coming around this year. Many thanks for visiting. Debbie

Icy Fragment (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a card made using one of the gorgeous images from Gothic Angels on a background made using one of the fab new stamps, Nature Fragments

I've used glossy card for the background and randomly applied tumbled glass, broken chine and a little shaded lilac distress inks and then overstamped with the icy fragment using the same colours. I've edged the background with tea dye distress ink and matted it on some kraft card. The main image was stamped on kraft card and embossed with sparkly white embossing powder. I stamped the image again on smooth white card and coloured with Graph'It Markers.

 Next I cut the image out and layered it up on the kraft card. I layered the image up over some cheesecloth, coloured with distress inks and added a little bow and some die cut snowflakes topped with little pearls.

Thanks for visiting today, keep popping back as my teamies have got some gorgeous samples to share using these lovely new stamps

Claire xx