Fifteen Minute Cards

Hello everyone, today we are sharing more of our quick and uncomplicated projects with you. Starting this month, we are only having one of these posts a month, and we are really giving you a value packed edition! The Design Team have created some beautiful cards and we hope that you will enjoy what we have to share with you. The cards and other projects have all taken fifteen minutes or less to complete, and are suitable for beginner stampers, for those of you looking for quick cards to make, maybe for someone who needs a batch card to make for a special occasion, like an invitation or a celebration, perhaps? These cards could be great for craft fairs, or fundraising, as you can make as many cards as you wish, as long as you are hand stamping each item.

You can click on each Design Team member's name to reach their individual blogs, where you will find more information about their projects, and also see more of their fabulous work. So, grab a cuppa and scroll through this month's selection of fifteen minute cards.

Claire's sepia toned card shows a very different way of using this lovely stamp image. You can create a lovely card for the men in your life in a short space of time, using a limited colour palette:

I have gone for a bright and bold background to display the lovely Baroque Meadow silhouette stamp, adding the little butterflies and a sentiment. This card was so quick to make, and the sky is the limit when you change the background colour:

Brenda has created two lovely cards for us this month, the first was made by masking around four squares on the background of the card with masking tape, and inking them with Distress Ink. She then stamped the branch and Kingfisher, colouring them with the same Distress Inks and using one of the flowers from Glade Design a Tree to add some flowers to the branch. She added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set.

For her second card, she scribbled three colours of Distress Crayons onto a craft sheet, added water and brushed each colour onto the background.Next she stamped the silhouette flowers using Black Archival Ink, tied a piece of seam binding, and added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set.

We have two cards from Zoe next, both on a circular theme, but very differemnt from each other. For her first card, Zoe has picked some of the smaller foliage elements from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set and created a Christmas wreath. This such a simple looking card, but very effective:

For her second card, she has used a circular mask to create a blue moon, added colourful grasses, and a lovely sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set. The little butterflies from the Baroque Meadow stamp plate complete the card.

Dominike has created a set of three lovely watercolour effect cards, and you could use so many of the floral images from Chocolate Baroque to create a card like these. Simply use a water soluble ink like Distress Ink, ink up your stamp, and spritz the stamp with water before you stamp the image onto your background.

 Each card will give different results:

 The amount of water that you use determines how watery your image will appear.

We have a selection of cards from Penny to share with you this month; the first was created by stamping a tree using black ink onto a background from her stash. She used a fine liner pen to 'ground' the tree, by drawing a landscape onto the background. She added leaves using first and second generation stamping. She used a white gel pen at the centre of the leaves, edged the panel with a gold marker pen, and matted it onto black card. She stamped the leaves onto her base card using Distress Inks and added glitter. When the glitter was dry, she added her focal panel to the base card.

To create her second card, she stamped the peacock using Versafine Ink onto a background from her stash, and embossed the image using gold embossing powder. She die cut a panel around the peacock, and then also cut a mat which she edged with gold pen. She stamped a border at the top and bottom of the base card and added gold pen. She stamped and embossed a sentiment, die cut a panel, then attached both panels to the base card.

For her final card, she stamped the flowers and butterfly onto a gelli plate background from her stash, and embossed them with black embossing powder. She then painted the images with pearl paints, and added some Gothic corners, embossing them in the same way. She matted and layered the panel onto some embossed kraft edged with Distress Ink, and attached it to a base card.

Rachel has created a beautiful collection of cards, the first has been made using Brushos and white embossing:

For the second, she created a background using Distress Inks, and stamped the images using Black Archival Ink:

For her third card, she used repeated stamping and rotation of the base card, using Archival Inks:

For her next card she has used alcohol inks on yupo paper, and then stamped the image using Archival Ink, which she then wiped away, creating a faux resist effect. She added more stamping using Archival Ink over the top. The background was created using Archival Inks.

For her final card, she masked a circle and stamped in Archival, created a Distress Ink background, and overstamped using Distress Inks.

Julie has created a pretty textured card, using the bubble effect stamp from the Sticks and Stones stamp plate. She has used it to create both a background and to decorate her heart embellishments. The hearts have also served as masks for part of her background, and she has used these spaces to add her sentiments from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set.

Her next card is a lovely project, using watercolour markers to colour the Baroque Meadow image, creating a very quick clean and simple style card. The coloured butterfly and sentiment are lovely additions.

We have another clean and simple style card from Vronnie next. This card would be so perfect for a sympathy card, such a difficult card to make, but this simple image with the right sentiment is just right.

Vronnie's second card by comparison, is very colourful and cheery, and the beautiful watery background is stunning.

Magda's leafy card would be another great masculine card, the earthy colours are perfect for this leafy stamp:

Anne has given us a super selection to share with you; her first card was created by stamping and embossing the image with white embossing powder. She coloured the background, and lifted some of the colour off, by sponging through a stencil with water, and blotted the excess away. She completed the card by stamping the sentiment and twig, then used a green pen to edge the card and frame.

For her second card, she stamped the images onto a tag using Distress Ink. The card was edged with black pen and a little Distress Ink to frame.

Last but not least, we have a card from Marga, our newest Design Team member. Marga has created her card by placing a selection of the foliage images from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set onto an acrylic block, and inking these with different coloured inks. She stamped the images twice and stamped a small grass image in between the open areas. She cut a square from one of the stamped images, and after matting onto coloured card, placed it over the other stamped image in the corresponding place.

We hope that you have enjoyed our bumper post this month, and we will be back again next month with more projects to share with you. Thanks for stopping by,

Kingfisher Meadow (posted by Claire)

Good morning all, Claire here with a couple of projects made using this months lovely new stamps.

For this card I began with a background made with mica pigment powders on watercolour card, it's really shimmery in real life but sadly it doesn't show too well in the pic. I overstamped the background with lots of lovely foliage stamps ( you can find all the new stamps here). I stamped the kingfisher on white card and painted him with the same mica pigments, he looked a little flat so I had a rummage in my craft room and found some very old Sakura stardust pens which my some miracle still worked so I used them to give him lots more detail. I cut him out and layered him up on 3d foam pads.  A stamped sentiment in a little punched envelope were added to finish the card.

My second project today is a tag and a pendant made with the leftover ink from making this card. I had a tiny bit of colour left on my craft mat so I misted it with water and mopped it up with some white card. I cut out the tag and stamped with some delicate foliage and edged with silver embossing. I stamped the rest of the card with foliage and used glossy accents to glue a cabochon in place, once that was dry I cut it out and popped it in a bezel and added some green velvet ribbon to make a pendant.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope you're enjoying the new stamps and don't forget to share your projects with us on facebook.

Claire xx

Textured Grasses Tag (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a large tag to share with you today, that was featured on the recent TV shows on Hochanda.

I used a large Tando Greyboard Tag, which I covered with a piece of watercolour paper, that I had coloured myself, using Distress Inks, left over from a previous project. I stamped the background with a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set, and a couple of images from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set, to build up a collaged effect. I added some Fossilzed Amber Distress Ink around the edges of the tag.

I then coloured three pieces of 2" x 2" Tando Twinchies with Brushos, and added three layers of clear Ultra Thick Embossing powder. I stamped into the last layer each time while it was still soft, using one of the foliage images, and then brushed a small amount of gold mica powder over the top. I attached the Twinchie pieces to the tag, and added a piece of co-ordinating ribbon to the tag.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Kingfisher by Zoe

Good morning again Lovelies, I'm back today with my second project using the gorgeous new stamps.

They are so versatile and beautiful, whatever your skill level there is such a wide opportunity to create something beautiful.

Here's my project.

A one layer card using a hemp textured cardstock.

 I started by simply swiping upward directly onto the card using a Distress Inkpad, I then made my moon using a stencil and again Distress inks, I lightly splashed some water onto just the moon to create some texture, once dry I stamped the gorgeous Kingfisher using Onyx Black Versafine at this point I heat dry as Versafine is an oil based ink and takes a little longer to dry, I used the single rock with reed stamp to continue the design, once dry I simply coloured in using pencils, added my sentiment and Voila! A simple card, I think the stamps speak for themselves.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and leave a comment, have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx 

Introducing Marga our New Design Team Member

Hello everyone, today we would like to introduce a brand new member to the Design Team; Marga Dounan. You may have seen some of Marga's work on the recent TV shows on Hochanda. Marga has been helping us out, and is now joining us as a permanent member of the Design Team. We asked Marga to tell us a little bit about herself so that you could get to know her a little bit better.

Hello, I'm Marga, I'm 54 years old, I'm living in the Netherlands in a small village. We have a daughter and son, and two grandsons. I started crafting when I got sick 30 years ago, it was not my thing to do nothing, so I went looking for a hobby. I did all sorts of things until I discovered stamping. Since then, I just stamp and play with stamps. I discovered Chocolate Baroque stamps 5 years ago and loved them instantly. My first stamps were Pretty Poppies and since then I bought a lot more, I dare not write how much I have already. Most of all I love to colour stamps, ut I do all sorts of techniques. Therefore I am so glad that I can be part of this great team and I hope you also love the things that I let you see. Hugs, Marga.

Marga's first project  incorporates some of the latest stamps that were featured on the TV shows on Hochanda:

Hello all, here is my first post as a new Design Team member. I'm so glad I may join this team. Today I want to show you this beautiful bird from the Kingfisher Song stamp sheet. I stamped the bird with Versafine Onyx Black ink, and coloured it with pencils. I also coloured the branch with pencils. The leaves from the Silhouette Grasses stamp sheet are stamped with Memento ink. For the leaves, I have also used a green fineliner for some details.

Also, I have used a pencil to shade around the images. The sentiment comes from the stamp sheet Words to Dazzle and Sparkle.
I hope you all like my first post for this blog,


Best regards,

Marga.

Kingfisher Song (by Julie)

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying this month's new stamps. As of tomorrow you can get them all on Chocolate Baroque's web site, but if you cant wait till then, then you need to head to Hochanda, where you can also watch Lesley's shows demoing these fabulous stamps on catch up.

.

My first card is stamped using Kingfisher Song and Sticks and Stones stamp sets. The main image was stamped with Watering Can Archival ink and water coloured with Inktense pencils. I die cut a circle to mask the image and then applied Dried Marigold and Twisted Citron Distress inks to the background. Iced Spruce Distress ink was applied around the edge of the circle. After removing the circle masked I stamped the rocks, (and coloured them with the inktense pencils as before) branches and blossom from the Sticks and Stones set. The blossom was created by dabbing acrylic paint onto the blossom/bubble stamp and then applying Crystal Stickles over the top.

I started the second card by stamping the Kingfisher and then covered it with a paper mask, before stamping the bridge scene. Both stamps are from Kingfisher Song. Next I stamped the rocks in the foreground which come from the Sticks and Stones set. Once I had water coloured everything with Inktense pencils I created the foliage at the front, by inking up the Silhouette Grass stamps with green and grey acrylic paint and adding white pen highlights once dry.

Using a sponge I smudged the edges with white and grey acrylic paint and mounted onto black card. The base is Kraft card which I stamped with the blossom stamp that I had inked up with Picket Fence Distress ink.

Thank you for taking a peek at our blog. Please pop back again very soon.

Julie xx

Martin Pêcheur or kingfisher (by Dominike)

Hello
I like this stamp with a kingfisher (Martin Pêcheur in French). So, I wanted to make a little scene with it for this card.

Bonjour
j'aime tellement ce tampon avec un Martin Pêcheur que j'ai eu envie d'en faire le théâtre de cette carte.

1. Use a white paper, sponge and different Distress inks to color the background
2. Apply your different stamps whith black ink
3. Repeat on another white paper
4. Stick them together
5. Stick yhe whole on a white card

Le tout a été réalisé avec une éponge pour appliquer les différentes encres distress. Les tampons ont été appliqués à l'encre noire. Le tout collé sur une carte blanche.

I hope you like it.

Kind regards.

Altered cover ( by Magda)

Have you ever thought of giving someone a pack of envelopes with cards as a little gift?  Well, I bought a pack at the stationery shop and decided immediately to alter the cover because the white colour seemed too obvious and boring.

Step by Step :

1. Cut a piece of white cardstock just a little smaller than the cover of your pack of envelopes
2. Apply randomly Dina Wakley Media White Gesso and let dry
3. Blend all over the surface Distress Inkpad Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Fossilized Amber and
    Evergreen Bough
4. Stamp a grass from Silhouette Grasses with Distress Paint - Tarnished Brass and apply the paint
    also on the edges
5. "Just for you" from Words to Dazzle & Sparkle set, is stamped  as sentiment with Versafine Inkpad 
     Onyx Black  on a white cardstock  and blended with Distress Inkpad  Old Paper and stuck on the
     mat
6.  Blend all the outside and the inside the the same green colors of point 3.
7.  Glue the mat on the front of the pack .... et voilà...  the little gift changes its appearance.

I hope you liked this idea of alteration. 

Magda

Our Fragile Earth Kingfisher Scene Card (by Anne)

Good morning. Today I am sharing another of my samples made for the recent TV shows on Hochanda using the lovely new Kingfisher and scene building sets. These are still exclusive to Hochanda for a few more days – then they will also be available from Chocolate Baroque.

This sample started out to be a bit of a disaster. I used Soft Form Relief Paste to make the textured embellishment but while preparing we had no electricity for 12 hours. It was only 5 degrees in the house and unfortunately it made my embellishment go hard and brittle (where it is normally flexible and soft) – so I accidently smashed and cracked it! Aaaargh! But then I thought about a theme …… ‘our fragile earth’ …… and this design resulted. Tee hee.
 
Materials:

• Baroque Meadow and Kingfisher Song stamp sets
• 15.5cm X 11cm card blank (black), panel from a tag shaped card blank (white), scrap of white stamping card
• Soft Form Relief Paste (Silver)
• Inkpads: Stazon (Black), Versafine (Onyx Black), Distress Ink (Pumice Stone) and dye based (yellow)
• Ink spritzer sprays (pale blue with mica)
• Sparkle pens (clear, green, blue, turquoise, yellow and bright pink)
• Fine tipped acrylic pen (opaque white)
• Glossy Accents
• Circle mask (die cut from scrap acetate sheet)
• Computer printed sentiment

How to make it:

1. Cover the Baroque Meadow stamp with a layer of Soft Form Relief Paste and leave to fully dry (1-2 days). Gently peel away from the stamp and trim away rough edges with scissors. Rub over the surface with Stazon ink. Mine snapped across due to the cold conditions. Usually this stays flexible so you will need to cut across with scissors.
2. Using a sponge and the circle mask apply yellow ink to create the earth shape. Remove the mask and lightly spritz with the blue ink. When dry apply a layer of clear sparkle over the earth.
3. Edge the card with Distress Ink and glue down the meadow embellishment and sentiment strips. Glue to the card front with 3D foam.
4. Stamp the Kingfisher scene with Versafine ink. You only need to partially ink the stamp – cut out the Kingfisher. Colour with sparkle pens. Dot a little highlight into the eye with the white pen and when dry add Glossy Accents. Shape lightly and apply to the card with 3D glue gel.

Baroque Meadow (by Asha)

Good morning, friends! Have you seen the beautiful new stamps by Chocolate Baroque showcased by Lesley on Hochanda recently. These new stamps are exclusive for purchase through Hochanda for a few more days but they'll soon be available at Chocolate Baroque online store.

I'm featuring 2 of the new A6 stamp sheets: the image from Baroque Meadow and the sentiment from Words To Dazzle and Sparkle. I love the detail on the grassy silhouette image.

The background is mix of Distress Inks and I masked off the moon with a circle die-cut. Instead of stamping the image in black I decided to go with green to contrast the moody background. And to brighten the scene I added white and glossy accent dots.

I've got more details of tools and products over at my blog. And make sure you swing by the DT blog often because at the rest of my talented teamies are creating projects that will amaze you. Thank you so much for stopping by today.

Beijinhos,

Asha

Kingfisher (by Veronica)

 Hope you managed to see Lesley's fab shows on Hochanda this week, I had a lovely evening watching the 3 shows I had missed on catch-up - the cat was very happy as it meant she could snooze on my lap without interruptions!
It was great fun spotting my cards on the shows, and I thought that the set looked great with such a variety of samples.


These stamps are all exclusive to Hochanda for 10 days, so if you missed them or only wanted individual sets then you are going to have to be patient, sorry.
The first card uses stamps from both the kingfisher and sticks and stones, coloured with a mix of alcohol markers and brusho powders -actually I used this combination of colours for all 3 cards.






This one uses two stamps from  the kingfisher set and the greeting from the words plate.
















main picture uses the same two stamps from the kingfisher plate, with one from sticks and stones stamped in grey on the base card.

There were some really fabulous samples on the show from my teamies, including some that I would have given almost anything to have done!
Do keep checking the blog, as they will turn up at some point this month......

A little recycling (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a couple of projects featuring this months beautiful new stamps. Did you get your's when Lesley was on Hochanda? If not you're going to have to wait a little while as they are exclusive to Hochanda for 10 days but they'll be available at Chocolate Baroque very soon!

My first project features a real mix of stamps to create this wallhanging, I had saved the packaging from a calendar and thought this corrugated card would make a perfect backing for a little scenic stamping. I began by spritzing the card with water so that I could pull off the top layer and then applied acrylic paint here and there. 

Next I cut 3 squares of watercolour card and stamped all the images to create the impression of a winding stream. I spent a happy couple of hours painting the scene with distress inks before distressing the edges with a little Vintage Photo distress ink. I added some scraps of cheesecloth, faux moss, paper flowers and a hessian bow topped with a button. 

My second project today is a little album made with the envelope from my calendar, waste not want not as the saying goes lol. The envelope was folded into 3 and that gave me the idea of making a mini album. I cut pieces of white pearlescent card to fit all the sides of the envelope and spritzed them randomly with Dylusions inks. I was quite pleased with the result as I'm quite heavy handed and usually just make a big mess with spray inks lol.

Next I added lots of stamping using versamark and white embossing powder to contrast with the vivid colours of the inks. I used a white pen to add some faux stitching around all the panels and then glued with to my envelope, sandwiching some rainbow ribbon for a closure.

I cut lots of little die cut tags and again added lots of stamping and rainbow ribbon.

As you can see I've had lots of fun with the new stamps, I hope you're enjoying them too.

Thanks so much for visiting today, 

Claire xx

January Blog Comment Winner

Hello everyone, we hope you are doing well.

Once again we would like to thank you all for your visits here at the Design Team blog.  We truly appreciate the time you take to let us know your thoughts about our designs.  
Each comment in January was assigned a number and we used Random Org to draw a winner.  Congratulations to Littlelamb  you have won a £15.00 voucher to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps!  Please send a quick email here to confirm your email address and Lesley will send you your gift certificate.
Lesley will be giving a £15 gift voucher to another lucky winner drawn from February's comments. The more comments you leave the better your chances to win!  

Thank you for your kind words and comments,
Good luck from the Design Team!

Kingfisher Compilation (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you managed to catch Lesley's fabulous One Day Special Shows on Hochanda on 31st January/1st February.  She shared some wonderful techniques with the new stamps, and this month, the Design Team girls will be sharing their fabulous artwork with you on the Design Team blog, as well as on their own blogs and on social media, like the Chocolate Baroque Facebook Group.

I have a couple of cards to show you today that were featured on the TV shows, which utilise several of the new stamp sets. I love to mix and match stamp sets, and so having lots of new stamp sets to work with all at once was just perfect for me.

For my first card, I created a gelli plate background, using blue and green Distress Ink, and used the bubbles stamp to stamp directly onto the gelli plate before I took a print from the plate. I then stamped a couple of the kingfishers onto the card, and masked them. I added branches and foliage, using coloured ink, and then used the bubbles stamp once again to create foliage for the branches. I coloured the birds with watercolour pens and a water brush. I edged the panel with teal coloured ink.

I stamped a greeting onto some sage green seam binding ribbon, using Archival Ink, and then adhered the ribbon across the bottom of the scene, before attaching the panel to my card.

To create my second card, I stamped the large Kingfisher onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and masked the image, before stamping the large branch a couple of times. I added several colours of Brusho powder, and spritzed them with water, blotting off the excess liquid with a spare piece of card. (I saved this piece of card for another project). Once the background was completely dry, I stamped the small leafy sprig using three different colour greens, and I used first and second generation stamping to give a feeling of depth to the foliage.

I removed the mask from the Kingfisher, and coloured the image with watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, and edged the panel with teal coloured ink, before matting the panel onto a deep green card.

Please do keep visiting the blog each day for more beautiful designs from my team mates. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Wild Flowers by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome to February, not a favourite month of mine particularly but ho hum!

Today I'm sharing with you a project I've made using the gorgeous new stamps.

I've made a CAS card, I started by folding some textured white card in half and starting at the bottom using Twisted Citron Distress Inkpad directly onto the card sweeping upward, then using a stencil I used Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks to create my sun, I then repeat stamped the gorgeous Wildflowers stamp using Onyx Black Versafine Inkpad.

Very simple.

 

Thank you so much for your comments, please pop back each day and see what my very talented teamies have created too, have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx