Fantastic florals (by Rachel)

 Hello there! Rachel here with some inspiration from the shows in October. This first one uses the stsmp called Canary Bird Rose. I think the stamp name influenced my colouring of the image done in watercolours. I thin fussycut the image and added it to a black and white background. I think this stamp will get a lot of use!

In making this canvas I used the dream petal stamp and stamped it on card and coloured it with translucent paints before fussy cutting. I added this to a circular canvas painted black that I had already decorated with flitterglu stamped images from the Gerbera and friends set which I covered with gilding flakes. I also stamped the centre of the flowers in flitterglu and added flake to them before adding to the painted florals.

In this last sample I used the Life is wonderful stamp set and the circular stencil set. Colouring was in a combination of translucent paints and watercolour pencils. 

I hope this has given you food for thought!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Santa Maria by Brenda

 

Morning Peeps, hope you are all keeping safe and well as these strange times continue.

I have some shares using he stamps Lesley featured in last months Hochanda shows, some were old favourites and some lovely new ones from two very talented artists. Also a reminder that she is also on Hochanda tomorrow at 10am and 2pm so there is sure to be loads on inspiration to be had.

My top card used Echoes of Italy a stamp set I have had for many, many years and is my take on a road called CDA Santa Maria in Compabasso in the Molise region of Italy where my childhood friend Luciana lives. Sadly because of COVID we have not been able to visit  Italy this year, it's the first time we have missed in many years.

I stamped the images with versafine black, masking out the sun on the house on the left as I wanted to add a larger one in the sky which I did with a mask and Pan Pastels. All other colouring was dene with Koh-i-noor paints.

For this one I used Gerbera and Friends, a simple CAS card to allow the beautiful Dandylions to take centre stage. I used Distress Markers to ink direct to stamp and used the sentiment from Be at Peace.

Using a Brusho background I stamped Be at Peace with Versafine Clair and added some colour with sparkle pens. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

As always many thanks for your kind visits and words, myself and the team always appreciate them.

Remembrance Day - (by Magda) - Poppy Meadow, Floral Notes

 Hello girls,

It has become a tradition for me to do a project for the 11th of November and I am on time to share it with you.

Of course there is a white gesso coat under the blended red and violet shades of Distress Ink Pad, around the yellow area.  I covered all with gesso again, stamped with black Archival the poppy of "Poppy Meadow " rubber plate and one little poppy of "Floral Notes" directly on the page. The second little poppy                                       is stamped on a tissue paper and glued with "Inkssentials Gue n Seal".  I used red and green watercolours for coloring the flowers and intensify the background blending again Distress Ink Pad  blending darker red on a stencil. I finished my page by printing with the printer the lettering.

 

Thank you for passing by, hugs

Magda

paint your dreams

Today I have two cards to share using my favourite brusho powders and stamps from echoes of Italy. I created a few background sheets using the brusho powders, and chose two that looked atmospheric to stamp the villas onto using black versafine ink and clear embossing powder

 I thought the first one looked like a sunset, so coloured the trees using watercolour pencils and then bleached out the moon and highlights on the building using bleach. A black mat and the sentiment from the dream petals set to finish.

The second background reminded me of fields of lavender, so i stamped the villa on what passes for a horizon - I didn't quite manage to line the stamp up with the white area for a path to the villa though....more bleach to whiten the buildings and edges rubbed on a black inkpad to finish

Gerbera and Friends

Hello

I'm showing a couple of cards made for the October Show on Hochanda.

These were made with new stamps Gerbera and Friends designed by Lesley and David's granddaughter, aren't they amazing!

For my first card  I made a background using Distress Inks and some torn paper to get hills in the distance. I then stamped the two Dandelion stamps and the extra seeds in VersaMark and embossed in white . I then added stamps from Silhouette Grasses and Wisteria Lane around the base and top. I stamped these in Onyx Versafine.

My second card uses the gorgeous Gerbera. This is a lovely big stamp, 4" in diameter and with great shading. I stamped with Memento ink and coloured with alcohol markers. The background is Brusho splashes and the splatter stamp that comes with the set. The Dragonfly is from the Life is Wonderful stamp set and I shall be sharing more from that next time.

 Thanks for looking

Sandra x

Blog Comment Winner for October

 

Hello and welcome to the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog.

 

We truly appreciate the time you take to let us know your thoughts about our designs, so each and every comment is very important to us.

 

Each comment in October was assigned a number and we used Random Org to draw a winner.

 

Congratulations to Alice (scrAPpamondo) you have won this month's £15.00 voucher to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps.

To claim your prize, please email here to confirm your email address and Lesley will send your gift certificate.

 

Lesley will be giving another £15 gift voucher to another lucky winner drawn from November’s comments.

 

The more comments you leave, the better your chances of being the winner.

 

Thank you so much for all the kind comments you leave.

 

Good luck from all on the Design Team

 

Here is another chance to see the beautiful creation by Judith

New Talent at Chocolate Baroque (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am sharing a few projects today featuring stamps that were showcased on last month's TV shows on Hochanda. The stamps were designed by Lesley's very talented Granddaughter Annabel, and another new designer to Chocolate Baroque, Dawn. These beautiful floral stamps are absolutely stunning, and we hope that you will enjoy our projects this month, and be inspired by what we have created with the stamps.

 

My first project was created with the lovely Dream Petals stamp. I coloured some Drawing Cartridge with Distress Inks, and stamped the image twice. I cut it out, and scunched it up, to give it a crinkled texture. I attached the image onto a Brusho background from my stash. I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap piece of card, masking the part of the sentiment that I did not want to use each time before I inked up the stamp. This enabled me to split the sentiment. I edged the sentiment strips with red Distress Ink to take away the whiteness of the card, and to tie them in with the main flower.

I added a hand drawn stem using a fine liner pen. I stamped the small dragonfly onto scrap card, coloured it with pencils, then decoupaged it onto the background.

I used the same flower stamp for my next card, stamping three times onto book paper, and colouring the images with orange and red Distress Ink. I created a background using Distress Ink, and added the splat from Gerbera and Friends in toning colours. I stamped the dandelion clock, using it as stalks for the Dream Petals flowers, which I laid over the top.

My final card for today uses the same dandelion clock stamp over another Brusho background. I embossed the flower three times using white embossing powder, and then added more of the flowers using Versafine Claie Ink in a teal and purple colour, to give the effect of a field of dandelions. I used first and second generation stamping. This card would be useful for so many occasions, including a sympathy card.

I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you. Thanks for stopping by. Take care, and stay safe.

Judith xx 

Sketchy Florals part 3 by Zoe

Good morning again Lovelies, boy hasn’t this month flown by?

I’m not a fan of Halloween but appreciate a lot love it, if you are one then I wish you a Happy Halloween, stay safe.

So here are the last of my samples using the wonderful Blueprint Sketch Floral Stamps, aren’t they just amazing? 

Wasn’t Lesley brilliant as always on Hochanda?

My favourite is the lightbulb, I know I shouldn’t have a favourite but it’s just so “now” 

Thank you for visiting today, I hope you like my samples.

Have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx

Vellum Echinacea's by Brenda

Morning Peeps, my final shares of sampled using the new Blueprint stamps. 

The top card has a background of Distress Oxides, stencilling an a little bleaching to lift the colours, Echinacea  Blueprint stamped centrally then further blooms added with the smaller worker stamps. I bleached out the colour from the blooms then stamped again onto vellum, but out and decoupaged. A sentiment from one of the new sets, some flicks of white pen and white doodling around the edges.

A chipboard tag covered with acrylic paint onto which I added some torn strips of printed tissue paper. Chrysanthemum Blueprint  stamped with Versafine black, as is my usual the flower heads stamped again onto an inked offcut, cut out and paper pieced. The number stamped onto a piece of Aida and the remainder of the image coloured with Distress Markers.

Keeping it Simple (by Christine)

 

Hello everyone. This is my final turn on the blog for this year.

The cards in my first two blog posts took some time to create so this time, I decided on a simple but elegant example. I also wanted to use some of the lovely dies I have in my stash to enhance the stamping.

The stamps I am using are from the beautiful Shared Beauty set.

I used octagonal dies to create my first layer. I had just received some red cardstock and thought the colour perfect for what I wanted to achieve.

Two circular dies, one very decorative, created my next layer. I then stamped the image with Versafine Clair Nocturne and used clear embossing powder to give it shine and impact against the matt red card. I used adhesive foam to attach it to give the card depth. I decided against adding a sentiment, but it would be easy to add an appropriate one when the need arises.

Originally, I had stamped the image in red and then embossed it but the shade of red just didn't work with the red card, so I had a spare image to use. I also had a circular frame cut in white card from the original piece of work, so it was obvious to use the two together. On the theme of keeping it simple, I added some white pigment ink to black card using the circles stencil from the Chocolate Baroque Strip Stencil - Collection 1 set and then positioned the stamped image in the centre. I added one of the sentiments to the card as a finishing touch.

Quick, simple, but I think effective.

Take care, stay well and see you the next time.

Happy crafting!

Christine.

Pretty Notelets

Hello, I'm sharing a few more of my samples from the September show on Hochanda using the second set of blueprints stamps - Lupin Blueprint, Chrysanthemum Blueprint, Echinacea Blueprint and Allium Blueprint.

I made a set of little set of notelets using the small individual stamps that are in each stamp set.

To make my notelets I first cut some circles from cardstock to fit on my cards and blended some Distress Inks onto the background. I then used the same colour with a stencil before stamping the flower and sentiment.  I finished by doodling around the edges

Thanks for looking

Sandra x

all together in the floral dance (by Rachel)

 Hello there! Rachel here. Did I get you singing? Hope so - then you'll be smiling as you look over some more samples I made for the September shows.

This first one is using the main image from the Echinacea Blueprint stamp set - stamped onto a gel press background and coloured with watercolour pencils. This panel has been mounted onto a card stamped using more industrial aspects of the stamp sets. 

This was my upcycling project - I used a cardboard box that something had been packaged in and covered it in the postcards that Lesley sells. Onto these I decoupaged images from the allium and the lupin sets - it made a very bright and cheerful gift box.

And finally - my sign  from the craft along shows - I used this to create this sign. The back back of the plaque is dry brushed in paint and has stamped images from the industrial parts of the stamp sets all over it. Next the letters were given a coat of acrylic paint and then stamped over and finally I added the allium to the centre of the O.

Hope you have picked up a few more ideas of ways you could use your stamps.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

allium

Today's share features the allium blueprint 

The first card has a brushed distress ink rainbow background, with some light stamping in one corner . the main allium image was stamped on the right using black versafine ink, and then coloured with watercolour pencils. sentiment comes from the same set

the second card uses the main image stamped onto a piece of drawing cartridge coloured using distress inks and coloured with watercolour pencils. The single flower was stam,ped three times onto spare card, coloured with brusho powders, fussy cut out and glued at the base of the main image.The background card square was also coloured with distress inks and randomly stamped with smaller stamps  using the same inks

 As a coffe drinker I soon acquire  a stash of empty cans, whcih i hate to throw in the bin - I recycled two into pencil/brush holders. I measured pieces of drawing cartidge to fit with a slight overlap, then coloured them using distress inks. Various images from all the new blueprint sets were stamped using versafine ink and the completed strips fastened onto the cans using redline tape.

Having a Lightbulb Moment (by Judith)

Hello everyone, for my final post this month, I am sharing two projects using the beautiful Lupin Blueprint stamp set. This fabulous stamp set is full of beautiful images, and some lovely sentiments. I really enjoyed working with this stamp set and will definitely be using it a lot!

For my first card, I created a background using a technique that Lesley shared with us on a Butterfly Tree get together. I painted a piece of scrapbook paper with white paint, then rolled Distress Ink over the top. I added stamping and stencilling with the same colours to create a collage effect. The whole effect looks very vintage, and makes a great background for the main image. I coloured the image with pencils, coordinating with the background colours. I also added some shading around the edge with Distress Ink.

To create my second card, I used a piece of scrap background from my stash box. This brightly coloured piece of card was crying out for some of the lightbulbs, and I stamped them across the yellow area in the middle of the page. I drew some lines at the top to hang the bulbs from, so that they were not floating in mid air. I created a matching background using the same colours of Distress Ink, and stamped the large lightbulb randomly over the top, using turquoise Archival Ink.

I hope that you have enjoyed our cards this month, thanks so much for stopping by. Take care, and stay safe.

Judith xx

Sketchy Florals part 2 by Zoe

Good morning Lovelies and welcome to my second post for this month.

I’m sharing with you a few more of my samples from last months shows featuring these amazing Blueprint Sketch Florals.

I adore them, I had such fun creating these, there is so much versatility with these designs.

Of course I’ve had to live up to my nickname “The Envelope Queen”

Thank you so much for spending the time to visit, I hope to see you later in the month, have a wonderful day xx Zoe xx

The Kiss (by Christine)

 

Hello everyone!

I'm back with my second blog post for October. The stamp set of choice is the stunning The Folk Art Garden set.

I used the largest stamp from the set in the centre of a 5" square card and then added some of the smaller stamps around the edge for extra detail.

I used a variety of transluscent and metallic paints to colour the images, taking care not to move around the images so that the paint could dry properly in each area.

 

I could have stopped there but I had in mind a fantastic painting - The Kiss- by Gustav Klimt, which is one of my all time favourite works of art. I am lucky enough to have seen the original; it's incredibly vibrant and rich, using oils and gold leaf. In my more modest piece, I simply covered the white space with gold metallic paint.

Like my last post, this card takes some time to create, but if you need a special one, this could be the approach. It would look equally good framed as wall art.

 

Happy crafting!

 

Christine

xx

Circle canvas by Brenda

Morning everyone, I have some more inspiration to share from my samples from last months Hochanda shows using the lovely Blueprint stamp sets.

At the top a circle canvas which I treated to an abundance of Gesso, Distress Inks, Acrylic Paint and stencilling before stamping Chrysanthemum Blueprint  and  Lupin Blueprint which I coloured in with Distress Markers. Two of the silhouette name tags, some clock hands and a few gems.

More colour, this time one of the Postcards covered with some texture paste stencilling and strips of white card to tone it down a bit. I stamped and cut out the Lupin Blueprint which I coloured with Distress Markers.

Alliums and Lights

Hello I'm sharing a couple more cards from the Hochanda show in September featuring the 2nd series of Blueprint stamps.

My first card uses the single Allium flower from the Allium Blueprint set.

First, I stamped the Allium onto some Masking Tissue and cut out the image as close as I could.

I coloured a piece of card with a water colour wash.

I then stamped onto the centre of  my card and used the mask to cover it.

I then stamped each side of the masked flower ensuring that the stems were at the right angle for a vase.

I removed the mask and coloured the flowers with water colour pencils. I then added the vase which I cut from some patterned paper.

I finished with a label from the stamp set, and layered onto a card

For my second card I used Distress Inks to make the background.

I stamped the lightbulbs from the Lupin Blueprint set with Versafine and I stamped an extra one onto a piece of card with Versafine which I then embossed with clear powder.

I coloured this one in, again with Distress Ink. I used a ball tool to shape the edges and added some foam pads to the back to give a bit of depth. I glued around the edge of the lightbulb and placed it on the card. I used the chain stamp from Small Graph Paper set to "hang" the lightbulbs.

Thanks for looking

Sandra x