Chocolate Baroque Challenge 29

 

 

 

Hello again.

Another Chocolate Baroque challenge with gorgeous autumnal colours.

Great stuff. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have the lovely bird stamp pictured above and it lends itself well to these colours. But I decided to steer away from using the same stamp and make something I have been meaning to do for ages.

The colours feel very Christmassy to me, as well as for the autumn, so I decided to make some table mats for the Christmas table.

 

 

 I love this heart design which I have had for a while and am always looking to find other ways  to use it.

 

 I think it looks lovely stamped and masked to make a giant flower design.

 

 

 

This was quite fiddly to get positioned, fortunately being a clear stamp helped the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some old, worn table mats so I used one as the base,  and covered  the old design.

 

The mat had a black border, which was useful, so I stuck my design over the top and sealed it.

 

Whether I get around to doing one for everybody, is yet to be seen!!

But I will try to do three at  least, to go down the centre of the table.

May even get around to making some coasters too, who knows.

 

Thank you for visiting and hope you like my project.

Bye for now

Carole

 

 

 

 

Craft stamper submission

Hi everyone.
I have been very excited recently as I have a 3D  Christmas decoration idea in  the  latest  Craft Stamper magazine, which is in the shops now.

I sent the idea in a few months ago and the Chocolate Baroque stamp I used  (Palm fan silhouette Baroque Ornament), was ideal for the decoration.
Here is a sneak peak of the 3D decoration that I made.

I made several different decorations with this stamp, as it lends itself well to folding and cutting out sections.
There are several different stamp designs in this series but I particularly liked this stamp as it is lovely and  bold.



Here is another decoration idea that I made after my submission to the Craft Stamper magazine.

 

I used the stamp called (Teardrop Silhouette Baroque Ornament) as well as the one above.

 

I have had fun making  several of these and they all look different, just by changing the colour combinations between blue , white and silver.

 

I've added beads and wire to a couple of them as an added feature.

 

Thank you for visiting.

Bye for now.

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

90th Birthday gift

Hello to you all.
Thank you for visiting my blog.

It was my mother's 90th birthday recently and instead of making a card I decided to make her a flower out of some Artcuts shapes as she likes the wooden shapes.

 

 

I covered five 8cm. hearts with the  beautiful Japanese Chiyogami paper that Artcuts sell and made them into a flower head.

There is a youtube video on Artcuts website showing how easy this is to do.
The centre of the flower has been etched with my message (Artcuts will personalize shapes) , and a stem and leaf added.
I was really pleased with the result as the paper I used is so vibrant.
I keep meaning to do several for myself as I think they make an attractive focal item .

Hope you have enjoyed this project and perhaps you will have a go yourself.
Bye for now and hope you visit soon.

Thank you to everyone who leaves a comment I appreciate it and enjoy reading them.

                                                                   Happy crafting

                                                                         Carole

Heart coaster

Hello and welcome to my blog.

As a follow up to my last challenge post, I thought you may like to see some other variations of the mug coasters that I have made with the Artcuts 15cm. hearts. They are great to stamp onto.

So below are some variations I have made for family members, who, having seen mine, requested that I make them one too.

The first one uses the huge butterfly in the same set I used for the challenge (Patchwork Butterfly).
You can personalize them too. (Hobby Art alphabet stamps)

 

I did various owl versions with a Stampendous stamp called Pen Pattern Owl,  as seen below.

 

The final one was for my daughter's birthday. I like this image, it is an Indigo Blu stamp and is great  for teenagers and young women.

The words are from a Tim Holtz  Idea-ology book called Small talk. The words just pop out of the book and are great for sticking onto different projects.

 

 

The Impression Obsession cover a card stamps are great to use too, as you can stamp over the entire heart in one go.

This is such an easy project and makes a lovely gift. The recipient may even decide to hang it up as a decoration , if they can't bear to put their cup on it!

Hope you have a go at this simple project.

Bye for now and thanks for your visit, it's much appreciated.

                                                                      Carole

Chocolate Baroque Challenge 27

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I have been making a gift recently and decided to do it  in  the latest Chocolate Baroque challenge colours.

What gorgeous colours they are too.. Love them as they are very much in my comfort zone.



                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have  used an Artcuts 15cm. heart to make a coffee coaster and these stamps work really well on these large hearts.

 I have had the butterfly set for a long time and still love it, as it has been so useful.
A heart this size may seem a little excessive for a mug coaster, but I find it works really well. When I'm not quite awake in the morning , it is quite difficult to miss, when putting my mug down!

I have used one of the borders from the Exquisite Edges set , which I masked to get the double layer. It has been stamped directly onto the wood  with VersaMagic and coloured with a lighter inkpad.
The butterfly, from the Patchwork Butterfly set, has been stamped onto Chiyogami paper, cut out and stuck on.

I've then  put  a layer of matt sealer  over it, to protect the design.

I have done several versions of these, using different stamps, although the recipients have often hung them on the wall, rather than put their mugs on them, which is lovely.

Hope you have enjoyed my project and thank you for visiting.
                                                                Bye for now
                                                                      Carole

Chocolate Baroque challenge 26

Wow , where has the time gone!

A new Chocolate Baroque challenge, or not so new now I have got around to it!
 Keeps me stamping though, when so much else is going on in my family at the moment!


Loving these colours and the inspiration card.
Very autumnal, but looks great as this Christmas card too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have used two stamps for this card, Landscape collage and the large stamp from Woodland Dreams. .

 I particularly like the bird stamp,  as you can cut sections of it away to give a different look. So it is a lot more versatile than it may, at first, appear.

I always like this in a stamp.

I decided to stamp the scene directly onto the craft card and the other onto white card. They have both been coloured with the same inks and I like the way they are more muted on the background.

When I stuck the bird section onto the card, I raised the bottom bird slightly , doesn't show very well in the photo.

 

 

 

I think I will do some different colourways like this, perhaps a more wintery looking design.

 

Thank you for visiting and happy crafting.

Bye for now

Carole

 

IndigoBlu sample

Hello

Today I am showing a sample for the Summer florals challenge on the IndigoBlu blog.

I was excited when I was chosen as one of the top three in the Teal and brown challenge and was asked if I would  do a sample for the blog inspiration on the Summer florals challenge.






So here it is.

I have used a stamp called Anemone Corner, which looks good which ever way round it is stamped.  The flowers can also be cut out separately, which makes it more versatile. Always something I look for when buying stamp.

Two background sections were created using  Distress inks (ripe persimmon, mustard seed and wild honey) . I  left them to dry thoroughly before trimming one down to a 14.5cm.  square.

  The corner was then  stamped with  a Versafine inkpad, and then  I stamped it again  onto  the other background piece of card ,so that I could cut the flowers out.

The top left hand section has been over stamped with  a Pink Grapefruit VersaMagic inkpad. Not sure whether it shows up very well in my photo.

All the flowers were then painted with a little more colour and the three spare flowers were cut out.
I  dabbed Distress ink through a piece of, small, sequin waste, to give a slight spotty texture to the flowers and the sentiment. Some of the flowers have Glossy Accents on them.

The sentiment is from the Enjoy Life set, which has some lovely sayings.




Two others cards I did were much quicker to achieve, but I felt the colourway did not have such a summer feel.

 

I have several other ideas buzzing around my head, that I am going to use this stamp for, so may have some more postings in the future.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed looking at my inspirations for the IndigoBlu challenge.

                                                                       Best wishes

 

                                                                           Carole

Crafty Individuals - Mini challenge

Hello everyone.

Hope you are having a good day.
I am on a "roll" with my stamping at the moment and have been using my Crafty Individuals  designed by Alice Palace. They are a series of animal stamps and I have submitted my projects into the Crafty Individuals July challenge - Mini masterpiece.



For my first project I used  Dog and banner, as a gift for a friend who likes Bulldogs.

 

The face of the bull-dog has been stamped onto a 4.5cm. wooden heart from ArtCuts and coloured with watercolour pencils.

The background is coloured with a VersaMagic inkpad.

 

I have stuck a small peg on the back and then a strong piece of magnetic tape, so that the notepad can be stuck onto the fridge. Useful and cute!

 

 

 

This is the card to go with it.

 

 

 

 

My second project is a  duck brooch.

Again, this has been stamped onto a wooden shape and coloured with water colour pencils and the feet are tiny hearts. I went around the body area with a white Wink of Stella pen to give it a slight shimmer and then put Glossy Accents over the duck.
The background has been coloured with a VersaMagic inkpad, through a strip of tiny sequin waste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the duck is very cute, such a comical creature.

 

 

I really like these stamps as they are suitable for male and female cards according to how they are coloured.
Must get the others out again. One has two rabbits on it  and the other has two skinny runner ducks.

                                     Hope you have enjoyed my projects and please visit again.

                                                                        Bye for now.

                                                                            

                                                                              Carole

Indigoblu June Challenge

Hello.

I decided to have a go at the Indigoblu challenge again but have left it  till the last minute as usual. I'm  particularly annoyed with myself as the colours are right in my comfort zone.
 But, I needed a birthday card so decided to use the colours of the challenge and, as I did get it finished in time, have submitted it.

I have used an old stamp called Twit Twoo, which I really like and which I have used many times.
It is a lovely owl image and is great for male and female cards.

 

I stuck with a very simple layout.

 

 The owl was stamped onto thick parchment paper and coloured with water colour pencils. Then I tore around the edge and stuck it onto brown craft card. I repeated the tearing, although this proved quite difficult as the craft card was tough and quite hard to tear!

 

The background was done with a mouldable foam pad, which was heated and  pressed onto real ivy leaves. It has then been stamped with Distress ink.

  I haven't used this for ages and had forgotten how useful it is for making unusual backgrounds. When you want to change the image, the block is heated again and can then be pressed onto another texture, so the background can be coordinated with the main image.

 Endless possibilities.

 

Well must finish.

Hope your crafting is going well and bye for now.

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Baroque Lady - Summer Fair

Hello to anyone visiting.

I have been playing with a beautiful new stamp that I have just purchased from Chocolate Baroque, called Summer Fair.


It is one of a series of four, depicting the four seasons.
I particularly liked the summer one as I have a poppy seed head stamp which matches perfectly and can be used as a background or border . (September-Poppyseed).

I decided I would do another card using the challenge colours , which I think are gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

In fact, I ended up doing two with slightly different techniques so decided to show both.

In the first sample I have stamped and embossed onto  parchment paper.  Haven't used parchment for ages and had forgotten how delicate it looks when coloured. The background is done with Distress inks and then over stamped with the poppy seed heads, in the same colours.


The second card has a background the same as the first and the lady is stamped and embossed onto white card and coloured with the same colours of Distress inks.

I'm sure I will be using this stamp a lot as I really like the design.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit and happy crafting.

If you are at the Doncaster Craft show at the weekend, please come and say hello. I shall be demonstrating  on the  ArtCuts stand. May see you there.

Bye for now

 

Best wishes

Carole

 

Chocolate Baroque challenge 24

Hello.

Another Chocolate Baroque challenge with gorgeous colours.

What an amazing sky in the inspiration photo.

Couldn't wait to do a card and just happened to need a birthday card for a friend.
So what better excuse to use  these beautiful colours.
Love the way the colours go together.



I have used the flower border from Floral Edges and randomly stamped the background. Then I stamped and embossed some extra borders and cut out sections to overlay .

The centre piece was stamped  with the Fantastic florals and then coloured with Distress inks.

I took some of the colour off the berries with a wet brush and when dry, painted with Distress ink.
These were then glazed with glossy accents. I stamped two extra butterflies to overlay and raise above the main design.

                          May have to do another one with these colours, really gorgeous.

                                                                 Thanks for visiting.

                                                                         Bye for now.

                                                                         Carole

 

Chocoalte Baroque challenge 23

Hello.


I've  been having fun this week doing another challenge with these gorgeous colours.

It has, however, taken me ages, due to a lot of faffing about, to get the layout to my satisfaction.
Always the way with me!! Anyhow, this is the card I am submitting.

I have used the beautiful lady from the Mackintosh Beauty set again, the background on her dress is the Baroque Orchid stamp.
The card  background  is clear embossed on white, using the dress design of the Butterfly Dress stamp.  This is brilliant for backgrounds, when the bodice is masked off.

The card is made with a mixture of Distress inks, VersaMagic and Brilliance. Blueprint sketch, Peacock feathers, Aloe Vera and Brilliance Pearlescent purple.

                                                                    Happy crafting
                                                                          Carole

Craft room plaque

Hello again.
This is just a quick post to show you a plaque that I decorated recently.

Artcuts have several different craft plaques that you can decorate to fit in with  your colour scheme and I think they would make a lovely gift for a crafting friend too.
I used some of the beautiful Chiyogami paper and coordinated the ink pads to stamp a design.




The plaques can also be personalized, like the one below.


                               

You can also get one saying My Craft Space, for anyone who doesn't have a dedicated room.
I don't really have a room that is just my craft space, but it sounds grand!!

Wherever you are crafting, hope you are having an enjoyable time.
                                                                     Bye for now.
                                                                          Carole

Birthday card for a friend

Hello.
Today I would like to show you a card I made using the Tim Holtz birds.
I know these have been around for ages but I have only recently used mine. I had swapped these with a friend, so decided to send her a card that I made, using them.

I really like these quirky designs.

 

 

I stamped and coloured the birds with  Blue print sketch distress ink, which I have only just got around to getting. It's a lovely vibrant colour. The eyes, beaks and wings were coloured with a clear Wink of Stella pen, giving a soft glimmer. I then put glossy accents over the eyes and beaks.

 

The background stamps and the words, are from various Hobby Art stamp sets.

 

There seem to be various quirky creature stamps around at the moment and I recently bought a Katzelkraft cat set. Must get on and make something with them now.

Bye for now.

Carole

 

 

Chiyogami papers - Butterfly heart

Hello to anyone reading this.
Hope your crafting is going well.

I have been having fun using the beautiful Chiyogami papers that ArtCuts sell.

They are gorgeous Japanese, hand  silk- screen printed  papers, that are very robust and brilliant to use.

They are also great to stamp onto, as you can see on the sample.

 The flowers were stamped onto Cherry blossom blue and Cherry blossom lilac papers,  with a Versafine inkpad and  then cut out.






I then  rearranged them onto the heart.  When I was happy with the arrangement I stuck them down with PVA glue.

I swiped a VersaMagic inkpad over the heart to do the background colour. It is easier to do this before sticking the flowers down. I left it until afterwards because I wasn't sure whether to colour all over or just around the edge, as I do like to see the plain wood.



The butterflies were coloured in the same way as the heart, and the embellishments added.
Then they were stuck onto strips of acetate and the other ends were stuck to the back of the heart, so that the butterflies float and bounce. This gives movement to the project.

The flower stamps are in a Hobby Art set called Garden Birds.



Keep an eye on the ArtCuts website, as there will be  some technique snippets coming soon, one of which will be showing how easy it is to cover the shapes, with these gorgeous papers.

Thanks for stopping by.
See you soon.
                                                                          Carole

Chocolate Baroque challenge 21

Good morning.
Hope your day is as beautiful as it is here. The sun is shining but still a little chilly.


Just a quick sample which I have decided to put into the challenge 21 at Chocolate Baroque. (Rather late entry as it finishes tomorrow).
A piece I was making as a gift and realized the colours were working for the challenge, so thought I would make a second entry this time.

The designs are stamped onto a 15 cm. and a 10 cm. wooden heart from Artcuts  and the  stamps are from the Mackintosh Beauty set, that I used for my other entry.
 There are so many lovely stamps in this set.
The inspirational sayings are from Tim Holtz idea-ology  small talk stickers. Love these. There are some  great sayings.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day.
                                                                        
                                                                                 Carole

Chocolate Baroque Challenge 21

 

 

 

Hello again.
Chocolate Baroque challenge 21 has great colours again. Very much within my comfort zone.

 

 

 

 

I am entering the card below, which seems to have taken me ages to do, but I got there eventually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stamp is one of those from the Mackintosh Beauty set. This is the first time I have used this particular stamp and I don't know why I have left it so long.

I created a colour board first, although I didn't have a violet colour so had to make do with what I had, and then over-stamped it. I then coloured the leaves with the teal colour.

This was a relatively quick card to make.

 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you may join the challenge.

 

Bye for now.

Carole

 

 

 

                                                              

Indigoblu March Challenge

Hello.
Thank you for stopping by.

I decided to enter a card into the Indigoblu challenge this month as I had used two of the colours and just had to add the green.
The challenge is yellow/green and pink, vibrant spring like colours, and not those I would normally use.

 

 

 

The stamp is called Elizabeth Bennett and she fits well onto the 10 cm. ArtCuts  heart.

 I think this stamp is very beautiful as the detail is lovely. She also looks good stamped over to the left, just peeping into the heart

The background was done with an Imagination crafts stencil.

 

Thank you for visiting my blog, hope you have a good day.

 

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Magenta

Hello all.

Just a quick post to show you a card I found in my stash recently, which I had completely forgotten about.
I was tidying my stuff, yes it does happen very occasionally, when I came across  a  card I made with a Magenta stamp I bought years ago and had forgotten about.

I really like this stamp as it has a medieval feel about it, I think. Have no idea what the stamp is called as all the writing has faded, but I overlaid it on a Cover -a-card stamp (Impression Obsession), which I thought fitted the style quite well.

Hope you have a good week and thanks for visiting.
Bye for now.
                                 
                                                                          Carole

Mixed media mirror frame

Hello.

I have been working on a mixed media mirror frame for weeks, trying to make the decision of what is going where!!
Am I the only person that faffs around, for so long, before I will commit myself to sticking things in place?  I hope I'm not!

But at last, I have finished it!! I now need to step away and get on with something else.

I used relief paste through two different stencils,  to get some texture directly  onto the frame.
Haven't used this stuff for ages and thoroughly enjoyed playing with it again. It was actually a glitter paste, as my other paste had gone solid. Yes, it really was that long ago!

 It worked well and was easy to put on. I left it to dry overnight and then painted it with chalk paint.
I really like the matt effect this gives and it covers so well. The glitter in the paste gives the surface a slightly rough texture , which is great. I then used a silver inkpad to highlight small areas.

The small flowers and butterflies are from ArtCuts and  I made  the big flowers myself from muslin fabric.
These flowers are brilliant  to make while watching television, and once I started I got a bit carried away.
Need to find a home for the others I have made now!!


I  was so excited that I had actually completed the mirror, that I rummaged around to find another chunky frame, that I have had in my stash for years. You know how it is!

I have started to cover that now with different bits and pieces, but it is going to be covered with black gesso, for a different look.
 How long it will take me is anyone's guess!!

Anyhow, thank you for visiting.

 Have a good day.
                                                                 
                                                                            Carole

IndigoBlu January Challenge - Anything Goes

Anything Goes Challenge


Hello again.
Thank you for visiting my blog.

I have decided to try some other challenges and found IndigoBlu had an Anything goes challenge on this month.
I have several IndigoBlu stamps and  one I am particularly fond of  is Blue's look out.


I have made several heart decorations for my cat loving friends, and decided to make one for myself. The picture  reminds me of one of our old cats peeking out of the flowers, waiting to pounce on the squirrel. Always unsuccessfully, I might add!

 

 

The cat has been stamped onto a 10.5 cm. heart from ArtCuts, a laser cutting co., and small sections coloured. 

 

I mounted the heart onto a black card heart and then stuck it onto a 15cm. heart that has a crackle finish to it.

The little wooden butterflies and the Love word, are also from ArtCuts.

 

When I make a project I  'waste' a lot of time trying to decide on the layout that I prefer.

Chris, a friend of mine, tells me not to overthink it and to try and be spontaneous. Easier said than done for me, but I see the sense in this advice.

 

 

 

 I tried several layouts before deciding on the one above.  I find that if I take a photo of each one and then look at them all together on a screen I can usually make a reasonable decision.

So that's what I did and you can see the result below.

 

 

                                Still think I prefer the first, asymmetrical layout, but 'hey ho!!'

This stamp also looks good on a smaller, 8 cm. heart, with Blue just peeking into the shape.

Thank you for visiting.
 If you have this stamp, I hope you enjoy using it as much as I do.

Bye for now.
                                                                             Carole