Perfectly Perched

 Perfectly Perched

The stamp used in the making of these cards is called

 The Gift Rubber stamp set - A6

Owl Edges Rubber Stamp sheet - A5

It is a very detailed stamp and full of potential. The first one is quite easy to make as is the second of the cards although it is a bit more fiddly if you choose to cut it out as I have.

The Bauble is made using a stencil, but if you don't have one fold a piece of paper in half and cut the shape you would like. Using a low tack tape position your bauble in place, stamp your image through the stencil, using the Distress Inkpad and a soft blending brush define the shape of your bauble. Spritz your paints with water and colour your image.

Then finally using the twig from the Owl Edges stamp sheet and the Versafine Clair Green Oasis stamp randomly around the image. 

This second card was stamped using a White Inkpad and White Embossing Powder onto Black Card. I used Iridescent Watercolour Paints to colour this piece and mounted the image after fussy cutting it onto a gold satin card with some green sheer ribbon on two of the corners. The image is mounted onto the card using a silicone glue gel. 

Thank you for looking in today

Love Doreen xx 

Floral Delights

 Floral Delights

Today I have two samples from the last months shows, both are from the beautiful

 Flora and Fauna Rubber Stamp Sheet - A4

The first of the images used is the stunning Morning Glory, such a beautiful yet delicate flower. This set has so many fabulous images (16 in total) six of the images are large and make a real statement, but the others on this stamp sheet are equally as beautiful and detailed in their own right and very useful too.

The second is an easily recognisable Cala Lily and although I would love some in the garden my hubby dislikes them with a passion, so I content myself looking at the wonderful display in my neighbours garden.

The Morning Glory was made first by using a Gelli Plate with dye inkpads and a sheet of kitchen roll applied whilst the ink was still wet, taken off fairly quickly and then using a sheet of card larger than the size needed for the finished card and take a print then set to one side to dry.

Stamp the main image onto another piece of card, then using your dye inkpads as paints colour your image.

I then tore the edges of the card and with a soft brush applied ink to the edges of the torn piece to add definition.

With the Cala Lily I stamped the image then coloured it using Inktense Pencils and a Clear Sparkle Brush Pen to blend. I stamped and coloured the dragonflies in the same way. The clear gems were added once the image was dry,

Thank you for looking in today

Love Doreen xx

Summers Day

 Summers Day

Hi everyone, here are my picks for today. Can't you just imagine looking a view just like this out of a window ? 

This was a fairly quick make to be fair. I used a cloud mask and some of my Distress Inkpads applying them with soft brushes onto some glossy card.

Next with some Versafine Clair Green inkpads and the 

Walk Tall Rubber Stamp sheet - DL

 For the grasses in the foreground I just used the tops of the stamps, applying them randomly. When completely dry buff with a soft cloth to give a sheen to your finished card and although I chose not to you can easily add a sentiment of your own choice to the card.

Here is another card which uses the grasses from the Walk Tall Rubber Stamp sheet - DL

in the background to compliment the beautiful Majestic Crane Rubber Stamp sheet - DL 

Again this is a simple card to make using the Majestic Crane stamped directly onto a Pixie Powder background which work exactly the same as brushes but with added mica powder.

The card used for this make is the trusty  A4 Drawing Cartridge 220gsm - pk 10 Which is definitely my go to card in the majority of my makes. 

Well that is all from me today, I will be back again later in the month but there is a daily blogpost from the Design Team where you can see some fantastic makes from the rest of the team to inspire you.

Thank You for looking in 

Love Doreen xx

Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty

Today I would like to share this make with you, it uses a stamp set called

 Mermaid Queen Rubber stamp sheet - A5

I also used a Grey Inkpad, Watercolour Brush Pens, a Clear Glitter Gel Brush Pen and one of my Make Art inkpads Garden Patina which I used to colour the background and the mermaids spotlight bubble.

Another card made using the Mermaid Queen set and the very versatile and much loved

 Make your Mark Rubber Stamp sheet - DL

I used the worker stamps in the Mermaid Queen stamp set, a mop up background on glossy card, the stamped images were embossed using a clear embossing powder.

The bubbles from the Make Your Mark set I feel set the scene on the backing card for the finished topper.

Thank you for looking in today

Love Doreen 

Punky Posy

 Punky Posy

Hello all Chocolate Baroquers, I'm back for my second visit this month. I would like to share this Steampunk floral tag with you today.

Using a sparkle paint to cover the MDF Tag used in one coat, leave to dry and stamp the Roses onto Drawing Cartridge, I coloured the roses using Inktense Pencils and after shaping slightly I used a crackle glaze to add a sheen to the roses.

Returning to the tag I stamped and heat embossed the cogs randomly directly onto the tag using a black inkpad and clear embossing powder.

Apply the roses to the tag using a gel of to aid the depth required, I also added a metal cog from my embellishment stash. To finish I used a little glitter and some variegated coloured organza ribbon for a bow and to hang the tag from.

A4 Drawing Cartridge 220gsm - pk 10

Steampunk Butterfly Rubber stamp sheet - A5

I also used the Steampunk Butterfly stamps to create this card, which actually contains the beautiful Steampunk Butterfly.

Thank you so much for looking in today 

Love Doreen

 

Memories Of The Beach

 Memories Of The Beach

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend, here are two of my projects from last months shows.

The tag in the first photo and the canvas both use the Seashell Collage

 Seashell Collage Rubber stamp sheet - A5 

The tag is a bit of a long make but only because I used 3 different colour Crackle Enamels, which I spread in a random way mixing them without worrying about the mix. Set aside to dry. Then stamp the images in a permanent ink and fussy cut the images. Once the crackle has dried using a 3d gel to mount the images and then using a sealant of choice to seal the crackle and images.

The Canvas Board is very straight forward to make but do keep a spare piece of smooth paper to hand. I stamped using the Archival Colbalt Blue inkpad, the images need to be stamped with a firm pressure then using the paper you have to hand stamp the image this will leave a textured print for you to use either to decoupage or to use on another project.

Thank you for looking in today 

Love Doreen 

Time to Re - Visit

 Time to Re - Visit

Today we re - visit these lovely houses.

Dutch House

Italian House

Bridge House

Turret House

It was more than a pleasure to re-visit these lovely stamps, they really are very versatile.

I have used different mediums to colour but in the main they have been stamped with Versafine inkpads in either grey or black. 

Backgrounds have been coloured using Distress Inkpads smooshed onto a glass mat and applied with a paintbrush.

To extend the Bridge House I used a mask using the Masking Tissue.

This was also used in the making of the Turret House which also used a sentiment from Life Is So Much Better.

Thank you for looking in today

Love Doreen 

  Orchard  Designs

Using a blank wood plaque and Versafine Clair Acorn and the taller of the trees from the Orchard Design a Tree set, which I slightly extended. A dye inkpad was used to colour the sky applied with a stencil brush. The heads of the flowers were also coloured from a dye inkpad and paintbrush. The foliage on the tree was stamped with a Plum Archival Inkpad. Both the stems of the flowers and grassy area used a green inkpad and paintbrush. The white gel pen daisies were left to dry before applying 2 coats of Deco Art  Decoupage medium to seal.

This card needs a little pre preparation I have used something called

 ' Goosebumps' Which is basically a clear medium that remains raised when dry this was flicked onto the card not sprayed. Anything you have in your stash that does the same will do equally as well.

 Once dry you can carry on as normal.

Using a mix of Distress Inkpads, for the sky I have used ; 

Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge and Crackling Campfire, which have been applied to the card using a soft brush randomly building up the colour to give the illusion of a sunset.

The trees and hills have been stamped and using a torn piece of paper and soft brush to build the colour for the hills from the really dark working the colour from the brush without adding more colour to build the distant hills , if more colour is required on brush use the brush very lightly or using a scrap of card apply the dark ink to be used at a later date. The trees and hills used a Versafine Clair Inkpad 'Pinecone', stamping the foliage until no ink remains on the stamp which will add depth. Buff the colour from your raised dots and although some will stay most will come off and mount onto  Craft Card for contrast. 

 

This card is so very simple, again using a remnant of the above card with the raised medium. I used a circle of  Masking Tissue. Then using Distress Inkpads in colours Shaded Lilac, Faded Jeans and Hickory Smoke using circular motions fading the colour out to the lovely soft grey. The Hills were coloured using Black Soot with a make up sponge and a torn piece of copy paper. Then the tree was stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne.

So there concludes three relatively quick and simple cards from the  Orchard Dress a Tree set.

Thank you for looking in today

Love Doreen

 

Blossom Lane

This canvas was quite a labour of love as firstly I stamped, coloured and fussy cut each of Kim Moody's latest release of stamps which include ;

Kim Moody - Bottle and Jug A6 rubber stamp 

Kim Moody - Cotswold Stone A6 rubber stamp

Kim Moody - Luv Shack A6 rubber stamp

Kim Moody - Urban Chic A6 rubber stamp

Plus I have also used the Chocolate Baroque stamps

Orchard Design a Tree Rubber stamp sheet - A6

Although not a necessity and very time consuming I stamped and coloured some blossoms to add depth to the canvas fussy cutting the individual blossoms and shaping and applying each of them to the trees.

Next the canvas itself was coloured using a wash of distress inks, which I also used to colour the cottages. The path was just randomly sized paving slabs yet again coloured using a paintbrush and distress inkpads allowing the colour to fade before replenishing the brush which gives a natural look to the shading.

The sentiment is from the Life Is So Much better set which was simply stamped and cut up before being applied to the canvas.

Life is so much Better Rubber Stamp sheet - A5

To finish I simply set everything in place before adding some birds using a fine liner pen.

Here are also one each of the cards from Kim's new range;

Thank you for looking in today 

Love Doreen

                            

Marked Retro

                                                                 Marked Retro

Hello Everyone, welcome to my third post for May, Marked Retro uses 3 stamp sets

 

 Make Your Mark

 https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/make-your-mark-rubber-stamp-sheet-dl.html

Life Is So Much Better 

https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/life-is-so-much-better-rubber-stamp-sheet-a5.html

Retro Florals   These are available by phoning Chocolate Baroque Direct and speaking to David or Lesley, they are not on the website.

 

Take an A5 piece of glossy card and randomly splash with Distress Inks ( I unscrewed the tops from sprays and flicked the ink in the tube onto the card, please make sure to cover surfaces as this is quite a messy process) Leave to dry. Once dry randomly use the stamps from the Retro Florals set using  Distress Inkpads squished onto a glass surface or messy mat as this will stop you contaminating your inkpads. Then you may wish to use a stamp press to use the Make Your Mark  stamps as you an achieve a really black mark by inking and stamping until you have the black you require.

Leave to one side to dry thoroughly (this will take a while) 

Take a couple of small scraps of card 1 piece of black and I used a rusty coloured piece of scrap but if you don't have a piece to match ink a piece of white card leave it to dry properly before using it to stamp your sentiment. 

Buff the dry topper using a soft tissue until you achieve a beautiful shine. 

 Mat and layer onto a black card blank. Add mat and layered sentiment.

 

 

Thank you for looking today

Love Doreen 

 

Moonlight Shroom

                                                          

                                                                       Moonlight Shroom

Hello Everyone,

 today I am using the Mother Earth stamp set it contains 2 large image stamps and 3 complimentary words which can be used in many other ways than just with this set.

https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/mother-earth-rubber-stamp-sheet-a5.html

Using 5 PanPastels I have used Green, Blue, White, Silver and Black.

Versafine Onyx Black to stamp sentiment and image. 

https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/versafine-inkpad-onyx-black.html 

Watercolour Card is used for base and the PanPastels work well add your colour in a gentle sweeping action to achieve a smooth effect, use the light colours first adding silver to the moon to give it a sheen, Any stray strokes can be taken away using an eraser and this is how I also achieved the effect of stars. Build the colour by adding more in stages and then the shadows, shape and depth are using the black in the same way , where you want darker shades add the black a little at a time. Finally add Sentiment.

Mat and Layer onto a white card blank. Spray with Pastel Fixative to seal.

Thank you for looking in today,

Love Doreen 

 

 

 

 

Retro Meadow

Hello Everyone, well here we are already into May ... Can you believe it ? 

Today I am sharing this simple but effective technique which is very achievable to the beginner and going forward. It also makes for a rushed card needed quickly and without a fuss.

 

To make the Landscape style card you will need :

One A4 piece of card folded in half.

Half of an A4 piece of stamping card plus the same in a contrast colour of your choice to mat and layer.

The stamps used are a selection from the Retro Flowers A4 set of stamps, which although are not available on the website can be ordered via a quick call or email if you prefer to Chocolate Baroque where Lesley or David will provide you with any information you require. I have also used a sentiment from Life Is So Much Better

https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/life-is-so-much-better-rubber-stamp-sheet-a5

 I have used a selection VersaFine Clair Inkpads to stamp my images randomly across the width of the card starting with the 1st generation and stamping without re-inking until there is no ink on the stamp,

Then using the stem stamps in the set I have chosen 3 different shades of green to give the long grassy effect starting with the lightest colour and working my way through until happy with the result.

Trim your contrast card to your desired size and then trim the stamped piece accordingly. I am always inclined to glue the contrast card in place and raise the stamped image with foam pads. 

Thanks for Looking in today,

Love Doreen