Chocolate Baroque cards for December TV

Hi everyone.  Here are the cards I made for the December Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda.  

My first card was made using the Steampunk Sea World and the Steampunk Funky Fish stamps.  I started with the background using some Brushos in Turquoise and Ultramarine and a bit of Dark Brown at the bottom, keeping it fairly light.  I then stamped the images using Versafine Deep Lagoon ink second generation, as I didn't want the outlines to be too heavy.  I then coloured them using a selection of Distress Inks applied with a waterbrush - Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint.  I then added some extra ink to the background and around the edges to darken it a bit using more Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord and then added the sentiment from Punky Expressions stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon again using second generation ink.
 

This second card features stamps from Punky Flowers and a sentiment from Punky Expressions.  I made a watercolour background using my Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord and then stamped the middle flower using the middle sized flower and heat embossed it with WOW Silver Metallic Embossing Powder.  I then made a mask for it before stamping the two smaller flowers, one either side and heat embossed them with the Silver EP.  I then masked these two and stamped the coil branches six times and added the smaller of the group of cogs  and the sentiment, all  Silver EP heat embossed.  I finished by adding some of the same two colours to the flowers using a waterbrush.

This next card uses an image from Punky Flowers and I decided to put it over an alcohol ink on Yupo background which I had already made with Stream, Flamingo, Clover and Citrus.  I added the strip of white card with the image stamped in Momento Teal Zeal and heat embossed a couple of times with WOW Clear EP to really make it stand out.  I then blended the same ink around the edges using a blending tool and added the sentiment from Punky Expressions cut into a banner and using the Teal Zeal again, but didn't heat emboss it this time as I wanted it to have a softer look, and edged very lightly with the same ink.

My last card  is a watercoloured scene using Steampunk Birds and one of the flowers from Punky Flowers.

I stamped the flowers in the foreground first using Versafine clair Nocturne ink and then masked one of the flowers and added the birdhouse, and then the bird on the perch, all using the Nocturne ink.  I then coloured them all using my Distress Inks in Brushed Corduroy, Tea Dye, Carved Pumpkin, Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint.  I did occasionally mix some of the colours together for other tones.  I then added some hand drawn leaves around the bird to make it look like he is perched on a branch though obviously it does look more like a perch than a branch, but a bit of poetic license there..lol, and then I added a golden sun behind the birdhouse using Scattered Straw and Fossilized Amber.  I finished by adding the grass using Peeled Paint and added a bit of blue to it for the hills and then did the sky with Salty Ocean and added a sentiment using second generation Nocturne ink.

I wanted to give this a bit of a fantasy look, I wasn't going for very much realism as these stamps give everyday objects a bit of a twist.  

Thank you for coming to see the blog today and I'll see you again soon.

 

Steampunk Birds

Hi there everyone.  This is my last Guest Design Team post over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog and I have chosen images from the Steampunk Birds set of stamps, and also the little flower from Punky Flowers.

I started by stamping the little chick three times on to white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and then watercoloured the three images with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and cut them out using the whole image, then minus the egg to the right, then just the wing, followed lastly by just the shell over the chick and decoupaged using the glue gel which gives it a nice 3D look.   I then stamped the little birds and sentiments on to a 4" square piece of white card using more Nocturne ink and coloured them using Peacock Feathers DI applied with a waterbrush.  I then blended more Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade around the edges and added the decoupaged image to the centre.

Next I cut a piece of white card a little smaller than the square card and stamped the larger double bird image on a spring and also the corkscrew birds image which I thought nicely fitted in with the theme of the card, again with Nocturne ink.  I then infilled with a small cog image from Steampunk Birds and the smallest flower image from Steampunk Flowers using Mustard Seed and finished with more Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade and also a small amount of the Vintage Photo blended around the edges.

Thank you for joining me today and I'll be back again soon and please visit the Design Team Blog for lots of great inspiration as there are new posts most days.  

Berry Wreath for January Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi there everyone.  Well it's that time i.e. the 25th of the month, when Mo of Scraps of Life by Scrappy Mo runs her Rudolph Days Challenge.  Last year I didn't get to enter many of the challenges and I hope this year to do a lot better, so here's my card for this month.  I used a Woodware stamp called Berry Wreath and for the background a Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil which I have had for quite a while but is still my favourite snowy background look.  

I started by dry embossing the stencil on to the square white base card and then cut a stitched circle using my set from The Works.  I then put the stamp in my Misti and inked it in Adirondack Lettuce ink and stamped and then inked it again in Adirondack Bottle ink more to the outside of the stamp which has given this two tone effect.  I then twisted it around a little and stamp again using Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn using second generation ink to get a background shadow effect.  I then added some Nuvo Red Berry Crystal Drops to some of the berries.  I backed this with another stitched circle from the set on size bigger using red card and added the sentiment which comes with the set stamped using Versafine Olympia Green and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

The challenge is open until the end of the month and will help to build up your stash of seasonal cards for this coming Christmas which has to be good.  Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

It's Snowing

Hi there everybody.  I was lucky enough to be chosen as the winner of a recent challenge over at The Male Room with this card and so I am the Guest Designer for their next challenge with the title It's Snowing.  I have chosen the theme of skiing for my card and I found this digital image to use.  Their is a programme on over here called Ski Sunday, and also our son has got interested in skiing too which is probably what put me in mind to make this the theme of my card.  I don't usually use digital images but not having anything skiing related I found this and I think it works quite well.             

                                                                                                           

                                                                                        

I ran off two of the images and watercoloured one with my Distress Inks using Black Soot, Fired Brick, and Mustard Seed, and fussy cut it out.  I then cut the other image into a square and coloured the sky using Broken China DI.  I then backed this with a piece of black card and then adhered the image itself over the background with some Pinflair Glue Gel to give it some dimension.  I finished by adding a sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and finally added some bits of snow using a Signo White Gel Pen.

Thank you to everyone at The Male Room for choosing my card and I have enjoyed being part of this challenge, so do go and take a look at the wonderful work produced by the DT, and thank you for joining me here today and I hope to see you again soon.

Punky Sailing Ship

Hi everyone.  This is my second Guest Designer post for this month over at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog and I decided on something more masculine this time, though it doesn't necessarily have to be.

This card uses the Steampunk Sea World stamps and I started with the sailing ship stamping it on to a piece of white card using Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then cut a mask for it using the masking sticky backed sheet you can buy.  I won't say this wasn't fiddly and did take me a bit of time but it fitted beautifully and it does help to keep most of the ink away from the image.  I got out a Sweet Dixie Stencil called Splash and decided to do the stencil monoprint technique where you ink up the stencil itself and press it face down on to the card.  I used Brushos for this Turquoise and Orange and this combined to make a pretty bluey green colour with just bits of the orange in a few places.  I inked it a couple of times to get the result I wanted and filled in a little bit with my waterbrush too.  I then coloured the ship with Vintage Photo and Carved Pumpkin Distress Inks using my waterbrush.  I finished this by die cutting with a stitched circle die.

I decided to stamp a couple more of the images from the set on to a piece of white card just a little smaller than the card again using the Vintage Sepia DI and then heat embossed with Clear Gloss EP and then coloured with the Vintage Photo ink again using my waterbrush.  I used some Blueprint Sketch ink on the background and darker around the edges of the mat fading towards the centre, and decided to do something similar to the topper too to unify it.  I then added a sentiment from Punky Expressions stamp set using the Blueprint Sketch ink and heat embossed it with the Clear Gloss EP.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope to see you again soon.  I will be back next week with the last of my three posts.  

Springtime Crocuses

Hi there.  It is time again for my Guest Designer spot over at Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog.  I know Spring is definitely a couple of months away but the bulbs start appearing soon, snowdrops followed by crocuses, and I have this pretty set of flowers and birds and in fact there are three sets featuring different birds as well as crocuses, daffodils and tulips, but as the crocuses appear earlier than the others I decided to use them for this card.  The set is called Spring Bird Crocus. What can be lovelier when everything is still rather wet and grey to see huge swathes of crocuses, in yellow and purple.

I started with the topper and stamped one of the crocus images and the little flower border four times on this 4" square piece of white card using Versafine Imperial Purple and then coloured them using a waterbrush with Distress Inks in Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord on the flower heads, and then the leaves using Scattered Straw and Mowed Lawn over the top.  I then blended the Scattered Straw and some Fossilised Amber and around the outside the Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord.  I also used a little dotty stamp which comes with the Freedom Flower set using the Dusty Concord and then a bit of Brilliance White over the top to lighten it a bit.

I then cut a larger square of white card and used one of the Texture Fragments to make an all over pattern using Peeled Paint Distress Ink and then used the dotty stamp all over with Fossilised Amber, followed by the Small Graph Paper all over that with Shaded Lilac ink.  I darkened the edges with this and the Dusty Concord.  To finish I added a sentiment stamped on a die cut stitched tag and attached it to the centre of the topper with a little of the two lilac and purple inks added for shading.

I will be back again next week with my second post, and there will be another the following week.  Thank you for coming to take a look today and I hope to see you again soon.  If you like what you see do go and take a look over at the Design Team Blog where there are new posts most days from the DT and the GDT to inspire you. 

More Chess Art

Hi everybody.  Another masculine birthday card to show you today using the Aall and Create stamp called Chess Art (No. 115).  I stamped it on to a piece of card which had some remnants of alcohol ink from the oxidised metal heart I did a while ago.  I had a piece of kitchen towel which got quite soaked with the Indigo alcohol ink and whilst it was fresh I found a piece of card lying on my table and I added some blending solution to the ink on the kitchen towel and then ran it over the piece of card until it was covered and it came out as a medium blue which I thought looked quite nice.

I stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  In order to fit it on to the card I had to cut a bit off each end of the image, and then I decided to add a bit more ink to darken it round the edges so I blended some Salty Ocean and then a bit of Wilted Violet to brighten it a bit.  I then matted it onto black card before adding it to the white card and stamped a sentiment below it again using the Nocturne ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.

Thank you for visiting today and I'll see you again soon.  I have been away in Dorset for a week and although I did do some visiting and commenting I have fallen behind a bit so will be catching up in the next day or two.  Quite enjoyed the break and though not cold the weather was rather wet.  The best day was yesterday when it actually stayed fine and we even managed some sun on and off throughout the day.

Lastly,  I have a new follower called Corry whose blog you will find here.  She had another blog which she had some problems with and unfortunately lost all her followers so is starting again with this new one, so do go and visit her. 

A Year in Cards

Hi there everybody.  Each year I choose twelve cards, one from each month, which represent my creative year, using some which I personally loved and those which seemed to be favourites of you all, so here goes.

              
                                                        

I also want to show the cards that I made for the two most important men in my life.  Unfortuately our son's card only arrived at his Sydney home a day or so ago, due in part to my being a little late sending it though sent by the date specified, and also the vagaries of Australia Post.  So here they are and they complete my cardmaking year.

This was made using a stamp by Studiolight and I stamped with Versafine Nocturne and Satin Red Inks  and the embossing folder is a Sheena Douglass one which doesn't seem to be available now, and over which I used silver wax.  I finished by matting it on to white and then red card and added the sentiment using Satin Red Versafine and also used Glossy Accents on the two baubles.

I am entering this into the challenge over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop where Di has a special Christmas draw going on, and I have used snippets of white and red card.  Thank you for all the great prizes on offer Di. 

Finally this is hubby's card.  I used a Clarity Woodland Stencil and Clarity brushes to add the ink for the background and the snow hills and slopes using one of the masks and  Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Ripe Persimmon, and then added the three deer using Black Soot Distress Ink applied with blending foam using the deer mask included in the Woodland set of Masks.  I finished by adding the sentiment using Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink over which I used WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and darkened the edges with more Stormy Sky.

I hope you haven't fallen asleep throughout this rather lengthy post but I would just like to finish by saying that I value every one of my followers and all of you that visit and leave a comment when you can, you are all very important to me.  I would just like to wish you

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

and it goes without saying a wonderfully creative 2020