Christmas is coming

Hi everyone. I am delighted to be a guest designer for Chocolate Baroque this month. My first offerings are some Christmas makes. It’s been a tough year for us all and this Christmas is not really going to be usual. However, lets hope that time goes by quickly and that we can look forward to better times ahead with our friends and family in 2021. Lots of hugs, Anne.

CHRISTMAS LANTERN

My first project is a pretty Christmas lantern. I mixed & matched lots of stamps on this one but just had to include my absolute fave reindeer stamp.

Woohoo – all lit up.

This one is to be gifted to my 96 year old friend who I help care for. We are having Christmas together as I am in her support bubble. I think that she will love it.

Materials List

• MDF Lantern approx. 12.5cm wide and 20cm height (this one was from Mad Hatters but any similar could be used)
• Stamps from Chocolate Baroque: Winter Edges, Pears and Baubles, Robin the Spruce, Sparkling Trees, and New England Winter
• Stencil from Chocolate Baroque: Seasonal Journey
• Inkpads: Versamark and Versafine (Vintage Sepia)
• Sparkle pen (pale blue), Glaze gel pen (red)
• Watercolour pens: pale blue, green, sepia
• Stickles clear sparkly glitter glue (Icicle)
• White Gesso and acrylic paints (pale turquoise blue and white)
• Gold gilding wax and Galaxy flakes (chunky mica/glitter flakes)
• Clear sparkling glitter gel medium – Kristall Gel (Viva Décor)
• Embossing powders: detail white, white with silver glitter, and pale blue glitter
• Heat resistant acetate and smooth white stamping card
• Red liner tape (strong double sided tape)
• Wired Christmas ribbon
• String of small LED lights

Pretty 3D scene with house and trees.

A close up – oh that reindeer!

Adding the acetate baubles helps to blur and disguise the side edges of the card cut outs creating the scene.

How it was made:

1. The bare MDF lantern was coated with white Gesso (primer).

2. When dry it was painted with acrylics. Gilding wax was added around the ledges.

3. Versamark was applied through the stencil onto heat resistant acetate to create the Winter sentiment. It was heat embossed with sparkly white powder, cut out and attached to the lantern with strong tape.

4. The snowflakes border was stamped and embossed with white glitter powder 4 times, cut out and taped to the top portion of the lantern arches. Two large baubles were also stamped, embossed and cut out.

5. Extra snowflakes were stamped and embossed with white or blue glitter powders, along with a few twiggy branches, and cut out ready to use as embellishments.

6. The main images; 2 large background trees, the building scene, smaller foreground tree and reindeer were stamped with Versafine and cut out. In addition pine cones were cut out from the stamped pine branch stamp.

7. Images were coloured with watercolour, glitter and gel pens.

8. Now for the messy bit – ha ha. The glitter gel was used to coat the base and spread on top of the ledges. Some was also applied behind the acetate to help glue it in place securely. I had this heavy bodied thick glitter gel in my stash for years. It really needed using up as it had started to set in the pot. Some of the half set chunks were stuck down into the wet gel for added dimension. For added sparkle I also dropped in some of the chunky mica flakes. You could substitute heavy bodied acrylic medium and add glitter for similar results.

9. The stamped images were anchored into the wet gel to create the scene. I just had to add a little bit more sparkle over the images with clear glitter glue too.

10. Once the glitter gel medium had dried I did a bit of dry brushing with white Gesso in some areas to add more snowy effects.

11. The light string was then arranged to light up the background house and trees, and to light up the foreground tree. The wires were anchored with strong tape at the back of the images to help hold them in place. The switch was hidden behind the large background scene images.

12. The acetate bauble images were added to the sides with red tape. This helped blur the view through the sides of the lantern where just side on edges of the card elements were visible. It may have been better to stamp the sides as one complete panel but I found that I needed easy access to the inside in order to arrange the stamps and lights.

13. The ribbon bow was added to the top. The acetate snowy sprigs and pine cones were added to embellish the bow. The glitter glue gel was used to anchor everything in place. Extra snowflakes used to embellish too.

 

ROBIN SCENE CARD

Every year I end up leaving my Christmas cards until the last minute so I decided to do a couple of projects that would be fairly quick and easy for batch making. I always use my stamping press for batch making – it makes it so much easier to line everything up and repeat stamp multiple times.

I hope that you like this robin scene card.

I added extra inking around the outer edges of this one but decided that it really didn’t need it so didn’t do it on the rest. I just had to get on with that batch making! Ha ha.

Materials list

• 15cm square white linen textured card blanks
• Smooth white stamping card and Kraft card
• Stamps from Chocolate Baroque: Winter Edges, Pears and Baubles (sentiment), and Robin the Spruce
• Inkpads: Versafine (Vintage Sepia), Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass)
• Watercolour pens: red and brown
• Sparkly glitter glue (Stickles Icicle, red and gold) and Glossy Accents
• Sparkly organza ribbon

How it was done

1. Images were stamped with Versafine and cut out.

2. The main image was coloured with watercolour pens and mounted onto Kraft card. Glossy Accents was used to add shine to the Rosehips, and glitter glues added for sparkle.

3. The snowflake borders were stamped directly onto the card blank with Distress Ink.

4. The ribbon was glued down and the main topper added. The sentiment was also mounted onto Kraft card and glued in place. The branch was lightly shaped before gluing.

5. Finished with more dots of glitter glue. Hey – you can never have too much bling – tee hee.

Note: I kept these fairly flat for ease of posting. 3D foam could be used for more depth if desired.

 

CHRISTMAS TREE SHAKER CARDS

Who doesn’t like a shaker card? Scenic panel stamps make them really quick and easy for batch making. These were quite tricky to photo due to shiny acetate and all that bling. Hopefully you can see enough detail of the lovely glittery snow behind the acetate windows.

Materials list:

• Frosty Trees stamp set (Chocolate Baroque)
• 15 X 9cm white linen textured card blanks
• Heavy weight textured white card (for frames)
• Heat resistant acetate
• Versamark Inkpad
• Embossing powders: Detail white, white with silver glitter, metallic silver
• Glitter for inside shaker (I used Pinflair Ice Diamond – non static glass glitter)
• Stickles glitter glue (Icicle)
• Foam tape and red liner tape (strong double sided tape)
• Optional: Die to cut decorative aperture approx. 12 X 6cm (or cut a plain frame by hand). I used a die from Tonic (Kaleidoscope Box Panel set)

How it was done:

1. Cut a frame to fit the card front and surround the stamped scene.

2. Stamped the image onto acetate and heat embossed with choice of powder. Trimmed and attach behind the frame with strong tape.

3. Next attached foam tape ensuring that no gaps were left (to contain the glitter).

4. Laid card flat and placed glitter in the middle before placing the framed acetate scene.

5. Finished with dots of glitter glue.

 

MORE CHRISTMAS TREE CARDS

Finally I made another batch of quick and easy cards using the reverse scene image and blue ink. I do love monochrome blue & white cards.

Materials list:

• 15cm square linen textured white card blanks
• Chocolate Baroque stamps: Frosty Trees, Winter Edges, and Pears & Baubles
• Versafine Inkpad (Majestic Blue)
• Dark blue alcohol ink pen
• Stickles glitter glue (Icicle)
• Foam tape
• Optional: Die to cut decorative panel approx. 12 X 6cm (or cut a plain one by hand). I used a die from Tonic (Kaleidoscope Box Panel set)

How it was done:

1. Images were stamped with Versafine. Note: images on the textured card blanks will not be sharp. This is fine for the backgrounds.

2. Scene panels were cut out and stuck down with foam tape for added dimension.

3. Finished with glitter glue sparkles. Sorry but had to do it.

Sewing themed stamps from Chocolate Baroque on Hochanda today

Chocolate Baroque are back on Hochanda TV today (2pm) and tomorrow (8am) bringing lovely sewing themed stamps and other creative goodies (Freeview Channel 85 or watch online via their website).

 

Here is one that I created with the Haberdashery stamp set x.

Materials:

• Haberdashery stamp set
• Scalloped white card blank (6 X 6 inch), Core’dinations card (dark teal), white stamping card
• Inkpads: Versafine(Onyx Black), dye based (purple, light turquoise)
• Spectrum Aqua watercolour pens (Crafters Companion)
• Hexagonal design embossing folder (Embossalicious)
• Trellis die (Tonic)
• Pale purple ribbon, sanding block, adhesive

How to make it:

1. Emboss the teal card and sand it back to highlight the texture. Trim and glue to the card front.
2. Overstamp the die cut trellis randomly using the button stamps with purple and turquoise inkpads. Glue to the card front.
3. Stamp the haberdashery elements with Versafine. Cut out and colour with watercolour pens. Glue to the card front. Finish with a small bow.

Floral Card created with stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Good afternoon. Today I am sharing two variations of a card created with Chocolate Baroque stamps and a pretty background paper from Crafty Individuals.

The theme for this week’s Simon Says Stamp Challenge (Mon) is ‘Flower Power’ – so I have entered this one.

I have entered the other into the Simon Says Stamp (Wed) Challenge as ‘Anything Goes’.

 

 

Materials:

• The Rose Tree, Essence of Nature and Mackintosh Sentiments stamp sets (Chocolate Baroque)
• 8 X 8 inch card blank, Kraft card, pink card (pearl or satin mirror), pearl card (brown), Crafty Individuals Background Paper (Shades of Summer) and white stamping card
• Inkpads: Memento (London Fog), Versafine (Onyx Black), Distress Ink (Broken China)
• Alcohol ink pens (pink, yellow, green, pale blue plus clear blender)
• Watercolour pens (pale blue, yellow) and Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen (Clear Overlay)
• Fine tipped pen (opaque white, pink)
• Stickles glitter glue (Crystal)
• Flowersoft sprinkles (green, yellow)
• Dies: Venetian Lace Layering set (Tonic), flower pot (Trimcraft Pots & Vases), Butterfly (Sizzix)

How it was done:

1. Kraft card was trimmed and mounted onto the card front and faux stitching added with fine tipped pen.
2. The lace mats were cut from pink card and decorative background paper glued in place. The butterfly was also cut from pink card. Sentiments were stamped with Distress Ink.
3. The flower pot was cut from pearl brown card and lightly shaped before gluing with 3D glue gel.
4. The flowers were stamped with Memento Ink and coloured with alcohol pens. The floral spray and individual flowers were cut out for decoupage, lightly shaped before gluing down using 3D glue gel. A little clar sparkle pen was brushed over the flowers for sparkle.
5. The bumble bees were stamped with Versafine, coloured with watercolour pens and cut out.
6. Yellow Flowersoft was glued into the flower centres, green onto some of the leaves and onto the foreground (to ‘ground’ the pots).
7. Finished with touches of glitter glue for added sparkle.

Walk in the Park scene card

Good evening. I created this scene using several scene building stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque.

Materials:

• Sunburst Scenes, Country Views, English Cottages, Townhouses stamp sets
• 17 X 19cm Card Blank, white card, scrap copy paper
• Versafine (Vintage Sepia)
• Water based inks and pens (orange, yellow, gold, blue, green)
• Alcohol marker (dark brown) and fine tipped pens (opaque white and brown)
• Sparkle pen (clear)
• Zig 2 way glue

How it was done:

Brown, green and gold inks were picked up from left over inks on my craft mat (spritzed with water). I try to do this with any leftovers so that I collect some inked background papers to use in future projects. I thought that this one would make a nice base for a landscape.

I stamped the sign post, trees and bushes onto scrap copy paper and cut them out to create masks for stamping. I applied a couple of dots of zig glue to the backs and left to dry (it dries clear to give a removable tac). I then keep the masks in my stash as they can be reused many times. Chocolate Baroque also do masking tissue which already has a cling back for this purpose.

I stamped the scene with Versafine working from the foreground, masking images before working images further back.

At this stage it looks a bit of a mess. The fine tipped pen was then used to draw in elements to ‘make sense’ of the scene.

Colouring was added using watercolour pens, dragging out colour with a damp brush to give shading. A sinking sun was drawn on with a brush and water, and colour blotted away. A little clear sparkle pen was added for shimmer. The card was edged with alcohol maker to frame.

Finally highlights were added with a white pen.

Sneak Peek TV shows from Chocolate Baroque starting today

Good morning. Lesley Wharton will be on Hochanda today (6 and 8pm) plus tomorrow (9am, 1 and 5pm) bringing new goodies on a ‘One Day Special’ (Freeview Channel 85 or watch online via their website).

 

Anyone who makes a purchase from the ‘One Day Special’ before 4.30pm Friday will be in with a chance of winning £300 worth of Chocolate Baroque goodies.

 

Here is a sneaky peek of my samples:

Harlequin Bouquet Canvas created for Chocolate Baroque

 

Good morning. Today I am sharing a small canvas created with the lovely floral collage stamp (Harlequin Bouquet) from Chocolate Baroque.

Materials:

• Harlequin Bouquet, Loving Sentiments
• Useful Leaves stencil, Kaleidoscope of Butterflies stencil
• 20cm square canvas board, white stamping and watercolour card (or thick cartridge paper)
• Inkpads: Versafine (Onyx Black), StazOn (Black)
• WOW Embossing Powder (Clear Gloss)
• Ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE clear)
• Ink sprays with mica, sparkle and watercolour pens (pinks, teals, lilacs)
• Fine tipped alcohol pen (black)
• Glitter glue (pale aqua and lilac)
• Viva Décor glitter paste (teal) and modelling paste (pale aqua)
• Decorative oval frame die

How to make it:

1. Stamp the image onto stamping card with Versafine and heat emboss with clear powder. Colour with water based pens.
2. Randomly Spritz the canvas background and cover with UTEE while wet. Heat to melt. I wanted a bit of a random texture rather than smooth glass effect. If you want more texture pour a bit more powder onto the hot UTEE and melt. Ink the sentiment with StazOn and press into the molten UTEE. Leave until it sets before peeling away. I found the image was a little feint so darkened using an alcohol pen – drawing into the impressed lettering.
3. Apply the glitter paste with a palette knife onto the background using the leaf stencil. Apply modelling paste through the butterfly stencil. Leave to dry.
4. Lightly spritz the watercolour card with inks (you want it to be lighter than the canvas background so that it stands out). Cut out the frame with the decorative die and apply some ink to the edges with a sponge to define. Trim the main image to fit behind the frame and glue together. Mount onto the canvas with 3D foam.
5. Finish with touches of glitter glue.

Quick and Easy Floral Thank You card created for Chocolate Baroque

Here is another quick and easy card using a ready made aperture card and the flower stamp from the Spring Fairies April set (recently featured on Hochanda TV). I stamped onto watercolour card, colouring the stamp directly with watercolour pens. To activate the ink I lightly spritzed it with water just before stamping. I then used a damp brush to drag out some of the colour.

 

Check out the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog for more examples of quick and easy cards from my fab Teamies

 

Materials:

• April Spring Fairy, Words to Dazzle & Sparkle stamps
• A6 circle aperture card (white linen finish), watercolour card
• Versafine Inkpad (Vintage Sepia)
• Spectrum Noir Aqua Pens (green, pink, yellow)
• Satin bow

Quick and easy Christmas cards created with stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning. Today I am sharing some quick and easy Christmas card makes. Great for batch making or to get some extras done quickly – make in under 15 mins each. Create them in a multitude of colours so everyone will receive something different and original.

I created these 6 X 6 inch cards using the Sparkling Trees stamp set. The images were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with various colours of powder. The backgrounds were then quickly coloured with Distress Inks using CutNDry foam. The baubles were coloured with glitter pens. I used peel off sentiments, PVA pearls and Glossy Accents on the baubles to finish.

I created these A6 cards using the Christmas Tree Tangle stamp. The images were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with various colours of powder. The backgrounds were then quickly coloured with Distress Inks using CutNDry foam or with ink spritzers. Some quick colouring was added to the trees with glitter pens or Distress Inks and a damp brush. I added peel off sentiments and stars to finish.

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Materials:

• Sparkling Trees stamp set or Christmas Tree Tangle stamp
• 15cm square white card blanks, 14cm square white stamping card, 14cm patterned papers (Crafty Individuals – A Weekend in Seville) or A6 (15 X 10.5cm) card blanks and 14 X 9.5cm white stamping card
• Versamark Inkpad
• Mixed heat embossing powders (white, black, sparkle silver and gold)
• Mixed Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, Barn Door, Mustard Seed)
• CutNDry foam
• Ink spritzers (pink, blue, opaque white and gold with mica)
• Alcohol ink pens, glitter pens (in co-ordinating colours) and opaque white gel pen
• Glossy Accents
• PVA pearls (white, silver, gold)
• Peel off sentiments and stars (white, black, gold and silver)

How to make them:

1. Stamp the images with Versamark on plain or printed paper. Heat emboss with powder.
2. Quickly colour by sponging with Distress Inks. Splash with water and dab off with tissue to add texture if desired. This lifts off the Distress Ink. Alternatively use ink spritzers to colour. Mine are permanent when dry (acrylic type) so I spritzed with opaque white to add texture.
3. Colour the baubles on the sparkle trees with glitter pens. Add little highlights with the white pen. This makes them look more 3D. Add some areas of colour onto the Tangle Trees either with darker coloured Distress Ink and a damp brush, or with glitter pens.
4. Edge the cards with alcohol ink marker to frame and glue to card front.
5. Finally stick on the peel off sentiments and stars, add PVA pearls, and Glossy Accents to the tree baubles.

Still Reeds card created for Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge 28

Good morning. Today I am sharing one of my projects for the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge. I used the reeds border from the Owl Edges stamp set and sentiment from Words of Inspiration (Chocolate Baroque). I used ink sprays to colour the background and some die cuts to finish.

Materials:

· Owl Edges and Words of Inspiration stamp sets

· A6 white card blank (approx. 10 X 15cm)

· Die cut white stamping card (approx 9.5 X 12cm)

· Ink sprays (green, yellow, blue)

· Dye based inkpad (dark blue)

· Alcohol marker and fine tipped pen (dark blue)

· Glitter glue (light and dark blue)

· Die cuts to finish (Spellbinders)

How to make it:

1. Spray green and yellow ink onto a craft mat and pick up colour onto lower half of stamping panel. Paint blue ink across the top and dry.

2. Stamp the sentiment and reeds, use second generation stamping to create the fainter background reeds. Edge with blue marker and glue to card front.

3. Glue on the die cuts. Finish by drawing a faux stitched border and adding glitter glue.

4. If you don’t have dies just trim down the card base to fit the stamped mat and it will still look good.

Fragile Seahorse card created for Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge 27

Good morning. I am loving the sea themed colours for this month’s Chocolate Baroque Challenge. I hope that you like my Fragile Seahorse x.

Materials:

• Underwater and Mail Art Minis stamp sets
• 12 X 21cm white card blank, 11 X 20cm watercolour card
• Ink spritzers (pale blue, mid blue with mica, opaque white)
• Versamark Inkpad
• WOW embossing powder (Blueberry)
• Sea themed or textured stencil (I used Fossil from Andy Skinner)
• Alcohol marker (dark blue) and fine tipped marker (opaque white)
• Glitter pen (mid blue)

How it was done:

1. The card was spritzed with water and the blue inks (I used Mr Huey’s and Lindy’s Stamp Gang spritzers). The stencil was immediately laid on top and the card left to dry naturally. The inks get ‘pulled’ under the stencil surface by capillary action (so you get a negative image).
2. The card was then spritzed with white ink, the seahorse and sentiment stamped and embossed with blue powder, coloured with glitter and white pens.
3. The panel and card were then edged with the blue marker to frame the image.