Tall Trees from Chocolate Baroque

Oops I meant to post this card yesterday bus as usual work has been so busy I just haven't had a minute. Anyway the weekend is here  and I'm going to be a busy bee making samples for some more of Lesley's shows on Hochanda! This card is one of the samples I made for the shows last month which featured some of my favourite Chocolate Baroque stamps.

This card was made using stamps from Tall Trees. I created a little scene on linen card using a torn paper mask and distress inks before stamping the trees with brown ink. I then cleaned the stamp and inked up the top part of the trees with gilding glue and stamped again before applying glitter in shades of green, orange and brown. The sentiment is from Birthday Words.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: Orange brown and green

Creative Knockouts: Anything goes

Making Memories Crafting: Anything goes Autumn/Halloween

That's Crafty: Forever Autumn

Through the Purple Haze: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Flowers and butterflies canvas

Good morning my lovelies, today's project is a canvas made for our 'Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes' challenge over at We Love to Create with Polkadoodles. We've had some really exciting changes over on the challenge blog and this is our first challenge using Polkadoodles goodies. We've got some gorgeous papers and a beautiful set of stamps for our lucky winner so do pop over and find out all the details.

I've used lots of gorgeous stamps and dies to make this canvas, along with a little stencilling, Foamiran flowers and some beautiful printables from the Belle Papillon collection. I've done a step by step tutorial over on the We Love 2 Create with Polkadoodles blog if you'd like to find out more about how I made this project.

Here a few more pics to show the detail:

This is one of my favourite techniques, I love the sparkle of microbeads

I love all these pretty stamps and dies, they've been painted with distress inks and die cut using the coordinating doublet dies

I've stamped the foliage using Potting Soil archival ink and overstamped the larger leaves with a script stamp from Belle Papillon

I've added lots of texture with raffia, angel hair and lots of die cut foliage

I'm entering this canvas in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes

Creative Knockouts: lots of layers

Inky Chicks: use your favourite colours

Frilly and Funkie: show us your stamps

Fussy and Fancy: Shabby Chic

Sisterhood of Crafters: use your dies

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Polka Doodles Belle Papillon A5 stamp set	Bella Fleur Large stamp set	Birdhouse Doublet Die set	flower Flourish die	Flowers 1
Belle papillon crafting kit	PolkaDoodles Butterfly 1 ′Doublet′ die	Polkadoodles dies - Flower Branch die set

Hanging Flowers from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, Monday already so I'm heading off to work but before I go I just wanted to share a card featuring Hanging Flowers, one of the beautiful new stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

I stamped the focal image onto some white stamping card with black Versafine ink and then stamped twice more on some scraps of stamping card so that I could decoupage some of the flowers. I coloured the images with watercolour pencils, using a damp brush to blend the colour. I coloured around the image with watercolour paint using lots of water to create a muted effect.I stamped the foliage using Take it or Leaf it with a little distress ink. I splashed a little blue and green watercolour paint here and there and added a blue bow and a sparkly dazzler to finish the card off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Friends: Anything goes
Fussy and Fancy: Favourite Colour (blue flowers)
Simply Create Too: flowers
Southern Girls: Add some stamping
Sweet Stampin: Flowers

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Goes or Christmas at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, are you ready for the weekend? I certainly am, I'm getting too old to work for a living lol. My card today is for our 'Anything Goes' Challenge at Polkadoodles. The DT were challenged to make a Christmas project so we're hoping to give you a little inspiration to get an early start with your Christmas cards.

When is a peacock not a peacock? When it's a Christmas tree lol.

I've used the fabby Regal Peacock stamp set from Polkadoodles to make this card, those peacock feathers make wonderful Christmas trees with a little glitter glue to create some baubles.

I began by masking the moon and using torn paper masks to create the hills, I've used  Iced Spruce distress ink and an ink duster to ink in the sky and hils. The 'trees' were stamped with the same ink and I used a wet brush to add a little dimension and shading to the trees. I stamped the flourishes from the same stamp set around the edges and to create branches and added dots of glitter glue. I stamped the word 'Happy', drew the baubles and wrote the letters in them and highlighted them with glossy accents.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: Christmas
Crafting from the Heart: Anything goes
Crafts Galore Encore: Anything goes
Love to Scrap: Anything goes
Ooh La La: Landscapes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Anything goes or Red, White and Blue at Polkadoodles

Good afternoon folks, I'm having one of those days today so I'm running late with my post for our challenge over at Polkadoodles where the theme is 'Anything Goes', the DT have been challenged to use the theme of Red White and Blue so you can play along with that  theme too. As always our lucky winner will receive a fab prize from the Polkadoodles store and my teamies have some gorgeous projects to inspire you.

For My project I've made a vintage tag using the beautiful butterfly stamps from Bella Fleur and Belle Papillon sets, you can find them both here with lots of gorgeous coordinating dies and the most beautiful papers too.

I began by using Ultramarine Blue PanPastel on my tag, then somestencilling  with a script stencil and white fine texture paste. While that was drying I stamped my butterflies on watercolour card with white embossing powder and coloured them with Festive Berries distress ink.

I layered up some lace and a little red/white gingham ribbon then attached my butterflies with silicone glue. I added some faux pearls for a trail between the butterflies and applied glitter around the edge of the tag to finish off.

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges:

Artistic Stampers: winged things

CRAFT: Ribbon and sparkle

Go Tag Thursday: Butterflies

Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: stencil it

Thanks for popping by today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Good morning my lovelies, have you been enjoying the hot weather? I must admit I do love the sunshine but it's been far too hot at work and my craft room has been like a greenhouse. Anyway I'm sharing a card made for our 'Anything Goes' challenge over at Polkadoodles. There's a fab prize from the Polkadoodles store for our lucky winner and some gorgeous projects from my teamies to inspire you!

The DT were challenged to use polkadots on our projects, I adore polkadots so this challenge is right up my street. I've used papers and stamps from the beautiful Belle Papillon Paper Craft Kit and added some stencilled polkadots  with gelatos to make this card. I've also used lots of Polkadoodles dies to create the flower and foliage - Flower Flourish, Birdhouse Doublet Set, Flowers 1

I've distressed everything with a craft knife and some gathered twigs distress ink and added some raffia, pearls and a pretty lime green doily.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting when we can: Shabby Chic

Hiding in my craft room: Feminine

Inky  Chicks: use 3 patterned papers

Simon Says Stamp: Patterned Paper

The Crafty Addicts: Anything goes/die cuts

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Not a fairy in sight

Good morning folks, today I'm sharing another sample from the Chocolate Baroque Spring Fairies Collection but there isn't a fairy in sight on this one!

I've used a little MDF heart. I gave it  a coat of white gesso and once that was dry I applied distress ink in Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass to create the background. I stamped the flowers along the left side of the heart and coloured with pencils. I stamped the clouds from Fantasy Castles in the sky with Black Stazon and added a little white gesso. This is where I should have stopped as it looked lovely but no, I had to carry on and added some grey paint which to be honest doesn't look as nice. I stamped the little scroll around the edges with Versamark and embossed with Gold. I added a little acetate butterfly, again embossed with Gold embossing powder and glittered on the back.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting from the Heart: Anything goes

Creative Fingers: anything goes

Fussy and Fancy: Flowers

Simply Papercraft: anything goes

Through the Purple Haze: anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Spring Fairy Concertina Frame

Good morning my lovelies, today I'm sharing another project made using the beautiful Spring Fairy Collection stamps from Chocolate Baroque. These stamps are so lovely I wanted to show them off so I made a little concertina frame card (I'm not really sure what they are called but I do love making them lol) 

I won't go into detail describing each panel or you'd fall asleep but the backgrounds are all made using distress inks and overstamped with some of the worker stamps from the Spring Fairy Collection, I've also added the Large Crackle Background and the hilly treescape from Magical Landscapes into the mix for my background stamping. 

The focal images are all coloured with Lyra pencils and all the edges have been given a bit of distressing with my craft knife and a shimmer of gilding wax. 

I've added a couple of butterflies to the inside, these were stamped on acetate with Versamark and embossed with Gold embossing powder before being glittered on the back. I used gold vellum to create the concertina frame effect but you can't see it on the photos so you'll have to use your imagination lol. I've also added a little tag stamped with the pretty little primula stamp

I really enjoyed making this project, I love fairies so mixing them up with colouring and inky fun is a lovely way to pass the time. 

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

A Inky Mess: Anything goes mixed media

Artistic Stampers: Floral Fantasy

Colouring in Scrapland: anything goes

Country View Crafts: flower power

Let's Craft and Create: make your own background

Stamping Sensations: Butterflies/Fairies/Fantasy

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything goes at Polkadoodles

Good morning my lovelies, we've got a new challenge starting over at Polkadoodles and of course our theme is 'Anything Goes'! There is a lovely prize from Polkadoodles for our lucky winner and loads of inspiration from my teamies too! The DT were challenged to use a die cut for this challenge and that was a real treat as there are so many gorgeous Polkadoodles dies to choose from.

 I've used stamps from the beautiful Bella Fleur A5 Clear stamp set to create this little wildflower meadow. I stamped the images with versamark on watercolour paper and embossed with white embossing powder before watercolouring with distress inks. The butterfly is from Belle Papillon Stamp Set and I've used the matching Butterfly Doublet Die to create the butterfly using acetate and glitter on the back. The frame was from the pound shop, it was a bit of a bright colour so I painted it with white gesso and popped my little scene in the frame.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Artistic Stampers: Floral Fantasy

As you like it: Favourite die and why

 (my favourite die is this lovely butterfly die from Polkadoodles, its great to use on it's own but even prettier with the matching stamp)

Country View Crafts: Flower Power

Die Cut Divas: Flowers

Little Miss Muffet: Anything goes

Paper Shelter: Flowers

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

A message from Russia

Good morning my lovelies,  here's a large tag I made for the launch of the new Russian themed collection from Chocolate Baroque on Hochanda recently. You can find all the new stamp and some fabulous stencils here

I began by making a background using distress stains (Tarnished Brass, Vintage Photo, Broken China and Faded Jeans). I stamped here and there with  the beautiful Russian Exquisite Egg stamps but holding it in my hand so I just caught parts of the design and then embossed with gold embossing powder. I also added a little crackle with the crackle stamp using the same technique. I took one of the stencils and inked through it with a deep blue inkpad and then applied a layer of glassy gel medium. While that was drying I made the rest of the elements. I stamped Katya, again with dark blue ink and cut her out, I inked a post card from my stash and used one of the Silhouette Palace stamps and faux postage paper to make the 'stamps'.

Once everything was dry I assembled my tag, adding some flowers, pearl trim, charms, lace and ribbon from my stash.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Creative Fingers: Anything goes

Stamping Sensations: April - anything goes

Through the Purple Haze: use a tag

World Wide Open Design Team challenge: anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Beautiful Katya

Good morning my lovelies, long time no see! I've been without internet for a wee while but eventually Virgin media have sorted the problem and so I'm playing catch up now. My project today features the lovely Katya from Chocolate Baroque.

To decorate the plastic frame I applied gilding glue and then adding gilding flakes here and there and dusted mica powders over the rest.

I created a background with distress inks (bundled sage, Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac) and overstamped using the Large Crackle Background stamp using purple chalk ink. I stamped Katya onto white stamping card and coloured her with alcohol markers. I also stamped her onto acetate with versamark and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder. I then cut Katya out and glued her to the background. I then cut her headdress out from the acetate and layered that up with tiny blobs of silicone glue. I added a few little gems here and there.

I then stamped the sentiment (from Artistic Expressions) with purple chalk ink on some gold vellum. I tore the strip out and rolled the edges around a cocktail stick to make a little scroll.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and more: make your mark

Creative Artiste : Anything Mixed Media

Sisterhood of Crafters: Stamp it

Tuesday Throwdown: Something clear

WOW Embossing powder: Anything goes with embossing powder

Thanks so much for visiting, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Spring Bird Daffodil from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, it's my turn to share a project over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog today so I've got a bright and cheerful daffodil to remind us that Spring is nearly here.

The focal image is from Spring Bird Daffodil, coloured with Lyra Pencils and distressed with Gathered Twigs distress ink. The background was made with more distress inks,glimmer mists, a little stencilling and one of the smaller stamps from the same set, again coloured with lyra pencils.

I used one of the smaller stamps with Gathered Twigs ink around the edges and added some seam binding ribbon dyed with more distress ink, a little lace and a paper daffodil. As a finishing touch I made some raindrops here and there on the background with dots of glossy accents, dragged into a drop shape with a cocktail stick. 

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy: Springtime

Ooh La La: Spring is in the air

Stamping Sensations: Close to nature

The Ribbon Girls: any image plus ribbon

Through the purple haze: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Kingfisher from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, today's card features the very handsome Kingfisher from Kingfisher Song. from Chocolate Baroque I love these stamps and had lots of fun making scenic cards but I couldn't resist giving him a crown for this card lol.

I took a pile of gelli plate backgrounds and chose one for Mr Kingfisher, I also stamped him on another background and added some colour with sparkle pens. I stamped the branch on the gelli plate background and doodles a border with a black gel pen. I cut the kingfisher out and layered him up on 3d foam pads and then matted and layered with white and black card. I took an 8x8 card black and some sequin waste and added some stencilling to the base card using coordinating distress inks. 

I added the sentiment and a few black sequins and as a finishing touch I give him a chipboard crown that was embossed with black embossing powder.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Animal Friends: no designer paper

Creative Fingers: Anything goes

Let's Craft and Create: Things with wings

Rubber Dance Art Stamps: Layers

Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Kingfisher Scene from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, my first project today features this months beautiful new stamps from Chocolate Baroque which were on Hochanda on Tuesday, if you missed the shows you can still see them on the Hochanda website!!

I've used s a real mix of stamps to create this wallhanging. I had saved the packaging from a calendar and thought this corrugated card would make a perfect backing for a little scenic stamping. I began by spritzing the card with water so that I could pull off the top layer and then applied acrylic paint here and there.

Next I cut 3 squares of watercolour card and stamped all the images to create the impression of a winding stream. I spent a happy couple of hours painting the scene with distress inks before distressing the edges with a little Vintage Photo distress ink. I added some scraps of cheesecloth, a tiny brass bird charm, faux moss, paper flowers and a hessian bow topped with a button. 

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland: Anything goes

Colour Inspiration Monday: Anything goes with a hand coloured image

Corrosive Challenges: Anything goes

Dare 2 b Artzy: Something new (new stamps)

Fab'n'Funky: Birds

Thanks so much for popping by. hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Floral notes from Chocolate Baroque

Hello folks, my second post today and this one features the beautiful Floral Notes stamps from Chocolate Baroque. A lovely set of beautiful floral stamps, perfect if you need a break from Christmas cards!

I stamped the images using black archival ink, using second and third generation stamping to give some depth. I then created a background using distress inks in shades of blue and green. Once that was dry I coloured the flowers with Lyra pencils and stamped the sentiment which is also from Floral Notes. I distressed the image and layered it up over white and then blue card and added a shabby bow topped with a pretty wooden button.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks: distressing

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Crafty Catz: anything goes

Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

Wonderful Wednesdays: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Christmas at Eclectic Ellapu

Hello my lovelies, I'm running very late with this post as I totally forgot to publish it. After months of chaos at work we had our quality visit yesterday so this week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Everything went well though so hopefully now things will settle down and I'll finally manage to be a bit more organised lol. Anyway, it's the launch of our new challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu and the pink team's theme this month is Anything Christmas so you can make a card, a home decor project or perhaps a pressie for someone! 

I've made a card using one of my favourite stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque, New England Winter. I began by stamping the little cottage and colouring it with Lyra pencils. I then stamped in the boughs using a mixture of green and brown memento ink. I masked the cottage and the moon and then inked in the sky using brushes and shades of blue distress inks. I tore a mask to ink in the hills. Once all the inking was done I removed the masks and added a little sparkle to the moon with a silver Graph'It shake pen and added some glamour dust  to the hills and house for a frost sparkle. I decorate the trees with Halo Silver glitter which is soooooo pretty and sparkly but very hard to catch with my dubious photography skills lol.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Craft Rocket: winter time

Moving along with the times: anything goes with Christmas

Simon Says Stamp: anything goes

Through the purple haze: winter/Christmas colours

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Chocolate Baroque Robin

Good morning folks, it's my turn to share a project with the fabulous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque. This card features Mr Robin, I adore robins and mince pies so this stamp is going to be one of my all time favourites.

I stamped the image and coloured it with Lyra Polycolour Pencils. I inked around the image using distress inks (Pine Needles and Festive Berries) and then added a little distressing with Gathered Twigs. I stamped and embossed a holly border using one of the little stamps from Family Christmas with versamark ink and used a chunky embossing powder, and then added a sprinkle of gold frantage powder. I stamped the sentiment and added a bow topped with a little button and some twine to finish the card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Old Fashioned Christmas

Aud Sentiments: Anything goes with a sentiment

Penny Black and More: Anything Christmas

Simon Says Stamp: Christmas Critters

The Pencil Case: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, it's challenge time over at Polkadoodles and our theme is 'Anything Goes'. Our lucky winner will receive a voucher to spend at Polkadoodles store and you don't even have to use our products to play along!

As always the DT were given a twist to the challenge and this time its was to make anything other than a card so I've made a little wallhanging using lots of Polkadoodles stamps and dies. I've kept the colour palette neutral using plain white card and some white glitter card. I've used lots of kraft card and used Sepia Versafine ink for the stamping.

I distressed some polkadot embossed white card  with gathered twigs distress ink and layered it up on kraft card, then I added a layer of corrugated kraft card and applied some texture paste through a brick stencil. While that was drying I stamped the Christmas tree, garland, holly sprig and sentiment using Sepia Versafine ink, I cut them out and added lots of glitter. I used a mix of stamps from Red Red Robin and O Christmas Tree. I also die cut lots of elements using Polkadoodles Dies: Door/Window, Ribbon Gift Frames/Corners, Elegant Lamplight and Gate, Cherry Blossom Branch/Tree and Bubblicious Frames. I distressed the die cuts with Gathered Twigs distress ink and added glitter, pearls and gems and then assembled my little winter scene. I used white cosmic shimmer glue and glamour dust to create some snow along the base of the tree, fence and door. 

I finished the project off with some seambinding ribbon, pompom trim and a little wooden star with a twine bow.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: S for stars

Christmas at Sweet Stampin: anything goes Christmas

Country View Crafts: Stars

CRAFT: Christmas

Live and Love Crafts: white Christmas

Winter Wonderland: poinsettias or snow is falling

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

November Colour Challenge at Chocolate Baroque

Hi there folks, how's your week going? It's manic at work as always these days and I don't have a lot of time for blogging and definitely not enough time for crafting. I'm an optimist though so hopefully it won't be too long until I win the lottery and become a lady of leisure lol. Anyway back to crafting and my project today is for our new challenge over at Chocolate Baroque where we have an autumnal colour palette based on a card I made ages ago.

I've used the colours to make a poppy themed birthday card

I began with a distress ink background, using scattered straw, barn door, peeled paint and gathered twigs and then overstamped with stamps from Nature Fragments. I love these stamps and the 'tree rings' are so useful for backgrounds. I stamped the poppy stamp with Potting Soil Archival Ink and then used a waterbrush to remove some  of the colour before painting in reds and greens with more distress inks. I added some shading with Lyra Pencils. I stamped the sentiment with versamark and embossed with gold EP.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Anything but cute: An autumn day

Artistic Stampers: Autumn

Wonderful Wednesdays: Anything goes

Paradise of Stamps: Anything goes

The Sisters of Craft: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Halloween at Chocolate Baroque

Good morning, today's card is one of my DT makes for Chocolate Baroque where our theme this month is Autumn/Halloween. I've used lots of lovely Halloween stamps from  Chocolate Baroque to create this little scene.

I began by stamping the images (from Put a Spell on You and Nevermore) using Memento Tuxedo Black in and then masked the images using making fluid. and created the background using distress inks and acrylic paints. Once the background was dry I removed the masking fluid and coloured the images with Graph'It markers. I've added some spooky embellishments to finish the card off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey: Make it Spooky

Crafty Calendar: Halloween

Fantasy Stampers: Halloween

Kitty Bee Designs: Halloween

That's Crafty: Friday 13th/Halloween

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx