Stampbord domino book

Good morning crafty friends. It's my turn to share a project over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog and today I'm sharing a little book made for the launch of the Russian collection stamps and stencils. You can find them all here

I made the covers from Stampbord dominos, I love stampbord as it takes ink beautifully. I stamped the little skyline from Babushka and added colour with Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush. Once that was dry I added some gold embossing and some glossy accents. I also embossed around the edges with WOW Gold EP

To make the concertina pages I cut a strip of card to size and folded it to fit the stampbord covers.  I stamped  the Silhouette Palaces with versamark and embossed with black EP. I then used Twinkling H2Os to paint in the sky before adding a few stars, white highlights to the towers and a little moon with silver paint.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps: not a square card

An Inky Mess: Mixed Media

Lemon Shortbread: Anything goes

Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes

Tuesday Throwdown: Embossing

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 Meadow

Good morning folks, how's your week going? Before I dash off to work I just wanted to share a card made using the beautiful new stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I just love this kingfisher, he's a real beauty!

For this card I began with a background made with ColourArte pigment powders on watercolour card, it's really shimmery in real life but sadly it doesn't show too well in the pic. I overstamped the background with lots of lovely foliage stamps ( you can find all the new stamps here). I stamped the kingfisher on white card and painted him with the same mica pigments, he looked a little flat so I had a rummage in my craft room and found some very old Sakura stardust pens which my some miracle still worked so I used them to give him lots more detail. I cut him out and layered him up on 3d foam pads A stamped sentiment in a little punched envelope were added to finish the card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

A bit more time to craft: anything goes

Animal Friends: no designer papers

Creative Fingers: Anything goes

Creative Moments: 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

Quick and easy Christmas from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, how's your week going? Wednesday already so its downhill until the weekend. I'm rushing off to work but I just wanted to share this card and remind you about the fabulous colour challenge over at Chocolate Baroque Challenge, pop over and check out the colour palette and all the inspiration from my teamies. There are also some lovely freebie downloads available regularly too.



This card was made using a scrap of kraft card, folded in half and stencilled with a Dutch Doobadoo brick stencil, texture paste and distress inks. I'd already made the topper using a stamp from Christmas Candlelight. I'd actually made it to put in a little Christmas decoration (I can't remember what they are called doh!! -the shaker ones full of water and glitter) but mine seem to have sprung a leak so had to go in the bin. The image was coloured with Sakura Stardust pens, I love these pens but hardly every use them these days. The sentiment is also from Chocolate Baroque, cut out and layered up with foam pads.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Christmas Card Challenges: anything goes
Crafting with dragonflies: anything goes
Craft your passion: anything goes
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas: stick it down
Ooh La La: kraft
Papertake Weekly: Christmas

Thanks so much for visiting today
Claire xx

I'm dreaming of a pink Christmas

Good morning folks, how are you doing with those Christmas cards?? I've made quite a few now and all the gorgeous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque have been a real inspiration, I've used a very unChristmassy colour palette for this card using stamps from the beautiful Reindeer Landscape stamp set

I love pink and white for Christmas cards so I set to with an assortment of pink dye inkpads and a water mister and swooshed them around on my ink blending mat to create the background. Next I stamped the trees and the snowflakes with versamark and embossed with whit embossing powder. I added some colour to the trees with Sakura Glaze pens.

The sentiment is from Bold Christmas Words, again embossed with white embossing powder on pink cardstock and die cut with spellbinders dies. I added some little pearls to the snowflakes and a little white bow to the bauble sentiment. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Card Mania: pastel colours

A Creative Romance: pink
CRAFT: christmas
Crafting Musketeers: Christmas in October
Crimson Cloud: Christmas cards
Holly Jolly Christmas: inspired by a carol (Let it snow)

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

Claire xx

Tree Silhouette from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, this week seems to have gone by in a blur but despite being busy at work, my washer breaking down and the fact that it doesn't seem to have stopped raining for weeks I'm just about ready for Christmas. In  fact I managed to grab an hour in my craft room to make this card, featuring the 'Stamp of the Week' from Chocolate Baroque which is Tree Silhouette.

I love this stamp, its such a beautiful image and lends itself to all sorts of scenic cards. I thought I'd make one last Christmas card before I pack the Christmas stash away.

I began by stamping the main image on a square of white card with versamark and embossing with black embossing powder. Next I used a black sakura glaze pen to extend the scene beyond the stamped image. I masked the moon and used various shades of blue distress inks to create the sky, splashing with water and blotting to create a bit of a snowstorm effect.

The sentiment is also from Chocolate Baroque as is the snowflake stamp used for the background.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: anything with a sentiment

Card Mania: Snowflakes

Craft a Scene: winter scene

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge: anything Christmas goes

Crafts and Me: Winter wonderland: 

Loves Rubber Stamps: Merry Christmas

Raise the Bar: Let it snow

Simon Says Stamp: Christmas

I hope you're getting organised for the big day. I'm waiting for the nice man from Tesco to deliver my food shopping and then I'm just about ready so once that little lot is put away the day is my own. 

Thanks for popping by, have a lovely Sunday

Claire xx

Bonfire Night Challenge at PanPastel UK

Good morning, time for a new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week we've got a 'Bonfire Night' theme for you. I struggled a bit with this one as I didn't have any firework stamps at all but managed to improvise lol.

I began by masking a moon and stamping rows of houses using stamps from Artistic Outpost. Then creating a dark night sky with PanPastels in Black, Paynes Grey and Violet Shade, removed the masks and gave it a blast of cheap hairspray to seal the PanPastel. I don't usually bother to seal it but I tried using pearl card which is very smooth so I thought I'd better seal it just to be on the safe side.

Next I coloured the couses with Graph'It markers. I rummaged through my stash and found some flower stamps from Chocolate Baroque that I thought would do for fireworks, I stamped them with versamark and then dusted over various shades of mica powders. While I was rummaging I came across some neon sakura pens that I haven't used for years so I doodled some more fireworks and added some light to the windows of the houses.

To finish off I added scraps of ribbon and fibres in lots of bright colours. 

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: T for tags

Forever Night: Make a tag

My Mum's Craft Shop: bold and bright

Polkadoodles: Bright colours and sparkle

As always our challenge winner will receive a fab prize, a starter set of PanPastels thanks to our lovely sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store

As always I've got a fun packed Sunday morning cooking and ironing but hopefully it won't take too long and I'll manage to grab a few hours crafting  too. Its  freezing here, winter is definitely here we've had a few frosty mornings already so apart from walking the dogs I won't be venturing further than my craft room today

Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Autumn/Fall at PanPastel UK

Good morning, we've got a new challenge starting at PanPastel UK and the theme is 'Autumn/Fall' and here in my little corner of the UK Autumn has definitely arrived. The days are getting shorter and the mornings are a lot colder, I do love this time of year though as the leaves are just starting to change colour and the greens, golds and oranges look so beautiful.

For my card I've used my PanPastels (of course lol) and stamps from Chocolate Baroque's Tall Trees theme plate. I began by creating a background with PanPastels (Diarylide Yellow Shade, Permanent green shade, Yellow Green shade and a little Hansa Yellow) and overstamping with the leaf stamps using Forest Moss and Peeled Paint distress inks. Next I used Diarylide yellow,  hansa yellow tint and orange to make the background for the focal image, I used the palest shade first and then masked the sun before adding the deeper colours. I love this huge stamp, its one of my all time favourites, I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo black and used sakura pens to add some colour, I used stardust pens on the trees and birds and a bright purple glaze pen for the berries. You can see the effect of the pens a bit better in this pic:

 I made some flowers with watercolour paper coloured with purple and orange pan pastels. I used Tattered florals for the larger flower and Tattered pinecone for the smaller roses. I added some irridescent seed beads to the large flower. To finish off I' added some green seambinding ribbon and some die cut leaves (coloured with panpastels and overstamped with one of the scrummy Chocolate Baroque lace fragments stamps)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Bloggers Network: Purple

Creative Belli: Autumn

Creative Craft Crew: Trees

Fairy Tale: Autumn

Our Daily Bread: birds

Raise the Bar: Anything with wings

Totally Papercrafts: Use your favourite stamp

Don't forget our lucky winner will receive a fab panpastel starter set from our generous sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store

As its Sunday morning i've got a mountain of ironing to tackle and lunch to cook but then I'm hoping to escape to my craft room for a few hours before I settle down in front of the TV. 

Thanks for visiting and for your lovely comments. 

Enjoy your Sunday :-)

Claire xx

Whats new pussycat?

Hi there, well its Friday already yippppppeeee and time for a new challenge from Crafty Ann's and this time the theme is 'What's new pussycat?' As always there is a fab prize from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop for our lucky winner.  

I've used elements from Crafty Ann's new digi collection called 'Sweet Sage', aren't they the most gorgeous colours?? I've layered them digitally to create this card. As I'm a total numpty when it comes to digital crafting so I'm really happy I managed to create this. I printed the digi sheet off and matted it on some gold textured card, adding some dew drops in the corners. I printed out a couple of Crafty Ann's gorgeous metallic butterflies and coloured them with sakura stardust pens. I haven't used these pens for ages and I'd forgotten how beautiful and sparkly they are. Once I'd cut the butterflies out I popped them on to the card with some silicone blue. With the digital layering this card was sooooo easy to make,

 I kind of felt like I'd cheated lol.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog: anything goes

Dream Valley: anything goes

Flutter by Wednesday: Open challenge with a butterfly angel or fairy

Lollipop Crafts: No embellishments

Moving Along with the times: things with wings

Thanks for popping by. i've been a bad blogger again this week and haven't had chance to do a lot of visiting. i've a good excuse though, the little charity i work for has had the chance of some extra funding so i've been up to my ears in planning a new project. :-) 

Claire xx

Faux postage and some exciting news, a new challenge blog starting soon!

Hi there, I've been a little quiet on the blogging front lately but fortunately I've found my missing mojo as there is a fab new challenge blog starting on Sunday

Fashionable Stamping Challenges .

It was so sad when Suzanne our lovely leader over at Let's Ink It Up had to close the challenge due to her ill health (big hugs hunny, hope you're feeling better soon) and we missed our regular inky fix. Anyway Shirley came up with the idea of a new inky challenge, sponsored by the very generous Marina of Cottage Crafts. Its wonderful to be part of this new team with some very dear friends from LIIU and some new friends too but we'll also be having a DT call so pop over to  Fashionable Stamping Challenges for more information :-)

I came up with this project for the new challenge blog and I'm busy getting inky with another project for our first challenge on Sunday. 

I've used loads of different stamps on this project, apart from the sentiment they are all from Chocolate Baroque, as is the wonderful perforated paper I used for the 'stamps'.  The background is made with vintage photo, tea dye and black soot distress inks and stamps from the Paisley Elephant stamp sheet. The main image (from Peacock Ladies by Chocolate Baroque) is coloured with promarkers and sakura stardust pens for some bling (I haven't used them for ages and I'd forgotten how yummy they are). I made the 'stamps' using lots of different inks, brayering, sponging and  masking (using stamps from the Mini stamps multi buy sheets  also from Chocolate Baroque). I layered them up (and almost totally covered the background as I got carried away lol) and then overstamped with the mini postmarks. Here's a pic to show some of the detail.

The sentiment is from Sweet Pea Stamps and reads 'Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts'. I thought it was perfect for my collage of stamps.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: Anything goes

Bling it on: Anything goes

Craft us Crazy: Anything goes

Creative Craft Challenge: Let's 3d it

Make it colourful: Colour your own embellishments

Prairie Fairy: On holiday

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Anything goes

The Artistic Stamper:  Feeling hot hot hot 

I do hope you're going to pop over and have a look at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, we're all so excited about our first challenge and it would be great if you'd get inky with us

hugs

Claire xx

CD Sunday, Natural World

I've made the most of my week off and managed to enter this weeks challenge over at CD Sunday , where the challenge is 'Natural World' this week. I haven't had chance to enter for a few weeks but I've had this card in my head for a while so this was a great opportunity. I've used an image and backing papers from Joanna Sheen's cd 'Enchanted Christmas', its pretty appropriate as Joanna is sponsoring the challenge this week.

The bps are al edged in gold EP. The main image is triple embossed and then cracked to distress it. I rubbed some icicle stickles into the cracks for some extra icy sparkle. I forgot to edge the image with gold until I'd stuck it to the card so I added a line of icicle stickles around the edge.

The mistletoe embellies are stamps from Joanna Sheen, coloured with sakura pens and cut out (you don't want to know how long those little blighters took to cut out lol)

I added a white organza bow and some snowflakes. I made the snowflakes using vellum and a Marianne die (from Jazzlins Designs) and sprayed them with gold firework ink which gives them a lovely crinkled effect, layered them up and added some irridescent beads.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy Friday: Sketch

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge: Sparkle and Shine

Sweet Stampin Challenge: Snowflakes

Die Cut dreams Christmas: Snowflakes

Wags'n'Whiskers Challenge: Acetate, tissue or vellum

Paper Pretties: embossing

Delightful Challenges: Glitter it up

Creative Cottage: someone special at Christmas

Little Red Wagon: in 3's (3 snowflakes)

Thanks for visiting

Claire xx