Chequered Flowers (by Corine)

Well it doesn't seem six months since our latest guest designer was here on our blog.  But it is and we warmly welcome back Corine who has designed something really colourful for her first post this month.  Think you will enjoy this.

Hello!

Here I am again. In March I will post three cards as your guest deisgner. I am very pleased to do this. 

My first project is a card with a watercolour background.

I used stamps from Chequered Flowers, Dusky Damask and the text from Fresh Blooms.

• Make a back ground on watercolour paper with three colours of Aquatint (red, yellow and green). Allow the paper to dry well.
• Splash water on the paper with a fan brush and dab dry with tissue or kitchen roll.
• Stamp the background stamp (from Duksy Damask) with Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade.
• Stamp the Chequered Flowers with black, water resistant ink.
• Stamp the text with Ground Espresso.
• Colour the flowers wioth Aquamarkers.
• Sponge the edges with Distress Oxide Peeled Paint and Ground Espresso.
• Mat and layer onto toning card.

Kind regards
Corine van Kuilenburg 

What a fabulous impact of colour to help us through a winter's day. Thank you Corine and we look forward to your next project.

Please remember to check into our Design Team blog for lots of inspiration and creativity.

Introducing Jodie!

Hello everyone, we are excited to welcome a brand new Guest Designer today, Jodie Heuser, from Florida. We asked Jodie to talk about herself a little bit so that we could all get to know her a little better:

Hi everyone,
I've been married to my wonderful Husband, Robert, for 21 years, and we have 3 fur babies, Riley (our rabbit), and our cats Graycie, Tabitha and Aurora.

I've been a crafter since my early university days, but I really developed my love of paper crafting when my Husband and I migrated to Florida fron Canada. A co-worker at the time introduced me to our local stamp and scrapbook store, thinking it was a great way to meet people and I've been hooked ever since.

I love art that has texture, meaning layers of colour, patterned paper, mixed media paints and pastes, anything that is visually stimulating and interesting. I enjoy learning new techniques and currently teach classes, so that I can help others get the confidence to start their own crafting journey.

Chocolate Baroque has been a favourite company of mine for years, their stamps have amazing details, wonderful themes and the quality is unlike any other.

I'd like to thank Lesley, David and Judith for welcoming me, and for the opportunity to create inspiration for our fellow crafters.

Take care everyone and happy crafting!

Jodie's first project is a very adaptable ATC, and this is what she has to say:

Good morning everyone,
this is my first project as a Guest Designer with Chocolate Baroque, and to say I'm excited is an understatement.
My first project is an Artist Trading Card, or ATC.

Since we are in the throws of Fall here in the States, I decided to use that colour palette. I am working with the Fresh Blooms set, which is great for any season.

Supplies:
Stamps- Fresh Blooms
Ink- Distress Ink: Vintage Photo, Barn Door and Wild Honey, Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
White embossing powder
Paper- A4 Drawing Cartridge
Stylus tool with circle tip
Heat tool
Gold stickers

Cut the paper to 2.5" x 3.5" (a standard ATC size) (6.35cm x 8.89cm)
Using Versamark, ink up the stamp, stamping it half off the card.
Sprinkle white embossing powder over the image and heat set with the heat tool.
Next using the stylus tool, blend the colour Barn Door onto the paper in various spots, being careful not to completely cover the entire ATC.
Next, change the tips, and repeat the process using Wild Honey. When the two colours are blended you will also end up with an orange colour in some spots.
Take a tissue and wipe the ink off the embossed area. This will make the image pop even more.
Stamp the saying on the card with Versafine Onyx, and give it another shot with the heat gun to set the saying.
Finally, go over the edge of the Artist Trading Card with Vintage Photo for added depth.
Then for added interest, I added gold sticker lines, this can also be done with a straight edge and a gold pen.

ATC's can be traded or even added to other cards. On my blog is a sample of how I added an ATC, using a different colour combination, for a Birthday card.

Jodie will be back next week with another project to insire you.

Floral (by Corine)

It almost the end of the month and this is the last project from Corine for a while. She has already treated us to two very beautiful projects and today's is no exception. All that said I shall hand you over to Corine.

Hello!

Today it is my 3rd and last time to post a card as guest designer. I hope you enjoyed my samples.

I used stamps from the sheets:

Floral Notes

Fresh Blooms

Decorative Edges 

• Stamp on watercolour paper the harlequin stamp several times, with two colours of Distress Oxide ink, using the Stamping Platform. Let dry!
• Stamp the flower with Stazon Jet Black and colour with aquarel pencils. 
• Highlight details with a glitterpen.
• Stamp text with Stazon Jet Black.
• Mat and layer onto complementary card.

Thank you for joining me for these weeks, see you again soon.

Kind regards,

Corine van Kuilenburg

It has been a pleasure to feature your inspiring projects over the last three weeks Corine and we shall look forward to seeing you again later this year. If you would like to see more of Corine's gorgeous artwork then please visit her blog.

Join us again soon for more stunning creations from our talented design team ladies. 

Imagine by Brenda

A very good morning, Brenda here with today's share of more samples from Lesley's recent Hochanda shows which featured he most beautiful floral and Butterfly stamps that were a joy to work with.

My starting place for the above card was a background of Oxide Distress Inks which like so many of us I am totally addicted to. Onto the background I stenciled an arch window using Distress Ink, stamped what is probably my favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment from the Words of Inspiration stamp sheet using Versafine Toffe and using the same ink stamped a selection of leaves around the edge from the Tangled Garden stamp sheet. The beautiful Butterfly is from the same set stamped onto Bristol cardstock and coloured with distress inks, the same colours as the background but not Oxides as I find the chalky finish can detract from the detail of the image.

For this card I used the blooms from Bold Blooms and leaves from the same set and Tangled Garden, stamping all onto a piece of card coloured with Distress Inks and Pearl Mica Spray, I like to add that to inky backgrounds sometimes as it helps to bleed the colours and also leaves a nice sheen. I used a piece of torn paper to create a sunray effect when I wanted to place the flower which I layered up after cutting our three different sized blooms . I cut he leaves out and arranged onto a hand drawn stem with a little bit of doodling to ass interest. The lovely Wordsworth quote is also from Bold Blooms.

I had an idea to create a shadow box surrounded by Butterfly, so started out with the base made using a die set. I coloured a large sheet of card with Distress Oxides concentrating on keeping within a tonal colour palette of oranges and yellows. Onto that I stamped several Butterflies from Tangled Garden and cut out ready to assemble around the frame. The fairy within the aperture is from June Fairy set and grasses from Silhouette Grasses stamped with Versafine Toffee and a masked and inked background plus a few small stamped Butterflies. Finally I layered the Butterflies around and within the layers of the shadow box.

This one to coin Charlie of Hochanda's words is "heavy on the grunge", I started with acrylic paints and brushed them randomly over a piece of 600gsm Fabriano cardstock, it's so sturdy that it takes water and wet mediums without warping. Next added some texture paste through a stencil to the top corner and applied some gilding polish to lift the pattern. I also added some gold gilding flakes here and there. The Lily is from the Lily Fuchsia and Hyacinth multibuy stamped with versamark and heat embossed with copper detail powder and then colour added using the same acrylic paint as the background, the sentiment is from Birthday Words and finally some lace tied across the bottom.

On the rare occasion I find myself with time on my hands I make up a batch of inky backgrounds as I find it really handy to have some in reserve when I am up against the clock to get sample made. This is one of those using acrylic paints and crackle glaze onto which I randomly stamped a sentiment from Birthday Words and then the focal bloom from Breath of Spring  using Versafine Black and then colourd in with sparkle pens and stickles. The base has been stamped with several of the foliage stamps from the Lily Fuchsia and Hyacinth multibuy.

As always my thanks for taking the time to visit today.

Stillness (by Magda)

Hello everybody, this morning I am sharing three pages with you that I hope will inspire you.

Front page : coloured with Distress Ink Pad

1. first, colour 3/4 of the A4 White Cardstock. The upper section in blue shades and the lower  
    section in green/brown shades blending Distress Ink Pad
2. stamp with Versafine Onyx Black on a piece of stash paper the clouds of the set Landscape Edges 
    and cut the outline.
3. place the "stencil" on the cardstock of point 1 and colour the sky section blending
    blue shades of Distress Ink Pad as shown below


 

4.  create the landscape using Chocolate Baroque Mask and Stencil - Useful Leaves blending

    green shades of Distress Ink Pad and stamp the grass of Wild Meadow stamp sheet
5. stamp the sentiment of Words of Inspiration stamp sheet with  Versafine Onyx Black

Flower page on the left : coloured with Brusho

1. colour the background with diluted Brusho colours and spritz some crystals on it.

2. stamp the flower of Fresh Blooms A5 sheet with Versafine Onyx Black, colour it and cut the  

    outline

3. stamp the sentiment of the same Fresh Blooms A5 sheet with Versafine Onyx Black on a matching 

    coloured brusho piece of cardstock

4. Glue flower, sentiment and string on your page using Inkssentials Glue n Seal

Butterfly page on the right : coloured  with Distress Paint and  Aquarelle Pencils

1. apply White Gesso on your page, colour it with Distress Paint using the colours you like, apply 

    again White Gesso  and darken some areas with the same Distress Paint you used previously

2. stamp a butterfly from the Tangled Garden A4 sheet on a piece of A4 White Cardstock, colour it with 

    Aquarelle Pencils, and cut out it for decoupage

3. Glue the butterfly and the sentiment on your page using Inkssentials Glue n Seal 

4. stamp some little butterflies randomly around the pages with Versafine using the colour you most 

    like, and don't forget to use some embellishments to complete the project.

I hope you enjoyed reading this step by step and thank you for passing by.

Magda