Tuesday 29 July 2014

A little bit of Christmas in July

 
 
The weather has been great for getting out and about. I spent the weekend playing with paints, paper, stamps, stencils making a beach hut canvas.
I made these cards a couple of weeks ago. I always start Christmas with good intentions of being ready but screech towards the holiday season with last minute makes.
 
The stamps I used are from Turtle Doves
 
 
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Many thanks for visiting
Debbie

Sunday 27 July 2014

Seaside beach huts

 
I received a beautiful bundle of very posh fabric from a friend last week
 and couldn't wait to have a play.
 I decided it was to precious to use all in one go, so I'm going to incorporate it into a few projects.
My first sewing project is a large tote bag which a few people tried to adopt yesterday at workshop.
The striped fabric is from my bundle and it inspired me to go with a seaside theme, it reminded me of deck chairs.
 

 
Thanks for visiting
Debbie


Saturday 26 July 2014

Flowers and Christmas

 
 
Good morning. I have a couple of cards today. The first uses the beautiful buttercups
from the Briar Rose Butterfly set.
The flowers are stamped with Versamark Ink, heat embossed with black powder and coloured with Alcohol Pens. I used a hexagon die set to cut out and Stormy Sky Distress Ink for the rest of the card.
 

 
I've fallen in love with these little chaps, they are so cute. The girls have previously shown how the owls stamp can be extended. I have used the owls as a single and they will be the card I use for the children at school as they are a quickie make for a smaller card.
 
 

 
 
This card shows how the smaller images from the Snowy Scenes stamps
fit well into baubles.
 
 
Many thanks for visiting
Debbie
 


Friday 25 July 2014

A birthday card for Dad

 
 
A mans card today which is always a challenge. It's my husbands birthday coming up and hopefully he won't see this post.
 

 
I have used the recently released Harlequin and Tangled Fragments from Chocolate Baroque
along with the Art of Chess stamps. I decided to keep the colours to a minimum of blues and browns.
The chess pieces were stamped and cut out then fixed to the card with adhesive pads.
The hessian strip was a friends find in a Pound shop and
the scrabble tiles were from a local charity shop.
 
Many thanks for visiting
Debbie

Thursday 24 July 2014

Under the Sea card

 
I was recently asked by a friend to make a card for her daughter to give to the staff at the Nursery she attends. She is moving up groups after the summer from starfish to seahorses.
 
 
The light bulb went on and I knew Chocolate Baroque has a perfect set for the job,
 Underwater unmounted stamps.
I love these stamps they have me longing for a day at the beach searching for shells.
 
Thanks for visiting
Debbie
 

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Exciting New Blog Challenge


 

If you love our DT blog we have a new challenge blog which is up and running today.
 
Here is the link to the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge Blog
 
 
 
 
Here is a visual of the colour scheme that has been chosen for this month.
Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, and Festive Berries.
Pop over to the blog and it would be great to see what people create.
 
 
Here's a tag I made using the colours
 
 
I have another tag that I'll blog later in the month.
 
 
 
Thanks for stopping by
 
Debbie

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Harlequin Friends

A bit of an unusual title because my projects are made with the help of my friends.
 
I bought this small canvas a few years ago and it's sat in a box neglected. I wanted to show how the Harlequin stamp from Harlequin Fragments is perfect for mixed media, the canvas was perfect.
I had been very generously given a paper napkin by Glenda, a set of paper bird cages from Lesley and some hessian flowers from a friend Katy.
 
 
 
The canvas already had a gesso coat and I stamped the Harlequin with Archival Cornflower Blue.
 I didn't use an acrylic block as the canvas is flexible and it gives a better image when stamped.
I split the tissue and glued the patterned layer onto the canvas. When dry, I distressed the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink and stamped the word 'Love' from Artistic Affirmations
The little bird cage was coloured and triple embossed with clear powder.
 I finished by adding the ribbon, flowers, pearls and lace.
 
Here are a couple of tags using the Harlequin stamp on large tags I cut that will go into a tag book I'm making, I'll post photos when it's finished.
 
 
Judith inspired me to use the Remembrance Poppies for this tag as they are her favourite flowers.
 
 
Thank you for visiting
Debbie

Monday 14 July 2014

An Alter Cloth for our Local Church

 
I was asked to help with a project at school and agreed as 8 children had the opportunity to make an Alter Cloth for a local Churches 75th Anniversary.
Quickly it became apparent how big project it was. We worked with a local artist who taught the girls and myself many techniques over four weeks.
The girls were told the brief and the ideas for the cloth were theirs. They chose the local landmarks and people of the community that are important to them.
 
 
 
It was a lot of work but seeing it hung in the church and seeing the Vicars face trying to take in all the details was such a memorable moment.
 

 
 
Last Sunday I attended the Church for a special service by the Arch Bishop of York ( a wonderful and very funny man).
 


 
Thanks for stopping by
Debbie
 

Sunday 6 July 2014

Inky background

Yesterday I blogged a card that had an inky background and a friend asked how I'd made it.
So I decided to take a couple of photos of how I made it.
 
 
 
 
These are the bits and bobs I used.

 
 
 
Apply the ink to an acrylic block.
 
 
 
 
Spritz with a fine mist of water and small beads of ink will form.
 
 
 
 
Place the stamp onto the block, I didn't stick the stamp to a block.

 
 
 
You can see the beads of ink on the stamp.
 
 
 
I repeated inking the stamp from the block and placed randomly on the card.
 
 
 
 
The background has three colours and I found the more randomly the stamping, the happier I was with the results.

 
Many thanks for stopping by
 
Debbie
 

 
 
 
 


Saturday 5 July 2014

Tangled Peacock Card

 
When I saw this stamp on the Harlequin Fragments sheet I immediately could see Peacock feathers although I'm sure it will bring different patterns to mind for others.
 
 
 
 
With Seedless Preserve Distress Ink, I rubbed it onto an acrylic block and lightly sprayed with water then placed the stamp onto it to pick up the ink. When on the card it slightly spreads.
I repeated with Mown Lawn and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks stamping randomly on the card.
The Peacock stamp is from Tangled Peacocks
When I had stamped and heat embossed the Peacock I placed tape around the image so that the water colouring with Distress inks didn't run and I had a white frame around it. I picked out the blue for mounting onto.
 
Many thanks for visiting
Debbie.