Tangled Butterfly

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.   I appreciate all your support regarding my last post advising of my 'blog break'.

This is a scheduled post, I have one more design to show using Chocolate Baroque's new Harlequin Fragment stamp set.

The background is Dyslusion inks and I stamped the tangled fragment over top.   The butterfly from Tangled Garden and greeting from Birthday Words were stamped with black Archival ink.

I bleached the colours a little over the butterfly and then re-painted using Dylusions inks (on my craft mat with water & brush).  When dry I highlighted with a white pen.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Blog Break

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer.

It's time for me to talk about what has been keeping me so busy this Spring and Summer.   As you know sometimes things happen in life that changes what we thought would be our path.    As a result of past events we found it necessary to sell our home in the country to downsize (or right size as some have pointed out) to a home on a small property in town.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with living simply with less upkeep, it's been an emotional roller coaster ride and a ton of work the past few months.  We've put our heart into our home & property and it makes us sad to leave our mature trees, gardens and nature.  However we feel positive about living closer to conveniences, a new adventure in a different lifestyle and making new memories. 

We have massive gardens where we currently live and the new owners cannot look after so many.  Therefore we helped them by removing a large 2,000 square foot garden.   There are still many left for them to enjoy along with the 80 trees that we planted.    Sadly the garden that is now 'gone' is the one that you see on my current blog header.    I dug up at minimum 500 clumps of plants for family, friends and friends of friends.   My husband spent 12 hours cutting down rose shrubs and other friends took away the fence & arbor materials.     I have potted & nurtured 40 large containers of plants to bring with us.  We will create new much smaller gardens at the new home.   Fortunately I enjoy designing gardens and have a 'blank canvas' to work with. 

The new house is 1/2 the size so we've had the huge job of purging 'stuff' that we've accumulated over the years along with trying to keep up with the yard work, downsizing the gardens, working on minor home repairs, cleaning nooks & crannies and of course all the packing.   The emotional stress has been draining and at times I've been fatigued and haven't been in a creative mood but some days it gave me a stress release.

My craft 'studio' will be packed up very soon so I will not be able to create or blog for a while.  However I do have scheduled blog posts in August.   I will have even less time than I've had lately to visit blogs as we pack, move, unpack, create new gardens, prepare a new craft room etc..  Also we are having trouble with our current Internet service, it's been very slow and at times I cannot open blogs.  I'm sorry that I haven't been around much to see my fellow bloggers beautiful designs.   Hopefully our service at the new home will be much faster.

I also find it necessary to take a break from the Chocolate Baroque & Designs by Ryn Design Teams.   I'm lucky that both Glenda (of CB) and Ryn are kind and understanding in giving me the time.   I'm already missing 'working' with my kind and talented  'teamies' and look forward to being back with them in the Fall. I've also missed joining into the challenges over at Art Journal Journey for the past several months.

Here is the garden as it was:

And here it is during the work with the backhoe.  It was not fun to have huge equipment around the property but it was necessary, we could not physically do it ourselves.  Sadly a lot of plants were taken away but hundreds found happy new homes :)  Why did we do this for the new owners?  Partly because we already needed to have heavy equipment in for a minor repair (minor repairs can be major work) and also part of the agreement was to move out a huge pile of sod and plants that accumulated in the back corner over the years.  We knew they were going to take out this garden so we helped by giving tons of plants away and keeping some for ourselves.    

Take good care everyone, enjoy the rest of your summer and your artwork.   As I mentioned I will have scheduled posts over the few weeks and then it will be quiet here :(

Shirleyx

New Stencils by Designs by Ryn !

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I love to use stencils when creating backgrounds so I'm quite pleased that Designs by Ryn now has a Stencil Line to compliment her unique Artistic Stamps.  

I have several cards to show today featuring the new Floral Spirals stencil.   In the first design below I also used Ryn's Spiral Shell stamp.

The background on the card above was created with spraying Dylusions inks and blending Distress Inks with TCW Circle Explosion and Coral stencils over top.   I used Design by Ryn's Floral Spirals stencil with Mother of Pearl Viva Modelling Cream.  (Note if you use this cream on a stencil, you need to wash it immediately as it dries very fast).      I embossed Spiral Shell with gold, painted and decoupaged over the design.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

Next I used Ryn's African Daisy and Trickling Water Set stamps with the Floral Spirals stencil.

The background above was created with Distress Ink using the Acrylic block technique and when dry I added white Gesso over top with the Floral Spiral stencil.  I stamped the flowers, sentiment & trickling water with Cobalt Archival ink.  I used Tombow markers to paint the Daisies and decoupaged over the background.    The sentiment is by Impression Obsession.

And finally I have one more design using the stencil with a third technique.  First here is the background:

This background above was created by taking the stencil after it was sprayed over another design.  I turned it over onto water colour paper.    After it was dry I blended Distress Ink over top (the light colour).   The result is a 'watery effect'.

I saw the watery background as waves and decided to create a 'sea scene'.   I over stamped with Ryn's Spiral Branch and coloured with Gelly Roll pens.   I stamped Betta fish on separate cardstock, painted with Tombow markers and highlighted with Gelly roll pens and decoupaged over the background.   'Best Wishes' is from Chocolate Baroque's Mackintosh Sentiments.

Well that's all for today.  Thanks for visiting and take care,
Shirley

Snowy Christmas in July

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and ready to see more Christmas designs during the hot months of summer :)   At least it's warm here in Ontario which feels great after our long cold and snowy winter. 

First I have another design using Chocolate Baroque's new Harlequin Fragment stamp set.    I like to get started on Christmas cards early and as soon as I saw the Harlequin fragments I thought they were a great match for Harlequin Christmas.

The background was created by blending Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks. I stamped the fragment with Festive Berries DI.  I stamped the bubble edge from Decorative Edges with Seedless Preserves DI and coloured them with a white gel pen.

The Harlequin ornament and sentiment from Warm Christmas Greetings were stamped with Cobalt Archival ink.  I coloured the ornament with Dylusions inks and cut it out to attach over the background. 

Chocolate Baroque has also launched two new Christmas set this month, Snowy Scenes and Turtle Doves.  Both A5 sets are full of beautiful smaller designs to have fun creating Christmas cards with.

I have two cards to show you using stamps from the new Snowy Scenes set.

The background above was created a while ago and sitting in my stash.  It looks like I used Turquoise Dylusions inks (possibly a 'mop up' sheet) which I stamped with Big Bold Background Snowflake Shadow and coloured the snowflakes a little with a Tombow marker.   I stamped the scene with Colbalt Archival ink, coloured with Prisma pencils and die cut with an ornament.   I was inspired by a design former DT member Elaine created a year & half ago using the same die.  As soon as I saw the little scenes in the set, it came to my mind to use my die (by Impression Obsession) for the first time.   Let it Snow is a clear stamp available on it's own or part of the Big Bold Christmas Words clear set.  The corner flourish is by Memory Box.

I want to make it clear that while this card says "Let it Snow" I'm not ready to see snow for a long time!

I have one more card using the same little snowy scene image:

The background for the card above is with Lime and Green Dylusions inks.   I over stamped a little snowflake from the Snowy Scenes set and used TCW Star fall stencil with Distress Ink and TCW Circle Explosion stencil with Viva  Mother of Pearl light blue molding cream which has a silver hue.   I coloured the main image with Prisma pencils and added lots of glitter to the snow. 
 
 Here is a look at the two new stamp set that are available individually or as a multi-buy special.

 

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Colour Challenge at Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone I hope you are doing well and having a great summer.

I'm showing a card today that I designed for Chocolate Baroque's wonderful new Colour Challenge Blog.  Each month there will be a new colour theme and a chance to win a Chocolate Baroque gift card.      The challenges will start on the 3rd Wednesday of each month,  please visit Chocolate Baroque's Colour Challenge Blog for all the details.

Since I've been in Christmas card 'mode' I decided to create a Christmas card in non-traditional colours for this month's challenge:

Chocolate Baroque stamps used:  Snowflake Flourish and Steampunk Christmas.

There is a step by step explanation of how I created this card over at Chocolate Baroque's Challenge Blog.   We would love it if you could join in the fun !

Here is the colour inspiration photo from Chocolate Baroque:

Thanks for your visit,
Shirley

Snowy Scene with a Reindeer

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend.   I know it's a bit strange to see a Christmas 'snowy scene' in July but I have one to show you today.   I will post more Christmas designs this month & next :) 

Chocolate Baroque has launched two new Christmas sets, Snowy Scenes and Turtle Doves.  Both A5 sets are full of beautiful smaller designs to have fun creating Christmas cards with.   They've also introducted a beautiful new sentiment set Christmas Magic.  It's been good for me to get an early start on Christmas cards and while I've been busy, creating them has been a great stress buster. 

 

I created the background with Festive Berries Distress Ink using an Acrylic block (seems to be a favourite technique lately).   I stamped the snowflakes and scene from Winter Edges with the same ink.   The reindeer from Snowy Scenes was stamped on separate cardstock, die cut into an oval and coloured with Prisma Pencils.  Jingle Bells is from Christmas Magic clear set.

I used Impression Obsession DIE112-D which has 4 little branches in the set to cut at once.  I cut them many times to give me lots of pieces to glue into a wreath around the reindeer.  To finish the wreath I added white Liquid Pearls, Frosted Lace Stickles, shook holograph glitter over top and stuck little red rhinestones on.

Here is a look at the two beautiful new stamp sets that are available individually or as a multi-buy special.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed another Christmas design today :)
Have a great weekend,
Shirley

A New Colour Challenge over at Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well this week.   We continue to be very busy here, I'll explain in a post sometime soon.  

I'm pleased to advise that Chocolate Baroque will be hosting a new Colour Challenge each month, starting today.  You will find the new blog and all the details here along with inspiration from DT Members.

Here is the first colour challenge:

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Below is sample that I created in a simple style.    I have a design for the challenge that will be shown next week.  

CB Stamps used:   Harlequin Fragments, Artistic Affirmations along with TCW Coffee Splotch stencil, circle masks created with circle dies and Distress Inks.

I hope you can join in the fun !
Have a great day,
Shirley

Harlequin Poppy

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend, it's been beautiful here. 

I have a card to show today using a fragment from Chocolate Baroque's new Harlequin Fragments set in the background and a pretty poppy & butterfly from Harebell Butterfly.

The large background was created with Mowed Lawn Distress ink.  I also stamped the harlequin fragment with the same ink.   The smaller background was created by blending distress inks. It's hard to see in the photo but I lightly stamped the harlequin fragment again.   I coloured the main image with Prisma pencils.

There is something new coming soon from Chocolate Baroque this week which will be announced at the Design Team Blog :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!
Shirley

Circles and Spirals for Christmas

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a fabulous week.  It's raining so it's a good day to be inside with creative activities :)   I had a chance to play with a technique that one of my teammates at Chocolate Baroque -  Maria (who creates gorgeous cards) inspired me to try.    I've also been creating many Christmas designs recently, more will be shown later this month and into August.   This Christmas card features stamps by Designs by Ryn.   

The background was created by using circles cut out from cardstock as a mask and I inked around them with Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers & Picked Raspberry Distress Inks.   Next I blended Peacock Feathers & Mowed Lawn DI over TCW Circle Explosion stencil.

I stamped Designs by Ryn's Sea Bubbles Set and Patio Stone along with the sentiment from Penny Black's Christmas Cheer set with Emerald Green Archival Ink.   I highlighted some of the bubble circles with a white Gelly Roll pen and added a decorative brad in the centre. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Beauty with New Fragment stamps

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.   I've been very busy this Spring & Summer and still don't have as much time for creativity and visiting blogs as I would like.  I'm also having some troubles with blogger, my slow Internet system and have trouble looking at blogs.   It can take forever to open pages and unfortunately right now I don't have the time to wait.    Life will calm down again eventually and hopefully we will find a better Internet provider.

I was very excited to see Chocolate Baroque's July Stamps of the month which are fabulous new Fragment sets - Harlequin and Tangled Fragments.  The possibilities with these are endless and my talented teammates at the Design Team have been creating gorgeous samples.

I recently bought the beautiful Sunny Sunflowers set (it was on my wish list for a long while) and decided to pair them up with some of the new fragment stamps.

Chocolate Baroque stamp sets used for above card - Harlequin Fragments, Sunny Sunflowers and Artistic Expressions.

The background was created by using an Acrylic block and Mustard Seed Distress Ink.  I stamped one of the fragments with the same ink and the more solid design with Peacock Feathers DI.     I embossed the flower and leaves with gold and painted with Tom Bow markers.  I also added liquid pearls to the centre.  I decoupaged the flower and leaves and popped up to attach.

And below is another design with a green background using the same stamps:

Chocolate Baroque stamp sets used for above card - Harlequin Fragments, Sunny Sunflowers and Birthday Words.

The background was created by using an Acrylic block and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.  I stamped one fragment with Olive Archival Ink and embossed the other one with gold.   Again I embossed the sunflower and leaves with gold.  I stamped the flower twice, decoupaged and popped it  up over the background.

And here is a look at the two new Harlequin and Tangled Fragments which are offered for sale individually or as a multi-buy special. 

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley