African Daisy and Maple Leaves

Hello everyone, I hope your week is going well.   I would like to welcome the new followers and also thank everyone for your visits and kind comments.

I have a card today created with Design by Ryn stamps.    Ryn has designed many wonderful Leaf stamps (located in her Flora Section ) that create the most wonderful texture for backgrounds.  I used Maple Leaf on this background and if the colours were changed to reds, oranges and browns, the leaves would work well for Fall & Thanksgiving designs.

I started by applying Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks using an Acrylic Block.  (apply the inks direct to block, spritz with water & apply to paper).       Next I sprayed a little White Linen and Teal Dylusions Inks (just can't leave those bottles alone!) and blotted off with a paper towel roll.

I stamped Ryn's Maple Leaf with Imperial Purple Versafine Ink around the parameter of the background.   I embossed African Daisy on watercolour paper with a deep purple powder, coloured with Tombow markers using a brush and water, cut them out and attached to the background.   I added Crealies CL CS 02 swirl die cuts.    I left the centre of the flowers white to keep them prominent, love the texture :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirley

Gothic Angels in Purple & Blues

Hello everyone

I have a couple more cards today that feature another Angel from Chocolate Baroque's beautiful new set - Gothic Angels.

I created the background with Victorian Velvet and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks using the Acrylic Block technique.   I stamped the Gothic letters from Gothic Angels and a Fragment from Gothic Fragments with Seedless Preserves, spritzed with a little water on the ink before stamping.

I added the brick using a stencil and molding paste.  When dry I coloured over the bricks again with the Distress Inks and added a little silver Inka Gold.

The Angel and window were coloured with Prisma Pencils.   I added glitter to her dress and wings.   I attached a gothic style key that was hanging out in my stash and sheer silver ribbon to finish off the card.

I used the Acrylic Block Technique as described in a recent Monday Mojo Magic Tutorial (great tutorials by Glenda, owner of Chocolate Baroque, it's free to sign up) for the background below:

 

 

The acrylic block that I used has wavy edges and left marks that you can see on the above background.   I used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink on the block.   When dry,  I blended a little Vintage Photo around the edges which I distressed.   I also added the same ink to the lace.    I stamped one of the fragment windows from Gothic Fragments a couple of times after spritzing water onto the inked stamp.   

I coloured the angel and window with Prisma Pencils.  Yuletide Greetings is also from Gothic Angels.    

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,

Shirley

Let the Adventure Begin

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.  It's hard to believe but here we are in mid August already.  Our weather has been cooler than normal, it's been wonderful but our gardens could use some rain.

I have something that is not for Christmas today :) 

I worked on the cover of my small Art Journal made with Gelli Plate prints, (I created the journal in a recent workshop).

The background was created with a Gelli Plate, Acrylic Paints and stencils.    I used black Acrylic paint with TCW mini cornflowers stencil and outlined in white.   It looks like I was unsteady but it's the texture on the page that created bumps along the way.
 
Design by Ryn stamps:   Waterdroplets 2 and Dancing Faerie Set.  
Chocolate Baroque stamp:   The sentiment is from Artistic Affirmations

Below is the cover page with the front flap opened.   

The faerie was on another project that I wasn't happy with so I rescued her for this cover.   I cut her out out and used Tombow glue to adhere.  She is coloured with Inktense pencils - she was stamped over acrylic paints with Gesso over top.


And below is a beautiful card that I received from my Tante Saakje recently.   She used stamps by Designs by Ryn.   It was a nice surprise to receive in the mail.   She used Ryn's Leafy Branch and Gerbera stamps.

This card above was created by my Tante Saakje !

And here is another look at the Faerie :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirley

Gothic Angel

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have another Christmas design today using Chocolate Baroque's beautiful new Gothic Angels set.  This one could probably be used for a non-Christmas card as well.   I added images from Gothic Fragments  that compliment the new set.   The corners are from New England Winter, they matched the foliage on her head piece.   I love how so many of Chocolate Baroque stamp sets compliment each other and give endless possibilities for designs.

I stamped the beautiful 'feisty' angel from the Gothic Angel set with black Stazon Ink.   Both Glenda, owner and Judith, DT member have nicknamed her 'feisty angel' which I think is a good description.  She looks like a strong woman.  I coloured her with Prisma Pencils and used Spellbinder dies to accent her.
 
I created the background with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink on craft mat spritzed with water and then sprayed a little Teal Dylusions Ink over top (of the cardstock).  I used two fragments from the Gothic Fragments set and the Gothic letters fragment from Gothic Angels with Evergreen Bough & Salty Ocean Distress Inks that were lightly spritzed with water.  The corner flourishes from New England Winter are stamped with black ink.      .

Thanks for stopping by, I'll have more Christmas designs to show this month.
Have a great day
Shirley

Christmas Baubles

Hello everyone !

I have two more Christmas designs today using new designs by Chocolate Baroque and will have more to show this month.    I used Christmas Baubles, one of the new Big Bold Background stamps to create these cards.   

This stamp image is so beautiful, I spent enjoyable time colouring it with Tom Bow Markers.     I didn't want to add anything else except for the gauzy ribbon and a couple of rhinestones.   I used a white Gelly Roll pen for the centres of the Poinsettias.    

For the card below I cut out a couple of the baubles from the larger image.

The background sheet is from Chocolate Baroque's digital Printable Pages - Love Letters.  I over stamped with the Pine Cone branch from the New England Winter set.   I highlighted the cones a little with a white Prisma pencil and added a little stickles on both baubles.    I attached the two baubles that were painted with Tom Bow markers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirley

Christmas Angels

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

Chocolate Baroque has launched some exciting new Christmas Designs!   Yes it seems like Christmas is a long ways off, but personally I like to get started on my holiday cards early.

Along with a many new beautiful Big Bold Background stamps, a gorgeous new set - Gothic Angels has been launched.  It's a great partner with Gothic Fragments which I've used in many of my designs for this month.   I have lots to show in August and today I have two cards and small gift tags using designs from Gothic Angels.

The background for the above card is created with Blue & Teal Dylusions Inks.  I've over stamped with a Fragment and Window from Gothic Fragments.  I coloured the window a little with Prisma Pencils.  I embossed the window/wheel fragment from Steampunk Butterfly with silver around the edges.    I also embossed the Angel with Silver, coloured with Tombow markers and decoupaged her over the background.  Yuletide Greetings is from Gothic Angels.

And here is my 2nd design with the same beautiful Angel. 

Again Dylusions inks (blue & purple) were used in the background.  I also used TCW mini Solace Stencil and stamped a fragment from Gothic Fragments (hard to see in photo).    The collage of beautiful background images stamped in black are from Gothic Angels.  I embossed the edges of the background with silver.   The angel is also embossed with Silver and coloured with my Tombow markers. I had some pretty borders of pearls & rhinestones in my stash to finish off this design. 

Here is a look at the Gothic Angels rubber stamp set which is on a special introductory offer for the month of August:

 I also made up some quick gift tags using the smaller images from the above set.

I used Cherry Pie & Grape Soda Dylusions on the backgrounds, stamped with black ink and highlighted with a white Gel Pen.   I coloured a little on the Angel as I was 'testing' my new Inktense Pencils, they are going to be great fun :)   

I've rotated & enlarged the photo here

My talented team mates at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team have lots to show this month as well, if you get a chance please drop by the CB Blog.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,

Shirley

Fancy Flower & Mixed Media

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the summer, it's been very hot in Ontario, Canada but has recently cooled to more comfortable temps.

I have a design today using a little mixed media along with another flower from Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Fancy Flower set along with a fragment from Lace Fragments. .

I started with a sheet from Chocolate Baroque's Leafy Brocade Printable set and glued it to water colour paper with Modge Podge.   I love the printable sheets, the designs are beautiful and you don't have to store paper, just simply print when you would like one.  They are easy to order too !

Next I added a thin layer of Gesso and when dry I coloured with Neocolour II crayons (water soluble) in botches.   I spritzed water over top and let the colours run together.   I stamped the images with Teal Blue Stazon Ink (permanent water proof ink)  I coloured the flower with Tombow markers and blended with a brush & water.  I outlined with a water based Sharpie paint pen.   I added stickles to the center of the flower.    The sentiment is from Words of Gratitude. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Mixed Media with Cornflowers

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

It's overcast and rainy this afternoon so I stayed inside and played with Acrylic paints, Silks Acrylic Glaze, Molding Paste & stencils.    This is a cropped version of the canvas that is a little larger, but for photograph purposes it looks better this way.  

 

I actually started by covering the board with some pieces of background created with the Gelli Plate.  You can't really see them, but bits & pieces show through.  

I added a little lace, drywall tape and molding paste with TCW Cornflowers & Peacock Pattern stencils.   I used heavy body acrylics and Silks acrylic glaze.  I went back over the flower using the stencil with white acrylic paints and outlined with a pigment pen after dry.   I also added a little silver pearl UTEE around the edges.  

A fun 'play' for a dreary afternoon.   I'll be back in a couple of days with another 'Fancy Flower' by Chocolate Baroque :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Shirley

Gelli Plate Background and Leopard Spots

Happy Mid-week everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I'm showing two pages in the journal that I created in a recent Mono Printing Gelli plate workshop.  I posted a few of the background pages in a previous post, but not these.   I stamped images by Designs by Ryn to complete the pages.

Design by Ryn stamps:  Selini (Moth), Leafy Branch and Leopard Spots.  

Miranda used the spots & a moth together in some of her designs as she could 'see' that a similiar pattern on the Leopard spots is also on the Moth.   I think they look great together.  The sentiment was a gift at the door of the Art Specially Event in Zeist, The Netherlands this year.  My sweet sister gave hers to me :)   Thanks Sis, you are the best ! 

I added Gesso in the areas to be stamped.   I used black Indian Ink to stamp the images and coloured them with Dylusions.  The leafy branch was stamped with white Pigment ink.   I coloured Selini with Dylusions inks (on my craft mat & brush) and highlighted with a white pen.


Here is the page folded out with the right side also stamped in similiar manner.  The sentiment is from 2012 Art Specially Event.

And below is the right hand side cropped

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley 

Poppies in Pastels & Brights

Happy Weekend everyone, I hope you are enjoying the summer.  We've had a lot of rain so the gardens are constantly needing pruning but everything is so lush it's great.

I have contrasting card designs today using Chocolate Baroque's beautiful new Poppy Meadow set.    I took some of my dies & an embossing folder out for play as well.

I see that Rhedd and Rosie's current challenge is "Anything Goes" so I'm joining in with this design.

For the card above I stared by creating a little scene using Distress Inks, ripped card stock and a mask created with a circle negative.     Next I stamped one the gorgeous poppies from the Poppy Meadow set with Cocoa Memento Dye Ink and coloured them with my Prisma Pencils.

The white background was embossed with Acanthus Cuttlebug folder.   I used Crealies CL CF 20 & CL CS 23 for the flowers & leaves which I punched from a light blue sheet of Basic Grey paper which added colour by blending Distress Inks over top.   I stamped with a fragment from the Lace Fragment set on some of the flowers.   I used a little brad from my stash to hold them together.

This next card below is quite bright with Dylusions inks, maybe you'll need sunglasses for this one !

The card above started out different but that happens a lot.  When I stamped the Poppy image onto the background I realized it was lost with the busy background.   So I decided to outline it with a Spellbinder die, using a pigment pen, and bleached the area inside the outline. I painted with Pink, Blue & Green Dylusions (I just add a little ink to my craft mat with the end of the sprayer and paint with a brush & water).    I stamped the corners with Salty Ocean Distress Ink and also used TCW Harlequin stencil with Salty Ocean DI.   Love is from Artistic Expressions.    This design is different, but I thought I would show a contrast to the first design.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley