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

Just a Note

Hello everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  

I have two more designs today using Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Harebell Butterfly and Briar Rose Butterfly sets.

I created the background by blending Distress Inks and then flicking a little water over top.   The image from Harebell Butterfly was stamped with Coffee Archival Ink and coloured with Prisma pencils.  I stamped it a second time and decoupaged the butterfly, added stickles and pop it up.  I also outlined the sun with a white pen.    The die cut frame is Spellbinder S5-090 Romantic Rectangles.

The above CAS style card was created by using a circle cut into cardstock and sponging Distress Inks over top.  I stamped with a fragment from Texture Fragments.   After removing the 'mask' I stamped the image from Briar Rose Butterfly with Cobalt Archival ink and coloured with Prisma Pencils.  The sentiment is from Mackintosh Sentiments.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Beautiful Butterflies

Hello everyone, I hope your week is going well.

I have two designs today using butterflies from Chocolate Baroque's new Harebell and Briar Rose Butterfly sets.

I created the above background with Peacock Feathers Distress ink using the Acrylic Block technique.   I stamped the Big Bold Background - Leafy Trails with the same ink.   The butterfly from Briar Rose Butterfly and the smaller one from July Fairy were embossed with gold, coloured with Tombow markers, cut out and popped up over the background.   The sentiment is from Loving Sentiments.  

I created the background above with the same technique but with Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks.   I stamped foliage from Briar Rose Butterfly around the background.  The butterflies from both sets were stamped with Cobalt Archival Ink, coloured with Tombow markers, cut out and popped up over the background.   The sentiment is also from Loving Sentiments.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Summer Fairies by Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. 

I have a few designs to show today using Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Summer Fairies Collection.    

The first design above features the beautiful fairy and butterfly from July Fairy and the Freesia from June Fairy.    The sentiment is from Fairyland Words.
 
I blended Peacock Feathers Distress Ink at the top and Mowed Lawn on the bottom of the background.  I used a ripped piece of cardstock to vary the shades.  I also used Mustard Seed Distress Ink with a piece of cardstock with a circle cut out as a mask for the sun,  which I also outlined with a white Gelly roll pen.    The Freesia was stamped with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

The rest of the stamping was done with Cobalt Archival Ink and the colouring with Intense pencils.   The butterfly is decoupaged and popped up.  I also used lots of stickles on the fairy wings and a little on the butterfly.  I added holograph glitter with a glue pen on her dress.

You can see the glitter in this close up below:

This next design above features one of the silhouette fairies, vine & miniature sunflower from June Fairy along with flowers from Sunny Sunflowers (which compliment the Summer Fairies very well). 

The large background above was created with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block technique.   I also stamped the Vine and Freesia with Mowed Lawn DI.

The smaller background above was created with Mustard Seed DI using the Acrylic Block technique.  The flowers were stamped with Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks.  The Fairy was stamped with black Archival Ink.  I bleached her wings and added Diamond Stickles.

The little flowers and leaves were coloured with Distress Inks as well.  I highlighted with a white Gelly roll pen.    The flourish are die cut using Crealies CL CS 02.

The third and last design today features the beautiful August Fairy and the mushroom from November Fairy.  Joy is from Artistic Expressions.

The background was created using Lemon, Calypso Teal & Cut grass Dylusions Inks.   I spritzed with water and then sprinkled course sea salt.   After letting it dry & shaking off the salt,  I stamped the images with Cobalt Archival Ink.   I bleached out the colour from all the images and then painted with Dylusions Inks (on my craft mat, using water & brush).   When everything was dry I outlined with a white Gelly roll pen and added stickles to her wings. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Masculine Design

Hello everyone I hope you are enjoying the weekend.   I would like to welcome a couple of new followers, thanks for your interest in my blog :)

The weather has been beautiful here most of the time, it's wonderful after our tough winter and cold start to Spring.   I've been very busy and haven't had as much 'crafty time' as I would like, but have a 'quick make' to show today.   This card would be suitable for a man, I used a fabulous vintage set of stamps by Chocolate Baroque.

The background is again using Distress Inks with an Acrylic Block.  The images are from Eccentric Edwardian, except Best Wishes which is from Loving Sentiments. 

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Vibrant Flowers & Butterflies

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.

My designs today feature vibrant colours with the gorgeous and versatile Briar Rose Butterfly and Harebell Butterfly sets by Chocolate Baroque .    I'm drawn to greens & blue but there are lots of other beautiful colours to play with.

I'm entering this first design below into this week's  Less is More Challenge as the theme is to 'use more than one stamp'  -  I've used 3 on this card.  I haven't had a chance to enter this challenge for a while, it's a great blog to see gorgeous CAS designs. 

The background above was created by blending Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks over a circle cut in cardstock.  I stamped a fragment from Textured Fragments with the Picked Raspberry ink.  The flowers from Harebell Butterfly were stamped with black archival ink.  The sentiment is from the fabulous Mackintosh Sentiments.

And below is definately not CAS in the same vibrant colours:

The large background is Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks that I stamped onto my craft mat and spritzed with water.   I dragged the cardstock through the ink and when dry I stamped the branch with both colours.

The smaller background is using the same technique but with Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.   I used the Harlequin stencil by TCW to add the diamond pattern.

I stamped the gorgeous image from Briar Rose Butterfly with Cobalt Archival Ink and coloured with Prisma Pencils.  I stamped the image a second time to decoupage the butterflies which are popped up over the background.   I added stickles to the butterfly wings.


Here is a look at the fabulous Briar Rose Butterfly and Harebell Butterfly sets

If you have time to visit the CB Design Team we have lots to show this month, my teammates have created beautiful designs.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Sprinkled with Fairy Dust

Hello everyone, I hope your week is going well.

Chocolate Baroque recently launched their Summer Fairy Collection, what a gorgeous set of stamps.  I have a design today using the beautiful July Fairy.

I created the background with White, Midnight & Teal Dyulsions inks.  I stamped flowers from the beautiful Sunny Sunflower set (that go very well with the Summer Fairies) with Olive and Magenta Hue Archival inks.   I highlighted the centers with a white pen.

I stamped the July Fairy with Black Archival ink and coloured with Inktense pencils.  I added lots of glitter to her wings and dress.   The sentiment is from Fairyland Words.

The die cut flowers are Crealie - CLCF22 which I sponged Distress Inks to colour.  I added dark rhinestones to the centres and the little spray die cuts from Memory Box - Flutter Vine.

Here is a look at the complete Summer Fairy Collection, sold individually or as a multi-buy set.  For a limited time when you order the collection you will receive a FREE Inspiration Leaflet (printable download) of 'never been seen' designs & instructions by the Design Team.

Well that's all for now thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Enjoy the rest of your week,
Shirley