Challenge 29, Week Three

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We hope that you are enjoying the current challenge and the inspiration provided by the Design Team. For those of you visiting the blog for the first time, do check out the information on the blog, especially the tabs at the top of the page, where you should be able to find all of the answers to your questions. Here is the colour swatch for this month's challenge:

You can find a link to the current challenge here, where you can add your entries at the end of the post. This week we are sharing more inspiration from the Design Team.

Magda has created a bold floral tag, incorporating one of our newest stamps:

Anne has created a lovely Christmas card with one of our recent Christmas images:

She has very kindly written a tutorial so that you can have a go at making this card yourselves.

Materials:

Christmas Post single stamp
6" x 6" white card blank, white stamping card, white pearlescent card
Versafine inkpad (Vintage Sepia)
Watercolour pencils (green, red, brown, gold)
Wax crayons (light gold, dark brown)
Fine-tipped permanent pen (brown)
Glossy Accents
Chunky 'glass' glitter and clear glitter glue
Winter themed frame die
Foam pads or 3D glue


Instructions:

Cut decorative frame frrom pearlescent card. If you don't have a suitable decorative die, a plain frame looks nice and you could decorate it with winter foliage or snowflakes (die cut or ready made).
Stamp the image and cut out to fit behind the frame. Extend the scene on the left and right by drawing with the fine pen.
Draw onto the bricks with wax crayons to give some areas of texture. The wax resists the watercolour. Colour the image with watercolour pencils. Use a damp brush to pull out and blend the colour.
Stamp the branches onto the card blank.
Mount the topper and frame with foam pads or 3D glue.
Finish with chunky glitter and glitter glue. Add Glossy Accents to the tree baubles.

Thanks so much Anne for a super tutorial. 

We hope that the projects we have shown you this week will inspire you to join in with the challenge yourselves. We will be back next week with another post, and more projects for you. If you have any questions. and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send us a private message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section. 

Challenge 29, Week Two- Winner's Week

Hello everyone and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. This week, we are announcing the winners of Challenge Twenty-Eight. The winner of the £15 prize to spend at Chocolate Baroque is Joan, whose project was drawn by Random.org as the overall winner. Congratulations Joan, we hope that you enjoy your prize.

Please email Lesley on lesley@chocolatebaroque.com so that she can organise your voucher. You can also display our winner's badge on your blog, details of how to obtain the badge can be found on the FAQ tab at the top of the page.

The Top Three this month have been chose by the Design Team, who have had a tough time as always, choosing from such a fabulous selection of entries. The Top Three in no particular order are:

Shirley:

Kate:

Shelagh:

Congratulations ladies, you can display the Top Three badge on your blogs. Details of how to obtain the badge can be found on the FAQ tab at the top of the page. Well done to everyone who entered, and we hope that you will join in with our current challenge. You will find the details here.

We have some more Design Team inspiration for you this week:

Vronnie has created two ornament cards for us using a stencil. They both look very different, owing to the images and backgrounds that she has used:

Julie's card is very reminiscent of Autumn with the multicoloured leaves and inked edges:

Magda has created a textured tree tag, great for masculine gifts and occasions:

We hope that these projects will inspire you to create something for the challenge yourselves, using the current colour swatch. We will be back next week with another blog post and more inspiration from the Design Team, but until then, we look forward to seeing some of your entries. If you have any questions and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send us a private message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.

Challenge Twenty-Nine

Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for your support and comments over the past month, we really appreciate your vists and love reading what you have to say. We will be announcing the winners of Challenge Twenty-Eight next week, so if you entered the challenge, be sure to check out the blog post, to see if you are the winner of our prize.

As a reminder to those of you who have visited our blog before, and for anyone who is new to the blog, our challenges are monthly, based on an inspirational photo and a colour swatch. A new challenge is launched on the third Wednesday of every month. You can use any medium to create your project; inks, paints, pens, pencils, etc., as long as you stick to the colours from the colour swatch in your project. We are offering a monthly prize of £15 to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps to one lucky winner, who will be selected by Random.org from all of the entrants who have used Chocolate Baroque stamps currently available from the website. We welcome entries incorporating other stamps and images, but they will not be eligible for the prize. All entries will have the chance to be selected as one of our Top Three, and can then display our 'I made the Top Three at Chocolate Baroque' badge on their blogs.

We have a spicy new colour swatch for you this month, and some fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, which we will be sharing over the coming weeks. Here is the colour swatch for the new challenge:

The challenge will close at 12.00 p.m. on Tuesday 20th December 2016 and the winner will be announced on Wednesday 28th December 2016. Here are some projects from the Design Team:

Asha has created a beautiful Christmas card:

Claire's stunning poppy card is very apt for this time of year:

Magda's simple hello card could be a great way to get in touch with a friend or renew an acquaintance:

Another Christmas card from me this time, using Brushos and white embossing with a very old stamp from my stash:

Thank you to the rest of the team for your inspiration using the new challenge colours. We hope that they will inspire you to create something for the challenge. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our challenge blog team. You can get in touch by sending a private message. Details are at the end of this post below the comments section.

We hope that you enjoy the new challenge, and look forward to seeing your projects, Judith xx

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge 28, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of Challenge Twenty-Eight on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you so much for your visits and lovely comments throughout the month, we appreciate your support, and really enjoy reading what you have to say. We hope that you have been enjoying the current challenge. There is still plenty of time to enter, and be in with a chance of winning a £15 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque. You can add your entries to the link in this post.

We are taking a look at some of the entries that we have received for the challenge so far, and providing you with some more inspiration to give you a few ideas when making your own entries for the challenge.

Shirley has made a beautiful Christmas card incorporating one of our Steampunk Christmas images. She has used white embossing as a resist, and the design really pops against her vibrant background:

Joan has created a lovely scene using grasses, and added a large flower as a focal point. She has used the yellow as her main colour in the card, and so it has a completely different feel to Shirley's.

Janny's sea-themed card was created using Brushos for the background, and she also used Brushos to paint the images too.

This month it is Julie's turn to introduce herself to you and tell you a little bit more about herself.

Compared to a few of my team mates I am relatively new, as I have only been a Chocolate Baroque Team member since March 2015. Receiving the phone call from Lesley, telling me that I had been given a place on this fabulous Design Team made me so incedibly happy. I will be forever grateful to her for giving me the chance as I had had no previous Design Team experience.


Arts and crafts have always been of interest to me. I have fond childhood memories of messing around at the kitchen table with various painting and craft creations, along with 'helping' my Dad at every opportunity with all of his decorating projects.

I love all things paper-craft, with stamping being my number one passion, however I enjoy dabbling with other crafts, especially beading, as I feel that the two combined crafts can turn projects into a real gift. I am always on the look out for things that I can up-cycle and have found some fantastic buys in my local supermarket in the home ware reduced section.

Like most crafters I am always on the look out for inspiration and usually find it from looking at my surroundings, especially when I am out walking my six year old Border Collie, Ellis. If I could spend a day exactly how I wanted, I would spend the morning in my craft room followed by a long walk accompanied by Ellis, and then a lovely meal out with my Husband and Daughter.....perfect!

Thanks Julie, it was great to read about your interests, and to get to know you a little better. You can find Julie's blog here.

Magda has created some super Diwali cards for us, using this month's challenge colours. The added sparkle is a great finishing touch:

We will be back next week with a brand new challenge , but we hope to see lots more entries from you in the meantime. If you have any questions, and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send us a private message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.

Challenge 28, Week Three

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We hope that you are enjoying the current challenge and the inspiration provided by the Design Team. For those of you visiting the blog for the first time, do check out the information on the blog, especially the tabs at the top of the page, where you should be able to find the answers to all of your questions. Here is the colour swatch for this month's challenge:

You can find a link to the current challenge here, where you can add your entries at the end of the post. This week we are sharing more inspiration from the Design Team.

Asha has created a lovely Birthday card incorporating an image from the Swirly Pets stamp set, great for any dog lover:

Magda's textured tag incorporates elements created from Soft Form Relief Paste. This gives a really opulent feel to her project:

Anne has created two projects for us this week, and has very kindly written tutorials for us, so that you can have a go at creating them for yourselves. Her first project is a pretty card incorporating the Owl Edges and Words of Inspiration stamps sets. She has used ink sprays to create her background and die cuts to finish.

Materials:
Stamp sets: Owl Edges, Words of Inspiration
A6 white card blank (approx 10cms x 15cms)
Die cut white stamping card (approx 9.5cms x 12cms)
Ink sprays (green, yellow, blue)
Dye based ink pad (dark blue)
Alcohol marker and fine-tipped pen (dark blue)
Glitter glue (light and dark blue)
Die cuts to finish

Instructions:
Spray green and yellow ink onto a craft mat and pick up colour onto lower half of stamping panel. Paint blue ink across the top and dry.
Stamp the sentiment and reeds, use second generation stamping to create the fainter background reeds.
Edge with blue marker and glue to card front.
Glue on the die cuts. Finish by drawing a faux stitched border and adding glitter glue. If you don't have dies, just trim down the card base to fit the stamped mat, and it will still look great.

Anne's second project is a fabulous Christmas Tag using stamps from the Sparkling Trees stamp set.

Materials:
Stamp set: Sparkling Trees
Watercolour card tag (approx 6cms x 12.5cms)
Versamark inkpad
Dye based inkpad (blue)
Spray inks (light and dark blue, yellow and grren- some with mica)
Heat embossing powders (pearlescent yellow and detail white)
Alcohol marker (dark blue)
Yellow and blue organza ribbon


Instructions:
Spritz and splatter the tag with spray inks and dry completely.
Stamp the trees with Versamark and heat emboss with the yellow powder. Stamp the snowflakes and heat emboss with the white powder. TIP: to prevent the powder from sticking where you don't want it, (especially if your card is still a little damp), dust the surface with a little talc.
Blend blue dye ink in from the edges and frame with dark blue marker.
Finish by adding ribbons and a little glitter glue for added sparkle.

Thanks so much Anne for both of your tutorials.

We hope that the projects we have shown you this week will inspire you to join in with the challenge yourselves. We will be back next week with another post, and more projects for you. If you have any questions, and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send us a private message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.