Announcing Our Winners and Time to Say a Fond Farewell.

Hello everyone, welcome to our very last post on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. This week, we are announcing the winners of Challenge Thirty-Five. The winner of the £15 prize to spend at Chocolate Baroque is Cath Stead, whose project was drawn by Random.org as the overall winner. Congratulations Cath, we hope that you enjoy your prize.

Please email Lesley on lesley@chocolatebaroque.com so that she can organise your voucher. The Top Three this month have been chosen by the Design Team, and as always, we have had a tough time choosing from such a fabulous array of entries. The Top Three in no particular order are:

Shelagh:

Janny:

Sandra:

Congratulations ladies, you can display the Top Three badge on your blogs. Details of how to obtain it can be found on the FAQ tab at the top of the page. Well done to everyone who entered our final challenge.

We hope that you have enjoyed visiting the Colour Challenge Blog over the past three years, and have managed to take part in some of the challenges along the way. We would like to thank everyone for your visits, your comments, and your wonderful artwork. Although we have tried to inspire you each month, we have been truly inspired by your talent and creativity each time we have launched a new colour challenge.

Have you had a favourite colour swatch over the years?

I had to include this last one!

Perhaps there was a favourite piece of  Design Team inspiration that inspired you?

This fabulous card from our Challenge Fourteen by Anne, was a stunner:

This beautiful card by Claire from Challenge Seven, was another stand out card:

This stunning book by Miranda, as part of our Challenge Eleven inspiration, was another great memory:

Always with a brilliant eye for colour, Asha has created some wonderful artwork for the challenge blog over the years. This charming card from Challenge Twelve is a real delight:

We also had lots of fun with a series of wonderful download papers from Lesley. I have created a tab at the top of the page, where you can find all of the backgrounds to download and create lots of projects using these beautiful designs. If you want to see some inspiration using the backgrounds, simply type in the label 'Digital Download' in the 'Search This Blog' box, and you will be able to see the posts on the blog that contain the downloads.

The blog is not closing down, it will still be here so that you can look through the pages, and you can always revisit the posts for inspiration. At the top of the page, you will see a tab marked 'Colour Challenge Swatches', and you will find all of the swatches from every challenge in case you feel like a bit of a challenge some time. Just pick a swatch, grab the colours, and off you go, create something inky and fabulous. If you do make something, please let us now via our Facebook page, as we would love to see what you are creating. We have met a lot of new friends through the Challenge Blog, and it would be great if you would still pop along to the Design Team Blog, and to our Facebook Group.

Finally, I would like to thank my lovely Team Mates, for their help in providing their absolutely wonderful projects for the challenge blog. They have given of their time, and been a huge support, enabling me to bring you blog posts full of inspiration. Thank you girls, you are super stars. Thank you Lesley for allowing us the freedom to just get on with things, and for providing the monthly prize for the Challenges each month.

Take care everyone, and thanks for stopping by,

Challenge 35, Week Five

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of our very last challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for all of your lovely comments, and for the fabulous entries that you have submitted for this challenge. We really appreciate your support, and we have loved reading what you have had to say. There is still plenty of time to enter the challenge, please do join in if you have the time. You can add your entry using the link in this post.

This week, we are taking a look at some of the entries we have received so far.

Jackie:

 Janny:

Celia:

Sandra:

Regina:

Leanne:

Carole:

Sandra:

Kate:

Shelagh:

We have some inspiration from the Design Team to share with you this week. Magda has created a pretty Spring-themed tag:

Zoe's folk heart, incorporates lots of background stamping, and a quirky little house, perfect as a 'New Home' gift.

Thank you girls for your inspiration as always, and we hope that the designs will inspire you to create something yourselves for the challenge.

Thank you to everyone else who took part in the challenge this month, and we look forward to seeing lots more entries from you before the deadline next week. The winner of this challenge will be announced on Wednesday 28th June, which will be our final blog post.

If you have any questions regarding the challenge, 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 35, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We still have a couple of weeks to go in our final challenge, so there is plenty of time for you to join in and be in with a chance of winning a £15 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque.

This week, we have more wonderful inspiration to share from the Design Team. Our first project comes from Julie, she has created a lovely project combining the new butterfly stencil and stamps from the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set:

Magda has used a firm favourite, Katya, to create her project, adding leftover pieces from her craft table to complete her card. This is a great idea for using up pieces from your craft stash:

Our newest addition to the Design Team, moving over from the Guest Design Team, Brenda has joined us with her pretty card today. The softly coloured poppies, the addition of the extra single butterfly and the subtle background stamping, all add up to a beautiful design:

Finally Vronnie has created a gorgeous textured butterfly using Soft Form Relief Paste, which she has adhered to her CAS style card. The coloured circles add interest, and are cleverly coordinated with the matted layer in the background.

We hope that these projects will inspire you to join in with the challenge. You can add your entries to the link in this post. If you have any questions, you can contact us using the form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.

Thanks for stopping by,

Challenge 35, Week Three

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We hope that you are enjoying the current challenge, which is sadly our final challenge. We have had some fabulous entries for the challenge so far, and there is still lots of time left for you to enter. You can add your entries to the link in this post.

We have some wonderful inspiration from the Design Team for you this week, two of our DT members have kindly provided written instructions for their projects so that you can have a go at making their projects if you wish. Firstly, Anne has created a magical card, featured on the recent One Day Special TV shows on Hochanda. This vibrant card, with its striking design would make a wonderful Birthday card for girls of all ages.

Materials:

Spring Fairy Collection, Fantasy Castles, and Magical Landscapes
8 inch square card blank, white stamping card and purple iridescent paper
Scrap copy paper to create masks
Large decorative circle mat cut from purple card and circle die to cut out image
Versafine Onyx Black Inkpad, StazOn Jet Black inkpad
Water based inks (purples)
Watercolour pencils (black, purples and greens)
Clear sparkle pen
Fine tipped marker pen (black) and alcohol marker (purple)
Stickles glitter glue (Star Dust)

How to Make It:

Stamp the fairies with Versafine, cut out and colour with pencils and a damp brush.
Stamp the wings with StazOn onto the iridescent paper, cut out and decoupage over the stamped fairies.
Stamp the castles and buildings onto copy paper and cut out. Arrange the elements to plan the scene, i.e. it needs to fit into the circle topper which will fit into the large decorative mat. Stamp the foreground image with Versafine and cover it with your paper mask before stamping the next image behind. Continue covering the foreground images and working towards the background elements.
When complete remove the masks and use a fine tipped marker to join up or draw extra elements where needed.
Colour with watercolour pencils and a damp brush. Overlay some areas with clear sparkle pen. I added extra intense colour with water based inks into the background to make the buildings 'pop'.
Edge the card blank with alcohol marker to frame. Layer and glue down all of the elements. I used 3D foam and glue gel for added depth.
Finish with touches of glitter glue for added sparkle.

Claire has created a stunning canvas, full of texture and  lovely details. This would make a beautiful decoration for your home.

Materials:

8"x8" canvas
Butterfly stencil
Just Butterflies stamp set
Shimmer sprays (shades of green and violet)
Texture paste
Brick effect stencil, Ledger stencil
Silver Gilding Wax
Pearls, diamante gems
Versamark Ink
White opaque embossing powder
Anti-static bag
Acylic Paint- Silver, Green metallic, purple metallic
Heat resistant acetate
Stickles, PVA glue, silicone glue

Instructions:

Begin by applying texture paste through the butterflies and dragonflies, leave to dry.
Once the texture paste is dry, add texture to the background by applying texture paste through the brick and ledger stencils. Try to avoid the butterflies, but if you do get texture paste on them, remove it with a baby wipe and leave to dry.

Spray the violet shimmer sprays generously in the centre of the canvas and the green shades around the edge. Use a baby wipe to blot any areas that look a little muddy and leave to dry.

Dust the stencilled butterflies with an anti-static bag and stamp the coordinating butterflies with Versamark. Emboss with white embossing powder.

Highlight the raised areas of the background by applying silver gilding wax.

Paint the edges of the canvas with silver acrylic paint and leave to dry.

Dust the acetate with an anti-static bag and stamp the butterflies with Versamark Ink. Emboss with white embossing powder. Loosely paint the butterflies on the reverse with green and purple acrylic paint and leave to dry for a few minutes.
Once the paint is dry, cut the butterflies out and glue on the gems with PVA glue. Smear a little Stickles here and there and leave to dry.
Fold the wings up at either side of the body and attach the butterflies to the canvas with silicone glue to give the wings some dimension. 

Thank you so much girls for your gorgeous projects. We hope that they will inspire you to join in with the challenge. We will be back next week with another post, and more projects from the Design Team. If you have any questions, and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send a message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.

Challenge 35, 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 Thirty-Four. The winner of the £15 prize to spend at Chocolate Baroque is Sandra, whose project was drawn by Random.org as the overall winner. Congratualtions Sandra, 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 chosen 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:

Debbie:

Leanne:

Annie:

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 the current challenge. You can find the details here.

We have more inspiration from the Design Team to share with you this week:

Anne's pretty card has been created using vellum and white embossing, to give a parchment effect to her design. She has coloured the reverse of the image, to give a delicate touch to the flowers and leaves.

Vronnie has created a very pretty card using the large Butterfly image from the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set, and Soft Form Relief Paste. She has added hints of colour to the structure of the butterfly, and then adhered it to a fabulously vibrant background. Very dramatic!

I have made a card using gold embossing powder to stamp my images before masking them. I used Distress Inks to colour the background, then adding stamping with the Large Crackle Background, and extra shading.

We hope that these projects will inspire you to create something yourselves, and to join in with the challenge.

We will be back next week with more inspiration from the Design Team girls. Until then, we look forward to seeing some of your entries into our final challenge. If you have any questions, and cannot find the answers on the blog pages, please send a private message using the contact form located at the very end of this post; you will see it after the comments section.