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 34, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of Challenge Thirty-Four on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you so much for your visits and comments throughout the month, we really appreciate your support. 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 find all of the details, and add your entries in this post.

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

Celia's pretty fairy card incorporates a scene built up using several stamps, dimensional flowers, and a handmade background:

Debbie has entered twice this month, returning from a break, and she has given us two fabulous entries. The first, is a steampunk based card incorporating a beautiful peacock, and oriental flowers. She has created a beautiful layered background:

Her second card is a fabulous watery creation, with lots of detail, again mixing a bit of steampunk into the design. This time, the teal colour is strongest amongst the challenge colours:

Annie has created a lovely vibrant card, set against a dramatic dark background, to show off the btight colours:

Carole has demonstrated how to use a Christmas image in a non-seasonal way for her softly coloured card. The image has been stamped onto a wooden heart, and set against a pretty floral background.

Another Christmas image has been used by Kate, and again been used as so that it can be given at any time of the year. By masking off a small section of the image, it becomes multi-purpose.

Leanne has cleverly used water to bleach away colour from the image, and her background to create a beautiful project. She has mixed stamps from several sets to produce this lovely, dreamy card:

Finally, one of Sandra's entries for this month, is a stunning tag. She has used lace pressed onto her gelli plate to create a patterned background, and used the challenge colours to create a fabulous graduated effect around the edges of her tag.

We have more inspiration from the Design Team for you this week.

Claire has created a page in her journal, she has used a mixture of Christmas images to create a delightful scene:

Magda's project is a quirky steampunk card, mixing stamps and stencils. A great detail is the way the stencil spreads over the top layer onto the card itself.

We have a floral offering from Vronnie this month; a beautiful Brusho background, and stunning blue roses.

 Finally, I have made a card using some long unused stamps, Distress Inks, and water based markers. I have created a sunset sky for a bird silhouette stamp, and added a lovely motivational saying, just right for sending words of encouragement to someone. You can see full details on my blog.

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, but 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 33, Week Five

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of Challenge Thirty-Three on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for your lovely comments throughout the month, we really appreciate your visits to the blog, and your continued support.

This week, we are taking a look at some of the entries that we have received for the current challenge, and showcasing them on the blog. We hope that you enjoy the selection that we have chosen to share with you.

The first card comes from Sandra, a very pretty card utilising images from the Wild Meadow stamp set, to create a scene, with added inked mountains and a sun behind:

The second card is a lovely dimensional card created by Shelagh, incorporating a fabulous butterfly and leaves created using watercolour paper:

Celia's journal page is our next entry, showcasing some of our Spring themed stamps. She has created a delicate background and then made a focal panel for the bird image, surrounded by flowers to give more dimension:

Kate has created a very clean and simple style card for one of her entries this month. The simple pastel background is all that is required to complement the floral panel, and the softer tones are still perfect for this colour challenge:

Finally, Janny's quirky card using images from the Steampunk Birds stamp set is perfect for this time of year, when we are thinking of Easter cards. The cockerel reminds me of my own chickens when we kept birds in the garden, he is such a great image:

We have some more inspiration from the Design Team to share with you this week. Vronnie has created a super Easter card using some of our newest stamps:

Marga has created a delightful floral card, adding some texture stamps into the background to create added dimension to her one-layered card:

Zoe has used the beautiful Fritillary stamp for her project, adding a few scattered sequins to the soft background:

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

We have had some fabulous entries from you this month and hope that you have enjoyed using the colours in the current colour swatch.  Thank you to everyone else who took part in the challenge this month, there is still plenty of time to enter before the deadline next week. You can find a link in this post, where you can add your entry.

If you have any questions regarding the challenges, 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 32, Week Four

Hello everyone, welcome to the final week of Challenge Thirty-Two on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. We hope that you did not miss us too much last week. We are cutting back on our weekly blog posts just a little bit, but will still continue to bring you lots of Design Team inspiration at the beginning and end of each month. Thank you so much for your visits and comments throughout the month, we really appreciate your support. We hope that you are 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.

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

Rocky's striking steampunk tag makes full use of the metallic element included in this month's colour swatch.

Joan has created a fantasy watery theme for her clean and simple style card. The bold stripes representing the water are a very clever idea:

Regina would not normally use these colours together, but has created a fabulous floral card as a result:

Annie has created a bold covered journal, with lots of texture:

We have an email entry from Cath up next, a very elegant card, with a scene behind the intricate gates:

Penny's dragons full of character are sure to make you smile, and her dramatic skyline forms a great backdrop for the scorched mountainside:

Next up is a fishy scene from Kate; she has added a stencilled background and a bubbles stamp which matches the theme so well.

Pat's Spring themed card features an embossed background and prettily coloured flowers.

Finally Celia's project includes some handmade flowers and a beautiful textured background, lots of detail:

We have more inspiration from the Design Team for you this week. Anne has made a pretty card and tag set using the shaving foam technique to create the swirly background. She stamped the card blank with Distress Ink to create the outer background frame. The main images were stamped using Versamark and heat embossed with copper powder.

Zoe has made a hanging incorporating one of our new Kingfisher stamps, and created a collage style background with text and other images.

Julie's tag uses stamps from the Key to my Dreams set, and she has used one of the large keys as a focal point:

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, but 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 31, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of Challenge Thirty-One on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you so much for your visits and lovely comments throughout the month, we really appreciate your support, and love 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 to 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.

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

Kate's pretty floral card incorporates background stamping from another one of our stamp sets. The tulips look so fresh, and are coloured beautifully:

Carole has used the same stamp to create both the soft background and vibrant main element. creating a lovely card design:

Shelagh's card is all one layer, but with clever pencil shading looks very three dimensional:

Joan has created a lovely floral meadow scene on her clean and simple style card, using multi-coloured inks:

Annie's card incorporates the caught in crystal technique for her stunning background, and this showcases the lovely fairy and butterfly so well:

Jan has created a beautiful scene on her tag, with the pretty flower and butterfly as a centrepiece. The graduated colours work really well:

This month, it is Asha's turn to tell you a little bit about herself, and you can learn more about our lovely  Design Team member from Portugal.

I joined the Chocolate Baroque Design Team in March 2014....and to this day I am amazed by the talent, support and friendship I find here. If there is a dream team- this is it. For me, being here is a dream come true.

My love affair with Chocolate Baroque began when I bought my first stamp sheet in September 2012. It is called The Gift of Christmas. There is an image on this set which made my heart skip a beat; the silhouette of a cat and dog looking at a Christmas tree.

My cat Xiara passed away on 1st September that year and the scene depicted by that stamp is my most treasured memory of Christmas at home with my dogs and cats around the tree. Chocolate Baroque has immortalised it in a stamp! It comes as no surprise that of all the lovely stamps by Chocolate Baroque, The Gift of Christmas is still my favourite.

Now bear in mind I am not an artistic person, I struggled to get a C- in art at school.... and that only happened twice, by accident! So when you ask me how do I do it- trust me when I say "I don't know, it just happened!"

What I lack in artistic flair, I compensate with a wild and vivid imagination, often imagining myself to be more creative than I really am! My inspiration comes from all over the place- the colour of a flower, the smell of rain, my dog snoring, falling leaves...it always starts with something. Best of all, there's a Chocolate Baroque stamp that fits the bill.

My day job requires mr to be focused, meticulous and methodical. I work in the judicial system, which often (and inconveniently), gets in the way of my crafting endeavours. In stark contrast, my craft room is a place of chaos and madness. However some of my favourite pieces were born here under pressure; photographed and blogged while the ink was still wet. That pretty much sums up how I craft.

I draw strength and peace from my ever supportive husband, my beautiful furbabes and food...lots of it. Chocolate cures all ills!

Thank you so much Asha, for your words, it was so interesting to read about you, and to get to know you a little better.

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, but 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.