Challenge 27, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of Challenge Twenty-Seven on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you so much for your visits and comments throughout the month. We hope that you have been enjoying the challenge, although perhaps this month, the monochrome colour scheme has proved a bit more challenging, as we have had less entries than we do normally. There is still plenty of time to get creative using your stash and Chocolate Baroque stamps, and be in with a chance of winning a fabulous £15 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque. You can add your entry 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 a bit of last minute inspiration to help you whip up something yourselves for the challenge.

Lula has created a beautiful canvas using die cuts, paper, bits of yarn and lace, added beads, and painted it all in shades of blue:

Doreen's card has been created using some of our Oriental Grasses stamps and has a very serene feel:

Kate has created a shimmery sea-themed canvas, adding lots of texture. Her use of fabric trim for seaweed, is very clever:

Carole has created a lovely coaster for her coffee cup, a great gift idea, or perhaps to keep for yourself. However, a perfect project to make as we are heading into the Christmas season.:

This month we are getting to know Claire, one of our long-standing Design Team members a little better.

Claire writes:

I've been on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team for just over five years and I still can't believe how lucky I am to be part of such a wonderful talented team, and of course to be able to play with such gorgeous stamps. I've been paper crafting for about ten years now and before that I was a cross stitcher. After dabbling with a few card making kits, I bought my first stamps and that was the start of my addiction.
I've always been in awe of those crafters who have a real signature style, the ones you can just name by seeing one of their projects, but I'm not that sort of crafter. I guess you'd call my style eclectic, as some days I love to get out my markers and colour, others I love to get out my stamps and inks. Sometimes I enjoy dabbling with altered art or even jewelery making. I don't have a particular favourite style or colour, but I do like to dabble and try lots of different techniques and colour palettes. I'm often inspired by the world around me, perhaps the colour of the sky when I'm on my way to work, or even once, the weeds growing in the alley at the back of our offices. I think if you look hard enough, you can find something beautiful in most environments.


By day, I manage a mental health charity, which can be very rewarding, but is also very stressful, as there is never enough funding, and always more people needing help and support. Crafting provides a wonderful escape from the stresses of life, and I think it's really good for your mental health. I'm more of a lark than an owl, and every morning, I try to have an hour in my craft room before I go to work. When I'm not in my craft room or at work, I'm often out walking my two dogs, (a labrador and a bordercollie/lurcher cross), who are both real livewires and love to take me for long walks.


Thanks Claire, it was great to get to know you a bit better.

As a final bit of inspiration for you this week, I have created a quick card, combining several stamp sets, and some scraps of pretty paper. You can read all about it on my blog. This month's colour scheme was perfect for this rainy card.

We will be back next week with a brand new challenge, but we hope to see 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 27, 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 have some more inspiration from the Design Team. Julie has created a soft panelled background, whch she has then cut into smaller strips to create a much larger card. The floral design matches her main flower so well:

Dominike's cool cat card uses a fabulous Halloween image set against a lovely trellis style background:

Magda has created a stylish card using a modern floral image, and harlequin background stamp:

Anne's sea themed project combines a delightful sea horse image as the focal point, and a super ammonite stencil for her background:

Anne has very kindly written a tutorial for her card so that you can have a go at creating this card for yourself.

Anne writes:
Good morning, I am loving the sea-themed colours this month, and am looking forward to seeing all your Challenge entries. I hope that you like my Fragile Seahorse x

Materials:
Stamp sets: Underwater, Mail Art Minis
12cm x 21cm white card blank, 11cm x 20 cm watercolour card
Ink spritzers: pale blue, mid blue with mica, opaque white
Versamark inkpad
Blueberry embossing powder
Sea themed or textured stencil (I used a large fossil)
Alcohol marker: dark blue
Fine-tipped marker: opaque white
Glitter pen: mid blue

Instructions:

The card was spritzed with water and the blue inks. The stencil was immediately laid on top and the card left to dry naturally. The inks get 'pulled' under the surface of the stencil by capillary action, (so you get a negative image).
The card was then spritzed with white ink, the seahorse and sentient stamped and embossed with blue powder, coloured with glitter and white pens.
The panel and card were then edged with the blue marker to frame the image.

Thanks so much Anne for your 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 some 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 27, Week Two- Winner's Week

Hello everyone, welcome to the second week of our current challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. This week, we are announcing the winners of Challenge Twenty-Six. The winner of the £15 prize to spend at Chocolate Baroque is Anna, whose project was drawn by Random.org as the overall winner. Congratulations Anna, 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 difficult job, as always, because you have created some beautiful projects for us to choose from. The Top Three in no particular order are:

Regina:

Shelagh:

Julie:

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 enter our current challenge. You will find the details here.

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

I have created a simple card using some left over scraps of background paper and one of our larger cling mounted rubber stamps, more details can be found on my blog:

Zoe has created a Christmas scene combining a snowflake edge stamp and a Winter landscape:

Showing that great minds think alike, Claire has used the same stamps, but she has used a different sentiment, white embossing instead of black, and it just shows how you can create a different look for a card:

Dominike has created two cards for us this week. Her first uses a gelli plate background to give a retro feel to her card:

The second has a sponged ombre ink background, creating a dreamy feel to the card :

Magda has created a pretty floral tag with lots of layer and texture added to her background:

We hope that these projects will inspire you to rummage through your stash and create some cool monochrome creations of your own. We will be back next week with another post and more projects from the Design Team, but until then, we look forward to seeing more 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-Seven

Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for your support over the past month, we truly appreciate your visits to our blog, and love reading all of your comments. We will be announcing the winners of Challenge Twenty-Six 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 blog.

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

The challenge will close at 12.00 p.m. on Tuesday 18th October 2016, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday 26th October 2016. Here are some projects from the Design Team:

Zoe has created a frosty bauble Christmas card, using white embossing to contrast with the blue tones:

Magda has added a textured butterfly to her pretty foliage background:

She has also created this striking card using a fern image as her focal point on a gelli print background:

Vronnie has created two stunning cards using the Tangled Birch stamp for her inspirational projects:

Finally we finish with a beautiful Christmas card from Asha, with pretty pearls, and added white snowflakes:

Thank you so much girls for your inspiration using the new challenge colours. We hope that they will inspire you to create something yourselves using the lovely monochrome palette, and to enter 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 see your projects, Judith xx

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Challenge 26, Week Five

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final week of the current challenge on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for your lovely comments throughout the month, we really appreciate your support.

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

 Alice has created a colourful step card, incorporating some of our large flowers and a clever use of the Ophelia stamp to create foliage.

Leanne has used wax paper to create a fabulous background for one of our mushroom stamps:

Anna's pretty easel card uses a butterfly as the stopper. The pretty background also incorporates butterflies:

Papsy's card uses a lovely floral image, coloured beautifully, and has been simply layered onto coloured card.

Regina has created a fabulous background with the addition of extra foliage and leaves to create a super Autumnal card:

Finally, Carole has combined two images to create her card, mixing and matching to come up with her lovely design.

We have had some fabulous entries from you this month, and hope that you have enjoyed using the colours in the current colour swatch. Next month, we are going for a completely different set of colours, and if any of these selections take you outside your comfort zone, then give yourselves a pat on the back for stretching yourselves creatively. Thank you to everyone else who entered the challenge this month, and we hope to see lots more entries from you before the deadline next week. There is still plenty of time to enter, and you can find a link in this post. 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 26, Week Four

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog. Thank you for the wonderful entries that have been coming in for the challenge so far. We hope that you are enjoying the current colour scheme and the inspiration provided by the Design Team each week for you. We hope that if you have not entered already, you will have a go at creating a project, and join in with the challenge. We encourage all levels of crafter, from beginner to advanced, and the winner is always chosen at random, so everyone has an equal chance of winning the prize. You can add your entry to the link in this post.

We have more inspiration from the Design Team this week. I have made a card using Brushos for the background and main scene.All details can be found on my blog.

Magda has created a very pretty floral card, using a beautiful image, and delicate repeat stamping in the background.

We hope that our projects will encourage you to rummage through your own crafty supplies, and create something to join in with the challenge.

We are taking the opportunity this week to meet another member of the Design Team, it is Anne's turn to talk about herself, and to introduce herself to you, so that you can get to know her a little bit better.

Anne writes:

Initially I worked as a Clinical Scientist for over twenty years. Unfortunate circumstances then required me to work from home whist caring for a family member. Following this, I spent several years working as a Pharmacy Dispenser and running an Ebay shop selling beads and craft supplies. I now work for myself, as a Textile Artist and jewellery maker. it's never too late to change career direction.
I have been crafting ever since I can remember, everything from paper crafting, painting, sewing, beading, wirework, embroidery, weaving, knitting and crochet. Recently I have taught myself to spin my own yarns too. I am never bored!

It is so difficult to pick a favourite craft. I have always loved experimenting and trying out new things. Stamping and die cutting are relatively new techniques for me. Until around four years ago, I had never even heard of die cutting. Now I have a stamp and die obsession- tee hee.

There is so much that inspires me, from nature, flowers, landscapes, the sea, textures, and architecture. I love vintage and shabby chic styles, but also Indian, ethnic, oriental, Medieval and fantasy.

The past year has been an amazing journey for me. A year ago I was privileged to join the Design Team for Chocolate Baroque. I get so much pleasure designing samples with their fabulous stamp range. Later in 2015, I was also lucky enough to join the Design Team for Beads Direct. Amazingly, I have just been given a position with the Tattered Lace Design Team, helping them to create TV show samples. I can hardly believe it. I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to work with such talented people, and to be given the chance to share and inspire others with their own creativity.

Thanks Anne for your interesting bio, it was lovely to get to know you better. Your craft room looks very interesting in your photo too!

We will be back next week with another post, and more projects to share with you. If you have any questions, and cannot see 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 26, 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, take a look around, and check out 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 have some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team. Magda has created a beautiful Home card, using a combination of stamps.

Anne has created a Christmas canvas, which would be a wonderful piece to bring out every year.

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

Materials:
Stamp sets: Christmas Decorations, Words of Inspiration, Sparkling Trees, Christmas Candlelight
25 x 20 primed canvas board, white stamping card, black card, and scrap acetate
Embossing folder with Baroque style design
Snowflake stencil
Inkpads: Distress Ink (Mustard Seed), Versamark, StazOn (Jet Black)
Embossing powder black sparkle glitter
Black gesso
Acrylic paints: black, green
Viva Decor Croco Crackling colour Teal green Kristall Gel clear holographic glitter gel
Glitter pens: red, green, yellow, gold
Glitter glue: red, green, gold
Glossy Aceents, Chunky gold glitter, PVA pearls: gold
Gilding wax: gold
Embellishments: berries, twigs, gold chain, red organza ribbon

Instructions:
Emboss black card with embossing folder and rub over with gilding wax. Trim to make background panel.
Brush the canvas with black acrylic, leaving some background canvas texture showing through, dry completely.
Sponge Distress Ink into spaces.
Apply crackle paste in corners and around the edges and leave to dry overnight. Brush over the top with green acrylic, (the paste was not the correct colour green). Drop some chunky glitter onto the wet paint.
Glue down the embossed background panel. Stamp the sentiment with gold acylic and outline with green glitter pen. Apply Glossy Accents.

Stamp the bauble diamond nine times onto white card with Versamark and heat emboss with black sparkle powder. Colour the card with Distress Ink. Colour the baubles with glitter pens. Cut out and glue to canvas with 3D glue gel. Add Glossy Accents to enhance the baubles.

Apply Kristall Gel to the canvas through the stencil. Also apply to scrap acetate, dry overnight and cut out.

Stamp the lantern and reindeer onto white card. Colour with Distress Ink and Glitter pens. Cut out and glue to canvas. Add Glossy Accents.

Stamp the gem decorations onto acetate with StazOn. Colour the back with glitter glues. Leave to dry overnight. Paint the back with black gesso, cut out and glue to canvas. Add gold hanging chains and gold glitter flue to finials.
Glue down the berries and twigs, which were already decorated with fake snow. Add a bit more sparkle with gold glitter glue. Finally glue down the acetate snowflakes. Add PVA pearls and drop on gold glitter.


Thanks so much Anne, for your detailed explanation.

We hope that the projects that 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 some 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 comment section.