Wednesday 28 September 2016

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:



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.




Wednesday 21 September 2016

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


 

Wednesday 14 September 2016

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.






Wednesday 7 September 2016

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.