Wednesday 12 October 2016

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.


















2 comments:

  1. Hello Claire and lovely to read a bit about you and your crafting journey and I couldn't agree more about crafting being excellent therapy for people who experience mental health issues.
    Wonderful selection of inspirational pieces,Kate x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fabulous entries and your umbrellas card looks so beautiful and striking in this season!

    ReplyDelete

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