Chocolate Baroque Challenge 

August 2016

Fluttery Butterflies

I've just returned from one of my favourite walks - along the Ythan Estuary, just north of Aberdeen - and was as amazed as ever by the wildlife - herons (at least nine,) curlews (dozens,) cormorants, buzzards but sadly no seals, eider ducks or sand martins. Despite recent reports, I saw more butterflies today than ever before including Orange-tips, Meadow Browns and Small Tortoiseshells where one of the latter was sharing a flower with a bee! These sightings were the inspiration behind my decorative wreath and fitted in so well with this month's CB challenge colours. 

Materials:- 

• Stamps:- Chocolate Baroque - Joyful Christmas Clear Stamp set, A Year of Stamping - April small and large; 
• Ink Pads:- Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Inks:- Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Carved Pumpkin, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Barn Door, Rusty Hinge
• Cardstock:- White
• Miscellaneous:- Clear Detail Embossing Powder; Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens - Solar Red, Clear; Cutting Machine; Fine Glitter; Glue Pen.
  

Instructions:- 

1. Cut three rings using a large die or an electric cutting machine and glue together for stability. Blend over a mixture of Peeled Paint and Twisted Citron. Set aside.
2. Using Onyx Black, stamp the poinsettia twenty four times in 1st and 2nd generation ink for contrast, large butterfly once and small butterfly three times. Heat emboss.
   
3. Blend a mixture of the Distress inks to create 'rusty red,' green and yellow flowers and cut out.
4. Blend yellows and oranges over butterflies and add definition with Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick, Carved Pumpkin, Barn Door and Twisted Citron using a fine paint brush. Cut out.
5. Add Solar Red Sparkle to centre of butterflies and Clear Sparkle to flowers and leaves.
6. Dot glue pen over berries and butterfly bodies and sprinkle with fine glitter.
7. 
   
8. Glue flowers around rings to suit then add butterflies. 
9. Gently bend petals and wings for a 3D effect.
   

Et voila! Fluttery Butterflies!

This is my entry for this month's Chocolate Baroque challenge.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. 

Shelagh ;~}

Clarity Challenge 42 Mid-month

‘Fussy Cutting’
'Fine Feathers!'

Materials:-

·         Clarity Stamps:- Matrix Feathers large and small; Birds form ‘Bird and Flower Row’

·         Groovi :- Banners Border; Calendars, Relatives, Occasions Border plates

·         Inkpads:- Archival – Watering Can, Distress Worn Lipstick

·         Cardstock:- 12 x 12 white card

·         Scrap parchment

·         Fine Detail Embossing Powder

Instructions:-

1.       On a sheet of 12 x 12ins card, lightly draw a circle in pencil (I drew around a ‘salad’ plate – larger than a tea plate but smaller than a dinner plate.

2.       Using Watering Can, stamp the large feather firstly at ‘12o’clock’ then stamp onto post-it notes to form masks. Cut out a number of masks and use one of them to mask the first stamped image. Hover with your feather stamp and decide where your second stamped image will be best placed on your pencilled circle as this will form the pattern.

3.       Continue to mask and stamp until a grey circle has been formed. Fussy cut, leaving a border.

4.       Draw a slightly larger circle on another sheet of 12 x 12 (for this I used an upturned soup bowl) and repeat (3.) Stamp Worn Lipstick onto a Clarity Blending Mat, craft sheet, or glass mat and colour the feather circle with a watered down pink. Fussy cut and reserve.

5.       Stamp the Birds from ‘Birds in a Row’ onto a Gel Press print and cut out. Repeat and cut out the wings only. Attach the wings onto the bird images with foam pads. Reserve.

6.       Stamp the small feather onto scrap parchment, one for every bird image, add embossing powder and heat set. Fussy cut and add as a tail to each bird.

To assemble:-

1.       Place foam tape around the reverse of the grey feather circle and place over the pink feather circle.

2.       Add foam pads to birds and attach to suit.

3.       Using the Groovi Borders, emboss Fine Feathers, pierce with the twin tool then cut out. Add to circle to suit.

Et voila! Les Oiseaux!

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It August 2016

Craft Stamper 

Take It, Make It Challenge August 2016

Umbrella Ella!

Umbrella Ella

Hello and welcome to my blog. Above is my entry to the 'Take It, Make It challenge in Craft Stamper. Apologies to Rihanna but the title seemed to fit the bill; it was either that or a play on the name of a famous brand of raincoat! Below is a short explanation should you wish to 'have a go.'

Materials:-

·         Stencils:- Clarity Umbrellas, Umbrella Girls, Jo’s Bubbles

·         Stamps:- Clarity – ‘Joy’ set

·         Cardstock:- Clarity -  Stencil Card 7x7ins; Crafters’ Companion – Black A4; Papermania – 8x8 card blank

·         Inkpads:- Distress Inks – Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Fired Brick, Peacock Feathers, Old Paper, Tea Dye, Antique Linen, Black Soot;

·         Miscellaneous:- Faber Castell Polychromos; White Chalk marker; Fine black pen; Quickie Glue pen; Glamour Dust; Wink of Stella – Silver; Turquoise alcohol marker

Umbrella Ella

Instructions:-

1.       Using a loop of low-tack tape, fasten Umbrella Girl ‘inner’ stencil to centre of a sheet of 7x7 card to act as a mask; tape Umbrella stencil over and blend a variety of bright Distress Inks over the stencils.

2.       Remove stencils and tape Umbrella Girl ‘outer' stencil over to protect surrounding colour. Colour image with Antique Linen, Old Paper and Tea Dye. Add definition with Polychromos. Remove stencil.

3.       Add highlights to umbrellas with white chalk pen. Scribble fine borders around coloured shapes and add dots to white areas.

4.       Mist with water spray and blot.

Umbrella Ella

5.       Place Jo’s Bubbles stencil over and colour small circular apertures with white chalk pen. Repeat over main umbrella.

6.       Add Silver Wink of Stella, followed by glue pen and glitter over the white circles on main umbrella.

Umbrella Ella

7.       Stamp music stave from Joy set randomly in 1^st and 2^nd generation ink.

8.       Add and colour wavy border; outline with turquoise pen then mount onto white, black then 8x8 card blank. 

Et voila - Umbrella Ella.

. . . . . Or it could be 'Femme avec Parapluie!'  ;~}

Chocolate Baroque Anniversary

Chocolate Baroque 
Second Anniversary Challenge 
 July 2016
Chocolate-covered Honeycomb!

‘Chocolate-covered Honeycomb!’

A special time for CB Challenge Blog and what a great way to celebrate - a ‘chocolate’ challenge. I must say it took a bit of thinking out as I don’t have a sweet tooth but on rare occasions, usually after a walk through a nearby RSPB nature reserve, I indulge in a ‘chocolate-covered honeycomb bar and therein lay my inspiration.

Stamps – all from Chocolate Baroque ‘Honey Bee’ set; variety of Distress inks; white card; Polychromos; clear Sparkle pen; hexagon dies.

·         A series of hexagons were die-cut, including a card blank, decorated using ‘Honey Bee’ stamps then layered up. I used StazOn Ganache – most appropriate for a chocolate challenge – and edged with a variety of Distress inks – Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Tea Dye and Wild Honey.

·         The skep scene was stamped with Ganache the coloured with Polychromos.

·         The tiled hexagons were coloured with a dark brown alcohol marker then over painted with a clear Sparkle pen and attached to the decorated frame. This was placed over the skep and glued down with foam tape.

·         Another hexagon was randomly stamped and masked with the flower – using 1^st and 2^nd generation Ganache, coloured with Polychromos and edged with Distress inks. Flower stamped on scrap card three times, coloured and added –one to base as a ‘stopper’ and a double to top right hand of topper.

·         Large bee stamped twice, coloured then decoupaged and added to topper.

·         Hexagon card top folded into an easel card, honeycomb topper. attached over. Adhere flowered hexagon to card base. Attach flower stopper to suit and add clear Sparkle pen.

·          Stamp, colour and add a few bees to flowers. 

Clarity Challenge 42

Clarity Challenge 42

‘Fussy Cutting’

Hi and welcome back. It's the 1st August and therefore time for another Clarity Challenge! Great excitement this month as the long-awaited Clarity Retreat is drawing close and I'm so looking forward to it and also to do a bit of catching-up. 
As I often - sorry, make that 'nearly always' - add 3D elements to my projects, I wanted to do something slightly different this month as I hope both projects reflect. (The second will be posted mid-month.) I tried different combinations of the Elephant and Savannah stencils once they'd been cut, eventually deciding to turn the latter upside down in the end. Not every stage has a corresponding photo but I hope you get the gist from the explanation. 

Materials:-

·         Clarity Stencils :- Elephant – NDC 14, Savannah

·         Card :-  Clarity Stencil Card 7x7 – 10 sheets; Black A4 x 2

·         Inkpads:- Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Inks – Mermaid Lagoon, Fired Brick, Squeezed Lemonade, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Carved Pumpkin, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed

·         Micron Pens:- 01, 005

·         Clarity Double-sided Sticky Plastic

Instructions:-

1.     *   (I used my Grand Caliber and added two sheets of copy paper to achieve the expected depth of emboss.)

2.       Ink the elephant image with blending tool and variety of Distress inks so that one colour merges with the next. Using a 005 Micron pen, add a variety of zentangles; colour areas with the 01 pen. Add a tiny piece of sequin waste as an eye. Set elephant image aside.(Sorry, no photos for this part!)

3.       Ink the selected side of the elephant stencil with Onyx Black and place between two sheets of copy paper and onto a sheet of Stencil card before passing through the die-cutting machine. Pull another three or four images without re-inking.

Please ignore the cut areas - these were 'try-outs.'

4.       Select one of the grey prints from (3.) Apply a sheet of double-sided adhesive to the reverse of the coloured and zentangled elephant and proceed to cut out each individual part. Attach each piece as it is cut out allowing the un-inked lines to show. Set aside.

5.       Ink the Savannah stencil and repeat the process explained in (3,) pulling a number of prints onto Stencil card.

6.       Choose two prints – one lighter for the front image, a darker one for the shadow. Fussy cut around the printed images.

To assemble:-

1.       Add foam tape around the perimeter of each Savannah cut-out, peel off backing and apply some glue from a glue stick to allow for some ‘wiggle room.’ Place one over the other but slightly offset to create a shadow.

2.       Apply more foam tape as above and place over the coloured elephant.

3.       Glue to a black backing then make a frame to fit using another sheet of black card. (I used a trimmer to make the frame.)

Et voila! Here we have my 'Elephant Walk.' 

Stencils and stencil card are available from the Clarity website. 
Once again there were beautiful examples from all the participants this month, making Top 5 choices a very difficult task. I'm sure you'll be most inventive in this month's challenge and as always I very much look forward to viewing your projects. Please check out the Clarity Challenge guidelines and remember you could win yourself a voucher to the value of £50 to spend on Clarity goodies! 
Best wishes and happy crafting!
Shelagh.