Thank You

Thank you for all your thoughtful wishes - my migraine control has improved over the last month & after catching up with some essential organising about the house I shall hopefully have some more time for artwork.

In the meantime I have a new post on PEP tangles HERE.

Finally.......

........ a post HERE on PEP tangles.

Both blogs have been rather lacking in posts as my crafting time has been somewhat curtailed by a breakdown in my migraine control. My apologies if you have visited & found nothing new.

Friendly or Loving Roses

I wanted to work with the latest release of rubber stamps from Chocolate Baroque (UA5SP0402 Rose & Thistle) which is also the current Stamp of the Month set at the same time as building myself a repertoire of background techniques which I can turn to. Initially I thought of making ATC sized panels but upon rummaging in my W H Smith white card box (I only take a new sheet of A4 card/paper if I don't have a large enough piece in one of my scraps boxes which are sorted according to type/colouring medium: watercolour, alcohol markers, W H Smith 220gsm white & Southfields 160gsm Bright White) I found a whole pile of 3½ inch Zentangle tiles I'd cut & these are proving a perfect format.

front of card

close-up of image panel

angled view of image panel showing
dimension & shine of wet embossing 

close-up showing detail of corner embellishing, patterned
paper panel plus layered background stamping 

inside of card

close-up showing inked edges of both patterned paper
frame (Tattered Rose) & message panel (Spun Sugar)

The image was stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black & then wet embossed with clear embossing powder prior to colouring with Copic Markers. This is a technique which I learnt from Elizabeth Allan which gives a lovely finish, particularly with a stamp like this where there are large solid areas, & avoids the 'contamination' of the marker tip which can occur when using black/coloured embossing powder.

The background was made by stamping each of the three rose images randomly around the edges working inwards: using the large bud with Dried Marigold first, then the flower-head only from the single stem with Tattered Rose, & lastly the smallest bud with Spun Sugar. Finally Spun Sugar Distress Ink was applied around the edges using a blending tool.


Recipe
Stamps Chocolate Baroque UA5SP0402 Rose & Thistle.
Inks VersaFine Onyx Black with Stewart Gill Ultrafine Embossing Powder (main image); Dried Marigold, Spun Sugar & Tattered Rose Distress Inks (background & internal panel inking as detailed above & in photos).
Pencils/Markers Copic Markers.
Cardstock White & assorted blacks in various finishes.
Paper Joanna Sheen.
Dies Spellbinders Shapeabilities Lace Doily Motifs.
Punch Woodware (scalloped square).

Challenges Entered
Stamping Sensations January Challenge - Friendship (my card is intended for a friend's birthday but it could equally be used for a 'Just to Say/Friendship' card)
Penny Black & More January Challenge - Love is in the Air (with the rose imagery & the pink colouring this would be appropriate for a Valentine or Anniversary card)

January Quintiles

Firstly, thank you to everyone who left me get well wishes - I'm finally getting back on my feet again.

The Chocolate Baroque Online Community now has quite a number of groups, each dedicated to different aspects of crafting (from ATCs to Zentangle) using Chocolate Baroque products or items available through the Chocolate Baroque online shop. Some of the groups are swap groups, others focus upon encouraging one another with ideas through uploading photos of completed projects. This year we have a Christmas Group in the latter category: a theme is set  each month spurring us on to making one or more Christmas cards per month in order to avoid the mad scramble in December.

We have a new format of "Quintiles" for a monthly swap where we submit two 5 inch square pieces of artwork created along a given theme. The two Quintiles can be exactly the same, varied slightly (different colours, embellishments etc........) or completely different. I thought I'd like to explore how different colour combination can alter the appearance of the same basic design each month, so that's what I'm starting out with. The January theme is Winter Wonderland.

 

fronts & backs

close-ups of wet embossed vellum pattern fragments 

embellished with brads & gems

 close-ups showing dimensional shaping & 

interwoven layering of flowers

 close-ups showing corner details & sequin embellishments

The flowers were stamped 6 times for each tile, coloured using Copic Markers & cut out. The petals were shaped around a pencil prior to layering the flowers in pairs whilst interleaving & offsetting the petals. Each flower centre was made from a punched floral shape topped with a piece of card candi.

Recipe
Stamps Chocolate Baroque UA4SPO398 Pears & Baubles (pattern fragment) & UA4SP0362 Steampunk Christmas (flowers).
Inks Memento Tuxedo Black (flowers), Emboss Tinted Stamp Pad with Stewart Gill Metallic Silver/Metallic Gold Embossing Powders (pattern fragment), Black Soot Distress Ink (inking some cardstock edges).
Pencils/Markers etc... Copic Markers, Memento Tuxedo Black Dual Marker.
Cardstock Black & white plus assorted silvers/golds in various finishes from stash.
Paper White parchment from stash.
Die Cuttlebug Vintage Corners
Punches Woodware (scalloped square, flower)
The card candi is Craftwork Cards; the brads & sequin stars are from stash.

Vicious Virus

I've fallen prey to one of the nasty viruses afflicting humanity so apologies for not leaving comments etc... in my normal fashion.

Tidying The Creative Process

Whilst making the Alphatags I acquired a heap of odd images & die-cuts that weren't quite right for what I was working on. I never have a completed project in my mind - I start & then proceed by trial & error with the design evolving as I go. The image & the die-cuts for this card were in that discarded pile. Incidentally, the die-cuts had also been doctored slightly with elements trimmed off them so the die-cut under the image is missing a corner & the vertical has had both of its endmost parts removed.

This card actually developed over roughly three days of experimenting with different ideas of placement & additional components such as background & embellishing. Daily life & the incidentals of correspondence, commenting & tidying/rearranging etc...... carried on in the meantime. This is fairly typical of my creative process which means that I'm not particularly fast or prolific in production/execution.

front of card

angled view showing sparkle & pearlescence
of gems & matted layers

close-up showing watercolouring & inked edges
 of image panel plus tone on tone background stamping

inside of card showing textured red paper
plus silver inked edges of message panel

Recipe

Stamps Chocolate Baroque UDLSP0056 Butterfly Whimsy (retired).

Inks Black Soot Distress Ink (stamping & watercolouring plus edging image panel), ColorBox Chalk Warm Red (background tone on tone stamping & inking cardstock), Encore Ultimate Metallic Silver (inking message panel edges).

Cardstock Winsor & Newton Cotman 190gsm Cold Pressed/NOT Grain Fin Watercolour Paper; red, white, white, Moondust black & textured silver all from stash.

Paper Textured red from stash.

Dies Spellbinders Shapeabilities Ironwork Motifs & Nestabilities Large Deckled Rectangles.

The gems are from stash.

Christmas

Wishing Everyone a Happy & Peaceful Christmas & New Year

front of card

angled close-up showing sparkly 'grounding' plus
 dimension of reindeer 

angled close-up showing sparkly 'grounding'
plus dimension & shine of tree

close-up showing pearlescence & sparkle of
 snowflakes against textured matt white cardstock

inside of card

The background was made following Heather Telford's sponging tutorial except that I used ColorBox pigment inkpads instead of Memento dye inkpads. The silver star is a sequin & the snowflakes were punched out of pearlescent paper some years ago using a punch that has since found its way to the metal & plastic recycling centre. The crystal gems decorating the snowflakes were from stash.

The reindeer & the tree are from the retired 'Traditional Christmas' sheet of Chocolate Baroque stamps. The reindeer was stamped in VersaFine Vintage Sepia, coloured with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils blended using a dry paper stump & then cut out & shaped prior to mounting. The tree was stamped in VersaFine Olympia Green, wet embossed with clear embossing powder, then also cut out & shaped prior to mounting. Silver Ice Stickles Glitter Glue was used to 'ground' both the images & create a semblance of icy snow.

Since the card was made for a gentleman the inside was plainly decorated using navy & textured matt white cardstock with decorated corners (Xcut star punch & Woodware corner rounder).

Challenges Entered

Stamping Sensations December Challenge - Treemendous

Penny Black & More December Challenge - It's Your Choice