Chocolate Baroque: His & Hers Steampunk

Happy Boxing Day, friends! Hope everybody had a lovely Christmas.  I've got a couple of card projects to show you. I know you've had your fill of festive cards, so have I! So how about something completely different.

The first card features the Open Weave cling stamp. I heat embossed it in white on a piece of vellum.  To create the underwater scene I stamped, coloured, fussy cut and adhered elements form the Funky Fish A5 sheet.

I've also dropped a few blobs of Royal Blue and Baby Blue Liquid Pearls. I stamped the images of light blue card so that the uncut borders around the these will not show up. You can see what I mean in the close-up.

Challenges:
PDE Linky Party: AG
Inkspirational #98: Bah Humbug - Anything But Christmas

The second card is a girly glitzy number featuring the Baroque Orchid cling stamp.  This time I've heat embossed it with Verdegris embossing powder and inked the bckground with Seedless Preserves, Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks. The rose is from Steampunk Butterfly, coloured with alcohol markers. And to glam up the card I mounted the design panel on purple glitter foam.

Here's a closer look at the the rose and the Verdegris embossed background. And yes, I applied Wink of Stella Clear Glitter on the roses. This card was begging for more shine!

 

Challenge:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Make It Sparkle


I hope you are all having a fabulous time. We are busy tidying up the aftermath of Christmas to make room for another round of fun with family and friends tomorrow.

This is a Christmas of firsts and mixed feelings for us:

• sad because it is our first without André and Rosie; 
• happy because it is Charlie's first of, hopefully, many with us; 
• grateful because despite being a difficult year we are blessed with all that we truly need;
• amazed because for the first time Peanut and Ricard Parker behaved well and did not even attempt bring the tree down ... not once! 

There was the usual madness and mayhem of course, but in the end... we had a peaceful, joyful Christmas. Some of us ended up on the sofa looking like this :)

Thank you so much stopping by today. I hope Peace, Joy and Love will follow you everywhere, always.

Beijinhos

Merry Christmas!!!

It's Christmas Eve and I want to wish all my friend, blog-buddies, design team-mates and readers the most Magical Christmas. Here's a card from all of us at home to all of you.

Lawn Fawn's Critters At The Dog Park is way up there on my list of favourite stamps of the year. It comes as no surprise that I'm using it for our family Christmas card. The doggies are all coloured with Graph'It alcohol markers and cut with coordinating dies. I created a snowy outdoor scene with lots of sparkly layers of snow. The tree is from Critters In The Forest, paper pieced and decorated with candy canes from Holiday Party Animal. Under the tree I scattered gingerbread men and pressies. The doggies have their festive hats too. All of these little doodats are also from Holiday Party Animal. The greeting is from Trim The Tree and to top the tree I cut out a glittery gold heart with Hearts Lawn Cuts.

Let's take a closer look at the card and meet the family. Here's my Charlie... helping himself to a gingerbread man.

And little Peanut is "dachshund" through the show and flying to the top of the tree... where she'll find Richard Parker busy re-decorating the tree from within! :)

Here's a furry friend of the family. He is clearly the most civilised critter under the tree!

Challenges:
Lawnscaping #120: Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Winter Wonderland
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Make It Sparkle

Supplies

I'm often asked what I do with the cards I make. Well, I send them out to family and friend, of course. But most of my cards go to local animal shelters in support of their fund raising efforts.

My 2 regular charities let me know how much they've raised from the sale of my cards. This year the total stands at €427,25. The final figure is probably more because although I always get letters of gratitude, not all of them write back with numbers.

If, like me, you make more cards than you need, consider sending your surplus a charity or two. There are many crafters do this. It's one way of giving back ... and making room for future creative capers!

I'll leave you with a couple of photos I posted on Facebook yesterday. Richard Parker is noticeably missing from the line-up. The little rascal is pouting under the bed as he is banned from approaching the tree ... until after Christmas Day!

Charlie's first Christmas with us. I'm so in love with this fella!   

"Puh-leeze! Just wake me up when the silliness is over!"
Yep, Peanut remains unimpressed. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. May this Christmas fill you will peace, joy and love. See you on Boxing Day!

Beijinhos!

Christmas Cheer

Hello friends! Another quick card from me. I made this for the November Card Chain Challenge.  My card went to Christi C in Colorado. This is one of my mass production cards using Clearly Besotted's Christmas Cheer stamps and coordinating dies. I inked the background with Antique Linen Distress Ink for a soft glow, added few tiny blobs of Silver  Liquid Pearls and finished the card with some festive Doodlebug Twine.

Here's a closer look at the die cuts. These are the older solid dies so the MISTI came in handy to get the stamping in place. I used Rock Candy Distress Glitter to trim the stocking and Diamond Stickles to add some sparkle to the flames, on which I used the kissing technique with Memento Tangelo and Memento Cantaloupe for a more realistic look. For the stone fireplace I used Memento London Fog and propped it up on some foam tape. And of course there's Wink Of Stella Clear Glitter ... just about everywhere!

Challenges:
Crafting From The Heart #91: AG
Glitter & Sparkle #168: Glittery Sparkly Christmas
Where The HeART Is #4: Christmas Colours
Amusing Challenge #25: AG
Stamps & Fun #268: Christmas Cards
Dream Valley Challenge #122: Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Die Crazy

Supplies

CBS Christmas Cheer	CBS Christmas Cheer Dies	VersaFine Onyx Black	VersaFine Satin Red	Memento Tangelo	Memento London Fog
Memento Cantaloupe	Memento Bamboo Leaves	Doodlebug Doodle Twine Christmas Assortment	TH Distress Ink Antique Linen	MISTI	Liquid Pearls - Silver
Stickles Diamond	Canson Colorline Card 300gsm - White	Canson Colorline Card 300gsm - Red	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Ranger Multi Medium Matte	Basic Black & White 2mm EVA Fun Foam
Scotch ATG	Scor-Tape 1/4"	Martha Stewart Deluxe Paper Trimmer	Martha Stewart Scoring Board	Ranger Ink Blending Tool	WRMK Precision Glass Cutting Mat

Just a few more days before Christmas and it's all hands on deck at our home. The final cleaning and dusting will have to wait. I usually leave it till the last possible day so on Christmas day the house will be at it's cleanest - for a few hours, anyway..

Last night, I rearranged our tree again, much to Richard Parker's dismay! He fancies himself a tree decorating expert and is extremely proud of his handiwork ... which, I hasten to add, is not to everyone's taste! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by. Hope you're having a super time with your furry helpers too.  :)
Beijinhos!

Guesting for Tag You're It

Eeeeeek!  I am giddy with excitement I might actually faint! The reason - I'm guesting over at Tag You're It - Challenge #37.  So let's dive straight in before I pass out! :)

Here's the Inspiration tag for this fortnight - an elegant black and white tag made by Donna Peachy.

Here's my take on Donna's lovely tag. It was a nightmare to photograph, especially with the glare from the acetate. Maybe a darker background would have helped. Oh well, only proves I'm an amateur through and through!

I've picked elements form Donna's tag and switched it around. I made a round tag with the clear acetate in the middle and the floral feature on the outside edge. I've used some sheer white ribbon and tied it with black string.

To embellish the tag, I adhered a few white pearls directly on the acetate.

To cut the tag I used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Circle Tags dies. The flowers are from Clearly Besotted's Fairytale Ending set, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Graph'It alcohol markers in shades of grey. I cut it out with the coordinating die and adhered it to the tag. To finish, some Stardust Stickles and Onyx Liquid Pearls.

Challenges:
Brown Sugar #177: AG
Simply Papercraft #20: AG
PDE Linky Party #102: AG
Crafty Girls Creations #11: AG
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Die Crazy

Supplies

I hope you enjoyed looking this tag, despite mediocre photography :) The weekend is almost here ... the last before Christmas. So NOT ready... are you? We have a full weekend ahead. Tomorrow morning is our monthly Doggy Trail at the shelter and in the afternoon is our Carol Service. I guess that means Christmas is here! Gosh...is it too late to run and hide?!

Thank you so much for stopping by and have an amazing day.

Beijinhos!

Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge #18

Hello, friends and welcome to Chocolate Baroque's last challenge for the year -  Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge #18. We have an easy swatch for you to use in your projects - just three simple colours. If you haven't played yet, now's the time to do so. You may think these colours are so perfect for Christmas BUT wait till you see what the rest of the DT has in store for you!

You can use any medium to create your projects: paints, inks, pencils, pens, stains, etc., as long as you stick to the colours from the colour swatch, using as much or as little of each colour as you wish.  You don't have to use Chocolate Baroque stamps to play along but if you do you will be entered into a random draw to win £15 to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps. All participants will have a chance to be on the Design Team's Top Three list and proudly display winner's badge on their blog.

So here's my project - a simple tag. I stamped the jolly man on to a plain white tag using VersaFine Onyx Black and coloured him with Faber-Castell Polychromos. To jazz up the card, I surrounded Santa with little blobs of Opal White Liquid Pearls and to finish the tag - some WRMK Red Baker's Twine.

Here's a closer look at the man in red. I've also added some Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy to the trim of his outfit and a little Wink Of Stella Clear Glitter to the pressies.

Challenges:
Colorthrowdown #373: Any Colour Christmas Creation
Christmas Sweet Stampin' December: Father Christmas
Crafting For All Seasons #116: Christmas - Anything But A Card - tag
Pinspirational Challenges #155: Photo Inspiration

Challenge #18 will close at 12.00 p.m. (UK) on Tuesday 19th January 2016, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday 27th January 2016. I hope you'll play along and run the risk of winning £15 to spend on Chocolate Baroque stamps.

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Little known fact (to me, anyways) - Dec 15th is International Tea Day. After yesterday's failed attempt to play along in the Holiday Coffee Lovers Bloghop with a coffee themed project (see why here), I'm hoping to squeeze my way into the Bloghop with these warm cups of festive tea. It's a 4½" square card cut with Lawn Fawn's Large Square Stitched Stackables dies.

I've used Lawn Fawn's Love You A Latte stamps and coordinating Lawn Cuts. I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured them with Copics. For the greeting and steam, I used Memento Espresso Truffle ink. The entire centre panel is popped up on foam tape.

Challenges:
2015 Winter / Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop
Colour Q #321
Inspiration Destination #64: AG
Die Cut Divas: Warm & Cozy

Supplies

I know everyone must be busy with Christmas and all the other holidays that fall at this time of the year. We're having our annual Carol Service on Saturday afternoon and I'm really looking forward to that. It's just a little over a week before the big day.... eeek! Where has the year gone, eh?!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by - I really do appreciate for sweet comments. Have an amazing day and I'll see you again in a day or so. Take care and stay warm!

Beijnhos!