Home Sweet Home

This is the name of a gorgeous new set of Chocolate Baroque stamps launched this week and we girls in the Design Team have had the pleasure of playing with these behind the scenes for a while.

Between us we made several cards inspired by the work of Clarice Cliff. Of course everyone made something that reflected their own favourite approaches and styles so we ended up with a real variety of interpretations. My card used masking and quite intense coloured dye inking to make the sun rays and the cut out cottages to make the layers of a stepper card. The full instructions for my card and how to make the mask and folding dimensions are available in the July issue of the Chocolate Baroque Guild newsletter. If you want to know more about the many benefits of joining the Guild you can find out more here.

You can see several of the different projects on both the DT blog and the personal blogs of the Design Team members which are all linked from the DT blog too. Just click on the DT logo in my side bar to get there. There is a really good reason to pop around and visit the blogs of all my teamies, because one random commenter on one of the blogs (both DT and personal) gets the chance to win this scrumptious little set of stamps. Not only do the cottages have a wonderful vintage feel, but the words are a wonderful stylish font too.

For more inspiration, Glenda has made two videos with instructions of how to make a masked sunburst panel and I was really thrilled when she told me my card had inspired her to work on the videos. Pop over to Glenda's own blog here to see the two videos, including how she used lovely Coloursoft pencils to build up colour in her design. 

Thanks for popping by and please visit the other girls to be in with a chance of winning these gorgeous stamps.    

Elaine

Sweet Madeline!

Well, I have just finished work on some DT deadline projects and other secret squirrel stuff, so I indulged myself playing on this card for a work mate and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Sadly the pic looks a bit washed out thanks to the dull and gloomy day we have here. These papers are from the Prima 6 x 6 Madeline pad which was recommended by my dear crafty friend Jo.  They are really delicious and these browns, teals and greens just got my imagination into overdrive really quickly. You know how it is when you are inspired by certain colours and you put stash together from around your craft room and somehow it comes together so comfortably.

The only stamping is the sentiment which is a Bild Malarna stamp from Sweden that I bought from their stand at Ally Pally mounted using the oval nesties. I used the leaf and Flutterby punches from Papermania and added these vibrant green paper roses that were a pressie from one of my other special craft friends Judith. I finished off with cream and green gingham ribbon, some teal and olive rick rack and some buttons and brads. When I showed my OH the card he said "what do the buttons do"!

Hope you have had a better day weatherwise than us as it has been virtually non-stop rain all day here.

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine x

I'm still here!

Goodness life seems really busy at the moment and much of the crafting I have managed to fit in has been projects that sadly I am unable to share here at the moment. This is a simple thank you card I made for friends who we stayed with recently.

This card uses a set of Papermania clear stamps which are designed to build up the petals of a poppy. Here I stamped into red mulberry tissue paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before cutting out and decoupaging all the layers. I added a sparkly butterfly and a little bit of black glitter at the centre of the flower as my friend likes a little glitter in her life! I have recently posted a couple more of my makes on the Chocolate Baroque design team blog here and here.

We really enjoyed our time away Gloucestershire and nearby sights in Avon. We visited the wonderful house of Tyntesfield, just south of Bristol.

I also fulfilled a long standing ambition to visit Kelmscott Manor, one of the homes of William Morris. It is a really interesting house and garden

This is a carving of William Morris on cottages in Kelmscott village. We also visited the lovely Arlington Row in Bibury, an archetypal English village. 

Plus some beautiful poppy fields, guaranteed to bring a smile to my face.

We are so lucky to have some amazing places to visit in Britain.

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine