Medici Flower Card

Good morning. This one was created with the lovely Medici Flower stamp from Chocolate Baroque.

 

1. The collage flower was stamped with Versafine and the image masked with Pebeo Drawing Gum to protect.
2. The background was painted with inks and texture added by dropping on water and blotting off with tissue. Highlights were enhanced with white pen.
3. The masking was removed and the flower coloured with watercolour pens.
4. The panel was mat and layered onto blue card to frame. Alcohol marker was added to the edges to further define the layers.

Materials:

• Medici Flower stamp (Chocolate Baroque)
• 6 X 6 inch white card blank, blue card (for layering) and watercolour card
• Versafine Inkpad (Onyx Black)
• Pebeo Drawing Gum (masking fluid)
• Water based inks (Spectrum Noir Aquatints - red and purple)
• Watercolour pens (Spectrum Aqua – blue, yellow, green)
• Fine tipped pen (opaque white)
• Alcohol marker (black)

Textured Clay Pendant using stamps and Powertex

This was one of my first attempts at making jewellery using clay and Powertex. I used an air dry clay from my stash and rolled it out into a sheet of approx. 5-6mm deep. The headdress area of the Katya stamp (from Chocolate Baroque) was used to impress the pattern texture.  The shape was then trimmed out with a craft knife and attachment holes made using a small ball tool.

After drying this clay was very porous with a slight powdery surface, and was quite fragile if rolled too thin. I added a coat of Bronze Powertex to give it a good base colour for gilding, and with the hope of hardening the clay. The porous clay soaked up the Powertex really well and considerably strengthened the clay.  Pebeo Gilding Wax (several different shades of gold) was rubbed over the surface to give an aged metallic finish. I attached a recycled gold plated necklace chain using 0.8mm copper wire.

I have since experimented with a few different air dry clays (water based paper and craft clays) and their suitability for jewellery making. Some are far too brittle when rolled out to make thinner items, others too light (e.g. paper clays) to make pendants that hang nicely. It is worth experimenting with what you have in your stash. If using to make embellishments which will be glued down onto canvases or cards Powertex is ideal for sealing and making them more robust.

If you are making items for outdoors then Powertex Stone Art Clay is the best option. It has been designed to be weatherproof and won’t crack. Stone Art Clay is also brilliant for jewellery making. It is strong, water resistant, and it is a perfect weight; not too heavy but with enough weight for jewellery pieces to hang well.

Bird of Joy cards created for Chocolate Baroque

I created two colourways in this card using the Bird of Joy stamp. They are just about manageable in around 15 minutes.

I stamped the images with Memento Ink (Tuxedo Black) and coloured using Chameleon alcohol markers. These make colour blending quick and easy. I brushed over the birds with clear sparkle overlay to add shimmer and used a clear glaze pen to add shine to some of the details (e.g. eyes). I roughly tore a piece of paper to hold over the bird (and protect) while lightly spritzing with light blue mica ink. Tip: Alternatively they could be done very quickly by stamping in Versafine (Onyx Black) and embossing with clear powder and colouring with watercolour or Distress Inks. The embossing resists the ink making colouring really quick and easy.

Wish Flower Card

Good morning. I created this one with the Wish Flower stamp from Chocolate Baroque.

I used Memento dye based ink for stamping which is compatible with alcohol inks that I used for colouring. I used Chameleon pens which make blending of different colours really easy.

After colouring I added some highlights with a silver pen and added a layer of clear sparkle pen overlay for shimmer.

The background was created with Distress Ink (a little water was flicked over the background and blotted off with tissue to create a little texture). I added alcohol ink to the edge to frame before gluing to the card front.

Materials:

• Wish Flower stamp (Chocolate Baroque)
• 6 X 6 inch white card blank and white stamping card
• Inkpads: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers)
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen (Clear Overlay)
• Metallic Glitter Pen (Silver)
• Chameleon Alcohol Ink Pens (PK3 with BG3 top)
• Marker pen (black)

Mini Landscape ATC

I thought that I would give a mini artwork a try and make an ATC (Artist Trading Card). Generally I work much bigger than this so it was actually a challenge for me. I tried to be less planned and to free myself up a bit too and just ‘go for it’. I was quite pleased with my bright and cheery landscape.

The Simon Says Stamp Challenge (Wed) for this week is ‘anything goes’ – so I have entered this one.

How it was done:

1. I cut the ATC from a scrap of mount board and covered with white gesso to prime.
2. I cut the flowers from recycled packaging and a punch and edged them with black pen to enhance. I layered up the flowers and then dunked them into molten UTEE to create the glossy flower embellishments. Finished with a sparkly sequin.
3. I stamped the sun with StazOn and drew the abstract landscape with a marker. I coloured using watercolour pens and a damp brush.
4. I added some texture using paste through the stencil and plus a bit of acrylic paint. When dry I rubbed over some of the areas with Gilding Wax.
5. I edged the ATC with black marker to frame and added some sparkle over the sun and clouds.
6. I finished with some Glossy Accents over the sun and rays.

Materials:

• Country Views stamp set from Chocolate Baroque
• Texturised Stencil (Crafters Workshop)
• Scrap mount board, recycled multi-coloured card packaging
• StazOn Inkpad (Jet Black)
• Acrylic paint (turquoise)
• Gesso (White)
• Acrylic texture paste (Pebeo)
• Fine tipped marker (black)
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Pens
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen (Clear Overlay)
• Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)
• Melt pot (or small foil food dish and heat gun to melt UTEE)
• Pebeo Gilding Wax (Silver)
• Glossy Accents
• Tonic Petal Pairs Punch
• Sequins
• Sizzix BigZ die to cut ATC (Artist Trading Card 2.5 X 3.5 inch)

Mosaic Flower Wish created with stamps from Chocolate Baroque

I created this card using the lovely Mosaic Flower stamp. A fabulous stamp for creating easy projects as the background has already been done for you. I also used a pretty background paper from Crafty Individuals (Travels in Italy).

 
The theme on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge (Monday) this week is ‘Resist It’ so I have entered this one.
 
I stamped the Mosaic Flower onto the background paper and onto a scrap of stamping card with Versamark Ink and heat embossed using WOW Embossing Powder (White). The flower buds were cut out ready to decoupage. I also stamped and embossed the sentiment from the Wish Flower stamp.
 
I brushed a little Peacock Feathers Distress Ink over the sentiment to make it stand out more from the background (the embossing resists water based inks). The panel was edged with alcohol ink pen to frame.
 
Flowers and stems were coloured with watercolour pens and overlaid with a bit of yellow alcohol pen (note: this tints the white embossing). The cut out buds were lightly shaped and glued onto the card front using 3D glue gel for added depth.