Whoohoo, I've gone back for a visit!

Hello lovely visitors,

Some of you may have noticed from my sidebar that I used to be a member of the Chocolate Baroque DT but took the decision to step down when Mum and other family commitments had to take priority.  I always loved working with Chocolate Baroque stamps and being a part of the CB crew so as life has settled down a bit (I'm holding my breath here, lol) when Lesley, the new owner of CB, put out a DT call recently I asked if I could do a guest spot now and again.  I was thrilled to bits when she said yes and today is the day for my first Guest DT post.

The stamps Lesley sent for me to play with are their new Christmas stamp release and I love them.  The CB DT have been showing some fabulous makes using these stamps over on the DT Blog so please pop over there if you have time as there is always loads of amazing inspiration to be seen.  No one does Christmas quite as well as Chocolate Baroque in my opinion and I'm really enjoying these two sets called Christmas Candlelight and  Sparkling Trees.  My first project with these beautiful stamps is a luminary card which I hope you will like.

Ingredients

Chocolate Baroque stamp sets Christmas Candlelight, Sparkling Trees and Sentiment

20 cm x 20 cm white base card

19.5 cm x 19.5 cm square of dark gold or bronze metallic/pearl card

19 cm x 19 cm square of white card

40 cm x 20 cm piece of card (for inside)

2 pcs of vellum 9.5 cm x 19.5 cm

Die shape of choice (I used an oval Nestability)

Versamark Inkpad

Pan Pastels in metallic dark gold and dark silver

Copper Embossing Powder

Double sided tape in 12 mm and 25 mm widths

Suitable glue for use with Gilding Flakes

Gilding Flakes (I used mix of copper, gold, silver and red)

Gems to embellish

Method

Front Panel

1. Start with the front 19 cm x 19 cm panel.
2. Apply Versamark ink to the reindeer only, then cover the stars with a post-it to avoid any chance of these marking the card.
3. Stamp the reindeer in the centre of the panel then heat emboss using the Copper embossing powder.
4. Clean the stamp and apply Versamark to the stars only, then cover the reindeer with a post-it before positioning the stars as per the whole image. You could use a stamp positioner to do this if you are not confident to do it 'by eye'.....I'm too lazy to use one, lol!
5. This time pat dark silver Pan Pastel onto the stars and when they are fully covered buff very gently with a piece of kitchen roll.
6. Arrange the snowflakes on an acrylic block, ink them all with Versamark and stamp around the reindeer before applying dark silver Pan Pastel as before.
7. Ink the sentiment with Versamark and stamp centrally at the bottom of the panel then heat emboss with Copper embossing powder.  
8. Adhere this panel to the 19.5 cm square of metallic card using double sided tape then set to one side while you concentrate on the luminary inside.  
   
   

    

    (close up detail of the beautiful reindeer and stars image)

   
   Inside Luminary
    
   

   

   
    

1. Take the 20 cm x 40 cm panel of white card, score at halfway point on long side and mountain fold then score again 10 cm from each end and valley fold at these points.
2. With the panel folded at the halfway point position the die shape centrally on the section nearest the fold and cut out the aperture. (This needs a diecutting machine capable of taking A4 size but you could always choose to make a smaller card or use a craft knife and cut a simple rectangle).

1. Take the vellum pieces and stamp the Bauble Tree on each one using a suitable glue then apply the gilding flakes.
2. Apply double sided tape to the front of these panels and adhere them to the back of the folded panel, centrally over the apertures.
3. Apply double sided tape to the back of the left and right side panels and adhere these to the inside of the main card blank.

1. Arrange the snowflakes on an acrylic block, ink with Versamark and stamp on the left side panel then apply metallic Pan Pastels randomly in deep gold and deep silver and gently buff as before.
2. Finally adhere the front panel to the card base and add sparkly gems to the Bauble Trees and some of the snowflakes on the card front.

Present your card with one of the imitation tealights you can pick up very cheaply and you have a lovely luminary to add to a Christmas display. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a really good photo of it lit up but it does look pretty in real life!  Even my Other Half was impressed, lol!

I'll be back same time next week here and on the Chocolate Baroque DT Blog with another project using these gorgeous stamps.  Hope you can drop by for another visit.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx