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Issue 14 - July 14th 2014
Mojo Monday with Glenda Waterworth


Firstly, I have to say a big thank you to Lesley for stepping in and taking on the Monday Mojo email for the last couple of weeks while we moved and settled in to our new house.  Didn't she do a great job! 

This week's original card uses masking tissue and a pair of scissors to create a pretty stamped and shaped edge.  There are so many die-cutting systems and dies available at the moment, it's easy to forget how versatile and useful a pair of scissors can be.

I must be in nesting mode as I was drawn to some of our beautiful house images for my new artwork this week, as you will see below. 


Glenda  
Contents
What you need
Step by Step
The close ups
2014 Artwork
Where to buy
The back story
What you need?
 
Fancy Flowers A5 stamp set




Products are available at www.chocolatebaroque.com

Step by Step


Choose which flower you want to use for your edge and stamp onto masking tissue with black ink.

Most people find it easier to cut in one direction than the opposite way, and our masking tissue has the great property of being translucent enough to see the stamped image from both sides.
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With a 'spiky' image like this flower, it is easy to go round the image, cutting all the outlines that run in the same general direction. 

You can then flip over the masking tissue and do the same on the other side, cutting the other sides of the petals.



At this point you have your mask still sitting on the plastic backing sheet.  Check that your cutting is right on, or even just inside, the stamped outline.

 



Stamp your flower in the bottom corner of your card.  Make sure your ink is dry before proceeding, otherwise your mask may not stick properly.

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Peel your mask off the backing sheet and carefully place it over your stamped image.  Take your time and get it just right - I find a pair of tweezers helps.


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With the mask in place, stamp a second flower above the first and slightly overlapping so you are partly stamping right on the mask itself.

 

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Again, make sure the ink is dry, then move your mask onto the second flower and stamp a third one at the top.

Remove the mask and place back on the plastic - you can keep it and re-use it again in the future.


Using a soft pencil, draw a cutting guide line around your stamped images.  How far away from the image is up to you, but about half a centimeter gives you a nice border.

You don't have to follow every twist and turn exactly - you can simplify and round off corners to make it easier.

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Carefully cut along your pencil line, turning the card as you go, rather than trying to turn your hand.

When you have finished. place stamped side down and run a bone folder over your cut edges which will smooth them down if they are looking a little rough.

 

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If you are using Golden Fluid Acrylics to paint with, you only need a single drop of paint and  water. 

I tend to use three wells in my palette for each colour - a dark, mid tone and light version, each one created by adding water to the paint.  (Test out the strength of colour on scrap paper.)



Paint the whole flower with the palest version of your colour first, then go back with the darkest colour in the shadow areas and use the mid tone to blur and blend the boundary between the lightest and darkest colours.




I used Quinacridone Magenta on the top flower, Dioxazine Purple on the bottom flower and I mixed the two colours together for the flower in the middle. 

 

The close ups

I created a simple sentiment for the left side of my card, using a phrase from the Loving Sentiments stamp set.  I also used the corners from the Fancy Flowers set to create a border around the edge, then sponged a little purple ink around to give it some depth.  I stuck the panel on with foam adhesive pads and finished with three little gems.
 
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Sentiment from Loving Sentiments stamp set



I sometimes struggle with inspiration myself, but I've learned to seek it out and adapt it from other sources.


This week's card was inspired by Valerie Sjodin who creates beautiful hand lettered journals with gorgeous shaped edges.  I can thoroughly recommend her online class, Embellishing Edges and Text, and although her material does not include stamping, the techniques she teaches can be adapted to work with stamping too.

2014 Artwork

This week I have created a card with the edge running horizontally rather than vertically. 



I have used a mix of stamps - the houses are from Home Sweet Home, the trees are from our clear set Terrific Treescapes and the foliage is a mixture of Tall Trees and stamps from Briar Rose Butterfly and Harebell Butterfly.

This is the scanned version, folded flat.



You can read the details of how I created this on my blog.

Where to buy
Chocolate Baroque Logo
Materials used in this project are available online at  
The back story

I originally ran this series in 2013 and this time round, I am using my own tutorials to inspire me to create a new piece of artwork to share with you each week. 

I love to create and I am also passionate about inspiring and enabling others to create too.  I hope that this email gets your mojo working and you feel motivated to get into your crafty space and have a go.



Glenda

PS - if your creation features Chocolate Baroque stamps, then why not share on our Facebook Group or our wonderful private forum. In both places you will find a wonderful community of like minded Chocolate Baroque fans.