MIXability: Living Coral

I finally got to sit down and play with this gorgeous unicorn set this week! It's one I tucked in my stocking since it came wrapped so nicely. This is a beautiful clear set from Ink On 3 called Magical Unicorn, and it's full of sweet and magical sentiments.

I stamped the image with Ink On 3's Fadeout ink - it was my first time using the ink, and I couldn't help but love it! The ink is a very light neutral color, as you can see below, but when color hits it, it activates to take on the color of the medium but just slightly darker until the piece is dry... at which time it "fades out"! So very cool, and the perfect answer for the "no-line" coloring trend.

Here's a closer look at my coloring - I started with layered watercolors and then went in for finer strokes and details with colored pencils. I promised a tutorial for the loose watercolor layering, and I will work on that in the next few months!

This week it's my turn to host the Mix-Ability challenge at Splitcoast, so this is my challenge sample! If you'd like to play along with us, my challenge is to use the 2019 Pantone Color of the Year in your mixed media project! You can find the rest of the details here! Part of the challenge involves a color combination, so here are the colors in that palette. Such a pretty selection.

What do you think about the Fadeout ink? What image would you use it on first? 

SCS tutorial: Valentine Tea Light

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a sweet little decor item for Valentines Day! That's coming up quickly. I went a slightly different direction with mine, but in the spirit of Valentines Day, the theme is something that many of us love....................

My crafty budget has been limited, so please know that I pounced on this Coffee Brewing die set when it went on sale recently - the individual dies were larger than I expected, too, and I'm really happy to have it in my collection. (The coffee beans are from the Cup and Beans set that came out at the same time.)

I used Artist-Tac adhesive to tuck the die cuts back into their openings, and though that does show through the vellum on the other side, it works like a charm for sticking those detailed pieces in place.

I hope you're having a great week! I'm starting up with pet portraits this week, and I've got a big stack of products to review. Never boring here! :) What are you up to?

Impression Obsession - Old is New

With such a huge collection of wonderful stamps from so many artists, sometimes the older stamps in the Impression Obsession catalog find their way out of the spotlight. We don't want them to be forgotten, so from now on you'll be seeing our team feature them regularly. We hope you're inspired!

Bird stamps are one of my particular addictions, so I had to share this gorgeous image by Melissa Gordon - her collection with IO is small, but so detailed and beautiful! I watercolored the birds using QoR paints, and then added a few snowflakes with white acrylic paint, and a tiny bit of stenciling with the Grunge Dots stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.

Stamps I used: Cardinals, Something Incredible

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! Also - if you participated in our release hop last week, check over there for your name! We have lots of winners!

Impression Obsession Spring Release - Day 5

The Impression Obsession team is showcasing new Spring images that are available NOW! You can visit the I.O. Blog all this week for links to the previews and ALL the challenge details. Leave a comment on our designers' posts throughout the week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Impression Obsession! If you've missed commenting on any posts this week, you can find all the links on the I.O. Blog - you have a few more days to catch up!

If you're new to my blog, then you may not know that I'm not only on the Impression Obsession design team - I'm also one of their artists! You can find all my stamps HERE. It's always fun during these blog hops to be able to share my stamps, some thoughts behind them, and some fun ways to use them. 

CottonGentle Hugs

I think these cotton stamps are in this release because I find cotton sentimental, soft, and comforting, and those were the feelings I was in need of as I faced my dad's illness. My dad also had a cotton boll tucked away in his box of college memorabilia - I'm not sure what memory was attached to it, but it had some meaning to him too.

Gentle Hugs

I also added some comforting sentiments to the release - I hope they will be an encouragement to someone through you! Sympathy cards can be so difficult, and some sentiments are needed long after the point of loss.

Gentle Thoughts

There's a smaller single cotton boll as well - it would be perfect for an accent stamp on an envelope. 

Cotton Boll

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - you'll find a full list of their names on the I.O. Blog! You're not required to comment on every post, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win - each one of us has a $25 gift certificate to give away! Our winners will be announced by IO on Monday Jan 14, and we'll have a new feature to share with you on that day as well.

Thank you for visiting me! 

Impression Obsession Spring Release - Day 4

The Impression Obsession team is showcasing new Spring images that are available NOW! You can visit the I.O. Blog all this week for links to the previews and ALL the challenge details. Leave a comment on our designers' posts throughout the week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Impression Obsession!

If you're new to my blog, then you may not know that I'm not only on the Impression Obsession design team - I'm also one of their artists! You can find all my stamps HERE. It's always fun during these blog hops to be able to share my stamps, some thoughts behind them, and some fun ways to use them. I've enjoyed slowly adding layered sets to my stamp line (check out Layered Praying Hands and Layered Pansy too!) and this is my favorite of the three layering sets I added with this release! It is soooo much fun, and so versatile - check it out.

WP918 Plaid Pencils clear set

This set is designed as a layering set, and I've included several variations of how it can be used in the card below! The solid layer can be switched out for one of the polka dot layers to vary the results, or you can use both together as a base - I think the dots are really cute!

WP918 Plaid Pencils clear set
Border Duo 2 Die Set

Here's a simple card using the solid layer and polkies.

WP918 Plaid Pencils clear set
WP915 Fred Said clear set

If you don't feel like lining up layers, look what you can do with those lines! Stripes make a fun background - the pencils are long enough to go either direction on a standard card base. Get them positioned once, and then just move the card panel around in your positioner to create a striped effect.

WP918 Plaid Pencils clear set
Sending Cheer
Gift Border die

Or - plaids! Use the grid on your stamp positioner to line up the stamps, then stamp in both directions, combining ink colors for all kinds of fun plaid backgrounds. 

WP918 Plaid Pencils clear set
WP915 Fred Said clear set
E13748 Curious Guinea Pig
Thanks Word die

What would you do with this set?! I can't even stop with the plaids.

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - you'll find a full list of their names on the I.O. Blog! You're not required to comment on every post, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win - each one of us has a $25 gift certificate to give away! Our winners will be announced by IO on Monday Jan 14, and we'll have a new feature to share with you on that day as well.

Thank you for visiting me! 

Impression Obsession Spring Release - Day 3

The Impression Obsession team is showcasing new Spring images that are available NOW! You can visit the I.O. Blog all this week for links to the previews and ALL the challenge details. Leave a comment on our designers' posts throughout the week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Impression Obsession!

If you're new to my blog, then you may not know that I'm not only on the Impression Obsession design team - I'm also one of their artists! You can find all my stamps HERE. I'm also the Artist in Residence over at Splitcoaststampers, and I'm sharing a fun and easy stenciling technique tutorial over there today that I used on these cards!

Fascinator Guinea Pig
Chocolate Builder clear set

I adore these guinea pigs - if you've been hopping with us this week, you've seen the others as well (Curious Guinea Pig and Coffee Guinea Pig) - they just make me grin! This one is colored with Copic markers. The background is done with Hybrid Inks and stencils from A Colorful Life Designs (Sweater Knit and Grunge Dots)

My second card is done in the same way, but using a rectangle stencil (from the Stencil Stacker Rectangles set) along with the Doodle Wheels stencil. The brushes I am using came from Amazon - I've really enjoyed working with them, and they clean very easily... they're soft but incredibly dense. They're even more fun with PanPastels - I'll work on a tutorial soon! For this card I used Colorbox Premium Dye inks, and Versafine for the silhouette.

Girlfriends Silhouette
Being There

The main panel there is popped up on a piece of fun foam for dimension. I love the contrast of that fun stenciled background with the deep black silhouette! This sentiment too - can you relate? 

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - you'll find a full list of their names on the I.O. Blog! You're not required to comment on every post, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win - each one of us has a $25 gift certificate to give away! Our winners will be announced by IO on Monday Jan 14, and we'll have a new feature to share with you on that day as well.

Thank you for visiting me! 

Impression Obsession Spring Release - Day 2

The Impression Obsession team is showcasing new Spring images that are available NOW! You can visit the I.O. Blog all this week for links to the previews and ALL the challenge details. Leave a comment on our designers' posts throughout the week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Impression Obsession!

If you're new to my blog, then you may not know that I'm not only on the Impression Obsession design team - I'm also one of their artists! You can find all my stamps HERE. It's always fun during these blog hops to be able to share my stamps, some thoughts behind them, and some fun ways to use them. 

Poppy Field

I love poppies, and I love large floral stamps, so this stamp is full of poppies and it's huge! I stamped it once, watercolored, and cut the panel in half to make two cards - the first one is 3-1/2" x 5-1/2", and the second is a regular A2 size! So great when large images can make quick work of multiple cards - this would be a great one to cut up in squares for accent images or a grid as well.

Poppy Field
Make Today Lovely

There's a little light stenciling in the background on both panels - that is the Crocodile stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.

Poppy Field
Beautiful Day

One more poppy stamp - I took a handful of field poppies and worked them into this lovely collage design - this would be a great one to use for paper tole! 

Poppy Collage
CAC Grunge Fleur-De-Lis

Here it's colored with Copics and watercolor, and it doesn't need much else! I love how the added Copic shadows really make the frame and flowers pop. The text in the background is a collection of quotes on friendship by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - you'll find a full list of their names on the I.O. Blog! You're not required to comment on every post, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win - each one of us has a $25 gift certificate to give away! Our winners will be announced by IO on Monday Jan 14, and we'll have a new feature to share with you on that day as well.

Thank you for visiting me!