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!

Here's a quick card using the sweetest fox image - I just love his contented look. He's loosely watercolored and I added some grassy grounding for him with a wet into wet technique.

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: So Thankful

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project that expresses gratitude!

There are so many events and projects going on this week! I made sure my card fit several. This is a technique we shared yesterday as a Falliday Fest tutorial over on Splitcoast, and this week there's also a Coffee Lovers Blog Hop going on, so I'm linking there too! My little Tea/Cocoa mug is die cut from napkins, and watercolored with QoR paints - such an interesting technique.

I used Scalloped Stitch Circle dies to build my card base, brushing a little ink on the base panel while the cardstock was still in the die. My sentiment is from this clear set, which is a perfect one for small business owners! Love it.

CL964 Happy Mail

If you're in a coffee, tea, or cocoa mood, be sure to pop over to my Etsy store where all items of that theme are 20% off! No code needed, and free shipping over $35!

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration, and remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us.

Falliday Fun Faces

Some of my favorite die sets are card size character dies - these sets from Paper Smooches were perfect for my Falliday Fest challenge! My challenge is called "Let's Face It", and we're putting faces on all the things - making face cards or adding a face to stamped images or die cuts. 

These first two cards were made using dies from the Santa Card Set - here's what that looks like:

All those pieces can mix and match to create all kinds of character cards - I've seen everything from from elves to lumberjacks! So fun. 

Another fun companion set is the Snowman set, which makes for quick and easy cards or other projects with such a smile factor. 

Here's what that set looks like, and again it's easily customizable. 

A couple of years ago I made a bunch of cards with the animal sets (HERE and HERE) to make cards for Ronald McDonald House - this year I'll be making a bunch of these Christmas themed ones to send!

Falliday Fest, and a fun tag set!

Once that November calendar flips, crafting season really begins! We have a fun event beginning today at Splitcoaststampers to give your holiday crafting a jump start! Falliday Fest is back, with 6 new tutorials and 13 challenges to inspire your holiday projects and help you build up a stash for giving!

Our team is kicking off the event today with 3 challenges - for Lori's challenge I made this set of tags using the brand new November Large Die kit from Spellbinders! The full set includes a card base die that lets these little guys stand in their full glory, but I wanted to make something with just a few of the pieces that would be easy to mass produce. 

(The base of each tag is cut with this Spellbinders steel rule die, which seems to have been discontinued recently... It's a great one if you can grab it from a reseller - I love that it cuts 2 tags at once, especially since it can cut this heavy chipboard! The stock number is SR-004.)

Contour Tag, You're It Steel Rule Die

Each little cut piece is separate here, which allowed me LOTS of freedom with color, and let me use up lots of small scraps! Pro tip: I did use a pen to draw in their eyes, rather than trying to glue and place those tiny pieces.

Here is a look at the full die set - these are just so fun, and I love their little expressions! The body base piece has a fold line at the top so it can be used for mini cards or even bag toppers! The finished pieces are pretty tall, too. Their arms are designed to hold a sucker, candy cane, or a little roll of cash! So clever.

The deer is an add-on kit (face and hooves) that you can purchase separately HERE! He's just so cute, and a great supplement to the set.

If you've been leaning toward joining one of the kit clubs, be sure to do so early in the month - I have a feeling this one is going to sell out quickly!

Spellbinders Monthly Club benefits: 

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While you're over at the site, check out the fall markdowns - I just added a bunch of the papers to my cart for beading!

Have a great week!

2019 Fall Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Happy hop day! So excited to be a part of the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop... I'm wishing I had a cup right now!

I'm happy to be a sponsor of the hop this time around - I've got some prizes to share and all coffee and tea items in my store have a special discount this week - no code is needed!

This adorable Hot Cocoa Hugs set is from Your Next Stamp! I colored it up with products from Crafter's Companion - I'm playing with them a bit for an upcoming review.

Be sure to click over to the main hop post to play along! There are prizes for commenting and for linking up with a coffee, tea, or cocoa themed card!

Cheers!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Crystal Ball Stand

Alma from The Cat's Pajamas brought our Splitcoast tutorial this week - she made some spooky Crystal Ball Stands for Halloween! I wanted something that could stay out year-round, so I made some antiqued pieces that can be dressed up for different seasons. 

All the glass pieces (6 of them) for these 3 stands cost me about $2 at one of our local thrift stores - I was pretty happy about that! I spray painted them all with black chalk paint, then dry brushed white gesso over the paint when it was dry. I love the 3 different heights. I'll find some candles to fit the smaller pieces just for decoration, I think. I'll have to see what I have that looks right.

The angel in my globe is a die cut on a piece of acetate - I cut my acetate piece a little bit large so it curves, but it works! 

Hope you're having a great week! I'm cleaning today, but only so I can make more messes!

Impression Obsession - Die Cut Obsession

There are so many amazing dies at Impression Obsession - this special Monday feature lets them have the spotlight! We hope you're inspired!

I had a special request for today's post! One of my readers was curious about the Penguin and Snowman Accessories sets and if they could stretch to be used with other character sets as well. I had started making a set of interchangeable pieces backed with magnets, so I thought those would be a fun way to show how the sets can work together. The three sets I used (above) are:

DIE899-Q Small Snowman

DIE884-U Large Snowman

DIE889-V Penguin

I buy these 8"x10" magnet sheets to store my dies on - they have an adhesive back, and this is the best price I've found for this type of product, so I've bought quite a few! I cut all the snowman and penguin pieces out of the magnet sheets, and cut another set of just the bodies with the magnet sheet flipped over so that I could have bases that had the black side out on both sides (the accessories stuck better that way).

Here are the accessory sets:

DIE885-Q Snowman Accessories

DIE888-O Penguin Outfits

The penguin sweater is sized perfectly for his little bod:

He can also wear the snowman hat and any of the top hats, and the mittens fit his little flippers. The coffee is a great fit for him to hold, or anything else of the same size.

The penguin hats fit the small snowman. He can also wear the sweater! (It will fit better if you have him on a card front and attach the sweater to his body before attaching his head - I had his head glued to his body so the sweater's over his chin here.) I didn't add the mittens here because they didn't balance well over the thickness of the magnet on his skinny arms, but if you're layering them for a card front, they'll be just fine.

The hats all fit the larger snowman, and he can hold the coffee too.

Here were a couple of pieces that didn't fit - the large snowman's scarf is wider than the smaller one's neck - you can use the scarf on the penguin if you fluff his wings out a little. He does have a scarf that I didn't use in my set, and that one will fit the small snowman nicely. The sweater on the larger snowman is a no go.

I hope that's helpful information! Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! And remember, you can use code OCT10 at Impression Obsession to save 10% on your orders through the end of the month - just a few more days, so if you've got an order waiting, don't forget that little savings!