Impression Obsession DT Challenge: All About Love

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project expressing love. This card talks about a mother's love, using some of the sweet baby stamps in my new collection.

Stamps I used: Cradle Song, A Mother's Love

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.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Framed Diecut Decor

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a fun one - Framed Diecut Decor! Once again our author has used a Valentine theme and I've gone with a coffee theme...! I picked up this amazing card-sized die set from Butterfly Reflections during her sale - it has been on my list for a long time, and I love that it's a full 5.5" tall! 

I've got a box of wood frames for antiquing, and this one is 5"x7" - I just gave it a coat of matte black gesso for this project, but I usually go through a longer process for my framed pieces - that might be a fun tutorial one day! The sleeve on the cup is part of the die set - that's done with pieces of a gel print that I've been saving (the base of it was full of marker swatches so it has lots of fun color peeking through). While I had everything out, I made a card to match! The sentiment is an older one by Marcy Hawley that's discontinued now, but it fit the space, and matched my mood. 

I've been working on this guy over the weekend - down to the last details now... and then I'll be working on summer stamps (always fun, when it's icy outside)! Cheers!

Sales!

Just wanted to note a couple of sales that are on today at stores where you can also find my stamps!

Ellen Hutson has a flash sale today only, 20% off your entire order using code PAPERHUGS

 Vanessa over at Butterfly Reflections Ink is away at CHA and she's marked down thousands of items to 40% off - there are some really great products and deals to be found!

Take a peek!

Impression Obsession - Die Cut Obsession

There are so many amazing dies at Impression Obsession - we thought we'd create a special Monday feature to let them have the spotlight! We hope you're inspired!

Extra Fun clear set
Extra Fun die set

Quite a few of our stamp sets have matching dies, so I thought I'd play with the dies that coordinate with the "Extra Fun" elephant set today - the dies were released a little while after the set came out, so I didn't get a chance to share samples right away.

I colored the images using Copic markers, and lined up the dies carefully - you can see here what a perfect fit they are, with just a narrow border around the image. They're very easy to line up with the outlines of the images.

One small cut is needed by hand if you want the pole to tuck in under the trunk, but it's very easily done.

The pole and pennant are part of the clear set, as well as an American flag. There are several mix-and-match sentiment options as well!

Extra Fun clear set
Instant Photo Frame die set

While I had the elephant out, I made another quick "selfie" card using the Instant Photo Frame die - if you hurry you can grab that one at a discount at our Overstock sale! It's a great little set that comes with the frame, some photo corners, and a word die.

I had this background already made using scraps of paper that collected next to my trimmer.

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

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!