Perfect Foam Cutters and a giveaway!

I have a fun shaker card to share today, a product review, and some products to give away! 

I've been playing with some of the Perfect Foam Cutter dies from Maker's Movement - these are a part of their line of Versa Dies, which I've shared here before... they're wafer dies with deeper cutting lines that is great for cutting thicker materials. These ones are specifically designed to cut through their thicker double-stick foam sheets, which are 3mm thick and come in a pack of four 4"x8" sheets.

There are 2 sets of frame dies, and these are sized to work with the other rectangle dies they carry, but they adapt easily to other rectangles that are based on an A2 card size - the largest one is 4"x5.25", and they go down in quarter-inch increments. There's a circle set too, and the largest is 3.875" and those are in the same increments too, so those should work with other circle die sets as well.

The frames are great for popping up layers with no waste - they also make great shaker frames, and you'll see how I made my shaker card in the video below.

Another great addition to the line are these Mini Squares and Circles - you can create 24 adhesive foam squares and 24 adhesive foam circles with each cut, and these give a really clean look to popped up images and sentiments. 

There's a set of smaller strip dies as well - I don't have this set, but I've found it easy enough to cut the rectangle frame pieces into small strips of any size.

The set I used for my shaker card is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps - it's a new release from their new artist Jennifer Nilsson! I've followed her work for several years, and I'm so happy her images have found a new home. Looking forward to more from her! I love the mermaid and punny sentiments, and I love the puffer fish EVEN more.

Learn more about the dies and how I made my shaker card here:

If you're still with me, I have prizesssssssssssssssssssssss!! I have 2 prize packs to give away - one lucky commenter here will win the Mini Squares and Circles die and 2 sheets of foam...... for the other prize, head over to my Instagram page - a winner there will win the Rectangle Frame set and 2 sheets of foam!

Please comment by 9pm central, July 22, and make sure your email is in your comment or linked in your profile - you won't win if I can't contact you! Winners will be announced on 7/23.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Flip Flap Card

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Flip Flap Card - there's a mechanism that flips out to the left when you pull the tab to the right, and it reveals a design hidden behind the focal panel! It's a very fun design. 

I've had this "Hanging Around" set from Maker's Movement floating around my desk for a while and he was perfect for this card front... their clear sets are quality photopolymer, and this one happened to come with matching steel dies, which made this a quick and easy scene.

I needed to make a couple of small cuts to let the sloth hang on the branch, but they were easy to make and he was very cooperative. He's cut from my favorite watercolor paper and colored with Zig brush markers and colored pencils. The leaves were stamped with dye ink and misted with water, then I added some shading with pencils (it's more blended than it looks above!). That background was from an extra Duoprint that never made it to a card - I think it was a geranium leaf.

Here's the message inside the card, and you can see how the card works below! Pretty fun! Mine is a lit-tle bit clunky because the leaves hang off the edge a little too far, but it still flips and flaps!

Thanks for visiting!

Spellbinders July club kits!

I'm still wondering where June went, and so late sharing these amazing July kits from Spellbinders! 

The Large Die kit for July is this amazing bicycle set - it has all the pieces to create this pop-up card with lots of options for filling the baskets in the back!

I filled my baskets with the flowers that come with the kit, and a sentiment which is one of the fun foiling plates in this month's Glimmer Kit! I inked it with Stazon Pigment ink and ran it through my die cutting machine for a letter press look, then cut it with the coordinating die from the kit. I used a narrow strip of acetate to mount the sentiment so it could float above the flowers.

With all the dimension of this pop-up, it's amazing that it can fold flat - the way I have designed my card here, it will fit into a smaller size business envelope. So. Fun.

I made another card spanning the bicycle from front to back - I've been wanting to try that, and it was fun to hide a fun birthday surprise on the back of the card!

The sentiment here is another one from this month's Glimmer kit, letterpressed with Stazon Pigment ink. The balloons and tassel are dies from other monthly die kits, and the cake can be found here.

Here are the full kits, and you can find the club kit info below! 

 Thanks for visiting me today!

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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!

SS-1003-E Live Each Season
SS-1257-E Blackberries

I chose a couple of stamps from the new Serendipity line today - they're older designs from them, but new to us! I'm so happy to have this beautiful collection at Impression Obsession now. There are so many beautiful hand-scripted quotes - I love summer fruits, and these two images are perfect together. 

I stamped onto one of my favorite watercolor cards, and layered watercolors, starting with some wet-into-wet coloring. I dried the panel between layers, building up the shading on the berries, then using a circle mask to protect the sentiment while I built up the background with splatters and a little more brushed paint. I added some white highlights to the berries with a Pitt pen - I regret that a little bit, since the dots were a little large, but I was able to go over them with pencil and tone them down. That marker is deliciously opaque - it's a great one to have in your stash.

I have several patches of blackberries on our lot that are getting close to ripeness - I'll have to check them today! I dragged my kids to a pick-your-own blueberry patch last week, and canned some peach salsa this weekend as well - did I mention I love summer fruits? 

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details - check back this week for our list of winners from our recent blog hops too!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Things That Fly

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project featuring anything that flies (not just birds)!

CL959 Outta This World clear set
D21214 To the Moon

I pulled out Nola Chandler's Outta This World clear set - it has so many cute and fun elements! I think this was the first set I cut out with my Scan'n'Cut, and then I had all these sweet images for scenes! The first card ended up on a gel print that already looked like a moon landing - I added some stars with acrylic paint.

CL959 Outta This World clear set

For my second card I made a small shaker element using one of our frame dies - I didn't have a good sized sentiment, so I used several sentiments to create a background! I'll link those below as well - there were some really fun ones with this release!

CL959 Outta This World clear set
DIE291-WW All-in-One Frames - Rectangles 2
D21203 Outta This World
C21202 Stellar
C14785 All the Stars

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: 5-Sided Box

 This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a 5-Sided Box - you'll find a template there that's very easy to cut out and assemble!

I just finished up a bunch of catalog samples for my new Fall/Winter stamps, so I have those out still and the Christmas spirit fresh in my mind... designers and illustrators are always several seasons off! I used this Pixel Poinsettia background, which is so easy to create with - you can color it simply since the shading is part of the image - or you can stamp it on a neutral panel like I did here for a quick and easy background. It's going to make quick work of lots of Christmas cards this year!

CC362 Pixel Poinsettia

I cheated a little on the project template - I cut my pieces according to the template at 6-3/4" x 3-3/4", scored and cut away the corners, and then used an oval die to cut the top flap, stopping short of the score line so I didn't cut into my tabs.

The box itself is very roomy - mine came out 4" tall and about 5" from a flat side to the opposite point.

That's all I know today! I hope you are having a great week! I had a great weekend with a very successful art show locally - I came away with 2 blue ribbons and the People's Choice award, which was such an honor.