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 we like to feature them regularly. We hope you're inspired! 

G13057 Reverse Peacock Head
C13039 She Has Wings

One of my early stamp collections featured bird stamps, including a smallish selection of peacock stamps - I used Brusho powders with this reverse silhouette stamp for a dreamy watercolor background. Click over to the stamp image on the site - there are lots of details that you don't see here!

Here's another favorite from that collection:

CC140 Cover-a-Card Reverse Peacock

That one would be beautiful stamped over a watercolored background, or inked and misted for a faux watercolor look.

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

Benton County Virtual Art Show!

For about a year now I've been working with our local tourism and community development to start promoting the arts in our county - there is so much talent tucked away here! After months of planning and replanning and then planning again, I'm very proud to present the first Benton County (MO) Virtual Art Show! 

I did the website and back end organizing of things, so part of that project was to put all the entries into a slide show. I wanted to share that here - I would love it if you'd click over to watch on YouTube - in the video description you'll find a link to cast a vote for the People's Choice award - please feel free to pick a fave and do that too! 

I hope you have a wonderful week! My surgery went well - I am home and resting.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Stray Embossing Powder

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a really fun one - our author encourages us to embrace Stray Embossing Powder as a design element! 
I started by swiping Versamark ink through this gorgeous Boho Glam stencil onto a slimline card base - A Colorful Life Designs has a huge variety of 6" x 9" stencils that are perfect for slimline cards! They can also be used over a half sheet of cardstock to make two A2 card bases at a time. I love this size! 

I used a sort of pearly powder and brushed it off in a few small sections before heating. I brushed 3 colors of ink onto the background, then did a little more stenciling over the panel and darkened one end for more contrast with the leaves.

The leaves were stamped onto a gel print, cut out, and then shaded lightly with Copic markers - I used a Color Shaper to add Versamark ink to some highlight areas and then used the same powder to brighten them up. Color Shapers have silicone tips and they're great for applying masking fluid, as well as their uses with coloring mediums and clay shaping...  I used one that has an oval tip, and you can see how that sort of printed in there too. Love the organic look that gives.
The sentiment is one of mine from my most recent stamp release, and there's a mess of copper thread behind the embellishments as well - didn't go like I planned it, but there it is. I used a larger diamond die to cut the end of the tag a little randomly.

I'm still in "do all the things" mode - just a few more days to do it! Eek!

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 thought a little fall scene would be fun - I used my Karin markers to color in the squirrels, grass and pumpkins, blending out with water and letting the layers dry before adding more shading. 

These are the die sets I used:

DIE350-T Pumpkin Set

DIE213-D Squirrel Set

DIE826-Z Grass Border Set

DIE174-W Greeting Set

DIE242-YY Rectangle 6-in-1 Frames

To back my frame, I used a small piece of a gel print - either a gel print or the cardstock I keep next to my gel press while I'm working to roll off my brayer. Sometimes I like those more than the prints!

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for die cutting inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! Have a great week!

 

Spellbinders September Glimmer Kit - rainbows!!

This month's Glimmer Club kit from Spellbinders really filled a hole in my collection - although I've always loved rainbows, I have surprisingly few to add to cards! This kit is a lot fun - there are dies and foiling plates to make a variety of different little rainbows. They can be solid colored or embellished with additional plates. I used the little accent plates here and watercolored over them using Karin markers, then I misted the card to let the watercolor bleed out a little bit as a background for my clouds.

This little platypus was just too cute to pass up - she is part of this set from Clearly Besotted (go grab it if you love it - it's on clearance)!

Here's a peek at the full kit - the cloud and the bottom rainbow are both dies, and the other pieces are foiling plates.

Here are the club details, if you're not a member yet! My favorite perks are the extra sales and the 10% discount on the Spellbinders site (even on sale items!)! You'll begin receiving kits the month that you sign up, and the date you sign up will be your shipment day.

Spellbinders Monthly Club benefits: 

 Past Club Kits at Member Rates

 10% Store Savings

 Members Only Offers and Deals

 Earn Creative Rewards for Each Purchase

 Monthly Inspiration

 Cancel Anytime

 Skip Any Month

 Annual Membership Gift

 Exclusive Deals 

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Fall Colors

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project featuring the colors of fall.

D13937 Golden Autumn
H20888 Fall Foliage

This Fall Foliage image from Alesa Baker was a great combo with my new Golden Autumn sentiment - love that one. I stamped the leaves with Versafine Clair ink, then filled them in with water and dropped in some ink colors loosely, as well as  Dr. Ph. Martin's gold acrylic ink - I love the way the gold floated. 

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: Spanner Panel Card

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Spanner Panel Card! This is a very simple design, but the two vertical cuts create all kinds of design possibilities! Be sure to check the tutorial page for a sample using acetate for some floating elements.

There's still so much in this June MMH kit from Hero Arts to explore, so I used some of the dies with cold press paper to create the layers for my card. I watercolored all the pieces with QoR watercolors. Tip: I used a 3/4" flat brush to paint - that really helps me to keep my strokes loose. By the way, this kit is sold out, but the September kit was released yesterday and it's beautiful! Be sure to check it out if you love their layered scenes. 

I made the cuts in my card base first, then laid the mountain panel across and followed the same cuts so I would have mountains across the card visually, but also separated onto the front and center panels when the card opens. I positioned the sentiment with the center flap closed so that I could be sure it was centered below the flap and not visible until that flap was lifted. On the inside of the card, I used the off-cut from the mountains as a stencil for some loose mountains to carry the theme throughout the card. 

Lots of options for personalizing this one - hope you'll try it out! 

Etsy sale!

I just added a sale to my Etsy store - 10% off a $10+ order, and all faux leather earrings are 50% off. No code is needed. Free shipping over $35! Come take a peek!