Closing a Chapter - Impression Obsession

Friends, this post is so hard to write! After over 20 years as a customer, 16 years as a design team member and 12 years of creating stamps, dies, stencils and papers under their brand, it's time to say farewell to Impression Obsession. I'm so grateful for the opportunities to attend trade shows, create catalog samples, teach classes... for the platform to share my heart and enable others to use my artwork to encourage and cheer their loved ones... for the opportunity to work with such amazing artists and designer friends week after week - we have watched each others' kids grow up, laughed and cried together, walked through a lot of life together, and made so many beautiful projects to share. It's been a wonderful ride.

I have lots of favorite projects - most of them were made using products that are now gone, so I'll save them for another reminiscing post. If you haven't shopped the sale yet or need another run-through to make sure you didn't miss anything, the site will be open until Monday midnight Eastern time. The discount is set at 70%, and there are still lots of beautiful products to choose from! 

This little guy is still in stock, along with his matching dies - I think he's so sweet! And this card sums up my sentiments today - so glad this whole IO thing happened. This stamp set comes with a flag pole, an American flag and a blank flag, but you can trim around the trunk like I did above  to have him hold just about anything.

IO Products:

Extra Fun clear stamp set

Extra Fun coordinating dies

Be sure to visit my friends for more inspiration and heartfelt messages - 

Impression Obsession Blog
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning
Angela Bode

Mitra has been THE best to work with - she was always endlessly patient with my creative blocks and missed deadlines (sorry!!), very generous with mentoring and guidance in the industry, and always encouraged and believed in me. I had a few opportunities to work with her in person, and my kids still remember staying in her house with the fire pole when we were on an extended road trip. I learned so much from her - so resilient, open, and adventurous. I wish her the best in whatever she jumps into next! 

Thank YOU too, for being on this journey with me - my days have been full with work at Jostens and making memory bears, a necessary transition as other creative doors have closed. This blog has been my space for 18 years, so I'll have to think of something else to fill its pages now! We'll see what happens.

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - one last week

Sigh.... so hard to believe we are coming to the end of our time with IO! If you haven't shopped, go take a peek and see if there's anything you'd like to have to remember us by. I'll be working over the break to continue converting my designs to digital and uploading them to Etsy - other than that I don't have plans to rehome them. 

I saw that the penguin die below is still in stock, so I pulled up an older set of tags where I used him - these were so fun to make, and they came together quickly. It's a fun set, and a good reminder that you can just use parts of dies on  your projects! Here was the full set of tags I made. 

I layered a scalloped circle with a stitched circle on each tag, then had some fun building the characters to embellish them. I used the edge of the circle die to cut the characters off and match the edges.

IO Products:
DIE889-V Penguin die set
DIE888-O Penguin Outfits die set (hat)
DIE831-YY Scalloped Stitched Circles - sold out
DIE837-YY Wacky Stitched Circles - sold out

The tag I used here is sold out, but check out these others that would work:
DIE937-S Stitched Tag
DIE971-V Stitched Tag #4
DIE1164-YY Stitched Tag #6

I hope you have a good week! I'm looking forward to some days off. Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for more inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - heads up!

Remember to check the IO site when you have a chance - the discount has gone up to 70% off remaining stock and there are some special products left! I might need to go back through myself!
 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - November color challenge

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today with a beautiful color palette - we hope we inspire your crafting and your IO shopping!  Enjoy 50% (or more!) off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

Here are the colors we're working with today! I couldn't resist one more Pooh card, and I had some fun with a new liner brush.

The paper pack I used is sold out and I apologize for tempting you with it, but it matched so perfectly! I may need to find a new home for those designs, or add them to my Etsy shop. One day I'll figure out how to balance life and work and work!

IO Products: 

CS1329 Pooh Pleasures clear stamp set (just a few left!!)

PP054 Pooh paper pack (sold out)

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details!  It's hard to believe that IO will be closing in just a few short weeks.

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - More Christmas Cards

Today the Impression Obsession Team is back with more projects to inspire your holiday crafting! Don't forget the discount on remaining IO stock - enjoy 50% off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

I'm sharing this card because I was so tickled with the design - this paper from the Vintage Christmas paper pack made such a perfect background for my bird! He's listed as a penguin but his little cowlick has a sort of cardinal crest quality to it, so I colored him red and it works. If you have (or need!) this set, now you have a fun little way to make it stretch.

IO Products:

CS1387 Penguin clear stamp set

PP082 Vintage Christmas paper pack

DIE1195 Rounded Rectangle Layers die set

You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<<<< that's me!
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning
Angela Bode

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - Christmas Card Hop Day 1

November 1st and 2nd the Impression Obsession Team will be sharing projects to inspire your holiday crafting! Don't forget the  discount on remaining IO stock - enjoy 50% off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

I love how this card turned out - I had cut the base to figure out an answer for a newsletter question on Splitcoast, so it was ready to go, and the focal panel was just perfect for this image! (Tutorial is here if you want to make one too!) The image is watercolored with the typical added details using pencil and acrylic pens. When the panel was dry, I stenciled the stars around it lightly with coordinating ink. I love that added touch! 

IO Products:

CS1389 Unto Us clear stamp set

CS1386 Holiday Greetings clear stamp set

PP082 Vintage Christmas paper pack

STEN068 Stars stencil

You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<<<< you're here!
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning
Angela Bode

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - don't forget digital!

Howdy doo! I'm pulling in late because I started a new job today as a graphic designer at Jostens! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to work there. Today I learned to use their online editor and worked on templates for elementary school memory books. (in step 2, that's me creating the pages!)

Today you'll find our design team sharing favorite projects. I have a couple of Halloween cards today featuring our digital stamps, because I don't want you to forget them! If you love Gary Robertson's artwork, be sure to browse through this gorgeous collection of drawings exclusively  made for IO, and tuck a few into your cart!

both of the images I used are printed on watercolor paper and painted with QoR watercolor paints. I started here with a base of yellow, and layered in more paint and some colored pencil, adding highlights with a white paint pen.

For the second card, I used the same process, layering in some extra shadows on the front of the house. I should have brightened up the pumpkin so it would pop - another time I'll have to color it up like a night scene with a light inside the jack-o-lantern.

One of the most delightful things about Gary's images are black cats - did you notice this one?

IO Products:

E1842-DG Cat in the Jack digital stamp

H1838-DG Jack with House digital stamp

CL1365 Little Monster clear stamp set

CL886 Monster Mash clear stamp set

PP007 Vintage Halloween paper pack

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

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession DT Theme - Color Challenge

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today with a beautiful Fall color palette - we hope we inspire your crafting and your IO shopping!  Enjoy 50% (or more!) off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

Many of the newer and more popular products were recently restocked for your benefit, so if you were interested in any of the Pooh sets, they are in again. Here's a set I designed last Fall - I used the color palette from the inspiration photo to warm up the view through the windows in this little scene.  I love this sentiment, and the way it fits with the image.

I used watercolors to color in the little scene, adding a little more shading with a brown colored pencil. The white lines on the windows were added with a paint pen - I intended them to look like reflections on the glass but they look a little more like rain instead. Oh well!

Speaking of bears, I completed my first custom memory bear order and he will ship off tomorrow! Isn't he the sweetest?

IO Products:

CS1138 Pooh Window clear stamp set

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

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession DT Theme - Birthday

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today with a birthday theme- we hope we inspire your crafting and your IO shopping!  Enjoy 40% off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

I did some wet-into-wet watercoloring to fill in these gift images, then cut out and arranged them on my card panel, popping up a few. Such a simple effect!  This is a great all-purpose birthday set, with outlined images perfect for coloring with your favorite medium.

IO Products:

CL1341 Birthday Hugs clear stamp set 

PP051 Chicken Wire paper pack

DIE1195 Rounded Rectangle Layers die set (sold out)

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

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - More Halloween Inspiration

We're back with more Halloween projects to inspire your crafting and your IO shopping!  With October also comes an increase in the discount on remaining IO stock - enjoy 40% off your order, and remember that once these products are gone, they're gone!

I dug out some older dies and just let the card design itself - I started by cutting the web panel in black, then thought it might be pretty to layer 2 cuts in a window opening. I glued the webs into the frames, then layered them on the front and back of a die cut card base (I used a rectangle die from Spellbinders for that opening). The grey layer is rotated 180 degrees for some variation in the lines.

The spider is cut from brown fun foam, and I used alcohol and acrylic markers to color him. The little dew drops in the web are actually hot glue - I was poking through older blog posts and saw another card I had done that way, so the idea was fresh. I made the drops on a non-stick craft sheet. When they were cool I set them where I wanted them on the card, then heated them with my heat gun just until they went clear - that activated the glue enough to stick to the card. So fun, and much easier to control that way, rather than trying to drop hot glue directly on the card. Any glaze product could be used too, but I didn't want to wait for glue to dry.

IO Products:

DIE313 Spider Web Background

DIE115-J Spider Web die set

DIE291 All-in-One Frames - Rectangles 2 die set

CL1365 Little Monster clear stamp set

You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog
Dina Kowal
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning
Angela Bode
Anna Wight

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.

It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!