Whimsy Penguins

I'm so grateful to Whimsy Stamps for having me as a guest designer this month - it's been a lot of fun! If you've been playing along with the Falliday Fest challenges at Splitcoaststampers, you'll be excited to know that Whimsy Stamps is one of our prize sponsors for the event - we'll be sharing more about that soon!

I used a couple of Whimsy's adorable penguin stamps for the challenges over at Splitcoast - the first was for a color challenge (black, grey and peachy pink). I watercolored this little scene (Penguin Gift) using QoR watercolors (my favorite tube paints) and added in a few details with colored pencil.

I did some negative coloring, which is always fun - coloring "outside the lines" to create the snowy ground and the glow around the lamp.

My second card was done with similar techniques, but I used a Sakura Clear Glaze Pen to mask off the snowflake first - did you know the Glaze inks dry a little raised, and they're waterproof? They're perfect for masking off fine lines like these. I watercolored with the QoR paints again, creating a blocked background for this adorable little guy (Snowflake Penguin), then I added some falling snow using acrylic paint, dotted with a small stylus.

There are a couple of other Whimsy products on my card - the sentiment is from this great set, which is full of tiny and practical sayings:

Everyday Mini Sentiments

And the paper on my card base, which you can barely see except for a few snowflakes peeking out... is from this paper collection:

Winter Wishes 6x6 Designer Paper

If you like the color scheme there, you'll love the sparkly enamel dots that match - eep! 

That's all I know today - thanks again to Whimsy Stamps for having me, and thanks to you for visiting me today! 

Splitcoast Tutorial: Stack and Cut Quilt Cards

 This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a great time saver, and a fun way to make a set of cards at once! These are called Stack and Cut Quilt Cards, and the backgrounds are made by cutting a stack of patterned papers together, shuffling them, and then piecing them back together. Each card in the set is unique! They remind me of a pillow my Mom has that was made by my Grandma out of scraps of fabric.

I have a pretty new paper pad that I found on clearance at Walmart, so I used some of those papers for my backgrounds - I was able to make 5 cards from the pieces. The stamps and dies I used are from a set by Peggy Jo Ackley - I used some of my leftover paper scraps to do some paper piecing on the bodice of the dress forms.

I used a folder to add some embossed designs to each background - they look a little bit 'quilted' that way!

Hope you'll try this idea out!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Witch Hat Treat Box

Today's tutorial is the final project for our Falliday Fest event - it's a Witch Hat Treat Box. We have a free template on the site that goes together very quickly!

I decorated my little hat with die cuts from Impression Obsession (see my post from yesterday for a coupon code!) and an old earring from my vintage stash.

Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details! I'd love to hear your feedback on the challenges and projects we shared - it's been a fun 2 weeks!

Impression Obsession Fall Sale!

Just wanted to let you know that the annual Impression Obsession sale is on NOW!  

Until midnight (EST) Monday October 23, use coupon code FALL25 to take 25% off everything on the site. The sale includes all clearance and sale items on the site and there are LOTS of those. Check out the overstock dies section - there are also HUNDREDS of clear sets at 50% off PLUS the additional discount.

Go shop!! Go!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Shaving Cream Sparkle

Today's Falliday Fest tutorial is one I'll use throughout the year! It's called Shaving Cream Sparkle - it's a much more controlled shaving cream technique than the classic one done with reinkers.

I have this gorgeous scene builder set from Whimsy Stamps called Winter Wonderland - I started off by stamping the trees and deer on watercolor paper and embossing them in white. The embossing resisted the background technique, which was exactly what I hoped. I also cut a mask for the hill using a curved border die from the Stitched Border Trio set.

The background has several layers of inking, and then stamping and more embossing - I used a stamp from the Christmas Scene Builder set to add in the snowy effect, first with the purple Oxide ink and then with white embossing.

For a little more dimension, I added some raised dots in the snow - I actually did a little old-school dry embossing, using an embossing folder, stylus, and my light pad, just adding the dots to open areas. Remember the old days, with the templates and light boxes? Good times... and still a way to be selective in adding embossed designs to a panel.

Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Haunted Greetings

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project with a Halloween theme.

I had so much fun making this card - these 2 images were next to each other when I first saw them, and they just made sense in a scene together in my mind. I colored the broom with Copic markers, sketched an outline around the text, then stenciled the brick wall and added more  Copic shadows to the individual bricks.

I sketched the sidewalk in and colored it, then gave the broom a shadow so it would look like it was leaning up against the wall.

Stamps I used: Broom Parking, Broom

Be sure to check out these other designers' blogs for inspiration -

Anna @ Sassy & Sweet Notes

Chris @ Cat Tales and Paper Trails

Daniela @ For the First Time

Ilina @ Creativity Within

Jeanne @ Inky Paws

Jenny @ One Krafty Kat 

Karen @ Paper Lilies and Ink 

Kelli @ Stamping with a Dream 

Kittie @ Kittie Kraft

Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal

Vicki @ Summerthyme Studio

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 Fest tutorial: Mason Jar Toppers

Today's tutorial over on Splitcoast is one of mine - it's a stamped canvas decorative lid for a canning jar! These Mason Jar Toppers are so fun to make - which is good, since I'm going to have to make 29 of them for teacher gifts this year...!

There are instructions for both size lids, and the lids will fit on an open jar or a jar sealed and full of home-canned goodness. The stamped image I used here is from my latest Fall/Winter stamp release, and it's colored with Copic markers.

Here's how they're made! 

Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for more details!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Panel Pull-Out Card

Today's tutorial for Falliday Fest is a Panel Pull-Out Card - the base is a no-fold quarter sheet of cardstock, and the front panel folds in and out accordion style. Simple and fun!

The design of the card gives you 3 'front' panels to decorate - for my card front I've used the Puppy in Present image from Whimsy Stamps... it would be fun to have some die cuts or other small birthday images peeking out from the other panels as well! I kept it simple here and just hid a sentiment on the third panel with some room for a handwritten greeting. 

The sentiment is from a really fun clear set from Whimsy - I love small greetings and this set is just full of practical ones.

Everyday Mini Sentiments

Those smaller card panels are a great way to use up scraps too - that's one of my goals with these tutorials and challenges. 

Want to try the card yourself? Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Mini Hoop Ornament

Today's Falliday Fest tutorial is a cute Mini Hoop Ornament!

My first hoop is a 3" size, which I purchased on Etsy HERE... and now she's probably wondering where all the orders are coming from! 

This hoop is a 4" one, which I picked up at Walmart. This size works fine, and is maybe more accessible than the smaller ones. Both silhouette images are from my stamp line at Impression Obsession: Skaters and Wreath Silhouette.

Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Two Tier Eclipse

Today's tutorial for Falliday Fest is called Two Tier Eclipse - it's a fun way to use your dies for a raised camouflage effect.

For my card, I positioned the Peace stamp in my MISTI then used 2 Distress Oxide pads to ink it up, just adding a little ink each time. I misted the first round of impressions to let the inks bleed and feather out, then stamped again over the background that created.

The feathers were cut after the stamping was done, then layered, popped up on foam tape, and replaced into the panel. It's a really fun effect to create! Want to try it yourself? There are tons of tips and tricks in Sue's video - come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Foam Tag Ornament

Today's Falliday tutorial is a Foam Tag Ornament made with layered die cut foam and so much glitter! I'm not a glitter person, but since I provided the video for this tutorial, I had to bite the bullet. Acckkk!

This is the  sample I made for the video - I used an ornament die from The Cat's Pajamas for my template, and another one of their dies to cut the circle tabs.

For the second ornament, I used a Spellbinders ornament die as a template, but cut off the tip and made a little pinecone shape instead.

The glitters I used are from the Dollar Tree - they have several color sets of these glitter and sequin samplers - they're cheap and really pretty, just $1 for 6 colors! I'm into that, for as little as I use glitter! :)

Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!

Whimsy Winner!

My winner for the $15 gift certificate from Whimsy Stamps is: 

Renee Grandinetti!

Renee, please send an email to info@whimsystamps.com to claim your prize! Put “winner of Dina Kowal’s blog giveaway” in the subject line so they know I sent you. Congratulations!

Falliday Fest tutorial: Rosette Turkeys

Today's tutorial for Falliday Fest is this adorable Rosette Turkey! I made a couple of tweaks to mine, and I'm quite happy with how he turned out. The layers of the tail are made with strips of paper, accordion folded and pressed into a rosette.

We have a free template for the turkey's head - for my sample I cut two of them so there could be a little 'spread' at the base and gluing point. I also omitted the round base from the tutorial, since he could stand on his own.

Instead of a border punch, I pulled out my dinosaur Fiskars rotary cutter and cut the decorative edges in a single pass. Anyone else still hanging on to one of those?

Want to make your own Rosette Turkey or play in a challenge or 3? Come over to the Falliday Fest Challenge Forum for all the details!