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!

SS-459-L Porch Flag
B13590 Begin with Me

I'm sharing an image from the Serendipity Stamps line today, paired up with one of my sentiments. I went with a simple coloring scheme, using just a red and blue pencil on the flag, and then adding in the sky and some shading in watercolor. 

Such a beautiful image for so many reasons - it would be beautiful in full color too, but I love the simplicity of this spotlight coloring today. The sentiment is a simple one too - I have it filed in my "Be the Change" category, and it's such a good reminder that change in the world begins with a heart change in each of us individually. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

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

Hang on!

It's rare that I just sit down to make a card for fun any more... I need to fix that! 

I have been slowly working through piles and bins of stamps that need to be sorted and cataloged and put away - one of them was this adorable Windy Day Girl image from Katzelkraft (via Topflight Stamps). How relatable is this image?  It's totally perfect for 2020.

There is a new Watercolor Wednesday challenge over on Splitcoast, and this week's challenge is no-line coloring, so while this girl was out I had a little fun with my Inktense pencils... I used those so I could watercolor the background and the permanent ink would stay in place! Such a great property of that medium. 

Currents

I love this Currents stencil from A Colorful Life - it's great for water or wind, or just for a pretty background with a little movement. I have found it a little difficult to ink, but it worked wonderfully with long horizontal watercolor strokes. When my panel was dry I used the same stencil to emboss it in my die cutting machine. I love that technique so much and I think I like the effect better than an embossing folder simply because it's more subtle... I need to go through my stencils and folders together and if there are any with the same patterns, the folders are either going in the sale box or downstairs to the gel printing table! 

The sentiment is one of mine, and it's here - seemed perfect!

Two things to know - here are two discount codes you can always use, and these will help you save and also send a little 'thank you' my way too. 

At A Colorful Life Designs, use code DinaFan10 for a 10% discount on your entire order.

At Topflight Stamps, use code YAYDINA! for a 12% discount on your entire order. Topflight has all kinds of international products all in one place - it's such a fun site!

That's all I know today! Hang on! 

Spellbinders Glimmer Backgrounds

I have a project to share that is a bit outside the box! Spellbinders has a new collection of sweet and modern foil plate backgrounds - I used mine on a jewelry set! 

Here's the Modern Lines design that I used:

...and here are the paper beads I foiled! I used them to make an adjustable bracelet - of course I failed to take pictures while I was working on these and I don't have any more of these strips to recreate this specific look, but I did take some pictures later to show the process!

 If you feel inspired to try some paper beading, I have a post with more information here to help you get started! The strips I used for these were 11" long, and tapered slightly, but not to a point... that shape gives them the wide band at the center which is a perfect little canvas for the foiled stripes.

I love the shine of the silver foiling on these gel printed beads - each one is perfectly unique! I created links for the bracelet, and had a couple left for a pair of matching earrings. (The pearls came from Spellbinders too  - they were part of a rosary chain that was on clearance in a recent sale. Looks like that item is sold out now.) The bracelet is about 8" long with a little extender as well - I will plan on tucking the set into my Etsy store, so if you love it, check for it there soon!

Here's a quick explanation of how the foiling works on these beading strips. I have some shorter ones here in a triangle shape... I heated my Glimmer machine up, laid down the plate and foil, and then laid the tip of each strip onto the foil to emboss.

Here's the finished result, and I could have flipped the strips around the other way to foil the full length as well - I just did the tips this time, and you'll see the effect below.

I used a tool from PaperBeadRollers.com to roll up the strips, gluing them at the end to secure the shape.

Here's the finished bead - just having the foil at the tip gives me a pretty pattern at the center of the bead, which I like.

The beads will be sealed with a wood hardener, which strengthens and waterproofs them, and gives them a shiny gloss.

Hope this fun little project inspires you to try something new with your foiling plates (or to grab a new one if you'd like to recreate this look!)

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! 

Before I get going, just a reminder about the flash sale going on now! You don't want to miss it!

Here's a card I made last summer and never got to share - this little bee hive is part of a set called Jam Jar Fruits that goes perfectly with the adorable Jam Jar die set Anna designed!

 So many cute pieces to choose from. The sentiment is here, and how perfect is that paper?!

Jam Jar Fruits

Things to remember:Don't forget the sale section for some great bargains (half price!!) on dies you might not find again!
For everything else, use code FLASH through Tuesday for 25% off your order!
Also, 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 - Wedding Season!

I have very few wedding dies, so I was excited when Spellbinders sent me this gorgeous new Wedding Dress and Tux set to play with! 

As you can see below, there are multiple small dies that can be mixed and matched - the dress can be long or short, with straps or sleeves - there are options for the lapels on the suit, and choice of ties. So fun! I cut all the pieces out of watercolor paper and colored them with Copic markers. A tip for adhesive - I've actually been using Elmer's Glue-all in a needle-tip bottle - it dries quickly, and also dries matte, so if you squidge a little out, it doesn't show!

My card is a 3.5" x 8.5" gate fold (7" x 8.5", scored on the 7" side at 1.75" and 6.75"). I used die cut rectangles on each side, then layered the dress and suit so they overlapped at the opening. This size has suddenly become very popular so I had to give it a try!

To hold the card closed I created a belly band, and added a foiled sentiment from another set in this new collection - the Glimmering Wedding Wishes set is full of mix-and-match words and phrases that can make a great variety of wedding sentiments.

So many options - and of course with this common font, these pieces can be combined with so many of the other Glimmer sets as well.

I tucked another foiled sentiment inside - this one is from the June Glimmer kit, which you can still grab! There are 5 sentiments about this size, in the same beautiful font. I used the Blush foil on both sentiments - it's a pale rose gold, and it's so pretty!

If you need to add some wedding items to your stash, take a peek at the Wedding Season collection - I really had fun with these! Have a great week!

IO Flash Sale!

I know a few of you have been building up your wish lists and tucking items into your carts - here is a 3-day Flash Sale for you! Be sure to enter code FLASH at checkout for your discount.

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Birthday Wishes

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project with a birthday theme!

For this card I've used 4 images from Nola's Happy Birthday clear set - these are separated in the set, but they worked so nicely in this multi-block format! My focal panel is Canva-Paper, colored with Copic markers - I've mentioned this paper before and I love it for Copics because the inks blend on the surface instead of soaking in - so much less work to blend because you can skip the 'medium' color layer. I also used Copics on my background paper to coordinate my card base with the coloring. Quick and easy!

Need more birthday stamps in your collection? Check out the entire category HERE!

For a virtual vacation check out the featured category too - beach stamps are all 25% off in there!

Be sure to visit the other designers' blogs for inspiration on this week's challenge - see the I.O. blog for all the details! Remember, you can play along with us for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Die Cut Card Duo

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is called Die Cut Card Duo - it's another two-for-one special using coordinating dies and stamps!

The tutorial author used a word die, and I didn't have one with a coordinating stamp, but I did have this foiling plate with an outline die - this is from a past Spellbinders Club Kit and you can find it HERE. I built my background with some random strips from my "white" scrap folder, foiled the flower in gold and then cut it out with the die.

Next I lined up the striped panel on a base panel and foiled another flower that would show through the cut opening.

Here's the first card I made with the cutout on another watercolor panel - first I did a little stenciling in gold Embellishment Mousse with a brand new stencil from A Colorful Life Designs - this one is called Coffee Stains and I know I'll be using it quite a bit!

I popped up the foiled flower on some foam tape, added a snip of silk ribbon, and then layered the foiled sentiment strip across, following the lines from the strips on the other background.

I added some splatters to my background here using gold liquid acrylic from Ph. Martin's - it has such a pretty shine in person! I colored this flower in lightly using Karin markers.