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! 

We live in a lake area, and as the weather gets warmer there's definitely a vibe! "Snagging season" begins in mid-March (this is the spoonbill capital of the world, y'all!) and the weekenders start to come down from "the city" to fish, boat, and camp. The locals have their favorite hangouts, and we stay home a little more. I thought of this fishing silhouette, and wanted to pair it with one of Gary's older scenic backgrounds - this one really works! I did a little light inking of the background, then colored the scene with colored pencils. 

Such a great sentiment! 

I used my favorite cloud stencil for the sky, adding details with a colored pencil and battery eraser.

IO Products:

H1877 Path to the Beach

D13689 Fishing Silhouette

B13691 Believe in Fishing

DIE968-N Whimsical Rectangle

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

Hogs and Kisses

It's been over 4 weeks since I made a card - this month has been all art show, nonstop! I saw that Simon Says Stamp's challenge this week is featuring Impression Obsession stamps, so I had to play along. Their theme this week is "Sending Hugs", so here's an adorable piglet and a hug pun!

I colored the pig in loosely with Copic markers, then used a partial die cutting technique to cut a square with his little ear hanging out. Eep! The banner die is longer, but I was able to match up the stitch lines and cut one end shorter after stamping.

IO Products:

H13891 Piggy

B13857 Hogs Kisses

DIE206-V Picket Fence

DIE1058-ZZ Stitched Tag #5

Fog Hybrid Ink

That's all I know! I'll be back in the morning with an 'old is new' post for IO! 

Impression Obsession DT Theme: Rainbow of Color

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring a rainbow theme. I thought this slimline floral bouquet would be beautiful in lots of colors, so here's an idea for stretching it onto a variety of tags!
I started with a half sheet of watercolor paper, stamping the image to one side. I watercolored using my Misted Watercolor technique with QoR paints (anyone else break into Memories when you read that title? 'Misted watercolor meeeeeeeeeemoriiiiiiiiies of the waaaaaaay we weeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrre.........." Just me? OK.)

I chose a variety of tags and fit them onto the panel so a part of the watercoloring was on each one.

Here are the tags all cut - I love that little stitched border! So sweet.

Here are the cut tags - now for some sentiment stamps! These are perfect to use on a card front or tuck inside, tie on a gift, or leave in town for a day-brightener.

IO Products used here:

3259-LG Mixed Florals

C13885 Make Home

B13775 So Very Loved

CL463 Hydrangea clear set

CL827 Introverting clear set

DIE874 Stitch Tag #2

DIE797 Crazy Stitched Set

DIE814 Pinked Stitched Sentiment Banner

DIE868 Plaid Tag

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for more colorful inspiration. See the I.O. blog for all the details!

If you're looking for a sale, be sure to check out the featured stamps page where IO's sunshine themed stamps are 25% off! and take a tiptoe through the clearance pages while you're there!

Impression Obsession April Release - Team Favorites

The IO Team is back today with a little hop to share our favorite cards from this month's release, so here's mine! If you're already hopping and you came from Anna's blog you are in the correct place. If not, head over to the Impression Obsession Blog for the start of the hop so you don't miss anything!

Poppies are one of my favorite flowers, so I snapped up this new slimline set - check out all the gorgeous new slimline floral stamps and sets HERE! If you missed the tutorial I shared a couple of weeks ago for this watercolor technique, you can find it HERE.

The sentiment is not a new one but it's such a great one for sympathy, recovery, illness, rough days, and more.

IO stamps used here:

3255-LG Poppy

C13766 Gentle Hugs

We will be giving away THREE Impression Obsession Grab Bags this week! Each comment you leave along the hop will give you a chance to win. Comments will be open until Monday April 19th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday April 20th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Your next stop on the hop is Giovana's blog- thank you for visiting me today!

New stuff!

A couple of new items in my Etsy store - I turned my video camera on while making this sweet owl bracelet, so I have a tutorial, the actual bracelet, and some kits with all the supplies needed to make your own! That's HERE. (If you're used to my Splitcoast tutorials, this is a "special treat" because instead of doing a voiceover this was all voiced in real time and I rarely do that. I did edit out most of the allergy sniffles, but you've got mistakes and wind chimes all for free.)
I finished a watercolor piece today for an upcoming community fundraiser, so I have new notecards and prints available! Notecards are HERE. Prints HERE.

I'm working on another large colored pencil piece for an upcoming art show - I haven't posted any public updates of my progress, but you can take a peek at it HERE! Shh! I'm lying awake at night worrying about not getting it done in time, and planning out how to fake the background if I need to enter it in a show before it's complete. Also, the glass broke in my frame during transit - hopefully the replacement will come in time, and not break on the way. Eek!

Splitcoast tutorial: Misted Watercolor

It's my turn to share a tutorial over on Splitcoast - several of you had asked for a tutorial on this Misted Watercolor technique, so that's what I've got for you today! This is the sample I made in the video, using another newly released stamp from IO - this is one from Alesa Baker, and it's such a great size for card fronts!

IO Products:

L20926 Evening Primrose

C13977 One Moment

Check the gallery for a few more samples using some of IO's new floral slimline stamps - they are gorgeous with this technique!!

Impression Obsession April Release Hop Day 2

Welcome back for another day of projects using brand new Impression Obsession stamps! All new stamps are available HERE! We are kicking off the month with a 2-day hop, showing off the new releases - today is day 2! If you're already hopping and you came from Anna's blog you are in the correct place. If not, head over to the Impression Obsession Blog for the start of the hop so you don't miss anything!

This big bee collage is another fun part of this month's collection - and if you like bees, click on the smaller cousin of this image to check him out - he has a special message on his little back! 

For the card above, I stamped the collage image on watercolor paper then did a little watercoloring with Karin markers. The die cut is layered (maybe 3 cuts there?). It's from the Serendipity line - such a beautiful script!

The image crops nicely in a circle too - here I used a tag die and some alphabet dies for a little gift bag topper.

IO Products used here:

F13983 Bee Collage

SSDIE-066-E Blessings Die

DIE836-V Tag with Tags

DIE157-E Alphabet Plain LC

Keep hopping for more inspiration!  You can find a list of participants for both hop days on the Impression Obsession Blog. We will be giving away THREE Impression Obsession $25 gift certificates for the event - so the more you comment through our Release Celebration the more chances to win! All comments for each of the event days will be open until Monday April 12th at midnight CT so if you missed any posts from yesterday you can still go back to comment. All winners will be announced on Tuesday April 13th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today!

Impression Obsession April Release Hop Day 1

It's time for a new release from Impression Obsession! In this new model, each person on our artist team creates 3 collections that are released over a 6 month period. This month is one of "my" months and I'm so excited! 

All the new stamps are on the site now and you can check them out HERE - I'll wait!

We are kicking off the month with a 2-day hop, showing off the new releases. If you're already hopping and you came from Anna's blog you are in the correct place. If not, head over to the Impression Obsession Blog for the start of the hop so you don't miss anything! You might recognize this "dude" from a clear set that has been retired - I just needed him to stick around, so here he is in red rubber now, along with a few more sentiments about adulting! I hope this sentiment is relatable - this is how conversations go at my house.

IO Products used here:

E13990 Scrolling Gentleman

C13989 Tired

DIE967 Stitched Square Frame

Keep hopping for more inspiration - I hope you'll see more samples from my collections on the other blogs! Today and tomorrow (April 5-6) you can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog. We will be giving away THREE Impression Obsession $25 gift certificates for the event - so the more you comment through our Release Celebration the more chances to win!

All comments for each of the event days will be open until Monday April 12th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday April 13th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today!