Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

It's time for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, and I'm so excited to be a Super Sponsor again! Keep reading to find out how you can win these 3 art prints, and receive a special coupon code for my online store! You can find these and more in my store HERE!

I made a card for today's hop without any real plan... I think this one was meant for me, because I've been a little overwhelmed this week - our oven went out, my in-laws are on the way here, my oldest hasn't been feeling well, and I've had an additional work load with a painting in progress and card samples due for the Mixed Media show next month. All that to say... it felt good to pour some art out and process a little. Acckkk!

This teapot stamp is from my own line of stamps at Impression Obsession - you can see all my designs HERE, and if you hurry you can take advantage of their 25% discount code - it's only good through Sunday (6/25)!  You'll find all the details on their home page. 

I started with a white matboard square, stamping the background image in a light shade. I stamped the silhouette image then added some highlights and shading with pencils - the highlights were done with a white Coloursoft pencil, and the deep shadows and counter surface were done using Inktense pencils.

My base panel is from a file of gel prints and other papers I've used to clean my brayer - it's got some fun copper tones in it that play well with the blue of the tea pot.

Stamps I used: Small Teapot, Teapot Diagram, Better Tomorrow

For a chance to win prizes in our hop this week, you have to play along! Head over to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog for all the details, and to link up your spring coffee, tea, or cocoa themed project! 

One lucky winner will receive one of my handmade coffee art pendants for participating this week - You can find these and more coffee (and other!) themed gifts in my online store - and to thank you for hopping and visiting today, you can use coupon code COFFEEHOP for 20% off your entire order!

Thanks again - enjoy the hop, and go make something pretty! xoxo

Splitcoast tutorial: Pencil Shaded Watercolor

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a fun technique from Debby Hughes - Pencil Shaded Watercolor. It's a fun mixed media technique for adding details and depth to a watercolor painting by using regular colored pencils.

I watercolored my bird image on a Inchie Arts Swatch - it's 2" x 4" and I love this size for CAS card layouts. I used QoR paints for watercoloring... so happy to have them OUT to get started on some paintings for fall... it's been too long since I've done anything new!

I added some shading with Derwent Coloursoft pencils (great price on those now, by the way!) - just a little, to add some detail and depth. I didn't have any solvents to use for blending, so I just colored lightly with sharp pencils, and blended with my finger.

The sequins are from Cartwright's - someone shared a link on Splitcoast, and I had to check them out - they have beautiful colors, and great prices too! These are the Moonshine ones - they're colorless, and so pretty.

Stamps I used: Bird Branch, Soft Place, CAC Sunset Sky 

Check out the tutorial - Debby Hughes is amazing! :)

Splitcoast Tutorial: Stamp Selfies

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is such a fun one - Amy Lee is sharing how she makes her Stamp Selfie cards! I love her idea that stamp images have their own secret lives - hers went on a little vacation to London! So cute.

I skipped some steps from the tutorial and just used the negative cut from my frame die rather than cutting and masking a full panel - that works for me, and makes the boundaries easy to determine. This die is from Impression Obsession - it's a cute little set with photo corners as well.

I built my simple scene with the Seaside Wishes set from Sugar Pea Designs, and colored it with Coloursoft pencils. The little die cut "clips" are actually... wait for it...

Sheep feet! 

These cards are lots of fun - if you don't have a frame die, just find a rectangle die and a square die that can nest inside, and cut them at the same time. Hope you'll try it!

Happy Father's Day!

A very happy Father's Day to the fathers in my life - my Daddy, my husband (the daddy of my 4 amazing kiddos), and my brother, the father of my nephew! Happy day.

The image I used is stamped on a 3" Wheat Art Square from Inchie Arts - I trimmed the side down where the image ended. This is one from Flourishes, who recently reopened their online store. The sentiment is from one of my recent clear sets from Impression Obsession.

Because I started with a colored base, I just added highlights with a white pencil and shading with a dark brown pencil (these are Coloursoft pencils, which are great for light coloring - they're very easy to use with a light hand). The lower panel is a torn and crumpled piece of metallic cardstock.

I made this card when I was doing scratch art backgrounds - this is the one that I started in the video, then added more layers of color and scratched text... I flipped it upside down so it wouldn't occur to anyone to read it, since it was sort of an emotional plea... ;)

Here's the lot of us! Have a wonderful day!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Mirror Image Stamping

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a new twist on a reflection effect - Lydia brings us her Mirror Image Stamping technique. Using the MISTI and a solid background stamp, you can get a perfect reflective image.

I used a Phyllis Harris set from Unity called Always from the Heart, and just created an extra little pool for these sweet friends to be standing in. Since the pool is colored first, their little feet ended up a bit blue, but that sort of works too. I also noticed that those two little dots in the sky were intended to be birds, but the pencil sketching didn't render well - I think I'll just trim those out. After stamping, the rest of the background was colored with PanPastels, and the girls were colored with Coloursoft pencils.

I've done a reflective technique using acetate, but using the MISTI lets you use a solid rubber stamp to get a more precise image. I didn't have a solid stamp so I used the back of a naked rubber background stamp, and that worked pretty well.

Hope you're having a good week - I'm still sorting and packing, and I added just a few items to my for sale page - you can check that HERE, and please email me if you'd like something!

Impression Obsession DT Thursday!

It's time for Impression Obsession's DT Thursday! On the weeks we're not hosting challenges, the designers take turns sharing a project for inspiration. It's my turn - so welcome!

I have the distinction of being a designer for Impression Obsession as well as one of their licensed artists... for today's project I pulled out some of my earlier stamp designs that were released in the spring of 2013, a collection of fun vintage sewing images. 

This card is made of mostly 'found' supplies - I stamped the dress form on a book page, and colored and shaded the image with Coloursoft pencils. The buttons were cut from a small piece of chipboard (it's the top of a tea box), and they're 'threaded' with small strips of cardstock. The background panel and horizontal strip are gel prints from a scrap stash. The lace at the bottom was die cut from tissue paper that once wrapped an ebay purchase.

These are the supplies I used:

Sew Loved

Border Duo 2

Buttons

Daisy Dress Form

Thanks for visiting me! What stamp designs are missing from your collection?

Perfect Paper Crafting with Impression Obsession

Today the Impression Obsession designers are teaming up with Perfect Paper Crafting for a blog hop today - here's my project, and you can visit the I.O. blog and the P.P.C. blog to see the rest, and find out the details of the hops - there are prizes! Be sure to leave a comment here for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate!

I decided to make a Herringbone background with strips of stamped paper scraps, using the Perfect Ruler... it has that center bar with a grip that holds the paper in place, which works really well up to the last inch.

I love scrap backgrounds, and this is such a fun and easy way to use up scraps. There's a tutorial HERE if you'd like to make one yourself.

I used one of my earlier designs (Par Avion), and just added some simple coloring with Coloursoft pencils around the ocean. The vellum tag is in a small drawer of embellishments that have followed me around the world, and the word stamp can be found HERE.

I hope you'll visit the company blogs to see the other projects! Thanks for stopping by today!

Kraft Tulip ATC

This card was made for the Mix-Ability challenge a couple of weeks ago, but with so many extra things going on last week, I never got a chance to post it! I'm not entirely thrilled with it, but maybe it will inspire someone... you never know!

I started with a kraft matboard ATC from Inchie Arts - I haven't worked on this color much, so I wanted to try it in pencil... also, my husband bought me a set of Derwent Coloursoft pencils for Christmas that haven't seen much light, so I wanted to play with those as well.

I started by laying in my shading, and then building up layers slowly - the Coloursoft pencils are ideal for this type of coloring technique, withe their soft leads. They seem to work best with a light touch.

I kept adding in medium tones and leaving the highlight areas alone, then built layers by increasing pressure and blending the layers together. I colored in the background with an alcohol marker to add contrast. Here's a closer picture of the finished ATC...

IO products I used: Elegant Tulip, Ornate Square Frame, Maya clear set

I'll be working on finishing up a batch of fall/winter stamps for Impression Obsession this week, followed by a Splitcoast tutorial for next week, so if I go missing, that's what's up. One day I'll get ahead enough to think about designing stamps during their season for the next go-round, but I haven't made it there yet. It's hard to get in fall or winter mood when spring is just beginning!