Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Hello!

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a card or project that says, "Hello!" I thought this pretty Arbor would be a welcoming sight to anyone coming to visit... I watercolored the image using reinkers, and used Marigold, Peach, and Citrus Crush Flower Soft to add dimension to the scene. The fence die is from Quickutz.I layered 2 Cover-a-Card stamps for my background - Large Paisley and Thick & Thin. The sentiment can be found here. Here's a closer look at the Flower Soft:

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

Daniela @ For the First Time
Deborah @ Cards and Things
Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Jenny @ One Krafty Kat
Julie @ Out to Impress
Kathy @ Watermelon Sugar
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal

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.

Time for you

I love these new Spring Toppers from Flower Soft- all the designs are fun and trendy, but I especially love anything cute displayed in a teacup. I added Meadow and Citrus Crush Flower Soft to the garland and the flowers in the cup. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.
Pop over to the Flower Soft blog during this month to see all the new products for July!

Guess who's in the Limelight?!!

I have long been a fan of Flourishes' detailed images, and I'm honored and soooooo excited to be their guest designer this month! Take a peek over at their blog today and leave a little love on my intro, K? I'll be posting over there on Sundays this month - hope you will come over and visit!

Our Daily Bread designs July release hop!

July already! It's a special 'half-birthday' treat for me today to be joining Our Daily Bread design's talented design team as they showcase the new releases for July. If you're a regular reader of my blog and just happened upon my section of the blog hop, you may want to start back at the beginning. Prizes are involved! The Our Daily Bread designs blog is the place to get started - actually you'll start and end the hop there, and if you should happen to get lost or interrupted in between, you can always go there for a complete list of links in the correct order. If you came to my blog from Debi's blog you are doing just fine.

When you see me playing along, you know that I've had a part in the new release...... this month, these designs are my contributions!

I had special permission to use this photo, taken by Rachel Montiel... she had this to say about the photo: "I had just gotten married. My husband is in the Navy, and 2 months after we got married he left for a 6 month deployment to Kuwait. This picture was of him leaving. It is my favorite picture from that day. Although it did make me cry, I knew he would come back to me, safe and sound."

This month marks 6 years that I have lived away from the 'land that I love'... this flag to which I have pledged allegiance for as long as I can remember is so dear to my heart.

Here are links to both sets: Not Forgotten, Old Flag Background

Here's my card - I didn't do any coloring on this card... I stamped the image twice without reinking, then cut out the soldier from the first impression and layered him over the lighter impression, using an embossing stylus on the back side of the image to give him some dimension.

The panels of my card were all pulled from my scrap stash.

I made a second "clean and simple" card just for fun - this is using the Old Flag Background - I colored it with Polycolor pencils and stamped the Vintage Border Background over it with Distress ink, then cut out the 3 panels with a Quickutz window die. The base panel is embossed with the Vintage Border texture plate, and the sentiment is from a previously released patriotic set called God Bless America.
Hope you like it!

To be eligible to win prizes today, here is what you have to do:

* Hop to each blog on the list and leave a comment for each designer
* Return to the ODBD Blog, and tell us you completed the hop, follow any other instructions they have for you there, and let us know if there were any blogs you could not comment on.

After you leave a comment here, you'll be hopping to Chris' blog, Twinkles Glow with Stamps! (I do have my comment moderation turned on because I'll be sleeping while you hop... don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away!!)

Thanks for visiting me today!

Impression Obsession DT Post + FSC32 Hot Colors

Happy DT Thursday! It's my turn to post a card for Impression Obsession - I'm glad you popped by for a visit. I've chosen some hot summer colors to work with, inspired by Flower Soft's "Hot Colors" challenge this week. This is the image I used (Flower Pitcher), and the sentiment is from Birthday Cakes:Here's my card:

I stamped the image in Sahara Sand chalk ink, then watercolored with the same ink, and some other dye reinkers. I used Sage, Citrus Crush, Marigold, and Bright Pink Flower Soft on the flowers. I worked in layers with the Flower Soft, allowing the glue to dry each time. I tied the double bow with my Bow-Easy.

The team is getting excited about the new images that we've been playing with for CHA... you're going to love them! Be looking for some sneak peeks in the coming weeks! Thanks again for stopping by ------

Skipping Stones Design Sketch 82

Not sure what happened to June! It's already my last week as guest designer at Skipping Stones Design - thanks, ladies, for the opportunity to hang out with you... we'll have to do it again soon! Here's the sketch for this week's challenge - I took a couple of liberties... but it was fun!

I used patterned papers to piece my little hot air balloon scene, and added a little more color with my chalk pencils. This is a new set called Uplifting... all the elements of the set make putting a scene together so easy! I love the sentiment I used inside! It says, " Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, 'Do you like it? I did it just for you.'"~ Max Lucado

Remember to pop over to the SSD blog to see what the rest of the team has created! Thanks for stopping by to visit me!

Stamped "designer paper"

This is a pretty simple card, but I love the layout, and I love the focal panel... I saw some very similar designer paper (but I don't remember where... sorry I can't give credit for the inspiration!), and decided to recreate it myself - so often we ignore the small accent stamps that come with our sets. This is a great way to use them! The stamps I used are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. My flower is handmade, using punched flowers. The flowers on my homemade DP are colored with Touch Twin Markers.
While I'm here, I want to share one more new favorite link with you - Creating Memories in Time! The owner of this store also has an ebay store, here, and I have ordered from her several times... I just got a whole mess of Quickutz dies from her and the prices were unbelievable - up to 75% off retail! If you're looking for great prices on paper crafting supplies, be sure to check her out.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Just for fun.......

.......a cute little summer shaker card! The card front, card base, and shaker pouch are part of a card-making kit from Impression Obsession - there are different color sets and shaker shapes available (this is the small circle), and you can find them all here!
The image is called Lanterns (it's a much bigger image than shows in the circle frame!)... looks like a great place for a quiet conversation, and I love the whimsy of the lanterns. I tucked some heart confetti in the shaker. I also stamped Cover-a-Card Large Dots in white die ink on the card front before assembling my card.

Happy Summer to you!

Skipping Stones Design Sketch 81

Here's the sketch for this week's challenge at Skipping Stones Design - it's been a while since I've made a round card, so this was a bit of a stretch for me!
Here's my card - I grabbed this color combo from my scrap basket, stamped the scalloped panel with the berry from the Friendly Fruit set using Currant ink, and colored the berries with Prismacolor Pencils. The tag die is a Spellbinders exclusive from JustRite Stampers.
The bow needed 'something else' so I stamped another berry and embossed it from the backside so it had a little more dimension.
Pop on over to the SSD site to see what the rest of the team has created! There are incentives for joining us, too... but you can't win if you don't play along!

Have a great week!

Paper Crafts pub

A little personal 'woot' here... I have a card in the July/August 2011 edition of Paper Crafts Magazine! All stamps used are from Impression Obsession. Here's a picture that I took of the card before sending it in (hopefully theirs came out better!)... can someone send me a scan of my card in the magazine so I can see it? I'm sure it will be a while before I see my copy. Thanks!

What a crazy week it's been!