Portrait update!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm closing my books for 2019. I may decide to add 1 or 2 Christmas orders later, but for now I need to be sure I finish what I have - September looks pretty full with extra projects in addition to the blur we know at Splitcoast as Septoctember. I'm happy to customize gift certificates in any size, and of course I'll take orders for 2020! THANK YOU for a great year!

If you'd like to see what I've been up to, you can take a peek in my gallery HERE, or my Instagram HERE!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Alcohol Marker Flicking

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a fun coloring technique (Alcohol Marker Flicking) - it's a great one for florals, since they have so much texture. Hope you'll check it out! 

I've been working on adding my stamp designs by collection to my website, beginning with the oldest ones, and I'm just up to my collection of Asian stamps, so this Oriental Poppy was in my head. It turned out to be perfect for this technique, using Copic markers R20, R22, and R24 along with a dark grey, an acrylic marker and a couple of colored pencils. I had the new Watercolor Stripes stencil from A Colorful Life Designs that I inked loosely for the background - this is a 6x9 stencil and I loooove that size for great coverage and lots of options for placement on A2 cards. 

I cut out the letters for hello with this die set, and added this sentiment below for balance. The French script stamp is one that I never put away - it lives on my desk all the time.

I hope you're having a great week! Three kids started school yesterday and my oldest is headed for his first year of college in TX next week, so my days are full of catching up, getting ahead, last minute memories and purchases - and a lot going on in my head!

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 from now on you'll be seeing our team feature them regularly. We hope you're inspired!

H13016 Globe Collage
A13010 Explore
DIE797-YY Crazy Stitched Set

I love following retailers who carry my stamps - it's just fun to see my stamps in their hands, and to connect with the people who use my designs to encourage others... a post from one of our retailers in the Netherlands last week got me reminiscing about the stamps from my very first release with IO back in 2012 - so today I'm pulling out a couple of those images to share! I'll work on adding image collections to my website - I like to see them grouped together, and sometimes they get lost on the site... especially since I have nearly 1000 designs in there!

Each of these cards was made using the same supplies. I inked the image using 3 Distress Oxide inks (Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint), using each color randomly but getting a full combined coverage with all 3. I used a wet paintbrush to blend out some of the ink, then misted with water, blotted, and spattered with a little more ink. I scribbled some words in pencil on each one, too.

E13020 Par Avion
A13008 Discover
DIE797-YY Crazy Stitched Set

There is a little light stenciling on each card with my favorite Rays stencil - I had someone write and ask about that one, and you can find it HERE (remember to use coupon code DinaFan10 for 10% off your order at A Colorful Life Designs!)

This doesn't usually happen, but I actually used washi tape on cards, and I think it looks ok...?!! And I finally found and bought white matte enamel dots - I can match them to any color with my Copic markers, and I'm really happy about that - I may need to buy a lifetime supply! These ones are by Eyelet Outlet.

H13022 Sail Collage
A13009 Dream 
DIE797-YY Crazy Stitched Set

I love this ship collage - actually all these stamps and the others from this release are really great for masculine cards. I love vintage mashups like these. So fun to create, and to work with.

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

Spellbinders August Club Kits!

I loved playing with the new kits from Spellbinders this month - I have a really deep love for school and office supplies, and these sets have so many fun elements for both! (When we picked up school supplies for the kids, I had to get myself a new set of pens... I definitely have a problem!)

The Large Die kit for August has some great pieces, and they're perfectly sized for card fronts and little vignettes. My card here has an open area in the front, and it was fun positioning the pens, pencils, paperclips and scissors to span the gap. The sentiment is from this teacher themed set. 

Also included in the kit are pieces to make a mini clipboard card - there are 3 pieces for the clip, as well as the paper piece and the folded base. (The base has rounded corners and could be used for any kind of card, nice little size - I love the versatility of these kits!)  I used foil cardstock for the clip, and took the extra step of embossing the pieces, which really made them pop. So very cute. These would make cute gift tags too, with a chipboard base.

For the sentiment I used this foiling plate, which fit perfectly - I'll have to remember this design for teachers later! The panel is popped up on craft foam, and I curved the corners just slightly.

You know I had to make a colored pencil card too! :) These were fun to piece together and line up in a row! 

I have a layered pencil set in my stamp line, so I used the sentiment here - these sets are a perfect pair really! 

One more quick card, and this one was made using this month's Glimmer Kit! The kit comes with 5 pennant plates, and the dies to match. The sentiments are fun, and the plates make it easy to match any school colors. I used Stazon Pigment ink on this plate, then added a little color to the letters with a colored pencil.

The football player is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Rough and Tumble - there were a few sets on ebay when I checked if you find that's one you need! I found my set at a local antique mall. The checks on this card and the first card I shared are from this set by the Stamp Market - it's a border you can repeat to fill any space.

Here are the full kits, and you can find the club kit info below! 

Large Die kit

Glimmer Kit

Thanks for visiting me today!

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Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Moody Blues

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project in blue.

I've gotten so much positive feedback about this beachy collection - I love that the stamps can be dressed up for Christmas or kept neutral for year-round stamping. Here I stamped in a deep navy ink, and added just a few hints of watercolor in the same tone. It's a very simple card, but the pearl and gold cord add elegance too. This actually would make a pretty framed piece - it's a pretty large image.

Here's the full stamp, and be sure to check out the coordinating images too!

Shell Wreath cling stamp

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration, and 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.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Acrylic Stencil Deboss

It's my turn to share a tutorial over on Splitcoast! It has been my pleasure over the last few years to work with Clearsnap to present tutorials using their products, and with the announcement that they will be closing.... this is our last collaboration. I'm truly so sad to see them go.

Supplies used:
ColorBox® Art Screens Trios - Disco
Spellbinders Coffee Brewing die set
A Jillian Vance Design - Perk Up clear set
Simon Says Stamp - Small Folded Banners die set
Impression Obsession Ornament Flourish die set

This week's technique is called Acrylic Stencil Deboss, and I hope you'll visit the tutorial page to see how it's done! The technique begins with a stencil impression, which you can achieve using a die cutting machine - you'll need to have an embossing pad on the bottom, then cardstock, and your stencil on the top. The Crossover II machine I have works great for this technique, since I can set the pressure to accommodate the extra thickness - those are on sale this month, so if you've been thinking about a new machine, now is a great time to get one at 30% off!  

Here's a second sample -I used the same stencil, but used the back side of the cardstock for a reverse impression. This truck die set from Spellbinders is one of my favorites!

Supplies used:
ColorBox® Art Screens Trios - Disco
Spellbinders Truckin' Through the Seasons die set
Spellbinders So Many Sentiments Etched die set
Maker's Movement Pierced Circles Nested Essential Die Set
Impression Obsession Treat the World cling stamp

I hope you're having a great week! I'm overwhelmed, not gonna lie! School starts next week, the State Fair starts Thursday, I have stamp art deadlines looming, commissions in progress, and a mountain of products to review, and I just saw that new Fall dies are in the chute... all good things, just all at once.... acckkk! How do you balance life when you're overwhelmed?

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!

The new Garden Bench die set is just full of possibilities for scene building and vignettes! I cut all the pieces from Canva-Paper and used Copic markers and a Pitt pen to color them in.

Here's the full set:

Garden Bench die set

I also used the Grass Border set, and the great thing about these dies is that you can use both sides of the cut. That's what I did here.

Grass Border set

My layers are built with some other new sets - you'll see a Stitched Pinking Circle and a Wacky Stitched Circle there, as well as the Pinked Stitched Sentiment Banner. The sentiment I used is here.

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