Impression Obsession September 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!
Mixed in with the Halloween sets this month is this clear set of cats silhouettes - there's a cardboard box die they can go in, or they can peek around edges or over the tops of things. So fun! I stenciled a background of 6 squares, laying a second stencil over for an additional pattern in the openings, then stamped a few of the cats in a balanced arrangement. Little design tip: I used a pencil point to dot white gesso into the eyes to give the cats a little life! 😏

IO Products:

CL1088 Black Cat Love clear set

DIE965-Y Small Tags

Speaking of cats, I added this pair of earrings to my Etsy store yesterday - I couldn't decide which order I liked better, so you can order an asymmetrical pair like this or get both the same.

IO 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 Sept. 20 at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Sept. 21 on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Hop along! Here's the list:

Impression Obsession Blog 

Ilina Crouse  

Jeanne Streiff 

Kia Gibson Clapper

Laura Fulcher 

Laura Williams

Lee Ann Barrett

Vicki Garrett 

Angela Bode 

Anna Wight 

Dina Kowal <<<<<< that's me!

Giovana Smith 

New art!

I've been working on this colored pencil piece for weeks, and it's finally finished! Prints and notecards are in my Etsy store now! I scanned the drawing all through my process to be able to document progress, and this is my favorite contrast between two stages. In the first photo all the color is in, then I went back in to lift out all the highlights, texture and details using erasers, tape, and a ceramic blade. So much fun, and such a difference! Cool huh?

It's always fun to work on different things! I'm back to commissions today though - bills to pay!

Spellbinders sale!

Goooooooo take a peek at the clearance section over at Spellbinders! I am always amazed at the $1 section - there are stamp sets and dies in there, and so much more. If you're a pin collector, there are a few special ones there too! Embellishments, inks, stencils... I only scrolled up to the $3 items - it's a lot to take in. I was a good girl though - and I had $10 in rewards points saved up, so that helped! 

When you shop through affiliate links, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral. It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins! 

Impression Obsession September 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! Head over to the Impression Obsession Blog for the start of the hop so you don't miss anything!

There are a few new slimline designs in this release - this card is simple but I was really pleased with how well the barn stamp worked in the background! Product links below. I wrapped some twine around the card, then did a 'silk wrap' knot to hold the ends... sometimes those jewelry making skills come in handy at my other desk! Lots of ink blending in the background, and I used a blender pen to pull some of the ink up into grassy strokes.

IO Products:

3274-LG Horse Vignette

SS-1149-K Summer Barn & Windmill

 

Keep hopping for more inspiration!  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 Sept. 13 at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Sept. 14 on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today!  Hop along!

• The IO Blog
  
• Ilina Crouse
  
• Jeanne Streiff
  
• Kia Gibson Clapper
  
• Laura Fulcher
  
• Laura Williams
  
• Lee Ann Barrett
  
• Vicki Garrett

• Angela Bode
  
• Anna Wight
  
• Dina Kowal <<<<< you're here!
• Giovana Smith

Impression Obsession September Release Hop Day 1

It's time for a new release from Impression Obsession! 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!

I just had fun making this card! I made it during my color wheel kick, so it's vibrant and fun... and how CUTE are these monsters? I stamped then in brightly colored inks then shaded with colored pencils and cut them out with the matching dies. The wonky circle die is an older one - I popped up the blue panel so each opening is surrounded with foam tape. The word pieces are just set in there, so they wiggle around a little bit - kind of a low-key shaker card.

IO Products:

CS1087 Monster Set

DIE1121-Y Monster Set Dies

DIE969-N Whimsical Round Windows

Keep hopping for more inspiration - I hope you'll see more samples from my collections on the other blogs! Today and tomorrow (Sept. 6-7) 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 Sept. 13 at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Sept. 14 on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today! Here's the hop list for more inspiration!

Impression Obsession Blog
Ilina Crouse
Jeanne Streiff
Kia Gibson Clapper
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Lee Ann Barrett
Vicki Garrett
Angela Bode
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<<<<<you're here!
Giovana Smith

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! 

This card was inspired by a brand new stencil from A Colorful Life Designs which is a really fun umbrella background! I used the stencil to emboss my card base, then set out to find stamps or dies that would be a good fit! Turns out IO has 3 umbrella dies, in case you ever need one...! I had this Beach Umbrella to use - this design is really cool because the 2nd and 4th sections are separate layers, so you can color each section without having to worry about going over the lines. 

Isn't that sentiment sweet?

Here's a better angle on the background - it's a little hard to see straight on! Such an easy technique and great way to break up a solid panel with a little texture. I love umbrellas... Evernote tells me I have 36 stamps, stencils or dies that feature them! (Five of those are rabbits holding umbrellas, which is a very specific and adorable collection.)

IO Products:

C3703 Until the Sun

DIE181 Beach Umbrella

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

Impression Obsession DT Theme: Friends

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring a friendship theme.

I wanted to share this card, because this is one of the catalog samples that quite a few stores have been doing as make-and-takes! If you have a local stamp store that carries IO products, see if they've got kits for this card. The silhouette image is an older one, but it was such a perfect fit with the Snowy Studio stamp in the background! I stamped the studio in a medium brown ink... I stamped the girls, covered them with a torn paper towel to add the paint splatters (white gesso maybe?), then added a few more splatters and grounded them with a white colored pencil.

IO Products:

H22032 Snowy Studio

 E13601 Snow Girls Silhouette

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for 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 a curated collection of themed stamps are 25% off! Take a tiptoe through the clearance pages while you're there too!

On the homefront............. it's been a week. I had a busy week full of lots of driving - to practices, school registration, picking up our glasses, volunteering at the State Fair, meeting a client to hand off a portrait... I never have had to fill up my tank twice in a week before! Homebody here.

Monday I went to pick up my Bel Air Reflections drawing from the fine art building at the fairgrounds and it was not there. Gone. Taken. I have contacted the newspaper and filed reports with the sheriff's office and been pushing on social media to get the word out, and have been so comforted by the care and sympathy I've found... though the artwork is still missing. If you'd be so kind, please pop over to my Facebook page and share my post! Someone knows where it is, and every share helps. 

Life goes on! I've had to keep moving. The boys started school yesterday, I've got a colored pencil piece to finish for publication, commissions to work on, and some fun wholesale opportunities coming up. Always something. Always!

Impression Obsession August 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!

I love a quick-and-simple Christmas card, so I added this card-sized stamp to my line - this is a half-tone photo stamp that's super easy to stamp and color in a hurry! I stamped in dark brown Versafine Clair ink and watercolored over the top - the shading is built into the image, so it doesn't take much coloring at all! If you want to add shading, the image is made up of dots, so shade in where the dots are closer together. The image can go up the side like this, or create a top or bottom border. It looks nice tone-on-tone as well, without any coloring.

IO Products:

L22030 Pixel Christmas Tree

C22024 Cozy Wishes

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 Aug. 23 at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Aug. 24 on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Hop along! Here's the list: 

Jeanne Streiff

Kia Gibson Clapper 

Laura Fulcher 

Laura Williams 

Lee Ann Barrett

Vicki Garrett 

Angela Bode 

Anna Wight 

Dina Kowal <<<<<< you're here!

Giovana Smith

Ilina Crouse

Splitcoast Tutorial: Sentiment Strip Pop-Up

I wasn't able to find a tutorial author for this week's slot so guess who gets to come to the rescue when that happens?! This week's tutorial is a Sentiment Strip Pop-Up card, and it's also a twofer, because I have a video for the background panels as well!
Can we talk about this adorable stamp set first though? How cute is that puffer fish? This set is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, and it's Fin-tastic Friends (there's a mermaid too - go peek!).

The card design has a little pop-up column in the center, which you can use to prop up all kinds of sentiment strips - there are so many cute ones in this clear set, so I got to show off a bunch of them!

On to the background panels - A Colorful Life Designs put out a massive release of all sorts of scenic stencils! I've used 9 stencils total here, and documented my process in a video for you in case underwater scenes are your thing. There are underwater stencils as well as mountain and desert stencils, and some others for grounding and other backgrounds. Here are all the scenic ones: 

.....and there are a couple of fish designs PLUS a sentiment set to kick off a line of clear stamp sets! Each of the stencils has both positive and negative pieces, so there are multiple ways to use each piece plus kabillions of combinations for scenes. So fun. As always, please use my coupon code for 10% off your order - or if you'd like the entire lot check out the Master Creator section for bundle discounts of 20%!

You can find my background video HERE and the card fold video HERE! Come back here and let me know what you think!

Our AC went out on Saturday and we have heat advisories until Thursday night... I actually put on Hawaiian music yesterday to try to trick my brain - at least if I'm going to be this warm, I need to feel like it's worth it! 

Tomorrow I'm attending an artist's reception at the MO State Fairgrounds - my Bel Air Reflections drawing was juried into the Top 50 gallery, and I'm excited to see it, along with the other honored artists and their work. Then back to work on a commission, if I can keep from sticking to it! This humidity is no joke! Bleh. 

Impression Obsession - Die Cut Obsession

There are so many amazing dies at Impression Obsession - this special Wednesday feature lets them have the spotlight! We hope you're inspired!

I can't get over how cute this bowl set is - and perfect for using up scraps! The spoons come in a separate set and can go with the bowls or the coffee cup set.

IO Products:

CL1079 Soup Sayings clear set

DIE1103 Soup Spoons

DIE1102 Soup Bowls

 DIE1091 Slimline Sentiments Flag

DIE837 Wacky Stitched Circles

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for die cutting inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the links and details! Have a great week!