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! 
I made this card for last week's tutorial on Splitcoast, demonstrating how to use the color wheel to choose color harmonies... here's the story of how I chose this image. Ha! I usually work from a script to voice over my videos because it's hard for me to work and talk and a voice over gives me more freedom to edit - BUT - with this tutorial it made much more sense to have the color wheel in my hands and talk about its features while showing how to use them. I did 2 videos, and in the second one I showed how to use a resource sheet that's a free download on the tutorial page. I had a desert image next to me that I had stamped to color, and I was thinking it released in August and would be ok to use... then realized it doesn't release until September! I couldn't edit the voice part out, so I did some creative clipping and went to see what other desert image I had to work with... and this was the only other one! So here we are. The image is watercolored using 5 QoR paints. That tutorial is HERE if you're interested in checking it out! (And now you know... the rest of the story!)

IO Products:

F1756-DG Cactus (digital stamp)

F1756 Cactus (rubber stamp)

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

Impression Obsession July 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!

This is a mini slimline card, and it was so easy to make! I started with a pale yellow card base, so no ink blending needed. I stamped the rays in yellow, then the lighthouse image. Base - done! The sentiment is  stamped on a die cut and folded over the top layer.  I love this sentiment - I think we all can relate to seasons of life. Keep hanging on!

IO Products:

P13996 Lighthouse

P13997 Rays

B22017 Resilience

DIE937 Stitched Tag

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 July 26th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday July 27th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Hop along! Here's the list: 

Impression Obsession Blog 

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

Jeanne Streiff 

Splitcoast tutorial: Stamped Brayer Blending

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is called Stamped Brayer Blending - isn't this pretty?!
I haven't used this background for a while, but I love the design (ahem, it's one of mine!) - the trees are in the negative which allows all the ink to create amazing sky backgrounds! I should do more of these - any requests? I brayered the ink right onto the stamp, and rather than applying all the ink at once, I did one color at a time from light to dark, then repeating until I had the saturation I wanted. Once all the inking was done, I misted lightly with water and lifted with a paper towel to add that texture to the background.

The die cut deer is three layers thick - next time I'll do some trimming on that top layer to add a little more dimension to the legs and head - thought about that too late.

IO Products:

CC252 CAC Sunset Sky

DIE306 Deer and Doe

B13981 Enduring Comfort

A side note..... I had a friend email me to let me know that she had ordered stamps through my affiliate link and wanted to be sure I had gotten the credit - when I checked, her order had not registered for some reason. I appreciated the contact so I could follow through. If you order intentionally through affiliate links, that little extra step is really helpful! If you are inspired to shop after seeing a designer's work, take the time to go back and click their link 'one more time, just in case' before you check out. Thanks!

I hope you're having a great week!

Impression Obsession DT Theme: At the Beach

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring a beachy theme. I mixed my sandcastle stamp with Nola's little ladies on this card and was sort of impressed with myself!

For the background I did some masking and inking for the sky, then added horizontal streaks with a pencil and with an eraser. The water is stamped with the new Water Texture stamp for... well... water texture. The sandcastle image has some added pencil highlights and shading. Fun, huh?

IO Products:

N13994 Sand Castle

E21428 Beach Buddies

D13993 Water Texture

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 - if you hurry over there TODAY (July 14th), you can catch all these beach themed stamps on sale, even the new releases! Take a tiptoe through the clearance pages while you're there too!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Floating Strips

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is called Floating Strips - it's a fun background technique for adding dimension and using up strips of paper and cardstock. I just got this guy from B-Line Designs - he reminded me of Dick Tracy, so I colored him up in yellow.

When I showed the card to my son, he said MOM, you made the Man in the Yellow Hat! Remember him from Curious George? Then I realized how ironic it was that I chose this 'monkeys' sentiment. Funny, huh? (The sentiment is by Tim Holtz and it lives next to my computer to remind me that I don't need to answer everyone's stamping questions on Facebook!)

The background strips are from my scrap stash - I used double sided tape to layer them on acetate, and that panel is popped up just a little bit... I used cardstock to pop it up rather than foam tape, because my acetate is pretty heavy. 

Anyone know what happened to B-Line Designs? I thought they were an older company but I see that they posted on Facebook as recently as April 2020, then disappeared. Their website is still accessible. I'd love to have more of their stamps - I love this style! Let me know if you know!

Hope you're well - I am busy as usual - I have some mini portraits coming up (ooh, I finished the cats - they're HERE), and stamp art to work on!

Impression Obsession July 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!

I added some scene stamps this time - on this card I featured the left and right bank images - these are separate images, so you can position them wherever and however you like in relation to each other and to the edge of the paper. You can angle them for different looks, make them meet in the middle, or alternate them as I did for this little inlet. I did my stamping in green (I think this is Versafine Spanish Moss), added texture to the water with another new stamp, and then proceeded to shade with colored pencils and some brushed ink.

For a realistic look, I pulled some ink and pencil reflections into the water beneath each bank image, then added some lines around the base of each one with a white paint pen. Additional texture was added with a battery eraser, which lifted some of the ink in the water. The cloud stencil I used is here.

IO Products:

D13999 Left Bank 

D22015 Right Bank

D13993 Water Texture

B13979 Quiet Places

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 July 12th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday July 13th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today! Here's the rest of the hop list.

Impression Obsession Blog 

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

Jeanne Streiff 

Impression Obsession July 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! This month I added a few beachy slimline stamps to the mix - I hope you like them! Another fun thing about this release is that I have a new image code! You might not have noticed, but up until now all my stamp images have started with "13" - well, now they start with "22". That means I have over 1000 stamp images in the IO catalog (and that doesn't count sets and background stamps)!

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!

Instead of a slimline card, I used the lighthouse stamp for a regular A2 card. I started with yellow orange cardstock, masking a horizon line for the ocean and a circle for the setting sun. I brushed a little orange ink lightly against the edges of both masks, just enough for contrast. 

The birds are a separate stamp - looks like I got a little extra 'squish' when I stamped them! Oops! The sentiment is stamped on the largest sentiment banner die cut from the slimline set - I will link that up below.

IO Products:

P13996 Lighthouse

C22018 Drop Ocean

D22016 Scene Birds

DIE1091 Slimline Sentiments Flag

Keep hopping for more inspiration - I hope you'll see more samples from my collections on the other blogs! Today and tomorrow (July 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 July 12th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday July 13th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Thank you for visiting me today! Hop along!

Impression Obsession Blog 

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  

Jeanne Streiff 

Splitcoast Tutorial: Corner Flip Card

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Corner Flip Card.  True confession ... I actually accidentally (because I am left handed and use my trimmer upside down) made my card upside down, which was fine until I tried to stand it up. Not a huge deal, but maybe I will pay more attention next time! 
I pulled out some vintage stamps - the cat is from Stamp Cabana, and came in a full bundle of wood stamps that had at some point in the past been a stamp show special. They're hilarious, all cat themed. The sentiment is from a company called Stampola that had some great and quirky designs as well. I miss the old companies! I'm really enjoying collecting vintage stamps lately... I guess that is my creative rebellion at the moment as everyone else stresses over getting all the newest releases every month. Ha!

The sentiment fit just perfectly on the square created by the flipped corner, so I placed it there and added another panel to the inside of the card.

Fun huh? I'm all about cats this week, hoping to finish this triple portrait by Friday! Good times.

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 actually made this card for last week's Splitcoaststampers tutorial - if you missed it you can find it HERE! This is a layered tag card, and these new birthday dies made the front very easy to assemble.

To create the tags I cut three pieces of cardstock to 3.5" x 6.5". I flipped the top layer over on the 2nd one and used the curved hill die to cut both edges so they would mirror, then trimmed the top panel for a better overlap. I cut some 1/4" strips from all 3 pieces to line a portion of the bottom tag.

The die cuts on the front of my tag are cut from watercolor paper and the words and numbers are lightly brushed with ink. I used Copics to color the balloons. Before adhering them I traced the edges where they would overlap on the green balloon, and colored inside those lines just slightly lighter than the other balloons so they looked like they were showing through. The second tag holds a gift card - the die I used there is one of my designs from IO but it's been discontinued. 

IO Products:

DIE1080 Party Balloons

DIE1076 Birthday Words

DIE1074 Big Numbers

DIE1079 Number Add-Ons

DIE343 Hill Landscape Layers

L13922 Big Bow

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!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Contact Paper Transfer

It's my turn to share a tutorial over on Splitcoast, so I've got the Contact Paper Transfer tutorial up today! This is not a new technique (though I hadn't done it with contact paper before) but I couldn't believe we didn't have any image transfer techniques on the site! I've done this for years with packing tape, but I like that the contact paper gives us more area to work with than just a 2" wide strip. I made a window card using a laser-printed image of a Van Gogh painting (thanks to all who thought this was my work!) - I've been using this image for transfers onto jewelry components as well. One of my favorites, no surprise!I've been working on a project for publication, a portrait of 3 cats, and I'll have a booth in a pop-up show for local entrepreneurs and artists this Saturday. Busy, as usual! Hope you're well and enjoying these summer days. Cheers!