Impression Obsession March 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 this month with a 2-day hop, showing off the new releases - today is day 2! 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 have a collection of sunflowers in this release as well - after all the crazy weather this last month I'm really ready for some sunshine! Check the new release section for this image in 2 different sizes, and a gorgeous full-card side view sunflower. Lots of bright and sunny sentiments as well.

For this card I added some rays in the background with this stencil, then used Karin markers and a brush to create the impression of a field of flowers behind my stamped image.

IO products I used:

H13972 Sunflower

B13974 Hey There Sunshine

DIE1058-ZZ Stitched Tag #5

Other products:

Karin markers 

(use code DINA15 for 15% off your Marker Universe order)

Big Rays stencil 

(use code DINAFAN10 for 10% off at A Colorful Life Designs)

Keep hopping for more inspiration! You can find a list of participants for both hop days 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 Mar. 8th at midnight CT, so if you missed any posts from yesterday you can still go back to comment. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Mar. 9th on the Impression Obsession Blog!

Your next stop on the hop is Giovana's blog- thank you for visiting me today!

Impression Obsession March Release Hop Day 1

It's time for a new release from Impression Obsession! In this new model, each person on our artist team creates 3 collections that are released over a 6 month period. This month is one of "my" months and I'm so excited! 

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!

Along with some quiet and peaceful sentiments, this collection has several original lotus images - there are 3 single flowers in different 'poses' and then a slimline-length floral spray. I think they're a great size for focal images on a card! I created a one-layer card here on watercolor paper, stamping the floral image and then adding some loose brushstrokes around it  to create the illusion of the flower floating on the water. 

I love this sentiment - it was inspired by a video I saw on Facebook, such a good reminder to keep moving forward, steady your focus, leave the past behind, and to be at peace. 

Stamps I used:

F13970 Lotus Flower 3

C13978 Quietly On

Keep hopping for more inspiration - I hope you'll see more samples from my collections on the other blogs! I have some fun sunflower images in this release as well. Today and tomorrow (Mar. 1-2) 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 Mar. 8th at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Mar. 9th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Your next stop on the hop is Giovana's blog- thank you for visiting me today!

Impression Obsession - Be Crafty!

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring craft supplies! This month's release is full of images that work really well with the theme. I hadn't shared the Sewing Supplies set yet, so here's a slimline card featuring that image. 
I mentioned before that I designed these stamps with slimline cards in mind - here I repeated the image on both ends of the panel, did a little ink blending for a soft neutral look, then added shadows in with grey Copics. Very simple!

I love this sentiment by itself, but you could pair it up with other text, like thank you, thinking of you, happy birthday...it's just a sweet one for crafty friends that feel like family! Take a look at the stitching detail too - that was done with a border die set that I'll link below! 

IO Products I used:

L13953 Sewing Supplies cling/wood stamp 

C13967 Creative Sister cling/wood stamp

DIE959-S Border Stitching die set

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

Splitcoast Tutorial: Kissing Joseph's Coat

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers is a mashup of two classic techniques, the Kissing technique and Joseph's Coat technique! Meet Kissing Joseph's Coat. 

With the Kissing technique, two inked stamps are pressed together before stamping to paper - the solid image stamps with the inked texture on the image. The Joseph's Coat effect is created by capturing a brightly inked background under clear embossing powder. Dark ink is applied over the embossing to make it pop. Combining the two techniques, a texture stamp is 'kissed' onto a solid stamp inked with Versamark ink, so the texture is added to the image. 

I used a vintage kimono stamp from Judikins - I love these large ones! For the texture I used a small crackle stamp (this one, which never leaves my desk). 

The sentiment is an older one from Impression Obsession - it's here... such a nice one for sympathy or recovery. I scooched the ends of the strip in so it bows out just a little.

Here's what we're dealing with in Missouri - expecting at least 3 more inches today... our well pump has also either frozen up or died, so that's going on too! *sigh*

Be well, and warm!

Impression Obsession - February Release Favorites

Have you enjoyed the projects using this month's new release from IO? We've got another round of cards to share today, showing off our favorites! 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 had a lot of fun watercoloring this image - the paints in my favorite palette are actually in this order! This image can be positioned at any corner of the panel, or you can move it in - there are a couple of samples on the IO site where the watercolor fade looks super cool! I hope you've liked the crafty stamps from this release - they have been some of my most favorite to work with.

Stamps I used:

J13956 Paint and Palette

C13962 Humblest Tasks

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 Feb. 22 at midnight CT. All winners will be announced on Tuesday Feb. 23rd on the Impression Obsession Blog.

Your next stop on the hop is Giovana's blog- thank you for visiting me today!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Pop-Up Flip Card

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Pop-Up Flip Card! Closed, it looks like this:
When the card is opened, that focal panel flips itself to the inside, where you can pair it with other design elements or sentiments. Fun, huh? So many possibilities.

I used some of my new stamping themed stamps for this card. The Stamping Supplies image repeats nicely for a background pattern, and I did some tone-on-tone stamping for the front of my card, then repeated the image inside on the sentiment strip.

By the way, when you're coloring in this image, the poppy rectangle in the bottom left is a wood stamp! Hope you like this little series of stamps for crafters! You can find all of them HERE.

Freckle bird beads!

I've been on a bit of a bird binge over here! In my free time I've been working on designing a bird bead from polymer clay. Here is the result! Each one is absolutely unique, and has its own little personality. I'll be restocking my store weekly with the colors I have on hand.

If you're a jewelry maker, or know a jewelry maker, these are lots of fun to work into a finished necklace or bracelet! If you're a jewelry wearer, I do have some finished pieces in my store! Here are a few that have sold (I was able to make multiples of a couple of these and they may still be available if you hurry!)

The wire nest necklaces have been popular... my first four sold out the first day!

I also made some polymer clay twig beads to use with the birds - they make a perfect resting place, with some dangling beads and charms underneath!  I do have 2 more of the design below. 

Here are the twig beads - these are also in my store if you'd like some for yourself! They are hand formed and hand painted.

I've got some adorable handmade owl beads in the store too (like the one on the right). The center pendant is a ceramic owl paired up with some of my handmade beads and a pretty little copper bead cap... that might make a really cute kit! (Would you be interested in something like that? Please let me know in the comments!)

Here's another adjustable necklace that is still in the store! I love the colors of this one.

One more bird related item - I will be adding these to the store today! These beads are shaped in a hand-carved mold and each one is hand painted. I've got them in 2 sizes - the smaller size is pictured below. I love them so much! 

I've got earrings too, in case you're looking for something handmade! I'm wearing these ones right now - they're about 2" long, and very lightweight. 

Have a wonderful week!

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 week's tutorial on Splitcoaststampers was a Watercolor Bleed Technique, so I used that technique for my background here. I used this stencil for my base, tracing each circle with a watercolor pencil and moving the stencil each time so the circles just touched. In the tutorial she lined her images up and that would have been easier than 2 stacks of images... it was a lot of area to keep wet all at once. I ended up adding some misted water once I had the circles filled, to cover up a couple mistakes add that splashy effect. 

This silhouette image is one of my favorites, from a 2017 Valentine release... so perfectly sweet. The word stamp is from a really versatile Valentine set - it's full of words that can go together to build all kinds of lovey sentiments! How many can you come up with?

Here's a closer look at the background - I love the way all the colors settled, and the texture that was added with the misted water. 

Stamps I used:

E13625 Puppy Love Silhouette

CL634 Valentine Brush Words

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

In other news, I've been having trouble getting into my 'other' Instagram account where I show off my stamp designs, but I found a workaround and it's back! If you don't follow me there, please do! :)