Impression Obsession - don't forget digital!

Howdy doo! I'm pulling in late because I started a new job today as a graphic designer at Jostens! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to work there. Today I learned to use their online editor and worked on templates for elementary school memory books. (in step 2, that's me creating the pages!)

Today you'll find our design team sharing favorite projects. I have a couple of Halloween cards today featuring our digital stamps, because I don't want you to forget them! If you love Gary Robertson's artwork, be sure to browse through this gorgeous collection of drawings exclusively  made for IO, and tuck a few into your cart!

both of the images I used are printed on watercolor paper and painted with QoR watercolor paints. I started here with a base of yellow, and layered in more paint and some colored pencil, adding highlights with a white paint pen.

For the second card, I used the same process, layering in some extra shadows on the front of the house. I should have brightened up the pumpkin so it would pop - another time I'll have to color it up like a night scene with a light inside the jack-o-lantern.

One of the most delightful things about Gary's images are black cats - did you notice this one?

IO Products:

E1842-DG Cat in the Jack digital stamp

H1838-DG Jack with House digital stamp

CL1365 Little Monster clear stamp set

CL886 Monster Mash clear stamp set

PP007 Vintage Halloween paper pack

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

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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 - new products for May!

It's time for a new monthly release from Impression Obsession! Haven't seen the new products? They're all HERE - go take a peek! I'll wait.

This month I chose to showcase two new paper packs, and since I didn't get any stamps I thought it would be fun to remind you that Gary Robertson's beautifully detailed artwork is still available in digital format! His architectural and scenic stamps are a perfect matchup with the new textural and natural paper designs. Think wood, stone, brick.

Today's card features a smaller digital image that I colored with Copics and acrylic paint pens. One of the new paper packs is full of different wood textures, and I loved this pairing with the mushrooms. 

IO Products:

D1486-DG Toadstools digital stamp

DIE1163 Trims die set

DIE837 Wacky Stitched Circles die set

PP033 Wood Textures Paper Pack 

PP022 Basics 14 - Blacks Paper Pack  

DIE969 Whimsical Round Windows die set

CS1204 Valentine Piglet & Eeyore clear stamp sets

Two lucky customers who place an Impression Obsession order during May release week (May 15th – 21st) will be chosen and will have a very special Impression Obsession prize package added to their orders!

May 15th & 16th The Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps and dies! You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

IO Stamps Blog

Angela Bode

Anna Wight

Dina Kowal <<<<< you're here!!

Giovana Smith

Jeanne Streiff

Laura Fulcher

Laura Williams

Vicki Garrett

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!

New digital stamp set - Pooh Cards!

I have a new set of digital stamps in my Etsy store - if you love Classic Winnie the Pooh like I do you'll love how easily this set works for card fronts! I have these 3 printables in the set, which are actually 8.5" x 11" (perfect for wall decor!) but can be sized down to 4.25" x 5.5" for greeting cards. All the separated images and sentiments are in the bundle as well.

I don't have sample cards done because of printer issues, but hopefully next week I'll be back with some samples to share. Have a wonderful week!

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!

Deployed Soldier digital set

Happy 4th! I added the Deployed Soldier digital set to my new Etsy store this week - this is a combination of some newer images with a few verses and sentiments that had been previously released with an older version of the soldier image. 

These are all the images in the set (7 total!) - the jpg and png versions are sized about 2x larger than the physical stamps were, and the svg format allow them to be resized to your heart's content for prints or vinyl cuts.

Here are a few projects that I made with the stamp versions of these images - digital images can be resized and flipped for lots of different effects.

If you share your work using my stamps on Instagram be sure to tag me @dkdesigns_stamps! If you post to the Splitcoaststampers gallery, kindly add dkdesigns and dinakowaldigital to your keywords. Thank you so much for your support!

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!

New Etsy store!

I've been working slowly to build up inventory in a new Etsy store - this one will just be digital downloads! 

Come take a peek at Dina Kowal Digital! 

I started at the beginning of my art archive, so most of the digital stamp sets in there go back to my days with Our Daily Bread Designs, but I do have a few more recent sets uploaded and I'm steadily adding more! You will have seen some of them before, but there will be new ones added too - like this adorable Patriotic Pooh set I finished yesterday!

This set has 6 images which are quite large - all images and sentiments in my sets come as jpg, png, and svg files so you can use them as print or cut files. If you're not American or you want to support a different cause, there are blank flag images too.

I've got a couple of digital paper packs in there, and one is Pooh themed - I'll be adding more of these in the future too, as well as migrating my paper bead cut files over from my other store.

If there's a set you'd like me to add, or if you have requests for future sets, please let me know! I'm excited about this! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!

Splitcoaststampers tutorial: Slimline Diorama Card (and Pooh beads!!)

It's my turn to share a tutorial over on Splitcoast - I've been toying with this Slimline Diorama Card for a while and got it to work for today!

This is a trifold design - you can find instructions for the base on the tutorial page. I had fun playing with some dies I hadn't pulled out for a while - I'll list them all below for you in case you want to recreate either of these designs! The instructions are the same for horizontal and vertical cards.

The back panel can be glued to the box portion, but I like leaving it open - it gives a little more stability to the card when it stands, and the angle adds some dimension to the diorama too.

How fun are these squirrels?! For the branches I cut a tree die in half and displayed it sideways.

Dies I used:

Impression Obsession:

DIE078-F Sea Birds

DIE179-J Beach Fence

DIE176-E Mini Shell Set

DIE178-C Sm. Grass Border

DIE164-A Pail

DIE969-N Whimsical Round Windows

DIE310-WW Forest

DIE213-D Squirrel Set

Spellbinders Mega Ovals (retired)

I hope you're having a great week! We went away for the weekend so I have a feeling the next few days will be pretty crazy as I try to catch up on orders and start getting ready for an upcoming class. 

I added a few Pooh themed beads to my Etsy store - if you see one you'd like colored or worked into a jewelry piece, let me know and I'll create a special listing for you! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!

Sunflowers! Spellbinders and more

True to form, I have a back log of Spellbinders projects to share, and I'm late! These are products that were introduced in February, lots of great staples that work nicely with things you already have. On the day I made these samples Ukraine was heavy on my heart, so you'll notice their flag's color theme throughout, along with sentiments of well wishes and courage. 

This floral foiling set has lots of possibilities - I love that the coordinating dies cut into the foiled lines so the foil goes right to the edge of each piece. I also love the way the flowers fit and layer together - so cool! Interlocking the layers pops every other petal up just a little, for a little extra dimension.

This banner set is just a clever design - the sentiments can mix and match, and since each piece of the banner is separate you can have as few or as many lines as you like! The stripe in the background is such an elegant touch.

The flourish stamp is a vintage image, and it's in my line over at Impression Obsession. Such a simple and powerful background image in a single color.

One more sweet foiled sentiment on a watercolored background - I stamped the sunflower image (another one of mine!) on watercolor paper and did some loose brushing and splattering to create the background.

That striped foil accent is the same plate I used above with the banner set - just another way to use it!

The sunflower I used above is the same one that is available in this digital kit I added to my Etsy store today - the set contains two 6x6 papers, two sentiments, and the sunflower line art for your cardmaking use! All proceeds will be donated to Agape Int'l, which is a Ukrainian orphanage helping with evacuations and humanitarian aid. The American friends I mentioned above work with this organization so I can affirm that they are actively working to help their own people in so many ways. 

Spellbinders Products:

Glimmer Edge Flowers Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die Set

Sentiments for Everyday Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die Set

Sentiment Banner Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die Set

Essential Label Etched Dies - retired

DOML MAY20 Kaleidoscope Card Creator - retired

Other Links:

SS-1349-F All Shall Be Well

N22047 Ornate Flourish

D13971 Small Sunflower

Maintain Hope digital fundraiser bundle

Maintain hope! I need to remind myself. 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, 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!