In the Air Challenge

Today the Impression Obsession challenge is "In the Air."  I chose my favorite "air" stamping topic...butterflies.

to make my card, I sprayed some Dylusion sprays onto white cardstock and then covered the piece with a circle stencil and sprayed it with water.  I waited a minute and then removed the stencil.  The water reacted with the sprays and added a circle design to the background.  To finish the card, I stamped some solid butterflies (silhouette 15 D5565)

Need more "airy" inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kittie, and Vicki created. Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

I'm Thankful For Challenge

Today, the Impression Obsession Challenge is "I'm Thankful For...."  Personally, I am thankful for so many things.  I am thankful that a family member's medical prognosis is better than expected.  I am thankful I will get to visit my mom for Mother's Day.  I am thankful for incredible friends and the crafting community.  I am also thankful the Washington Nationals finally won a game against the Atlanta Braves.

For today's challenge, I wanted to say I am so thankful for Spring flowers and warmer weather.  Our yard is in full bloom and so beautiful.  It makes my heart so happy just to look at it.

There are dogwoods:

And azaleas:

And assorted flowers:

Beautiful!

For my card, I used the Dogwood stamp (E12002) and tried to color it like the dogwoods in our yard.  They are mostly white with a little pink at the edges and yellow centers.  I used watercolor pencils for the edges and some yellow Flower Soft for the center.

For my background, I combined the Cover a Card Rolling Waves (CC123) and Cover a Card Circle Fusion 2 (CC110).  I layered blue Colorbox Chalk inks to represent the blue sky we had today, but when I find a combination of backgrounds I like, I often stamp more in other colors.  I stamped an extra background in browns to use at a later date:

Need more IO inspiration? Check out what Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kittie, and Vicki created. Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

Friday's Class

My friend Deedee introduced me to a product called Splash Inks, and I love them. The set comes with four colors of acrylic paint, and by following their ink "recipes," you can make hundreds of colors of ink. Basically, you are able to color-match anything you want.

I will be teaching an Intro to Splash Inks class this Friday night at Angela's if you are interested in joining me. We will be mixing colors to paint images from Kaiser Crafts and Impression Obsession. I will also show you how to load a waterbrush with paint to achieve a soft watercolor look.

I hope to see you there!

 

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IO Challenge- Flowers For You

Well, the cherry blossoms have come and gone, and the dogwoods are just starting to bloom. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying Spring. Today the IO design team is posting cards featuring flowers, and I can't wait to see what everyone creates. Bring on the flower power!

Instructions for my card:

Paper: 

Pink notecard

White cardstock- 5 ½” x 3”

Kraft cardstock- 5 ½” x 2 ½”

Stamp:

Impression Obsession Wildflower D8998

Impression Obsession Cover a Card Tapestry CC024

Inks:

Versafine

Colorbox Chalk Pink Pastel

Other Materials:

FRV1 Fluorescent Pink

FY1 Fluorescent Yellow Orange

YG25 Celadon Green

White embossing powder

Heat Gun

Instructions:

• Stamp flower three times with Versamark ink onto kraft cardstock
• Emboss with white powder
• Color the flowers with Copic markers
• Let the ink dry
• Add a second layer of color with markers to add a bit of shading.  Important…just add a bit of color here and there.  Don’t cover the first layer of color completely.
• Stamp background onto pink notecard using Mega Mount. 
• Layer the pieces of the card.

Need more quote inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kittie, and Vicki created. Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

Impression Obession Challenge- Spring

Well, in theory it is Spring, but I have to say, it doesn't feel like it!  It is so cold, and the windchill just makes it worse.  I live in the DC area, and the cherry blossoms STILL aren't in full swing.  One of the few things you can find in bloom are pansies.

For today's card, I used the Pansies stamp (E7714), the Merci saying (B3921), the Screen Cover a Card (CC049), and the Ticking Cover a Card (CC126).  I did cut out the pansies and added them to my two Cover a Card backgrounds.  I used Imperial Purple Versafine ink for the majority of the card.

I am curious.  Has anyone seen Spring yet?

Need more Spring inspiration?  Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Kittie created. Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

Don't forget that you can find Impression Obsession on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!

 

IO Blog Hop- Dies- Final Day

 

Welcome to the last day of the blog hop. Before I talk about today's card, I wanted to talk about the card I posted yesterday.  After I read the comments to the post, I realized that people didn't know that I used a die that coordinated with the daisies.  There was no fussy cutting involved...thank goodness!

Here is a picture of the dies I used to cut out the daisies:

I then used the clear daisy stamps to stamp on top of the cut-out daisies:

Very, very easy!

For today's card, I used a basket stamp with coordinating die as well as a chocolate bunny with coordinating die.  I also used an egg die as well as a grass border die.

Stamps:

Basket from cleat set – CL464 Easter Basket

Easter Greetings- B14017

Chocolate Bunny- D8912

Dies:

Basket DIE039-T

Chocolate Bunny- DIE075-B

Grass Border- DIE060-I

Egg Set- DIE041-A

Inks:

Versafine Vintage Sepia

Versafine Black

Colorbox Chalk Chestnut Roan

Instructions:

• Cut basket out of kraft cardstock using basket die
• Stamp basket pattern on top of cut-out basket using brown Versafine ink
• Cut out an assortment of Easter eggs using a variety of cardstock colors
• Cut bunny shape out of white cardstock
• Use a stamp positioner to stamp bunny in Chestnut Roan ink on top of cut-out bunny
• Punch a circle of pink cardstock using a standard office punch.
• Color the rest of the eye using a black marker then add a small dot of white pen to the center of the eye.
• Glue eye onto bunny and add a pink bow to the bunny.
• Cut out several rows of grass using green cardstock
• Stamp saying onto bright green cardstock and layer onto pink cardstock. 
• Assemble the pieces of the card.  Make sure to pop up the bunny and saying using foam tape

Don't forget to check out the other blogs for inspiration.  You have the chance to win an amazing prize each day....your choice of three of the new IO dies!  The rules of the contest are listed below.

• IO Blog
• Daniela Dobson
• Dina Kowal
• Jeanne Streiff
• Jenny Gropp
• Julie Koerber
• Kittie Caracciolo
• Laura Fulcher(you are here)
• Vicki Garrett

Participant Guidelines

• The hop will run from March 19th-March 21st
• Comment on each participating blog, including this one, for that day.
• The deadline for comments for each day will be 10 p.m. EST.
• There will be a drawing on each day for three dies of the winner's choice.
• The winner for each day will be announced in the next day's Impression Obsession blog post.

Good luck!

IO Blog Hop- Dies Day 2

 

Welcome to day 2 of the IO die blog hop. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by yesterday and left such nice comments.

For today's card, I wanted to use the new Paper Cone die. I used it with daisy stamps/dies, but really, you could put anything in the pocket. The nice thing about the die is that it adds a scallop edge and scores the paper so that it easily folds into a cone.

Stamps:

Daisies from the Impression Obsession Spring Medley clear set CL465

Impression Obsession Heartfelt Thanks B3928

Dies:

Impression Obsession Paper Cone  DIE040-R

Impression Obsession Daisies DIE072-F

Inks:

Black Versafine

Instructions:

• Cut out daisies using white cardstock and dies (2 of each kind of daisy)
• Stamp daisies onto cut out daisies using black Versafine ink
• Color daisies with markers and a blender pen.  To do this, scribble a little of the marker color onto an acrylic block and pick up the color with a blender pen.
• Highlight parts of the flower with some yellow Twinkling H20 paint and a waterbrush.  Hint…don’t add too much water or you will warp your paper
• Cut out flower pocket with white cardstock
• Put colored flowers into the pocket
• Layer the pieces of the card and add some twine
• Stamp saying onto the card.

Don't forget to check out the other blogs for inspiration.  You have the chance to win an amazing prize each day....your choice of three of the new IO dies!  The rules of the contest are listed below.

• IO Blog
• Daniela Dobson
• Dina Kowal
• Jeanne Streiff
• Jenny Gropp
• Julie Koerber
• Kittie Caracciolo
• Laura Fulcher(you are here)
• Vicki Garrett

Participant Guidelines

• The hop will run from March 19th-March 21st
• Comment on each participating blog, including this one, for that day.
• The deadline for comments for each day will be 10 p.m. EST.
• There will be a drawing on each day for three dies of the winner's choice.
• The winner for each day will be announced in the next day's Impression Obsession blog post.

Good luck!
   

IO Blog Hop- Dies

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Die Blog Hop! I hope you are inspired by all the new samples and dies.

For my card,  I used the new hydrangea stamp set and paired it with the coordinating hydrangea die sets.  It is definitely going to be a Spring favorite of mine!

Stamps:

Obsession Chicken Wire Cover a Card CC155

Impression Obsession Hydrangea Set CL463

Inks:

Colorbox Chalk Azurite

Colorbox Chalk French Blue

Colorbox Chalk Pink Pastel

Colorbox Chalk Blue Iris

Dies:

Impression Obsession Hydrangea Set DIE044-Y

Spellbinders oval

Instructions:

• Cut out oval from white cardstock
• Stamp saying onto oval with Blue Iris ink
• Stamp chicken wire background onto blue cardstock strip using Azurite ink
• Cut out hydrangea flower using white cardstock
• Ink hydrangea stamp with Pink Pastel and French Blue ink then blend the colors with a sponge finger dauber
• Stamp hydrangea image onto white hydrangea diecut piece
• Sponge the same blue and pink inks onto white cardstock and cut out extra hydrangea petals with petal dies
• Glue extra flowers onto hydrangea base.  Hint..just glue the centers of the flowers to the base so that the actual petals will pop off from the card.
• Cut out hydrangea stem with brown cardstock
• Cut out leaves using green cardstock
• Emboss leaves with diecut machine and rubber mat
• Layer the pieces of the card.

Here is a close up of the hydrangea petals:

Don't forget to check out the other blogs for inspiration.  You have the chance to win an amazing prize each day....your choice of three of the new IO dies!  The rules of the contest are listed below.

• IO Blog
• Daniela Dobson
• Dina Kowal
• Jeanne Streiff
• Jenny Gropp
• Julie Koerber
• Kittie Caracciolo
• Laura Fulcher(you are here)
• Vicki Garrett

Participant Guidelines

• The hop will run from March 19th-March 21st
• Comment on each participating blog, including this one, for that day.
• The deadline for comments for each day will be 10 p.m. EST.
• There will be a drawing on each day for three dies of the winner's choice.
• The winner for each day will be announced in the next day's Impression Obsession blog post.

Good luck!
 

IO Challenge- Favorite Technique

I think we all have a favorite technique to use on cards. For me, it is watercolor. I love the soft look you can get, and you really can't beat it for its blendability. For today's card, I used my watercolor pencils and a Dove Blender pen to color the new Sunny Sunflower stamp (H8986).  I then added the French Script Cover a Card (CC151) to the background, stamped the saying (Best Things C3639), and attached some butterflies I cut from the Butterfly Set dies (DIE46-A).


Need more quote inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kittie, and Vicki created. Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

 

Oh Happy Day...and Pizza

Hi everyone. We finally had a sunny day here, and it inspired me to share with you a happy, sunny card. I used both the Sunny Days Kite (E8982) as well as the Oh Happy Day saying (B3968). I then combined them with some clouds cut from Memory Box dies.  I colored the kite and saying with Copic markers and then edged the clouds and notecard with blue ink.  Now I just hope for a few more sunny days.

On a side note to my local friends, I would love it if you could join me this Friday (March 1) at the Whole Foods, Reston sometime between 6-8pm.  I am a finalist in a pizza making contest and will be handing out samples of my pie in the store.  I am really out of my element on this one and would appreciate any support I can get!