Thursday, November 18, 2010

IO Challenge- A Few of My Favorite Things

Time for another Impression Obsession challenge. This time the theme is "These are a Few of My Favorite Things." Can't you just hear Julie Andrews singing in the background? The challenge was to take a line from the song and use it as inspiration for a card or project. I chose "brown paper packages tied up with string."

I like the idea of brown paper packages because they could be filled with all kinds of goodies. Did you ever see the movie A Christmas Story? There is a part in the movie where the dad is opening a crate containing his "major award" and he says, "There could be anything in there!" That is how I feel about the excitement and anticipation of unopened packages...there could be anything in them!

I decided to make a card in the shape of a brown paper package. I took a kraft notecard and then stamped it with the Thin Cover a Card background (CC001) in Chestnut Roan Chalk ink and the Dots Cover a Card background (CC003) in Staz On Gold ink. I really like the Staz On gold because it really gives you a strong metallic finish. I stamped both backgrounds again on a strip of kraft paper and popped it up onto my card to make it look like the package lid. I then added some brown sting, some holly from the CL35 Holly clear set, and a saying from the CL196 Swirl Trees clear set.

Want to embrace your inner Julie Andrews? Check out the favorite things of Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Kathy. Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression gift certificate!

Monday, November 15, 2010

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA. I haven't done much cardmaking lately other than make cards for work. Plus, I have recently invested a lot of time researching e-readers. Call it a current obsession hobby.

I did make two cards over the weekend for Splitcoaststampers' latest Virtual Stamp Night (VSN). Of course, I forgot to post the cards on Splitcoast. Oh well. For those of you who haven't joined a VSN, you are given a challenge and have 45 minutes to complete the card. My group of friends and I have learned not to stress over the challenge and just go with something. Sometimes the finished card looks good. Sometimes it looks like it was beaten with the ugly stick. Often times, the simpler the card, the better. Hence, the card I posted above.

For today's card, the challenge was to use white, blue, and silver or gold. I thought the challenge was silver AND gold, so I added both. I stamped the image by Magenta onto white cardstock using blue ink. I then added layers of silver, blue, and gold cardstock. Really, really simple.

Here is a close-up so that you can see the metallic sheen:

On a separate note, does anyone own a Kindle or Nook? What do you think? I believe that the Kindle might be a better device, but I am leaning towards the Nook since it works with my library system.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

IO Challenge- Holiday Family Traditions

I hope people aren't worried because the latest IO Challenge is to focus on holiday family traditions, and I posted a picture of a margarita. I promise that we don't spend the whole holiday drinking tequila!

I have so many traditions I could have represented in card form such as:
  • Going to see my mom each year in the living Nativity. (She is always one of the wise men since they have the warmest costumes.)
  • Opening one present each on Christmas Eve.
  • Watching repeated showings of "A Christmas Story" on TBS during their 24 hour marathon.
  • Fresh squeezed orange juice for Christmas breakfast (my grandfather started this one).
  • My mom making the infamous "green salad" that has been passed down generations (I wouldn't mind this tradition going away since Jello should not be made into a salad).

So, with all those nice traditions, why did I choose a margarita card? Of course there is a story behind that. One year my mom suggested that she, my brother, and I should each contribute something new to the holiday dinner. My mom and I poured over cookbooks and online recipes to figure out what we wanted to make. My brother, on the other hand, went out and bought some Patron Silver to make us each a "Christmas margarita." I believe it was his attempt to get out of cooking. I have absolutely no idea what my mom and I prepared that year. However, every year since I have counted on my brother to make me a really nice holiday margarita.

For my card, I used the margarita stamp from the CL157 Leigh Hannan Holiday set. However, you can get the stamp by itself. It is called Holiday Margarita (F2001). I stamped the image in black Memento ink onto white cardstock that I had cut from a Nestabilities Labels 8 die. I edged the paper with some green Distress Ink and an Inksentials blender tool and colored the image with an assortment of colored pencils and Copic markers. To rim the glass, I added some Glossy Accents to the rim and sprinkled it with real salt and some glitter. Here is a close up:

Finally, I spritzed the margarita piece with some Sparkle Shimmer Spritz to give it a holiday feel. You can see the shimmer a bit in this picture:

For the bottom of the card, I used the Cover a Card Thick and Thin (CC008) stripes in red ink. I thought it looked a bit like peppermint stripes.

Need some holiday inspiration? Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Kathy all made cards to share their holiday traditions with you.

Want to play along? You have until 9pm EST Friday to share your IO holiday tradition card. All of the information can be found here. You could win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!


Monday, November 1, 2010

Layers of Color

I really love this clear background set from Layers of Color. The set is called "Architectural Blocks," and it lets you combine the patterns in any way you want to create an interesting background. The really nice thing is that since it is a clear set, it is really easy to position the images. For my card, I chose some of the floral elements from the set to stamp a black and white background pattern. I then added a butterfly from the Layers of Color "Butterfly Collector" set that I cut out from yellow cardstock. I only glued the body so that the wings would pop off of the card. Here is a side view to see the 3-D effect better:

Here is what the images look like stamped alone:

On a completely different note, I want to remind everyone to vote November 2nd. I remember my great-grandmother saying that she voted in every election that she was allowed to (she was 28 when the 19th Amendment allowed women to vote). Don't take your voting rights for granted!