Friday, December 30, 2016

IO Valentine Blog Hop Day 2


Welcome to the Impression Obsession Valentine Stamp Release Blog Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND a Gift Certificate to give away!

The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST December 29th & 30th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win TWO $25 Gift Certificates!
The more blogs you visit … the better chance you will have to win!!!
No need to comment on the Impression Obsession Blog to enter.
Comment entries will be open until 9pm CT on Sunday January 1st and all winners will be announced January 2nd.
Good luck!










Greetings friends.  Today is the second and last day of the hop.  Be sure to follow the directions to be entered for prizes.


 


















Today I went for clean and simple for my Valentine.  I really like the stamp and sentiment because they could be used year-round instead of just for Valentine's Day.  


 


To make the card, I stamped the Lovely Flower and colored it heavily with Prismacolor Pencils.  I cut out the image, popped it up, and added some Glossy Accents to the heart.  I then added the Hello My Friend sentiment.  Quick.  Easy.....  and a good way to let someone know how much they mean to you.
Don't forget to visit the other designers for a chance to win prizes!

Hop List:

Thursday, December 29, 2016

IO Valentine Blog Hop


Welcome to the Impression Obsession Valentine Stamp Release Blog Hop!
We have some beautiful new dies to share AND a Gift Certificate to give away!
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST December 29th and 30th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win TWO $25 Gift Certificates!
The more blogs you visit … the better chance you will have to win!!!
No need to comment on the Impression Obsession Blog to enter.
Comment entries will be open until 9pm CT on Sunday January 1st and all winners will be announced January 2nd.
Good luck!

Greetings friends.  The holidays are over, so it is time to start thinking about Valentines!  I really like Valentines Day because I think it is great to have a holiday dedicated to appreciating those you love.

For my card today, I used the brand new Heart Arrangement image and colored it with an assortment of Copic Markers.  People sometime ask me how I choose which Copic markers to use.  In this case, I stamped the Love is All image, embossed it in white, and painted it with Peerless Watercolor paints.  I then chose Copic markers that were closest in color to my background.

For a bit of accent, I added some Glossy Accents to one of the hearts and popped up my central image with some foam tape.  

Don't forget to visit the other designers for a chance to win prizes!

Hop List:

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Stamping Large Sentiments



Greetings friends.  Today I want to talk about stamping with large sentiments.  It is a topic I have addressed before, but I thought it would be a good time to revisit it.

I absolutely love the large sentiments by Impression Obsession.  There are inspirational ones, funny ones, practical all-occasion ones, and my absolute favorite....quirky.  One of the things I have noticed though when I want to make a large sentiment the focal point of a card, there isn't a lot of space for dies, embellishments, or stamped images.  Plus, I never want to cover up or take away from the impact of the sentiment.

One way to make a saying stand out is to use a soft background out of stamps or stencils.  For my card today, I started with a kraft notecard, placed a Seth Apter stencil from Stencil Girl on top (Urban Insiders Bar Stencil) and sponged it with Hero Arts Unicorn White ink:



It took a really long time for the ink to dry, but once it was, I sponged the whole thing with yellow and red Pan Pastels.  Having the white ink underneath allowed the pattern to show through the chalk.  I wasn't able to capture it on camera, but I finished the design with some gold shimmer Pan Pastel.  Once I was done blending the chalk, I used a white Prismacolor pencil to highlight elements of the stencil design.  I really wanted what I thought of as the "sun rays" to stand out.

As a last step, I added the You are Capable sentiment onto the card with brown VersaFine ink.  If you wanted the sentiment to stand out even more, you could use black ink instead.

Happy holidays everyone!


Thursday, December 15, 2016

IO Challenge- Last Minute Gifts


Wait a minute.  How did Christmas get to be 10 days away?  December has really flown.  If you are in need for a last minute gift, the IO team has some ideas for you today.

For my project, I made a little Christmas paper lantern out of gold metallic cardstock, some vellum, and the new Ornament Winter Scene die.  I added a battery operated light to the center so that I wouldn't set anyone's house on fire.  I thought that might be the best plan.  :) 

The lantern was made out of two pieces of cardstock that each measured 8 1/2" x 4."  I scored them so that each paper had two 4" x 4" sections and one 4" x 1/2" section.  I then die cut each 4" x 4" section with the ornament die and added vellum behind each panel.  When I glued the two pieces of cardstock together, they made a square that fits over a votive candle (there is no top or base to the box).

Another nice thing about the lantern?  It folds flat to fit inside a business envelope:


Need more last minute ideas?  Don't forget to check out the other designers.  There are even two new designers to the team to inspire you!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

IO Challenge-Quick Holiday Cards


I don't know about you, but December came up on me fast.  I know that I will blink a couple of times and Christmas will be here.  Quick and easy Christmas cards can be such a blessing.  Sometimes I get so caught up in layers, die cuts, coloring and bling that each card can take me 30 minutes (at least).  If you are making lots of Christmas cards, that is not going to work!

For my quick and easy Christmas card, I went back to the basics.  When was the last time you just embossed a stamped image and called it a day?  For this card, I stamped the snowflake image and saying with versamark and embossed them in gold powder.  I used some cream metallic paper for the card base and the top layer to give it a little bit more elegance and added some gold mirror paper in the  middle to really amp up the shimmer of the gold embossing powder.  Here is a close up to show the metallic elements a bit better:





 Need more quick card ideas for the holidays?  Don't forget to visit the other designers:


Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Thankful For the MISTI


Greetings friends.  Today I am so happy to be a part of the Thankful for the MISTI blog hop!  I love the MISTI and am definitely thankful to have it in my stamping arsenal.  For my card today, I designed it especially to highlight some of my favorite MISTI functions.


Thankful for the MISTI reason 1- Stamping sentiments and built-in grid
How many times have you left a sentiment to stamp on your card as a final step and managed to stamp it crooked or to stamp it with at least one of the letters missing?  I love the MISTI because I can use the grid on the lid or the rulers on the sides to make sure that my image or sentiment is centered and straight.  If it doesn't stamp perfectly the first time, I just reink it and do it again.  Even the thinnest of scripts line up perfectly so that you can't tell the wording had been stamped more than once.

Thankful for the MISTI reason 2- Stamping Backgrounds and Solid Stamps
Originally I was going to use the new Impression Obsession Boxwood background for my card.  I later decided it was a bit too busy to use with my sentiment, so I switched to the Scratched Cover a Card stamp instead.  However, I am including a close up of the Boxwood Cover a Card to illustrate the beautiful backgrounds you can get by combining Impression Obsessions Cover a Card patterns with the MISTI:


Have you ever stamped a background and one part was missing?  The same thing happens when using solid stamps.  For my background, I simply stamped my background a couple of times until I didn't have any splotchy missing pieces.  The even coverage makes it look even more line patterned paper.  FYI, to get the purple "paper," I sponged white cardstock with purple PanPastel, stamped my background on top with Versamark ink and sponged it again with the same purple PanPastel.  Impression Obsession has over 200 Cover a Card backgrounds with just about every pattern you can imagine.  Change your colors to combine with the backgrounds, and you get vastly different results.

Thankful for the MISTI reason 3- Adding extra layers of ink for special effects
In my finished card, I stamped my butterfly (Silhouette 15) in Versamark and embossed it with white powder.  I then put it back in the MISTI and inked it again with Versamark on top of the embossing powder.  Finally, I brushed some Perfect Pearls on top of the Versamark to give it a shimmery lavender color.

The MISTI really can be used for so many purposes, and I have just barely scratched the surface.  I am definitely thankful for what it can do!

Hop and Prizes!!!
Want to win your own MISTI (your choice of original or mini) as well as one for a friend or loved one?  Leave a comment on my blog as well as the other hop participant's blogs anytime through Sunday, November 27th.  I wish you luck!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

IO Challenge- Cool Colors


I have been making a lot of cards with cool colors lately.  Sure it is the season, but they also are the colors that I tend to gravatate towards more often.  I did sneak in a bit of warm colors onto the card as an accent, but I think that works well with a mostly cool color palette.

To make the card, I combined the Large Solid Mitten along with the Cover a Card Knit pattern.  To cut out the mitten, I used the Mitten Die set which includes both the mitten and the snowflake. For an accent, I cut out elements from the Fir Sprig die set.



Want to see more cool card inspiration?  Be sure to visit the other designers:

Thursday, November 3, 2016

IO Challenge- Thanksgiving


It is November, so it is a great time to start thinking about Thanksgiving cards or cards in general that give thanks to the things that we are greatful for in our lives.

For my card today, I used some Prismacolor pencils as well as my MISTI stamp positioner.

First, I stamped the card using my MISTI and a sunflower stamp.  I pulled it out of the MISTI and then colored it with some colored pencils.  Notice that I didn't care how the coloring looked or if I went over some of the lines:


Next, I put it back in the MISTI and stamped it again to put back in the lines:



Stamps:
Impression Obsession Give Thanks D19242
Impression Obsession Fall Sunflower D19245

Don't forget to check out the other deisngers!