Laura's Stamp Art Journal

Impression Obsession DT challenge- white!

2009-12-02T22:17:00.008-05:00

The latest Impression Obsession Design Team challenge is.....all white. I think the first thing you will notice about my card is that I didn't exactly follow the challenge. I couldn't help myself. I had to add a little color so that the snowmen (Let it Snow CL195) would stand out from the background. Plus, it was a chance for me to break out my super pale Copic markers to add a hint of color. To coordinate with the white color scheme, I added a little color to the edges of my scarves and hats rather than color every part of the snowmen.

To make the shaker part, I used an IO large circle shaker, a pre-cut layover by Paper Cut, and Polar White Flower Soft as a filler. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I repeatedly stamped the white paper with the IO Medium Snowflake (E6266) using Versamark ink. I then embossed the flakes with opaque white embossing powder. Here is the same card with a black background. Can you see the snowflakes better?

To finish the card, I added a Nestabilities snowflake. The snowflake comes with 5 possible layers, but I chose to only use 3. I used foam mount to separate the layers, added some Diamond Stickles, and added a white pearl to the center. Another thing that is hard to see from the picture is that I used a white pearlized metallic paper as my background card.

I thought the challenge was hard to get started, but once I got going, it was a lot of fun!

Want to see other all white cards? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created.

Want to make your own white card? You have until December 5th at midnight to enter, and you could win a $25 gift certificate to IO! All the information can be found here.

Christmas Snowglobe

2009-11-25T00:44:00.005-05:00

As someone who often writes about her animosity towards glitter, I seem to be using an awful lot of it lately! However, to be fair, how can you make a snowglobe card without glitter looking like it is floating around in there?

For this card, I colored the snowglobe (Impression Obsession Snowy Tree Globe D8285) with copic markers and then added about 3 layers of clear ultrathick embossing powder the the globe to make it look like glass. To do this, I covered the globe with Versamark, added the powder, heated it, and while it was hot, added more powder. (Repeat this at least three times). I added some glitter during one of the layers so that it would look like glitter was floating around in the "glass." Here is a close up of the globe:

To finish the card, I added some twine, some Memory Box pearls and paper, and stamped a saying I made from the IO Sentiments 1 clear set (WP16). I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Card

2009-11-21T23:30:00.005-05:00

I promised to post a card using my pumpkin Nestabilities, so here it is! When you cut out the pumpkins using the dies, you get the outline of a pumpkin (umm....duh). However, I thought it looked a little too 2-D. I decided to add a bit of dimension by drawing lines onto the pumpkin using a brown Copic marker. I thought it helped my pumpkin look a bit more realistic. If you follow my blog, you know that I have an ongoing love affair with Basic Grey's Indian Summer line of paper. I used some of the papers from that 6" x 6" pack to layer my pumpkin onto an acetate card. I finished the card by adding some leaves I cut from one of the Nestability Maple Leaves dies. I drew the veins into the leaves using a fine detail green pen.

In other crafting news, many of you know that I am not too fond of glitter. I love the look, but hate how glitter can get onto everything you own within 2 seconds of opening a jar. I made a card on my other blog and experimented with mixing Diamond Glaze and glitter onto acetate. I keep rubbing that card, and the glitter isn't coming off. Woohoo! I just wanted to share that idea with every other glitter-phobe. You can see the end results here.

Don't forget, tomorrow (Sun) is the last day to get 25% off of everything at Angela's. You cant beat that!

IO DT challenge....shaker cards!

2009-11-18T23:34:00.004-05:00

Have you tried the new Impression Obsession Shake It pouches yet? I have to say, this was the easiest shaker card I have ever made. With older shaker cards, I would make a square out of foam mount tape to hold whatever I wanted to be "shaking" in the card. I always had to make sure that there weren't any gaps in the foam mount or the shaker material would escape.

The new Shake It pouches from IO are nice because they are self-adhesive plastic shape forms that fit on top of your background image. For this card, I shaped the cake from the CL203 Birthday Cakes set onto white cardstock using black Versafine ink. I colored the cake with colored pencils and gamsol and then piled a bunch of beads onto the cake. After I peeled off the adhesive background of the oval shaker, I stuck it over the cake and beads. For the oval overlay, I used an overlay from the Paper Cut that was designed to fit over my oval shaker. The overlay came in white, so I colored it with a YG03 Copic marker to match my card. To finish the card, I added some Basic Grey Lime Rickey paper and stamped a saying from the same clear set. Easy!

If you want to check out other shaker card ideas, visit Deborah, Dina, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, Kelli, and Shirley's blogs to see what they created.

Also, don't forget that you can make your own shaker card and enter it to win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate. You have till Saturday night to submit a card, and all the information can be found here.

Pumpkin Place Card

2009-11-15T00:50:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is approaching, and I was inspired by Sharon Harnist's idea to cut 9 pumpkin Nestabilities, fold them in half, and glue them together to make a 3-D pumpkin. I sponged the stem and the edges of the pumpkin with brown ink so they would stand out better. I have enjoyed playing with the pumpkin nesties, and I plan to post a card with a pumpkin cut out real soon.

Ho Ho Ho

2009-11-09T23:39:00.002-05:00

It seems like a hard time to find things to post. I have started working on Christmas presents, but it might be a bad idea to post what I am making before the 25th. I have made a couple of birthday cards, but the recipients haven't received them yet. I am working on a couple of things to try and have published, but you aren't supposed to blog about them until you know they aren't going to be used. Humm...not much else is left! So, I decided to post another card from my upcoming 10 in 10 holiday card class. I promise to think of something else to post soon.

For my card, I used images from the Impression Obsession Ho Ho Ho set (CL248). So cute! I colored the Santa with watercolor pencils and a blender pen and added some decorative paper from Bo Bunny Press.

I feel as though I have been a Christmas card making machine lately. The good news is that I think I have all my cards made for this year. If you need more Christmas ideas, I have posted quite a few cards on my Color Whimsy blog.

On an unrelated note, I wanted to thank the anonymous person who called Angela's Monday morning and left a message saying that they had seen my name on the 97.1 Wash FM website. I emailed the station to collect my Panera Bread gift certificate. Woohoo! Man, I love Panera's, and I think I will like free Panera's even better!

IO DT Challenge- Make a Wreath

2009-11-04T23:00:00.003-05:00

It is time for another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge, and this time the theme was "make a wreath." The irony of my card is that I used a clear stamp set (CL238 Fall Wreath) that has a wreath image in it. Essentially, I put that wreath aside, stamped a bunch of individual leaves from the set, and made my own wreath. The good thing about doing that is that I got to use up lots of my Basic Grey Indian Summer scraps. It also allowed me to make a much larger finished wreath. To finish the card, I added my favorite new saying (Share Gratitude A5517), some gold pearls, and a gold ribbon.

Do you love wreaths as much as I do? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created.

10 in 10 Christmas Classes

2009-11-03T23:29:00.003-05:00

It is that time of year again. I just scheduled my 10 in 10 holiday card classes. I was a little slow in reserving dates to teach at Angela's, so I ended up with weekday nights. I apologize to all the weekend class people that I wasn't able to get a weekend date.

The card I am posting today is one of the quick cards we will be making in the class. The stamps are by Impression Obsession, the paper is by Bo Bunny, and the image was colored with Copic markers. It is hard to tell from the picture, but I used a gold Spica pen on the package to add a little sparkle.

I hope to see some of you in class!

And it continues...

2009-10-30T01:00:00.003-04:00

Yep, another card using the Which Witch set. And yep, I paired it again with some Basic Grey paper. That is my theme, and I am sticking to it!

There really isn't that much to say about my card. I cut the circle from one of my Nestability dies and colored the witch with Copic markers. Wow, I really didn't have that much to say!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Continuing a Theme

2009-10-28T21:16:00.002-04:00

While I had my Which Witch set out from Impression Obsession, I decided to make a couple more cards. For this card, I stamped the spider from the set three times onto cream cardstock using black Memento ink. I colored the spiders with my Cool Gray 5 Copic marker and then added a saying from the same set. I chose my Copic markers for the saying to match the Basic Grey paper I used in the background.

I am running out of time to post Halloween cards, so I guess I better post the others soon!

Okay, Okay...

2009-10-26T22:27:00.007-04:00

I can take a hint. A person doesn't blog in a week and a half, and the phone calls and emails start to arrive. I guess it is time to post something.

Sorry I haven't shared anything on the Stamp Journal blog, but I have been working on a few classes rather than personal stamping or participating in challenges. I am almost done with my annual "10 in 10 Christmas" class, so I will be posting info about that soon.

In the mean time, I wanted to share a treat bag I made for Halloween. I was inspired by the eyeball border from the Impression Obsession "Which Witch" set (CL241). I knew it would be fun (and a little gross) to pair with some eyeball candies. The only problem was that once I designed the bag in my head, I couldn't find any eyeball candies. My good buddy Marilynn found some at Harris Teeter for me so that I could finish my project. Thanks Marilynn! Of course, I had to ask her, "Doesn't it creep you out that I brought plastic bags to your house to collect eyeballs?"

Here is a side view of the bag:

I used the Accu-Cut machine at Angela's Happy Stamper to make the bag, but if you don't have access to an Accu-Cut machine, it should be easy enough to fold a paper tent of your own and punch a window with a square punch. I stamped the eyeballs onto cream paper with black Memento ink and colored the irises with E53, B12, BV02, and YG11 Copic markers. I spelled out my saying with Technique Tuesday's Williamsburg font and glued all of my pieces down. I thought it was a fun project and different from the candy corn and "Happy Halloween" bags I usually do.

On an unrelated crafting note, I went to Great Country Farm's annual pumpkin glow to see the 1,500 lit jack o'lanterns. It was truly a fun thing to see, even though it was hard to photograph!

IO DT Challenge...Winter

2009-10-14T23:11:00.004-04:00

It wasn't hard for me to be inspired to make a winter themed card tonight. After all, the temperature dropped dramatically today, and I began to think about winter rather than fall. I am really hoping we aren't going to skip autumn altogether and move straight to winter....even if winter cards are fun to stamp.

To make this card, I stamped the Four Flakes (F2358) onto patterned paper from Memory Box using Blue Iris Colorbox Chalk ink. I colored the flakes with a uni-ball white pen and cut out images using a Nestability die. To accessorize the flakes, I added a ton of clear rhinestones. To finish the card, I layered more Memory Box paper and added a white ribbon.

Need more winter card ideas? Check out the cards by Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Kathy, and Shirley.

I'm Back!

2009-10-13T23:09:00.011-04:00

I had such a wonderful vacation in New Mexico, but now I am back and back to posting. Did you miss me? Don't answer that.

For today's card, I used one of the latest Impression Obsession Leigh Hannan Halloween images. I just love this pumpkin chandelier. The stamp has so many fine details that I decided to color it using colored pencils. It is hard to tell from the picture, but I added some Candelight Shimmerz around the candle flames and added some Memory Box jewels to make my chandelier sparkle. To finish the card, I added some paper from Basic Grey.

Speaking of Impression Obsession, come back Thursday for a design team "winter" card challenge.

In non-crafting news, I wanted to post some pictures from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. I always enjoy going, but my friend Deedee scored us some VIP passes which gave us access to a seating area, free food and drinks, and real bathrooms instead of porta potties. It was an unbelievably wonderful day....thanks Deedee!

Before light, the dawn patrol goes up to check out wind conditions. This year they increased the dawn patrol to 10 balloons. When they "burn," they light up like fireflies. The effect is quite beautiful. Can you see the tiny dot on the right side of the photo? You will probably have to click the photo in order to enlarge it enough to see. It sort of looks like a star in the sky. That is one of the balloons in the sky. They are camouflaged in the night sky when the burners aren't going.

At sunrise, balloons start inflating. This year was a bit smaller, and only about 550 balloons participated. Some years they have 800-1000.

More balloons inflating. I loved the tie-dyed one!

Balloons starting to lift off.

We sat at the South end of the park, and the balloons flew right overhead.

Love some of those special shapes. Here you can see the football and soccer ball.

Sometimes the balloons are quite close to each other.

The balloons really start to fill up the sky.

I highly recommend seeing the fiesta at least once in your life. Of course, if you can score some VIP passes, it is so much better! :)

Quick Cards

2009-10-06T16:13:00.003-04:00

Lately I have found that if I want to get any cards done, they need to be "quick and easy." I don't think you can make things much faster than the set of cards I made using some of my older Memory Box papers, rub-ons, and paper flowers. I did get a little slowed down by adding some paper cut from my Labels 8 Nestability dies, but for the most part, they were quick.

I hope everyone has a great week! I am off to New Mexico tomorrow to visit a friend, so I may not post anything here till next week. I did schedule posts for my Color Whimsy blog though, so it will continue to update while I am gone.

IO DT Challenge- Gratitude

2009-09-30T23:56:00.003-04:00

Yep, it is time for another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge, and this time the theme is gratitude. Could I have been any more literal? I chose to use a saying that actually mentions gratitude. I was very close to grabbing my "thanks a latte" saying, but autumn papers and stamps were calling me.

To make the card, I layered many pieces of paper from the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection, including yellow leaf paper cut from my Nestabilities Labels Five die. Man is that paper gorgeous! I stamped my pumpkin (B7335) three times onto the Indian Summer paper and cut them out. To accentuate the pumpkins, I colored the crease lines with an orange colored pencil. To accent the pumpkins, I added some bows I made from some yellow hemp. To finish the card, I stamped Share Gratitude (A5517) onto the card and added some faux stitching with a brown marker.

Need more gratitude inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Shirley created.

Want to win some IO goodies? You have two opportunities.
1. Make your own IO gratitude card and submit it to Shirley. Information about the contest can be found here.

2. Dina has some awesome blog candy on her blog, and you can find it here.

Halloween Crow

2009-09-28T21:21:00.003-04:00

Did I mention that I love Halloween cards? I know, I know, I say it every few days. I just can't help it. There are so many cool Halloween images out there. One of my newest ones is from Impression Obsession, and I think it is the first crow I own. Or is it a raven? In any case, it seemed perfect for Halloween.

I think I will have to describe some of the things in the picture that didn't show up. I stamped the harlequin background onto black paper with Versafine ink and embossed it with clear powder to make it glossy. The stars and moons were colored with Stardust pens so that they sparkle, and I layered the crow piece and the harlequin piece onto silver metallic paper for extra shimmer.

I will try to keep up with posting, but I have a lot going on this week. I have three scheduled classes, and next week I am off to Albuquerque. I can't wait. Balloon Fiesta here I come!

Skulls and Waterfalls

2009-09-23T22:30:00.010-04:00

One of the things I really like about Leigh Hannan's images is that they are just so different and quirky. Lots of people have skeletons for Halloween, but how many have skeletons with masks on sticks? For this card, I cut out an oval and tag using the Accucut machine. I colored the skulls and accessories with Prismacolor pencils and added a saying that is also from Impression Obsession. I don't think you can tell from the photo, but the brads are nice and sparkly.....love them!

My crafting friends will have to excuse me now as I share some personal weekend picts. I acknowledge that probably the only person interested in the rest of this post is my mom!

I met my mom at the Homestead over the weekend for a relaxing getaway. It is located in the Allegheny mountains, and it is HUGE. I can't tell you how many times we got turned around.

We walked the grounds a lot, and there are flowers everywhere. I can't even begin to estimate what they spend on landscaping. Here are flowers in the spa garden:

We had tea everyday in the lobby. I think it might have been one of the highlights of the trip. When we checked in, we were told, "When you hear the piano playing between 3 and 4, it is tea time. Have a seat in the lobby, and you will be served." Loved that!!!

We spent a lot of time outdoors even though it was cloudy the whole time. Here is the site we were greeted with when we entered the Allegheny mountains:We hiked the Cascades gorge and signed up for the guided tour that took us by 13 waterfalls. The trail had more rocks to climb than I expected, but I did it. Yeah me!

On the way home, we stopped by Falling Springs Falls. It was very foggy, but gorgeous!

IO DT Challenge- Holiday Gifts

2009-09-17T00:02:00.001-04:00

Today the theme for the Impression Obsession Design Team is holiday gifts. I decided to make a photo/card holder, because lets face it, I know a lot of people who have cards to display!

This is the time of year when I start looking at sale bins for items I can alter for gifts. I recently found this photo holder:

I really liked the dark wood, but what where they thinking when they put a large metal question mark on the side? I just don't get it. In any case, I ended up getting it for 97 cents. Woohoo! I layered some Memory Box Dewfrost paper on top since the browns and blues coordinated with the color of the wood and added an Impression Obsession snowflake (B7270) as a focal point. It is the same snowflake I used in the last challenge. I guess you could say that I like it!

I colored the snowflake with a blue Tombo marker and then added some stickles and clear rhinestones. Here is a close up:

I repeated the pattern on all sides of the holder. Here is a side view:

Need more holiday gift inspiration? Check out what Dina, Jeanne, and Kathy created.

CAARDvarks Sketch Challenge

2009-09-13T23:58:00.005-04:00

Why is it that when you stamp with a friend, they always seem to have better stamps than you do? Today I stamped at my friend Jennifer's house, and I fell in love with this butterfly stamp from Magenta. Isn't it gorgeous? I decided to pair it with a sketch challenge by Caardvarks to get my final design.

To make the card, I stamped the butterfly onto cream paper using black Memento ink and colored it with copic markers. I then cut out the image and added a ton of pink rhinestones. To finish the card, I added some paper from Basic Grey and a rub-on saying from SEI. I glued the body of the butterfly to the card and then left the wings free to pop off of the card.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Happy Birthday

2009-09-10T00:08:00.003-04:00

Okay, I have made a lot of cards lately that have been cut from my new Nestabilities Labels 8 set. I just can't seem to stop....I'm in the Labels 8 zone.

For this card, I stamped the background flowers and flourishes by Lizzie Anne designs onto white cardstock using black Memento ink. I colored them with Copic markers and added a few green rhinestones. I then stamped "Happy" onto green paper using black Memories ink and cut out the saying. It is really hard to see from the picture, but the saying is popped up on the card using foam mount tape. I then added the word "birthday" to the bottom of the card. Both of the words came from the "Happy Everything" clear set from Wordsworth.

Moxie Fab Stamping Challenge

2009-09-07T18:41:00.003-04:00

The Moxie Fab blog showed various card making styles last week, and I thought I would make a card for the stamping challenge. Basically, you had to make a card that had some stamping on it. Umm...no problem!

I decided to make a card that used colors that I don't normally pair together....red and turquoise. I was attracted to the paper by My Minds Eye, so I thought it would be fun to play with. I cut out some paper using my Nestablilities Labels 5 dies and then used my Copic airbrush system to edge my white paper with blue ink. I then added some snowflakes and a saying from Impression Obsession and added some Stickles to the card to make it sparkle. I cut out a snowman from another My Minds Eye paper and popped it up on the card using some foam mount tape.

Lattes at Noon

2009-09-05T20:58:00.004-04:00

I just love this saying! It is by Art Impressions, and it makes me laugh every time I read it. Let me look at it again....yep, still funny. I paired it with a cup and saucer stamp by Stamps N' More along with one of my favorite Hero Arts birds. Unfortunately, the bird is discontinued. The paper is Basic Grey, and I colored all the images with Prismacolor Pencils (no gamsol).

I hope everyone who celebrates Labor Day has a wonderful 3-day weekend. I'm thinking about going to a movie and visiting Great Falls. Who knows. I might even have time for a latte at noon! Mmmm....coffee.

IO DT Challenge- Different Point of View

2009-09-03T12:11:00.000-04:00

As promised, today is the day of the Impression Obsession Design Team challenge featuring "A Different Point of View." We were challenged to take a stamp and turn it into something else or use it in a different way. As I said Monday, I had a hard time getting started, but once I did, I couldn't stop! I ended up making three cards using coffee beans, a snowflake, and a heart.

For my first card, I used the brand new snowflake ( B7270) image and turned it into a flower. I used some of my Basic Grey Lemonade paper and cut out a frame using my Nestabilities Labels 8. I colored the "flower" with Prismacolor pencils and cut out a stem, leaves, and grass from more of the patterned paper.

Next, I stamped the filigree heart three times with green ink onto green paper, cut them out, and assembled them to make a shamrock. To finish the card, I used a border from the CL160 Lucky Clover clear set and added some green rhinestones (hard to see from the picture).

Finally, I took a coffee bean from the CL231 More Coffee clear set, added a little doodling, and made ladybugs. I spelled out my saying using the CL47 Scribble clear set.

I really enjoyed this challenge. Nothing gets the creativity going like forcing yourself to look at things in another way (that, and the sheer panic over coming up with a decent idea).

Want to see other "different points of view" cards? Check out Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Shirley created.

Planning For Thursday

2009-08-31T13:58:00.004-04:00

It is only Monday, but I am already planning for my Thursday post. We have another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge that day, and this time the theme is "outside the box." We were instructed to take a stamp and use it a way other than for its intended use. I have thought about it for about a month without much success. Luckily, ideas were flying last night, and I have been pretty productive. It is a very interesting challenge in that it really taxed my brain. I can't wait to see what the other designers create!

Today's card is a little reminiscent of the "outside the box" in that you might not look at IO's new Cover-A-Card textural image and immediately think of snow. After all, the dots are really close together. Here is what the background looks like:

On the other hand, it isn't that big of a leap outside the box. After all, I looked at dots and thought of snow...not that big of a deal! I don't think that I will be credited for making the discovery of the century. :)

I found that stamping the background with Brilliance Moonlight White ink onto vellum looked really cool and made an interesting layer for my card. I placed the vellum over the blue background and white snowbank to create my winter scene. Here is a close-up so that you can see the white dots on top of the white snowbank:

To finish the card, I cut out a couple of trees freehand and then added an IO snowman I had colored and cut out.

Be sure to check back Thursday to see the results of the "outside the box challenge." I think it is going to be one of the most interesting challenges yet!

Okay, so it is another Halloween card

2009-08-28T22:12:00.002-04:00

I really do need to stop the Halloween cards, but I can't seem to help myself....especially if there is a pumpkin stamp involved! My friends all know I have a terrible sickness when it comes to pumpkin stamps. I have enough to last me a lifetime, but I keep finding ones I NEED to have. Is there a type of stamp that you continually buy? Leaves? Butterflies? Elvis? Just curious.

The card itself was really simple. I stamped a bunch of pumpkins from Impression Obsession and colored them with Copic markers. I added an IO saying and then edged the card with my Fiskars Threading Water decorative border.

Have a fantastic weekend!