The Storm's a Comin'

Well, I ran my errands, grabbed some Starbucks, and came home to hunker down for the big storm. They are now figuring we will get between 20" and 28" of snow. Yikes! I am just not cut out for this. The good news is I will have some time to post. The bad news is that as cabin fever sets in, there is a chance my posts might get weirder and weirder. :)

For today's card, I wanted to share something bright, cheerful, and summery. Ahh yes...summer. I miss you. The stamps are by Impression Obsession and feature one of the new sunflowers by Gary Robertson (Sunflower Frame G1761), my favorite background (Cover a Card Gingham C0006), and a saying from the Word Frames clear set (WP118). The gingham makes a great background because it looks good when you make it tone on tone as I did on this card or by pairing two different colors together. The sunflower was colored with Copic markers.

Stay warm and safe this weekend everyone!

Live, Laugh, Love

I tried to take a good picture of this card, but I don't think I succeeded in showing the glitter stripes at the bottom. Oh well. I used one of the Impression Obsession Cover A Card backgrounds and stamped it on the bottom of my pink card. I then embossed the stripes with some glittered pink embossing powder and added the Live Every Moment saying.

On a separate note, is anyone as tired of winter as I am? I do have to admit though that the icicles hanging from my bedroom window looked pretty cool. Of course, they scared the bejeezus out of me when they crashed to the ground.


"Those icicles have been known to kill people."

Quick...name that movie!

Coloring Something Fast

I am always in the mood to color, but sometimes time doesn't allow for it. For today's card, I cut a lot of corners so that even though the image has a lot of places to color, it didn't take me that long.

First, I stamped the Flower Box 1 by Impression Obsession (E2397) onto white cardstock using black Versafine ink. I then colored only the outside edges of my flowers with Prismacolor pencils and softened the color into the centers of the flowers with a blending stump and some gamsol. There are places where it looks like I did some blending with multiple colors (check out the top right purple flower). Truth is, my blending stump was dirty, and I had some carry-over color. I decided I liked the look though. I colored all the centers of the flowers the same color so that I could do it quickly, but I did take the time to color individual small leaves with a chartreuse pencil (although I didn't worry about staying in the lines). For the rest of the greenery, I just grabbed four green pencils and colored lightly here and there to fill in the space. I didn't worry about staying in the lines, because that would have taken too long. To finish the card, added the Life is Sweeter (B6576) saying by Impression Obsession.

Busy Making Gifts

Every year, the staff at Angela's Happy Stamper gets together for a holiday party in January. After all, who has time in December?! Anyway, the tradition is we make small gifts to give to each other. This year I decided to make everyone decorative binder clips. The clips have magnets on the back so that they could also reside on refrigerators. I have a list of everyone's favorite colors, so I tried to match the clip with the person. The stamp I chose is by Memory Box, and I posted more instructions on the "Outside the Box" blog which can be found here. If you haven't checked out that blog yet, you should stop on by. The various Memory Box instructors contribute to the blog, so there is a wide variety of stamping styles and ideas.

Have a great week everyone!

IO Challenge- Non-Rectangular Cards

For today's Impression Obsession challenge, the theme was non-rectangular cards. For my card, I ran some white paper through an Accu-Cut machine to make an apron. I then stamped the new Margaritas to go pitcher (F2373) and some elements from the clear margaritas set (MC190) onto white cardstock with black Memento ink and colored everything with Copic markers. I cut out my pieces and then glued them onto the pocket of my apron. To finish the card, I stamped the saying (fill your day B5538), added some green ribbon, and placed a margarita recipe into the pocket.

All the design team were able to participate in the shape card challenge, so be sure to check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, Kelly, Rosemary, and Shirley created.

Want to participate in the challenge? You have until midnight this Saturday to enter your non-rectangular card. All the information can be found here. A random winner will be selected from the submissions to receive a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

Another Sneak Peek

It is time for another Impression Obsession sneak peek! I thought I would share one of the samples I made for the Impression Obsession CHA booth. I hope the show goes really well for them next weekend. I can't imagine that it won't though because the designs are outstanding!

When I saw the Gary Robertson cactus/adobe image, I knew I had to color it. Do you ever have stamps calling your name? Is it just me? I colored the cactus and house with Copic markers and used my airbrush system to create the sky and the ground. When I colored the cactus, I used lighter green in the center and darker green for the edges to give the impression that the light was coming from the front. There was enough shading in the image itself to help guide me in determining what areas should be lighter and which areas should be darker. I love it when that happens!

And the Night...

I planned on posting this card and then realized I don't have all the stamp credits. Sorry! I borrowed the saying from someone who is in the process of getting hip replacement surgery. Needless to say, looking up stamp credits isn't high on their list! :) The center image is by Rubbermoon, and the star image comes from a really old foam stamp I own. I am pretty sure they don't make it anymore. Am I a useless source of information or what?

To make the card, I embossed my saying and images onto dark blue cardstock using silver EP. I then layered my pieces onto some music and a layer of red cardstock. Pretty darn simple. Sometimes I get so caught up in coloring that I forget that I can emboss.

Another Hobby

Okay, I'll admit it. I love to enter contests. There, I said it. I can't seem to help myself. I consider it to be yet another hobby/sickness. I wanted to get that out of the way before I now explain why I also felt the need to make a journal to keep track of my winnings (or as I like to say, "my winnin's"). First, I get cheap thrills looking through the book. Second, some contests (especially radio contests) have restrictions that I like to keep track of. As I said, it is a sickness.

In terms of crafting, I was really pleased with the finished journal. I used Basic Grey journaling transparencies and woolies from the June Bug collection. I won the materials, so I thought they were a fitting addition to the journal. Usually when I make a journal, I spend time covering the book with paper or paint. It can be quite time consuming. For this book, I simply layered the decorative elements on top of a store bought journal (had to pay for it....sigh). I used my Cricut to cut out my title and placed it under one of the Basic Grey transparencies. The whole thing took about 10 minutes to make.

Guest Artist

Today is my birthday, and I wanted to share an awesome card I received from my friend Marilynn. Isn't it wonderful? I love all the layers and textures. The large coffee cup is one of the new Hero Arts images, and I believe the saying is by Amuse. Unfortunately, the card is spot on. It is freeeeezing today! I could really go for a cup of coffee right now. Thanks Marilynn, you rock!

Love/Spring Challenge and Sneak Peek

Want to see some sneak peek Impression Obsession images? The IO Design team challenge today was to create a love or spring themed card. I thought about playing with Valentine images, but the truth is I am ready for Spring and couldn't wait to color some of the new Alesa Baker flowers. To color the image I used Copic markers and my Copic airbrush system. I cut out the flowers using some Nestability dies and layered my pieces onto a notecard that I had stamped with the Cover A Card small dots background. I love how it looks like patterned paper. The new saying is great, but I think of it as saying, "After the [snow] showers...." Man, am I tired of winter!

Need further inspiration? Check out what Deborah, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Kathy, created.

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