Thursday, March 27, 2014

Creativity is Contageous


Welcome to Day 3 of the Impression Obsession 2014 Spring Die Hop!
We have some beautiful new dies share AND Gift Certificates to give away each day!!!
The hop will start each day with a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST. Each day pay us a visit here and then head over and see our fabulous IO Design Team’s projects with our new dies on their blogs (only one comment per blog per day please). The more blogs you visit each day… the better chance you will have to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!!!
Every day (Tuesday, March 25th – Thursday, March 27th) one of the blogs will be chosen randomly and a winner will be selected from comments on that blog at 10pm CT. The winner will be announced the following day along with the participating blogs for that day.
Two prizes will be awarded on the last day of the hop. One will be for Thursday’s comments and another will be chosen from all the comments left throughout the week. 
So….if you miss a day or time deadline your comments will still count for a chance to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!
Both Thursday winners will be announced on the IO Blog on Friday.
If you have any questions please email Jeanne.
All of the new dies you'll be seeing on the hop are available NOW!
Today’s hop list:
Laura Fulcher - you are here
Vicki Garrett

Today is the last day the die blog hop.  I hope you have enjoyed it and been inspired.

For my last card, I once again used stamps that coordinate with dies.  This time though, instead of cutting out a die and then stamping on it with a clear stamp, I used one of the cling rubber stamps that has a coordinating die.

This is the stamp I used.  It is called Insect Set D5642.  It stamps all of the insects at the same time as well as a box around the insects.

Once you stamp the insects, you place the coordinating die (Insect Set DIE139-I) on top of the insects to cut them all out at the same time.  The size of the die is the exact same size as the rectangle around the insects, so it is very easy to line up the two.  Tape the die in place, cut out all of the insects, and then you are ready to add them to your cards.  If you need a visual on how to do all of the steps, I used a similar technique for my Conversation Heart post, and it has a lot more pictures.

Here are the insects once they are colored:


The best part?  The die cuts around all the antennae.  I can't tell you how valuable that is to me!

To make the card, I stamped the Watercolor Clouds J13218 at the top of some watercolor paper using Bahama Blue Memento Luxe ink.  While it was till wet, I went over the blue ink with a waterbrush to soften the color and make it have a more watercolor look.  For the grass, I used Mowed Lawn Distress Ink and a waterbrush to add some green to the bottom of the card.  I let everything dry and then embossed the Creativity is Contagious D14174 in black.  To finish the card, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the butterfly wings and popped them up on the card with foam tape.

Thank you for stopping by during the hop.  I hope you enjoyed it!


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Baby Card


Welcome to Day 2 of the Impression Obsession 2014 Spring Die Hop!
We have some beautiful new dies share AND Gift Certificates to give away each day!!!
The hop will start each day with a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST. Each day pay us a visit here and then head over and see our fabulous IO Design Team’s projects with our new dies on their blogs (only one comment per blog per day please). The more blogs you visit each day… the better chance you will have to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!!!
Every day (Tuesday, March 25th – Thursday, March 27th) one of the blogs will be chosen randomly and a winner will be selected from comments on that blog at 10pm CT. The winner will be announced the following day along with the participating blogs for that day.
Two prizes will be awarded on the last day of the hop. One will be for Thursday’s comments and another will be chosen from all the comments left throughout the week. 
So….if you miss a day or time deadline your comments will still count for a chance to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!
Both Thursday winners will be announced on the IO Blog on Friday.
If you have any questions please email Jeanne.
All of the new dies you'll be seeing on the hop are available NOW!
Today’s hop list:
Laura Fulcher - you are here
Vicki Garrett

For my card today, I decided to once again coordinate stamps with dies.  This time I used images from the Clothesline clear set (CL539) and coordinated them with the Clothesline die set (DIE146-Z).  The stamp and die sets come with a ton of clothes items, but I decided to make a baby card and focus on the onsie.

I wanted to make a generic baby card and decided to go gender-neutral with colors.  I did learn that it is very hard to color a onsie with yellows and not have it look like a baby had an "accident" in it.  Therefore, I stuck to green.  Live and learn!

The clothespins are part of the die set and are a bit fiddly to glue down.  However, they really finish the card, and the die cuts seven clothespins at once so you don't have to keep running the die through a machine.  To finish the card, I stamped the background with the Gingham Cover a Card (CC006) and added some yellow rhinestones.

 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

May You Have a Sweet Ride Through Life


Welcome to Day 1 of the Impression Obsession 2014 Spring Die Hop!
We have some beautiful new dies share AND Gift Certificates to give away each day!!!
The hop will start each day with a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST. Each day pay us a visit here and then head over and see our fabulous IO Design Team’s projects with our new dies on their blogs (only one comment per blog per day please). The more blogs you visit each day… the better chance you will have to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!!!

Every day (Tuesday, March 25th – Thursday, March 27th) one of the blogs will be chosen randomly and a winner will be selected from comments on that blog at 10pm CT. The winner will be announced the following day along with the participating blogs for that day.
Two prizes will be awarded on the last day of the hop. One will be for Thursday’s comments and another will be chosen from all the comments left throughout the week. 

So….if you miss a day or time deadline your comments will still count for a chance to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!
Both Thursday winners will be announced on the IO Blog on Friday.
If you have any questions please email Jeanne.
All of the new dies you'll be seeing on the hop are available NOW!

Today’s hop list:

Laura Fulcher - you are here
Vicki Garrett

I absolutely love when there are dies that coordinate with stamps because I really hate cutting out images, and to tell the truth, I am not very good at it.  I can't imagine how hard it would have been if I had had to cut out  my bicycle by hand.  Instead, I  cut out the bicycle from the Bicycle die set (DIE 145-Z) and then stamped the bike from the CL255 Riding Pretty clear set on top of it.  I then colored it with Copic markers and then added some flowers that I had stamped and cut from the same stamp and die sets.  To finish the card, I added some Basic Grey paper and some street washi tape I got from Queen and Company.  I don't know if you can read the saying from the stamp set, but it says, " May you have a sweet ride through life."

I will see you again tomorrow with a new card!


 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

IO Challenge- The Color Green

 

Howdy everyone!  It is time for another IO challenge, and this time the theme is "green."  I suppose that it is the perfect theme for  the week of St. Patrick's Day.

Sometimes when I am doing a monochromatic challenge, I give myself the extra challenge of only using that color.  That additional challenge is hard for me because I usually start a card with white or cream cardstock and then add some coloring.  However, for this card, I stuck strictly to green papers and inks.

I started by masking off part of my green cardstock and then stamped it with the new Diagonal Weave Cover a Card CC174 using Colorbox Chalk Ice Jade ink.  That left me with some of the Diagonal Weave at the top and some of the weave at the bottom.  I then removed my tape masks and stamped a couple of rows of a plaid border from the Basic Borders 1 CL507 clear stamp set using the same green ink.  I liked the mix of the two patterns and using the same ink helped unify the two patterns.  I left the middle section blank so that I could stamp a saying (from CL48 Greetings Galore clear set)..  To finish the card, I stamped the leaves and branches (Silhouette 18 E5568) in Memento Luxe Olive Grove and Olympia Green Versafine ink.

Need more green inspiration?  Be sure to check out the other designer blogs:
Laura Fulcher - you are here
 

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Birthday Graffiti Card


I had a birthday card to make for a good friend, and I wanted to use the inlaid die cut technique again.  It seems to be my new "thing."  Here is a close up of the card so that you can see how the green "happy" fits into the white cardstock:


The "happy" die is from Memory Box, and all of the sayings came from a Hero Arts clear set.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Die Cut Inlay and Musings


Hi everyone.  I am taking  the Clean and Simple One Layer Card class, and I wanted to explore inlaid diecuts a bit more.  I think one of the advantages is that you don't have to figure out how to adhere a delicate die onto a card. It took a bit of time to figure out what to cut first and piece everything back together, but it left me with a flat card.

Next, I wanted to play with the faux metallic effects.  Of course, I can't leave things alone and changed from using a metallic embossing powder to a chartreuse embossing powder.  I guess it is technically more of a faux enamel effect.  I added a bunch of layers of embossing powder and then pressed the butterfly from the end of my Memory Box Happiest Birthday saying (B1354).  I used Deep Lagoon Versafine ink to press into the hot embossing powder.  For some reason, the ink moved off the top of the wings, but I liked the look of it.  Instead of stamping the circle onto my card, I made a circle medallion and then inlaid it into my card.


The purpose of the challenge was to make a one layer card (either just the card itself, or one layer added to a card).  However, I couldn't stand not adding an extra green layer.  I had to make another version with another layer.   It got me to thinking about what I should have done with the first layer to make me like it more.  I think if I had made the white layer bigger or added some stamping to the teal notecard, it would have looked more "full," and I wouldn't have felt the need for extra layers.  I really need to embrace the one layer!


Materials Used:
Memory Box Cupid Heart 98281 die
Memory Box Script Thanks 98240 die
Memory Box Happiest Birthday saying B1354

 

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Cherry Blossoms


I can't begin to tell you how glad I was for the weather we had this weekend!  I am really ready for Spring and more time outside!

I live in the DC area, so I definitely associate Spring with cherry blossoms.  I am teaching a cherry blossom card class twice this month, and I thought I would share a couple of cards from the class.

The card posted above uses a cherry blossom embossing folder from Darice, a cherry blossom stamp from Hot off the Press, and a saying from Impression Obsession.  I colored the flowers and leaves with watercolor pencils.  Once again, I had to do an image search for cherry blossoms and saw some pink blossoms had dark pink centers, and some had a yellowish center.  I went for the dark pink


For the second card, I used the Sakura image from Poppystamps and a saying from Impression Obsession.  I stamped my image in pink Versamagic onto heavyweight vellum and then colored the images from behind using a pink Copic marker.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, sunny weekend!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

IO Challenge In the Garden



Hello everyone.  Today's challenge is all about gardens.  I am really dreaming of flowers and gardens, but it just doesn't seem as though Spring will ever get here.


Impression Obsession has several new herb and plant stamps that definitely scream "garden" to me.  There is rosemary, basil, and lavender as well as coordinating sayings (remembrance, blessings, devotion).  For my card, I chose the Rosemary Branch D9287 and Rosemary Remembrance saying B9288.  I thought it could work as a sympathy card that was a little different from the typical floral card, or you could just use the "rosemary" part of the saying to make some cute tags or labels.


To make the card, I stamped the rosemary branch onto kraft cardstock and colored it with Prismacolor pencils.  I must confess that I had to do a Google image search to see what color rosemary blooms are.  My guess was white, and I was a bit surprised to see that they are purple!  For the background, I stamped the Rose Typographie (F9285) image several times in brown ink.  That stamp is excellent for backgrounds or collage.


Need more garden inspiration?  Be sure to check out the other blogs:
Laura Fulcher - you are here
Vicki Garrett