Friday, January 26, 2018

Impression Obsession Spring Release Hop- Day 5

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2018 Spring Release Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND Gift Certificates to give away!...
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST 
January 22rd - January 26th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win one of FIVE $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 on all posts until 9pm CT on Sunday January 28th 
and all winners will be announced January 29th.


Greetings friends.  All this week I have been sharing cards with a lot of coloring.  I created a lot with my Zig markers because they are so portable.  I could stamp out a bunch of images, take my markers and waterbrush with me and  color anywhere when I had some down time.

Today I want to share something different.  I want to go back to the basics with stamps, paper and ink.  I only used two colors of ink and absolutely no additional coloring.

First, I want to talk about the background.  I created my own background using two different IO backgrounds.  Remember, you can layer as many patterns as you want and different colors of ink to customize your own look.  I started with the watercolor lines background and stamped it with pink ink on a pink card to get my stripes.  Next, I stamped the watercolor dots on top of the stripes using black ink:


Finally, I stamped the bunny and greeting using the same black ink and added some black patterned washi tape to the left side of the card.  That's it!  Very clean and simple.  I also have been going through a hot pink and black phase, so I thought it would be fun to try an Easter card that wasn't in the typical pastel palette of colors.

Impression Obsession Items Used:
Rustic Wood Bunny D20430
Watercolor Dots L20424
Watercolor Lines L20425
Sentiment from the Flower Greetings clear set CL830
Impression Obsession Peony ink
Impression Obsession Black ink


Don't forget to visit the other designers for inspiration and chances to win!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Impression Obsession Spring Release Hop- Day 4

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2018 Spring Release Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND Gift Certificates to give away!...
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST 
January 22rd - January 26th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win one of FIVE $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 on all posts until 9pm CT on Sunday January 28th 
and all winners will be announced January 29th.


Greetings friends.  Spring is coming!  It really, really is.   I get so excited to start stamping bunnies, eggs, and flowers.

For my card today, I created a background by masking the bottom and right side of white cardstock with strips of 1/4" Eclipse Masking tape.  I then sponged Distress Inks in the corner to give the impression of sky and grass.  I let the sponged color fade into white so that it was a subtle accent for my sentiment.

For the bunny, I stamped him onto 140lb watercolor paper with Zig Clean Color Brush markers and softened everything with a waterbrush.  Tip for coloring the bunny- color the outside edges darker and the inside parts lighter so that it looks like you have a curved head and body.  I took a class with Dave Brethauer years ago where he said it is very important not to color too darkly in the center of an animal's face, especially near the eyes.  He said that the animals often start to look a bit crazy if you color too darkly around the eyes.  That bit of advice has always stuck with me.  Plus, it is easier to see the eyes if you don't color too darkly.  Here is a closeup:


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the bunny circle and black matting behind it are popped up on the card with some foam tape.

Impression Obsession Items Used:
Baby Bunny C19715
Hoppy Bunny  C19670

Don't forget to visit the other designers for more inspiration and chances to win!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Impression Obsession Spring Release Hop- Day 3

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2018 Spring Release Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND Gift Certificates to give away!...
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST 
January 22rd - January 26th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win one of FIVE $25 Gift Certificates!
The more blogs you4 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 on all posts until 9pm CT on Sunday January 28th 
and all winners will be announced January 29th.



Greetings friends.  I am in a blue state of mind today...  blueberries instead of sadness though.  I really had fun with a new clear set called "Baby Bird" because it contains a sweet bird (look for a card with that soon), sprigs of blueberries, and assorted foliage.  I have a feeling I will be using the set a lot.

To make the card, I stamped the blueberry sprigs onto 140lb watercolor paper with black Versafine ink and colored around the images with grey Zig Clean Color Brush Marker and a waterbrush.  If you color completely around an object with grey, then it makes it look like the image is popping forward.  The reason why I started with the grey is that it was so light that I could just color over the branches knowing that I would later go back and color them green.  That was a lot faster than coloring around each individual stem. 

Once the grey was completely dry, I colored the blueberries and leaves with more Zig Clean Color Brush Markers.  Tip for coloring the blueberries...  add a touch of blue and purple marker to the base of each blueberry.  Soften the color by using a waterbrush to drag the color from the base to the tip of the blueberry.  If you aren't getting a gradient of color, wipe off the waterbrush to get rid of any extra paint and try again.  The top of each blueberry should have a watered-down/lighter look to it. Here is a closeup:


For the bottom of the card, I made own pattern using a Cover a Card background stamp that I often use when I want to create a "homespun/country" kind of look.

Impression Obsession Items Used:
Baby Bird Clear Set CL837
Berry Much C19734
Cover a Card Ticking CC126

Don't forget to visit the other designers for more inspiration and chances to win!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Impression Obsession Spring Release Hop- Day 2

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2018 Spring Release Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND Gift Certificates to give away!...
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST 
January 22rd - January 26th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win one of FIVE $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 on all posts until 9pm CT on Sunday January 28th 
and all winners will be announced January 29th.


Greetings friends.  Today I wanted to share the new Sweet Trailer stamp. I really wanted to play up the night element of the stamp, so I first created a galaxy background.

To create my background, I started with regular white cardstock and sponged it with some yellow, pink and red Distress Oxide inks.  Next I sponged some black Distress Oxide ink over the three bright colors, spitzed it with water and then allowed the whole piece to dry.  Once it was dry, I flicked the whole thing with watered-down white acrylic paint.

For my trailer, I stamped the image onto 140lb watercolor paper with black Versafine ink then colored it with Zig Clean Color Brush markers and a waterbrush.  To finish the card, I added the new "love the journey" sentiment.  Here is a close up:



Impression Obsession Items Used:
Sweet Trailer E19719
Love the Journey B21053

Don't forget to visit the other designers for more ideas and for chances to win!


Monday, January 22, 2018

Impression Obsession Spring Release Hop- Day 1

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2018 Spring Release Hop!
We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND Gift Certificates to give away!...
The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST 
January 22rd - January 26th.
Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win one of FIVE $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 on all posts until 9pm CT on Sunday January 28th 
and all winners will be announced January 29th.

Greetings friends. Impression Obsession has tons of new images that I know you will enjoy.  We will be having a hop all week to inspire you to use the new designs, so I hope you will stop by.

For my card, I was really inspired to use the new "Introverting" clear stamp set.  It has lots of new sayings that I have never seen before.  To make my card, I stamped the new cat stamp and sayings onto 140lb watercolor paper with black Versafine ink.  Next, I colored my cat with Zig Clean Color Brush markers and a waterbrush.  My biggest tip when doing this is to color the outside of the cat or the cat first and then let it dry COMPLETELY.  Next, color the other area in the same fashion.  By letting your card dry, it prevents the colors from bleeding into each other.

For the background, I stamped

Here is a closeup of the cat:


Impression Obsession items used:
Sketched Cat F13699
Sayings from Clear Set- Introverting CL827 (there is a cat in this set- it is just smaller than the one I used)
Background- Circle Fusion 1 CC109 

Don't forget to visit the other designers for inspiration and chances to win!


Thursday, January 18, 2018

IO Challenge- Adore You (Valentine)


Greetings friends.  I don't know about you, but I am envious of everyone attending Creativision 2018.  I know there will be so many new stamping products and ideas.  The Impression Obsession Design team will be showing you lots of new products next week, but I am going ahead and show you one of the new products that Impression Obsession is releasing at Creativision this weekend.  It is one of Lindsay Ostrom's new designs (Meadow Whisper E19720).  Her flowers are so much fun to color!

Whenever I make a card for Impression Obsession, I try to use their background stamps instead of patterned paper.  After all, they have such wonderful Cover a Card designs that it would be a shame not to use them.  For today's card, I used the Zebra Cover a Card.  It is embossed in black on white cardstock.  I really liked the glossy finished look, even though it is hard to see it in the picture.  It also made me laugh because my last Valentine used a giraffe background and this time I used a zebra background.  I must be going through my wild animal phase.  Here is a close up:


To color the flowers, I used Zig Clean Color Brush markers and a waterbrush.  As a finishing touch, I spelled out "I adore you" using words from the Valentine Brush Letters clear stamp set and popped up the pink panel onto the card using some foam tape.

Need more Valentine ideas?  Don't forget to check out the other designers:

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Llama Llove



Hi guys.  It was my turn on the Outside the Box blog today, so I shared one of their clear set images that includes several llamas with coordinating sayings.

 
I added just a hint of color around the clouds and the ground using my Zig Clean Color Brush markers and a waterbrush.  Sometimes I find that you don't need to color the entire sky or ground to give the impression that they are there.  Plus, it is much faster if you don't color the whole piece of paper!


If you want to see the full post, you can find it here.


I also released I forgot to share my last post from the Outside the Box blog on my personal blog.  For this card, I used the new penguin die as well as some of the new Valentine's Day dies:




If you want to find the entire post for that card, you can find it here.




Thursday, January 11, 2018

Non-Traditional Valentine


Greetings friends.  I have been making a lot of non-traditional valentines lately.  I still wanted to have some hearts so that it still looked like a valentine, but I usually don't use giraffes on my valentine's day cards.

I recently cut out a lot of giraffes from the baby giraffe clear set with the coordinating baby giraffe die set.  I have them ready to go for any occasion.  I think the next card will be a birthday card with a party hat.

To make the card, I started with 140lb watercolor paper and stamped and cut out my giraffe and scarf.  I then colored everything with Zig Clean Color Brush markers and a waterbrush.  I wanted to amp up the spots on the card to go with the saying, so I stamped the Giraffe Cover a Card background onto a Kraft notecard with IO Caramel ink.  The sentiment was stamped with IO Chocolate ink.

Hope you have a great day!

Friday, January 5, 2018

New Valentine's from Memory Box


Hi guys.  Today I am once again posting over on the Outside the Box blog for Memory Box.  They have brand new dies in time for Valentine's Day. 

To make the card, I made a background wash of Distress Oxide inks, paper-pieced some gold and dark pink paper and added a bunch of glitter.

Here is a close up of the the paper piecing and glitter:


For more instructions and pictures, be sure to check out the Memory Box blog.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, January 4, 2018

IO Challenge- Shiny New Year (Shiny Elements on a Card)


Greetings friends.  I want to start off by apologizing that I haven't figured out how to photograph metallics or glitter very well.  If anyone has tips, I would love to hear them!

For today's project, I wanted to show you the Gift Card Foldover die.  The nice thing about the die set is that it cuts out a mini foldover card that fits a standard gift card as well as cuts slits on the inside to hold the gift card in place.  It also comes with two sentiments so that you can decide what you want the holder to say.  In the photo above, I chose a generic gift sentiment, and in the next picture, I chose a birthday sentiment:


Here is a closeup of the inside so that you can visualize how it holds a gift card:


Here is what the die set looks like.  You can see that the foldover part is one piece, and the two sentiments are separate:


**The picture is a bit deceptive.  The sentiments look like they won't fit in the holder, but it really does!

The theme this time was shiny cards, so I used a silver metallic paper for the holder and some glitter for extra sparkle.  To make a gift card holder, I started by cutting out the silver base.  Next, I taped the sentiment I wanted in place with low tac tape and ran it though a die cut machine a second time.  I then placed some really strong double stick tape behind the sentiment (Elizabeth Crafts) and sprinkled it with glitter.  Finally, I cut an extra piece of white cardstock to go on the inside of the gift holder so that it would cover my glitter on tape.

What to see other shiny card ideas?  Don't forget to visit the other designers.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Distress Oxide Floral Cards


Greetings friends.  I posted on the Outside the Box blog today sharing some of the latest dies from Memory Box.  For a full list of Distress Oxide ink colors and die information, be sure to visit the Memory Box blog.