IO Summer Release- Day 2

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Summer Release Celebration!

The Impression Obsession Summer Stamp Release Celebration starts today! Each day (April 29th - May 1st ) you can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am. Every single blog will have a $25 gift certificate to give away for the event - so the more you comment through our Release Celebration the more chances to win! All comments for all of the event days will be open until Sunday 7th at noon CT. All winner will be announced on Monday May 6th.

All of the new stamps are available now! You can find them all HERE

There is a new clear set called Fishies that I absolutely love.  In particular, there is one fish that I am particularly fond of that made an appearance in both of my samples.  I just love him!

In the first card, I used underwater elements and a sentiment that all came from the Fishies clear set.  I masked the fish and rocks before airbrushing a little blue and brown Copic markers to create a landscape for the scene.  I didn't bother masking the sentiment or bubbles (what a pain).  Instead, I simply colored them with Prismacolor pencils that covered up the airbrushing.  I used an airbrush, but you could just as easily use ink and a sponge.

For the second card, I used fish from the set and an older sentiment.  I once again used masking, but it wasn't as much work as it might seem.  I  had a mask for the puffer fish from the other sample and for the brown fish, I only cut out a mask that covered the body and tail.  I didn't worry about the fins because I knew they would be colored with a dark brown marker.  I did cut out about 12 masks, but that took no time at all since I stacked 6 masks on top of each other and cut them all out at once and then did the same for the other six.  Of course, I saved all my masks for future use.

Don't forget to leave a comment and visit the other blogs for a chance at winning a $25 IO gift certificate!

Impression Obsession Items Used:
Fishies clear set CL958
In a Crowd A5445

Butterfly Whimsy

 

It has been rainy and dreary here, so I thought it would be a good idea to post something bright and cheerful.

I have mentioned before that I like the whimsical quality of Hannah Davies' designs.  I just love her use of peacock feathers as butterfly antennae.  How clever!  I started with the Flower and Butterfly image (H10022) and colored it with Copic markers.  I then airbrushed the sides with a bright blue Copic marker to match my background paper.  To finish the card, I added some Stickles to the wings for sparkle and stamped the Hello saying (A3579) in blue ink.

 

Clean and Simple 85

Well, it is late, and I can't sleep. Do you ever have one of those nights when your mind just won't shut off? I decided to get back up rather than stare at the wall and saw that Clean and Simple had a new layout. Here is the sketch:

I used one of my favorite stamp sets from Cornish Heritage Farms and airbrushed one side of the card. I then colored the fish with Copic markers and added a piece of paper that I ran through my Cuttlebug with a bubbles embossing folder. Pretty darn easy!

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!

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.

Moxie Fab Stamping Challenge

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.

Airbrushed Easter Eggs

I was inspired by a couple blogs this week to try something new. First, the Hero Art's blog is having a challenge where they encourage you to stamp on something other than paper. Second, on Marianne's Copic blog, she talked about airbrushing Easter eggs. I decided to give it a try and am posting the finished result.

I originally thought it would be a good idea to blow out the eggs so that they could be used year after year. However, I realized if I waited to do that step, these eggs would never get made! I stamped the eggs using a cherry blossom border from Hero Arts and some black Memento ink. I put the clear stamp onto a clear acrylic block and then slowly rolled the egg over the stamp. One of the first things they tell you when learning to stamp is, "don't rock the stamp!" However, I soon learned that to get a good impression, I had to slowly rock the egg as I rolled it across the stamp in order to account for the curve of the egg.

I let the eggs dry and then airbrushed them with my Copic airbrush system and some Copic markers. Once the eggs were dry, I colored the flowers with the same markers I had used for the airbrushing. To finish the eggs, I added some clear rhinestones and some clear Stickles. I thought they ended up pretty cool. Inedible, but cool.

Impression Obsession DT Challenge

Well, CHA is winding down, and the Impression Obsession Design Team wanted to continue showing you some of the new designs released at the show. This time the theme was "Spring." I decided to share a couple of Easter cards featuring images by IO's new stamp designer, Sarah Phelps. Aren't her designs cute?!

For the first card, I went with colors that aren't normally associated with Spring. In fact, I think it is the first Spring card I have ever made with dark brown and orange. I ran the tan background piece through my Cuttlebug machine two times using my dot border folder. I wanted to add some texture, but I didn't want to have dots over the entire card. I colored the bunny and carrots with Copic markers and then embellished it with an orange ribbon.

For the second card, I went with more traditional Spring colors and broke out my Copic airbrush system to create my background. I created the sky with the airbrush and a cloud template made by Rosie's Road show. I then masked the bottom of the card with a post-it note cut in the shape of a hill and sprayed it with a green Copic marker. The bunny and eggs were stamped and colored on a separate piece of paper. I then cut out each element and glued it to my meadow background.

Be sure to check out the other spring cards made by Julie, Dina, Kelli, and Daniela.

I hope you have enjoyed all these sneek peaks. They were sure fun to create!

On an unrelated note, one of the women I have met at the Hero Arts blog posts interviews with members every Wednesday. This week she interviewed me! If you have never read Deborah's "Society of Stamp and Scrap-aholics" blog, you should definitely check it out. It is one of the funniest blogs I have ever read.

On a second unrelated note, my Copics class this week was cancelled because of the weather. If you are interested in taking it, it was rescheduled for this Saturday from 10am-12pm.

All my best,