Ready For Summer

The weather is getting warmer, and have I noticed that I am using more "summer" themed images. I love the Leigh Hannan Sailing Martini (E2304) stamp. It makes me wish I knew something about sailing. To make the card, I colored the image with Copic markers, edged the piece with some Tumbled Glass Distress ink, and added the Ahoy Matey saying (A5441). To finish the card, I outlined the whole thing with a Cool Grey 1 pen to make the image pop forward.

Here is a close up of the image:

So what about you? Are you working on summer cards, or are you one of those people working on Christmas cards already?

Black and White

Time for another IO challenge, and this time the theme is "black and white." I love the look of black and white cards, but I often forget about making them.

I will have to come back later to give you the names of the stamps since I can't seem to get on the IO website right now to check. If I would just write down my stamp info this wouldn't be a problem, but....

I used the same Cover a Card stamp in black in the background as I did in grey for the foreground. I liked the continuity of using the same pattern for both. To embellish the card, I used clear gems from Hero Arts.

Need some black and white inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Julie, and Kathy, created.

Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

Upcoming Classes

Well, I am leaving today to go get my Intermediate Copic Certification. I am so excited! I am going to take the class before finishing up my Copics III class. Of course, I have a date reserved in June, so I had better get going on it! I will post more information as it becomes available. I know people have been waiting for the next class. I am also taking into consideration Angela's parting words to me.... "Learn Lots." No pressure.

Until then, I thought I would show you a couple other classes I have coming up soon. The one above is my Memory Box Die Cuts class. It is on Sunday, May 22nd and uses some of the new Memory Box dies as well as the new Valise line of papers. Later on that same day, I will be doing a Memory Box paper transfer class. Students will leave with a 4" x 4" canvas to hang on the wall:

Here is a side view of the canvas so that you can see the pattern wraps around the sides:

I am also working on a 10 in 10 Birthday class and a Leigh Hannan beach class for June. Stay tuned for more info!

Have a great weekend! I am off to "learn lots" in Ohio.

IO Challenge- Favorite Stamp

I have a feeling that the other IO designers found this challenge as hard as I did. Choose your favorite Impression Obsession stamp? That is hard! To be honest, all of Leigh Hannan's Halloween stamps probably tie as my favorite. In order to break the tie and focus on something that wasn't fall related, I chose her Candy Jars (G2332) instead. I just love them!

To make this card, I stamped the jars in black ink and then masked them with some Eclipse tape. I then used my Mega mount and stamped the screen (CC049) and Flourishes (CC027) on top. I cut out the jars using my Nestabilities, colored them with colored pencils and Copic markers, and then added some glossy accents and Distress Rock Candy Stickles to the image to give it more dimension. Here is a close up of the Glossy Accents on the jars and Stickles on the Rock Candy:


Curious about the other DT favorite stamps? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Kathy, created. I know I am dying to know what their favorite stamps are.

Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

IO Challenge- Polka Dots!

Today, the IO challenge is all about polka dots. I decided to use dots primarily in the background as a faux patterned paper. Here are the Cover a Card stamps I used for the back:
CC003 Cover a Card Dots
CC007 Cover a Card Large Dots
CC049 Cover a Card Screen (can you see it? It is a really pale blue)

To finish the card, I added the Zinnias stamp (E2313) as well as a saying from the All Occasion II set (CL307).

Need more dotty inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, andKathy created. Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

IO Challenge- Encouragement

Hi all. For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me add breaks, so this post is going to be one really long paragraph! Today I am posting a card for the Impression Obsession Challenge. This time the theme is encouragement....inspiration, thinking of you, graduation, or any other card to show someone you care. With graduation season approaching, I thought I would tackle that theme. To make the card, I used the following stamps: Congratulations B5505 Book-Cap G2335 Cover a Card Medallion CC032 I colored the book and cap with Copic Markers and edged everything with some Venetian Sunrise Fresco Chalk ink. Need ideas for encouragement cards? Check out what Need some purple inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created. "Encouragement" is open for wide interpretation, so there should be some vastly different samples. Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

I know, I know

I have been pretty absent lately. I don't even have a card to share today. I just thought I would post a few cherry blossom pictures from last weekend with my mom. We such a wonderful time going into DC! Does anyone know why some of the blossoms are white, and some are pink? Do the pink ones become white? There were sure a lot of white blossoms around the Tidal Basin this year!

I am participating in an IO challenge tomorrow, so I promise to be back with craft related posts.

Anything But a Card Challenge

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today, the IO challenge was to make "Anything But a Card." Of course, I had to make something for St. Patrick's Day! And what says St. Patrick's Day more than...a Chinese takeout container? :) Oh well, at least it is green.

For my project, I ran white cardstock through an Accucut machine and cut out a takeout container. I stamped the Gingham Cover a Card background (CC006) on top with Colorbox Chalk Lime Pastel ink and added an image one of the Sarah Phelps clear sets (CL216 St. Patrick's Day). I colored the image with Copic markers, added some wire to look like a takeout container, and finished with some green bows on the side.

Need some ideas that aren't cards? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created. Be sure to visit the various blogs since many of us chose to use some of the new stamps.

Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

Tuesday Trigger and Birthday Card

Today's card serves a couple of purposes. First, I wanted to play along with the latest Tuesday Trigger over on the Moxie Fab blog. I just loved the flowers and colors in the picture. Here is the inspiration photo:

Second, I wanted to make a birthday card for my friend Hare. Even though her favorite color is red, I thought she might like this color combo too. If you squint REALLY hard, you might be able to see a faint wood grain on the kraft cardstock. I used a really light blue ink, which looked pretty good when I stamped it. Then I watched as the pattern slowly disappeared as it dried. Oh well! I think using a light color of ink only really works if you stamp on white or stamp tone on tone. Live and learn...

I took a close-up of the flowers to show you that I watercolored the petals with watercolor crayons and a waterbrush then added some Distress Stickles for sparkle and Glossy Accents to make the cup look like porcelain.

When I got home today, I saw that my photos from Snapfish arrived. I have plans to make some photo cards, so I will let you know how they turn out.

Feeling Blue...

Well, at least inspired by the Impression Obsession blue challenge. The nice thing about this card is that it really takes no time at all to make. I used three stamps and two colors of ink. I didn't do any coloring, which really cuts down on card making time. Here are step by step pictures of the card:

Step 1- start with a medium blue notecard:



Step 2- Stamp the Denim Cover a Card (CC051) onto the blue card:

Step 3- stamp Newsprint Cover a Card (CC068) on top of Denim background:

Finally, I stamped the Ocracoke Lighthouse (F1814) on blue paper with the same blue Versafine ink. The Versafine pads really do pick up small details on stamps!

Are you feeling the blues? Check out the blue themed cards by Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created.

Want to play along? You can find all of the information here, and you could even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!