Let it Snow!!!!

.....well, not really. I have to admit I am not ready for snow. I rarely am. However, it is such a fun theme for the latest Impression Obsession challenge.

For my card, I used the Snowman with Bird (G7682) as well as the Friendship Never Melts saying (B7703). I stamped everything onto heavy watercolor paper with Versafine ink. Next, I added some various Distress Marker colors and blended them with a waterbrush. To finish the card, I added some glitter underneath the snowman.

Need more snowy inspiration? Check out what the other designers have created:

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)
Vicki Garrett

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

Being Thankful and Upcoming Class

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I am always grateful for to the chance to see my family.

This time of year is all about gratitude and being thankful, so I figured now would be a good time to have a class that was all about creating thank you cards.  If you are in town this weekend and would like to make ten quick and easy cards to add to your stash, I would love it if you would join me for my 10 in 10 thank you class:

10 in 10 Thank You
Where:  Angela's Happy Stamper

Date: Sunday, December 8
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Both of the cards I am posting today are from the class.  The first using images from Impression Obsession, and the second uses dies from Memory Box. 

For the die, I combined it with sticker paper and glitter from Elizabeth Crafts.  I like their products because the glitter doesn't come off of the final card.

Inspired By a Quote

Today's Impression Obsession challenge is all about quotes.  IO has a ton of beautiful quotes in various fonts, so it was really hard to chose one.  I decided on the "In All Things" quote (B3670) and paired it with the Fern Stem (G9045).

For the card itself, I challenged myself to keep it simple and only use one layer.  I wanted the focus to be on the quote and the leaf.

To make the card, I first applied a mask to the edges of my card.  Then, I sponged some Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass Distress ink on the card and had it fade as it approached the center of the card.  I made sure to add the ink first to the right hand side of the card so that side would end up darker than the center.  I removed the mask then added the fern in Spanish Moss and Olympia Versafine ink and the quote with black Versafine ink.

Need more quote inspiration? Check out what the other designers have created:

Anna Wight (brand new IO designer)
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)
Vicki Garrett

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

Chalkboard Christmas

Today's IO challenge is all about holiday cards and tags. I have been making a lot of chalkobard cards lately, so I was really excited when I saw the Joy to the World stamp (F13156). The layout and assortment of fonts really lends itself to faux chalkboard stamping. To complete the look, I added the Elegant Flourish 2 (A8688).

To make the card I stamped the saying and flourish onto black cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed everything with white embossing powder. To "smudge" the edges, I added some white pigment ink to the card with a sponge.

Need more holiday inspiration? Visit the other IO designer blogs:
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)
Vicki Garrett
Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

IO Challenge- Favorite Technique

This week's Impression Obsession challenge is all about favorite techniques. I know that my favorite techniques always involve coloring, but I couldn't decide between Copic markers or watercolor pencils. Therefore, I had to post both. :)

For my first card, I used Leigh Hannan's Peppermint Moon (G2457)as well as Copic markers and Wink of Stella glitter pens. For the background, I used the new Ledger Cover a Card background (CC165). I love that you get such bright, bold results with Copic markers. As a contrast, I like the softer muted tones that you can get from watercolor pencils.

For my second card, I used watercolor pencils on the Autumn Tree (E7726). The background is a combination of both the Ledger Cover a Card (CC165) as well as the Mesh Circles Cover a card (CC161). I almost said combining Cover a Card backgrounds was my favorite technique, but I thought that I might be pushing it.

Need more technique inspiration? Check out all of the designer blogs:
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)

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

New Obsession

I have admired "chalkboard" cards on the Internet for quite a while. I finally got out a bunch of stamps and started playing with chalkboard style cards. I have to say, I am hooked. It reminds me a bit of when I was doing a lot of Zentangle cards and saw patterns everywhere. Now I am noticing flourishes, borders, and other stamps that would make great chalkboards. I decided to do a class with the cards I have been making:

If you are interested, I will be teaching my Faux Chalkboard Techniques card class at Angela's on Friday, November 15.

IO Colors of Fall Challenge

The IO challenge today was to make a card using fall colors. I know that didn't necessarily mean I had to use fall images, but I felt the need to color pumpkins.

To make the card, I stamped the Butterfly and Pumpkins image (H1924) onto white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. I cut out image and then layered it onto light brown cardstock and added the Blessings saying (B8182). To finish the card, I added some raffia and some Wink of Stella clear glitter pen to the butterfly wings to make them sparkle.

Need more fall color inspiration? Check the other blogs:
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)
Vicki Garrett
Want to play along? You can find all the information here, and you could even win a $25 IO gift certificate!

Clean and Simple Halloween

Hi everyone. Today I posted this card over on the Outside the Box blog. It is a pretty quick and easy card that is part of my upcoming 10 in 10 Memory Box Halloween class. If you are interested in my classes, here are a few of them:

Memory Box 10 in 10 Halloween
Sunday, October 13 2-4pm
Make 10 quick and easy Halloween cards using the latest stamps and dies from Memory Box.

Copic Halloween (this one isn't on Angela's website yet, but it will be soon)
Friday, October 25 6:30-8:30 pm Brush up on your Copic coloring skills with spooky, Halloween-themed cards.

Memory Box 10 in 10 Christmas
Sunday, November 10 2-4pm
Make 10 quick and easy Christmas cards using the latest stamps and dies from Memory Box.

Spooky Spider

I just love Halloween cards, so I wanted to share another card I made with some of the new Impression Obsession images. The card used two of the new Cover a Card backgrounds (Spooky CC160 and Sunburst CC156). I stamped the Spooky background onto purple paper using a Versafine Imperial Purple ink. I then embossed the Sunburst background on bright green paper using purple embossing powder from Fred Mullett. The Sunburst background has a nice distress look to it that really appeals to me. To finish the card, I added the Spider (C14144) to the center of the sunburst with black ink.

IO Challenge- Things that Fly

Today's Impression Obsession Challenge is all about things that fly. I am still in my stencil/Dylusion sprays stage, so I combined those with one of the most versetile IO butterfly stamps (in my opinion)...the Swallowtail Silhouette.

Stamps:
Dot Border
Grunge Circles E13120D13116
Swallowtail Silhouette D5009

Inks:
Hero Arts Butter Bar
Hero Arts Orange Soda
Black India Ink

Stencils:
Crafters Workshop Mini Honeycomb TCW348
Crafters Workshop Mini Numbers Collage TCW210

Dylusion Sprays:
Cherry Pie
Squeezed Orange
Lemon Zest
Black Marble
White Linen

Instructions:
· Spritz white carstock with yellow, orange, and red sprays
· Dab piece with paper towels
· Place numbers stencil down onto carstock and spritz lightly with black spray
· Dab piece with paper towels
· Place honeycomb stencil onto piece and spitz lightly with white spray
· Dab piece with paper towels
· Stamp top or orange notecard with circle collage and Butter Bar ink
· Stamp dot border onto orange cardstock strip with Orange Soda ink
· Cut dot border down to the size you want for the card
· Edge dot border strip with orange or butter bar ink
· Stamp circle collage a couple of times onto cream cardstock using butter bar ink
· Stamp butterfly on top
· Pop butterfly square up on card using foam tape. of circles using black ink
· Layer the pieces of the card

Need more flying inspiration? Visit the other designers
Impression Obsession Blog
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher (you are here)
Vicki Garrett

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