Die Blog Hop- Day 3

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Spring Die Release Celebration!

 

The Impression Obsession Spring Die Release Celebration starts today! Each day (April 1st - 3rd ) 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 winners will be announced on Monday April 8th.  Good luck, and I hope you are inspired!

 

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

 

 

Greetings friends.  Today is the last day of the Impression Obsession Spring Die Release Celebration.  I hope you have been inspired by the latest dies.  I know I have enjoyed seeing what the other designers created.

 

For my card today, I used the new Poppy Frame die.  I knew that it would work really well for paper-piecing some of my paper scraps.  To make this card, I cut out flower petals using scraps of watercolor paper that had been colored with Color Burst powders and sprayed with water.  To finish the card, I added the hello sentiment and a few sequins for bling.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Items Used:

Poppy Frame DIE794-YY

Hello DIE809-G

Die Blog Hop- Day 1

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Spring Die Release Celebration!

The Impression Obsession Spring Die Release Celebration starts today! Each day (April 1st - 3rd ) 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 winners will be announced on Monday April 8th.  Good luck, and I hope you are inspired!

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

 

Greetings friends.  Today I wanted to share a couple of Western-themed cards that I made using the new release of Impression Obsession dies.  The first one is probably my favorite.  Of course, I am a sucker for landscape stamps and dies.  It is called  Desert Scene, and it comes with three dies to create a layered desert landscape.  All you have to do is change the colors of each layer to achieve vastly different looks.  I layered all of my desert dies onto a background that I created with watercolor paper, some Color Burst powders and a bunch of water.

To finish the card, I stamped my thank you kindly onto another one of the new dies that comes from a set called Pinked Stitched Sentiment Banner.  That die set comes with three different banners of various sizes that are perfect for framing whatever sentiment you want to add to the card.

When I showed my second card to my mom, she said it was a good card for a man.  It is, but I also wanted to have a card for anyone who needed to "cowboy up."  This is the sentiment I used for the inside of the card:

To make the background for the card, I used glossy inkjet paper and then sponged it with a coffee filter layered with Color Burst powders as well as a bunch of water.  The coffee filter diffuses the ink so that you don't get splotches of paint on your paper when the powders react to the water.

I could have layered my decorative background behind the cut out cowboy, but I decided to cut it out with the die and paper piece the whole scene together instead.  Paper piecing with the glossy paper gave the finished card an embedded enamel look that I didn't get when just layering the paper behind the black silhouette.

I hope you were inspired today and will look forward to the other die cut release days!

Card 1 Supplies:

DIE782-YY Desert Scene

DIE814-U Pinked Stitched Sentiment Banner

B13175  Thank You Kindly

Card 2 Supplies:

DIE780-YY Sunset on Horse

D13150 Courage Is

Winter IO Blog Hop- Day 1

 

Welcome to the Winter Hugs Hop!

Impression Obsession is having a three day event to share with you the latest release.  I have a $10 Impression Obsession gift certificate to give to a randomly chosen person who comments on my blog for those posts.  Enter one day for one entry on enter all three days for three chances to win.  For today, comment below with your favorite stamp from the release! All comments will be open until Sunday, December 16th at noon CT. Winner will be announced on my blog on Monday, December 17th

. 

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

The list of today’s participants can be found on the Impression Obsession Blog

Also, you will want to make sure to stop by the IO blog because there are 3 more chances to win there! 

Greetings friends.  Today I wanted to share a card featuring a quote from the new release that I really loved.  In this day and age, I don't think it is a bad idea to focus on the positive and how we can each improve the world.  I am also impressed and humbled by how wise Anne Frank was at such a young age.

To make the card, I started with a coffee filter, sprinkled it with some Colorburst Powders, spritzed it with water and then placed the entire filter onto some glossy photo paper.  It is important to use photo paper rather than regular glossy paper.  I think the inkjet photo paper works better because it allows the inks to dry, the paper doesn't tear (even when it gets wet), and the paper doesn't warp even when you add lots of water.

Next, I allowed the paper to dry completely before stamping the How Wonderful sentiment on top with black ink from Impression Obsession.

Sometimes when I want to make a sentiment the focus of a card, I like to make an interesting background that doesn't overpower the wording on the card.

Impression Obsession items used:

How Wonderful E14772

Black Ink

Other Stamping items used:

Color Burst Ultramarine Blue

Color Burst Turquoise

Color Burst Tangerine

Happy crafting!

IO Challenge- Backgrounds

Greetings friends.  I was really looking forward to this challenge because I am enamored with IO Cover a Card Background stamps.  I think you may have noticed that I tend to forgo patterned papers because I can just stamp my own.

For the card today, I wanted to show you how you can combine three different backgrounds to create your own designer paper.  You can choose the colors and designs you want to get a look that you like.  Here is a close up of today's "paper." It uses three of the light/medium/dark IO ink colors that are meant to coordinate together.  I chose Fog, Shadow, and Taupe.

First, I started with Fog ink and stamped the Cover a Card Distressed Denim design on top of white cardstock.  The mottled design is a favorite of mine when building a patterned paper to use as a light base layer to build upon:

Next, I added some lines to my paper using the Scribble Checkerboard Cover a Card and some Shadow ink:

I already had a mottled layer and a lined layer, so for my third layer, I decided to go with some curvy lines.  The top layer used the Flourishes Cover a Card with Taupe ink.

I then had my completed paper that was ready for a stamped image and sentiment.  For the butterfly, I stamped it onto my background and once again onto a piece of watercolor paper that I had colored with Colorburst powders.  It was actually a scrap that I hated as a background.  Never throw those pieces away.  They are great for stamping on top of as well as die cutting.  I cut out the butterfly wings (without the antennae) and glued them onto the butterfly stamped directly onto the card.  Finally, I added my sentiment in black ink.

I encourage you to try making your own backgrounds.  IO has over 250 background designs, so the possibilities are practically limitless!

Impression Obsession Items used:
Cover a Card Distressed Denim
Fog ink
Scribble Checkerboard Cover a Card
Shadow ink
Flourishes Cover a Card
Taupe ink
Sketched Butterfly
Artful Soul

I encourage you to visit the other designers for more background inspiration!

Anna Wight

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

 Karen Amidon

Kelli Hull

Laura Fulcher

 Vicki Garrett

IO Collor Challenge- Pink and Green

Greetings friends.  Today's challenge was to use the colors pink and green.  It is a perfect color palette for Spring!  For my card today, I want to share a bit of what I did wrong as well as what went right.  After all, isn't that information just as important?

To make the card, I used one of my Colorburst backgrounds that I have on hand for cardmaking.  It is 140lb watercolor paper with an assortment of green Colorburst powders that were spritzed with water to get a splattered watercolor look.

Next, I stamped my Rose Leaves onto the green background using Impression Obsession Shamrock ink.  I put it in my MISTI for stamping because watercolor paper is notoriously difficult to stamp on, and I had a feeling I would need to stamp the leaves more than once.

The butterfly is where things went a bit wonky.  I cut out the butterfly in white cardstock and then again with one of my pink Colorburst backgrounds.  I pieced the pink parts of the butterfly onto the white butterfly outline, and I was done.  I should have stopped there.  However, I didn't.  I added some Stickles to the wings for sparkle, and the glitter glue started removing all of the Colorburst color.  The wings looked terrible.  Note to self...  Stickles and Colorburst powders don't work well together.  I removed the pink pieces that were ruined and looked for another background that would work.

To finish the card, I cut out another pink pieces from a background I had made using a couple of Cover a Card backgrounds.  Here are the pink pieces I used on the butterfly.  The original pink Colorburst background on the left and the pink patterned paper I made on the right:

So, my butterfly ended up being a combination of Colorburst pink pieces and patterned pink pieces.  The patterned paper didn't match the other paper, so I added some Copic marker on top of the pattern to make it look like all the pieces were meant to work together:

Whew!  I wish I hadn't gone one step too far and given myself  all that extra work.  However, as I tell my students, cards always seem to go wrong.  It is always about the fix.

Impression Obsession items used:
Rose Leaf Branch F1899
Butterfly 2 die DIE507-V
Hugs die DIE516-A
Shamrock ink

For the pink patterned paper:
Cover a Card Distressed Denim CC051
Cover a Card Flourishes CC027
Bubblegum ink
Ruby ink

Need more pink/green inspiration?  Don't forget to visit the other designers (Especially Dina...she has a stamp set give away on her blog)

Anna Wight

 Daniela Dobson

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

Jenny Gropp

Kelli Hull

 Kittie Caracciolo

Laura Fulcher

Impression Obsession Fall/Winter Blog Hop- Day 1

Welcome to the Impression Obsession 2017 Fall/Winter (and more!) Stamp 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 each day Monday, July 17th – Friday, July 21st. 

Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog per day please) for a chance to win one of 6 $25 Gift Certificates! One winner will be chosen each day and then an extra winner will be chosen randomly from all hop days. Comments on all hop days will be open until July 23rd at 9pm CT. All winners will be announced on July 24th.

The more blogs you visit … the better chance you will have to win!!!

If you’ve arrived from Kelli Hull you’re at the right place. If not please head to the Impression Obsession blog to start at the beginning of the hop.

Greetings friends.  Impression Obsession has a huge new release filled with images for the fall and holidays.  Of course, there are lots of other items including animals, trees, and fabulous sentiments.

For my card today, I wanted to use the trees from the Forest Friends clear set.   I stamped them onto watercolor paper, colored them with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and cut them out to later adhear to my card.

The sentiment is from a set of four cling stamps called She Positives.  If you haven't seen the set, I encourage you to give it a look.  It has such inspirational sentiments that I know I will use for greeting cards as well as art journaling.

For the background, I stamped the French Text Cover a Card onto watercolor paper and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I then colored the background with an assortment of Color Burst Powders and a lot of water.

The other designers also have lots of ideas to share, so don't forget to visit them!  

The next blog on the hop is:

 
Vicki Garrett

IO Challenge Not So Moody Blues (Blue Cards)

Greetings friends.  I have to admit that the winter weather has given me a bit of the blues and today's theme seems so appropriate.

To make my card, I started with 140lb watercolor paper and colored it with an assortment of blue Color Burst powders.  I made sure to sptiz the paper with extra water to let the colors bleed together and add water droplets to the background.

Once the watercolor paper was dry, I stamped the Cosmo Silhouette on top with Majestic Blue Versafine ink.  I chose the Versafine so that it would pick up all the small details of the stamp.  I also used a MISTI stamp positioner because I knew I would have to stamp the flowers multiple times to get a clean image.  It can sometimes be hard to stamp on watercolor paper, especially if the stamp has a lot of fine details.

As a final step, I added one of the sentiments from the Words for Art cling set.  If you haven't looked at that set before, you might want to give it a look.  It has tons of wonderful sayings.

Need more blue inspiratation?  Don't forget to visit the other designers!

 Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

 Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kelli Hull 

 Kittie Caracciolo

Laura Fulcher 

 Vicki Garrett

IO Challenge- Tickled Pink

Today is a color challenge and all about making pink cards.  I thought it was a great time to break out the Valentine theme as well since it pairs so well with the color.

To make the card, I made a Color Burst background on 140lb paper with Color Burst powders, some gold Liquid Metals and some water.  Her is a close up to see the shine better:

I then stamped the Heart You sentiment onto more 140lb watercolor paper and colored it with a Zig Clean Color Brush marker (pink) and a waterbrush. 

I added a layer of gold metallic paper to bring out the metallic gold paint in the background and added a layer of metallic pink cardstock for a bit of extra sparkle.

Want to see more pink projects?  Dont forget to visit the other designers.

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ilina Crouse
Jeanne Streiff
Karen Amidon
Kelli Hull
Jenny Gropp
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

CHA Release-Day 2

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Spring Release Blog Hop!

We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND a Gift Certificate to give away!

The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST Jan 23rd - Jan 27th. 

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 until 9pm CT on Sunday January 29th and all winners will be announced January 30th.
Good luck!

Today is day 2, so it is time for another background stamp along with a new sentiment. I don't know about you, but I come from a family of worriers, so I wanted to make a reminder to all of us that things really will turn out okay in the end. Therefore, I paired the inspirational Desiderata Cover a Card background with the equally inspirational Everything's Ok sentiment.

For the background, I started with 140lb watercolor paper and sprinkled some Color Burst powders on top.  I then spritzed the paper multiple times to let all the colors blend together.  When the background dried completely, I stamped the background on top with black Versafine ink.  Hint...  I did use the MISTI for this step.  Stamping on top of watercolor paper often requires stamping more than one time to get a good, crisp position.  Using a stamp positioner really helps with this step.

For the central sentiment, I stamped the saying onto 140lb watercolor paper with black Versafine ink and then colored some of the letters with Zig Clean Color Brush Markers.

Want to see more of the latest release?  Don't forget to visit the other designers!

Anna Wight
Dina Kowal
Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

 Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kelli Hull

Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

IO Challenge- To "DIe" For

Greetings friends.  Today is all about diecuts, and so I thought it would be a great idea to break out one of my new Impression Obsession dies called Floral Background (DIE447-YY).  It is a really nice die because it makes a great overlay to place over a pretty background.  Patterned paper would work really well, but for my background, I used watercolor paper, added some Colorburst Powders and spritzed with water.  I also used some of the Ken Oliver Liquid Metals to get a metallic sheen.  Here is a close up to see the metallic parts:

To finish the card, I added one of the dies from the Greetings Top Edgers set.

Want more inspiration to die for?  Be sure to check out the other designers!

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

Welcome to the Impression Obsession Summer Die Release Blog Hop!

We have some beautiful new dies to share AND a Gift Certificate to give away!

The Blog Hop will be posted on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST Monday July 11th. 

Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate!  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 until 9pm CT on Thursday July 14th and all winners will be announced Friday July 15th. 

Good luck!

For my card today, I made a couple of background papers I made from watercolor paper combined with some Colorburst Powders.  For the top layer, I combined a stencil from the Crafter's Workshop with the powders.  The wheel shape of the stencil made me think it would be a good way to highlight the "glow" of my new candle die from the latest Impression Obsession release.

To finish the card, I added a sentiment from one of the new Top Edger die sets.  The nice thing about the edger sets is that the letters remain attached to the paper so that you don't have to individually place each letter and hope they are straight.

Here is a close up of the candle die and the Colorburst background:

 

New Impression Obsession dies used:

Birthday Top Edgers DIE429-K

Lg. Candle DIE410-F

Hop List:

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

IO Challenge- Summer

Summer is upon us with the blue skies, warm sun, and lots of greenery and blooms.  For my card today, I wanted to highlight the colors that remind me of the season.

I started the card by embossing the Rose Leaf Branch onto watercolor paper with white embossing powder.  I then wet the paper with water and added some Colorburst powders to color around the leaves.  I moved the paint around with a brush and then splattered extra paint onto the card to give it a speckled look.  Here is a close up of the resist:

To finish the card, I added the Hello Summer sentiment. 

Need more Summer inspiration?  Be sure to visit the other designers:

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

Stenciled Watercolor Birthday Wishes

Greetings everyone.  As you know, I have been doing a lot with the Color Burst Powders lately.  The theme for today's Impression Obsession challenge is "Birthday Wishes," so I decided to break out my Color Bursts yet again along with a stencil I hadn't used before.  It is a stencil from Stencil Girl called "Waterway" and the lines kind of reminded me of streamers.

To make my card, I placed the stencil onto watercolor paper and sprinkled it with Ultramarine Blue and Violet Color Burst Powders.  I spritzed it with water, let the colors blend and removed the stencil.  I made sure to flip the stencil over and press it onto extra paper to get a second print out of my stencil.  After all, there was a lot of paint and water on the stencil.  Why waste it?

Next, I cut out the Wishes (DIE364-E) out of white foam and sprinkled it with glittter.  You can't tell from the original picture, but it does sparkle:

I added a sentiment from the Wishes stamp set that coordinates with the die (MC657).  I embossed it in white so that you would be able to see it well on the card.

For the balloon, I cut it out from the Balloons die set (DIE359-R) and added a piece of die-cut acetate to give it the gloss of a real balloon:

Need more Birthday Wish inspiration?  Be sure to check out the other designers:

Anna Wight
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Laura Fulcher

Under the Sea

Greetings friends.  I am kicking off a blog blitz over on the Memory Box Outside the Box blog today.  I am really excited that there are new ocean-themed dies.  I know it is selfish of me, but my brother is a scuba diver, and I am thrilled to have dies that will make good cards for him. 

If you are interested, head on over to the Outside the Box blog for more information on the card and for a chance to win the new Crusty Crab die.  Good luck!

Ken Oliver Crafts / Impression Obsession Blog Hop- Day 1

Welcome to the Ken Oliver Crafts/Impression Obsession Blog Hop!

We have some beautiful projects to share AND PRIZES to give away!

The hop will run for 2 days (3/4/16 - 3/5/16) with a list of participants on the Ken Oliver Crafts and Impression Obsession Blogs each day at 8am EST. Visit the fabulous designers from both team’s blogs (only one comment per blog please) for a chance to win 4 great prizes!

The more blogs you visit … the better chance you will have to win!!!

Ken Oliver Crafts will be giving away a set of Color Burst to two lucky winners!

Impression Obsession will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificates to two lucky winners!

Comment entries will be open until 9pm EST on Sunday March 6th and all winners will be announced Monday March 7^th on the Ken Oliver Crafts and Impression Obsession Blogs.

Good luck!

Greetings everyone!  I am so happy to be participating in the Ken Oliver / Impression Obsession Blog Hop.  Today I wanted to do things a bit differently and show you the paper I created using some 140lb watercolor paper and Ken Oliver Color Burst Powders.  The origional paper was 9" x 11" and then I cut it up to create 5 different cards.

To make my large sheet of watercolor paper, I spritzed it with water, sprinkled it with some Orchid, Violet, and Ultramarine Blue Color Burst powders and then spritzed the colors a second time to let the colors blend.  As you can see from the picture, I added most of the color to the top of the paper for a vibrant effect and then added less paint and more water at the bottom for a softer effect.

Here are the 5 cards I made from that one sheet of Color Burst watercolor paper:

Card 1- I used the lighter part of my watercolor paper and added a stenciled effect with the powders.  To do this, I took a stencil, pressed it down onto a craft sheet that had left over powder and water on it and then placed it onto my light blue watercolor background.  I spritzed the stencili once again to help the colors blend.

IO stamps used- Birds on a Branch, Have Faith

Card 2- One of the things I like about the powders is that you can create backgrounds that really show off your larger sayings.

IO stamp used-  Be Yourself

Card 3- Don't forget to save your Color Burst paper scraps!  I die cut these dragonflies from that same sheet of paper that I started with so that my dragonflies would coordinate with my background paper.
IO stamp used-  Have Faith
IO die used-  Dragonfly Set

Card 4- This card is from the same piece of watercolor paper as the others.  It just looks a bit different because when the backround was completely dry, I splattered it with some extra water to give the background a bit more of a splotchy look.  The butterfly was die cut from more of my scraps.
IO stamp used - Find Your Happy
IO die used-  Medium Butterflies

Card 5- For this card, I added some Platinum Liquid Metals to my paper for extra shine.  This is a brand new productf from Ken Oliver that really adds some shine to your card.  here is a close up of the circle and word I die cut that helps let you see the metallic look a bit better:

IO stamp set used- Smile
IO dies used- Smile,  Medium Butterflies, Butterfly Set

So there you have it!  As you can see, if you take the time to color a large sheet of watercolor paper, you can have lots of pieces and scraps to create cards as you need them.

I would also like to mention that I enjoyed the powders so much that I will be teaching an Intro to Color Burst Powders Class at Angela's Happy Stamper in Herndon, VA on Sunday, April 3rd.  I hope you can come!  Angela's has all the new Ken Oliver products as well as the new IO stamp sets and dies, so be sure to visit if you are in the area.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog, it is now time for you to "hop" on over to the next on the list.

Friday- March 4^th

Jeanne Streiff

Diana Hetherington

Anna Wight

Kimberly Jones

Vicki Garrett

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Karen Amidon

Tracy Pounds

Laura Fulcher (you are here)

Nikki Davis