Impression Obsession Product Focus: Stencils

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring our stencils!

I used this stencil the other day, but I had a different idea for my background on this card! Instead of adhering the stencil to the cardstock with a spray, I inked up the stencil with Versamark ink and ran it through my die cutting machine with the silicone mat. This impressed the stencil outline into the panel. I used clear embossing powder to emboss the outline then watercolored the panel. the Versamark resisted the watercolor paint, and helped keep my colors within the lines. White powder would really stand out too.

IO Products:

STEN031-A1 Balloons stencil

CL1341 Birthday Hugs clear stamp set

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Spellbinders feature - All the Sentiments collection by Stampendous

You can find me over on the Spellbinders Blog today with a sweet birthday set! There are several sets in this month's release featuring sentiments, and a really clever envelope die set with a gift card pop up element - I used the envelope base to make a box as well.

One of the stamp sets has a bunch of beautiful sympathy sentiments for loss and difficult times - this card didn't fit with my other projects, so I'll share that one here instead.

The rounded rectangles I used here are part of the envelope set I mentioned. For my card base, I lined the die up with the top cut line just outside the fold. I cut the watercolor paper panel with the smaller rectangle. I stamped the floral image first and used a Karin marker to dot in the blooms, misting the panel so those colors would bleed out (I have a tutorial for this technique HERE). After that dried, I finished painting, drying between layers. Below you can see all the layers in the blooms - I dotted more with the Karin marker then moved to paint pens to create some contrast.

The watercolored panel needed 'something' to break up the white space, so I ended up cutting a narrow strip from the middle to allow the base color to show through.

The rest of this April collection lends itself well to birthday cards, gifts and more! I hope you'll check out out the release and the rest of my projects!

Spellbinders products:

STP-225 Sincere Sentiments

CS-069 Limited Edition Happy Day Cardstock Pack  

Karin Markers

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - more May products

We've got more projects from the new release from Impression Obsession today! If you haven't seen the new release, you can find it all HERE - go check it out! 

Also a reminder, before I get going, about the Cover-A-Card stamps that will be discontinued in a few short weeks. If you have any on your wish list, be sure to order them before they are gone! If you don't mind a little flaw, check the sale section for CACs on clearance with slight imperfections.

I designed a couple of birthday stencils to go with this month's release - this one has the outlines of balloons, and there's another with solid balloon shapes you can arrange in any way you like. For this card, I sprayed the stencil with Pixie Spray, but not as much as I thought... and adhered it to my card to watercolor the openings. The paint bled underneath the stencil, which gave it a really watery and ethereal look I ended up liking. 

I added some script stamping for texture, and splattered a little extra paint and ink over the panel as well. The die cut balloon made a simple focal, and the sentiment from the March birthday kit was a perfect fit. 

IO Products:

STEN031-A1 Balloons stencil

DIE1288 Balloons die set

CL1330 Textures clear stamp set

CL1341 Birthday Hugs clear stamp set

Two lucky customers who place an Impression Obsession order during release week (May 1st-7th) will be chosen and will have a very special Impression Obsession prize package added to their orders! 

May 1st-2nd the Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps, stencils, papers and dies! You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog
Robin Clendenning
Vicki Garrett
Angela Bode
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<< that's me!
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - new products for May

It's time for a new monthly release from Impression Obsession, as we switch our schedule to release new products on the 1st of the month! Haven't seen the new products? They're all HERE - go take a peek!  

One of my new products is this paper pack, which is uniquely me! Each paper is one of my actual mixed media backgrounds. Some of these were intentional, and some are actually the papers I use to roll off my brayer and protect my work surface when I paint or ink blend. They make a perfect card base, or a base for your own additional mixed media layers!

There's a good variety of color in the pack, but the grungy look makes these papers perfect for masculine cards. This one is very simple, and showcases some other new products! Jeanne has a couple of texture background stamps, and I put a few of my favorite textures into a clear stamp set that will take permanent residence on my desk. There is a crackle texture, script and type, and a patterned border. Instead of putting these stamps on a block, I ink them and then curve them with my fingers so I can stamp just partial images.

For my focal panel, I stamped the Grungy Dots Cover-a-Card, then blended with the same ink to fill in the white space on the panel. I stamped the script and crackle images around the panel to add texture, then swiped a little acrylic paint with an old credit card to create a focal area that contrasted my die cut words. For the words, I used a little trick I learned from Lydia Fiedler - before I did my die cutting, I covered my cardstock with a cold laminate tape (packing tape works great too, but the tape I have is a little wider).

IO Products: 

DIE1293 Happy Birthday die set

CC462 Grungy Dots background stamp

PP053 Grunge Paint paper pack

CL1330 Textures clear stamp set

Since I used a Cover-a-Card stamp here, I want to share this announcement... IO will no longer be producing these beautiful red rubber background stamps! 😭 You have until May 15th to order your favorites - after that they will be gone. There are 458 CAC designs to choose from, and 78 of them are mine.  The red rubber slimline stamps will also be gone - if you have not seen the beautiful large format florals in that section, make sure you take a peek!

Two lucky customers who place an Impression Obsession order during release week (May 1st-7th) will be chosen and will have a very special Impression Obsession prize package added to their orders! 

May 1st-2nd the Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps, stencils, papers and dies! You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog

Robin Clendenning

Vicki Garrett

Angela Bode

Anna Wight

Dina Kowal <<<<< you're here!

Giovana Smith

Jeanne Streiff

Laura Fulcher

Laura Williams

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Spellbinders House Mouse feature - Spring Has Sprung!

You can find me over on the Spellbinders blog today, with some colorful cards and coloring tips! I always enjoy playing with House Mouse stamps!

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - April Team Favorites

The IO Team is back today to share a favorite card from this month's release, so here's mine! Head over to the Impression Obsession Blog for all the links so you don't miss anything. All the newest releases can be found HERE.

I thought it would be fun to use the Celebrate word die for a baby card, so that little trip out of the box made this my favorite card. I cut the word twice so it would stand out a little more. The Pooh characters are cut from watercolor paper and watercolored lightly. Tigger had a little surgery so he could peek from behind the end of the die cut. 

The bottom edge of the card was cut with a hill die - I have definitely used that set more for edges than for hills! So the card would stay upright, I added a little 'kick stand' with a folded strip of cardstock.

IO Products:

DIE1307 Script Celebrate die set

DIE1334-L Childhood Friends die set

DIE343 Hill Landscape Layers die set

PP013 Basics 5 - Cool Reds paper pack

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

DIE1334-L Childhood Friends die set

Impression Obsession - more April products

We've got more projects from the new release from Impression Obsession today! If you haven't seen the new release, you can find it all HERE - go check it out! 

Another of my releases for this month is a layered confetti stencil! There are 3 layers in the set, which gives you the festive look of falling confetti! Having 3 layers allows you to customize your cards with school colors, which is so much fun for upcoming graduations. 

I actually toned my colors down here and used a tacky-when-dry medium to foil my last stenciled layer. With the glitter paper on the die cut word, it's so fun and flashy in person.

IO Products:

DIE1307 Script Celebrate die set

STEN041-A3 Layered Confetti stencil set

CS1304 Graduation Sayings clear stamp set

Two lucky customers who place an Impression Obsession order during release week (April 15th – 21st) will be chosen and will have a very special Impression Obsession prize package added to their orders! 

April 15th - 17th The Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps, stencils, papers and dies! You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog

Vicki Garrett

Angela Bode

Anna Wight

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Jeanne Streiff

Laura Fulcher

Laura Williams

Robin Clendenning

A couple of housekeeping notes I forgot to  mention yesterday:

• This will be our last mid-month release - going forward, new monthly releases will debut on the first of the month. That means for May's release you only have a couple of weeks to wait!
• Be sure to check out IO's featured theme - all items in the selected theme will be 25% off! Right now it's travel and adventure, perfect for summer cards and vacation pages! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession - new products for April

It's time for a new monthly release from Impression Obsession! Haven't seen the new products? They're all HERE - go take a peek!  

I have a few supporting products in this month's release - there are some bee and honey themed stamps and papers, so I added some hexagon stencils! I had thought of these being released with the Pooh collection, so here are even more ways to use them. There are 3 stencils - honeycomb patterns in 2 sizes, and the stencil I used here, which has hexagons in groupings with a border and edger to match. I love this cluster with the large hexagon as a background element for a focal design. The blue circle is also stenciled, and the sizes on that stencil coordinate with the scalloped circle die set I used here.

This bee and honey themed clear set has coordinating dies for all the images - so cute and fun.

I used the 2 honeycomb stencils on this card - the larger design was stenciled through a circle die, and I used a texture paste colored with reinker for that section. The smaller honeycomb pattern was added next with brown ink. I pulled out some of my dies for a focal element; the sentiment is from this month's release. Pooh and his honey pot are watercolored, and I used a white colored pencil for highlights.

IO Products:

CS1321 Sweet as Honey clear stamp set

DIE1329 Sweet as Honey matching die set

DIE1302 Petite Scalloped Circles die set

DIE1337 Pooh Shelf Sitter die set 

DIE1336 Jointed Pooh die set (honey pot)

DIE1195 Rounded Rectangle Layers die set 

DIE1335 Shelf die set

STEN035 Circles stencil

STEN037 Hex Clusters stencil

STEN038 Honeycomb Mini stencil

STEN039 Honeycomb stencil

Two lucky customers who place an Impression Obsession order during release week (April 15th – 21st) will be chosen and will have a very special Impression Obsession prize package added to their orders! 

April 15th - 17th The Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps, stencils, papers and dies! You can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog each day through the event. Here are the links to today's projects:

Impression Obsession Blog
Vicki Garrett
Angela Bode
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession Product Focus: Dies

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring our dies!

This was a fun project combining stamp sets, dies, and stencils! When you think of our dies, don't forget the ones that coordinate with a stamp set - this coffee-themed set is full of small images that can be cut out in one pass, and then used in little vignettes like these!  I stenciled the background panel with a circle and scallop border from one of my stencil sets. The shelf is colored with Copic markers in a wood grain effect, and it made a fun little scenic element for the collection of die cut elements.

That rounded rectangle - I pull that set out for every new release! It's just sized perfectly for sentiments. 

IO Products:

CS1320 Bean Thinking clear stamp set

DIE1326 Bean Thinking die set

DIE1195 Rounded Rectangle Layers die set

DIE1335 Heart Shelf die set

STEN033-A4 Circles stencil sets

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!

Impression Obsession DT Theme - Floral

The Impression Obsession team has some projects to share today featuring flowers - we'd love for you to hop along with us!  

I made this card base in February using the square die and cobblestone stencil that came out with that release... then ended up setting it aside, not really sure what to do with it. Anna's floral set and flower pot gave it a pop of life! The petals on these florals are 2 different layers, which gives you the freedom to color them all the same color or mix them up to create little violets or johnny-jump-ups - you know the ones I mean! I worked with single colors here, but I'll definitely do some variations another day! 

My background here was made by embossing the cobblestone stencil in my die cutting machine with a silicone mat, then rubbing an ink pad over the raised areas. I used an ink mister to add the speckles, then went in with a wide flat brush and some grey watercolor to add a shadow for the pot. Looking at it now I wish I had brushed more ink toward the bottom to make a gradient. Oh well!

That square die cut fits just about perfectly on the diagonal - kind of fun! 

IO Products:

CL1327 Into the Light clear stamp set

DIE1291- Garden Pot die set

DIE1299 - Layered Posies die set

DIE1315-YY Stitched Squares die set

STEN034-A1 Cobblestone stencil

Remember that IO's biggest sale ever is still on until April 5th ! Some exclusions may apply, but for the most part all in-stock items are 40% off - this even includes the $1 section. Can't beat a set of cute clear stamps for 60 cents!! 

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - here are the links to their projects!

Impression Obsession Blog
Vicki Garrett
Angela Bode
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<<< you're here!
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning

When you shop through the affiliate links used here, the company sends a small commission my way at no cost to you as thanks for the referral.
It's a lovely way to partner with these companies that mean so much to our creative community. Everybody wins!