Quick post

I love this cupcake set! And isn't everyday a cupcake kind of day??

It looks like a cupcake day to me!

The Impression Obsession challenge this time was tags! And I've found that they are so much fun to make!! I was in need of some birthday tags, so what's more perfect for birthdays than cupcakes??

These cupcakes were stamped on lt. pink cardstock and then again on white cardstock. Once the cupcake tops were colored, I cut them out and paper pieced them to the pink paper and added some clear Stickles for the cherry on top. Very simple, but still cute, I think.

So, are you craving cupcakes now??

Don't forget to check out the Design Team ladies--they have tags, too!!

Laura

Daniela

Julie

Deborah

Dina

Stamps: Impression Obsession Cupcakes

Ink: Black

Other: clear Stickles, markers

Warm Thoughts

I have no idea what this technique is called, but I stamped the flower stamp in white pigment ink first, then colored them in with Prismacolor colored pencils. I have to say that I *love* the result! Used a bit of clear Stickles for the centers and stamped the saying for a nice thinking of you card.

Stamps: Impression Obsession clear stamps

Ink: StazOn white

Colored pencils, clear Stickles

Stamps for sale!

I'm having a stamp sale so I can attempt to clear some space in my craft room! There are pictures at this site of each set I'm selling. Let me know if you see something you like and have to have! krcrafts at yahoo dot com.

Thanks for looking and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Need a gift idea? The holidays are right around the corner (can you believe it's already OCTOBER??) and I'm always looking for new ideas for handmade gifts to give my family and friends, so the Impression Obsession challenge this time is to offer some ideas for this holiday season.

My mom loves butterflies, so I immediately thought of the butterfly sets IO offers and had to use them with my mom in mind. This framed artwork actually uses 3 different clear sets, but you can substitute just about anything for the butterflies such as flowers, snowflakes or shells. Add your favorite IO sentiment and you've got the perfect gift for that special someone!

Make sure to visit the design team blogs for awesome gift ideas!

Julie

Deborah

Daniela

Laura

Dina-- our guest designer

Stamps: Butterfly Counts, Butterfly Bliss, Happiness

Recognizing caregivers

Carolyn King recently lost her grandmother to the effects of Alzheimer's Disease and posted a challenge on her blog to recognize the amazing caregivers to our loved ones who are affected by this illness. Several years ago, my great aunt succombed to this awful disease and I want to thank the nurses and aids who cared for her in the nursing home. They took such great care of her(and my grandmother, who also recently passed away) and I want them to know that their hard work didn't go unnoticed.

What do you like most about Fall?

We love Halloween at our house! I prefer cute Halloween, my younger daughter and husband prefer the scary kind-- the more disgusting, the better. Anyway, since I typically do the decorating and goodie making(aka CANDY!), it's always cute around here. And the holiday is never complete without candy corn---if we could have a tree that actually *grew* candy corn, what a treat that would be! For now, we'll have to settle for this CUTE candy corn tree stamp from Impression Obsession and trips to Target for the real stuff.

The IO design team challenge this time was to welcome Fall and for this particular card, I decided to try a little bit of watercoloring. Not the usual type of watercoloring, but using water to quickly spread the color just a bit. I stamped the candy corn part in yellows and oranges, the trunk in brown and applied it to the paper, then using a watercolor brush, just kind of moved the ink from the outside in. Did you notice the colors of the background papers? And then I stamped my favorite new IO saying -- "it's all about the candy corn" -- cute, right? Who thinks up these things?? (in this case-- me!! hee hee Yes, I got to help with Halloween and Christmas phrases for this release!!)

Make sure to check out how the rest of the IO team welcomes this time of year:

* Daniela

* Laura

* Julie

* Penny

* Deborah

* and our Guest Designer, Dina

I hope you're feeling a bit of fall in the air where you are. It's been nice and cool here in the mornings...such a relief from the hot, hot summer. And as we say in the south, Happy Fall Y'all!!

Special Impression Obsession news!

We had no idea when we posted the call for the Impression Obsession Guest Designer position that we would be flooded with talent from literally all over the world! We received 85 applications from amazing stampers making the choice very difficult! We wish we could have chosen all 85. After getting the entire Design Team involved and into the mix of judging, one name floated to the top time and time again. That's why we are happy to announce Dina Kowal is our very first Impression Obsession Guest Designer! Be sure to visit her blog to see just how very talented she is!!

Congratulations to Dina! We know she has amazing things in store for Impression Obsession!

a little batty for you!

Yes, I realize it's July. But July means new stamps for the upcoming holiday season(yippee!!) and here's a peek at a couple of new Halloween ones from Impression Obsession. I *love* this bat paisley---there's also pumpkin paisley, candy apple paisley and a few others.

I stamped the paisley image in black Versafine ink and used a Stardust glitter pen on the stars and Ranger's white gel pen on some of the dots. There are 4 bats colored with a black Glaze pen(have you ever used one of these? LOVE those, too!!) which left the image raised and shiny. I attached those randomly with foam tape to give them a 3D effect.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back to visit soon.....I have several other cards with new stamps to share with you!

ps. I don't know what the problem is with the lack of paragraphs---I *did* type this using paragraphs, but it's not posting that way. And frankly, I'm tired of messing with it! LOL

looks a little fishy to me!

I started this card about a month ago, drew out a sketch for it on the paper I use to cover and protect my stamp table and finally finished it! I'm happy to say it turned out just as it looked in my mind (and that doesn't *always* happen, let me assure you!). The fish and seascape are colored with shimmery chalks and are 3d using double side foam tape (probably my favorite stamping "tool"). The circles are punched out to show the darker blue color underneath and then the tiny fish and bubbles are from a clear set called Angelfish .

Hope you're having a happy summer!

Masculine projects always stump me.....I'm not sure why, I guess I'm just more of a girly stamper. That's why I love this set! It's called Circle Elements 2 by Impression Obsession and I think it's perfect for masculine or girly, don't you? This was a end of the year thank you card for my younger daughter's favorite teacher. I didn't want to use ribbon on it, so instead I cut a strip of matching cardstock and made "faux ribbon" Ha! I'll definitely be using this set quite often!

Summer Stampin' Challenge

It's time for an Impression Obsession summer stamping challenge and pink and orange say summer to me! I used the hibiscus from the Floral Duos III set from Impression Obsession, using bright fuchsia and orange inks to create an all over background. The center orange flower uses both the solid and open hibiscus stamps in the set and is actually 3-dimensional inside the scalloped circle. Kind of makes me want to host a luau!! Happy Summer everyone!!

Be sure to visit the design team blogs for their summer creations! They are a very creative team and you'll feel like summer is really here:

Laura
Julie
Daniela
Deborah

Time to retire

A co-worker of mine needed a retirement card, so when she asked me to make one for her, I immediately thought of the new Impression Obsession retirement stamps! And since we both work at IO, I just had to use them, right? LOL I also chose one of the Floral Duos sets for the background. I actually stamped the inside with another retirement stamp, however, in my haste to get it to my friend, I totally forgot to photograph it! Hope she likes it!

Happy Birthday Mitra!!

Happy Birthday Mitra!! This simply gorgeous greeting was created by Impression Obsession design team member, Melinda Doster, especially for Mitra. Isn't it beautiful? I wish you could see it in person....these pictures don't do it justice.

I love the way she designed this card! And it even has magnetic closure on it. And sparkles, too. Melinda lined the flourishes with a clear glitter pen and while I'm not sure of the names of the images used, she certainly outdid herself with this card.

(a side note to Melinda.... when I presented Mitra with your card, she LOVED it! She's very interested in the magnetic closure, too. Thank you so much for your card)

Birthday surprise for Mitra!!

Happy Birthday to Mitra, the owner of Impression Obsession. The design team decided to secretly create birthday greetings for her and post them today. Let me tell you, when I let her in on the surprise, she was tickled to death!! I think we really put a big smile on her face---a big thanks to the design team for participating and for keeping the surprise a secret! I know I was afraid to say much on our email group for fear of giving it away--LOL.

I made a peanut butter cup floral bouquet for her. The flowers were made using a scalloped circle punch and then cutting into them to make the petals, then added a Reese's pb cup for the center of the flower. They're attached to bamboo skewers and then stuck into floral foam inside the can.

I actually made her a birthday card, too, but forgot to take a picture of it before giving it to her! Duh, me--LOL....she said she'll take a picture of it and when she does, I'll post it.

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, Mitra!!

Blog candy

Want to win some Impression Obsession stamps? You better run over to Penny's blog ASAP!! And oh my goodness, wait until you see the samples she made with the stamps she giving away---you're in for a real treat!

Color Challenge!!

My sister-in-law and I have one thing in common...our *love* of the color purple! So when the Impression Obsession design team was given a color challenge, I knew I had to make her a birthday card! The challenge was to use purple, blue and green on a card. I love the creations from this oh-so-creative team!

I used a brand spankin' new clear set called Circle Elements which is all sorts of circle designs---scalloped, dotted, flowers, words within the circles, etc. When this set is posted on the IO website, I will link you to it! Once I stamped those 4 separate circles, I used my mega scalloped circle punch and then punched each small hole within each scallop. An additional scalloped circle was punched from green cardstock and adhered behind the white one. I figured that since it was a fun birthday card, it needed some curling ribbon!

Here are links to the other design team members who have their own challenge cards posted. Hope you'll enjoy seeing everyone's creations!! And be sure to check back soon for another fun challenge from our team!

• Julie
• Penny
• Daniela
• Deborah
• Laura
• Tina

thank you!!

Here's a look at one of the many new clear sets from Impression Obsession. I wish I could tell you the name, but I was fortunate to get my hands on this set before it was even labeled! When I do find out the proper name, I will update this post. There are several variations of these flourish-y type of images plus *lots* of butterflies! I really liked using this set and it's already a favorite of mine! Edited to add: The name of this clear set is Butterfly Bliss! Ask for it at your local stamp store :)

This design was inspired by a gorgeous card I saw last summer on Splitcoast Stampers and unfortunately, I don't know her name. Maybe she'll see mine and let me know? I'd love to thank her!!

One more for tonight........a Valentine message for you.........these stamps are from Serendipity Stamps. Happy Valentine's Day!

The pink and black card is another sneak peek from the newest IO catalog.... not your typical Easter colors, but I couldn't resist! LOVE that sparkly fuschia paper!! It's from The Paper Cut and they have tons of colors.

The sparkly green card has images that are not exactly new, but from the recent Valentine's supplement and I just love this main image---called Lemon Slice, but makes quite the lovely flower, I think :)

Thanks for looking!

Impression Obsession Sneak Peek! CHA 2008

I've been playing with new Impression Obsession stamps that will be unveiled at CHA tomorrow! I have several cards and will be showing a few at a time....I hope you enjoy them.