Your Favorite Impression Obsession Image Challenge

Good Morning Everyone!

The Impression Obsession Pick Your Favorite IO Image Challenge starts today.  Be sure to visit their web site to view the Design team's cards as well as cards that customers submit for the challenge. 

I am not sure when or where my fascination with pitchers and wash basins began, but I suspect it may have evolved when I was young and was a fan of the Little House in the Big Woods series. I do know that my friend Linda gave me a gorgeous yellow spatterware wash basin filled with silk daisies for a bridal shower gift. I do remember my mother made iced tea in a white milk glass pitcher. She filled the pitcher with tea bags, hot water and butter knives. As a child I wondered why knives were needed to make iced tea!



When I saw Impression Obsession's Wash Basin wooden stamp I knew I had to add it to my collection. The beautiful shading on it makes it an image that can stand alone on a card. It can also be filled with flowers.

I stamped the wash basin with some brown Color Box ink, embossed it and ran it through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. My mother's iced tea pitcher had raised white dots on it. I stamped the daisy that is on the pitcher repeatedly on some yellow tag, embossed them, and fussy cut them out. I added a tiny brown brad to each of their centers.


My papers are all from SEI. The "tablecloth" is a 2.5 inch square of paper that is folded diagonally. I fussy cut the wash basin and then used foam tape to attach it to the layering papers. The daisies are attached with glue dots.


I left the inside of the card blank. I feel this would make a nice get well, thank you, birthday, or all occasion note card.


Have a great day!
Carol

Anything But a Card Challenge

Hi Everyone!

I created today's project for the Impression Obsession Anything But a Card Challenge.  When I learned about the challenge I had just purchased their incredibly beautiful wooden Zinnias stamp and was dying to use it right away.  So I decided to use it on a gift bag. 
The Impression Obsession wooden stamps that I used for this project were
Zinnias
Blooming Spring
Bee Back
Bee Right
The bag was created with a Timeless Template from PaperTrey Ink called "Around the Town".  I ran double sided patterned paper through my printer to print the bag's pattern.  I followed their directions to create my bag and used an oval punch to create the handle. 
I used my Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad to print the stamp onto some water color paper.  Then I used my DerWent water color pencils to color in the flowers. 
I mounted the water color paper onto a rectangle of paper that is the same as the lining of the bag. 
I die cut a tag and stamped the text onto it.   I masked my stamp so that I stamped just one of the zinnias onto the tag along with 2 bees.  I attached the tag to the bag with a brad from my stash. 
I am planning to create some all occasion spring themed cards to put inside the bag.
Have a great night! 
Carol

Hoppy the Bunny

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I am so excited to announce that I won the Impression Obsession drawing after I submitted a cupcake card into their It's a Cupcake Kind of Day challenge. I won a gift certificate to their online store and cannot wait to choose my new stamps. Be sure to start following their blog and pay attention to the challenges so that you can submit cards too. When you win you get to add a blinking widget to your blog.


I have been busy creating cards and paper crafts for St. Patrick's Day, Spring, Easter, and Mother's Day. There's still snow outside, but there's spring everywhere you look inside my house.

The blank card I used for this card is hot pink not red like the camera made it look. I stamped the Tree for All Seasons from Stamps by Judith onto the layering paper and then ran the paper through my newest Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Then I punched out lots of baskets and eggs from a Martha Stewart Easter basket/eggs punch that I purchased last year after Easter. When you punch you get one basket and 4 eggs. I set most of the baskets aside to use on other cards, but I cut the handle off of one basket to create a stand for the tree. I punched out a chick from another Martha Stewart punch and put it "in the stand". After I studied the picture I added a tiny black rhinestone to the chick for an eye. I used mini glue dots to attach all of those tiny eggs to the tree. Suggestion...Put the eggs on the strip of mini dots and then pull them off of the paper one at a time as you put them on the card.

Hoppy the Bunny from A Muse Artstamps is doing the Bunny Hop with his friends.  Hoppy is on sale on their web site for just $2.00!  You don't want to miss out on a bargain like that one!  I stamped Hoppy over and over again across the card and then used my watercolor pencils to color in each bunny. I'm not sure that you can see it in the picture, but I tapped a pink American Crafts glitter marker onto each bunny's nose. Used mini glue dots to attach each tiny pompom cottontail. The butterfly is from a Fiskars hand punch and the flowers are too. I used my Martha Stewart fringing scissors to cut the grass.


That's all I have time to share today, but I'll be back again soon with more ideas for you. Please remember that all bloggers love comments. Please send some to my blog instead of to my e-mail.  Thank you in advance for taking the time to comment.
 
Have a great day!
Carol
 

It's a Cupcake Kind of Day

Hi Everyone!



To view today's card please visit Shirley's blog at http://www.impression-obsession.com/ and read her post for "It's a Cupcake Kind of Day". I had so much fun creating cards for that challenge.

The cupcake was created with an Impression Obsession "Sweet Toppings" rubber stamp and the text was created with an Impression Obsession
"You're Sweet" rubber stamp. The papers are from the American Crafts Abode collection.

I used White Enamel Accents from Ranger for the vanilla frosting and vanilla cake. I used a marker to color the chocolate frosting and chocolate cake and then added Glossy Accents from Ranger to them. Also put Glossy Accents on the cherries. There's a bit of green jewelry wire on the cherries for their stems. Sprinkled Doodlebug confetti on the frosting while it was still wet. Ran the muffin wrappers through a crimper to make them look realistic. That doesn't show so well in the photograph. The shiny frosting makes the cupcakes look good enough to eat! The cupcakes are added to the layering paper with dimensional tape.

Be sure to visit the Impression Obsession's Design Team's blogs to see their amazing cards for It's a Cupcake Kind of Day!

Have a great night!
Carol

Happy Day After Valentine's Day to You

Hi Everyone!

Happy Day After Valentine's Day! I hope that your holiday was as special as mine was. My children continue to amaze me. I did a teacher training from 3 PM to 5 PM yesterday and didn't arrive home until close to 6:30. Robbie was working and I offered to take Marie out to dinner, but she chose to cook our dinner. She cooked a yummy spiral ham, potatoes, and carrots. Then she went a step further and made whoopie pies and mini cherry cheesecakes from scratch. Rob arrived home in time for dessert. He commented that he thinks the real Marie was abducted by aliens!


Marie made this valentine. 


Marie worked feverishly at creating a valentine for me. She found the world map that she needed on Google images. She used stickers and rhinestones to embellish her card. The inside of the card reads, "Mi Madre, Happy Valentine's Day! Maybe later we can skip and hold hands. Love, Marie". "We can skip and hold hands" is a line from Gilmore Girls. Marie and I have watched every episode of that show together over and over again.


Rob chose to create his valentine for me on the computer. He asked if I'd show him how to use my Scor-Pal to create creases to help fold cardstock. He found the image that he wanted for his card in Google images. His card made all of his laugh because Marie is truly a choco-holic and can sniff it out when it's in the house.











The cards I am sharing with you today were created with papers from Cosmo Cricket's "DeLovely" Mini Deck. I LOVE the bright colors that Cosmo Cricket used to create this line. I turned to Paper Crafts "Go to Sketches" special issue magazine for inspiration for the cards. Both cards were completely inspired by two of Teri Anderson's sketches. I paper punched the flowers and circles on both cards. I only adhered the centers of the flowers to the layering papers so that I could bend their petals and raise them slightly off the cards. The text on the first card was stamped with an Impression Obsession wooden stamp. The text on the second card was stamped with a Northwoods wooden stamp.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hope you have a great night!
Carol
 

 



Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am sure that you are familiar with the expression "the apple doesn't fall from the tree". I can share this picture with you because I know that Marie doesn't follow my blog. She was in her room creating valentine mailboxes for the residents at the nursing home where she works when I snapped this photograph of her. She made mailboxes for days. She scooped up every juice carton and tissue box that Gayle saved for me along with all of the ones I have been saving too.

Those of you who don't know me personally are probably wondering why on earth I would save such things. I am an early childhood educator who trains other early childhood teachers. I create games and other learning tools out of recycled materials and share those ideas with teachers in my trainings.


Robbie and Marie have grown up watching me create dragons out of egg cartons and mailboxes from milk cartons and now Marie does many of those activities for and with the nursing home residents. I had to share the photograph because I know that those of you who know Marie are laughing right now. Yes, after all those years of head-butting, Marie and I have become more and more alike. She crafts. She cooks. She bakes and she drinks tea!

Here's the valentine I made for Robbie. Some of you know from previous posts that Robbie and I share some "owl" memories so more often than not I make him an owl card. He bought me a set of "Wise Owls" clear stamps from PaperTrey Ink for Mother's Day last year and loves when I use them. Of all the people in my world Rob pays the most attention to my cards and critiques them for me.


The branch on the card is from PaperTrey Ink's "Take a Bough" set. I use that branch over and over again on all sorts of cards. I love the font that was used on the "Owl always love you" stamp from Stampendous. It embossed beautifully. The letters are nicely raised on the card.

Last week I created several "Get well" cards and I was disappointed when I realized I had sent them off before I photographed them. Happily I still have this one to share with you. The paper is from a 6" x 6" Adhesive Paper Prints stack from dcwv. The bed and pill bottles were created with clear stamps from the "Take It EZ" clear stamp set from Woodware USA. "Get Well Soon" was stamped with a stamp from Impression Obsession. For some reason each time I look at this card I think of Beatrix Potter. The colors must be similar to colors she used in one of her books or maybe the bed looks like a bed from one of her books.

I love the idea for this card, but I don't love the vase I free cut for it. I'll probably end up pulling it off and making a slightly smaller one. Layering papers are from American Crafts. Text was stamped with a Northwoods wooden rubber stamp.


I have some baking to do right now and a workshop later so it's time for me to sign off for today.
 
 
 
Have a great day!
Carol

Citronella Drinks

Hi Everyone!

Didn't this weekend just fly by! I had so many things I wanted to accomplish and I can cross very few of them off my list. Oh, well...there's always tomorrow.

I think I’ve only eaten one meal in my life that was made with "Hamburger Helper", but the slogan for that product is stuck in my mind, "One pan, one pound, one happy family!"

For some reason I thought of

that slogan while I was making

cards the other day.

I had one package of

K & Company Citronella

Grand Adhesions and used them to create 7 cards. "One package, 7 cards, one happy Carol!" My friend, Toni, bought me those embellishments after I mentioned I was trying to locate them since they coordinate with the Citronella paper I wrote about many blogs ago. Toni also bought me additional blocks of that paper. Thanks, Toni!

I used Citronella paper for most of the cards, but the paper with the little cherries is from the DCWV Sweet Mat Stack and the paper with the large cherries is from paper called "Yummy Cherries" from Hot off the Press. I used a couple of different Martha Stewart edger punches to create the decorative strip across the cards. The "Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life" stamp is the same stamp that I mentioned a couple of blogs ago. It is manufactured by Impression Obsession.

I think these cards could be used for "thinking about you", "thank you", "birthday" cards, etc.

Enjoy!
Carol

Strawberries!

Happy Friday!

Recently I shared some ice cream cone cards with you and today I’ve decided to move on to STRAWBERRIES! They seem to be especially gorgeous and sweet this year. Marie keeps popping them in her mouth. Robbie keeps eating bowl after bowl of fruit salad. I keep buying them, making all sorts of salads with them, and thinking that something so bright and yummy belongs on a card. So...

I looked through my papercrafting supplies and found a strawberry die, strawberry buttons, a bowl of strawberries rubber stamp, a strawbery rubber stamp, strawberry paper, and some strawberry embellishments.

The strawberries on this first card were created with a stamp from A Muse stamps. I discovered it was easiest for me to stamp a series of strawberries across a sheet of paper and then use a one-inch square punch to punch them out. I am mentioning that because I usually trim my paper before I stamp it, but I was trying to have the strawberry face different directions and that's why it seemed easier to trim the paper after I had stamped the image.
"You’re Sweet" was created with a stamp from Impression Obsession. Think of how many ways you can use that stamp! The "seeds packet" is a button from Favorite Findings.

I HAD to own the bowl of strawberries stamp from the Lockhart Stamp Company. Not sure if it’s meant to be a bowl or a colander, but either way I love the stamp.
"Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life" from Impression Obsession is another stamp I can see myself using on all sorts of cards. As I glance up and look at my stamps, I guess that’s true for many of my stamps meaning that they can be used on a variety of cards, but I see the "Sweet" stamps being used on baby cards, little child cards, for cards about cookies, cupcakes, fruits, as a thank you card, etc. The strawberry and leaf buttons are from Favorite Findings.

I used an AccuCut die to create the chocolate covered strawberry on this card. First I punched out an entirely red strawberry. Then I positioned some green paper just over the leaves, punched that out, and trimmed it. I positioned some brown paper over the lower part of the strawberry and punched that out. Then I trimmed the brown paper to make it look as if the strawberry had been dipped in chocolate. The message on the strawberry is a clear stamp from
Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps.



I’ve been busy creating cards all week and just need some time to write about them so expect some posts over the weekend.

Carol