Impression Obsession - more November 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! 

My inner child is 12, and I couldn't resist this set full of animal buns and related puns! I still have a little stash of matboard squares from my time designing for Inchie Arts, so I used those for this layout - it's been one of my go-to layouts for a long time. The plaid paper is from one of the new paper packs. I colored the hippo square with a combination of colored pencils, Copic and OLO markers, and an acrylic paint pen.

There's a cat in the set as well. I colored this little scene with pencils, masking off a semicircle with a stencil. I added a couple of simple paw prints with a black pen, and used a stitching die to break up the open space at the bottom of the panel.

Too cute!

IO Products:

CL1233 A Little Behind clear stamp set

DIE959 Border Stitching die set

PP039 Basic Plaids paper pack

 

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

November 15th & 16th The Impression Obsession Team will be sharing new projects with the NEW clear stamps 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
Jeanne Streiff
Laura Fulcher
Laura Williams
Robin Clendenning
Vicki Garrett
Angela Bode
Anna Wight
Dina Kowal <<<<<<<< that's me!
Giovana Smith

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!

SCS Product Focus: Gemini Foilpress

I spent this weekend foiling up a storm - thanks to the generosity of Crafter's Companion, I was sent a Gemini Foilpress Machine to review! I'm familiar with foiling, so it was fun to see what this system can do.

products used: Impression Obsession Leaf 1, Leaf 3

I started with a couple of techniques that don't require heat - first I debossed the Thank You plate with no foil or ink, and then inked up the plate for this card using Stazon Pigment ink. Both techniques worked beautifully. By the way, I've tried several different inks, and this is my favorite for this type of letterpress effect.

products used: Spellbinders Lg. Die kit Aug. 2019, Rubber Moon Be an Artist

As I was looking at the instructions I noticed that acetate was listed as something to be foiled, and I hadn't tried that before - I was really happy with these results! Look at this gorgeous foil too - I love that holographic rainbow.

One of the sets that is included with the machine is a "Stamp 'n Cut" set - this is a die that has foiling details and cuts the edge on the same pass. The set had a frame (below) with a matching photo corner. Seemed like a perfect match for this fancy little toad! 

products used: Rubber Moon Toad Girl, IO Swan Lake clear set

I followed the instructions for using a regular wafer die for foiling as well - my results were a little more subtle, but that worked with the card design. 

products used: IO Tree Frame die, We Change

I used the die's cut lines for a kind of 'no-line' watercolor - at an angle, you can see the gold branches peeking through the paint. If you're still building a collection of foiling plates, it's nice to know that you can regular dies for foiling too.

From this point I went a little outside the box and tried some other techniques that were newer to me. I stamped the wreath image below with Versamark ink, and applied sticky embossing powder (the pot I have is from Judikins but there are other brands). The foiling platform is warm enough to melt the powder. I then applied gold foil and waited for the powder to cool and dry.

products used: IO Eucalyptus Wreath, Berry Sweet clear set

When it was dry but still tacky, I pressed the foil into the design, then lifted it to reveal my foiled stamped image! Areas that were a little less foiled could be reheated and the foil reapplied.

I had also heard that embossing folders could be used for foiling, and a 3D folder was included with my Gemini Junior so I started there! To foil the folder's design I heated the folder (open), layered the foil and my cardstock, then added a cardstock shim and the metal shim to run it through the machine. 

products used: Rubber Moon Born in January

Finally, a non-card project. Faux leather was also listed as a material that could be foiled, and I hadn't been able to do that successfully before. This material is actually vinyl - I used the low heat setting with the multi-surface foil, and I didn't get the cleanest results, but I ended up with something fun that made a pretty layer for these earrings. 

products used: Maker's Movement Mandorla Die set

I reread the instructions and noticed that the multi-surface foil is supposed to be used at high temperature for textiles, so I tried again with some faux and fabric swatches. The best results were on the brown swatch, and I'm not sure what the content of that is. The denim did pretty well too - it's thicker and some foil transfered onto the texture of the fabric, but rubbed off quite easily too. The other pieces I have are synthetic, and I had mixed results there - you can see on the blue piece that the plate just melted the surface without transferring any foil. Kind of a cool effect too! I might have to play with that idea some more.

Overall I had a lot of fun with the foiling machine, and I'm impressed (no pun intended) with all that it can do! I'll do a little more thinking and testing to compare this system with the one I already have - look for that soon!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: All About Love

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project expressing love. This card talks about a mother's love, using some of the sweet baby stamps in my new collection.

Stamps I used: Cradle Song, A Mother's Love

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration, and remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Double Triangle Fold

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a quick and easy fun fold - the Double Triangle Fold. The base is done with 2 scores and a cut, and you can get 2 bases out of a single sheet of cardstock... I did have to use a ruler to measure my cut line rather than cutting with my trimmer - the diagonal is 16".

I was sooo excited when I realized my Peeker stamps would work really perfectly with this fold! I will have a video for you next month when my next stamp release comes out... I tried making one of the cat card, but it was kind of a mess. :) 

The paws are adhered to the patterned paper panel of the card - so cute. If you haven't seen this set, the paws are separate stamps, so you can pop them up or wrap them around something.

Peeking Kitty cling set

The sentiment is from this set of minis... on these images the paws are attached, but they're such a cute size!

Mini Peekers clear set

Have fun with this fold - I know you'll see it here again!

Chipboard Coffee Tags

Just had to pop in with a project for the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop! I've been wanting to play with a few ideas using this Fresh Brewed die from Sizzix, and I'm really happy with how these chipboard ornament tags turned out.

The cup portion of each tag is made up of 3 chipboard die cuts - they're glued and layered, then pressed for a good bond. Once the basic tags were assembled, I coated them front and back with 2 or 3 layers of gesso... next time I make these, I'll paint the pieces before I put them together... that will be quicker, especially for mass production.

Both tags are hand painted, which was really fun - I will definitely be making bunches of these for Christmas craft shows and gifts!

Thanks for stopping by - remember to link up to the coffee hop to win prizes, and take a peek in my store for a great discount during the hop!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Foam Faux Leather

Today's tutorial over on Splitcoast is called Foam Faux Leather - it's a fun and easy way to make a dimensional embellishment using stamps and simple craft foam!

I got my new summer clear sets this weekend so I had to use this sweet little puppy face - for the technique, you press an inked stamp into heated fun foam, and it leaves an impression. When you cut it out, you have a soft embellishment that looks like a leather piece! I used Copics and acrylic paint to add some color to my brown foam. The house die is from Impression Obsession and I used a Sizzix tag die to cut the door opening.

Impression Obsession products I used: House Die, Mini Peekers clear set, CAC Stone Wall, Miss You die set

I hope you're having a good week! I'm recovering from my weekend - I'll share about it in another post!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Half Sheet Treat Bag

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a cute little treat bag made from a half sheet of scrapbook paper! Here's mine - they're so easy to make!

Just a few score lines and cuts, and a little adhesive. These would be great to mass produce for a party or holiday favor.

 I used a digital set from a brand new stamp company - Beth Duff Designs! Be sure to check out their first release - some cute stuff over there! The unicorn is colored with Polychromos pencils, and I stenciled in a few little clouds using a scalloped circle die cut while the cardstock was still in the die.

That's all I know!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Candy Flower Garden

 This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is this adorable Candy Flower Garden! The stems of the flowers are made with 1" cello bags filled with plain M & Ms, which is just so fun and cute.

I used this Sizzix Bigz die for all my die cuts (except the fence) - this is a large steel rule die that comes in the Big Shot Plus bundle, and it worked perfectly for this project - I used everything but the hearts! I cut the shapes from watercolor paper and sprayed them with Colorbox Spritzers for a super quick coloring job. The sentiment is from a Penny Black clear set.

The box goes together really quickly, and this is a really cute project for a table favor or a desktop pick-me-up gift.

I've been working on commissions and on a personal project during my work days... here's the dog I'm working on - she's an Australian Shepherd, and just such a beautiful animal. This is the largest single dog portrait I've done so far - it's 11" x 14".

Also - there is a local art show in about a month and I need to have this large piece DONE by then, so it's filling a lot of my thoughts!

That's all I know!