I had time this morning to play along with the VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) Mini over at Splitcoaststampers - there was a general piratey/ nautical theme, so most of my cards reflect that! Here's a peek at my cards - you can find details in my gallery!!
Just wanted to pass on the details of the Flower Soft Spring Challenge here! Flower Soft will be giving away one Flower Soft® $100 retail value grand prize package, and Five Flower Soft® $20 retail value prize packages!
To enter the competition: Create a Spring-themed project, post it on your blog or in your online gallery, and post a direct link in the comment section on the Spring Challenge blog post ( < -- click there to go to it now). Flower Soft® products are not mandatory, BUT….if you use Flower Soft® products and your project is chosen you will get an extra surprise gift from Flower Soft®! You may enter as many times as you wish.Ways to earn extra prize entries:
Follow the Flower Soft Blog
“Like” the Flower Soft Fan Page on Facebook
Add the link to your project on the Flower Soft® Fan Page on Facebook
Share the Flower Soft® Fan Page on Facebook with your Facebook Friends
Add your card to the Splitcoast Gallery using the keywords FLOWERSOFTSPRING and flowersoft (one word).
This contest will run through May 31st 2011. Winners will be announced on the Flower Soft blog on June 1st, 2011.
Hope you'll come and join us!
On our "off" weeks, the Impression Obsession design team members are taking turns in the spotlight. Today it's my turn! Here's my card:
I watercolored the image (Gardening Tools) using Ranger dye and Distress reinkers, then shaded with a Prismacolor pencil (Sepia) when the watercoloring was dry. A few edges of tools and the butterfly wings were cut with a craft knife, then embossed from the back side of the panel using a ball stylus. The background panel was stamped with two Cover-a-Card stamps, Damask and Canvas, then sponged around the edges. The coconut shell buttons were a local find.
Be sure to check in for next week's Thursday challenge - we will be sharing our favorite Impression Obsession stamps with you! Thanks for stopping by today!
I submitted a few cards to Vamp Stamp News a couple months ago, and this weekend I saw my name in the list of stamp artists for the current issue! This was one that didn't make the magazine, but they have added to their theme gallery for the month of May. I'm a little sad it didn't make it into the magazine... it was my favorite! VSN is a smaller homegrown publication but I'm thrilled that I can submit my own photos to them for print when I have time (even though that's not too often...). Sending cards overseas quickly gets verrrry expensive!
This stamp image (I Love You) is from Flower Soft, and I watercolored it with reinkers. There's glitter pen on the heart, and Polar White Flower Soft in the corners of the panes. The sentiment is from Penny Black and the card is diecut with Spellbinders Labels 8.
We are counting down to the end of the semester now... 1 more month. Hope you have a great week!
Have a blessed Easter! 
Stamp Credits: Our Daily Bread designs (His Gift), Eureka Stamps (Empty Tomb)
I have another orchid blooming on the porch! DH gave me this one two Christmases ago, and this is the first time it's bloomed again since then.
Speaking of orchids, did you SEE this month's release from Flourishes?! 
Mine's in the mail. Love it!! Can't believe it's Friday already... we've had the whole week off, but I've been dealing with some kind of stomach bug since Tuesday, so the week has gone quickly and not exactly blissfully. Bleh.
Have a blessed weekend!
The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a card using polka dots or circles.... I really really wanted to use this Sundae stamp, so I started by embossing Cover-a-Card Dots on white cardstock, then stamping the image several times. (Pretend not to notice where I stamped the dots on my desk, too...!)
I cut out the Sundae images sort of layer-by-layer so I could color and shape each part individually. The coloring is done with Touch Twin markers.
Stamps I used: Cover-a-Card Dots, Sundae Kisses, Life is Sweeter.
Be sure to check out these other designers' blogs for inspiration -
Daniela @ For the First Time
Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Jenny @ One Krafty Kat
Julie @ Out to Impress
Kathy @ Watermelon Sugar
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
This week's Sprinkle challenge over at the Flower Soft Forum (FSC27) is to use Flower Soft on your food-themed cards. We'd love to have you join us, wherever that theme takes your imagination!
I used an unmounted House Mouse image that I got from Joanna Sheen - the image is watercolored with reinkers and Inktense pencils, and I added Nut Brown and Black Ultrafine Flower Soft to the plate for some extra chocolate crumbs.
If you'd like to join in on the challenge, pull out the Flower Soft - you might even win a prize! Post your project in the Splitcoast Gallery using the keywords flowersoft (one word) and FSC27. We'd love to have you join us!
Thought I'd share this card here - this was a card I made for the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club gallery based on an inspiration photo... that photo ended up not being used, so I switched this card out. The photo was of a quilted felt kite, so I used the patchwork aspect on this card, punching different colored squares, aligning them in a square, then embossing and sanding the panel to distress it.
I swear as long as I have had this stamp I thought this was a rabbit... but the tail is all wrong! I still can't accept that it's a dog... or whatever. The image is from Sugar Nellie/ Funky Kits. I stamped it on some patterned paper and colored with Prismacolor pencils. The daisies are from the Flower Soft Die Cut Dimensionals kit. I stamped the card base with an Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card stamp (Swirls). 
Hope you enjoyed the peek! If you're a fan club member over at Splitcoaststampers, you can view all kinds of die-cut and punched creations in the new gallery! If you're not - you can click here to find out more!
I have a few cards featured in a new-to-me gallery today... Some of you may already know what I am talking about..... if not, you can peek over HERE to see what's up! (Don't forget to come back here and tell me what you think!) Here's a hint and a wee sneak peek!! 
Hee heeeee!!!
The Flower Soft team is hopping today... today we're sharing projects that feature some of our pre-printed kits! If you arrived here from Gini's blog, you're on the right track. If you just happened to stop by, you may want to start from the Flower Soft Blog to make sure you don't miss a thing... because prizes are involved!!
I have several projects to share with you today... I was working with the Die Cut Dimensions Wildflowers, and wanted to show you how diverse this kit is! For my first card, I used the large poppy panel as a topper on a top-fold card. I embossed a few extra flowers and added them on, letting them fall down over the ribbon a little. The sentiment and border are from JustRite Stampers, and the sheet music is a vintage piece I scanned and printed on textured cardstock.
This next card was more involved... I masked the daisy panel and stamped this rabbit image over the mask so he appeared to be sitting behind the daisy border (stamp image from Uptown Stamps - Current Critters line, sentiment is from High Hopes). I colored the image in with Prismacolor pencils, and trimmed around a few details in the image, then embossed from the back side of the panel (the same technique I used on the flowers, though they were already cut out for me). I added a few extra daisies over the ones on the panel as well, and sprinkled a little Ultrafine Citrus Crush Flower Soft in each flower center.
Finally, I added some extra daisies and Polar White Flower Soft to this watercolored piece... this is a stamped image from Heartfelt Creations that I watercolored using chalk inks and cut out using a Frame die from Spellbinders. It's a soft little Spring-y hangy thing that makes me happy at my desk! 
As you make your way through the hop remember to comment on each and every post! There will be a prize winner chosen randomly among the blogs. One lucky blog hopper who comments on all the blogs will win a $50 Flower Soft Shopping Spree!!! The blog hop will remain open until midnight CST, April 19. The winner will be announced on the Flower Soft blog on April 20th. I'm glad you stopped by...! Your next stop is Deb Felts' blog, With a Stamp and a Song .... hope you enjoy the hop!
Or... this could be an all-occasion card... who needs birthdays to eat cupcakes? This was a fun little card to make - the cupcake was stamped on to a dark cream Twinchie Square and colored lightly with Prismacolor pencils... I stamped the image again on a book page, colored lightly, and pieced the wrapper over the Twinchie image. 
The rose layer in there was created with Cover-a-Card stamps... Roses and Screen... just stamped (screen in sky blue, roses in dark brown), no additonal coloring. Love those CACs... it's so easy to coordinate your custom designer paper to any project. Other stamps used: Party Kisses, Sending some Sugar.
That's all I know! My little guy celebrated his birthday this weekend - hard to believe he is 5 already! I think I'm a bit in denial....
In honor of birthdays, a fun little easel card... this is Cocoa Mouse from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, and I paired him up with Skipping Stones Design's Birthday Donuts. The image is colored with Touch Twin markers (BTW - these markers are still on sale at Blick, and colors are selling out fast... so if you're wanting to stock up on these at the clearance price - don't put it off too long! These are high quality alcohol markers - great blendability, and only $1.89 a piece while stock is cleared to make room for a refillable model within a few months).
Here's the open card....
(The text reads: "Birthdays are like donuts... sometimes it is best not to recall how many you've had.") 
Hope you're having a great weekend!!
The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create an encouragement card! I wanted to share a card I made for Splitcoast's Virtual Stamping Night (VSN) last month... The sentiment inside is from one of my favorite Psalms, the one I turn to and have read countless times when I'm feeling alone and discouraged.
Stamps used: Cover-a-Card Tapestry, Cover-a-Card Music, Romantic Rose, How Precious. I used an easel card format, and punched a border with my Martha Stewart Lace punch to hold the card open. I watercolored the focal panel using reinkers. I trimmed along a few of the petals, and embossed from the back of the panel to create some dimension.
Be sure to check out these other designers' blogs for inspiration -
Daniela @ For the First TimeRemember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps... and now you have even more time to enter! 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...
This week's Sprinkle challenge over at the Flower Soft Forum (FSC26) is to use Flower Soft on your square cards. We'd love to have you join us, wherever that theme takes your imagination!
The Country Village Toppers feature beautiful artwork and are so fun to embellish! Here's a card I made from the Cottages kit. I cut out the foreground panel first, then layered the two panels together to die cut them (I used Spellbinders Labels 8). Next I embossed and debossed with a large ball stencil, cut out the door area, and used a glitter pen on the windows. I used Flower Soft on several of the floral areas - to the vines on the roof I added Ultrafine Sage and Raspberry Fizz. There is Lilac Flower Soft on the potted flowers, Polar White on the plant by the open door, and I mixed Polar White and Ultrafine Ocean for the plant in the foreground.
Here are some close-ups of different areas of the card, so you can see the dimension! 
If you'd like to join in on the challenge, pull out the Flower Soft - you might even win a prize! Post your project in the Splitcoast Gallery by using the keywords flowersoft (one word) and FSC26. We'd love to have you join us!
JustRite Stampers' challenge this week (#052) was a color combo... I'll confess that when I saw the list of colors, my internet wasn't working, so I interepreted "violet blue" a little more purple than the sample turned out to be after it finally opened up... Ack! Oh well. I used a stamp from the "My Garden" round set for my flower border - stamped it once then masked and stamped on either side, rotating the image a little. The flowers are watercolored using reinkers, and I added a little more shading with a Sepia pencil when the piece was dry. I colored over all the flowers and stems with a Glaze pen, then stamped over with an inked-and-misted damask background stamp (I overmisted it though, so you can't really tell... oops again!).
After the panel was dry, I stamped the image over the piece again, cut around a few of the flower petals and embossed them from the back, then added Lemon Flower Soft to the centers. The sentiment is from an oval set called "the Greatest Joy."
On to another busy week! yet, thinking of 'small blessings'... I'm so grateful for the sense of peace I have in the midst of the busies... for teamwork and friendship... for the power to change, and for new opportunities. God's good. :)
Decided to start my day off with a little creative therapy after a busy, busy week... the Free for All challenge over at SCS was to incorporate a house or home theme into a card... I chose this discontinued birdhouse stamp set from Flower Soft. Gorgeous artwork and lots of fun scene elements... not sure why this set was retired... I'm glad it lives at my house, though!
I stamped and watercolored the image, vines, flowers and bird with Versamagic chalk inks, blending with a water brush. I used Inktense pencils to deepen the shadows here and there. The verse I used is from My Heart Stamps for You.
I'm enjoying the chance to rest today! This week really flew for me, with extra activities, campus guests, and teaching. Our car is broken down too, and it's raining, so that means we are just hanging out here...! I can handle that.
Hope you have a great weekend!
