TTC18 - Inspiration Challenge

There's a new challenge up at the Touch Twin Markers & More Challenge blog - this time we're using our markers to create projects based on the inspiration picture below. We hope you'll join the fun!

I loved the soft pastels and the lines on the cake pops, so I used them for my inspiration... this is a digital stamp from Jellypark called Girl and Cake. I actually started by making the lines with a Sakura glaze pen, so they would resist the ink as I colored.

 The texturing in the background was actually an accident that i tried to make work instead of starting over... probably shouldn't give away secrets like that! I was working with ink scribbled on a tile, and gave it a wipe with a rag that had alcohol on it... started using my alcohol brush which was oversaturating my paper... tried to blot it with the rag... and the ink on the rag ended up printing! So I did it a few more times to make it look like "I meant to do it like that". Ha!

I like to print digital images in a lighter grey so that the lines are softer - newer versions of Word have presets that allow you to do that pretty easily - in older versions you have to mess with the brightness and contrast a little.

These are the Touch Twin markers that I used:

You can visit the Touch Twin Markers & More Challenge blog for all the details if you'd like to play! Don't have a blog? That's OK. Just post to any online gallery with the keywords TTC18 and touchtwin. Have fun!

**Remember, you still have time to enter to win Touch Twin markers and ShinHan watercolors - you can find all the info by clicking here!**

More Timeless Classic

 Here's another card made with my May release from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, called Timeless Classic...  I'm working with such a limited set of supplies while we're traveling, so a clean and simple "CAS" style felt like a good idea! I have no background stamps or designer paper with me, and hardly any embellishments. I'm sure this is good for me somehow... but it's challenging at times!!

There's a little Crystal Lacquer on the headlight, and I colored the image with just two Touch Twin Markers - these are the colors that I used:

Impression Obsession site news!

Just borrowing this from the I.O. blog so I can share with my readers! Fun stuff... and make sure you notice the holiday special info at the end of the post!

 From Mitra Friant, owner of I.O:


I am thrilled to announce the launch of our new website and blog design. We've added many features to the website to make your shopping experience easier, including the following:

• Sample card images attached to each stamp. If we have samples for a particular stamp, we've added them to the actual product listing so they are easy to find. 
• Wish Lists. We have installed a new wish list feature that allows you to shop on the site and save items to your list so you can retrieve them later. You may also save your entire shopping basket to a wish list. It's a great way to mark stamps (or samples) you'd like to reference later.
• Order History. Now your order history with us is online including tracking information.
• Improved Search Function. We have added keyword searching to make searching for particular stamps easier.
• Gift Certificates. We've added gift certificates as a product so you can purchase them in $25, $50, and $100 denominations.
• New Products. By popular demand we have added Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink pads AND reinkers to the site. We are stocking the entire line of these pads as we use them so often with our Cover-a-Card background stamps. We have also added Action Wobble springs to the site as well (see below for a special offer).
• Interface Improvements. There are other improvements to the shopping interface including breadcrumbs (you can see which categories a stamp is in), a mini-basket listing on the main screen, a "continue shopping" link in the shopping basket so you can pick up where you left off after adding items to your basket, and more...

I encourage you to take a look around the new site to see the improvements for yourself.

From now until Memorial Day (Monday, May 28) at midnight we are offering free shipping on all orders over just $15.00 and a free pack of 5 Action Wobble springs with every order! (Free Shipping for US & Canada only, Action Wobbles will be included in ALL orders. Wholesale orders excluded.)
 

Timeless Classic

 Finally got a card made with my May release from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, called Timeless Classic! Photo images are so fun, because the shading and highlighting is built into the image - you can add detailed coloring, or add just a little color for a different effect.

The focal image is colored with Touch Twin Markers on kraft cardstock, with a few highlights added with a colored pencil. I used a brown Viva pearl pen in the corner of the teal panel.

These are the Touch Twin Markers that I used:

 Thanks for visiting!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Sending Comfort

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a sympathy card. I don't really have any sympathy stamps with me, so my card just expresses heartfelt thoughts - I made an easel card I made using the new dies, the coordinating Cottage Fence stamp, and a sentiment (Mini Messages) stamped on an Inchie Square from Inchie Arts.

It's easy to use the House die to create a card shape by just keeping the folded edge of your card inside the cutting edge of the die. You can create a fold at the side of the die, or at the flat end. The die is such a versatile shape - in my May 31st post I'll share a few more ideas with you for using the die - stay tuned!!

I used the bottom edge of the fence stamp along the edge of the card for a stitched look. That stamp is really versatile too! And the die makes a neat scalloped border, peeking out from underneath other layers. You could weave ribbon or paper strips through it too. I love dies that are multi-purpose!

Be sure to check out these other designers' blogs for inspiration -
Daniela @ For the First Time
Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Jenny @ One Krafty Kat
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
Vicki @ Summerthyme Studio

Our next team post will showcase stamps from one of Impression Obsession's new artists!

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.

TTC17 - Birthday

 There's a new challenge up at the Touch Twin Markers & More Challenge blog - this time we're using our markers to create projects with a birthday theme. As an added challenge, we'd like to see some marker-dyed ribbon on your project. We hope you'll join the fun!

I chose an image from A Day For Daisies (Strawberry Birthday Cake Fairy), and colored it with the markers listed below... just for variety, I put my colored image on a kraft bag.  

I dyed my seam binding to match my colored image - you can find a tutorial in this blog post.

 These are the Touch Twin markers that I used:

You can visit the Touch Twin Markers & More Challenge blog for all the details if you'd like to play! Don't have a blog? That's OK. Just post to any online gallery with the keywords TTC17 and touchtwin. Have fun!

Birds, birds, birds......

So I found this adorable little bird cage at the local consignment shop today for $2.50.... isn't it fun?!!

 I've been collecting birdhouse and bird knick-knacks as we travel, and looking forward to actually doing some decorating when we go home - weird as it seems, we have nothing on our walls! Time to nest a little. Thought this little relic was so cute, and it fits the decorating style I have in mind.

Here's a sweet mama bird we saw at the National Zoo...

...love this poem...

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

...a Willow Tree figurine that may have to make its way home with me...

 ...and a card from my first month on the Splitcoaststampers Design Team - the stamps are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and the focal image is watercolored with reinkers.

Thanks for stopping to visit me!!

Still traveling......

 I don't have a project to share, but I'd like to share a few pictures from our time in Williamsburg VA last week - we spent a little time in Colonial Williamsburg...........

 ......and a little time at Impression Obsession! It was so fun to see Mitra again and meet the girls who press and hand-assemble the stamps we love so much. Here is an order all ready to be packaged and sent out.....

 ...blocks ready for labels and rubber...

 ...and a sneak peek at some stamps that will be released in June!

Lots of fun new things coming.... hey, did you know that Impression Obsession now has dies?!! You can view them all by clicking HERE! I've been playing with them and will have some projects to share soon. The House die has been especially fun.

We're still away from our home base (not really sure how to define that anymore! where our stuff is??), but we're able to take a slower pace for the next few weeks. It's good to be back in Missouri, where we spent our first years of marriage and started our family!

Touch Twin Marker Giveaway!

Just wanted to give you a heads-up on a great giveaway over at the Touch Twin blog this month! It's easy to enter, and 2 lucky winners will win 12 Touch markers and 6 tubes of ShinHan Premium Watercolor paints!! You can find all the details by clicking here!

SNSS May release hop

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating their new stamp release today with a fun blog hop, and I have some designs in the mix! So excited to finally share them with you here. If you just happened on the blog hop because you're a regular reader of my blog, and you'd like to view the entire hop, you can start back at the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog - you'll find a full list of participants there, and all the details you need. If you're already hopping and you arrived here from Korin's blog, you're doing just fine.

My family and I have been on the road for just over a month now, from California to Idaho to Washington DC with lots of stops and dear friends and family all along the way, and I haven't had time to sit down with my new stamps, but here are the full sets! Love these ones.

And............ speaking of Korin, guess what?!! She drove 2 hours to come and MEET ME in person, and we had our own sweet 'n sassy adventure, involving coffee, Cooper cheese, laughs, and sweet fellowship. Love that woman. :)

So - one of these days I'll be sure to share some projects with my new stamps, but for now I'll send you off to my sweet friend Giovana's blog - I have seen her projects and they are going to blow you away! No kidding.

Below is a list of blogs you'll be visiting if you follow our hop the whole way through! Thanks so much for visiting today.

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

>>> Dina Kowal <<<

Giovana Smith

Bridget Finlay

Taylor Usry

Monika Davis

Holly McMillen

Kim Singdahlsen

DJ Rants

Cathy McCauley

Jennie Harper

Kim Schofield

Mary Faus

Jessica Fick