Impression Obsession: Season's Greetings with Graphic 45!

It's an Impression Obsession Thursday! Our theme for this week's challenge is Holiday Greetings! Join us and play along and knock out a few of those holiday cards! Tis the season! Play along with us for a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate! Find all the details on how to enter your card on the Impression Obsession Blog. 

See what the team inked up this week:

Anna Wight

Daniela Dobson

Dina Kowal

Ellen Taylor 

Jeanne Streiff

Jenny Gropp - You are here!

Karen Amidon

Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher

Vicki Garrett 

 Graphic 45's new collection, Time to Flourish, landed today so I was anxious to play with it. I paired up some holiday IO Dies with the beautiful paper and had a great time just playing around! On my first layer I used the Holiday Top Word Edger Die, I love how this cute the sentiment part way on a panel! I used the largest frame in the Rectangle Frame Set and added my picture behind the frame.

 I used the largest piece in the Rectangle Frame Die set to frame my printed paper. I added a 1/16 border around the edge using my Perfect Layer Rulers. The frame die embosses a tiny little circle in each scallop, I decided to punch those circles out using my Japanese Screw Punch. The small embossed area made for a perfect map to punch the holes nice and evenly. I broke out needle and thread... using gold embroidery floss to edge the framed piece.

 I added a little more detail with the bell die cut (from Christmas Icons Set) and little fir sprigs tucked into the bow. I popped each of the panels up using foam tape. I also fussy cut two more poinsettias from the paper and layered them using papercrafting silicone to help add dimension. In the center of the poinsettia I added a dollop of Viva Gold Glitter Liner.

On the inside, I used the beautiful Merry Christmas Die. My favorite way to adhere small little die cuts like this sentiment is using a ballpoint glue pen. I used left overs from the printed paper and added a coordinating strip on the left side. My card is 4 1/2" x 6" and opens at the bottom, tent style.

• Dies by Impression Obsession: Rectangle 6 in 1 Frame Set #DIE242-YY, Merry Christmas DIE236-N, Holiday Top Word Edger Die #DIE232-M, Christmas Icons #DIE220-Q, Fir Sprig Set #DIE112-D
• Paper: Graphic 45's Time to Flourish 8x8 and 6x6 pads, Bazzill Heavyweight Red Pappermint, Neenah Classic Crest Natural White (ivory)
• Other: Bow Easy Tool, Foam Tape,Viva Gold Glitter Liner Pen, Adhesive Gold Pearl, Gold Metallic Embroidery Floss, Perfect Layer Rulers

Serendipity Stamps Challenge #37 - Thankful

Serendipity Stamps November Challenge continues! Make something with a Thankful theme and play along in our challenge for a chance to win a gift certificate. This could be a card or home decor project to celebrate Thanksgiving, a thank you card, or a design featuring an image of something you're thankful for! Almost anything goes as long as you use a Serendipity Stamp or Die. One design will be chosen for the SS Winners Badge and one design will be chosen randomly for a $20 Gift Certificate to be used at the Serendipity Store! If you are new to our challenges you can find all the details here on the Serendipity Challenge Blog!

AS an extra challenge the DT was supposed to "repurpose" something for our project.

A big welcome to Lisa Minckler  From You Made Me Ink! who is our guest designer for November! 

Here's some inspiration from the DT 
Vickie Zimmer
Jeanne Jachna
Jenny Gropp - you are here! 
Julie Warner
Karen Amidon
Marybeth Lopez

Miriam Napier

 This Quilted Pumpkin is one of my most favorite Serendipity Stamps. It's an easy color in orange, or mix it up with different colors and it's a fantastic image to use for paper piecing. I wasn't very original in my "repurposing" using a paper bag to create some f my layers. Since the bag was not super sturdy, I adhered it to a heavy weight card base and then die cut it. I also inked up the edges of the paper bag pieces with a charcoal cats eye.

 I airbrushed the background using E44 and added a little piercing before removing it from the circle die. I used W4 and a black fine tip pen to add some scattered dots along the ground area.

 I used foam tape between the layers for a little extra dimension.

On the inside liner I added the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment. THe finished card is an A2, opening at the bottom tent style.

• Stamps and Dies by Serendipity Stamps: Quilted Pumpkin, Happy Thanksgiving
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
• Paper: Orange, Bazzill Heavy Weight Candy Bar, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White #110
• Other: Perfect Layer Rulers, Copics/ABS, Spellbinder's Circles, Spellbinder's Scalloped Circles, Nellie's Oval Dies, Embossing Folder by Darice, Foam Tape, White Wax String

Serendipity Stamps Winter Blog Hop!

It's a Blog Hop today! THe Serendipity DT is showing off a few new stamps and dies to get you in the holiday spirit! If you are following the hop then you should have arrived from Jeanne's Blog.  And after stopping here, you will move on to visit Julie! Visit all the blogs and leave a comment to win a $20 Gift Certificate! You have until Monday, November 17, to leave a comment.  The winner will be posted on the Serendipity Blog on Tuesday, November 18.  

For a SECOND chance to win, just LIKE Serendipity Stamps and SHARE on Facebook.   A $20 gift certificate will be awarded.  Here's a link to the Serendipity Stamps Facebook Page

Here's the hop order:

Mary's Blog

Karen Amidon

Marybeth Lopez

Miriam Napier

Vickie Zimmer

Jeanne Jachna

Jenny Gropp - you are here!

Julie Warner

 For my card today I wanted to show off the beautiful new JOY Die. Love this! I cut out the JOY three times, stacking them up to create a little element, rather than just a single paper layer. I created my own background paper with the new Ornament Background Stamp. 

The background stamps so clean and I used Gold Detail EP to heat emboss the design. Using the detail powder really shows off the fine lines in the image. A few layers popped up with foam tape and a sweet little loopy bow finish the front of the card.

On the inside, I heat embossed the Joy to You sentiment in gold and added a little cut out bell in the corner. 

Have fun hopping!

Mary's Blog

Karen Amidon

Marybeth Lopez

Miriam Napier

Vickie Zimmer

Jeanne Jachna

Jenny Gropp - you are here!

Julie Warner

• Serendipity Stamps and Dies: Joy Die #038DD, Ornament Background #1333BK, Joy to you #1233E
• Ink: Versamark and Gold Detail EP
• Paper: Bazzill Heavy Red Peppermint, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White #110, Gold Mirror Card Stock
• Other: Spellbinder's Labels 42, Spellbinder's Labels 42 Decorative Accents, Gold Cord by May Arts, Bow Easy Tool, Perfect Layer Rulers, Foam Tape

Impression Obsession - Thanksgiving

It's an Impression Obsession Thursday! Our theme for this week's challenge is Thanksgiving! Play along with us for a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate and do a little early Christmas shopping for yourself! Find all the details on how to enter your card on the Impression Obsession Blog. 

See what the team inked up this week:

Anna Wight 

Dina Kowal

Ellen Taylor 

Jeanne Streiff

Jenny Gropp - You are here!

Karen Amidon

Laura Fulcher

Vicki Garrett 

I thought I'd change it up a bit for a Thanksgiving card... taking a break from all the turkeys and pumpkins! This little bunny couldn't be cuter! I'm always a fan of Gary Robertson's images... they just scream to colored with Copics! I should try and color the apples green sometime, but I always love that pop of vibrant red! 

 Here's the Copic assortment! I think a lot of people sometimes shy away from some of these images that have a lot of shading drawn in, but really they are more forgiving to color than an image with no shading. After coloring my image, I used the edge of my scissors to rough up the edges a little. Before I added it to my card front, I inked up the edges with a little Chestnut Roan to give it a little more of a rustic look.

On the inside I added the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment (love this font!) and an extra little wheat stalk die cut. Again, I used a Chestnut Roan Cats Eye to ink up the edges of my card stock. Finished card is an A2.

• Stamps by Impression Obsession: Apple Pail with Bunny #H1973, Happy Thanksgiving #D9401
• Dies by Impression Obsession: Wheat Die #DIE085-X
• Paper: Cranberry, Kraft, Grey, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
• Other: Jute String, Bow Easy Tool, Perfect Layer Rulers, Chestnut Roan Cats Eye, Foam Tape, Copics, Misc. Button

Merry LAYERS!

 I've got a fun card to share with you today! My Perfect Layer Rulers (love the Mini Rulers!!!) and a few die cuts make for an easy holiday card! My card features an MFT Die Merry... and it is cut directly out of the card front. The red card base is heavy weight Bazzill paper (Peppermint), the heavier card base is really nice since I layered things up!

If you don't have any Perfect Papercrafting Tools yet... what are you waiting for? Use my  discount code Jgropp at check out to receive 10% off your order and you will also get a FREE cutting mat with your order of $20 or more in November! A great gift idea for a crafty friend as well as yourself!

 You can see my layered strips for the front and my inside panel here. I created all of these with my Mini Rulers. I also am a big fan of working on a grid mat, even when I'm not cutting. It helps me line things up easily and keeps me straight!!! On the strips, I added a 1/16" red border and then a 1/8" Green border after that. On the inside panel, I used the 1/16" edge for the bottom layer strip and a 1/8" edge again in green. I have to say my 1/16" edge is probably my most used side. I mainly am making small projects and cards - so that tiny little border is super nice as a layer.

 Here's a close up so you can see the sparkle. I used a Viva Holographic Glitter Pen. I squeezed a glob out on scrap paper and then just used my finger to dab it over the entire surface of the letters. The glitter is very fine and it does not flake off when it dries. Just dabbing a thin coat also makes sure that your card stock wont buckle. 

I die cut the Merry a second time, cutting out the individual letters and popping them up. This added dimension but also reinforced the letters, giving them even more support.

The Christmas word is a portion of the Merry Tree die from Impression Obsession. I cut out Christmas three times and glued them together, forming a little chipboard like element. Much nicer look and feel over using just one layer of paper!

Here's the inside. All of the printed paper I used is from Graphic 45's 'Twas the Night before Christmas Collection. The finished card is 5 1/2" Square.

• Dies: MFT-543 Merry by My Favorite Things, Merry Tree (Christmas Word) by Impression Obsession
• Paper: Bazzill Heavyweight Peppermint Red, Graphic 45's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - 8x8 pad and 6x6 pad, Neenah Classic Crest Natural White 110#
• Other: Mini Perfect Layer Rulers, Perfect Cutting Mat, Bow Easy Tool, Misc. Red Ribbon, Iridescent String by May Arts, Button, Adhesive Enamel Embellishments, Foam Tape, Viva Holographic Glitter Pen

Serendipity Stamps Challenge #37 - Thankful!

Serendipity Stamps November Challenge is here! Make something with a Thankful theme and play along in our challenge for a chance to win a gift certificate. This could be a card or home decor project to celebrate Thanksgiving, a thank you card, or a design featuring an image of something you're thankful for! Almost anything goes as long as you use a Serendipity Stamp or Die. One design will be chosen for the SS Winners Badge and one design will be chosen randomly for a $20 Gift Certificate to be used at the Serendipity Store! If you are new to our challenges you can find all the details here on the Serendipity Challenge Blog!

Want to do a little shopping? This weeks' sale is 20% off both the Thanksgiving and Autumn Stamp Categories!

A big welcome to Lisa Minckler  From You Made Me Ink! who is our guest designer for November! 

Here's some inspiration from the DT 
Vickie Zimmer
Jeanne Jachna
Jenny Gropp - you are here! 
Julie Warner
Karen Amidon
Marybeth Lopez

Miriam Napier

 I went for a sweet and simple Thank you card for this week's challenge. These are my colors!!! I love the earth tones and warm vibrant colors of autumn! I've had this little sunflower image waiting to see ink for too long! 

 I cut the image out using a stitched rectangle die and left it in the die, adding a little airbrushing using Copic YR23. You can see the rest of the Copics I used to finish the image. I also colored a second bow, fussy cutting it, to use for a little dimension. 

 I kept the inside super plain for any note to be added. I used my left over card stock to finish the inside layers. I added a 1/8" border around the stitched die cut panel using my Perfect Layer Rulers.

Here's the close up. In the end I ended up just adding the second bow with out using any foam tape underneath. The foam tape was too much and looked awkward. I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder in the background... I embossed the mustard card stock, then I rubbed it with a chestnut roan cat's eye to ink up the raised portions. After inking the panel, I ran it back through my Vagabond machine without a folder and flattened it back out again, which still leaves a little but of subtle dimension. The Thanks die cut word I cut out four times and glued them together. Stacking up the word dies like that really turns it in to an element versus just a piece of card stock. It has the look and feel of heavy chipboard in person. Finished card is an A2.

• Stamps and Dies by Serendipity Stamps: Sunflower Rake #1248G, Thanks Die #029ED
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Paper: Mustard, Cranberry, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White #110
• Other: Perfect Layer Rulers, Copics/ABS, Tim Holtz Embossing Folder, Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle Dies