Great Impressions Stamps | Best Of Part 2

For my final Great Impressions Stamps post, I have five more cards that use some of my favorite Great Impressions Stamps. And like last week, I will link to the original blog post and stamp set(s) used.

The first card combines so many of my favorite elements: Kraft, buttons, pink, gems, hexagons, a fun swirly stamp... into one very colorful birthday card! The stamp I used was Simple Elegance, and here is the original blog post.

Butterflies are another favorite of mine (I own too many butterfly stamps to count!), and the GI Tiger Swallowtail stamp is just lovely. Here is a link to the original post.  

This watering can of flowers was one of the first stamps I picked out from Great Impressions. The various blooms in the sweet little can make for a lovely sympathy card. Here is the stamp and you can find the original post here.

Autumn is my favorite season, and I couldn't resist this beautiful fall themed stamp. You can find the stamp here, and the original post here.

The final card I have to share features this lovely Flower Bouquet stamp. The red and black color combo really pops on kraft cardstock. You can find the stamp here and the original post here.

That wraps up my final post for Great Impressions Stamps. I am going to miss the wonderful women I have had the pleasure of working with this past year. Thanks for everything!

Great Impressions Stamps | Best Of (Part 1)

Good morning! October is coming to an end, which means I only have two more Great Impressions Stamps posts before my term is up. I thought it would be fun to go back and pick my top ten cards using some fabulous stamps from the Great Impressions store. I am going to feature five in today's post, and five next Saturday. Before each card I will list the stamps used, plus a link to the original blog post where the full supply list can be found. 

First up is a birthday using an adorable ice cream stamp that looks fabulous colored in or paper pieced. Stamp used: One Scoop On Top of Another. And here is the original post.

  

Next I have an aqua and green encouragement card using a lovely stitched flower stamp. Stamps used: Wishing You and Stitched Flowers. Here is the original blog post.

The next card features my favorite sentiment from Great Impressions. It is perfect for sending a quick note to a friend. Stamps used: Watering Can of Flowers and A Little Hello. Here is the original blog post.

Sometimes my favorite stamps are basic backgrounds. For this card, I used one stamp, Elegant Motif, and stamped it across the front of the card in several different colors. I love how this card turned out! Stamp used: Elegant Motif. Here is the original blog post.

The final card I want to share today is a favorite because of the adorable owl stamp. And a pink owl? It doesn't get any better than that! Stamp used: Love Struck Owl. Here is the original blog post.  

I'll be back next Saturday with my final Great Impressions Stamps blog post, and five more favorites! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! 

Erin.

Great Impressions Stamps | October Challenge

This month's challenge is to use.... a button and a bow! I just love this Christmas Tree stamp (you can see yesterday's card here), and I thought it would be fun to show a different way to use it today: stamping and embellishing with enamel dots to create a tag.

I stamped the tree with PTI's New Leaf ink, then used two different packages of enamel dots to embellish the stars on the tree.  Is anyone else completely addicted to enamel dots? I. Must. Have. Them. All. :)

That back of the tag is green, stamped with this greeting and embellished with a button and two more enamel dots.

Hop over to the Great Impressions Stamps blog to see the rest of the DT's samples, and to find out who won last month's challenge! Thanks for stopping by!

Great Impressions Stamps | Shimmer Christmas Tree

Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful week. For today's Great Impressions Stamps post, I pulled out a couple of Christmas stamps & my silver embossing powder. I love the subtle shine of embossing powder, especially on Christmas cards! 

I paired the silver embossing powder with blue shimmer paper and gray patterned paper, for a lovely holiday card. In the center of each of the stars I added a small clear gem. The sentiment was also embossed, and I added a navy button with a bow to the banner.

 (Stamps: Star Tree and Trimmings.)

That's it for me today! Thanks for stopping by. :)

Great Impressions Stamps | Holiday Snowman

Good morning!

I have a super cute holiday care to share with you today featuring two Great Impressions Stamps: Wintery Snowman and Peace and Happiness. The gorgeous diagonal striped patterned paper and star stickers are from Echo Park. I used Copic markers to color in the snowman's hat and scarf, then accented the snowflakes with clear Stickles. I love the subtle shimmer the Stickles add to the card. So pretty and perfect for the holidays!

 

I hope my card inspires you to pull out a favorite Christmas image and get started on your holiday cards. And there is still time to participate in this month's Great Impressions Stamps challenge. You can find out all the details here.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Great Impressions Stamps | Merry Wreath

Good morning!

I have my very first Christmas card to share with you this morning, using Great Impressions' Merry Wreath stamp.

I stamped the image using Memento Ink, then colored it in with Copic markers. I added a die cut heart to the center using text paper, then a button with twine. The wreath is a gorgeous stamp and I didn't want a lot "stuff" distracting from the beautiful image, so I omitted a sentiment on the outside. I can add one to the inside when I'm ready to send it.

(Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Merry Wreath. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: (PTI) Spring Moss, Always Artichoke, Cream, Scarlet Jewel. Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink. Dies: Wplus9.)

Have you started creating your Christmas cards yet? I am excited to work on mine this year... I have so many beautiful Christmas stamps that I can't wait to ink up! 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Great Impressions Stamps | September Challenge

This month's challenge for Great Impressions Stamps is Fall Colors. Yay! I love fall (it's my favorite season), and even though it's still 90+ degrees outside and humid, humid, humid, I loved creating a card using dark green, orange, and yellow.

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions Stamps) Harvest Truck, A Little Hello. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: (PTI) Rustic white, Spring Moss. Patterned Paper: Crate Paper. Buttons, Twine: PTI.)

You can hop on over to the Great Impressions blog for more fall inspiration, and to participate in this month's challenge!

Have a great week!

Great Impressions Stamps | Too Cute Pumpkins

This is my second post of the day. To see today's Fresh Squeezed Stamps release week post, please scroll down.

Good morning! 

My second card today features a cute little pumpkin stamp from Great Impressions Stamps. I love fall and I love creating cards and projects for fall/Halloween, but it's hard to get in the mood when it's 90 degrees outside! Hopefully cooler weather will be on our way soon.

That's it for me today! Have a great week!

Great Impressions Stamps | Birthday Wishes

Good morning! Today I have a a fun birthday card featuring Flying By for Great Impressions Stamps. This stamp is great for coloring with Copics and paper piecing. Today I pulled out several green copics for the balloons, and a light blue copic for the birds:

(Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions) Flying By. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: (PTI) White, New Leaf. Patterned Paper: (PTI) New Leaf Patterns Pack. Dies: (PTI) Wonderful Words: Birthday. Letter stickers: Kelly Purkey. Other: Twine, gems.)

That's it for me today! Thanks for stopping by. :)

Great Impressions Stamps | Love Struck Owl

Hey there! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I didn't get to spend as much time in my office as I would have liked, but I did have a chance to play with a fun little owl stamp this afternoon while Evan played Minecraft. He was a happy camper to have some free time on the computer. :)

Today's card features an adorable owl stamp from Great Impressions Stamps called Love Struck Owl. I have used him a couple of times before, but this time I wanted to create a background, using my grid block as a guide. And I must say, I'm delighted with the results. The little owl was stamped with Hero Arts' Bubblegum ink.

 (Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions) Love Struck Owl. Ink: (Hero Arts) Bubblegum. Cardstock: (PTI) Shimmer pink, Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist, White. Dies: (PTI) Limitless Layers Hearts, Headline Alpha. Other: Ribbon, enamel dots.)

I hope this cards inspires you to pull out your stamps and create a custom background for your projects. It's one of my favorite techniques!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

Great Impressions Stamps | Happy Birthday Balloons

Good morning! For this week's Great Impressions Stamps card I pulled out another new(ish) stamp: Hot Air Balloon. I wanted to create a scene with the stamp, and add my own vellum clouds, so I masked off the clouds from the stamp before inking, so only the balloon was stamped onto my cardstock. I used several aqua, green, and orange Copics to color in the image.

I die cut the clouds from vellum and use mini glue dots to adhere them to my cardstock. Because the glue dots show through the vellum, I used a small gem to cover up the adhesive. Functional and pretty! 

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Hot Air Balloon, Happy Birthday. Cardstock: (PTI) White, Limeade Ice. Ink: (Memento) Black. Patterned Paper: (PTI) Aqua Mist, Orange Zest patterns packs. Markers: Copics. Dies: (PTI) Heart 2 Heart #6. Other: Buttons, twine, vellum, gems.)

That's it for me! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Great Impressions Stamps | August Challenge

Hello, hello! I'm sorry my post is a bit delayed today... I've been having issues with Blogger since last night. For some reason my post wouldn't publish correctly. But it seems to be working now, thank goodness!

This month's challenge for Great Impressions Stamps is to create a square card. I love square cards and I had a lot of fun searching for the perfect stamp for this challenge.

I pulled out Great Impressions' Bucket of Flowers for my card... a beautiful image that is perfect for coloring with Copic markers.

(Supplies - Stamps: (GI) Bucket of Flowers. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: (PTI) Sweet Blush, Simply Chartreuse. Dies: (PTI) Fabulous Frames. Patterned Paper: Glitz. Ribbon: PTI. Other: Typewriter.)

We are going to have a low key Sunday around here... I've had a headache off and on for the past week that just won't go away. I hate feeling under the weather. :(

Have a great week! 

Great Impressions Stamps | August Sneak Peek

Good morning!

I have a super cute card to share this morning using a couple of new stamps that will be available on the Great Impressions Stamps website beginning August 1st: Large Stitched Flower and Stitched Flowers. The smaller flower is actually part of a larger stamp that I cut down to make stamping easier. I created the background by randomly stamping the two flower images using PTI's Aqua Mist and New Leaf ink. I stamped the sentiment, also from Great Impressions, using Ranger's Archival Black ink onto a PTI Limitless Layers Circles die cut.

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Large Stitched Flower, Stitched Flowers (available 8/1), Wishing You. Ink: (PTI) New Leaf, Aqua Mist. Cardstock: (PTI) Aqua Must, Hawaiian Shores. Patterned Paper: (PTI) New Leaf, Aqua Mist Patterns Packs. Dies: (PTI) Beautiful Butterflies, Limitless Layers. Other: Resin Flower, twine, gems.) 

That's it for me today! Make sure to check out the Great Impressions Stamps store on August 1st to see the rest of the August release. Have a wonderful day!

Great Impressions Stamps | Sweet Elephant

**This is my second post of the day. Please scroll down to see this week's release week card for Fresh Squeezed Stamps.**

Hi there! Today's card for Great Impressions Stamps features a super cute elephant stamp called Elephant with Kite. Isn't he adorable?!? I used patterned paper from Echo Park's Bundle of Joy collection (available in the Great Impressions Stamps store) for the background & banners.

 (Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions Stamps) Elephant with Kite. Cardstock: (PTI) White, black. Patterned Paper: (Echo Park) Bundle of Joy. Dies: (PTI) Sketched Shapes, Baby Button Bits. Other: Button, twine, gems.)

I am playing along with this week's RetroSketches challenge:

That's it for me today! I hope you guys have a great week. :)

Great Impressions Stamps | Simple Butterfly

Good morning! Today is not my usual posting day for Great Impressions Stamps, but due to our vacation I asked to switch to Saturday. I had a chance to play in my studio tonight (yay!) and I pulled out three Great Impressions stamps for today's card: Polka Dots, Flower Flourish, and Simple Things.

(Supplies - Stamps: (GI) Polka Dots, Flower Flourish, and Simple Things. Ink: (Stampin' Up!) Smokey Slate. Cardstock: (PTI) White. Patterned Paper: (Studio Calico) July Card Kit. Doily: Stampin' Up! Tag: (Studio Calico) July Card Kit. Button: Doodlebug. Twine: Stampin' Up! Ribbon: Papertrey Ink. Gems: Unknown. Dies: (Papertrey Ink) Sketched Shapes and Beautiful Butterfly.)

I used the polka dot stamp to decorate a basic office supply tag. I layered a die cut butterfly, gems, and banner (with sentiment) on top. The cute little button and white ribbon finish it off. For the gray flourish in the background I did some selective inking to stamp just one end of the Flower Flourish stamp, to add some interest to the pink patterned paper. More gems and green twine were added last. 

That's it for me today! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Great Impressions Stamps | Birdcage Card

Good morning! 

I hope everyone is having a great week. I created a bright and colorful card for today's post using Great Impressions Bird on Cage stamp. I paired the image with some fun pink and aqua paper and a great transparency from Simon Says Stamp. I colored the bird with pink Copic markers and covered her with Stickles for a little extra sparkle.

 (Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions Stamps) Bird on Cage. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) White, pink. Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, Simon Says Stamp. Die: (PTI) Turning a New Leaf, Headline Alpha. Other: Stickles, gems, twine.)

That's it for me! Today is our last day on vacation in Oregon so we are off to the pool and tennis courts with the kids. Have a wonderful day! 

Erin.

Great Impressions Stamps | July Challenge

Good morning! This month's challenge for Great Impressions Stamps is Anything Goes. What could be easier? I pulled out GI's Patterned Chick stamp for my card:

(Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions) Patterned Chick. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) White, Real Red. Markers: Copic. Letter stickers: Kelly Purkey. 

Isn't the little chick cute? I love the country feel of the chick with the red, blue, and yellow color combo. 

The munchkins and I are vacationing in Oregon for the next few days... lots of swimming, biking, and family time planned. Have a wonderful week!

Great Impressions Stamps | Thinking of You

Good morning! 

I hope everyone is having a great week. I love that my mom has her own office/studio full of stamp supplies... I am on vacation but still get to create cards. It's a win-win! 

For this week's card I pulled out Flower Bouquet, a definite favorite of mine, for a pink & teal "thinking of you" card:

 (Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions) Flower Bouquet. Ink: (Memento) Tuxedo Black. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) White, Pool Party, Strawberry Slush. Markers: Copic. Dies: (PTI) Edgers Die. Embossing folder: Stampin' Up! Letter stickers: Kelley Purkey for Simon Says Stamps. Other: Ribbon, buttons, twine, gems.)

That's it for me today. The kids and I are off to the zoo in a bit... hopefully we don't melt in the heat! 

Have a great week. :)

Great Impressions Stamps | Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Good morning!

A couple of new stamps from Great Impressions caught my eye this month and I pulled one of them out for today's card: Homes. I did some paper piecing with 6x6 paper pads by Echo Park (also available in the Great Impressions shop!) for the houses for something different. I die cut the clouds and sun from a couple of PTI dies and adhered them to the top of my card. The sentiment was added last with letter stickers and my typewriter.

(Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Homes. Ink: (Memento) Tuxedo Black. Cardstock: (PTI) Rustic white, Limeade Ice, Soft Sky, Harvest Gold. Dies: Papertrey Ink. Patterned Paper: Echo Park. Other: Buttons, twine.)

 

 

Have you tried paper piecing on a card? Line art stamps are perfect for this technique! And 6x6 paper pads make it really easy to coordinate patterns.

 

Don't forget to check out this month's challenge! You can find all the info here.

 

Have a great week!  

Great Impressions Stamps | Enjoy the Day

Good morning!

I hope everyone is having a good week. Last night I whipped up a fun birthday card using three Great Impressions stamps: Polka Dots, Wildflower Silhouette, and Tags. I love layering stamps, which is what I did on the white die cut. I stamped the Polka Dot stamp with Stampin' Up's Pink Pirouette ink, then layered Wildflower Silhouette on top with Pink Lemonade ink by Impress. I carefully inked the Enjoy the Day sentiment with black ink before stamping it onto my tag.





(Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Wildflower Silhouette, Polka Dots, Tags. Ink: (Ranger) Archival Black. (Impress) Pink Lemonade. (Stampin' Up!) Pink Pirouette. Dies: (Papertrey Ink) Small banner, Mat Stack Number 6. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) Aqua Mist, White. Patterned Paper: Studio Calico. Other: Buttons, twine, enamel dots, ribbon.)

 

(In person the pink flowers match the light pink polka dots on the paper. I photographed the card over and over, but my flash distorted the colors a bit.)

 

What about you? Do you like layering stamps? I usually start with a piece of scratch paper and try out different stamps & inks until I get the result I want. It's all about experimenting, right? :)

 

Have a wonderful day!