Quick and Simple Impression Obsession Challenge

First of all I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year !!

Here's my entry for the IO challenge that I have had an extraordinary amount of difficulty doing! Quick and Simple is HARD !!
Sadly, I was motivated by my friend losing a family member this morning, so I quickly got this done.

I used Spellbinder's Diamond Effects which thankfully cuts beautifully without a lot of fussing. The Impression Obsession stamp I used is called Open Rose (E6014). I have a few of these stamped and coloured and finding this while cleaning up, gave me the idea to build the card around it. The sentiment is from an IO set that I just love. It has the most beautiful sayings to use inside a sympathy card. This set is called Sympathy Sentiments (CL114) and it is truly a valuable set to have. The older I get, the more sympathy cards I seem to need. :(
I know this wouldn't be quick if I didn't have the rose already coloured, but I did, so it was!

I want to thank Carmen from Papercraft Goddess for her generosity. I had managed to come the closest in guessing how many dies she has. I was only off by one! She is doing another giveaway so head on over ! Really though, the best thing about her blog is that she is really funny and I love seeing her new posts pop up on my blog reader. I'm pretty much guaranteed a laugh !

Here is where you'll find the IO challenge, and a lovely little blog hop featuring the talented IO design team! http://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2013/12/new-io-challenge-quick-simple-cards.html

We Had Snow !

So, I was growling about the beautiful snow getting rained on, but it snowed again so we actually had snow for Christmas. In fact, it snowed Christmas Eve, and it was the most beautiful night for a walk. It was Christmas card snow if you know what I mean. We woke up to the backyard looking like a winter wonderland. Spectacular! I tried to make a blog header like Shirley's ( Paper Creations by Shirley), but I think I stretched the photo a bit much. It was my first attempt at doing anything with the header and I had a hard time as I'm not computer savvy. It still needs work.

The new IO challenge is Quick and Simple cards. It has taken me to almost the deadline to come up with anything. Quick and Simple is anything but for me! It turns out that I'll actually have two posts, the card I just did, and the quick little gift tags I did for my DH's Xmas presents, that I just remembered all done with all Impression Obsession products. YAY !

The snow looks kind of beige in the picture, but is actually iridescent white paint that I just slapped on. The sky is watercolour pencil and water. The trees are a new IO purchase from their awesome sale, Wide tree (D1296) and Small wide tree(B1297). I also used the CAC Splatter stamp(CC059) to add more snow. The deer are from IO's Small Deer die set (DIE117-C). Simple tags, made faster by the fact I love the deer so much, that I have a bunch of them pre-cut and ready to go!
Here's the link to the challenge :
http://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2013/12/new-io-challenge-quick-simple-cards.html

Think Snow !

I love snow ! I think you can't have Christmas without it, which could explain why I'm such a huge Grinch. We often don't have snow until January here, so some years I don't even bother with a tree. This year we have some snow, actually we are having a storm right now. I'm hoping it doesn't change to rain and melt away, although that's the norm around here. If it is still here tomorrow, there's a good chance I'll haul out some Xmas stuff.
I decided to do a winter landscape card that is basically the same as the Fall landscape card I did. I used all the same Impression Obsession dies to make this card. Bare Branch (DIE022-U), Small Deer ( DIE117-C) and Lg. Window with box(DIE103-ZZ) and the same stamp set as before also (CL227).

I painted the sky with different Twinkling H2O blues, the trees and snow are painted with Gesso. I applied a very pale wash of TH Distress Ink in Evergreen Bough to the trees and then put on a clear glitter paint which is so pretty IRL. I added some Perfect Puff to the ground and bare tree for some fun texture.

Don't be surprised if you see a version of this again in the spring!

Oh Darn! It started to rain. :( What could be more fun than shoveling slush in the rain ?

I'm entering my card here:
Impression Obsession: http://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2013/12/new-impression-obsession-challenge-think-snow.html
Simon Says Stamp: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-let-it-snow/
Loves RubberStamps: http://www.lovesrubberstampschallenges.com/2013/12/challenge-82-anything-goes-christmas.html
Totally Gorguss: http://www.totallygorjuss.blogspot.ca/2013/12/challenge-214-special-christmas.html

Luminary/ Gift box

I wanted to make a luminary card for a friend, but then I decided I wanted it to have chocolates in it. So I made a gift box that has a removable transparent cylinder in it that holds a battery operated light and the chocolates go in around it. The cylinder has a lid that when lifted, pulls out the light so you can turn it on and off without removing the cylinder and disturbing the chocolates.
I used SB Majestic labels Twenty Five and SB Poinsettias. The box is made from a wedding cardstock that has a subtle stripe and pretty shimmer. I used JustRite Festive Poinsettias to stamp down two sides and emboss in silver and make the tag. I use red mirror cardstock to cut all my poinsettias. They are so pretty!

Here it is with Lindor chocolates!

Update : WooHoo! This was choosen to be the Grand Prize Winner at JustRite!
I am entering the JustRite challenge here:
http://justritestampers.typepad.com/justrite-inspiration/2013/11/justrite-friday-challenge-111-its-in-the-bag.html

Inspired by a Quote

The Impression Obsession challenge is to create a card "inspired by a quote". I always find this very difficult. I am expecting some lovely quote type stamps from my big IO shopping binge, but I didn't have anything on hand that I wanted to use. So I printed the one I used on the computer and whipped up a  simple little card to go with it.

I used the IO Cover-A-Card Canvas ( CC073) stamp on the background and the cute IO Butterflies die (DIE046-A). Brightly coloured twine and Beautiful Life Echo Park paper make it cheery.

I hope everyone got lots of goodies from the awesome IO sale. I know that trying to keep my list within reason was so very difficult!

Here's the link to the challenge :
http://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2013/11/new-impression-obsession-challenge-inspired-by-a-quote.html