Art Impressions Santa's Workshop interactive card by Sharon Caudle

 Hello AI fans!!

I hope you're having a good start to your week and that you enjoyed the weekend. I can't believe it's the last week in October and that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Goodness, the year is just flying by! Art Impressions has had a few new releases recently, and last week they showed some beautiful new Christmas stamp sets! One of them, #5930 Santa's Workshop Set, is featured on my card today. I really wanted to make this be an interactive card and have Santa pop up from behind a snow bank to surprise all the busy elves! It took a little bit of work, but I was able to pull it off using the Lawn Fawn Let's Toast Pull Tab Add on.  I stamped all the images onto a Copic friendly paper and then die cut them with the included dies in the set. That little sign hanging on the lamp post came from 5488 Front Porch Easter Set! So don't forget to look through all your sets to find something fun to use. 

When you pull up on the tab, Santa pops out from behind the snow bank to say a big hello!! 

This was such a fun card to make. It did take a lot of hours to contruct it, but I thought the end result was definitely worth it. Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit today, and until next time - stay crafty!! 

Copic markers used:

B000, 00, 01, 41, and 45

G82 and 85

Y23, 26, 35, and 38

YG61, 63, and 67

R20, 22, 24, and 27

E000, 00, 11, 41, 42, 44, 50, 51, 53, 55, 57, 97, and 99

C2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

W0 and 1

Watercolor Weekend with Ruthan and Simone!

Hello Ai fans!

Welcome to Watercolor Weekend.

This weekend we have something a little different for you.

Jami needed to take some personal time off so we are sharing two cards from some special guest designers.

First up, we have Ruthan Plant who has been an Art Impressions fan for several years and co-founded the Facebook fan group The Art Impressions Way along with Kathy Acres.

Ruthan created this darling Christmas card.

I think we all can agree. There are few things cuter than a puppy in a Santa hat.

She painted the inside of her card as well, which is such a professional touch.

Ruthan was kind enough to show exactly which images from the sets she used helped create her adorable card.

 

 

Our next special Guest Designer is Simone Carr.

Simone has been very busy for us behind the scenes lately.  She will be our featured Monthly Guest Designer for November because she won our September, We Don't Use Enough Purple Challenge. Stay tuned to see what her challenge will be. Her card today gives you a little hint.

She will also be our November Watercolor Weekend artist for Jami next month as well. 

You're going to be so excited when you see all of the special cards she has created and I hear there may be more to come! Yippee!

Her little Christmas critter card is just TOO CUTE!

I just love the sparkle, the paper, the frame and the beautifully painted animals.

May I just ask...What on earth did we do before Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof white paint???

Thank you to both Ruthan and Simone for their beautiful inspiration for this Watercolor Weekend.

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the newest releases at Art Impressions.

We have a fabulous new line of Christmas and Fall, paper, stamps and dies as well as several new online classes to choose from. Keep in mind that all of the sets in the bundles (which save you money if you want them all) can be purchased individually.

c5965 – Winter Woodland Bundle

5973 – Fall Series 2 Paper Pack

c5975 – 5pc Christmas Train Bundle

c5976 – Christmas Train Journal – Online Class with Bonnie

Online Woodland Christmas Portfolio Class with Kim

All Aboard! by Janet

 Hello all! I'm here today with a card that I had so much fun making. These adorable penguins and train car are from a new set called 5929 - Christmas Train Set. It comes with the penguins and train cars. It has matching dies for all the pieces including a holly spray and candy canes. 

To make this card, I started by stamping the train car that's full of gifts, the three penguins, two train wheels, two sprays, and three candy canes. After I colored them, I used the dies to cut the pieces out. I added jewel brads to the wheels and  attached them in the right place with foam dots. I tucked one of the penguins into the gifts and glued candy canes to each of the penguin's hands. I used two small snowflake dies to cut three out from 5782 - Snowflake Frame Set and glued them to the side of the car.

Next, I made the background using blue, green, and pink alcohol inks dropped on to a gel plate and thinned and mixed the inks with plain alcohol. I added a few drops of silver metallic ink to the plate and then dipped yupo paper into the inked surface. The resulting panels look marbled and soft. I dipped several panels and set them all aside to dry.

I chose my favorite panel to use as the background for the card and trimmed it so that I could add the green mat before adding it to an A2 card in blue. The last step was to foil and cut out a sentiment label with my Silhouette Cameo machine. Once that was done, I stamped it with a sentiment in the set. I glued it to the front and added the holly spray and a snowflake sticker with a gem in the center. 

I really like the fanciful background that sets the stage for these magical and whimsical penguins. If you enjoy penguins and Christmas trains, this is a must have set for your collection!

Thanks so much for joining me to see what I created for you today. Please visit the Ai store for the sets I used and all the things you need for your card, journal, and tag making projects. Happy creating!

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest

Halloween Slimline Card by Tasha!

 Happy Friday Friends!

Tasha here sharing a Halloween slimline card inspired by the current "All the Fall" Challenge. My project features the fun 5460-Halloween Slimline Set and I just LOVE these cute little critters!

I started by stamping the main image and leaves with black ink and used the included coordinating dies to cut them out. It can be a challenge at times to create with large stamps, but I think having a little outdoor scene with a bright moon was a great way to highlight the furry friends and their pumpkins.

The sentiment I selected is from the 5037-Halloween Magic Set; another one of my favorite sets. I embossed the greeting on to black paper and think the bright white goes great with moon and sky background. 

Lastly, I attached gold glitter paper, deep teal and black card stock, and a layer of pretty leaf print pattern paper. I also added a little Distress Oxide Ink to the moon to complete the card.

Thank you for checking out today's project and I hope you will participate in the "All the Fall" Challenge!

Have a great day!

All the Fall Challenge #390 Week #1

 Hello Ai fans!

Happy Fall and welcome to our ALL the FALL challenge!

This week we're looking for ALL of your FALL, crafty projects.

These can be cards, place cards, tags, journals, gift card holders, scrapbook pages, decorations, 3D projects, anything at all, if it's fall themed.

Before we see what our Featured Designer Tasha created, let's see who won our Très Chic Challenge.

For our Top Spot we selected #1 Michelle H.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!!

Also, be sure to grab our badge to display on your blog, Facebook or Instagram!

Our Lucky Random Winner was #5 Barb E.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!!

Also, be sure to grab our badge to display on your blog, Facebook or Instagram!

All of the Tres Chic entries were amazing and we love seeing everything you all create.

Now let's see what Tasha has created for our latest challenge. SO, SUPER, CUTE!

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Hi everyone! Sharing two not-so-scary Halloween cards today created with alcohol ink blended backgrounds. I love making colorful scenes for my cards and alcohol ink blending is so much fun to do and it makes really cool designs!

My first card features a little witch trick-or-treater and I used colors to coordinate with her outfit for the sky. The blue, purple, and pink colors give the sky a Fall look and the metallic silver adds a pretty shimmer to the card. She is ready to head out and get some candy!

For the second card, I decided to go with darker colors and the little vampire image. I love how the red and purple colors blended together; it's perfect for this scene!

To lighten it up, I added silver glitter spider webs from the 5462 - Web Die Set. These webs come in several styles and they add so much detail to projects. I also attached three little spider die cuts to complete the look. 

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and are inspired to join in the "All the Fall" Challenge!

Have a wonderful day!

Alcohol Ink Blending Tutorial

To create the backgrounds, you will need alcohol ink, alcohol ink paper, rubbing alcohol (I used 91%), and a mini blending brush with felt. 

Step 1: Attach the felt to your blending brush.

Step 2: Add a few drops of alcohol ink to the felt. I like to use three colors and will add more color if needed. 

Step 3: Using a dropper, add one (1) or two (2) drops of rubbing alcohol to the center of the felt. A little goes a long way and you can always add more if needed.

Step 4: Now it's time to have some fun. Blot and blend in the color to cover the paper. You can go over areas multiple times to get different looks, and there is no right or wrong way to do this and each design will be unique. 

Step 5: After you have the look you want, let the card dry. It will dry really quickly since it's rubbing alcohol. Below are some different color combinations I created. 

Step 6: Use the background paper on your project and enjoy!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Witchy Spinner Card by Dori Mendiola

Happy Thursday AI Friends!

Halloween is almost here so I wanted to get one more card in before the witching hour.  😃

This one was created using the #5506 - Peek a Boo set.  This set has the cutest little characters plus an interactive window along with dies for each.  Such a cute fun set!  Several other sets were used to create the final card so make sure to check out the links below.

I started by stamping the images onto copic friendly paper and coloring with my copic markers listed below.  After coloring, I die cut each of the images out with their corresponding dies. 

To make the interactive spinner card:  I first cut a black A2 size card base.  I layered a piece of patterned paper (web pattern from the #5849 Halloween S2 PP) onto the front of the card base.  Then I cut a circle out of the front of the A2 card base (I used the #5064 Double Stitched Circle dies).  Keep this inner circle for later.  For the inside, cut a 5 3/8 x 8 3/8" piece of black card stock.  Score and fold at 2 7/8, 5, 6 1/4 (valley, mtn, mtn).  Flip this piece over and adhere the 2 7/8 to the inside right of the A2 card base leaving a slight border.  Fold it down onto itself and place glue on the left fold side.  Hold it in place and bring the front over to close onto the fold.  It should fit right into the score of the A2 card base.  For the last step - take the inner circle from before, and with the card shut, place glue onto the right half of the inside folded piece.  Fit the inner circle back into place over the glue on the right side.  Your spinner action is now working when you open the card.

 

  The witch is popped up on top of a rosette.  This can be created by taking a 12" x 1" strip of patterned paper.  Score and fold at every 1/4 inch.  Glue the ends together.  Cut two circles (1/2" and a 1" approx.) out of scrap paper.  Gather your rosette into a circle and glue the small one to the top of the rosette.   Place glue onto the larger circle and carefully slide the rosette onto that circle to glue to the bottom.  Hold until both are adhered nicely.  Glue the witch to the top side of your rosette. 

As for the spider webs, I die cut two from the #5769 Halloween FB Fence set and cut one in half and half again to create the corner edges.  I took the other web die cut and used the circle die to cut a portion to place on the outside circle edge.  

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Keep creating!

Copics used: C00, C1, C3, C5, C7 

E00, E01, E11, E21, E23, E25, E53, E55, E57

R20, Y17, Y19

YR12, YR14, YR16, YR18

Woodland Critters Gift Card Holders by Lynn Dionne

 Happy Wednesday Ai Fans!!!

Watch video tutorial here!!!

Today we will be creating 3 festive holiday gift card holders using the brand-new Ai Woodlands Critters Set (5953). This cute set has several woodland critters and several coordinating sentiments. The set also includes the matching dies!

Let's begin by creating the gift card pocket using the Ai Gift Card Pocket Set (5811) and some heavy weight kraft cardstock. We will also die cut an additional piece to turn this pocket into a folding card! I will show you exactly how to do this in today's video.

Now we can select some pretty holiday papers to cover the front and back of the card. Again, I will show you how to easily cut these papers to fit perfectly on your card.

Next, we can select 3 images from this stamp set and stamp, color and die cut our images. To do our coloring today, we will be using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Yellow, Orange, Sugared Almond Pink, Deep Vermillion, May Green, Deep Green, Dark Green, Beige, Mid Brown, Lt Gray Cool Gray 6.

Using the brand-new Ai Portfolio Template Set (5952), we will grab 2 label dies and the circle ornament die. I will give you a closer look at all of the dies that are included in the set...and there are a ton of them! The set was designed to create a portfolio, but I love using the individual dies in these sets for a multitude of projects!

Once these have been die-cut we will ink around the edges with some "cup 'o joe" brown ink and then we can add our images to the front of each. Once we have glued them in place we can trim away any excess and then we will add a set of leaves and holly berries to each one. We will also be adding the leaves and holly berries to the back of the gift card holder and the inside of the card as well.

Let's go ahead and spatter the cards with some bleed proof white ink and stamp some cute little sentiments on the front and inside of each of the cards using that same stamp set.

Next, let's add our images to each of the cards...and for the "ornament" critter we will add a string and bow using a permanent black marker!

These fun, festive, holiday gift card holders are perfect for friends, family, and co-workers alike!

Thank you so much for joining me today!  Have a fun and crafty day!!!

Ai Woodlands Critter Set (5953)

Ai Portfolio Template Set (5952)

Ai Winter Woodland Bundle Set (5965)

Ai Gift Card Pocket Set (5811)

Steel Die Cutters (5765)

Ai Watercolor Travel Box (4924)

Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White Ink