New 2021 Holiday Releases + New Challenge "Love is in the Air"

Hello, Ai Fans!

You've been patiently waiting for our 2021 release, and our first release is ready!

For our 2021 Holiday Release, we have an Easter set and a Celebration set!

Celebrate with our Baby Critters Set!! This clear stamp & dies set includes 4 baby critters, a wagon full of gifts, and the sentiments "Happy Bird-Day", "Big Birthday Wishes", "age is irrelephant", "You rule", "Party Animal", "I'm wild about you", "Happy Birthday", "Hippo-Party-mus", "This is huge", and "I love you a ton!".The five critters are a bird, elephant, lion, giraffe and hippo. 

Hats off to this new Easter Chicks Set! This clear stamp & dies set includes 3 darling baby chicks, 3 interchangeable hats, and the sentiments "Happy Easter!", "To some of my favorite peeps!", "Easter Bonnet",  and "Easter Wishes". This set also includes small images of easter eggs, flowers, and a bow that can be used on any of these itty bitty chickens for a fun and festive set!

You can shop these new sets here!!

Welcome to our Challenge Feature for this Week!

Bri has a fun and creative celebration project for our new card-making challenge!

Hello Ai fans - Bri here! 

I am excited to introduce this new holiday collection to you! My creation features the new Easter Chicks stamp set. Although the stamp set is geared towards the Easter holiday, it was easy for me to make transform the characters into a Valentine's day theme to fit perfectly with the Love is in the Air challenge!! 

For more details on this creation keep reading below! This project is featured on my personal blog too, check it out here. Follow me on Instagram to see my most recent Ai creations here!

To color the chicks and their fabulous accessories I used my Copic alcohol markers. The colors I used are listed at the end of this blog post. I heat embossed the sentiment "Love is in the Air!" from the In The Air stamp set in gold embossing powder onto a Banner Double Stitched die cut. I attached the chicks and the banner sentiment to the card front with foam tape.

To create the background I used a heart silhouette stencil and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink to create the big beautiful heart on the white card front. I used a water sprayer to create a splattered look on the heart. Next, I used Candied Apple Distress ink to ink splatter and to distress the edges of the heart and the card front. I love the textured look of the ink splatter effect! I matted the white card front onto a red A2 sized card base. Last, I added some gold sequins for extra embellishment!

Ai Products

Easter Chicks Stamp Set

In the Air Stamp Set

Banner Double Stitched Dies

Copic Markers Used

Fur: Y000, Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17

Feet: Y32, Y35, Y38

Pink: RV000, RV21, RV23, RV25, RV29

Green: G24

White Shadow: C2, C0

  

Inspired? Check out the challenge rules below, and enter your creation!

Before we get to this next challenge, we want to congratulate the winner of our 

BEST OF 2020 CHALLENGE!

Congratulations to Cynthia Olheiser who used our Love Birds Set for an anniversary card that we fell in love with!

Congratulations!

Email claire@artimpressions.com with your choice of 3 stamp sets for your prize.

For this challenge, we want to see your card that celebrates love! Whether you want to show your love for your best friends, for your special someone, for your spouse, or your pet, we want to see that creativity and love shine through your creation!

If you're looking for some starter ideas, check out our Valentine's Day, Twist Ties, Girlfriends, or Mini Tryfolds on our Pinterest Page. 

We can't wait to see you share the love!!! Though you can use any stamps you have, we'd love to see any Art Impressions products in your collection!

Hurry, challenge closes Wednesday, March 10th at 5PM PST!

Here are the Challenge Rules...

✻ Please make a new card or creation. You can make any crafty item you wish; this is not limited to cards!

✻ Limit two submissions per person. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!

✻ The Ai Challenge is open to everyone, international submissions are welcome!

✻ Include a link back to the Ai Blog or grab our button on the top right of our sidebar!

✻ Share the Ai love by clicking and commenting your fellow crafters.

✻ Make sure to get your link up by the deadline to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

NEW VIDEO!!!

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for "Back to Basics" with Kendra! 

This new series will include a new video each Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. PST! For our new watercolor artists and continuing Ai Watercolor fans, these tutorials are a great chance to "brush" up on your skills!

"See" you next week for Wednesday Live with Bonnie on Facebook!

Happy Stamping

Floral Framed Thank You Card by Crystal

Hi AI fans! This week I had fun playing with the Floral Invites stamp set. I really love this stamp set I love using it in different ways. I have too much paper left over from scrapbooking and was sorting through it the other day and this paper popped out to me. 

I loved the little frames in the paper so I took a double sided corner rounded die and die cut the middle of the frame out. I stamped the flowers onto water color paper with black Versafine ink. After I painted them in I let them dry and then fussy cut them out. I tucked all of the flowers into the window openings. I adhered the pattern paper over pink card stock with foam tape. I stamped the sentiment "Thank you" onto a strip of white card stock. 

Happy stamping! 

 

Fairy Flutter Card w/ Metallic Accents by Lynn Dionne

Happy Wednesday Ai Fans!!!

In todays video and card we will be creating a funny and whimsical birthday card using some beautiful Metallic Accents to create our background! These metallic watercolors will give the background a beautiful shimmer and set the scene for our fun little fairy! 

This stamp and die set is designed to create a fairy who's wings will flutter (go up and down)...but we are going to do something a little bit different with it today.

I just love the little sentiment that comes with the stamp and die set which says "Poof! Your 29 again!". 

I know that my friends are going to love this card and that it will definitely bring a smile to their faces! I hope it makes you smile too!!!

Watch the video tutorial below!

Thank you so much for joining me today! Have a great day!!!

Tombow Dual Tip Markers Colors used:

N00, 025, 946, 020, 761, 491, 725

Trio of Koala Cards by Jil Lebel

 

Hello Ai fans!

I used the stamp set to make a trio of Birthday cards.

I started by stamping the images onto Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth card stock with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and colored them with Copic markers.  The colors I used will be listed at the end of this post.  I then cut the images out with the matching dies that come in the set. 

To finish the card

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Are We There Yet Slimline Card by Bri Firth

Hello Ai Fans - Bri here! Today I am sharing a slimline card featuring the Road Trip stamp set. This card is also featured on my personal blog, check it out here! 

First, I cut the 3.5" x 8.5" slimline card base from gray cardstock and distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress ink. Next, I used the Slimline Stitched Hillside die set to cut the black and yellow road pieces. I used liquid glue to attach the road pieces to the card base.

To decorate the card I stamped and colored the images from the Road Trip Set with my Copic markers. The colors I used are listed at the end of this blog post. I used foam tape to attach the images to the card base. 

To finish the card I stamped the "Are we there yet?" sentiment with black pigment ink onto a Flag Double Stitched die cut and distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress ink.

Check back next week for more Ai inspiration made by me!

Ai Products Used

Road Trip Stamp Set

Flag Double Stitched Die Set

Copic Markers Used

R: R32, R35, R37, R39

Y: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17

BG: BG11, BG13, BG15, BG18, BG000

E: E27, E43, E44, E47

C: C0, C2

G: G21, G24

You're a treasure! by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

So, 2020 was pretty weird and 2021 doesn't seem to be all that different so far. I am a Special Ed. Program Aide at an elementary school. I'm sure most people don't really know what that is. During the 2019-2020 school year my job was to work in 2 fifth grade classrooms.  I would assist kids with IEPs and 504s (just fancy abbreviations for they need more help than some kids) I would also pull small groups of kids out of classrooms for study groups for extra math or reading help.  We also had an "enrichment" period where I had taught 3 cooking classes.  I had just started a tutoring business and had two kids signed up.  Flash forward to March 2020 and that all came to a screeching halt.  I was stuck at home not helping children at all. 

Flash forward again to Fall 2020 and thankfully we were back in school. My job (hopefully temporarily) has changed dramatically though.

My job this year has me outside shuttling kids through a parking lot when parents drop them off and pick them up because parents aren't allowed in the lobby anymore.  I spend 2 hours a day on lunch room duty because we have to have social distancing. I spend very little time at all on academics this year which is heartbreaking.  I am a firm believer in every cloud has a silver lining though. I have met a group of school employees that I don't normally get to see. I even broke down all barriers when for the first time a "non cafeteria" worker was asked to help out in the kitchen. We now send home meals for every single day that kids are not in school.  Our cafeteria staff was overwhelmed trying to serve kids in person and creating hundreds of meals to go home with them as well.

One sweet woman and I bonded over my love of cooking.  She shared recipes with me and brought me a magazine with some things she wanted me to read. I wanted to thank her so I made her a bookmark since I know she loves to read.

Sorry for the long post...I love my job, even this year, and I LOVE my co-worker friends!!

I used a

couple Art Impressions sets on my bookmark.

5223 – Bookmark Dies

and

4853 – Pamper Your-Shelf MTF

Watercolor Roundup 2.20.21

Hello, Ai Fans!

Welcome to another Watercolor Roundup!

This weekend our Watercolor Design Team has some creative, inspiring creations for you!

Be sure to follow these lovely ladies on social media by clicking the link in pink next to their names!

Tricia O'Bin - Blog - Instagram - YouTube - Pinterest - Facebook

Thank you so much for joining us for another watercolor weekend!  We are so excited you stopped by.  This weekend I decided to create a simple flower arrangement.  This is my Shoe Flowers projects.  Let me tell you how I created this quick and easy project.

Project Details

 

I started off by inking up the worn shoe with 969.  I stamped it off and then stamped it in the middle of my watercolor paper.  I pulled the color out of the lines, using the artist drawn lines as a guide for my shadows.  To create a gray color, I mixed my 969 and 569 on my palette and added it to the show along with some straight 969 to get some variations in color. 

 

Next, I added some of the daisy bunches from the original flower set 1, inked with 636 and stamped several bunches on the top of the shoe.  For the pink flower, I inked up the flower buds from Flower set 4 with 725 and stamped it a few times in the middle of the shoe opening.  Before I add the foliage, I pulled some of the color out of the buds. 

 

Once that was dry, I added some vines from the original foliage set 1 inked with 249.  I tried to stamp the vine around the flower bunches to make it fuller.  Then I added some water to the leaves.  For a finishing touch, I added some of the left and right stems from foliage set 4 inked with 452.  This just adds a little detail that creates interest.  To ground the shoe, I lightly brushed some 569 along the bottom of the shoe.

 

I also used the side butterfly from the Butterfly set inked with 569.  As you can see, the bottom of the butterfly wings aren’t really dark but I thought it added an interesting touch.  I added some additional color from my palette (636 and 569) to pull the piece together.  As always, nothing like a little sparkle to make me happy, so I added some Wink of Stella to the butterfly wings and the blooms.  Lastly, I signed and dated.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you will tag me and my teammates on Instagram so we can see what you are creating this weekend.  I love all the inspiration I get from seeing all of your projects.

 

We will see you again in March for the next watercolor weekend!  Have a crafty day!

Dot Freel - Instagram - Blog - Pinterest- YouTube

Hello,

I know it's a little early for Easter cards but I send a few out so I need to start early. The bunnies are so cute to use and the church reminds us of the true meaning of Easter. I am so in love with all of the Simple Scenes Sets because once you stamp one, it's so easy to build the scene around them.

I loved Art Impression's Bonnie Krebs' advice to stamp the main images and then you can fill in the rest with whatever stamps you want. If you would like to recreate a card like this, first stamp the 5376 Basic Scene inked in the brown Tombow 969 for the road but use a light color for the hills such as N89. 

Use the smaller mountains in the 5198 Mountain set inked in both 969 and 565 but stamp it off on scratch paper first a couple of times or they can be too dark. I had to stamp it twice to go from one side to the other. Stamp the smallest church from the 5058 Church Set inked in both the 969 and the 565, then stamped off on scratch paper. Pencil in the front hill very lightly and stamp the bunnies from the 4874 Bunnies Set using the stamp positioner inked in 969. 

Now you can start pulling the color out of the lines and use color off the palette to paint your scene. You can add the trees from the church set like I did in brown. You can stamp the leaves from the 5372 Mini Foliage Set in 743. Stamp the hedges from that same set inked in 177 along the hill line. Stamp the mini pine tree from that same set inked in 249 along the other hill line. Stamp the grass from that same set inked in 177. Stamp the flowers from the 5258 Flower Set 4 inked in both 249 and the 743 along the front hill. The grass on just the front hill is from the 4051 Foliage Set 1 inked in 177, the rest of the grass is from the mini set. 

Add some sky and shadows with 565. I drew in eyebrows on one bunny to make him be the male and eyelashes on the other bunny to make her the female and I drew whiskers on both using a pencil. Don't forget to darken the bunnie's eyes and noses with the fine tip of the Tombow Twintone pen. I also drew the cross on the church with it. Use the Rounded Corner 5062 Rectangle Dies to cut it out and a background piece of paper.  I found these scalloped edged card bases at Michael's.

Karen Day - Blog - Facebook - Pinterest - Instagram

 Hello Ai Watercolor fans!

I've pulled out a few older and a few newer stamps to create a Save the Date card this week:

I began by inking up the smallest church from the 5058 - WC Church Set in my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #565 Deep Blue, and then went over it with #969 Chocolate before stamping it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I covered it with a mask, and then coloured up 5376 - WC Basic Scene in two colours - the road in #969, and the hills in #177 Dark Olive.  Because this stamp is clear, I was able to easily stamp it and position it perfectly to have the church perched on one of the hills.  To the foreground, I added the smallest tree from 5373 - WC Lg Tree Set, colouring only 1/2 of it in #969 chocolate.  I placed a small tree from 5372 WC Mini Foliage beside the church, and added the shrubbery to the hillside with #177.  The scribbled foliage was used on both trees - I stamped one layer that I then added water to soften and paint out the detail, and then I stamped a second layer to created darker foliage with more detail.  A damp brush was used to pull of the colour of the road and tree trunks and to add colour to the hills.  

I picked up #N45 Cool Grey 10 from my palette and added several layers of colour to the roof and steeple of the church, being sure to leave a few highlights and darken shadowed areas.  I used #565 to add shading to the door and windows, and painted the suggestion of a walkway and the sky.  For my flowers, I used the tiny dot flowers from 5074 - Bible Flower Set in #993 Chrome Orange, and the small greenery sprig from the set in #177 added the foliage.  The single stems are from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 in #565/177, and the tiny grass from the Mini Foliage set finished my scene off.

To add a little definition to the church windows, I used my Twintone 42 Navy marker, and then used it's fine point to add some dots around my flowers.  The 5063 - A2 Double Stitched Rectangle dies cut out my scene, grey mat and sentiment (which is from the Floral Invites set!)

Supplies : 

Hope you enjoyed this weekend's inspiration, and Happy Stamping!

Best of 2020 Challenge Week #2 + New Live Video with Kendra!

Hello Ai Fans!

Last week we premiered our 2021 Catalog, and next Thursday...

Make sure that you, your friends, your cropping pals and neighbors are all signed up for our newsletter HERE so that you get the first glimpse at the start of our 2021 New Releases!

And also, please remember the following : 

SHIPPING CHANGES AHEAD

Effective March 1st, 2021, our shipping costs will be changing to reflect increased local and international shipping pricing. Our new minimum purchase for free shipping will update to $75. International Flat Rate shipping for Canada will adjust to $15, and all other international locations will adjust to $35. All customers will still have the option to upgrade to other shipping options, including expedited shipping. These upgraded shipping costs are calculated at checkout. Thank you for your understanding as we work to accommodate these changes!

 

Today, we have some creative "challenge" inspiration for you from our Renee & Lynn of our Design Team!

Reneé is getting us ready for spring with this Butterfly Set and Blossom Border card! 

Koala Set made our Koala Set &  Coffee Gift Card Holder for one Koala-tea card!

Want to see more inspiration! Stop by our challenge, listed below, and see what others have created as well!

Since we are officially well into 2021, we want to see what your favorite set, card design, or creation was from 2020! You can use your favorite set in a new way, or showcase a card you made last year that you are proud of! If you're looking for some starter ideas, check out our Laughlines, Basics, Girlfriends, or Flip Cards on our Pinterest Page. 

Let's see your best of 2020!! Though you can use any stamps you have, we'd love to see any Art Impressions products in your collection!

Hurry, challenge closes Wednesday, February 24th at 5PM PT!

Here are the Challenge Rules...

✻ Please make a new card or creation. You can make any crafty item you wish; this is not limited to cards!

✻ Limit two submissions per person. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!

✻ The Ai Challenge is open to everyone, international submissions are welcome!

✻ Include a link back to the Ai Blog or grab our button on the top right of our sidebar!

✻ Share the Ai love by clicking and commenting your fellow crafters.

✻ Make sure to get your link up by the deadline to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

NEW VIDEO!!!

Thank you to everyone who joined Kendra yesterday on Wednesday Live for a "Back to Basics" tutorial! 

And in case you missed watching live, the big announcement : 

Kendra will be doing a "Back to Basics" videos every Tuesday on Facebook Live!

Make sure you tune in next week on Tuesday for another "Basics" tutorial on Facebook Live, and Wednesday for a traditional Watercolor Wednesday on YouTube!

Happy Stamping!

Hope Your Day is Pand-tastic Shaker card by Crystal

Hi AI fans! This week I played with the Pand-tastic stamp set. 

Sometimes I don't really feel like coloring but want to make a card. So I stamped this panda in a mug image twice once onto water color card stock and one on pattern paper.  I water colored the panda bear with black water color and a water brush. I then fussy cut the mug out and layered it on top of the water color panda bear.  

I made a shaker card to add the cute little panda bear over. I used a double stitched die to cut a rectangle out and a circle die for the window of the shaker. I adhered the acetate with strong adhesive. I used foam tape all over the rectangle making sure I didn't have any gaps to let any glitter to sneak out. I matted the shaker panel onto a 5 1/2" X 4 1/4" card stock and adhered the whole panel to a card base. 

Happy Stamping!