Fall came and Thanksgiving is almost here.

 

Hello crafty friends,

October flew by; we are almost at the end of the month, and with November right around the corner, it is the perfect time to create some Fall and Thanksgiving crafts.

I lived in New Jersey for 20 years before moving to Florida, and fall has always been my favorite season. The crisp weather, colorful leaves, and pumpkins everywhere were signs of the imminent fall season. While Florida lacks the changing leaves, lighting my favorite pumpkin spice candles still brings that familiar seasonal warmth into my home.

When Art Impressions released the "6257 - Happy Fall" stamp, I immediately knew what I wanted to create. Although designed for the Story Tile die set, it is extremely versatile. For this Watercolor Weekend, I used it in two different ways.

Project # 1: 5x7 Card
Here is how I created the first project:

  - Arranged and stamped three design stamps from the set using Versafine Clair ink.
  - Colored the main images.

  - Hand-drew extra leaves along the top right and on the ground.
  - Completed the coloring and stamped the sentiment.

  - Layered the piece onto a 4.3 x 6.3-inch mat using the "5973 - Fall series 2" paper, then attached it to a 5x7 green  andcard base.

Project # 2: Thanksgiving Table Name Tags

For the second project, I used the same stamp set and a few extra stamps and dies to craft custom name tags for a Thanksgiving table.

I hope these projects inspire you to create your own Fall cards and projects using this set or any other stamp set from Art Impressions!

Happy Watercolor Weekend,

Neema

Happy Fright Night Card and Sweet Little Ghost Treat Box by Diane Mason

Hello, and welcome back for Watercolor Weekend!

Hello, my Ai Watercolor friends and fans! I have two Halloween projects to share with you today featuring a long time favorite set and images from a newly released set. The Halloween card combines images from the new Story Tiles 2 set 6256 – ST Happy Halloween and 5190 - Fright Night Set. My second project is a mini Halloween Treat Box featuring the sweet little ghost from 6256.

Halloween is right around the corner, and who doesn’t love Halloween - all that candy, spooky fun decorations, dressing up in fun costumes and trick or treating! We used to receive over 100 kids Trick or Treating in our neighborhood, now we are lucky to have 20 - guess they have all grown up. But I still enjoy decorating and card making for Halloween - oh and the candy too!

Happy Fright Night Card:

5190 - Fright Night Set has long been a favorite of mine and with the addition of some new stamps from 6256 – ST Happy Halloween it really helped to bring this scene to life!

Colors and Supplies Used:

Paper: Canson XL Watercolor Paper

White A2 Cardbase

Patterned Paper: 5973 – Fall Series 2 Paper Pack

Brushes: No. 4 round brush, No. 0 round brush

Stamps & Dies:

• 5190 – Fright Night Set
• 6256 – ST Happy Halloween
• 4051 – WC Foliage Set 1
• 5372 – WC Mini Foliage Set
• 5063 – Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies

Ink for stamped images: Versafine Vintage Sepia

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: 565, 606, 837, 925, 933, 969, 977, 993, N57, N25

 

Other:  Brown TwinTone marker, Black Micron Pen, and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White

Stamping:

 

To begin, I traced the interior section of the largest stitched rectangle die (5063 – Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies) with a pencil onto a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to establish my workspace. Using this as a guide, I stamped each of the images with Versafine Onyx Black using a stamp platform.

To establish the correct spacing of the images, I laid out all the stamps on my watercolor paper. Once I knew where the pumpkin should sit, I removed the other stamps and stamped the pumpkin from set 5190. I also created a mask for the pumpkin. With the mask in place, I stamped the ghosts and then masked them off before stamping the haunted house from 6256 – ST Happy Halloween. I traced around the cap of my Dr. Ph. Martin’s bottle with a pencil for the moon. Next I sketched some hillsides. With a black Micron pen, I added additional fence posts to the left and right of the house.

Colors and Stamps Used:

• Moon: 993, 933
• House: N25 (roof tops), 565, 606 (building) 993, 933 (windows)
• Hillside: 249/606, 565 (bushes from 5372 – WC Mini Foliage Set)
• Grass: 565 (4051 – WC Foliage Set 1)
• Tree and stump: 977, 969, and Brown Twintone Marker
• Jack O’ Lantern: 993, 933, 977, Black Micron pen, Dr. Ph. Martin’s
• Ghosts: 565 (shading) 837 (wine glasses and tongues)
• Bats: Versafine Onyx Black (5190 - Fright Night Set)
• Sky:  606 watery mix

Card Assembly:

I matted the white A2 card base with a piece of shimmery purple paper and then adhered the painting on top.

Interior:

I die‑cut a 3.75" x 5" stitched rectangle (5063 – Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies) from white cardstock and added a 1/2" strip of ghost patterned paper along the bottom edge. The humorous sentiment is from 5190 and inked in purple.

The new Story Tiles stamp sets are so fun to use the conventional way with the Story Tiles Template Die (6158), but I really enjoy finding ways to incorporate the cute images alongside other older stamp sets from my collection!

Sweet Little Ghost Treat Box:

My bonus project uses the adorable ghost image from 6256 – ST Happy Halloween. This little guy looks so happy and he just makes me smile!

I die-cut a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper using a decorative label die from 5952 – Portfolio Template Die Set. I inked the image with Versafine Onyx Black. The ghost image and sentiment are both from 6256

Colors used: 177, 565, 606, 772, 837, 933, 925, 993, 947 and Dr. Ph. Martin’s for the pumpkin teeth.

For the box, I die-cut a sheet of ghost patterned paper from 6131 – Halloween S3 Cover Paper Pack using the 5805 – Mini Journal Box Dies. Once the box was assembled, I attached the painting to the lid with foam squares and filled the box with candy. This image painted up quickly and would make a fun little sweet surprise to give to a friend, co-worker, or trick or treater!

Thank you so much for joining me for Watercolor Weekend! I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s projects combining some old and newly released products. Until next time, Happy Halloween and Happy Painting! 

Sweet Candy Parade by Janet

Hi everyone! Today I have made a cute Halloween card full of treats and no tricks! This is made with the amazing 6112 - Pumpkin Parade Set. There is a cast of six characters in this set that are all decked out and ready to collect candy. It was hard to pick three of them for my card!

I began this card by working on the background scene. I used a background stamp from my stash for the tree scene and then filled in the grassy area in the foreground. All were colored with Copic makers. To make it be a little fallish, I added splashes of orange tones here and there in the trees and bushes. This is what it looks like in my neck of the woods right now. It's still several week here before fall leaves peak. 

Next I chose the three characters from the set and set about stamping, coloring and cutting them out. I also did the same with several pieces of candy included in the set. I also stamped the sentiment and made it ready to add to my card. There are dies for every image in this set which is super handy. Ai is one of the only companies that include dies with their stamps and don't make you buy them separately. I love that!

Finally I adhered the characters with foam tape, added the sweet sentiment and positioned several gold glitter enamel dots. I placed the finished panel on an orange glittered card base. This makes the card perfectly fit the current challenge, Glitter All The Way. I hope you will enter your own card in this glitzy challenge. Just add something with a glitter finish. It can be any theme you want it to be.

Thanks for stopping by and spending time with me and Art Impressions today. Please visit the Ai store to pick up your favorite stamps, dies, papers, accessories, and supplies, including all the supplies I used in this card. 

Happy Crafting!

Not-So-Scary Halloween Tile Card! by Tasha

 Happy Friday Art Impressions friends!

Tasha here sharing a not-so-scary Halloween tile card created with the 6158-Story Tile Template Die and new 6256-ST Happy Halloween Stamp Set. I love creating Halloween/Fall projects and this stamp set creates the cutest little Fall night scene!

I started by cutting the frame twice; once out of white cardstock and a second time out of the black pattern paper. I used the white cardstock for the tiles and to layer behind the black pattern paper to raise the center up. I think the little ghost and owl images are just so cute and love the happy pumpkins!

All the images were colored with Copic Markers and I used a white gel pen to draw in the stars. The light purple color in the background gives a nice Fall vibe to the design and I like the purple & white color combo.

For the greeting, I stamped the included sentiment, but used markers to add the purple color around the edges. I wanted to make sure the greeting tile also coordinated with the other tiles in the design. 

Lastly, I attached a layer of Art Impressions star pattern paper, gold and black card stock and a piece of gold glitter paper for sparkle. I love these colors!

I hope you enjoyed today's project and are having a wonderful day!

Glitter all the Way #439 Week #1

Hello Ai fans, and welcome to our new challenge...

GLITTER ALL THE WAY!

We're looking for your crafty projects using something glittery.

Glittery paper, embellishments, gel pens, gems...whatever.

These don't need to be cards either. Whatever crafty 

project you create is just fine, as long as you use something from Art Impressions.

Our Featured Designer this week is Janet and you're going to LOVE her
sparkly Frankenstein Puppet card.

After you check out her card, be sure to scroll down to see who won our
 Bats in the Belfry challenge.

Hi Ai fans. It's my turn to make the feature card for Ai's latest blog challenge. It's #439, Glitter All The Way. This one is certainly up my alley as I love putting shine into my creations. The challenge gives me a legit reason to do what I love doing anyway! My project features the adorable 6120-Frankenstein Puppet Set and it's perfect for a youngster in your life.

I enjoy making interactive cards. This one has a pop and twist interior. When opened, four panels pop out with four Halloween scenes and sentiments! The top and bottom panels can be used to write your message to your lucky recipient. Overall, it's a lot of creepy fun.

To start the card, I first created the Frankenstein puppet. The die set includes all the pieces shown on the back of the package. It's easy to put him together because the packaging clearly explains each die and what part of Franky it is. I used green and black cardstock for his face, hands, and boots. His clothing is made from 5605-Halloween Journal Paper Pack. I used a touch of black glitter paper for his jacket lapels. I used an acrylic paint pen to draw his eyebrows, nose and mouth following the sample shown on Frankie's packaging. You can either draw his eyes or use googly eyes like I did. I also added some some green chalk to his cheeks.

The next step was to cut a 4" x 10" piece of purple metallic cardstock. I scored the long side at the 5" mark to create a 4" x 5" top fold card base. 

The next thing was creating the pop-up mechanism for the inside. This is the piece that makes the panels lay flat when the card is closed and pop up and out when it's opened.   

Place glue on the triangle shaped on both sides of the mechanism. Glue one side in first with the point flush and centered with the card fold. Apply glue to the remaining triangle as shown and close the card and hold until the glue sets. Give this a little time as it needs to be fully set before you try to open and close the card and the mechanism.

The result will look like this when the card is opened.

Next, cut another piece of metallic cardstock 2 1/4" x 5 1/4." Fold it in half, then fold each half again to create four folded panels in a valley, mountain, valley, mountain formation. This will be glued on to the mechanism after it's decorated.

To make the panels, I used a few die sets. I utilized 5604-Halloween Journal Die Set (pictured) and 5769-Halloween FB Fence Set. I also used a tag die from 5543-Journal Template Dies Set and cut four tags out of patterned papers from the Halloween paper pack.

Below you can see the four tags I decorated using the Halloween die sets. Once done, I added bakers twine in the tag loops and glued each of them to one of the four pop-up panels. Then I applied glue to the mechanism in the areas as shown and attached the pop-up panel to it. Do not apply glue in any other places on the mechanism or it won't open or shut correctly.

Hold the pieces in place until the glue sets. Make sure you've given time for the glue to fully adhere because there is a lot of pressure on the glued areas when folding and unfolding the card and you don't want it to release because the glue hasn't dried enough.

The next step was using dies to create the black and white panels that I glued on the top and bottom interior of the card. These look like they were torn but they are created with a die in the 5769-Halloween FB Fence Set.

Here's a close-up of the first two panels with the decorated tags.

And here are close-ups of the last two panels.

With the interior done, I worked on the front of the card. First I cut a piece of black cardstock 3 1/2" by 4 1/2." I cut strips of various heights from patterned cardstock in the 5605-Halloween Journal Paper Pack and in purple glitter cardstock. I glued them at an angle and then trimmed the edges flush with the cardstock edges. Then I glued the panel on to another mat of silver glitter cardstock sized 3 3/4" x 4 3/4." The layered panel was then adhered to the front of the purple card base shown on the left. Once that was complete, I glued Frankie to the finished card front. 

The final step was to stamp, color and cut out Frank's candy bucket and candies from 5601-Halloween Accessory Set. Then I staged them in Frankie's hands. Don't you love his googly eyes?

Thanks for joining me today for the Glitter All The Way Challenge. We love seeing all your cards and remember, all you need is something with glitter - a lot or a little meets the criteria. Please visit the Ai store to pick up your favorite stamps, dies, papers, accessories, and supplies, including all the supplies I used in this card. 

Happy Crafting!

Thank you so much Janet!!

That card is incredibly cute and the puppet series is so fun!

Now, let's see who won our Bats in the Belfry challenge.

Our Top Spot went to:

Dawn W.

How phenomenal is her version of Phil in a Halloween setting?!

Be sure to grab and share your Top Spot banner and then,

please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim your free stamp set.

Our Lucky Random Winner was #1
Cathlyn A.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim your free stamp set.

Congratulations to our winners!

Here are the rules...

✻ Please make a new card or handmade crafty creation using either stamps, dies and or designer paper from Art Impressions. You can make any item you wish; this is not limited to cards! (unless specified)

✻ Limit two submissions per person.

✻Top Spot Winner and Lucky Random Winner each receive a free 

stamp set from Art Impressions

 ✻Please include your first name and last initial on your submission. You may include your entire last name, but it's not necessary.

✻We love to comment on your entries, but keep in mind if you use a private group or a platform that you need to sign up for, we probably won't be able to.

✻ 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 if you can, by clicking and commenting on 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