Thinking of You by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

There is a wonderful new die available from Art Impressions!
It can be used vertically or horizontally depending on what
stamps you decide to put inside of each panel.

Remember, the current challenge on the Art Impressions Challenge Blog 

is called It's in the Mail. You can click on the banner to be

taken to the challenge to enter your postal themed card. 

(Stamps, mailboxes, envelopes etc.)

There are 4 brand new sets made to coordinate with the die, 

but the great thing is that you can use any stamp, die cut 

or sentiment that will fit inside each rectangle.

 The possibilities are endless.
I chose to use the cottage scene because I love the bike.

One cool thing I discovered was that the window die from the MB Template fits perfectly inside the space for the window on the cottage. The intent is that you will paint or draw in the panes but I love the look of die-cutting the window panels out. So cool!

Copics used:

YG11, Y11, Y18, B01, B34, N2, E33, E40, E55

A colorful Happy Birthday using the new Story Tile Template Die

 Hello AI Fans!

I sure hope you're having a wonderful start to the new week! Did you get to see the new release last Wednesday from Art Impressions? Bonnie has done it again and come out with a Story Tile Template Die and four new sets that goes perfectly with it! I LOVE this new release! I've only been able to color one set so far, but I can't wait to get to the other three! My card today features the new die with #6178 Birthday Wishes. This is such a cute set containing a pinata, balloons, lots of presents and other fun and festive items. All the images fit perfectly in the tile sections of the die! I added some cute flowers from #5401 Easter Chicks Set into the pots. The icing on the cake is covered with Glossy Accents and there are pops of Stickles throughout. I just had to add some sparkle! I also used some purple Pops of Color from Scrapbook.com.  Those gorgeous papers are from #5742 Easter Journal PP. 

So that's it for me today! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit, and until next time - stay crafty!!

Freebie Bears Are Here! by Janet

Have you noticed the newest Bear Freebies at Art Impressions? They are truly adorable! I'm always a fan of the freebies but these are special. You can't buy them though. One is included in every order you place over $30. The beauty of it is that you get to choose which one you want! These stamps are the same great quality as all of Ai's polymer stamps too. All in all, they are a great perk for being a loyal shopper of Art Impressions.

There are many ways you can use these stamps but today, I've used three of them to make cute little 3 x 3 note cards. They are 6170 - Honey Bear, 6168 - Sundae Bear, and 6165 - Rainy Bear. 

These started by making the card base. Each one measure 3" x 6" and scored at 3". On top of the card base, I cut a yellow square that leaves a 1/8" inch border all around the card using 5725 - Nested Square Dies. Then I cut Copic friendly cardstock with one of the 5061 - Square Double Stitched Dies.

The next step is stamping on the white cardstock and picking your favorite markers, pencils or paint to color them. Once mine were all done, I centered each panel on top of the yellow mat. Then I added two clear enamel dots to decorate them.

These were super fun to work with. Grab one at the store with your next order. Then get another one every time you reach a $30 order. 

Thanks for joining me on the blog today. As always, find your favorite stamps, dies, papers, and accessories at the Ai Store!

Happy Crafting!

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest  

 

Sending Birthday Wishes Card by Tasha

 Happy Friday Art Impressions friends! 

Tasha here sharing a card created with the new 6178-Birthday Wishes stamp set and 6158-Story Tile Template Die. This set is so festive and I love the piñata stamp!

For this project, I used the Story Tile Die to cut one piece of white card stock and a piece of colored pattern paper. I colored all of the images with Copic Markers and used Tombow Markers for the flowers. I also used a white gel pen to add little accents to the images and create a fun look to the "Happy Birthday" greeting. 

Lastly, I attached a layer of Art Impressions pattern paper, gold glitter for extra sparkle, and deep pink card stock. I also ink blended the edges of each tile to add more color. I like the way the golden color gives a warm glow around the stamped images. 

I hope you enjoyed today's card and are inspired to create a fun tile card!

It's in the Mail Challenge #421 Week#2

Hello Ai fans and welcome to week #2 of our

It's in the Mail challenge.

Do you love to win free stamps?

If your answer is yes, and why wouldn't it be, then be sure to enter your handmade creation into our challenge. You just need to use something postal themed from Art Impressions. Stamps, dies, envelopes, mailboxes etc. 

Our challenge goes perfectly with our new releases from yesterday!
Though Art Impressions version is called Story Tile Template Die, these dies are widely
known as "postage stamp" dies so we're counting them...lol!

You can purchase the entire collection as a bundle to save yourself some money.

You can also purchase them separately if the full bundle isn't in your budget just now.

Now let's see what our Design Team has created to inspire you.

 First up is Janet, our Featured Designer from last week.

Next is Dori.

5114 - Never Too Old Laugh Lines
5930 - Santa's Workshop
5735 - Birthday Sentiments
5935 - Fairytale Houses
6130 - Halloween S3 PP
5065 - Oval Double Stitched Dies
5062 - Rounded Rectangle A2 Dbl Stitch dies

Here is Sharon's card.

6158 Story Tile Template Die
6178 Birthday Wishes

Easy & Elegant Envelope Art by Lynn Dionne

And lastly, my card.

6158 – Story Tile Template Die
6057 Baby Girl Paper Pack

6179  Cottage Charm
5317 – MB Template Dies (window die)
5935 – Fairytale Houses Set (grass die cuts, butterfly and flowers)

6140 – White Cardstock Paper Pack

 ✻ 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.

 ✻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

Birthday Wishes by Dori Mendiola

 Happy Thursday AI Friends!

My card today was inspired by the current blog challenge called "It's in the Mail".   I took this challenge literally and combed through all of my stamp sets to locate the perfect mailbox to go with this lady from the #5114 - Never Too Old Laugh Lines.  I found the mailbox in the #5930 - Santa's Workshop stamp set.  

I needed to make a birthday card for my sister and I just think this lady is hilarious.  My sister didn't find her nearly as funny until I told her the lady was representing me mailing her card not her receiving it.  😂

Maybe I should add a wink wink here too.  LOL! 

Anyway, back to the card.  I stamped the images onto copic friendly paper with Memento black ink and colored with my copic markers listed below.  I then cut each out with the corresponding dies.  

I decided to make it a fun fold easel card by cutting a 4 1/4" x 9 3/4" piece of cardstock.  I scored it along the long side at 1 1/4, flipped the cardstock over and scored it at 5 1/2" keeping the other score line to your left.  Fold and burnish the score lines in opposite directions.   

I cut orange cardstock pieces to fit each of the scored sections and also adhered a piece of pattern paper to fit nicely on each of the orange mats.

Die cut two ovals with the #5065 - Oval Double Stitch dies.  One in pattern paper and the other in textured white.  For the base oval, I used the #5727 - Nested Oval dies.  Glue those three ovals together and adhere the top edge only to the 1 1/4" folded edge.  When opened, the oval piece will stand up on the bottom layer.  I added the colored images to this panel using foam dots for dimension.

To finish, I stamped the sentiment from the #5735 - Birthday Sentiments and partial die cut using the #5062 Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitch die.  I added an oval piece of white cardstock to the inside of the card (behind the image panel) for my birthday message and a few purple embellishments to the corners.

Well, that's my card for today.  Thanks for joining me!  

Hope you have a wonderful day and keep creating!

Copics used:  E000, E00, E11, R20, R24

C00, C1, C3, C5

V12, V15, V17

BG10, BG23, BG53

G40, G43, G46

Y11, Y13, Y32, Y35, Y38

Easy & Elegant Envelope Art by Lynn Dionne

Happy Wednesday Ai Fans!

Watch video tutorial here!

I have been wanting to do some envelope art for a very long time and therefore, I was so thrilled and inspired by the current Ai "It's in the Mail" Blog Challenge. This challenge is to create something in the postal genre' by using your envelope dies, GC holder or MB envelopes, use mailboxes or create a matching envelope for a card.

For the frame images we will be using the Frameworks Stamp sets #1 (5420) and set #2 (6026). These sets have several pretty frames that are perfect for your envelope art! They create a great space for your name and address information.

We will also select some flower stamps from the Ai My Hope Set (5936) and the Ai His Love Set (6150).

But first, let's create our own envelopes using some 90lb watercolor paper. I chose this paper for its lighter weight and the ability to watercolor our images very easily. The We R Makers Envelope Board has been around for a very long time, but it is perfect for creating your own personalized envelopes. You can use your pattern papers for this process as well. I will show you exactly how to use the punch board in today's video. I'll also show you how to easily create a pretty paper liner for each of the envelopes!

Now that our envelopes are made let's begin by stamping a flower image onto the envelope and then we will stamp it again onto some masking paper and fussy cutting the masked image with your detail scissors. This entire process is much easier if you use your stamp positioning tool.

Now place this mask over the floral image and grab your favorite framework stamp. Go ahead and stamp the frame. Now you can remove the mask, and it will look as though the floral image was always part of the frame image!

Let's color the images using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Lemon Yellow, Yellow, Br Yellow, Lt Pink, Wine Red, English Lavender, Deep Violet, Lt Green, Deep Green.

To highlight the center of the frames a bit more we will ink blend some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink into the center of the frames. You will want to use some Post-it Cover-up Tape around the edges of the frame before you begin ink blending.

Next, let's spatter the envelopes with the coordinating inks to tie everything together!

Please join us in this fun new postal challenge.... we would love to see what you create!

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

Ai Frameworks Set 2 (6026)

Ai Frameworks Set 1 (5420)

Ai My Hope Set (5936)

Ai His Love Set (6150)

Ai Basic Yellow PP (6012)

Ai Baby Girl Cover PP (6059)

Ai Encouragement Cover PP (5960)

Focus on Faith "My Joy" Hummingbird and Flowers with Sara Furr

 Greetings Ai friends,

With all the bitter cold temps we have been having this winter here in the Northeast, I find the only way that I can keep sane during these long, hard winter months on the farm, is by having faith that it will eventually all melt and warm up with the coming spring, and the Earth will renew itself. And so, my mind keeps going to spring flowers and pretty birdies.  I created this soft, spring creation using the beautiful stamp set called "My Joy". 

To start, I picked out some pretty papers from the "Mother's Day Paper Pack" and used them as inspiration for the colors I used. I cut the largest Scallop Oval die out of Pearlescent White cardstock and stamped the 2 floral images at the top and bottom, and the sentiment, "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength" in the center, with Momento Black Ink, in my Misti Stamping Tool. I then stamped the other 2 florals and the humming bird onto plain white cardstock. I heat set the ink to make sure it was dry before coloring!

I colored all my images with alcohol markers and then added in fine details on the flower petals with a slightly darker purple fine point dye ink marker. I then fussy cut out the 2 florals and humming bird, popped them up with foam dots, and added some sparkle to the wings of the Hummingbird, and to the centers of the flowers. 

To the flowers stamped on the oval, I added some iridescent black self adhesive pearls to the centers. Before I added the cut out florals, I cut a length of silver metallic thread, curled it back up, and applied it to the center of the right hand side of the oval and then added the popped up flowers over top. I added the Hummingbird to the left side of the oval.

I then assembled my card, roughing up the edges of the designer paper with a scissors, and added the stripes of dsp, lace, and ribbon. Finally, I popped up the oval on the right hand side with foam tape.

I then worked on the inside. Cutting another large Scallop Oval and stamping a floral arch at the top and bottom. I added this in the center over my pieces of dsp that I again distressed the edges of, and that finishes my card for today.

The Joy of the Lord truly is my strength! This joy is not a fleeting, superficial emotion like happiness, but an abiding, deep-seated confidence in God's character, faithfulness, and ultimate victory. Despite sorrow or struggles, relying on God's unwavering goodness and joy provides inner fortitude and stability. 

I chose this verse because it serves as a reminder to rely on divine strength, which can turn sadness into endurance, allowing for a perspective of gratitude in daily, even difficult, circumstances. And the Good Lord knows that I have my fair share of daily difficulties here on the farm! Lol

Blessings to you all,

Sara Furr "The Crafty Farm Chick"

List of Supplies used:

Art Impressions 

Stamps: #5981- "My Joy Set"

Paper: #6051- "Mother's Day Paper Pack "

Dies: #6046- "Scalloped Ovals Dies"

Memento black ink pad

Misc. 

Misti Stamping tool

Alcohol markers

Dye ink markers

Silver metallic thread

Foam tape, Double sided tape

Self-adhesive Pearls 

Sparkle Gelly Roll pen

Lace trim, chiffon ribbon

Scissors

Heat tool

Springtime Keepsakes by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Today I have two cute cards to share with you.

One, is what I intended, and one...well, have you ever done something really stupid silly
only to shake your head and say "What was I thinking?" If you have, then you're not alone.

My "boo boo" card is this one. The duck. He was meant to be a lift flap card just like my pink one below but...nope. I made sure THAT didn't happen...lol!

I created the flap, decorated the inside and then remembered I had this new, really cute yellow pom-pom ribbon. Wouldn't that be cute with this card? It sure would. So, without thinking, I threw down some glue strips and stuck in on. Super cute right? But then...yep. You certainly can't open it anymore.

I just shook my head and chalked it up to a learning experience. Oh well.

For my next card, you can see what the duck was also supposed to look like.

This time I used the adorable bunny.

Here is the inside with the flap open.

I hope you like these and I hope that my little mistake will feel better about something you may have done in the past. We all make mistakes and you really can move on with what you have. Most of the time, you're the only one who will notice.

Have a great week everyone!

Copics used:

Y06, Y17, Y38

RV00, RV0000, RV21, RV93, E31, E40, E53

Happy Spring Train by Sharon Caudle

 Hello AI Fans!

No...it's not spring yet, but it will be here soon! I hope that helps you feel a little better if you're suffering terrible winter weather right now. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow over the next day or two. UGH! I've been wanting to use #5929 Christmas Train Set for something other than Christmas for a long time, and I finally got my chance! With the release of the adorable new #6106 Bloom and Grow set, I wanted to create a train that could be used for either Spring or Easter. So this was the result of my thought. Since Bonnie didn't put any specific decorations on the train cars, you can decorate them any which way you wish! I love that!! I simply colored them in more spring like colors and then added a die cut star. The letters I used on a slimline banner die from my stash are from #5562 Journal Letter Die Set. 

Sorry, I didn't realize this was blurry until I no longer had the card. 

So that's it for me today! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and until next time - stay crafty!!

Copic markers used:

E000, 00, 11, and 35

B41 and 45

YR02, 04, and 07

C1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

R00, 11, and 12

YG01, 03, and 05

Y13, 32, 35, and 38

BV00, 01, and 02