NEW Challenge 183 Creative Critters! PLUS New Mini Spinners!

Hello, Ai Fans!


Get ready for a whirlwind of new releases! We know you will love our six new sets of Mini Spinners, made for two spinning images per card! Perfect for smaller openings, these sets also include two dies, so you are ready to align the images perfectly! See them in action with our Latest & Greatest Video!

To kick off our new release, we're bringing in a new challenge! With our animal Mini Spinners, this challenge is about Creative Critters! Dana is here to introduce it with a fun tutorial!

Hiya AI fans, Dana here! If you been a fan of Art Impressions for very long you are very much aware of their Spinner stamps and how they work. With this mini spinner release I wanted to do something a little different with the these cute spinner stamps! You know, help you get more miles out of your stamps!!! So I made a shaker card, and these mini spinners are a perfect size for shaker cards!!

First I stamped the front and back kitties and yarn from the Mini Cat Spinner set. I decided to keep it at two kitties and four yarn balls. To color them I used my Spectrum Noir markers, then fussy cut them out. With a black Distress Marker I inked around the edges. SN colors used: CG2,CT3, CT4, DG2, DG3, FS6, GB4, GB7, GB9, IG2, IG4, IG6, TB1, TB2, TB3, OR1.

Next I ran all the cats and yarn balls through my sticker machine. Then I peeled them off the backing sheet and stuck the front and back of each and stuck them together.

Below you can see the front and back images stuck together.

Then I die cut a oval in a white card base and adhered clear acetate over the front of the card. I added foam tape all around the oval and over the remaining part of the card. Therm O Web is the brand of foam tape I used here, its really sticky so I think it worked really good with this shaker card. Take off the backing paper from the foam tape, THEN add the cats, sequins and glitter in the oval. I have before added the shaker stuff first, it makes taking off the backing paper a lot harder!!!

 Next add another piece of acetate over the oval, press hard to make sure there is a good seal with the foam tape. You can see the front and the back, with the acetate holding in the cats, yarn and sequins.

Then I took a 6 x 6 pattern paper and cut the oval out of and after adding double sided adhesive to the acetate, placed it over the front of my card. You can see in the second photo that the pattern paper is bigger then the card. I find its a lot easier to die cut a bigger piece, add it to my card front and trim off the extra. I only waste a little and find it a lot easier then measuring and hoping my die cut will line up correctly!! I usually mess it up and waste even more paper!

Last I die cut a small red heart and stamped the Snagged On Mew! from the set. I added it to the card and trimmed of the little bit that hung over the edge.

I hope this little tutorial encourages you to look at not just the Mini Spinner stamps, but all your stamps in a new way!!!

InLinkz.com

Thanks, Dana! Such a fabulous card! Are you inspired to make some creative critters? We would love to see an interactive card with your animal stamps!

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 Wednesday, May 11 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.
✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Last but not least, here are the winners from last week's challenge Show Off Your Stamp!

Top spot is awarded to...

Rosali!

Finally used this @artimpressions stamp set, which I couldn't wait to get after my @onlinecardclasses in January ... It makes watercoloring so easy!! 💙 Here are a few things I learned: ▪ Use very little water on your brush!! Otherwise the stamped lines will disappear completely. ▪ By using rough grain watercolor paper, you can easily get some texture (like I did on the blue water). Mine is from @hahnemuehle. ▪ I liked using my Zigs, because they have a very fine tip, in case you wanna go over some lines again. This is also my first entry for an @artimpressions challenge! I'm excited! ☺

A photo posted by Rosali (@ilovestamping) on Apr 23, 2016 at 1:06am PDT

Congrats! Rosali! What a beautiful watercolor card! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your stamp prize pack!

Honorable Mentions go to...

J Atterbury!

Linda M!

Congrats! Be sure to email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and the stamp set of your choice as your prize! Thank you to all the entrants! Join our Creative Critters challenge for a chance to win!