NEW At Michaels! PLUS, Challenge 209 White Space is Nice Space

Hello, Ai Fans!

Hooray! We have added two new clear sets to our collection at Michaels! These sets were exclusively designed with your festivities and travels in mind! Our Big Birthday Wishes set is sweet to celebrate your girlfriends! "Girls just wanna have fun" with our Road Trip set, featuring fun sentiments that perfectly fit inside the street sign stamp! Grab a set today at your local Michaels store!

Joining us today, Karen shares a sweet tutorial to kick of our White Space is Nice Space and to celebrate our new sets at Michaels!

It's all about "CAS" here on the Ai Challenge this week... and personally, I find this the most difficult style of cardmaking!  I'm all about patterned paper & bright colours, so I have to work hard to achieve a balanced look where white space is involved.  I am using SC0794 today - one of the new acrylic sets available at Michaels stores through Hampton Art.  Here's what I came up with:

For me, balance is a big part of cardmaking.  I chose to make a large card - it's 6" square.  The image itself would've worked on a much smaller card, but because I chose to put a 3/8" frame of teal cardstock around it, I needed the larger amount of white space around the frame to balance it out.

 After colouring with Copics, I fussy cut the image and attached it with pop dots for a little added interest.  I glued "friends" down flat, but attached "best" with pop dots -again- for balance.  I could've stopped there, but with the sentiment taking up the top left corner, I opted to add a few enamel dots to the lower part of the card for (you guessed it) balance.

 In addition to the banners and main image, this set includes a cupcake and three sentiments, so I chose one of them for the inside of my card.  So get busy and start creating!  We would love to have you join us this week for "White Space is Nice Space"!

 Copics used: Skin tones - E11, E00, E000, R30, E53, E51, E50, E34, E31

Greys - C9, C7, C5, C3, C1

Blues - B95, B93, B91, B21, BV04, BV01, BV00

Pinks - RV14, RV13, RV11, RV10

Greens - BG18, BG15, BG13, BG11, YG05, YG03, YG01, YG00

Yellows - Y11, Y38, Y35, Y32, Y21

What a fantastic card, Karen! Your clean and simple design and beautiful colors really make your coloring pop!

It's your turn! We want to see your clean and simple cards for our "White Space is Nice Space" challenge! It's the perfect time to show off your coloring with your favorite stamps!

✻ 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, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Let's not forget the winners of last week's Dots and Stripes challenge!

Top Spot goes to...

Kalla Walla!

Congrats! We love your bright colors of our Girlfriends in their polkadot and striped bathing suites! Too cute and fun for summer! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your prize pack!

Honorable Mentions go to...

EK Gorman!

 Margo Smith!

Congrats, you two! EK, your dotted embossed background really features our Out To Lunch Girlfriends and your pink color-blocking mimics some sweet stripes! Margo, we love your coloring with our Birthday Wishes Set and adore your coordinated paper! Be sure to email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and select the stamp set of your choice for a prize!

Thank you to all of our entrants, we hope you'll join in for our new challenge! 

By the way, we have two exciting new products available at our website!

Do you wonder what Bonnie's most used colors are in her Watercolor Wednesday videos? Look no further than Bonnie's Favorites Pen Set! This 12 pen Marvy Le Plume II set features our most-loved colors for Ai Watercoloring! Visit our website to view the list of colors included and to purchase this set for yourself. Remember, we also sell Marvy Le Plume II pens individually if you want to try new colors or replace old favorites!

Take your watercolor stamps on vacation with our WC Travel Box! Each box includes a slim palette and three acrylic blocks, so all you need is to add your favorite stamps, markers and brush for watercoloring on the go. If you have taken our 2017 Watercolor Workshop, you have used great little boxes in class! Click here to purchase one for yourself!

Happy Stamping!