Holiday Mansion in Black! by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

I have another Mansion card to share today.

I've used Holiday Mansion and 5096 – HM Garden Set 

because they're just so darned cute!

I have loved this series since day one. I'm glad Bonnie keeps adding more accessories for the house.  I did something new on this one.  I stamped the house twice and then cut off the roof and all of the window toppers.  I then popped them up using foam tape. The shutters are also popped up. I really like the added dimension it gave the card.

I added a sweet fence with 4967 – WC Fence Dies.

These are super easy to assemble because the sets come with all the dies you need to cut the little accessory pieces.

The windows and doors open to reveal hidden surprises.

How cute is that?!  I like to add some vellum or a solid color behind some of the openings to kind of hide the designer paper when I make these.

I feel like it makes the hidden treasures pop a little more.

Copics used:

RV02, RV55, R29,

Y08, Y35, Y38, YR16, B02, B14,

YG17, YG07, E97

T1, C7, W00,

So many men....by Sharon Caudle

Hello AI Fans!

My card today features SC0653 Beach Babes from the AI Store Exclusives line. I also used the AI Rectangle Double Stitched Dies. I can't help but giggle when I read that sentiment! 

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and hope you're enjoying the weekend! Until next time, stay crafty!!

Copics used:

E000, E00, E11, E30, E31, E33, E35, E37

Y13, Y17

BG000, BG32, BG34

B000

C4

R20, R22, R24, R27

Pedal Pushers with Island Window | By Jessica Shier

Hello Ai Fans!

This week I'm using the Island Window stamp as a backdrop for these fun loving gals from the Pedal Pushers set! 

For this one I started off with stamping these fun loving Pedal Pushers on to a piece of Neenah 80lb cardstock using Gina K. Amalgam ink. I colored these ladies with Copics, colors are listed below. Once I had them colored up I used a T-square and a W6 Copic marker to create the sidewalk. Then I trimmed the sidewalk and the ladies out, only the area above the tires though. That way I could layer it over the background.

This was super easy and quick to make. I first used a brick stencil with pumice stone Distress ink on top of a piece of fog cardstock. I kept the ink blending light and let it fade off around the edges. Then I stamped the Island Window three times across it. This was easily done with Distress Oxide inks since they are a pigment ink and layer nicely over colored cardstock and dye inks. I attached those together and ran them through with a rectangle die then layered a piece of  pink craft foam underneath, for a slight dimensional look. 

The sentiment is from the Pedal Pushers set also! There is a certain Birthday Wheelie Dog or Workout Gal Wheelie that the sentiments in this set would pair nicely with too. For this card though I simply stamped the "This is how we roll." with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink on white cardstock.

Copic Markers Used:

C7, C5, C3, C1

W9, W6, W3, W1

E77, E74, E59, E51

E35, E34, E31, E17, E15, E11

YR27, Y38, Y35, Y26, Y21, Y02

B99, B95, B93, B02, B00

BG000, BV04, BV02, BV01

RV55, RV09, R85, R83

Thank you so much for joining me today! Happy Stamping!

NEW Challenge 259 Shaker Cards WEEK 2! AND Warehouse Sale 2019 Announced!

Hello, Ai Fans!

Did you catch our exciting announcement on our newsletter today?! You are cordially invited to the fifth annual Art Impressions Warehouse Sale, a two-day shopping spectacular on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23, 2019, in Keizer, Oregon!

We are building over 2,000 square feet of shopping space for you to grab some great stamps at discounted prices! Find our current and popular stamps, as well as closeouts, seconds, unmounted rubber sheets, and accessories!

Please note we have a NEW sale location in Keizer, Oregon, as well as a NEW hotel to book your accommodations! Visit our page for more information, and be sure to RSVP to receive a free gift at the event! We hope to see you there!

We are back with the second week of our super fun shaker card challenge! Let's take a look at what the team has in store for us today!

Jil with Meerkat Set and Hexagon Double Stitched Dies


Renee with Octopus Flip Card

Sharon with Gator Popcard, Rounded Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, and Flip Card Die

Carol with Tea Card PopCard and Succulent Set sentiment
with Oval Double Stitched Dies


Niccole with our Succulents Set


Crystal with our Hedgehog Set
with Banner Double Stitched Dies and Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies


Jessica with our Whisk It Set
with Square Double Stitched Dies

Join the party! Shaker cards are so fun to make, and there are so many different kinds you can create! Make a card, share it with us by linking it up, show us what you got! You just might win a prize, and you know how much we love giving away 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, July 3 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.
✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May Simple Joys Fill Your Day By Crystal

Hi Ai Fans! 

This week I have a card to share using the Cabin Circlet stamp/die set. Circlet cards are so fun to make and are done in no time at all!  

I started used water color cardstock for the base of the card and stamped directly onto the card base because I was going to water color. If I was coloring with alcohol markers I would adhere the panels to my card base. I stamped the images in Versfine black ink.

 I used the Square double stitched die to cut pattern paper out and the Circle double stitched dies for the opening in the center. 

The images on the stamps are very detailed but when water coloring them it is done very fast. I love the look of water color when it is a little messy. 

The inside is where the sentiment is. The look of the sentiment wrapped around the image is so unexpected you do see it till you open the card.

A little peak through of all three layers. 

Happy Stamping!

Watercolor Throwback - Cottage & Fence Dies

Hello Ai Fans!

We have a Watercolor Throwback for Watercolor Wednesday this week! One of the most common questions we get at our retail shows is how to use our WC Fence Dies. We love this design by Bonnie and thought it was worth bringing back from October 2017!


Bonnie used both our WC Fence Dies and WC Cottages Set in this video! She starts by die cutting one of our fences with a Stamping Mask Paper and adhering to her watercolor paper. She then overlays our small and large grasses and vine from our Foliage Set 1, then adding flowers from our Flower Set 1. Bonnie then removes the mask and adds more vines and flowers over the posts on the left side. She also adds some small sprigs at the base of the fence posts. From there, she uses sticky notes to mask the foreground and our Stamp Positioner to perfectly place the cottage. She pulls color from the lines and adds brown from her palette and finishes the image with some climbing vines on the sides.

We have had quite a few people contact us on how to get new upload emails from YouTube and want to help! Once you have clicked "subscribe" on our channel, click the "bell" next it to receive emails as soon as a new video is available! We always appreciate a thumbs up on any video you like, as well!

We hope you enjoy this new video and our latest releases! Happy Watercolor Wednesday!

View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zLII41jei2U

Succulent Terrarium by Niccole Kulig

Hello Ai fans!!

Today I am stopping by to share a card using the Succulents stamp set from Art Impressions. This card is clean and simple that is for sure.  But it sure makes an impact.

I started by coloring my Succulents with my Copic markers and using the coordinating dies to cut them out.  

I used my Hexagon Double Stitched Dies from Ai to cut out my make shift terrarium.  I have not cut apart my hexagons yet.  I love that I can cut multiple frames in the hexagon shape. I only used the biggest three sizes for my frame.

I added my Succulents last and arranged one flat with glue, the big one in the middle I used glue on the bottom half and raised the top half with foam tape.  For the last smaller one in front; I popped him up with foam tape. 

I finished it with a few light green confetti sequins.  And a small stamp in the bottom corner of the inside of the card.  I love the offset of the sentiment in the corner. It really was a card that came together quickly.  

I love how it looks like you are looking down into a terrarium. Wouldn't you agree ... a perfect birds eye view??

COPICS Used:  
G99
YG00, YG03, YG25, YG67

Thank you so much for stopping and spending a little time with me. See you soon!

Until next time ... Hugs & inky fingers!

Woodland Trees Cubbies by Jil Lebel

Hello Ai fans!

I have really been enjoying the critter cubbies line but I wanted to do a little something different with them.  That's why I came up with today's card.  I used the Woodland Trees Cubbies set to make a scene that isn't just inside the tree as it's shown on the packaging.  It was fun to see the tree image in a different way.

The images were stamped onto Copic X Press It paper with Gina K Designs Black Amalgam Ink and colored with Copic markers.  The colors used are listed at the end of this post. They were then cut with the matching dies that come in the set. Black Glaze pen was added to the eyes of the animals.

Two sheets of patterned paper from Recollections was die cut with the Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Die and attached to a white A2 note card. I cut a piece of white cardstock with the shaped die cut and placed the outer layer aside so I could keep it white.  I stenciled onto the inner pieces with the cloud stencil and the Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink.  I also added some splatter to the pieces with Perfect Pearl colored Perfect Pearls mixed with water and let them dry.  I attached the frame to the card front with foam tape and added the colored pieces in with flat adhesive.  I arranged the tree, animals and leaves and added them with a variety of foam tape and flat adhesive.  

Copic Colors Used:
Birds - B000, B02, BG13, BG10, Y11, YR14
Leaves - YG61, YG63, YG67
Squirrel - E70, E71, E74, E77
Bunny - C0, C1, C3, C5, RV11
Chipmunk - E000, E13, E15, E19
Tree - E31, E33, E35, E37

Treehouse - Y13, Y26, Y28

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Watercolor Bicycle by Carol Hintermeier

Hello Ai Fans!

My card for today features the new WC Bicycle Set.  I've loved this set since I first saw it and I'm so glad to have finally used it!

Since this is the first time I've used this set, I started out with a scrap piece of watercolor paper to practice my stamping and shading of the bicycle.  I inked up the largest bicycle in the set first with Chocolate, then stamped it off and added Deep Blue.  I stamped it off onto scratch paper again, then stamped it onto my card panel.  I used Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock as I really like how bright white it is.  I have all of the watercolor pens listed by brand and number, as well as all the supplies I used at the end of this post.

Here is a list of the steps I took to finish the watercoloring:

• I lightly pulled the color out of the lines of the stamped image being careful on some of the smaller parts.  (That's when I switched to a No. 2 brush.)  I pulled more color out of the stamped lines of the two baskets as I wanted them to appear white.
• I smooshed some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink onto my glass mat and used a No. 2 watercolor brush to pick up the ink and color the bicycle.  Go back and add more color for your shading.
• For the tires and the baskets I mixed some Deep Blue and Chocolate on my mat until it was the shade of gray I wanted.  I used it darker on the tires and a more diluted mix on the baskets.
• If you have looked at the supply list and wondered why I used all four of the WC Foliage sets, well I didn't plan that!  Haha!  I just had them out and was pulling various stamps to try and there you go.  You can easily do the greenery with one or two sets.  I used a strip of Post-It tape to mask the basket in the back before stamping the foliage in Dark Jade.
• Next I put some ink from the Sapphire pen onto my mat and mixed in a bit of water for the sky.
• All the flowers are stamped in Rubine Red.  I used my No. 4 brush to soften.  I used the fine tip of the Brilliant Yellow to add dots of color throughout the flowers.
• Next I stamped the small grass and pulled out the color.  Then I stamped a few tall grasses and flowers.
• Don't forget to use a pencil to draw in the spokes on both wheels!

To finish, I cut out the image (make sure it's dry!) with a Rounded Rectangle Double Stitched die.  For the blue layer, I used a pencil and traced around the outside edge of the same die.  I used my trimmer for the straight sides and fussy cut the rounded corners.

I used a 3-D embossing folder and embossed some white paper and cut it down to 4" x 5-¼" and layered it onto the blue top folded A2 card.  The image is popped up with foam tape.  After I stamped the sentiment in Versamark, I added white embossing powder, heat set it, and cut it out with a die from the Tag Stitched Dies set.



Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope I've inspired you to get out your watercolors and and have a fun crafty day!

Markers:

Marvy:  100 Sapphire, 43 Brilliant Yellow

Tombow: 755 Rubine Red, 177 Dark Jade, 696 Chocolate, 565 Deep Blue