Thursday, May 2, 2024
Love Birds and Friendly Blue Birds by Dori Mendiola
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Anchors Away! Guest Designer Challenge #5 with Diana Sheely
Happy May everyone!
It's the first of the month which means it's time for a new Guest Designer Challenge here at Art Impressions.
This month it's Anchors Away!
We know so many of you are coming into summer season and will be spending lots of time
at the beach, on boats, at the lake etc.
We want to see your nautical cards.
Show us your boats, lighthouses, anchors, docks, beaches, port holes, seagulls, pelicans, lakes, ponds etc.
She will be our Guest Designer in June.
We've all admired Debbie's work for many years and can't wait to see what she shares with you.
Debbie, please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com
to claim a free stamp set of your choice and she will give me your email address so that we can
begin brainstorming for our June challenge when you will be our Guest Designer!
Now for our Lucky Random Winner of my Exclusive Mouse Freebie from 2021.
Congratulations #6 Terry C.
Please contact me at Renee@artimpressions.com to claim your free stamp.
If you already have the mouse, I have others to choose from.
Now let's see what Diana has created to get your nautical gears turning...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi. My name is Diana, and I was super excited to find out that I had won the Timber themed Guest Designer Challenge. I have been doing Ai Watercolor for several years, but I still struggle with my self confidence in coming up with my own designs. I do pretty well CASEing someone else's project and tweaking it to make it my own, but designing my own projects is still a stretch for me. After Renee told me the theme for May, I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what I wanted to make, then all of a sudden, an idea came to me, and this is what I created.
Mask a 4" x 3" rectangle with Post-it tape. (I used the 4th largest nested rectangle die as my template). Use a stamp positioner to stamp the boat (inked in 565 & 969) at an angle in the lower right corner. Ink the dock in 565 & 969 and stamp off once and stamp on the left side so front corner of dock is next to the back corner of the boat. I used a stamp positioner to stamp the Freebie Cat (inked in 565 & 969) on the dock. Use a pencil and ruler to draw the horizon line and also to draw the shore line by the dock and boat (see photo). Pull color out of the lines on the boat, dock, and cat. Use a #4 brush, and color the bottom stripe on the outside of the boat and the top of the hull in a combination of 158 and 312. Add the red stripe with 856. The oars were done in 947, the floor of the boat in a combination of 947 & 969, and the inside of the boat was done in 565. I used the brown twintone to color the oar holders and add a few lines back into the boat. I mixed a combination of 565 and 969 for the dock, making sure the back legs were darker. Again, I added some detail back in with the brown twintone. The cat was painted in several layers of N75, with 856 used for the ears, cheeks, and overalls. His bucket was painted with 312. I used a pencil to darken the eyes, nose, and to add back other details.
The rocks were inked in 969 with 565 on top, and stamped off several times. They were added at the base of the dock and along the bottom of the right side of the card. Color was brought out on the bottom of the rocks, and then more color was added using a combo of 969, 565, and 158. I used 992 for the ground/sand. Once the sand was dry, I added a blue line under the boat for a shadow. The water is a combination of 555 & 565. I started at the horizon line and did horizontal lines across the paper, making sure I had enough water. I made sure the water was darker under the dock for the shadow. Once the water was dry, I stamped the tiny grass in 177 along the shore and bottom of the card. I used my #1 brush to pull the color out of the grass. I used 526 for the sky so there would be a contrast with the water. I used the stamp positioner to stamp the little sailboat on the horizon. I used N75 to ink the sailboat. I colored it using my #1 brush - 565 on the bottom of the boat, and 856 to make the stripes on the sails. The seagulls were inked in 565 and stamped in the sky once it was dry. Lastly, I added some waves to the water using Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White paint.
Once the Post-it tape was removed, I erased any pencil lines that were still visible. I die cut the painting with the 4th largest of the nested rectangle dies. The mat was die cut using the 2nd largest of the stitched rectangle dies.
Sets used:
5057 WC Boat Set
EX5583 Freebie Cat
5415: WC Rocks Set
5473: WC Seagull Set
4051: Foliage Set
Supplies Used:
Tombows: 158, 177, 312, 526, 555, 565, 856, 947, 969, 992, N75, and Brown Twintone
Ai Nested Rectangle Dies
Ai Stitched Rectangle Dies
Stamp Positioner
Post-it Tape
Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White Paint
What an ADORABLE card Diana!
For as long as I have duplicate stamps I will choose a random winner.
These will be for U.S. residents only since these will be mailed by me personally
and not Art Impressions.
This month I have the EXW5540 Raccoon Freebie from 2022.
You will be automatically entered to win when you upload your project to the challenge.
Good luck everyone!
✻You can make any item you wish; this is not limited to cards!
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enterVillage Vehicles Graduation/Promotion Card by Lynn Dionne
Happy Wednesday Ai Fans!!!
Watch video tutorial here!!!
Today we will be using the brand-new stamp set from the Art Impressions Village Series! This set is called the Ai Village Vehicles Set (5889) and includes several little trucks, cars and even an airplane which will coordinate perfectly the new FREEBIES! These new FREEBIES include several different village houses/shops including a schoolhouse, cafe, hotel, candy shop, bakery and pet shop. Here's the fun part ...there are three add-on sets that will coordinate with these FREEBIE stamps. The Village Vehicles (5889) which we will be using today and also the Village Accessories (5890) and the Village Signage (5891).
These FREEBIES will be free with each $30 purchase and the add-on sets can be purchased as a bundle or individually. The bundle set will be at a discounted price!
We are going to use the little vehicles in a unique and different way to create a fun Graduation or even a promotion card!
Let's begin by stamping and coloring in all of the vehicles using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Lemon Yellow, Yellow, Orange, Geranium Red, Lt Green, Dk Green, Haze Blue, Aquamarine Blue, Blue, Cool Gray 6, Lt Gray.
We can then use our detail scissors to cut these out leaving a little bit of a white border all the way around.
Next, we can create the background panel by die cutting a circle from some white cardstock which has been cut to 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". We can use the Ai Nested Circle Dies (5726) and center this circle die on the square panel.
Let's then create a pretty sunburst background using a Sunray Background Stencil and some Distress Oxide Inks in Squeezed Lemonade and Abandoned Coral. We will stencil half of the panel and then turn the stencil and complete the other half to create a complete circle sunburst!
Now let's stamp a globe and then color and die cut it using that same circle die set. We will also add some Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen to the water on our globe!
For the card base we will use a pretty Arctic 100lb Cardstock. This card will measure 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". We can temporarily position the frame and the globe so that we can add a sentiment from the Ai Graduation Set (5277) to the front of the card that will say "You're really going places!". We can cut the stamp in half so that we can position the sentiment on a curve right above the globe.
Now let's do a quick assembly of the card and pop-up the vehicles in a circle around the globe and sunburst. I also added a few vehicles on the inside of the card along with another sentiment from the Ai Graduation Set (5277) which says, "Look out world!".
For a finishing touch, let's add a pop of color in Sunshine for a bit of dimension and .... don't tell anyone .... to also cover up a little smudge that I had!
Thank you so much for joining me today! Have a fun and crafty day!!!
Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen
Post-it Labeling and Cover-up Tape
Monday, April 29, 2024
Home Tweet Home by Sharon Caudle
Hello AI Fans!!
I've got a card to show you today that fits perfectly with our blog challenge that's going on right now "Birds of a Feather". I used the Birdhouse Cubbies Set along with one of several sentiments that comes along with this set. It also includes the dies! I stamped the images onto cryogen white paper and colored them with Copic markers which are listed below. I thought the Easter S2 paper pack went with these birds perfectly. Art Impressions has such an amazing assortment of gorgeous papers!
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Vintage Baby Cards by Jami
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Time to Par-tee by Janet
Friday, April 26, 2024
Nailed It! Card by Tasha!
Happy Friday Ai Friends!
Tasha here sharing a new masculine card created with the fun 5406 - Mr. Set. This stamp set includes several hats and accessory items to customize your card or project, but this handyman outfit is so cute for a birthday card or Father's Day card.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Birds of a Feather Challenge #377 Week #1
Hello Ai fans!
We hope you all enjoyed our It's Raining Cats & Dogs challenge.
With that challenge ending, it means it's time to debut a new challenge.
For the next two weeks our challenge is called
Birds of a Feather.
We want to see your crafty projects using birds.
Your projects can include bird stamps, dies, papers etc.
Before we share our Featured Artist Lynn's lovely project, let's see
who won our last challenge.
We had so many wonderful cards entered and it was tough to
choose a winner.
For our Top Spot, we selected
#3 Zilla S.
We loved her creative milk jug with the very contented
cat napping beside it.
Our Lucky Random Winner was:
#13 Gennette H.
Watch video tutorial here!!!
Today's feature card was inspired by the current Ai Blog Challenge called "Birds of a Feather" which is to incorporate a bird or birds on your card or project!
I thought it would be fun to create a scene where the Ai Floral Truck Set (5511) would look like a little pop-up floral shop. So, let's begin by stamping the images from this set, as well as a few birds from the Ai Birds and Bugs Set (5561), and a pretty topiary from the Ai Front Porch Garden Set (5486). All of the coloring today will be done using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Yellow, Bright Yellow, Lt Pink, Peach Pink, Lilac, Lt Violet, Deep Red Grape, Deep Vermillion, Deep Red, Lt Gray, Gray, Cool Gray 6, Beige, Mid Brown, Haze Blue, Lt Blue, Cobalt Blue, Persian Green, Blue Gray, Dk Agate, Lt Green, Green.
To ground the scene, we will be stamping a pretty brick walk. Once the brick walk is stamped and colored, we can add a pretty sky by ink blending some orange and yellow inks!
Next, we can assemble the card, popping up some of the items for added interest and dimension. Don't forget to add those adorable little birds and bees! To layer up the card we will use some pretty polka dot paper from the Ai Easter S2 Paper Pack (5892).
We can also add some baker's twine and tie a bow at the top of the card! And as you probably already know, I have been trying to complete my cards by adding a sentiment and an interesting element to the inside of the card. For this card, I added a sentiment from the Ai Mrs. Set (5405) which says, "Wishing you every Bloomin' Thing!" and another cute flowerpot as well as a little bee!
Please check out the entire Front Porch Series for lots of little elements that can be incorporated into your scene cards and also the Rides Series which includes this floral truck as well as a Birthday Buggy, Christmas Truck, Spooky Wagon and some sweet add-ons!
Thank you so much for joining me today! Have a fun and crafty day!!!
Ai Front Porch Garden Set (5486)
Ai Easter S2 Paper Pack (5892)
Post-it Labeling and Cover-up Tape
Wink of Stella Glitter Pen - Clear
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Lynn for this amazing tutorial and gorgeous card.
I'm sure everyone will be inspired by your art.
Enter your crafty project below. The challenge isn't limited to cards.
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter