Top 10 of 2022 by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

It's my turn to share my Top 10 cards of 2022.



Here they are, in no particular order.
To see the original posts and find links to products just click each photo.

I hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane!

I love making masculine cards and don't find them to be the challenge that a lot of people do.
I think growing up in the country and loving all things country like earth tones, wood and
animals helps with that.

This one was made for my son's birthday.  My husband and I never imposed our musical taste

on our children but I was still lucky enough to have had them both grow up to love the Beatles!

This card is a nod to Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden.

Love these Valentine's I made for the kids at school.

Mushrooms are one of my favorite things!  Not far behind bees.  I love to eat

them and think they're so beautiful to look at.

Anyone who has followed me through the years on the Design Team knows that several times

a year I make some fairly elaborate cards.  MANY, MANY sets and lots of time involved.

This Charlotte's Web card was one of those.  It was inspired by the Rat Freebie.  He 

reminded me of Templeton.

Koala's couldn't be cuter!

Oh these Matchbooks!  When I first saw them I'll be honest...Yikes!

So tiny and so much work.

Not true.

The dies make these so easy to assemble and now I can't get enough of them!
I've seen some of the other designers Top 10 already and it seems it's unanimous.

Matchbooks for the win!

This one was my daughter's birthday card this year.  She LOVES succulents and fun pots as 

well as her pink Crocs.  Her birthday was in June and she still has this on display in our kitchen.

Of course I had to have a pick with bees on it.

This Crown set is one of my all time favorites.

Two of the bats on this card actually "FLY!"  Click the photo to see the original post and video.
This is another one of those really elaborate cards I love to make.

I hope some of my cards have inspired you over the past year.

I know I always love your cards and get so many ideas from you as well.

Have a wonderful December and cheers to the new year!

See you in 2023!

We "heart" Hearts Challenge #320

 Hello Ai fans!

We just finished up our Shimmy and Shake challenge.

We have two lucky winners to announce, but first, let's introduce our new challenge for this week!

We're looking for cards or crafty creations that have hearts on them. It doesn't necessarily need to be for Valentine's Day.  Your project just needs to contain hearts.  We hope you "heart" this challenge!!

We're kicking off our new challenge with an adorable card from Reneé.

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Today I have a sweet Valentine's Day card to share with you.  I'll be showing you

how I made my sparkly XOs!

First I start with some double sided adhesive that I get at Scrapbook.com

Place the adhesive on your paper.  Die cut your letters out.

Peel off one side of the backing paper and place the letter over or in something because this will be messy!  I used my embossing tray.  Sprinkle your glitter of choice over the exposed adhesive.

I used tweezers to pick up the letter and shake off any excess glitter.



I glued my letter to my card and repeated the process 3 more times.



I used 5072 – Block Letters Die Set and 5117 – Valentine Critters Set on my card.

The hearts on the front are from 5223 – Bookmark Dies and 5317 – MB Template Dies.
On the inside I used 5133 – Flag Double Stitched Dies and 5132 – Tag Stitched Dies and more hearts from the bookmark set.

Here's a close up of the amazing sparkle.
How cute is that little grin on the otter!

We hope you loved Reneé's  Valentine card as much as we did!

Now to announce the winners of our "Shimmy & Shake" challenge.

Our top spot goes to Irene Rhodes for her adorable panda shaker card.
She used the 5113 – Pand-tastic Set from Art Impressions Funny Farm series.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!

Also, be sure to grab your badge to display on your blog, Facebook or Instagram!

And now for our lucky random winner...

Cynthia O.

She used 5221 – Sending Love Cubbies

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!


Crafty projects with hearts on them!

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!

* Please include first name and last initial on your submission.

✻ 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 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

Valentine Critters by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing my cards made for the Art Impressions "Get in Shape" challenge...shaped cards, no squares or rectangles.

I made some Valentines for the kids at my school.

I used the adorable 5117 – Valentine Critters Set to make them.

I kept these pretty simple because I needed a lot of them. 

This is the backside using the coordinating "punny" verses.

How CUTE!!

I used my watercolor pencils to color them and added a little detail/definition with some fine point markers.

Valentine Critter Interactive Card by JIl Lebel

 

Hello Ai fans!

I used the Valentine Critters set along with the Sending Love Cubbies stamp and die set to make this interactive Valentine's Day card.  When you first look at the card the envelope is closed, but it opens the top flap when you pull the tab. 

I started by stamping the images onto Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth card stock with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and colored them with Copic markers.  The colors I used will be listed at the end of this post.  I then cut the image with Cutter Bee scissors.

I used the dies from the Diamond Press Happy Mail Holder Message Set to create the envelope  element.  The die sent came with simple instructions.  I cut all of the needed pieces from pink and white shimmer paper. I added all of my colored elements to the card front with glue and the otter is on foam tape. 

Copic Colors Used:

Otter - E30, E31, E33, E35, E37

Shirt - C1

Pink - R81, R83, R85

Green YG61, YG63

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

To my Significant OTTER- by Crystal

Hi Ai fans! I l know I know Valentine's day is over but I could not help share one more Valentine's day card. This card could also be used as an anniversary card. I love making Valentine's day cards so much. This otter is wearing such a cute little sweater I love the little hearts. This otter was from the Valentine Critters set.

The sentiment is just the cutest. "to my significant OTTER"  I ended up giving this card to my husband. I stamped the sentiment onto dark pink paper and die cut it out with a banner die. I stamped this otter onto smooth card stock and colored him in with alcohol markers. After it was colored in I used a square double stitched die to die cut it out. I adhered the colored image onto heart pattern paper and matted it onto card stock. 

Happy stamping!