Tony's Tiny Joke Book (post #2) by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

I had a request for a birthday card for a 9 year old boy.

One of the things I was told he likes was "9 year old boy humor."

I very much like lame dad jokes and instantly thought of making him his own little
journal full of jokes he can tell people.

I shared the cover and the first few pages a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the next installment of pages.

I found all of the jokes online and printed them from my computer.

The adorable fish are from the retired Submarine Cubbies set
and the alligator is a retired freebie stamp.

Wild About You Challenge Week #2

 Hello Ai fans and welcome to week #2 of our

Wild About You challenge!

Our challenge is to use wild animals or animal prints on your projects. Our Design Team are

clearly animal lovers and they all went that route, but you are welcome to use animal prints as well.

They came up with some beautiful cards to help get you in the mood to play along. We love

seeing your artwork and can't wait to see what you create.

Last week our Featured Designer was Lynn and she created 3 fabulous bookmarks.

Dori spent some Koala-ty Time on her card.

Janet's fall card features a sweet little bird.

Janet

6017-Baby Panda Set
5064- Circle Double Stitched Dies

Gennette got a little foxy for her card.

I went deep under the sea for my card.

Sharon has 2 cute pelican cards.

Tasha has a fun Halloween card.

Lynn also created this adorable fall card.
Visit her post for the tutorial video.

Week after week our Design Team works hard to inspire you for our challenges

We hope that you love their work as much as we do and will play along with our challenges.

You might be the next lucky winner of a free stamp set.

Be sure to enter your creation for the chance to win a free stamp set from Art Impressions. 

We award one Top Spot and one Lucky Random Winner, and each will win a free stamp set from Art Impressions.

✻ Please make a new card or handmade crafty creation. You can make any item you wish; this is not limited to cards! (unless specified)

✻ Limit two submissions per person.

 ✻Please include your first name and last initial on your submission. You may include your entire last name, but it's not necessary.

✻We love to comment on your entries, but keep in mind if you use a private group or a platform that you need to sign up for, we probably won't be able to.

✻ 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 on 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

WILD about the ocean! by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Welcome to my Wild About You post.
For the current Bi-Weekly challenge, we want to see your projects using
wild animals or animal prints on them.

For my wild animals, I chose to use ocean creatures.

The sub and animals are from 5397 – Submarine Cubbies.

With a finger sponge dauber I used several shades of green pigment

ink to sponge a watery background.

The matte around the sponged panel was cut using 
5063 – Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies.
Though you can't see it in the photo, the creatures all have Wink of Stella on them.

One great thing about this set is that it comes with coordinating dies so you don't have to fussy
cut all of those little critters. The sub also has a die which cuts out some of the windows

in case you want some of your cute little creatures swimming in and out of it.

I hope this has inspired you to get in touch with your WILD side.

You can win a free stamp set if you're selected as one of our 2 winners!

A Fish Tale: Featuring an Open Bay Window Card by Janet

I had an absolutely fantastic time making this fish-tale of a card for the "When One Door Closes" challenge on the Art Impressions blog. The sides of this card collapse inward, so you have no idea this incredible 3D scene is going to pop out when you open it up. It's super cool!

To make this card, I followed a pattern published on YouTube by AveeReneeCardDesigns, who calls it a "Open Bay Window" design. Her card featured a hot air balloon, but it instantly made me think of aquariums and underwater scenes. Isn't it funny how our minds work so differently? For her, it represented the open sky, and for me, the depths of the water.

Once I had constructed the card base, I got to work decorating it. I used the 5397 - Submarine Cubbies set for most of the elements on this card, and supplemented it with some shells and cheerful crabs from the 5329 - Beach Mini Dies. I also used a banner die from the 5543 - Journal Template Die Set for the sentiment at the top. Most of the elements "float" on 3, 1/4" acetate wide strips which are almost invisible to the naked eye. It makes the submarine and marine life look like they are in the depths of the ocean. While the picture makes it appear like the submarine is attached to the sides of this card, it isn't. It's just hanging in mid-air thanks to the acetate strips. Most importantly, this construction allows the card to close without interfering with any of the elements.

This card looks complicated, but I promise you, it's not hard at all. The design is so versatile and can be used for anything that floats—in air, water, or outer space! My mind is already churning with so many new ideas for this one.

Thanks for joining me here today. Be sure to enter our current challenge, "When One Door Opens." Just show off a door of any type or size on your card for a chance to win a free stamp set!

As always, don't forget to find your favorite stamps, dies, papers, and accessories at the Ai Store! You'll always find something that calls to you. 

Happy Crafting!

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest