One more Halloween card by Sharon Caudle

 Hello AI Fans!

I know Halloween is over, but I have just one more card I want to show you that goes along with our current challenge "Along Came a Spider". You still have a couple of days to enter! I used a fun fold for this one and had it where the right side overlaps the middle panel. I started out with #6112 Pumpkin Parade and colored up the adorable mouse pushing his cart full of candy down the street. To create this very easy scene, I grabbed a piece of paper from #6130 Halloween S3 PP and then used a piece of gray cardstock and drew in sidewalk lines. Couldn't get any easier. Of course I added a little spider hanging from his web up in the corner. Just a little note that I used a set of magnets from Amazon to hold the top down. It's just enough pull to keep it closed until you want to open it up. I simply glued one under the paper of the top flap, and the other one under the paper of the middle flap. It works like a charm!! 

When you open the front flap, it unveils a couple more spiderwebs and a spider with googly eyes. LOL! I just love those little ghosts from #5604 Halloween Journal Die Set. There are so many fun dies in that!! 

Once you open up the final flap, you get to see the cute girl ghost in all her glory telling you how Spook-tacular you are!! She is from #6111 Spooktacular Set, and I got the idea for the bow on her hear from my Bestie Dori! She has so many fangtastic ideas!! Since I wasn't going to use the ghost as a pop up, I just fussy cut it out so it wouldn't have the score lines for the pop up. It was super simple to cut it out. 

So that's it for me today! I hope you grab your paper and glue and play along with our challenge. You just might win a free set of your choice from Art Impressions!! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and until next time - stay crafty!!

Spider Mania by Dori Mendiola

 Happy Thursday AI Friends!

Halloween was never one of my favorite holidays, but now, with all of these cute sets from Art Impressions, it has climbed the ladder to second.  I can't seem to stop creating with all of these images and since Halloween is tomorrow, I thought I'd share two projects.  Both of these were inspired by the "Along Came A Spider" challenge currently on the blog.  

The card below is a pop up frame card.  Push the sides in and the frame pop ups and away from Frankie.  When the sides are pulled out, the card flattens to a 5 x 7 for mailing.  Frankie's legs also wiggle side to side as well as his eyes.  I used #6120 - Frankenstein Puppet, #5604 - Halloween Journal dies and the #5462 - Web dies set to create this card plus added a few sets of wiggle eyes (check out the little spidey on the left).  LOL!

To make the card, cut two pieces of 5 x 7" black cardstock.  Score both pieces at 1/2", 1", 6" and 6 1/2" along the 7" side.  For the front, fold one piece as valley, mountain, mountain and valley (V,M,M,V) and the back piece, fold just the opposite (M,V,V,M).  I recommend you decorate both pieces at this point so you can lay flat to glue decorations securely.  You can place Frankie inside the frame at the end to position him just where you want him.  Glue the front and back ends together with the 1/2" tabs on each side.

To make the dancing Frankie, cut all the pieces with the puppet die set, but hold up on the pants.  You will need to cut an extra shirt piece from scrap cardstock.  For the pants, you will need to stretch his legs.  To do this, you will need to partial cut the legs up to the top of his pants by placing your cutting plate just under the cut line (of the top of the pants) so that it won't cut.  Then free hand cut an additional 1/2" for the top of the pants (see below).  I also rounded off the top corners of his pants.  At the top of the pants (about 1/4" from top), punch a hole big enough for a pop dot to fit through freely.  You may have to snip a little bit of the hole to make it larger.  Place one side of the pop dot to the back of his shirt.  Place the pants with the hole over the pop dot.  Place foam tape onto the back side of the shirt and adhere the extra shirt piece onto the pop dot and foam tape.  The legs should move freely at this point.  Decorate the rest of your Frankie as you desire.  Glue him into place inside your frame card.

To make the ghost tag, I used the scraps from my card above.  This is always a great way to use up your scraps and create an extra tag, card, etc. for future.   I die cut the ghost, spider and banner from the #6111 - Spooktacular set.  The bow from the #5811 - Gift card pocket die set and the spider webs from the #5604 - Halloween Journal die set.  I inked the ghost with black distress oxide ink and glued to a black die cut ghost to use as a shadow.  Decorated her with cute little wiggle eyes and a bow on top of her head.  I die cut two banners (one in black for the shadow) and wrote the word "spider!" across the white one.  I cut the bow from scraps and attached a spider web behind it and placed a spider on top.  Added a few more webs, spiders, ribbon on top and a little red heart and the tag is finished.

I hope you enjoyed my projects today.  Thanks for stopping by!  

Make sure to enter the challenge and show us your creation of "Along Came A Spider".  We love to see what you create!!

Happy Halloween!  Keep on Creating!

Copics used:  R20, T0, T2, T4

Boo Bottle! by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

Have you checked out the new Keep it Contained challenge?

There are so many fun choices. You can make a gift card holder, a treat box or gift or goodie bag. Use a stamp or a die that's a container, like a barrel, crate, pot, vase or basket. One of our DT members used a watering can and a wheelbarrow. (super cute!) Or, you can repurpose something like I've done. I spray painted a seltzer water bottle that I liked, and decorated it to put on my mantel.

I like that it's a little bit spooky, a little bit cutesy.

I used the new 6111 – Spooktacular Set.

6111 – Spooktacular Set

The web is from 5462 – Web Dies Set.
The bats are also from the Spooktacular set. I used the die and didn't

stamp them because I just wanted the "idea" of the bats in the background.

They aren't meant to stand out on my project. I bent their wings up to give

the illusion that they are flying.

The ghost has pre-scored lines on him when you die cut him.
This allows him to be popped up on a page or
used as a pop-up feature on the inside of a card.

I used a tag from 5132 – Tag Stitched Dies.

 

 

I have a small bottle collection. I just can't recycle something that I find interesting

and think I may be able to repurpose in the future. I hope I've inspired you to give

something like this a try. It's much cheaper than HomeGoods...lol!

 

   

All the Fall Challenge #390 Week #1

 Hello Ai fans!

Happy Fall and welcome to our ALL the FALL challenge!

This week we're looking for ALL of your FALL, crafty projects.

These can be cards, place cards, tags, journals, gift card holders, scrapbook pages, decorations, 3D projects, anything at all, if it's fall themed.

Before we see what our Featured Designer Tasha created, let's see who won our Très Chic Challenge.

For our Top Spot we selected #1 Michelle H.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!!

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

Our Lucky Random Winner was #5 Barb E.

Please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com

to claim a free stamp set of your choice!!

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

All of the Tres Chic entries were amazing and we love seeing everything you all create.

Now let's see what Tasha has created for our latest challenge. SO, SUPER, CUTE!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi everyone! Sharing two not-so-scary Halloween cards today created with alcohol ink blended backgrounds. I love making colorful scenes for my cards and alcohol ink blending is so much fun to do and it makes really cool designs!

My first card features a little witch trick-or-treater and I used colors to coordinate with her outfit for the sky. The blue, purple, and pink colors give the sky a Fall look and the metallic silver adds a pretty shimmer to the card. She is ready to head out and get some candy!

For the second card, I decided to go with darker colors and the little vampire image. I love how the red and purple colors blended together; it's perfect for this scene!

To lighten it up, I added silver glitter spider webs from the 5462 - Web Die Set. These webs come in several styles and they add so much detail to projects. I also attached three little spider die cuts to complete the look. 

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and are inspired to join in the "All the Fall" Challenge!

Have a wonderful day!

Alcohol Ink Blending Tutorial

To create the backgrounds, you will need alcohol ink, alcohol ink paper, rubbing alcohol (I used 91%), and a mini blending brush with felt. 

Step 1: Attach the felt to your blending brush.

Step 2: Add a few drops of alcohol ink to the felt. I like to use three colors and will add more color if needed. 

Step 3: Using a dropper, add one (1) or two (2) drops of rubbing alcohol to the center of the felt. A little goes a long way and you can always add more if needed.

Step 4: Now it's time to have some fun. Blot and blend in the color to cover the paper. You can go over areas multiple times to get different looks, and there is no right or wrong way to do this and each design will be unique. 

Step 5: After you have the look you want, let the card dry. It will dry really quickly since it's rubbing alcohol. Below are some different color combinations I created. 

Step 6: Use the background paper on your project and enjoy!

✻ 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. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!

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

✻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

Boo!! A spooky Halloween creation by Sharon Caudle

 Hello AI Fans!!

It's getting pretty close to Halloween! Are you ready? Do you decorate for the holiday and hand out candy? I love it when all the littles come to the door all dressed up and excited to get some candy!! I even love it when the teenagers come a knocking! I love that they enjoy it and I want them to be kids for as long as they can. Adulthood comes soon enough, so enjoy the heck out of while you're there! So I had a lot of fun decorating up this frame and I confess I used a ton of different sets, but they're all linked below, so don't be shy to go click on them and check them out!! This was really a blast to put together!!

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit today! Until next time - stay crafty!!

Copics used:

Y06 and 32

YR12, 14, and 27

YG01, 91, 93, and 95

E33, 35, and 37

Halloween is HERE! by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

I was so inspired by Watercolor Design Team member Karen Day's non-traditional

Halloween card last week that I had to try those colors myself. My card is very

different than hers but was definitely inspired by her. You can see her card HERE

or HERE or on her blog HERE. 

After all, Halloween is HERE! It's all over the web!

When I ordered my spiderweb dies I chose to leave them attached. This way I can

use them to create an easy background. If I only want a specific web, I just cut a

piece of paper big enough to cover that section and cut just that one web.

I think this little strand of spiders are some of the cutest spiders

Bonnie has done!

Hairy Scary Halloween by Sharon Caudle

 Boo!!

Did I scare you? LOL!  My card today was made for the Give Us a Fright Challenge that is going on right now! You've still got time to get your card made and entered for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice! For my card I used #5446 MB Halloween Set along with the MB Template Die Set and the MB Envelope Die Set. On the envelope to decorate it, I used #5328 Mini Halloween Die Set, and I also used #5462 Web Dies Set to decorate the windows in the MatchBook scene. I tried and badly failed to turn the chair into something kind of Halloween-ish. LOL! But oh well...it's still kind of cute. 

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and until next time hope you get some crafty time! 

Copic markers used:

W2, W4, W6

V01, V04, V06

R11, R29

YR12, YR15, YR18

Y08, Y26, Y28

YG01, YG03, YG05, YG09

E31, E35

C1, C3, C4, C5, C8