I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and a safe and happy 4th of July if you celebrate! So, who doesn't love old rusty buckets, daisies, and gnomes?! LOL! I created a cute summer scene for you today using several different sets from Art Impressions. I started out using the bucket from 5597 Harvest Wheelbarrow Set. When I stamped it onto my Copic friendly paper, I also stamped another one onto masking paper. After applying the mask, I stamped one set of the daisies from 5918 Floral Long Stem Bouquet Set and also created a mask for that stamp. That allowed me to stamp another set of them on the other side of the bucket to fill it up. Have you seen the new Winsor & Newton Gold Paint that Art Impressions is carrying now? Gorgeous and so easy to use! I grabbed it and a butterfly from 5981 My Joy Set. I messed one of them up (sad face), but I still love the way they look! I also added the paint to the centers of the flowers, the leaves, and the belt and button on one of the gnomes! I love the glimmer it added to the card!
So that's it for me today! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and until next time - stay crafty!!
I have a co-worker going through a difficult time.
She's a very spiritual person so I created this card for her. Several of us are planning to sign it. She likes purple so I used some of the new floral paper with purple in it.
My card is perfect for the current Blossoms & Blooms challenge, which is simply to use flowers.
I love all of the decorative dies from Art Impressions.
They help make such elegant cards.
I cut three of the fences and glued them together to make it a little
sturdier because I have it popped up on foam tape to add some dimension.
I LOVE bees and celebrated by making a tiny little bee easel card in their honor.
My card nestles nicely in the Matchbook envelope.
I used the MB Template to create my easel by trimming off the side panels and gluing part of it closed. Follow along below if you'd like to give it a try.
I started by taking the MB template die and cutting my designer paper to fit the middle section vertically.
I trimmed the tiny bit off that hung over the edge.
Next, I flipped it over and glued the lower part down making sure that there was no glue on the tab. The tab will be popped up to keep the easel propped once that's added.
I then folded down the top portion after creasing the score lines.
Then I glued the little square panel I created, ONLY to the little scalloped section. You need the other part to bend so that it's propped up.
I stamped one of the little sentiments and my card was good to go. It fits perfectly into the MB Envelope because the base is cut from the MB Template die. Such a cute little card.
Happy watercolor weekend! I love pastel spring colors, and I had so much fun making my cards this month.
I applied the same method to each card. I started by stamping with Tombow markers 565 and 969. Then, I stamped off once onto a scrap piece of watercolor paper and painted all four cards using the same markers. For the chicken coop, I stamped various items from the set onto watercolor paper and painted them with markers. After everything was painted, I die-cut the pieces. I used the polka dot paper from 6009, Basic Green paper pack, for the grass. I utilized various dies from my collection to add details to the card. Once all the die cuts were glued down or popped up, I added some tiny rhinestones to the flowers. This stamp set is so cute, and I adore the tiny chicks!
Tombow markers used for all of the cards are as follows: 969, 992, 565, 025, 623, 723, 195, 817, 401, 491, 177, and 636
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For my next three cards, I used the 5918 Floral Long Stem Bouquet Set.
The first step I took was to create masks for each of the stamps so I could position them where I wanted without the flowers overlapping. Next, I determined how far apart I wanted the flowers and used masking tape to cover the line indicating where I wanted the flowers to stop. I stamped each flower bouquet and painted them. After painting and removing the masking tape, I cut scraps of paper from the teal paper pack and glued them down. I cut a strip of black cardstock approximately 1/4 inch wide and placed that over the gingham paper. Each card features a unique detail. For the "Love you, friend" card, I created a shadow around the flowers on the right side using a pale blue marker and added white dots with Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White. For "sending hugs," I added a shadow around all of the flowers using marker 969. Finally, for "happy little moments," I splattered the card with a green marker after covering the flowers with the masks I had made earlier and glued tiny rhinestones onto some of the flowers.
Thank you all for spending your time with me. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Welcome to Watercolor Weekend!The month of March can go so many ways,
weather wise. Most years it is the start of the tug-of-war between winter and
spring. The hopes of warmer days ahead and some serious snow storms. I think I
hit spring fever the instant snow started to fly at the beginning of the
season. I am more of a spring and fall girl myself, but I am grateful for each
day I have.
My first card is, most definitely, screaming spring. Nothing like
some bright colors and flowers to warm a cold winter day. I started out with
cutting out three 2 inch squares on watercolor paper, with dies I have on hand,
and masking off the decorative edges. For the top square I used 5728 Mushroom
Cubbies for the gnome and bee. The gnome was stamped in 565/969 combo up in the
corner, after I stamped off once. For the hat I used 177 and 969. The nose,
850, 910, and a small touch of 969. 565 was used on the beard for the shadows.
The bee from the same set was stamped on watercolor paper in 565/969 combo and
stamped off once. I always save my small scraps of watercolor paper for these
when I know I am going to die cut them out.
When working with either high pigment (think red) and darker colors, I
always paint my lighter colors first. For the yellow on the bee I used 055, and
025. The wings I used 526, and 565. A
black micron was used on the antennas and I painted the rest of the bee with
N15. For the middle square I stamped in
5918 Floral Long Stem Bouquet in N49, stamping off once. I used 526 for the petals, 177 and 249 for
the stems and leaves. For the centers of the flowers I used 025, and 026. 5870
Peeking Bunny Set was used for the bunny, stamping this also in N49 and
stamping off once. Coloring the main body with N79 and shading with N49. For
the “toe beans” I used 772. Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White was used on the
tail. I then used 565 for definition on the tail and shadows on the feet. The
flower vine from 5486 Front Porch Garden Set was stamped in N49 and stamped off
once, coloring the flowers in 905, the stem and leaves with 177. The bird is
from 5561 Birds and Bugs Set, stamped in N49 and stamped off once. 526 was used
for the main part of the bird, 025 for the beak, 565 for the shadows, and a
black micron for the eye and legs. Now
for the bottom square I used 5488 Front Porch Easter Set and used the
daffodils, stamping in N49 and stamping off once. For the flowers I used 055, 025, and 026 for
the shadows. For the leaves I used 249, the pail 565/969 combo, and the stool I
used 947, 969 and 565 for the shadow. The
background for all 3 squares was done in 126 and the edge outlined in 969 to
give the effect that the inside of the square is sunk in.
I matted my card with paper from 5873 Mini Birthday PP, die cut the bee, bunny, vine, and bird with the coordinating dies and I used foam tape on the bee and bunny. Then assembled my card making it look like the bee and bunny are entering into their squares.
The recently released 6015 Cross and Tomb Matchbook was so
amazingly designed, what a perfect depiction for Easter. The MB’s require 2
other additional sets, the 5317 MB Template Dies and the 5318 MB Envelope Dies,
these work with all of the other MB sets in Ai’s line. I started out with
permanent black ink, mixed media paper, a #1 and #4 brush. I prefer to stamp my
images first, color them, and then use the enclosed dies to cut them out. For the palm trees I used 249, 947, and
969. The other trees I used either 177,
or 249, with 879 for the trunks. For all
of the rocks and boulders I used a combination of 565 and 969. For the dresses I used 526, 947, and
969. The basket, 879, and the head
dressings I shadowed with 565. For their
skin I used 912. The crosses I used 969,
and highlighted with a touch of 993. For the hillsides and tomb I used a
combination of 346, 249, and 993 for the highlighted areas. The pathway was done with 947, and going over
the top of that towards the top 993. For
the sun I used 055, 993, and 933. I also
used those same colors with a touch of 946 for the light in the tomb. 993 was used to highlight the surrounding
areas. For the shadows of the crosses I used a mixture of 565, and 969. Once
everything was colored, I then used the included dies. The dies have score
lines so that you can easily fold the tabs on each piece. I
also used the 5317 Template die with 5892 Easter S2 PP and assembled the
Matchbook. If you would like to see a tutorial on how to
put these together, Bonnie has a wonderful tutorial that you can watch HERE.
Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer if
I can. Thank you for joining me today! Until next time, Create….Share….Inspire!
Hello Ai fans! After making some more complicated cards the past few weeks, I opted to go with a clean and simple card design that's mostly white with pops of pink and lavender. This card also fits the current challenge, Monochromatic.
I first stamped the jar using the 5921 - Glass Containers Set. I masked the top of the jar and stamped the flower bouquet from 5918 - Floral Long Stem Bouquet Set. Masking the edge of the jar allows the two images to appear as one cohesive image. I really love the stamps Ai has offered recently with full bouquets like the three in this stamp set. For those of us who use markers and pencils, it allows us to add a bunch of flowers that make a clean image. Yet, the set works nicely for watercolor too. It's the best of both worlds. I colored the jar and flowers with Copic Markers and fussy cut it out.
Next I worked on the white panel. I embossed the bottom section and placed a skinny strip of light lavender glitter washi tape at the top. I cut a small piece of kraft cardstock to make a surface for the jar to sit on. I glued the kraft piece in place and decided where I would put the heat embossed sentiment from 5797 - Little Things Sentiment Set. After heat embossing the sentiment in black, I mounted the jar and flowers with foam tape. The last step was to add three pink pearls for accents. I'm thinking this would make a great get well card or as encouragement for someone going through a rough patch.
Thanks so much for joining me here at the blog today. As always, please visit the Ai store for the products I used and all the things you need for your card, journal, and tag making projects. Happy creating!
We hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas and New Year's Eve with your friends and family. Our Design Teams had the holidays off, but are back in full force with amazing inspiration for you!
Our very first challenge of 2025 is called Craft Time is Golden! Wouldn't you all agree?
Our Featured Artist is Lynn, and you know what that means...a GORGEOUS project AND a fabulous video tutorial to go along with it.
This time we're challenging you to use gold.
Gold paper, gel pens, paint, glitter, beads, pearls, ribbon, paper clips... you name it!
You're going to love what Lynn created, and we can't wait to see what you make!
As always, we will select one Top Spot, and one Lucky Random Winner, and BOTH will receive a free stamp set from Art Impressions. See details at the bottom of this post.
And now, without further adieu, here is Lynn with our first challenge post of 2025.
Hello Ai Fans!!!
Watch video tutorial here!!!
I had so much fun as the featured artist for the current Art Impressions "Craft Time is Golden" Blog Challenge! This challenge is to create a card or project that incorporates something gold. It can be sequins, gems, papers, ribbons, glitters, or anything else you might like!
To get started we will begin by stamping a fun container for our flowers using the Ai Glass Containers Set (5921). Then we will add a beautiful floral bouquet from the Ai Floral Long Stem Bouquet Set (5918). In order to stamp the flowers inside the container we will need to mask off the top of the vase.
Next, let's color all of our images using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Lilac, Violet, Yellow, Bright Yellow, Orange, Ever Green, Lt Green, Dk Green, Turquoise Green, Sea Green, Blue Gray. Once the coloring is done, we can grab our detail scissors and cut out the design.
Using the Ai Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies (5063) we can die cut a large white panel for the front of the card, a smaller rectangle in some gold metallic paper for our frame, and a smaller white panel for the design. To this smaller panel we will add some interest and shimmer using the brand-new Tim Holtz Spritz in a coordinating color for each of our cards.
The other layer we will need is a beautiful diagonal border using a Diagonal Stripes Border Die Set. This will give us the perfect spot to ground our floral arrangement and add a bit more gold.
If you want to stamp a sentiment of the front of the card, this would be a good time to do that. I used the Ai Birthday Sentiments Set (5735) for my sentiments on the inside and the outside of each of the cards.
Now for the assembly, let's add some gold embroidery thread around the top of the container and die cut a metallic gold heart using the Ai Bookmarks Die Set (5223) and attach it to the center of the vase. Then we can assemble all of our layers and pop up the gold metallic frame using some 3D Foam Strips.
As a finishing touch, let's add some sparkly gold dust gems to the centers of each of the flowers and to the center of the little heart.
I hope you got inspired to add a "touch of gold" to your projects and we invite you to join us in this fun new challenge...we would love to see what you create!
Thank you so much for joining me today! Have a fun and crafty day!!!
✻ 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.
