Birthday Fishes | By Jessica Shier

 Hello Ai Fans!

It's Jessica today on the blog. As some of you may know I love the critter stamps from Art Impressions. The dogs and cats are some of my favorites and the Real Great Guy stamp set as the most adorable dog floating in the water! So I thought I would combine him with some of the other smaller stamp sets and create an alcohol ink background to go along with him. I also wanted to keep the color scheme to a minimal again. I love mixing teal and orange together, such a great color combination for fall and more masculine cards.

I don't really have anyone that loves to fish. My husband and I have talked about it, just to try something new but to real avid fishers. My mom did have a Dachshund that loved to go fishing. She would dive in to the water after them! 

The background is a mix of alcohol inks on vellum. I'll have the list of colors I used down below in the product list. To add some shine I did use the Silver and Snow Cap Mixatives and also the Alcohol Pearl in Tranquil. I like using the alcohol ink on vellum because it makes your piece a little more transparent then on regular Yupo paper. Something different and fun to try out. By adding a a teal card stock behind the vellum it intensifies the teal colors of the alcohol inks. Adding a gray card stock tones the colors down a bit and a white brightens them. 

I stamped the images on to Neenah 80lb cardstock and die cut them using different shaped dies. I used several of the squares from Art Impressions Square double stitch die set. For the fish jumping out of the bucket I used one of the smaller rectangle dies from the Rectangle double stitch die set. I also tend to die cut the my panels for cards a lot with the second to largest rectangle die. It's the perfect size to layer on a A2 card front. 

The sentiment I used two inks from Gina K. Designs and stamped it in sections. The lighter color at the top and a darker ink color towards the bottom. This gives a fun gradient design. I don't utilize this technique enough! I also die cut the sentiment with one of the tag dies.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Happy Stamping!

 

Butterfly Kisses by Niccole

Hello Ai fans!!

I am stopping by today to share a card I made using the Butterfly stamp set from Art Impressions.  

I started by using a scrap piece of paper to make my purple background paper.  I wanted it to match perfectly to my butterflies so I used my V17 Copic Marker to make the bottom layer.  Did you notice from the picture that I used a previously die cut piece of paper?  Since it is behind my top layer no one is the wiser.  Use up those scraps!!

On my Yupo paper I used my Ranger Alcohol Inks to create this whispy background.  I love how it makes the butterflies look like they are dancing across the paper.  This might be one of my favorite cards I have made in a long time. 

I added the butterflies to the front with glue.  Some of them I glued flat and some I only glued the bodies so I could bend the butterfly wings to make them look like they are flying. And that is it ... no sentiment needed.  It is a wonderful all occasion card (well in my opinion) LOL

Here is one more look at the finished card.

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending a little time with me.  Make sure you come back soon to the Ai blog and see what the team has been up to.  

Copics used:

V0000, V000, V01
V04, V09, V17

Alcohol Pearls - Villainous

Alcohol Ink - Purple Twilight

Until next time ... Hugs & inky fingers!

It Takes A Village by Niccole Kulig

Hello Ai fans!

I am stopping by today to share a group of gift tags using the stamp set Mail Delivery by The Stamping Village.

Who is The Stamping Village you ask?  The 9 founding members of The Stamp Village came together to create a stamp set. They believe in community over competition. Art Impressions was one one the companies adding an image to the stamp set.  Can you tell which one they designed?  I will show you at the end of this post. They created this stamp set to be envelop seals but I thought they would make adorable gift tags or note cards. I used all of the images except one but that one I am using on the back of my gift tags; it says Hand Stamped With Love.  Perfect for the back, right??

I started by cutting my paper into a 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 card.  I embossed another sheet and cut those to       2 1/4 x 2 1/4.

I attached my embossed background to my card base. 

I had a older piece of glossy card stock I used alcohol ink on.  I though it would go perfect with my scheme. I cut them so I had a piece for every note card.

I glued them to the from of my note card. and from there started planning my stamped images.

Here is a little trick (plus you get to see every stamp in the set) I taped the whole set to my Misti so I didn't have to remove every one I wanted to stamp. You can see on the right side, my stamped images, I am using all nine images. I chose not to use the three sentiments for this card set. But aren't those adorable as well?

Here is a close up of  four of the note cards, or gift tags ... which ever you prefer to call them.  😊 I added enamel dots in three different colors to finish them off. The circles were popped up with foam tape. A string was tied to finish off the tag.

Here are the other four cards.  Don't you think the color scheme turned out well?  I had the background done already so that was really my starting point, and from there I just ran with it.

Here are all eight again ... Do you have a favorite?  Can you tell which one was created by Art Impressions?

Here he is ... isn't he just the cutest??? Art Impressions and all of the other designers outdid themselves with this stamp set!  Run over to Art Impressions and  pick yourself up this awesome stamp set, Mail Delivery by the Stamping Village; which supports the crafting industry.  Nothing better than crafters supporting crafters. Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Copics used:
BG000, BG01, BG02
C0, C1, C3, C5
E25, E55, E57, E59
N0, N2, N4, N6
R00, R20, R43
W1, W3, W5
Y00, Y02
YG61, YG63, YG67

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me.
Until next time ...