Dreaming Santa by Niccole

Hello Ai fans!!

I am stopping by today to share a card I made using the 4792 Dreaming Mini Shaker stamp set from Art Impressions.  I love the classic look of this Santa. 

I started by Copic coloring my Santa image from the Dreaming Mini Shaker set. I labeled all of the Copic colors below; the color along with what image was colored. It can be hard when I use a lot form the same color family to figure out what I colored where. 

I decided I wanted a dream bubble so I drew it freehand with a pencil first.  I used my electric eraser to redo a couple of my clouds ... I will never be perfect as I am NO artist.
 -LOL-

I was finally ok with my final bubble so I used my line marker to draw over my pencil line.  As you can see I didn't follow it exactly so I used my electric eraser to remove any pencil mark left over. 

I felt like it was a little plain so I added a little Wink of Stella to my Santa beard and to his Santa hat fur. I finished it off with a few red Nuvo Drops.

Here is the finished card one more time.  I love how it represent the classic Christmas look.  I am a sucker for Christmas and good ol' Christmas charm.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me.  Please come back again soon soon and see what myself and the rest of the team have been up to.

Copics used:

Santa Hat- C00, C1, C3
Skin - E00, E11, E13
Cat - E15, E17, E19

Rocking Chair - E43, E44, E47 
Santa Pants - N3, N5, N9

Cheeks - R21, R22
Santa Clothes - R35, R37, R39
Santa Beard - W00, W1, W3

Until next time ... Hugs & inky fingers!

Nativity Circlet MTF by Jil Lebel

Hello Ai fans!

I hope you are all enjoying the beauty of the holiday season.  The Nativity Circlet Mini TryFold stamp set is such a beautiful way to wish someone a Merry Christmas.  I just love this peaceful scene.

I started by stamping the images onto Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth paper with Gina K Designs Black Amalgam Ink and colored them with my Copic markers.  The colors used are listed at the end of this post.

I followed the directions from the packaging of the stamp and die set to fold and assemble my card. I used papers from the Basic Grey Joyful collection.  The two flaps were cut with a Crafter's Companion Build A Card border die. All of the edges were antiqued with Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink and a Mini Distress tool. The word believe is from Mementa.

Copic Colors Used:
Faces - E00, E11, R20
Hair - E41, E42, E43, E44
Wings/Pillow - BV000, 0
Dresses - Bv0000, BV02, O
Blanket - E30, E31, 0
Wood - E31, E33, E35, E37
Light Wood - E30, E31
Donkey - C1, C3, C5
Cow - C1, C3, C5
Sheep - E30, E31 , 0
Mountains - BV0000, BV02, 0
Sky - B99
Sand - E30, E31, E33

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Merriest of Christmases by Carol Hintermeier

Happy Monday Ai Friends!  Have you seen the beautiful new Art Impressions Exclusive Poinsettia Set?  It's only available at Scrapbook.com and is a must-have for your floral cards, I think!  There are four main beautiful floral images in the set with several sentiments to choose from.

I stamped this image with Versamark ink onto some 80# Neenah Solar White.  I heat embossed it with some gold embossing powder.  Then I used my Prismacolor Premier pencils to color it.  (I've listed the colors below.)  Next I stamped it again onto some masking paper and fussy cut it out.  I didn't cut around the fern images as these are embossed and will resist the ink.

Next I used a background blender brush and inked on some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink.  Be sure to use a clean, dry towel to buff the Oxide Ink off of the embossed areas, then remove the mask.    I stamped the sentiment with some Versafine Onyx Black ink.   I die cut it out with a Rectangle Double Stitched die.

I added this piece to a gold layer I created by embossing the edges with the same gold embossing powder.  These were adhered and added to a pink cardstock layer and all layers are adhered to an A2 top-folding card base.  My last step was to add some NUVO Bright Gold Crystal Drops here and there for an extra bit of shine.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope you're not to busy with holiday happenings to get in some crafty time this week!

Prismacolor pencils:
Pomegranate, Tuscan Red, Magenta, Process Red, Pink, Blush Pink, Deco Pink,
Dark Green, Grass Green, Prussian Green, True Green, Apple Green
Spring Green, True Green, Black, White

Santa Rocking by Niccole

Hello Ai fans!!

I am stopping by today to share a card I made using the 4792 Dreaming Mini Shaker stamp set from Art Impressions.  I love this Santa so much. As a matter of fact I will be sharing another card next week using this same set.  Can you tell I love him??

I started by Copic coloring my Santa image from the Dreaming Mini Shaker set. I cut him out using the coordinating die that comes with the stamp set. I added Wink of Stella to his beard and the fur on hat after I had taken the picture.  He looked a little plain ... besides who doesn't like a little shimmer?

 I set him aside and added some pattern paper to the bottom portion of my card to emulate a floor.  I love the buffalo plaid.  I added a tiny strip of black paper to define the area. I added the Action Wobble that comes also with the stamp and coordinating die.  You can also buy packages of Action Wobbles over at the Ai site. I love these things! They add so much dept to your card with out you even trying - LOL

I don't feel like this card needs much.  The Santa is definitely my main focal point. So I finished it off with some crystal gems.  I think it looks like it is snowing.

Doesn't the Action Wobble really make the Santa stand out?  When you flick him, he actually rocks! 

Here is the finished card one more time.  I really like how it represent the classic Christmas look.  I am a sucker for Christmas and good ol' Christmas charm.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me.  Please come back again soon soon and see what myself and the rest of the team have been up to.

Copics used:

C00, C1, C3
E00, E11, E13
E15, E17, E19

E43, E44, E47 
N3, N5, N9

R21, R22
R35, R37, R39
W00, W1, W3

Until next time ... Hugs & inky fingers!

Warmest Wishes by Carol Hintermeier

Happy Monday Ai friends!  I have a quick-to-make holiday card for you today.  I've used one of the three images that is in the beautiful Christmas Scene TryFold set.  Each of these images can totally stand alone for a card.  I love being able to use one stamp set in several different ways!



I created my card base first because I wanted to make sure I got the openings and image lined up just right.  First I put a a piece of Neenah 80# into a snowflake embossing folder and ran it through my machine.  I trimmed it to 4" x 5-¼".

I used the middle sized Oval Double Stitched Die and die cut an opening in the embossed panel.  I lined up that die with the next largest and die cut a red frame and adhered it to the embossed panel.  I die cut an opening in the red card base with the larger die of the two.  (Doing this gave me a bit of a margin for error when lining up the layers and not having to worry that the ovals would be off.)



I stamped the image in Copic safe ink and colored it with the markers listed below.

I added some sparkle to the snowy areas with a clear Wink of Stella pen.  Then I die cut it out with a Rectangle Double Stitched die and adhered it to the inside of my card base.  I added a snowflake to the outside that I had made a while back for a previous project.



Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!



Copic markers:
BOOO, B0000, BV20, C0, C00, C1, C3, N0, N2, N5,
R35, R46, R59, W1, W3, WS5, W7,
Y11, Y14, YG03, YG25, YG67, YR23

Warmest Holiday Wishes card by Jil Lebel

Hello Ai fans!

The new Penguin Cheer set really puts a smile on my face.  It has quite a few different images to select from.  The penguin and igloo are separate images that I decided to stamp together.  This image is sure to make anyone smile!

I started by stamping the images onto Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth paper with Gina K Designs Black Amalgam Ink and colored them with my Copic markers.  The colors used are listed at the end of this post. The main panel  and the next decorative paper panel are cut with the Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies. The bottom panel is cut with the Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies. The patterned paper is from the Echo Park Celebrate Winter 6" x 6" paper pad.

I added White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter drops over the ground, trees and the penguins hat. I also applied glossy accents over the lights and star on the igloo. 

Copic Colors Used - 
Penguins - C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, Y21, YR16
Igloo/ Ground- B000, BO1
Light Caps - C00, C1, C3
Yellow - Y21, YR16
Red - R05, R29
Blue - B05, B29
Green - G03, G09

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Snowy Holiday Wishes by Carol Hintermeier

Hello Ai friends!  Today I have a watercolored card using the adorable WC Winter Kids Set.

It has been quite a while since I pulled out any of Art Impressions' watercolor stamp sets, and goodness me, I sure struggled.  LOL!  It's so true about continuing to practice in order to improve and  and not struggle so much!  This card is my "take five"!  Yep, I have four other attempts in the trash can.  The thing that really helps is going to Art Impressions' YouTube channel to see the videos that Bonnie does for all the watercolor sets.  These videos are a great way to refresh, or learn, the watercoloring technique.  Another awesome source of inspiration is the so talented Ai Watercolor design team--talk about beautiful cards!  You can see their cards in the Watercolor board on Pinterest.

After my initial struggles, I pulled out my MISTI, laid out the stamps for my scene, and inked them up--success!  The little bird is from the WC Bird Bath set.  Before I did more, I used a pencil and ruler and drew a square approximately 3-5/8"  around the images and put Post-It Tape around the outside of the square.  Here are the steps for creating this card.

• Ink the snowman image in first in Deep Blue-565, then Brown-879 on all parts except the snowman body, and stamp onto watercolor paper.
• Ink the bird and lamppost in 879 first, then 565, and stamp.
• I'm still limited with the Tombow marker colors I have, so I combined some colors to get the shade I wanted.  For the red, I combined Wine Red-837 and Warm Red-885.
• The snowman, snow, and sky is a combination of Deep Blue-565 and Imperial Purple-636.
• The scarf, bird, and pants are Navy Blue-528.
• The hat, snowman arm, and lamppost are Chocolate-969.
• The light is a combination of Process Yellow-055 and Orange-933.

Once my watercoloring was finished I added some sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella pen.  I decided to add some details to the scarfs, hat and boots using a Micron .005 black pen.  I used a white gel pen to add snow all over.  (I was going to use a Molotow masking pen before I started painting but found it not usable.  I guess that's what happens when you have something for a long time and don't use it much.)  I used my t-square ruler and a Tombow Twin Tone Navy pen to draw a frame around the image and to sign it.

This close-up shows some of the sparkle that is so hard to capture in photos.

The sentiment is from the Snow Friend set and I stamped it in a blue ink.  I added foam tape to the back and adhered it onto a blue layer (from my stash).  These were then added to a top-folding A2 card base.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a fabulous, crafty week!

Sleigh Ride Circlet Mini TryFold by Jil Lebel

Hello Ai fans!

I grew up in Maryland and would look forward to seeing the snow every winter.  Now that I'm in Florida, I really do miss seeing the snowfall.  The serene scene in the Sleigh Ride Circlet Mini TryFiold really made me want to travel North this winter until I thought about the cold.  I think I'll just make a few more cards with snow!

I started by stamping the images onto Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth paper with Gina K Designs Black Amalgam Ink and colored them with my Copic markers.  The colors used are listed at the end of this post.

I followed the directions from the packaging of the stamp and die set to fold and assemble my card. I used papers from the Carte Bella Santa's Workshop 6" x 6" paper pad.  I cut the inner piece with the Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Die.

Copic Colors Used:
Faces - E00, R20
Horse - E71, E74, E77
Red - R05, R37, YG17
Yellow - Y13, Y26, Y28
Fence/Tree - E31, E33, E35, E37
Wreath/Tree- Yg61, YG63, YG67
Sled - C00, C1, C3, C5
Church - C00, C1, B0000, B00
Ground/Sky - B0000, B00, 0

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Sending Cheer Your Way by Carol Hintermeier

Happy Monday Ai Fans!

Here we are in November and I'm in full on Christmas card making mode!  I love this adorable Penguin Cheer set--these are such happy little penguins!



I stamped the penguins and ornaments onto Neenah 80# with a Copic safe ink.  All of the marker colors are listed at the end.  I sketched in some snow for the ground using a BV20, C2, and C0 marker.  



Next I used a Rectangle Double Stitched die to die cut the image out.  Before removing the die, I used a blender brush and Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink to add some shading around the penguins.  I placed the same die on a piece of white card stock and traced around the outside edge of the die with a pencil.  I cut it out with my paper trimmer.  Perfect size to layer under the die cut piece.  Before I adhered it, I used my dark blue Copic and colored the edges. I stamped the sentiment in black ink.  I added some foam tape and adhered it to some patterned paper from my stash.  This is all on an A2 top-folding card base.

Finally, I added some white gel pen accents and Diamond Glaze to the star, lights and ornaments.



Thank you so much for stopping by!  This is just the type of card that would work for the current Holiday Card Challenge!  We hope to see your creations there!  Have a crafty week!

Copic markers:
B93, B95, B97, BV20, C00, C0, C2, C3, C5, C7,
G94, R11, R20, Y04, Y08, Y15, Y19, YG61, YG63, W00