Congratulations! I'm Tickled Pink! By Crystal Schneider

Hi AI fans! 

I had so much fun playing with the Ham It Up stamp set! I love this set these flying pigs are so cute.

I made two cards but made them very simple and almost the same other then the pattern paper. I stamped both with Momento black ink so I could color them in with alcohol ink.  After I colored them in I die cut them out with a circle die. 

For both cards I cut a piece of white cardstock trimmed down to a little smaller then a 6"X 6" card base and inked the edges with light pink ink.

I matted this circle with two smaller square pattern papers. 

For this card I just matted the circle onto one square piece of pattern paper. Both cards where matted onto pattern paper then adhered to the white cardstock that was inked and adhered to a card base. I then adhered the sentiment and added some clouds with foam tape. 

Spectrum Noir Markers: 

DP1, PP1, BGR1, CR11, Blender

Happy Stamping!

Miss You Pig Time By Jessica Shier

Today I'm making a couple of cards that could be used for Valentine's or just a hello to a friend who you haven't seen in a while. I thought that the Ham it up stamp set from Art Impressions would work perfectly for this and I was drawn to the flying pigs image. I do have a card process video down below if you would like to watch!

For these I was inspired by the look of a chalk board. So I attempted to create my own chalk board design with Distress Oxide Inks, white embossing powder and Prismacolor Pencils. 

For one card I used a Soft Navy cardstock from Simon Says Stamp and the other I used a Black cardstock. I left the coloring on the black cardstock a little more sketchy and not as blended. To start these I sketched out a city scape design on some masking paper and trimmed it out. I also stamped the pigs and heat embossed them then stamped the pigs one more time on another piece of masking paper and fussy cut that out.

I layed the mask for the pigs over top the embossed area and the city scape at the bottom of the cardstock. Then I started ink blending. I used Distress Oxide inks for this since they are a partly a pigment ink and will sit on top of the dark cardstock.

Once I had enough ink down I pulled the masks up to reveal the start of my design. Then I started coloring. Using light colored pencils (list below) I colored in the pigs then traced the buildings so that they had a definition. They navy cardstock I used the darker colors of pencils on the buildings to color them black. On the black cardstock I only added some white highlights.

I trimmed the panels down to 4in by 5 1/4in. The navy panel is cut diagonally and popped up with foam tape over top the mustard/floral pattern paper. I did the opposite for the black cardstock.

Prismacolor Pencils

Flying Pigs
PC938 White
PC1093 Seashell Pink
PC1018 Pink Rose
PC929 Pink
PC1077 Colourless

City Scape

PC938 White

PC1063 50% Gray

PC1067 90% Gray

PC935 Black

PC1077 Colourless Blender

Age Doesn't Matter When You have Style By Crystal Schneider

Hi AI fans! 

I have couple of the same cards to share today made using Ham it up set 5045. I think the pigs in this stamp set are so fun. Who would of thought pigs would be so fun? 

I colored in two images in with alcohol markers. 

I cut two pieces of pattern paper down to a little bit smaller then 5 1/2"X 4 1/4" and inked the edges with  a color ink which was  a little darker then the pattern paper.  

I die cut the image with a circle die.

I die cut a square out of two pieces of pattern paper. 

I used the same size circle as I did for the image and a larger circle die to cut a frame for the image.

I die cut the sentiment out with a banner die. Adhere everything in the order shown on the card.  This these two cards came together really fast. The coloring is what took up the most time. 

Happy Stamping!

Spectrum Noir Markers:

BT1, BT2, BT3, PP1, DP1, DP2, FS2, PV1, AP1, CG1, LY2  

Challenge 246 Anything Goes WEEK 2! Plus, 2019 Show Schedule Announced!

Hello, Ai Fans!

We are back with the second week of our "Anything Goes" challenge! Since we recently launched our NEW Funny Farm and Work & Play clear sets, our design team is playing with them this challenge! Let's peek at their creations for some inspiration!

Carol with Meerkat Set

 Cheri with Ham It Up

Crystal with Born To Ride 

Dana with Ole Buck Set

Jil with Meerkat Set

Renee with Ham It Up

Sharon with Born To Ride

Great work, team! We love these adorable cards! They are all so bright and colorful, and look like you had a lot of fun creating them!

Join our challenge! We want to be sure you all get a chance to join, because it's the last challenge of 2018. Who doesn't love to win some stamps?! The theme is "Anything Goes" so you can create anything, the sky is the limit! Our judges love seeing how you use our stamps and dies with stunning coloring and creative cards! Now is your time to shine, so let's see those entries!

Here are the Challenge Rules:

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

✻ Limit two submissions per person. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!

✻ 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 by clicking and commenting your fellow crafters.

✻ Make sure to get your link up by Wednesday, December 12 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Stamping!

The countdown to 2019 has begun, and we are excited to announce our new show schedule! We are visiting 25 cities around the country, as well as hosting our Fifth Annual Warehouse Sale in Oregon! At each show, you can find our NEWEST product, complete a FREE make & take each day, and watch our specialist demo watercolor and Bible Journaling techniques! To top it all off, nearly every product in our booth is priced 15% lower than the Ai website! We love to see you at shows, and hope to see you at one or more next year!

Stay tuned for information about our NEW Watercolor Workshop and 2019 Exclusive Stamp Set! Nearly half of our classes sold out last year, with an average 84% fill rate, so mark the registration date on your calendar so you can reserve your seat!

View the full show list with clickable links on our website here.

Happy Stamping!

GO WILD! NEW Funny Farm and Work & Play Clear Stamp! PLUS Challenge 246 Anything Goes!

Hello, Ai Fans! We are back from our Thanksgiving break and are SUPER excited for today's post!

We are wrapping up our last release of 2018 with NEW Funny Farm and Work & Play clear sets! Go "hog wild" with our Ham It Up Set, and "let the party begin" with our Meerkat Set! Both are fun for birthdays, just because, and more! Our new Work & Play additions are perfect for your masculine cards with our Born to Ride biker and mower, as well as our Ole Buck hunters set! Take a closer look at these stamps in our videos below!

Jil is here with a great tutorial for a fun card! Let's take a look!

Hello Ai fans!

I just can't stress enough how much I enjoy interactive cards!  If you've been following me here on the Ai blog for any time this news won't shock you.  When I saw the Meerkat Set in this new release I knew I had to make them pop up in some way. I went through my old favorite cards and came up with the surprise pop up card that I had made based on a tutorial from SplitCoastStampers. It's quite easy to make with a few simple folds.

This is a photo of the card front while it is closed.

This is what the card front looks like when you pull the ribbon to reveal the hidden message.  You could also add a gift card.

The image was stamped onto Spetrum Noir Ultra Smooth paper with My Favorite Things Extreme Black Ink and colored with Copic markers.  It was then gone over with a very light layer of Prismacolor colored pencilsThe colors used are listed at the end of this post. It was fussy cut with EK Success Cutter Bee scissors.

Paper from the Echo Park Party Time by Dani Mogstad 6 x 6 paper collection was added to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of paper. It was then cut with the A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies. The top of the die wasn't cut.  This is easy to do, just send the die through the die cut machine with the plates together just up to the point that your don't want to cut link in the photo.

The paper was scored on the interior portion of the cuts from the bottom up at 1", 2 7/8" and 4 3/4".

The middle fold is a mountain fold, which just means it will fold up from the back.  The other two folds are valley folds, they fold down.

A half circle was added to the top of the panel using the Circle Double Stitched Dies.

Another greeting and image were stamped with the same ink and Colored the same as before.  They were stamped inside the card top to be sure the image could be seen when the card was opened.

This is a back view of the front card panel. Strong tape was adhered to the bottom inner piece. It will be attached to the tag. The tag is 2 7/8" x 4 3/4". It is a piece of card stock with a piece of the pattern paper over it.  The We R Memory Keepers Deco/Stub Corner Chomper was used on the top edges.

This is the back view of the front card panel. The tag was flipped over and lined up with the bottom of the front panel and attached to the adhesive strip.  This will form the pull tab for this card.

A eyelet and ribbon were added to the center of the top of the tag. A thin layer of foam tape was added around the back and added to a top folding A2 card base.

Copic Colors Used:

Meerkats - E40, E42, E33, E25, E29

Teal - BG10, BG11, BG13

Pink - R81, R83, R85

Prismacolor Colored Pencil Used:

Sandbar Brown 1094, Dark Brown 946

Thanks for stopping by and Have a Great Day!

Thanks, Jil! Such a sweet card! Love how you took one of our clear sets and made an interactive card!

Well, it's challenge time! This is the last challenge of the year, so be sure to join in! The theme is "Anything Goes" so you can create anything, the sky is the limit! Our judges love seeing how you use our stamps and dies with stunning coloring and creative cards! Now is your time to shine, so let's see those entries!

Here are the Challenge Rules:

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

✻ Limit two submissions per person. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!

✻ 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 by clicking and commenting your fellow crafters.

✻ Make sure to get your link up by Wednesday, December 12 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Stamping!