Happy Thanksgiving! PLUS, Michaels Exclusives Now Available!

Happy Thanksgiving, Ai Fans!

The blog is closing for the next few days so our design team can enjoy a Thanksgiving break! Today we have a bit of inspiration to tide you over! You can now find FOUR new Art Impressions clear sets, produced by Hampton Art, at your local Michaels!

 Introducing TWO new Holiday PopCards, Santa PopCard and Reindeer PopCard! These new sets contain clear stamps and metal dies, and assemble the same way as our previous PopCards to make unique 3-D cards! Make spirits bright with our TWO Christmas Girlfriends clear sets, Ugly Sweater and Merriest! These four sets are EXCLUSIVE to Michaels, so find a store near you to grab them up!

Inspiration time! Check out what our designers created with these exclusive sets! Click the designer's name to view more details on their personal blog, and click the set they used to view it at Michaels.com to find store availability by your zip code!

Cheri with Merriest

Dana with Merriest

Diane with Ugly Sweater

Jil with Santa PopCard

Karen with Ugly Sweater

Renee with Reindeer PopCard and Window Die 

Sharon with Ugly Sweater

Thank you for your bright and shiny cards, designers! Enjoy a week break for Thanksgiving! We are thankful to you!

Before we go, let's celebrate the winners of our previous Tag It Challenge!

Top Spot goes to...

Funtography!

Congrats! We love your sweet bracket tag featuring our Santa Paws puppy! Such festive colors and details! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your prize pack!

Honorable Mentions go to..

Irene Rhodes!

Melissa O!

Congrats, you two! The reindeer theme is really working! Irene, your handmade "ugly sweater" tag with our Reindeer Mini Shaker is just such a cute idea! We can't resist! And Melissa, your bold Reindeer Games tag is just divine! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and choose a stamp set of your choice for a prize!

We had really wonderful tags for our challenge! Our next challenge will not start until November 30th, but we will give you a clue: laughter!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful that you spend time with us here on the blog! Stay tuned tomorrow for a blog post about our Black Friday special! If you aren't already signed up for our Retail Newsletter, you may want to hop over and subscribe so you don't miss out! It's a big one!

Happy Stamping!

aged to perfection by Diane Zechman

Hello Ai friends and happy Monday!

 

Today I am sharing a card using the Michael's exclusive set, SC0794- Big Birthday Wishes.  I almost always use one of the larger images on the front of my card but today I "put the outside in" and moved the main image to the inside.

 

For the outside, I was inspired by a card I received a few years ago.  I cut and adhered 1" squares to a brown layer (A great way to use up scraps!) and then embossed the layer with polka-dots.  I used some of the smaller images (cupcake & banner) plus a sentiment to decorate.

 

The cupcake and sentiment are popped with foam dimensionals and I added a few rhinestones to accent.

The main image was stamped on the inside and I selectively colored the candles only.

Have a great Monday and… happy stamping!

LinkDeli.com

Challenge 209 White Space is Nice Space WEEK 2

Hello, Ai Fans!

Whoo-hoo, it's week 2 of our White Space is Nice Space challenge! We are celebrating the release of our TWO new Girlfriends inspired clear sets, available now at Michaels! Not only can you find them at your local Michaels store, but they are on michaels.com now too!

Last week Karen shared a super sweet Big Birthday Wishes card, so be sure to check it out for her thoughts and tips! This week, our DT is here to share their creations with these adorable sets! Be sure to click the designer's name for more details on their blog, and click on the set they used for a closer look at michaels.com! 

Cheri with Road Trip

Dana with Big Birthday Wishes

Diane with Big Birthday Wishes

Karen with Big Birthday Wishes

Kerry with Road Trip

Renee with Road Trip 

Sharon with Big Birthday Wishes 

Awesome cards, designers! The white space in your card really helps your images POP!

It's your turn! We want to see your clean and simple cards for our "White Space is Nice Space" challenge! It's the perfect time to show off your coloring with your favorite stamps! Top spot earns a mystery prize pack, and two honorable mentions will receive a stamp set of their choice!

*By the way, last week we were late in adding our Link-up - so sorry! It's up now, so please be sure to add your link by June 7th so we can see your project!*

✻ 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, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Stamping!

Who loves a good deal?! For a limited time, receive a FREE 2017 Catalog with your $50 order! Our spiral-bound 2017 Catalog contains 70 pages packed with full color images of our most popular products, including card samples for inspiration! To receive your free catalog, simply add our New Catalog 2017 to your cart, ensure your cart is at least $50, and apply the coupon code FREECAT! Hurry, offer expires Wednesday, June 7th!

*Offer not valid on wholesale orders. To receive free catalog, 2017 Catalog must be in cart, cart with at least $50 must be reached, and coupon FREECAT must be entered.

NEW At Michaels! PLUS, Challenge 209 White Space is Nice Space

Hello, Ai Fans!

Hooray! We have added two new clear sets to our collection at Michaels! These sets were exclusively designed with your festivities and travels in mind! Our Big Birthday Wishes set is sweet to celebrate your girlfriends! "Girls just wanna have fun" with our Road Trip set, featuring fun sentiments that perfectly fit inside the street sign stamp! Grab a set today at your local Michaels store!

Joining us today, Karen shares a sweet tutorial to kick of our White Space is Nice Space and to celebrate our new sets at Michaels!

It's all about "CAS" here on the Ai Challenge this week... and personally, I find this the most difficult style of cardmaking!  I'm all about patterned paper & bright colours, so I have to work hard to achieve a balanced look where white space is involved.  I am using SC0794 today - one of the new acrylic sets available at Michaels stores through Hampton Art.  Here's what I came up with:

For me, balance is a big part of cardmaking.  I chose to make a large card - it's 6" square.  The image itself would've worked on a much smaller card, but because I chose to put a 3/8" frame of teal cardstock around it, I needed the larger amount of white space around the frame to balance it out.

 After colouring with Copics, I fussy cut the image and attached it with pop dots for a little added interest.  I glued "friends" down flat, but attached "best" with pop dots -again- for balance.  I could've stopped there, but with the sentiment taking up the top left corner, I opted to add a few enamel dots to the lower part of the card for (you guessed it) balance.

 In addition to the banners and main image, this set includes a cupcake and three sentiments, so I chose one of them for the inside of my card.  So get busy and start creating!  We would love to have you join us this week for "White Space is Nice Space"!

 Copics used: Skin tones - E11, E00, E000, R30, E53, E51, E50, E34, E31

Greys - C9, C7, C5, C3, C1

Blues - B95, B93, B91, B21, BV04, BV01, BV00

Pinks - RV14, RV13, RV11, RV10

Greens - BG18, BG15, BG13, BG11, YG05, YG03, YG01, YG00

Yellows - Y11, Y38, Y35, Y32, Y21

What a fantastic card, Karen! Your clean and simple design and beautiful colors really make your coloring pop!

It's your turn! We want to see your clean and simple cards for our "White Space is Nice Space" challenge! It's the perfect time to show off your coloring with your favorite stamps!

✻ 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, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Let's not forget the winners of last week's Dots and Stripes challenge!

Top Spot goes to...

Kalla Walla!

Congrats! We love your bright colors of our Girlfriends in their polkadot and striped bathing suites! Too cute and fun for summer! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your prize pack!

Honorable Mentions go to...

EK Gorman!

 Margo Smith!

Congrats, you two! EK, your dotted embossed background really features our Out To Lunch Girlfriends and your pink color-blocking mimics some sweet stripes! Margo, we love your coloring with our Birthday Wishes Set and adore your coordinated paper! Be sure to email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and select the stamp set of your choice for a prize!

Thank you to all of our entrants, we hope you'll join in for our new challenge! 

By the way, we have two exciting new products available at our website!

Do you wonder what Bonnie's most used colors are in her Watercolor Wednesday videos? Look no further than Bonnie's Favorites Pen Set! This 12 pen Marvy Le Plume II set features our most-loved colors for Ai Watercoloring! Visit our website to view the list of colors included and to purchase this set for yourself. Remember, we also sell Marvy Le Plume II pens individually if you want to try new colors or replace old favorites!

Take your watercolor stamps on vacation with our WC Travel Box! Each box includes a slim palette and three acrylic blocks, so all you need is to add your favorite stamps, markers and brush for watercoloring on the go. If you have taken our 2017 Watercolor Workshop, you have used great little boxes in class! Click here to purchase one for yourself!

Happy Stamping!