Merry & Bright by Dori Mendiola

 Happy Thursday AI Friends!

Christmas is going to be here before we know it and I wanted to share my Merry & Bright Christmas card.  I used the #5192 Penguin Cheer as well as the #5457 Christmas Truck Rides sets.  These little Penguins bring so much cheer!

I stamped the penguins with Memento black ink onto copic friendly paper.  I then made a mask of the penguins so I could stamp the tree to look like it is behind the penguins.  The tree in the Christmas Truck set was too small compared to the penguins so I had to stretch the tree to make it larger.  To do this, I inked up the tree with the Memento ink and wiped off the trunk before stamping where I wanted it to fall behind the penguins.  Then I inked it up again and wiped off the top two layers of the tree and the trunk and positioned the stamp to fall under and to the right of the original tree.  Lastly, I inked up the trunk and stamped it to fall in the center lined up under the tip of the tree.  Since it fell just perfectly behind the penguins, you can't tell the tree was stretched.  After the image was how I liked it, I then colored it with copic markers (listed below). 

I die cut the presents with the coordinating dies that came in the Christmas Truck set and popped them up under the tree.  I used stinkles on the star and glossy accents on the ornament and lights.  I stamped the sentiment from the #Mini Christmas Sentiment set.  I then layered the image onto papers from the 

#5962 Classic Christmas PP and tied a red bow to top it off.  The frame was made with dies I had from my stash.

 Thanks for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed my card!

Copics used:  C00, C1, C3, C5, C7

E53, E55, E57

R02, R05, R08, R20

YR21, YR23, YR14, YR18

G21, G24, G28

BG70, BG72, BG75

Dancing Santa Tag by Dori Mendiola

 Happy Thursday AI Friends!

Have you seen the new Art Impressions Christmas release?  Wow, what a bundle!  Two cute stamp sets, a die set and two beautiful paper packs.  I decided to play with the #5931 Santa Puppet die set and boy, did I have fun making several versions of this Santa.  I have several more that aren't christmas so I'll save those for another post.  Stay tuned.

For my first Santa, I made him a dancing tag.  His body and legs move.  Check out the video below.

I partial die cut the pants (cut up to top of pant and then hand cut to make pant waist higher - see Pic 1).  I die cut all of the other pieces as well as an extra jacket and hands and decorated accordingly (see Pic 1 below).  The oval white piece on the right is a rough cut of the back of the head as you will need a base piece.  I then punched a hole in the three pieces as seen in Pic 1.  To put them together so that Santa dances, hold the leg piece where you want it to fall under the finished jacket.  Turn this over and adhere a foam dot into the hole (Pic 2).  Layer the extra jacket behind the back of the other jacket and adhere with the foam dot (see Pic 3).  Next hold the face over the front of the jacket, turn over and place another foam dot into the hole on the back of the jacket (see Pic 4).  Adhere the head base piece onto the foam dot in the jacket.   Your dancing Santa is ready for decorating with a pompom on the hat and a string to hang from the tree or present.

       Pic 1                                                                                      Pic 2

    Pic 3                                                                                           Pic 4

     Pic 5

     

My other variations using the 5931 Santa Puppet die set:

Cut my Santa in half and made two tags, one of which using the 5132 Tag Stitched Die.  I popped up the chimney and placed the body of Santa upside down into the chimney.   The second tag, I scored the arms before putting the cuffs on and folded them in half, then put the cuffs on the outer side so he was wrapping his arms around the star.  I also added google eyes to him for fun.  I cut several snowflakes from the 4804 Snowflake dies and the icicles on the chimney are from the 5407 Birthday Cake gift card die.  The sentiment is from 5350 Animal Nativity set and the candy canes are from 5457 Christmas Truck cubbies and the 5187 Gingerbread cubbies.

For the following tag I decided to make him a gnome santa.  I shortened his arms and legs and placed the hat lower on his face.  For his beard, I cut two but I cut one differently, by cutting half and then moved the die to stretch his beard and make it wider.  Another thought, you could use the 5223 Bookmark die and cut the top tab off to make a smooth beard.  He actually fits perfectly, but I wanted a fuller beard.  The die used for the santa sack is included in the 5931 Santa Puppet die set.  I believe it is actually to be used as the santa face base, however, I saw someone suggest a possible santa sack so I borrowed her great idea.  I wish I could remember who it was, so I could give her a shout out.   The candy canes are from the 5178 Gingerbread Cubbies and the banner is from 5722 Birthday Journal die set.  The sentiment is from 5192 Penguin Cheer set.

Penguin Cheer! by Reneé Matarese

 Hello and Happy Thursday!

Today I'm sharing the card that I made for the You're Such a Square challenge going on right now, here on the Art Impressions blog.  You should join too for a chance to win a free stamp set.

I used the absolutely adorable 5192 – Penguin Cheer Set.

The snowflakes are from the new 5782 – Snowflake Frame Die and the snow splatters were made with Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White paint.  The lime green paper was cut with 5061 – Square Double Stitched Dies.

This is just so cheerful with the bright colors and happy penguin.  It's sure to make someone's spirits bright.

Here's a card I made with the same set from just about a year ago.  You can see more of it and find product info HERE.

Copics used:

100, R83, N1, Y26, G44, G15, BG02, B01

Twintone Markers used:

Black, Green, Yellow, Carrot Orange

Making Spirits Bright by Janet

 It's July and you know what that means? Yep, it's time to break out your Christmas! I love July because I love Christmas and although we don't need an excuse to Christmas craft, it just feels so good to do it in July. I look forward to it like I do December so it makes Christmas come twice a year. 

For this card, I started by creating a foiled background of bubbles using a stencil and Deco Gel before running it through a heat process to adhere the foil. The colors in it make me so happy but if you've been paying attention, you know that I love bright colors and I enjoy blinging things up as well. This cute penguin image comes from 5192 - Penguin Cheer Set. I can't tell you how much fun I had coloring these guys with my markers. Then I used Dr. PH Martin's Bleed Proof White to create patterns on their hats and scarves. Finally I added a little crystal snow at their feet before I heat embossed the sentiment in gold. It certainly made my spirits bright! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you'll stop by the store soon for all your card making needs. 

Wishing you a very crafty day!

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest 

Penguin Cheer and FAB-YULE-OUS Girlfriends! by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing two cards with you.

My first card is a Christmas card that I made for the Diamonds and Pearls challenge going on right now and my second card was made using the current Simon Says Stamp Art Impressions Exclusive!

These oh so cute penguins are from 5192 – Penguin Cheer Set.

I used the 4804 – Snowflake Dies set to give this even more of a winter wonderland feeling.

Here's my second card using the soon to be gone forever exclusive.

Get yours NOW before they sell out!

Art Impressions Simon Says Stamp
EXCLUSIVE FAB-YULE-OUS FRIENDS Clear Stamps sse22c

The stars are from 5543 – Journal Template Die Set and the sentiment was stamped on 
5463 – Slimline Dies Set.

Time To Deck the Halls! by Janet Axtman

 

I'm SO excited that it's July because that means I can break out the holiday stamps and celebrate Christmas in July! Woohoo! It's a great time of the year to look forward to the holiday season and get a jump start on your seasonal card stash. Getting some or all of your holiday cards done in July means you will feel pretty darn smart come December!

Ai has so many darling holiday stamp sets. Today I'm pulling out 5192-Penguin Cheer Set. This set has several adorable images of penguins frolicking in the snow. This set also includes holiday tree decorations including a light string, ornaments and snowflakes.

I picked traditional coordinating papers from a holiday paper stack and used 5061-Square Double Stitched Dies and 5063-Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies to cut the shapes used in the card. I stamped the sentiment from the set to create a tag and a bulb punch in my stash for the light bulb. I love bling and holiday cards allow me to use as much as I want! Love! The snowflake gems and single gems are from Eyelet Outlet.

I colored this trio of penguins with Copic markers and then cut them out before adhering them to a bright white glitter cardstock rectangle made with the Double Stitched Rectangle Dies. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you'll get your jingle on and check out the extensive holiday stamp sets available in the store. It's so much fun!

Wishing you a very crafty weekend!

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest  

Merry Christmas Penguins Slim Line Card!

Hi Ai fans! I had fun this week making a slimline card. I used the new new Slimline die set. I also used the Penguin Cheer stamp set. I stamped the image with the three penguins, the cute little running penguin, string of lights and the ornaments. I colored them in with aqua color pencils. I spread the colors out with a water brush. 

After all of images are dry I fussy cut them out. Stamped the sentiment "Merry Christmas to you and yours" I die cut the sentiment out with the smallest slimline die. 

I started with the third smallest slimline die and die cut red card stock out with it. I added the images onto the red card stock and matted it onto green card stock and then white card stock.

Happy Stamping! 

 

Buffalo Check Snowflake Card by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing a rustic snowflake card with you.

I used 5353 – Large Snowflake Dies and
5327 – Christmas Mini Dies.

The verse on the inside and front are from 5192 – Penguin Cheer Set as are the snowflakes.  The verse on the front is stamped on 
5134 – Banner Double Stitched Dies.

Christmas in July Inspiration | By Jessica Shier

Hello Ai Fans!

It's Jessica today and I have some inspiration to get started on those Holiday cards! It's never to soon to start right? For this card I created a Copic marker background and add the cute little igloo from the Penguin Cheer stamp set. 

I'll have the list of Copic markers I used down below. I started off by sketching out the mountains with a W0 Copic marker. I used the light colored marker for the sketching because it gives me the ability to hide any areas that I sketched that I don't like. Once I had a outline of the mountain shape that I liked I did the same for the snow hills. This area is where I will stamp the igloo but I didn't worry about leaving a space for it, since I was still working with light colored markers. 

I started building up the mountains then add in some small details with a Micron Pen. I also stamped the igloo and built up the snow color around it. For the night sky I did use a few dark gray markers blended into the bright green but in order to get a smoother blend I did use Distress Ink in Black Soot. This gave me the ability to deepen the outer color but really create a smokey blended look. 

I stamped the sentiment from the Penguin Cheer set " Joy to you" in a clear embossing ink and heat embossed with Alabaster white embossing powder. I then added a few stars with a Jelly Roll white gel pen. 

This panel is cut down to 4in x 5.25in and popped up on a card base with a bright green card stock adhered to the front. I used some coordinating bright green craft foam to added the dimension. 

Copic Markers used:

W0, W1, W3, W6, W9

C3, C5,C7

BG000, BG10

YG01, YG03, YG63

Y13, Y15

Don't forget about this cool sale!

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