TOP 10 CARDS OF 2022 by Mercy Sauer

Hello Ai Family!   Wishing you all a wonder end of the year and happiest of holidays.  For the last posting of 2022 the Ai  Design Team will be showcasing their favorite creations.   I love so many of the Ai stamps and dies that I decided to pick one favorite per month starting in March, which was my first month joining the Ai design team.   So here it is, starting in March 2022 and ending in December.  

You can find these cards in this blog (Ai) or at 

 https://www.instagram.com/artimpressions/

 or visit me at

https://www.instagram.com/kreativestamping/

MARCH 2022

APRIL 2022

MAY 2022

JUNE 2022

JULY 2022

AUGUST 2022

SEPTEMBER 2022

OCTOBER 2022

NOVEMBER 2022

DECEMBER 2022

 I thank you for your support this year and hope to be here once again in 2023 sharing more cards and inspiration with you.  I appreciate this community, it's my happy place!

Wishing you the best!

 

Cloud Nine by Mercy Sauer

Welcome Crafters, Mercy here with my last card of 2022.   I chose this little guy who seems to be floating in the clouds while enjoying a delicious hot chocolate.   What a way to end the year!   

The bokeh like effect for the background was created by stenciling circles onto the inked panel using white pigment ink.   It is further enhanced by the vellum shaker design creating a diffused look.  I love this technique.    Other than that, it' a simple design with a strong message of peace, and holiday cheers!

Wishing you holiday cheers!  Looking forward to 2023 and all the projects to come!

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE & PRACTICE AGAIN by Mercy Sauer

 Welcome back friends, Mercy here. Today with four cards, basically the same card, with minor differences, all created with one goal, to practice and practice some more.   I used Copics for my coloring, a background stencil and Distress inks.  That is it.    Let's take a look,

I gently inked the background with a light color ink (any of your choice) and followed with a slightly darker color over the stencil to shape the trees.   Then using Copics, I used a similar color to the trees, (a bit darker) and colored in shadow lines on the left hand side of the trees.   The shadows were darker on the trees closer to the foreground and lighter on the trees more in the distance.   This technique is not obvious in the pictures, however, it looks beautiful with lots of depth in person.   The effect can be done lighter or darker as shown on the warm color card.   Similarly, I colored the koalas using different color families, just practicing. 

I hope these cards give you some ideas on choosing a technique and practicing.

Like always, thank you for coming back, and I will see you soon.

That's a Wrap Y'all by Mercy Sauer

Welcome friends to the last challenge of 2022.  I hope you are as excited as I am!   The official start of many gatherings, celebrations, and I am ready!

The “That’s a Wrap” challenge is very appropriate for this time of year, and I took it literally. I created an interactive card that is all about wrapped gifts.   It’s a birthday card for those who celebrate their birthdays during the holiday season.   Let’s look,

I modified the Lawn Fawn Reveal Wheel die to show half of the wheel.   I used clear acetate (instead of cardstock) to mask the wheel mechanism and thus becoming less distracting.   I also shortened the panel size since I wanted to include a large sentiment on the bottom of the card.   Three different wrapped packages are adhered on the acetate wheel which are “revealed” once the wheel is rotated as suggested by the arrows on the card.  For the background, I used a large Happy Birthday background stamp prior to using a wood grain embossing folder for double texture.   One thing to keep in mind when creating this type of scene is to suggest depth and perspective on the floor to avoid the card from looking flat.  It's a great design to make it your own, create your own story.

I hope I inspire you to look at your interactive dies and come up with different and fun way to use. Good luck with the challenge, as always, have fun with it!

 

Snow Birds by Mercy Sauer

 Welcome friends to December 2022, just a few more posts and challenges left for the year. This is Mercy, great to have you back, today with a simple one-layer card.  

I was inspired by the colors of vintage state postcards and the increase in traffic on the beach due to so many visitors escaping the winter blues.

Let’s take a look, 

To create the card, I masked both the husband and wife prior to stamping the Christmas palm trees. I used Copic colors to paint the entire scene and heat embossed two sentiments which I think work perfectly for the scene. To add dimension, I darkened the foreground and added shadows to suggest the sun is somewhere behind them. I also added crystal Stickles to the ornaments and lights for extra texture and interest. I matted the card on a red panel and for the final assembly I adhered the whole thing to standard A2 card.

 

Thank you for visiting and I will see you next week!

Happy crafting 

Halloween Backgrounds by Mercy Sauer

Halloween is almost here!   One of my favorite holidays, I don't like scary but love cute, and Halloween is all about cute and fun!   

Welcome friends, this is Mercy and I have two cards for you today.

Both cards are Halloween themed, both include the infamous Halloween Black Cat!

Let's take a look...

I created interest by including multidimensional backgrounds on both cards.  I inked, die cut, and color before I even worked on the elements and the sentiments.

In both cases, the first step included ink blending an interesting background with lots of texture and dimension.

I followed by die cutting the trees (and fence in the second card) in two different colors, the foreground and the background color which serves as the highlight color.   

As you can see, even though I have yet to include the elements, the backgrounds already set the vibe for the card theme.

 

At this point, I stamped, colored and die cut the elements and sentiments, completing both cards.

Well this brings us to the end of the Halloween card season (for now).   Until next time, keep on crafting and HAPPY HALLOWEEN.