NEW Girlfriends! PLUS Challenge 232 Playing Dress-Up!

Hello, Ai Fans!

The joy and fun of your favorite gal pals is perfectly captured in our Girlfriends collection! We are continually adding to this ever-popular line and we have two new additions for 2018! Grab your "sunnies" and shade your eyes from the glowing candles in our Sunny Shades Set! Then grab your favorite feathered hat and show off some style with our Crazy Friends Set. As always, our sets include three laugh-out-loud sentiments, and you can find them all at artimpressions.com today!

 

Today, we have Renee with us to share TWO adorable cards featuring these leading ladies!

Hello Ai fans!

It's my turn to be featured on the Art Impressions Blog!

Today I decided to make a couple of scenes with "floors" that I created.

I used two new adorable sets from Art Impressions.

4988 Sunny Shades Set

and

4989 Crazy Friends Set

Both are from the ever popular Ai Girlfriends line.

I apologize for the funky photos.  My craft room is in my basement with no windows.  I have fluorescent lights which are not great for taking craft photos.  I have a homemade light box but I didn't get up and use it after each step of my tutorial.

I've created a tutorial I'm calling "Under Foot".  For my first card I made a dance floor.  My girlfriends have decided to out to a night club.  They needed a Girls Night Out and they got it!

I sketched it out with a ruler and pencil first to be sure I was happy with the placement and then traced over it with a fine point sharpie.

Next I masked off the black squares with Washi tape and filled them in.  I started with the lightest color and worked my way up to the dark and then blended.

My next step was to fussy cut out the upper part of the girlfriends.  Their feet stayed attached to the flooring.

I popped them up on dimensional foam to give them a 3-D effect. 

Below is the inside of my pink card.

My second card features a sidewalk that I created.

These girlfriends weren't as lucky as the first two and had to wait outside the nightclub on the sidewalk for a little while.

Below is the inside of my yellow card.

Copics on Pink card:
 N2, C00, C5, C7, 100, B14,E33, E35, E67, E51, E93, YG25, YG67, RV02, RV34, R85, V05, V17

Copics On Yellow Card:
R20, R22, R43,T1, T3, T5, C7, W00, W1, W3, TG06, YG11, YG63, YR02, YR15, YR21, YR27, YR31, YR61, Y15, E00, E11, E13, E15, E21, E31, E33, E35, E37, E50, E51, E81

Thanks, Renee! Love how those ladies are ready to dance in the environments you created for them! 

It's time for a new challenge! This time around the theme is "Playing Dress-Up"! This is a great opportunity to use your favorite Girlfriends stamps, or anything else that can be dolled up!

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, May 23 at 5:00 p.m. PST to enter your creations.

✻ Good luck and happy stamping!

An InLinkz Link-up

We can't forget to recognize the winners of last week's "Winged Things" challenge!

Top Spot goes to...

Lisa Javoric!

Congrats, Lisa! We love your Fairy Spinner card! It looks beautiful, and we love how it adds a "flying" element! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your prize pack!

Honorable mentions go to...

Susan!

 Cynthia!

Congrats, you two! Susan, we love your twist on a floral watercolor wreath featuring a pair of lovebirds! And Cynthia, your Panda Slider card is so darling! Please email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and select a stamp set of your choice for a prize.

Thanks to everyone who joined our challenge - please join us again! Happy Stamping!

NEW VIDEO - Glass Vase with Flowers Watercolor

Hello Ai Fans!

Welcome to a new Watercolor Wednesday! This week, Bonnie creates a translucent glass vase, showing the submerged stems of her beautiful bouquet of wildflowers. She starts by stamping part of the left side of the container in Brownish Gray, and then uses her Stamp Positioner to stamp part of the right side to create a smaller vase. Bonnie masks the top of the vase and stamps her flowers and some foliage, then switches her masking to add some stems on the inside. Next, she adds some blue to the glass and a wash of purple on the outer edges. For the final touch, Bonnie adds some white pen details to give the glass a sheen and a highlight on the flowers.

We hope you like this new project and how you can extend the use of your stamps with this cool technique! Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube challenge for the latest notifications of new uploads!

Happy Stamping!

View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GnLVJeRrqfY

Teenie Weenie Hug By Dana Warren

Hello!! AI Fans!!

Today I have a card featuring one of the new Twist Ties! The Dog Twist Ties are soooo cute!!

The packaging comes with directions, so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on how the card was made, just what I did a little different from the directions!! The main thing I did differently was stamping the dogs on the white card base, then again on some scrap paper. 

I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color just the dogs on the scrap paper: CR7, RB1, RB2, RB3, RB4. Then I fussy cut the dogs out. 

Next, I used the matching dies to cut out the heart and top part of the dogs. Then I added the pattern paper to the front panels and then used the dies again. 

I added the dogs to the front matching them up to the die cuts. If you bring the two front panels together they twist around each other.

For the inside of the card, I added a flower pattern and then stamped the sentiment on a strip of white cardstock. On one end I wrapped some twine around it and tied it in a bow. Then I added the sentiment with foam tape. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Stamping!!

Layton's Legacy Card Drive & Fundraiser Blog Hop

Today, we have the great honor of joining a special Card Drive & Fundraiser, created by Lea Lawson in honor of her sweet son, Layton Caleb (pictured below). You can learn more about Layton's life over on Lea's blog, the starting point of today's event. Lea has an incredible heart for the parents currently at the NICU hospital, where Layton received his care. As an avid papercrafter, Lea joined together many craft industry friends, so we can help show a bit of kindness to families going through incredibly hard days.

The fundraising dollars will go to purchase substantial Starbucks gift cards that will be given to NICU parents. Why Starbucks? There is one just across the street from the hospital and will allow parents a moment to step out of the hospital, get a breath of fresh air and regroup. Lea said, "I was given a $20 Starbucks card that had been donated to the NICU during the time Layton was a patient, and I cried when I opened it. My son was getting million dollar care, and I was there day in & day out doing everything I could for him. It was stressful, scary, and one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Getting that gift card felt like someone was also thinking about us, and trying to help take care of us too."

Together we can accomplish SO much! Plus - we are making it fun! Join our Card Drive blog hop in Layton's honor, with tons of amazing inspiration! We also have a fundraising effort, where every $5 donated gets you an entry into the prize drawing. There are over $2,000 in prizes, sponsored by some of the most amazing stamping & papercrafting companies in the industry! {You can also see all the prizes HERE.}

WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

1. DONATE! - Directly to Layton's Legacy YouCaring Fundraiser. For every $5 you donate, you will be entered into the drawing for one of the prizes above!! All winners will be drawn from donations made thru the YouCaring Site. **Prizes will be drawn and announced here on Lea's Blog on Saturday, May 19th.**

2. SHOP! - You can find details on sales and affiliate donations on Lea's Blog!

3. CREATE! - This is also a card drive, and if you'd like to create a card using the theme/moodboard below, that would be amazing! Lea will be including these handmade treasures with the gift cards when she hands them over to the NICU social worker, and Lea's dream is that the NICU will be covered in beautiful creations inspired by Layton! Link up your cards HERE, and then please email Lea (lea@lealawsoncreates.com) to get the address for sending - and note that she will need them to arrive by May 31st.

BLOG HOP

Not only is this a fundraiser, but also a super inspiring blog hop with MANY stops along the way! As you hop along, you will see amazing cards created with a very special theme. Lea created this moodboard when she started planning Layton's nursery. We can't wait to see all the beautiful creations in honor of him!

Our fabulous designers created some awesome inspiration for the blog hop and we hope you enjoy their designs!

From Dana Warren: I went with the woodland part of the challenge, using a birthday stamp for an encouragement card! I started by stamping and die cutting the owl from the new Owl Flutter set. Then I used my Spectrum Noir Markers to color each image. I used AP1, BO2, BO4, RB1, RB2, RB4, Blender. Then I followed the directions from the packaging to assemble the owl and the pull tab. From some old Jillibean Soup Camper themed paper I cut a square from the woodland pattern. I cut a slit in it and threaded through the pull tab. With foam tape, I adhered the owl and added foam tape to the back of the square, including making a 'track' for the pull tab. Next, I added some matching green polka dot pattern paper to a white card base. From some woodgrain paper, I masked and stamped the sentiment to read Wishing You OWL the Best! I added the woodland square with the owl to the top right corner and then added the sentiment below this with foam tape too. You can see the photos below, the owl's wings up and then down!

From Jil Lebel: I used the Shepherd Window 4986 block stamp from Hobby Lobby. I used the mood board combined with my papers to pick my colors. In the end, my colors strayed quite a bit from the mood board, but I really like how everything ended up. I Stamped the Shepherd Window stamp onto Canson XL Watercolor paper with Jet Black Archival Ink. I painted the image using Marvy LePlume II markers that I scribbled onto the Ai travel palette. I just added the color to my paper in light layers until I had the depth of color I was looking for. I used Black 1, Olive green 15, Prussian Blue 29 and Brownish Grey 40 to color in my image. Once the image was colored, I cut it out along the straight lines because the words weren't very clear on the watercolor paper. I stamped another image with Onyx Black Versafine ink onto smooth white paper and attached the colored square over the words.

On the card, the top layers edge was cut with a die from the Tim Holtz Stitched Oval set. The oval die is the Double Stitched Oval STAX from MFT. The word hugs is from Momenta. I made an Ai 3-D frame from American Crafts Cedar Lane 6x6 patterned paper. All of the edges are inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The frame is lined with a piece of patterned paper from the Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Winter 6x6 Collection. I used foam tape to attach my colored image to the center of the frame.

From Reneé Matarese: I've used 3 Ai sets on the front of my card - 4872 – WC Birds Set, 4966 – WC Bird Bath Set, and 4964 – WC Branches Set. Our task was to make woodland themed cards.  Well...that's right up my alley!  I live in a house surrounded by woods on all four sides and just LOVE animals. Below is the inside of my card where I've used two more Ai watercolor sets - 4874 – WC Bunnies Set and 4903 – WC Sentiments Set. I hope you all take the time to participate in this wonderful blog hop. I have a friend who has had several babies born sleeping and so this cause is special to me.  I wish there wasn't a need for fundraisers like this.

Copics used:

W3, E00, E33, E35, B41, T3, Y28

From Sharon Caudle: My card today features the fun 4741 Turtle Stackers from Art Impressions. I also used the sentiment from 4738 Duck Stackers. I stamped them onto Cryogen White paper and colored them up with Copic markers. Those that know me, know how much I love dimension. So the turtles are popped up off their mat, and then the mat is popped up from the card. And then of course the sentiment is double popped as well. Last thing I did was add a quick bow with May Arts ribbon and called her done!

Copics used: YG91, YG93, YG95, E33, E35, E37, B000, R20

A big thank you to our designers for creating extra special cards for this blog hop! Now on to the blog hop info - here is a link list with all of the stops along the hop! We are truly honored to partner up with so many thoughtful and generous companies! This industry is truly incredible and we love being part of this community of crafters! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Thank you for stopping by! If you're hopping through, your next stop is ...
Betsy Veldman

Happy Stamping!

Lighthouse Circlet MTF by Diane Zechman

Hello Ai friends and happy Monday!

 

Today I am sharing another card I made using one of the Ai Circlet MTF sets. Here I used the 4979- Lighthouse Circlet MTF set. Last month I shared 3 different ways that I used the new Circlets sets and here’s the last card design I made.

 

This one is sort-of a card inside of a card! From the front, once again you peek through the layers for a glimpse of the inside.

 

The first circle has the fence image. My blue card base is 5 1/2 x 6 1/2. The 6 1/2" side is scored at 2 1/4. I die cut an extra circle for the inside to give it a nice finish. When the front flap is opened, the lighthouse shows.

 

My white card insert is 5 1/4 x 8, scored @ 4". When this one is opened, you see the little boat.

My patterned paper layers are 2 x 5 1/4 (front), 3/4 x 5 1/4 (middle), and 3 3/4 x 5 (inside back).

 

Have a great Monday and… happy stamping!

 

Gordon Golfer Birthday by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing another card from the raffle basket my husband and I put together.  We added 6 of my cards, a G.C. to a sporting goods store and box of Titleist golf balls.

I used a wonderful set from Art Imrpessions called

4325 – Gordon Golfer Set

Ai has so many wonderful GOLF themed stamps.  If you have some golfers in your life you need to pick some up!

This is the inside of my card with the fun verse the set comes with.

This is what our basket looked like...

I have to be honest...I peeked in the bag at the benefit because I was nervous no one would put any tickets in to win our basket.  I needn't have worried...there were tons! 

Copics used:

E30, E33, E51, E93, C0, N0, N4, T1, 

B95, B97, R89, 100