Hi everyone! I'm here today with a fun fancy fold. It's called a Double Z Fold. I had fun making this especially since I haven't done a fancy fold in a while. As with most card folds, this one has a lot of flexibility and looks depending on the patterns, colors and embellishments used.
In the first card, I colored two of the koala images and used the included dies to cut them out. I cut out the stamped and inked panel with the largest Ai Rounded Rectangle Double Stitched Die. Then I used a cover plate die from Lawn Fawn called Polka Heart Backdrop to cut out the tiny hearts. Behind the panel, I placed blue cardstock creating a confetti of blue hearts in the background. Then I arranged the two koalas and several hearts as well as the two sentiments on the panel. The finished piece was then glued on the card base.
Hello and happy Valentine weekend! Today I'm celebrating by showing off two of the four adorable animals in the Loveable Animals set from Art Impressions. I usually prefer to use Copic markers for coloring but this time I decided to pull out my pencils and give it a whirl. One of the fun features of this set is that there are several items that you can color and put in the hands of the critters. I decided to give the fox a heart. The dies are all included in this set including the heart. I used my white Gelly Roll pen to draw stitch marks and the XOXO letters. I gave the cat a flower to hold.
These enticed me to take a little break from fall and Christmas and explore this fabulous garden shed. It's a darling little world of flowers and pots you are likely to find in every garden shed throughout the world. The details of blossoms, herbs, garden gloves and even the peek of a watering can make this scene so much fun to create, give and receive!
To make this card, I stamped the images on marker friendly card stock. I chose many bright Copic marker colors and a few pastels. I really didn't think about what colors to use but just colored one stamp at a time working in sections. I chose the hues as my mood directed. I find coloring this way is the most relaxing. I just let go of the thinking part of my brain and allow my creative side to pick colors. Before I knew it, the images were all done and ready to cut out and put in the matchbook template (sold separately #5317). The template is the card base that the individual stamped images fit into.
All the matchbook sets come with dies to match the stamps. I cut them the Flower Shop images, folded the tabs on each stamp and used the tabs to glue them into place in the matchbook base. When done, the stamps fold in so that you can close it up and give it to someone. For your convenience, there is an optional die for a matchbook envelope (#5318). Both the matchbook template and the envelope will work for all the matchbook scenes so you only need to buy them once.
I will mention that the Matchbook Templates are currently out of stock at the Ai Store. I checked several of their resellers and they're out of stock too. Obviously the matchbook cards are selling like hot cakes! If you are wanting to purchase the template, I advise you create an account on the Ai site and use the notification feature. That way you'll be emailed when they are back in stock and you can complete your order. You can also periodically check Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com and Ellen Hutson. At this time they are also sold out but they might stock it sooner so it's good to keep an eye out. The pricing is the same no matter where you purchase them.
I hope you enjoyed this fresh little matchbook card and will go check out the entire matchbook line. There are a lot of them now and there's definitely something for everyone. Have a wonderful creative weekend everyone!
Hello crafty friends! Today I've got a pair of hauntingly cute Halloween cards. These are made with images and sentiments from the Art Impressions Happy Haunting set #4940. These cards are my interpretation for the Going Batty Challenge that just started this past Thursday.
Both cards are set at night. The first one I worked on was the A2 card using the happy little critters that are enjoying their costumes and treats. I colored the characters with Copic markers and then fussy cut them out very close to the stamp border. I inked up a bright yellow piece of cardstock with Distress Oxide different purple and black inks. Before doing so, I used a cut circle from the Ai Circle Double Stitched Die Set for a moon mask. Once inked, I splattered the panel with water and then with a white iridescent spray. After drying, I stamped the tops of two trees in the set around the top of the moon. I added bat images using the included stamp. Some orange inking was done on the yellow moon. Additional white dots were added with a gel pen. The sentiment was heat embossed on velum and sequins were used to hide the glue holding it in place. Finally, I added the critters across the front of the moon. These characters look like they are having the best time on Halloween night!
To begin the second night scene, I used my Silhouette machine to cut a file from Paige Evans to get a whole background of bats. I put black glitter cardstock behind the background so they would show up well. The background was done in light gray cardstock. I sprayed it with both white and green iridescent sprays. While that dried, I colored the owls and fussy cut them out. A large circle die cut was cut from yellow cardstock and the edge was trimmed to be flush with the bat panel. The tops of the trees were again stamped to create the branch background for the owls. The edges of the bat panel were darkened using distress oxide ink. The owls were nestled in the branches and I stamped the bat in the background. The sentiment is heat embossed in an eggplant color. A few sequins finished up this card nicely. I love how one of the owls are staring down at the spider below them.
I hope you enjoyed seeing my take on these night scene cards that are spooky but not scary. Please link up your project for our Art Impressions Going Batty Challenge. It can be any Halloween crafty project and it's not limited to cards. You can win up to three stamp sets of your choice!
A new challenge has started on the Art Impressions blog. Shaken not Stirred is about anything with a drink. Here's my first card for this challenge. It's the ladies from the Wine Divas stamp set. Be sure to enter your masterpiece in the challenge. We love to see what you create!
To make this, I used Copic markers to color the image and then I fussy cut it out. There are a few areas that don't really work for scissors so I used a finger blade to cut out those sections. I trimmed it very close to the lines so that the image looks almost stamped onto the specialty card stock I used.
I cut the cardstock and embossed it with a grape embossing folder. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with black detail embossing powder and then cut it out with a Circle Double Stitched die. I used a wine colored A2 sized card base and used a matte silver piece of cardstock as a mat.
These ladies are a lot of fun and remind me of the group of ladies I hang out with. We enjoy our beverage of choice and have a great old time with each other. So cheers ladies! We are better with age!
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful long weekend. See you next week!
This fall, many of us are heading back to work sites. Art Impressions has several office themed sets and one that I get a kick out of is called Office Party. You can see from the photo of the set below that there's lots of fun images and sentiments that are perfect for the smart alecks of the office.
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