Harvey's First Birthday

There is a special little man turning one today in our family, so he needed a special card.  I pulled out the Zoo Babies Giraffe from Art Impressions, and coloured him up with Copic markers.  I used the Babycakes papers from Close To My Heart, because they work so well with this little guy!

 After using my sewing machine to zigzag the polka dot paper on the base with some bright orange thread, I fussy cut the giraffe out, and adhered him with pop dots:

Happy Birthday, Harvey!

I Wuff You

Ha!  I love this sweet little sentiment that comes with the puppy in the Woof Set from Art Impressions.  This is one of the Ai Zoo Babies - and Lora has all four Zoo Babies in the One Crazy Stamper store, so you'll want to check them out!  I decided to do something different with today's cards, as I'm usually a bit of a patterned paper junkie.  I love all the watercoloured backgrounds that I'm seeing on people's blogs, so I cut some small rectangles of watercolour paper, grabbed some of my mini Distress Inks and got to work.  Here's what I came up with:

 The first card uses Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks.  I tapped each ink onto a clear acrylic block which I used as my watercolour palette.  Then I dipped my paintbrush into clean water and wet the cardstock.  With a slightly damp brush, I picked up the Raspberry (pink) ink and dabbed it three or four times onto the wet area of the paper.  The ink immediately started to spread wherever the paper was wet.  After cleaning the brush, I then picked up the Mustard (yellow) ink and did the same thing.  You can see the areas where the two colours met and blended - forming an orange shade.  I love the randomness of the pattern!  The ink will only go where the paper is wet, which allows you to have some control.

The second card uses Peacock Feathers and Mustard Seed again.  I love watching the colours blend!  And if you don't find the colours to be deep enough, you simply drop more ink onto the paper until you achieve a colour that you're happy with.  You'll get the best results if you remember how we all learned about the colour wheel in school... red + yellow = orange, blue + yellow = green etc.  But I encourage you to get out your Distress Inks or a set of watercolours, and play! 

 I coloured the puppies with Copic markers, picking up the colours of the background for their ribbons.  Then I fussy cut them out, and popped them up on pop dots.  Here's what you can find in the OCS store:

Art Impressions Woof Set (Sku#4532)

Fabriano Watercolor Paper

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini Kit #1

Copics used: E57, E55, E53, E51, E50, YR18, YR16, YR12, BG15, BG13, BG11

I Wuff You

It's my day to post on the Art Impressions blog!

I can't seem to stop using the sweet Zoo Babies stamps... today I'm sharing a card using Wuff Set (Sku #4532):

I love the sentiment that comes in the set "I Wuff You".

There is still time to join our Front & Back challenge - and we will have a brand new challenge on the blog on Thursday!  Happy stamping!

Copics used: E49, E57, E55, E53, E51, E50, R35, R32, R30

Bananas card

I am posting on the Art Impressions blog today.

If you don't own any of the Ai Zoo Babies yet, you need to check them out!  (And if you only own one or two, then you need to get them ALL!)  These are the sweetest little critters, and make perfect baby cards, or a card for a toddler.  Today I'm using Bananas Set (Sku#4531):

There is still time to participate in our "Have a Heart Challenge" over on the Ai blog - we want to see your creations with a heart on them.  Happy Stamping!

Copics used - Monkey: E57, E55, E53, E51, E50

Bow: B95, B93, B91

What's New? Challenge

The Art Impressions Design Team is back today with our first challenge of 2015!  It's called "What's New?"  It's a New Year, so we want to see you using something that's new... a new stamp that you've never used, maybe a new technique?  I'm using three new products on my card today - this cute little Zoo Baby elephant in the Dream Big Set (Sku#4533), some new Teresa Collins papers (I bought these before I even owned the Dream Big set, but knew that I'd be getting it soon...) and I broke open a brand new package of sequins that I've had for a few months but never used:

 This is the version that I ended up with... but I initially made him up without the sequins (I think that I might be embellishment challenged - I hummed and hawwed over the sequins for a good 10 minutes!)  I actually like both versions, but would like to know what you think?

The designers are all sharing our New Year's Crafting Resolutions today, too -  this year I really would like to develop my watercolouring skills more.  I received a set of brushes and a lovely set of watercolour pencils for Christmas that I hope to put to good use shortly.  I love my Tombow markers too, so will continue to play and learn with them as well.  An ongoing resolution of mine is to continue learning and trying new things with my Copic markers.  What are your crafting resolutions?  We would love to hear them, and see what new creations you come up with - you can link them up on the Art Impressions blog, here.

Copics used - Greys: W7, W5, W3, W1, W00

Pinks - R37, R35, R32, R30

One Crazy Stamper January Challenge

Happy New Year!  Things have been quiet on my blog for the last few weeks... I've been celebrating the holidays with my family, and working on a bunch of CHA cards in every spare minute!  But I'm back in gear, and am looking forward to creating and posting cards in 2015.  The One Crazy Stamper Design Team is kicking off the new year with our January Challenge, which is "Blue & White and an embellishment!"  I am a big fan of the Art Impressions Zoo Babies, so I'm featuring Bananas Set (Sku#4531) today - and in sticking with our Blue & White theme, I've coloured my little monkey to match.  I was initially going for a softer, baby blue look - but he needed to be bolder to work with my papers (seriously bolder!):

I popped up the monkey using pop dots, and instead of just adhering him onto the polka dot paper, I cut a slightly larger circle out of it for a bit of a negative die cut effect:

 We would love to have you join us in our January challenge on the OCS blog - there is a wonderful High Hopes Stamps prize to be won!  You'll want to check out what the rest of the design team has to share this month as well.

From the One Crazy Stamper store: Art Impressions Bananas Set (Sku#4531)

Memento London Fog Ink

Xpress It Blending Cardstock

Adhesive Pearls - Brilliant Blue

Copics: B39, B37, B34, B32, B21, B07, B05, B02, B01, B00, B000, B0000

New Art Impressions Zoo Babies Hop!

The Art Impressions design team is hopping today to help launch the new line of Ai Zoo Babies now available on the Art Impressions website.  And OMG are you going to LOVE these little guys - there are four different animals, each with a sentiment.  They would be awesome for a baby or child's card, and would make amazing baby shower items... which is kind of what I was aiming for.  I've done a baby card, with a matching tag and gift bag using Wildly Cute Set (Sku #4534):

You should've come here from Cheri's blog... and your next stop along the way is Kerry.  For a complete list of hoppers today - head back to the Art Impressions blog, which is the first stop on our hop.  While you're there, you can read about the new challenge starting today on the Ai blog, which is Zoo or Animal themed - we hope you'll play along!