Halloween Shadow Box

Today I am literally stepping outside the box!  Halloween is definitely the occasion that is the most fun for me when it comes to cardmaking, and I knew that the Happy Haunting Set (Sku #4940) from Art Impressions required something special.  This set is just screaming for you to make a scene!  I decided that I would learn how to make a shadow box card:

I started by cutting a circle mask from a post-it note, and used my Distress Inks to sponge a spooky night sky:

 I cut two pieces of black cardstock 5" x 7", scoring at 1/2" and 2".  On one of them I used a 4" square die to cut out a window:

 Using some lime green cardstock, I cut three hillsides in graduated heights, and scored each of them 1/2" from each side to attach them to the walls of the shadow box:

 I coloured up the haunted house and owls on a branch using my Copic markers (I'm all about bright and fun for Halloween, so that dictated my colour choices):

 I trimmed the background panel to 5" square, stamped the tree and bat, and trimmed the highest hillside piece to fit on it and glued it all down.  I joined the two black pieces together, folding on the score lines.  The house is attached to the middle piece, which sits 3/4" in front of the back:

 I glued it all together, added the owls and the lowest hillside to the front of the box, and here is the finished product:

I stamped one of the seven sentiments that is included with the set, and I (ahem) *may* be sneaking a peek of a not-yet-released product that will be available soon on the Ai website!  (shhh...)  I had a blast making my shadow box, it took a little longer than your typical card, but the end result was worth it - oh, and it folds perfectly flat for mailing! 

 The new challenge on the Ai blog is "Off Kilter" - we want to see your tilted panels on your creations.  *I'm going to go with tilted fences on mine!  Here are all of the Halloween/Thanksgiving sets that are now available on the Art Impressions website:

  Happy stamping!

Create a Background Challenge

I've been waiting for a while for the Art Impressions Funny Farm stamp sets to be released!  They're really fun :o)  All four sets are now available on the Ai website - and the entire Design Team are sharing projects with them today on the blog.  Here is Doggy Kisses Set (Sku #AiCS38):

 This is just one of the four main images included in the set, as well as a whole bunch of Get Well sentiments.  Our current challenge on the Ai blog is "Create a Background - so I pulled out four tonal Distress Inks and blended them onto a piece of watercolour paper.  Then I sprinkled some water with my paintbrush and let it dry.  I mounted my circles off center on their black mats, raised the sentiment with pop dots and added a few Enamel Gumdrops.  AND... I have a coupon code for you to shop with on the Ai site - Art Impressions is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a 30% off deal - check it out:

 Hope you can play along!

Copics used: E55, E53, E51, E44, E43, E41, R32, R30, B02, B01, B00, B000, B28, B26, B24, B21, 

Dancing Easter Tots

I am up on the Art Impressions blog today!

I adore everything about Easter colours - they're so fresh & pretty, and after a long winter like this one, they're a welcome change.  I am using the sweet Dancing Easter Tots (Sku #T4019) for my card:

 I blended six different distress inks onto my card base, then sprayed it with some Tattered Angels shimmer mist that gives a wonderful shimmer to the background, as well as some lovely texture from the moisture of the mist.  I ran a line of stitching 1/4" in from the edge with my sewing machine to frame the image.  After colouring with Copic markers, I fussy cut around the image, and used pop dots to adhere it to the base for a little dimension.  I had these wonderful pastel sequins that perfectly matched my inks so I sprinkled a few of those on as well.

 The sentiment is from Celebrate Spring MTF (Sku #4849).  Here is a shot to show how much the background glimmers:

 There are all kinds of sweet Easter stamps in the Ai store, you can find them all here.  Happy stamping!
Copics used: C3, C1, BV02, BV00, E11, E00, E000, E51, E51, E34, E31, R20, R81, BG11, B35, E57, E55, E53, YG01.

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Too Cute to Spook

The Art Impressions Design Team are all sharing inspiration today using the three newly released Ai Halloween clear sets!  They're all divine, scroll down to see a graphic showing them all.  I am using the Old Bat Set (Sku #4784), which has two of the most hilarious images - plus three small accent images and three sentiments:

 As soon as I saw her, I knew I'd be showing her popped up over a nice golden moon.. so here is the Old Bat in all her glory :o)  For my second card, I made a sunset/night sky background using my Distress Inks and sponge applicators:

I have to give a shout out to my crafty friend, Donna - for giving me a few tips and some confidence to get using my distress inks for the background!  The witch, moon & sentiment are all popped up on pop dots, and I added a sprinkling of tiny sparkles as my stars. These are all available now from the Ai website:

I'll be back soon with more Halloween projects to share.  Our current challenge on the Ai blog is "Too Cute to Spook" - we want to see your Halloween creations!  Copics used in today's bat card:
E11, E00, E000, R20, R30, Y26, Y23, E50, YG03, YG01, YG00, C7, C5, C3, C1, BV08, BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00.  And in my Boos card: E11, E00, E000, R20, R30, Y23, C7, C5, C3, C1, B05, B02, B01, B00, B000, RV17, RV14, RV13, YG03, YG01, Y38, Y35, Y32.

Freshly Made Sketches #235

I am so happy to have a little free time to participate in this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  And strangely enough, I was able to put together two cards, using some pre-painted panels that were sitting on my craft desk.  I painted these about 6mths ago, and only bought this Lawn Fawn plaid paper pack a few weeks ago - so the fact that the colours all worked, and the design of the panels fit the challenge was too bizarre for words...

Here was our sketch:

Plaid papers are Lawn Fawn, Stamp set is Close To My Heart, YNS Gumdrops, Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Wooden Door Watercolour

 I have another Ai Watercolor Mini card to share with you today - this one is using Wooden Door (Sku #4702):

 The set includes four stamps: The door, the wreath, the logs & the small tree.  It is perfect for a Christmas card, but I made mine more of a general winter themed card, by using non traditional colours.  I wrapped some irridescent twine around the base, multiple times, and sprinkled on a few irridescent sequins, and then added pop dots to the matted circle so that it could sit over top of the twine.  There are also some tiny clear sparkles on the wreath to act as the berries.  The card itself is 5" square, and was painted with a combo of Distress Inks, and both Marvy & Tombow markers.

 Have you tried the Art Impressions Watercolor Minis yet??  You can find them all here - and if you scroll back over the last several Wednesdays on the Art Impressions blog, you'll find some amazing tutorial videos done by Bonnie Krebs, showing step by step instructions on how to paint with these wonderful stamp sets.

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Watercolour Valentines

 Have you seen the newest Art Impressions release of several Valentine sets??  One of them is a clear acetate set featuring the cutest little skunks, several sentiments and some additional accent images.  I am featuring a couple of cards with the cute skunk couple from In The Air Set (Sku #4753):

 I made a watercolour background using three different distress inks, on some Ranger watercolour paper.  The paper has both a textured side, and a smooth side, so I tried one of each, and don't really have a preference?  They were both easy to work with.  I kept things simple and mounted them onto a plain white card base, added some Baker's twine and popped up the fussy cut image over the sentiment.
Copics used: C7, C5, C3, C1, C00, BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00, R20

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