Village Puzzle Maze

Happy Thursday AI Friends!

When I saw these a-MAZE-ing Village stamps and coordinating sets, my mind went way back to my childhood.  They reminded me of the fun little maze puzzle games I use to play with when I was a kid.

(I think I just dated myself.  LOL!)  

Hope some of you remember those puzzle games, but if not, hope you get inspired to create one of these for your kids/grandkids (or even yourself).  

I began by stamping many images from the #5889 - Village Vehicles and #5890 - Village Accessories sets, as well as the Exclusive (freebies) buildings (#5877-#5882) with Memento black ink onto cryogen white cardstock and colored with copic markers (listed below).  The Exclusive buildings are available for free each time you make a purchase of $30 or more from Art Impressions.  These are soooo darn cute!!  

After coloring each of the images, I fussy cut each one.  Took me about 20 minutes to cut them all out, so very easy and no time at all.  I lightly ran (from behind) the coordinating color marker along the sides to give a nice finished edge and added glossy accents to the windows of all images.  I die cut 3 black craft foam and one white cardstock with a maze die that I had in my stash.  Hint:  when cutting the craft foam, only run it through your cutting machine once as it tends to stretch if you run it back and forth and will distort the maze.  Adhere a piece of acetate between the white cardstock and one of the black foam pieces and then glue the other two black foam pieces to stack upon each other.  The layer should be white cardstock, acetate and three black craft foam.  Before glueing all of this base to the black cardstock on the back, make sure to slip a small ball (or BB) into the maze.  At this point, you can decorate the top of the puzzle with the colored images however you wish.

Here is a video with the ball moving within the maze just by turning and tipping the puzzle.

Here is a video using a magnetic wand to move the BB around the puzzle.  I just glued a magnet to the end of a dowel.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this brings back great memories for you!

Have a great day!! 

Copic markers used:

N1, N3, N4, N7

E21, E23, E25, E27, E55, E57

B0000, B01, B02, B05

R22, R24, R27

G40, G43, G36

YR16, YR61, YR65, YR68

Y13, Y15, Y19

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Swinging Pup

Happy Thursday!

Welcome to my first Design Team post.  

I had fun making an interactive card to fit with the current challenge "Raining Cats and Dogs".  

It's pretty simple and fun to make.

I began by stamping the dog images from AI sets #SC0649 - His and Hers Flying High and #SC0651 - His and Hers Campers onto cyrogen white cardstock and colored with copic markers (colors are listed below).   I then fussy cut both of the pups out.  This step is optional:  I stamped (but didn't color) a second one of each on heavy cardstock.  I fussy cut those out as well just inside the black lines and glued them behind the colored ones.  I like the stability and dimension.  

For the background, I stenciled clouds with Distress Oxide Broken China ink onto a piece of white cardstock and used the largest #5062 - Double Stitch Rounded A2 rectangle die.  I die cut three cloud panels and inked the cloud edge with the same ink.  I die cut each of the cloud panels with the rectangle die as well so that the edges would match up when layered all together.  

For the mechanism - I glued a 3/4 inch wide piece of acetate to the back of the parachute and punched a hole at the top where the pop dot will adhere through to create the swing effect.  I then trimmed up the acetate so that it won't show when the pup swings - see picture below.  I adhered one layer of the clouds directly onto the base cardstock and measured where I wanted the pup to fall.  Then I adhered a pop dot onto the base through the hole.   Place foam tape on the back side of the next cloud layer, leaving space for the swing mechanism.  Before adhering to the card, test the mechanism by holding the cloud layer over the pop dot and make sure your image swings freely.  Remove the pop dot release paper as well and the foam tape and place onto the card.  Lastly, add the last cloud layer over the top of the others. 

   

To finish my card, I added two layers of hillside with patterned paper to the bottom after cutting the bottom/side edges with the AI Double Stitched A2 Rounded rectangle die.  

 

Hope you enjoyed my initial post as an AI Design Team member as much as I enjoyed creating it.  

Have a great day!

Copics used:

E51, E53, E55, E57

B000, B02, B05, B06

Y32, Y35, Y38

R22 & R24

April Guest Designer - Say it with Sentiments

  I'm soooo excited!  I won the Guest Designer challenge at Art Impressions.  What a thrill!

  My theme assignment for April is “Say it with Sentiments”.  I have been wanting to make a reveal wheel card for the longest time, so I thought it would be perfect for this months challenge.  It’s very simple to make and no special dies are needed. 

To make the mechanism,  I cut one 1” circle,  three sawtooth edge circles (you can use a circle or scallop edge circle) approx. 4” in diameter – one from copy paper, one from colored cardstock and one from heavy weight cardstock.  If your colored cardstock is thick and sturdy, you can eliminate the third piece, otherwise, glue the heavy piece behind the colored cardstock for stability.  This is the wheel so you want it to be strong.  Take the ‘copy paper’ circle (template) and fold in half and then half again to make four quarters.  Make a small hole where the folds cross together (center point).  Place template over cardstock circle and make similar hole.  Take your template and cut your shape in all four quarters, near to the center.  I used a balloon, but you can use a star, circle, speech bubble, etc.,  whatever fits in each quarter and also fits your sentiments or image.  

 Place your colored cardstock in your stamped platform (using a sticky mat is helpful) and place the template over top.  Place your stamps within the die shapes and close the platform lid.  Remove the template and stamp your sentiments.  I used sentiments from the “Birthday Laugh Lines” and the “Be Happy Laugh Lines” stamp sets.  Take the 1” circle and make a small hole in the center (does not have to be exact).  Place a brad up through the small circle and then through the wheel circle.  Your mechanism is finished and ready.

  For the card, I stamped the man from the “Birthday Laugh Lines” on a 4.5” x 6”  piece of cryogen white cardstock using memento black ink and colored him with copic markers (see colors below).  I then die cut the balloon shape over the top of the stamped balloon image.  I lined up the reveal wheel behind the balloon hole only to determine where to place the largest rectangle die on the cryogen cardstock.  I taped the rectangle die in place, removed the wheel, and ran it through my die cut machine.  I then cut a partial circle on the side of the cryogen to match up with the turn part of the wheel.  Optional: Mat the image and cut corresponding partial circles to line up.  Make sure that the sentiments do not show through the partial circle when turning.   

Hold the wheel where you want it and turn the image (and wheel) over and place foam tape on the back side of the small circle and around the edges of the back side of the colored image piece, making sure not to place any foam tape on the wheel.  Remove all the tape coverings and carefully turn back over and place on your card background.  Test your wheel and you are now ready to put the finishing touches on your card.     

  I hope you enjoy my card and decide to play along with this challenge.  

 Products used:  Art Impressions #5115 - Birthday Laugh Lines 

                             Art Impressions #5279 - Be Happy Laugh Lines

                             Art Impressions double stitched circle dies #5064

                             Art Impressions double stitched largest A2 rectangle die #5063

                             Art Impressions Decorative Journal page die set - #5768

  Copics:  Skin – E13, E11, E01, E00

                  Cane and shoes – E37, E35, E33

                 Pants – B26, B24, B23, B21

                 Hat – B24, B21 & YR07, YR65

                 Shirt – YR07, YR65, YR61

                 Ground and hair – N3, N1 and N0

Shake, shake, shake

 New Challenge at Art Impressions is "Shake it Up".  

For this challenge I made a shaker magnet using the Art Impressions Happy Spring set (#5504).  I love this set!  It is so cute and exudes happiness!!  My grandson is going to LOVE this because it is a magnet so he can store it on the refrigerator and play with it whenever he wishes.  Shaker cards are so much fun!

I stamped the image on cryogen white cardstock and colored with copic markers.  I then used the third largest AI rounded rectangle A2 double stitched dies (#5062) to cut the cardstock.  I cut a window from the pattern paper using the coordinating die of the image from the Happy Spring set and then matched the window up to the image and cut the pattern paper with the same rounded rectangle die.  I placed a piece of acetate behind the pattern paper to make the window.  To add stability and thickness, I cut a second piece of heavy cardstock the same as the pattern paper and adhered it to the backside over the acetate.  I then placed foam tape around the backside of the window to secure the shaker bits in place and then adhered the window over the image.  To finish the magnet, I cut a grass border and die cut it with the rounded rectangle to match the bottom.  I cut a piece of orange cardstock with the second largest rectangle die and also a piece of heavy cardstock and layered those together (again for stability).  The sentiment came from the Happy Spring set as well.   I placed a business card magnet on the backside and placed it on the refrigerator.

Hope you enjoy my project!

That's Ridiculous

 Art Impressions challenge for this week is "That's Ridiculous" so anything funny.  Well, that's an easy one because Art Impressions has a huge selection of funny quip sentiments and images.  I decided to use an oldie but goodie called "Oldie PopCard".  This lady just cracks me up and the sentiment is perfect.

This image was part of the Pop Card set from Art Impressions where normally it would pop up inside when you open the card.  I made it a regular image and popped each of the pieces up with foam tape instead of the pop up mechanism.  It was so easy because each of the pieces has a coordinating die.  

I stamped the images on cryogen white card stock and colored with my copic markers.  I then popped each piece up with foam tape which made the image three dimensional.  My card base is a 6 x 6 card with the front piece cut down to a 2 x 6.  To do that I just cut 2" off of each side of the front flap.  I then adhered the lady on an oval and the oval onto the 2" strip.  I placed a smaller size oval inside (underneath the front oval) for my birthday wishes.

Hope you enjoy!

February Challenge

 Art Impressions is having a monthly guest designer challenge so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  For February, the theme is "All Creatures Great and Small" and I thought my card featuring the Art Impressions Gull-Friends stamp set would be perfect to enter this challenge.  I love interactive cards and this was a fun one to make.

I used the Lawn Fawn magic picture changer die to create the interactive mechanism.  I stamped the seagulls on cryogen white card stock and colored with my copic markers.  The presents and the sentiment are from the Art Impressions Birthday Buggy set.  Balloons are dies from my stash. 

Just a few hints that might be helpful:  Make sure to stamp the seagull images on card stock large enough to cut the dies.  Mechanism might not slide as well if you die cut the image and paste it on.  Also, color before cutting.  

The magic changer die set is all inclusive so you just have to cut the pieces and decorate, then place onto your card base.  

Hope you enjoy!

You're a Gem

Art Impressions is having a challenge called "You're a Gem".

I think bling when I think of gems and what has more "bling" than a crown.  So, the Art Impressions Crown set was perfect for this challenge.  The lady in this set is so darn cute and has the best expression for any kind of "sass" on a card.  

I love fun shaped cards so I cut a crown shaped card out of black and gold glitter cardstock using my silhouette machine.  I decorated with gems to "bling" up the crown and make it sparkle.  I stamped the lady on cryogen white card stock and colored her with copic markers.  Then fussy cut her out and popped her up on the crown with foam dots.  Added a funny sentiment and my card is ready for that sassy friend that gets my humor.  😁  

Hope you have a crafty day!