all in an inch

Seasons Givings - A special thank you!

Happy New Year 2017 !!

We are so excited to be included again in the Seasons Givings Blog Hop!

This really is a spectacular event and all the credit goes to Latisha Yoast for her vision and organization! She has created a wonderful way for all of us...to thank all of you...for the love and support that has enabled everyone on this list to continue to share their creativity. And, as we learned last year, this is a great way for us to introduce Inchie Arts - Art Squares to those unfamiliar with our products. 

 

 

This year we introduced our Little Village kits, Original and 2. The response has been tremendous and as we, and others, continue to experiment with how they can be used, there is no doubt that these will become part of your year round papercrafting and card making. If you are looking for samples and ideas on how to use Little Village kits be sure and visit the Inchie Arts Facebook page.

 

 

We would like to extend a very special thank you to all the artists and crafters who shared their work with us!! You continue to inspire and demonstrate that Art Squares are the perfect substrate for everything from stamping and coloring, mixed media, Gelli Plate, die masking, watercolor, stencils, Pan Pastels, Stendoodling, photo collages, cubes, tags and so much more.

 

 

 

 

Whether you already love our Art Squares....or are super curious to create with them....please leave a comment below on THIS POST as your entry to win this collection of Inchie Arts - Art Square and Little Village products. In order to be eligible please leave a comment between now and Sunday January 8th at 12 midnight PST. We will randomly select one winner and will post their name here on our blog, and on our Facebook page, on Tuesday January 10, 2017.

 

 

The Inchie Arts - Art Square Giveaway Package includes: 2 packages Original Little Village, 2 packages Little Village 2, one package each of white: 1" Inchie Squares, 3" Art Squares, 4" Art Squares, ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") Art Squares and 2" x 4" SWATCH Art Squares.

 THANK YOU for stopping by and we hope you will visit again to see if you won, but more importantly to explore this blog and our Facebook page to see what you can create with Art Squares. 

And what a list for this year - WOW! 

Lawn Fawn

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Reverse Confetti

Taylored Expressions

Paper Smooches

Neat & Tangled

Technique Tuesday

Clear & Simple Stamps

Richard Garay

My Sweet Petunia

JustNick

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Sunny Studio Stamps

Inchie Arts llc

Scrapbook Update

Buttons Galore

Latisha Yoast

Julia Stainton

ChariMoss

Cristina Nunez

Wanda Guess

Vera Yates

Amy Tsuruta

Mary-Ann Maldonado

Lori Craig

Lydia Fiedler

Jenn Shurkus

Lisa Henke

Dina Kowal

Libby Hickson

Emily Leiphart

Cindy Lawrence

Kelly Klapstein

Erica Houtghton

Elise Constable

Julee Tillman

Lee Murphy

Lisa Arana

Giovana Smith

Karen Baker

Lindsay Amrhein

Dana Joy

Marcie Sharp

Megan Hoeppner

Alicia Thelin

Asia King

Debbie Seyer

Yvonne Van De Grijp

Tenia Nelson

Michelle Woerner

Christina Griffiths

Lori McAree

Barbara Anders

Jill Hawkins

Veronica Zalis

Leigh Penner

Margie Higuchi

Amy Coose

Melody Rupple

Karen Letchworth

Heidi Ramsey Blankenship

Jennie Harper

Jodi Collins

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Gracie Chavez

Stephanie Klauck

Savannah O’Gwynn

Terre Fry

Neva Cole

Maria Levine

Misti Oblander

Ceal Pritchett

Thank you for visiting All In An Inch from Inchie Arts! Don't forget to leave a comment below on THIS POST as your entry to win the Inchie Arts - Art Square and Little Village products shown in the picture. In order to be eligible please leave a comment between now and Sunday January 8th at 12 midnight PST. We will randomly select one winner and will post their name here on our blog, and on our Facebook page, on Tuesday January 10, 2017.

Happy New Year everyone!! 

Chalkboard Marker Magic with Dina

It never ceases to amaze us all the super creative things that can be done with our black Art Squares!

For a Splitcoast stamper tutorial, Dina has stamped with Versamark ink on a black 3" Art Square, embossed with white and then used markers to color the embossing - what a fabulous idea!

Be sure and stop by her blog, Mama Dini's Stamperia for the details.

A special welcome to Simple Pleasures

It's always a joy to announce that an independent art/stamp store will be carrying our products! We are like proud parents when store owners and artists share our passion for creating with Art Squares. 

If you are in the Colorado Springs area be sure and stop by Simple Pleasures and perhaps you will see some of the samples we have sent Cathy to illustrate a few of the different ways for using Art Squares.  

  The card above was created by stamping a Fred Mullett Big Scallop stamp on a white 3" Art Square with Versamark clear ink. Dredge the Art Square in clear embossing powder and heat set. Then overpaint with watercolor paints (we used Koi) and use a damp paper towel to wipe away any excess paint from the stamped image.  

 

Ever a favorite technique with white ATC size Art Squares, this die masked card was created using the new Playful Posies die from Penny Black. (step by step directions for this technique can be found on an early blog posting HERE) 

 

 

Need a quick and easy birthday 'card' that's not a card?! Line up 4 white 2" Art Squares on your work surface with a light removable adhesive so they are fitting tightly together. Stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment first and then stamp the floral Centerpiece stamp across the other 3 squares with black die based ink. Color with markers and assemble using a coordinating Washi tape. (both the sentiment and floral stamp are from Penny Black)  

 

Photo mosaic cards are still our most favorite way to use black 1" Inchie Squares! You can either hand cut these 7/8" photos, use a single hand punch or if you want to stamp out 16 photo squares at once look for the new Garden Patch die from the Susan's Garden collection from Elizabeth Craft that was created to work with our 1" Art Squares!

 

Die Masking with Inca Gold Metallic Rub

Our friend Dianne Johnson recently shared with her readers a really unique take using our Die Masking Technique and it's so cool we had to share it with you.

In all of our past work with Die Masking (you can see earlier posts and step by step instructions if you click on die cuts in the Categories section) we have always started with white Art Squares and then used various colors of pigment inks as our coloring medium. 

We are in love with Dianne's version using a black Art Square and two different colors of Inca Gold Metallic Rub as the coloring medium. Not only that, but she used one color as a rub...and another as a paint and the results are stunning!

To see the step by step instructions with photos just click on this link to her blog called Backporch and be sure and check out all her other wonderful work as a member of the Magenta Design Team!   

Win 5 RubberMoon stamps and a package of 4" black Art Squares!

We had a wonderful time last week celebrating the launch of our new 4" black Art Squares with the artists and designers from RubberMoon.

But did you know there was a contest to win a stamp from each of the 5 artists featured and a package of the new 4" black Art Squares?!

If you haven't entered yet you have until Sunday at midnight 9 (CST).

Here is what you need to do....

Visit all of the posts here on the Inchie Arts blog and the RubberMoon BLOG for the 6 days of the event. Then, leave a comment on DAY 6 on the Rubbermoon BLOG about your favorite RM stamp or technique that was used during our promotion. The winner will be announced on the Rubbermoon BLOG. 

The 6th and last day of our black Art Squares event!

 

This holder, made from 5 - 3" black Art Squares, makes a perfect place to organize just the tools you need. In fact, what you see here are the pens we pulled from our every increasing stash to create this project. 

Our favorite silver metallic is a Uniball Gel Impact and our favorite gold is Gelly Roll metallic. Of course there are all kinds of metallic pens out there, we have just come to love how these look and feel as you draw with them on the black Art Squares. And of course we love the black Copic Multiliner pens in any size!

 

Begin by laying out 4 - 3" black Art Squares and anchor them on your work surface with a light tac adhesive. Begin doodling away....but leave the far left and far right edges blank before you get too far with your drawing. 

 

The reason you do this is because you are going to MOVE the square on the far right....and place it on the far left. Now you can draw a doodle pattern across the seam of where you have just placed it. This way, when you assemble the holder the design will be continuous all the way around!

 

This diagram illustrates how  every now and then you are going to move the #4 square to the #0 spot and draw across the seam between the two...and then move it back to the #4 spot and draw across the seam between #3 and #4. 

 

Alternate your doodle patterns between the gold and silver. 

 

 

We have found the PERFECT adhesive for assembling cubes and holders like this...GLOSSY ACCENTS is accurate in it's application, the applicator prevents you from putting down too much and it dries REALLY quickly!

 

As you are gluing the four sides together make sure that your patterns match at each corner. When dry, flip over and attach the bottom. 

Fill with rice or orzo.

(we started using Art Squares of all sizes for cubes and holders a long time ago and have a step by step photo tutorial here on the blog from September 10, 2012.  )

We hope you have enjoyed our week of ideas and inspiration all about black Art Squares. And, it has been a treat for us to partner with RubberMoon to celebrate the launch of our new 4" black Art Squares. Their designers have created some incredible projects...a very special thanks to Kae Pea, Barb Rogers, Lindsay Ostrom, Sunny Carvalho and Jessica Sporn. It's their last day of this special event too and if you visit their blog today they are ending this event with a giveaway!!

Day 5 - Four, three, two and....one and a half!

All the different sizes of black squares were lying blank on the desk waiting for an inspirational lightening bolt to strike about which one to post about next...but rather than choose, why not do more than one!  

 

Since the various sizes of Art Squares would be stacked, it seemed a good idea to make each layer a slightly different color along with a different image. From left to right; 4", 3"and 2" black Art Squares.

 

Paint each square quickly with Silks Acrylic Glazes using a wet brush. Since they will be stacked, you don't have to paint the middle. Just a light coating that will absorb slightly into the Art Square and leave a subtle color shimmer. Here you can see the striking contrast of how the same color looks when painted on a white Art Square.

 

After painting and drying all three squares go ahead and stamp around the border of each square using Brilliance Starlite Silver pigment ink and heat set after stamping.

 

Add a soft color coordinating accent color to stamped images with Prismacolor pencils.

 

Assemble by stacking one on top of another using dimensional foam tape.

 

 
   
This project has so many opportunities at this point ... using Lindsay Ostrom's idea from yesterday you could punch holes and add a 'hanger'... you could mount it as a box top on a square jewelry size box lid (like yesterday's project) ... or simply use it on a very special card!  

The stamps for this project were all from RubberMoon and were the perfect scale for this type of layering, including So Much, Heart Fly, Itty Bitty Heart and Wee Bird.  

Tomorrow is our last day of celebrating the launch of our new 4" black Art Squares and showing lots of different ideas for all of the sizes in black. Be sure and stop by the RubberMoon BLOG today and tomorrow to see what their artists and designers have created with the new 4" black Art Squares! 

Day 4 of ideas for black Art Squares...a sweet little posie 'mosaic' box top

Ever have that special gift that needs an equally special wrap or box? Make your own by decorating a jewelry size box top using 4 black 1.5" Art Squares and this Posie stamp from Savvy!

 

 

Prepare the 'mosaic' by adhering 4 - 1.5" black Art Squares to a small worksheet with a non permanent adhesive - just enough tack to hold the squares in place while you stamp and color them. Fit the squares tightly together on the work sheet and stamp the Posie repeatedly over the squares with white pigment ink. 

 

While the ink is still wet, cover with white embossing powder and shake off excess.

 

After heat setting and letting cool, begin coloring the first layer of Prismacolor pencils using the Sky Blue all over flower components.

 

Next, color over the first layer with Blue Slate, but only from the outside edge about 2/3 of the way towards the center of the flower. Blend using Sky Blue. 

 

Finish color layering with the darker shade of Blue Denim at the outside edges, a bit of Imperial Violet at the inside edges and Lemon Yellow directly over the white 'center' of the flowers. 

 

Apply a color coordinated square of paper on the box top, slightly separate the 4 squares of your 'mosaic' before you paste them down and then tie a decorative ribbon around the edge of the box top!

Be sure and visit the Rubbermoon blog today...and through Saturday to see the wonderful projects their artists and designers have created using our newest 4" black Art Squares!. 

Framing tiny photos with black inchies

 

Without a doubt one of my most favorite types of cards to create with inchies, especially the black ones, are photo cards using garden and nature images. They are even easier to create now using Susan's Garden, Garden Patch dies from Elizabeth Craft. The 7/8" size was designed to work with our 1" Art Squares and leaves a perfect 1/16" border when mounted on a 1" Art Square. And, you can cut out as many as 12 perfect photo squares at one time!  

 

The best pictures are the ones you take yourself, and these days you don't need a fancy camera to take great photos and cell phone cameras are great too. When I teach this class, I tell students to LOOK for textures and colors in nature rather than a pretty flower image. My most favorite time of year to wander out into the garden is the very early spring when things just starting to grow. You will be astonished at all the NEW green....so many different shades, textures and patterns! Don't be afraid to get close - these are the types of images that make for great cards.

 

 

If you are yearning for spring (and still have lots of snow) grab your camera or cell phone and head for the local garden center. And when garden season does arrive, if you don't have your own, take a walk around the neighborhood, or visit a local pea patch.  

The possibilities are endless!!   

Don't forget to visit the Rubbermoon blog every day this week to see what their design team has cooked up to celebrate the launch of the new 4" black Art Squares!! And return here for more tips and ideas through Saturday on working with all the different sizes of black Art Squares. 

 

Lots and lots of layering on a black 4"

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There is one thing that can be said for the new 4" black Art Squares. They make a great surface platform for layering. Less expensive than canvas or cradle board they are sturdy enough to stand up to lots of layers of paints. And, starting with a black versus a white square changes the look dramatically adding a deep richness right from the start.

Layering and texturizing are art concepts that we have just started to try now that we have the larger size squares. It is unlikely we could even recreate this piece, and that is the fun of it, to find out how experimenting can produce a great little piece of art.

This was created with layers of Silks Acrylic glazes in different colors applied one color at a time. Because we were just playing around and wanted to see what would happen, we used what we like to call the 'sandwich' technique of applying the paint. Put down a small glop on one black square and moosh it onto another...like a sandwich. When you peel them apart there is always a surprise! (this is a very non sophisticated way to do mono printing). Dry each layer before applying the next one, either air dry or heat setting. We did cheat a little at the end and used this same sandwich concept with a drop of white gesso and then applied the white gesso through a dot template.

 And what is even more fun is we have another, mirror image, but slightly different version of this one that we are saving for additional layering and maybe some stamping! 

 Don't forget to visit the RubberMoon blog every day this week to see the amazing projects of their artists on the new 4" black Art Squares. And check back here each day through Saturday as we provide tips and suggestions on ways to create with all of the sizes of black Art Squares.