all in an inch

Use Little Village pieces as sentiment banners

 

 

Whether you have a few extra pieces left over from your Little Village kit(s), or you have discovered that you can cut up the carrier sheet that comes in the package to trim more bits and pieces from our signature matboard, don't throw them away!!

They make the perfect little banners for sentiments. 

There always seems to be a holiday where we are running around looking for the perfect little gift box. So we keep a stash of shallow jewelry style boxes that have a top that measures 3-5/8" square. Of course this is the PERFECT size to cover and decorate with either 9 Inchie Squares, 4 - 1.5" Art Squares or 1 - 3" Art Square!    

(if you frequent the Inchie Arts FB page you may have seen the Washi tape box tops in February)

• Paint a white 3" Art Square with Bashful Blue and Wild Iris Twinkling H2O watercolor- dry completely.
• Stamp Impress Embroidered Snowflake with white gesso (be sure and wash stamp promptly with a toothbrush before gesso dries) - dry.
• Stamp select leftover pieces from your Little Village kit with appropriate sentiments
• Assemble, and overlap sentiment banners on the completed 3" Art Square.
• Glue 1 or 2 coordinating colors of trimmed cover weight paper to box top, then finished 3" Art Square on top of that 

Be sure and visit Ellen Hutson's inspiration and education blog, theCLASSROOM, every day this week as they join us in celebrating everything Inchie Arts - including 20% off all in-stock Inchie Arts merchandise at Ellen Hutson LLC.

And join us here for the next several days as we share even more Little Village creations! 

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!!

Twelve Days of Trees - Day 7

It’s amazing all the "trees" you can find hidden in our Art Squares! 

Today Elizabeth Allan (a member of our design team!) has created a stylish and modern evergreen that is dressed in a splash of mixed media. We are always excited to see the three dimensional projects that she creates using Art Squares in alternative ways, and this one would be the perfect addition to your holiday decor.  

 To create your own forest:

Cut three triangles from a 3” White Art Square that are each 3 inches tall and have a 1 inch base. Trim a 1 ½” White Art Square into a triangle that will fit as the base.

Next, glue the triangles and base together to form a three-sided box. We like using Glossy Accents as the glue because you don't have to use much to create a quick drying firm bond between edges. (Hint: to add stabilization weight, fill the box with plastic beads before attaching the base.)

Using gel medium, cover the tree with text paper and once dry, paint with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors. Stamp the tree with a flourish - Penny Black: Flower Sweet 30-096 in Emerald City StazOn.
Apply one coat of gloss varnish as a finishing touch.
Embellish with a stand created from silver hardware (screw post and a washer).

Why not make several, each with a slightly different color application, for a holiday forest perfect for a tabletop or mantel display!

Thank you Elizabeth for this wonderful contribution to our Twelve Days of Trees!

"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." -  Minnie Aumonier 

Twelve Days of Trees - Day 4

Make your own Tic Tac Toe!

When we first started the Inchie Arts company our emphasis was all on 1" Inchie Squares. And, one of our first products was this neat magnet board that could be used as the perfect place to display your inchie creations. It also happens to be the perfect size for a personalized Tic Tac Toe!

We created our version using the tiny tree stamp from the Impress Botanical Wreath set. Begin by stamping the tree in the center of 12 white 1" Inchie Squares using VersaMark ink. Heat set with clear embossing powder. Draw a fun border with a 0.3 Copic Multiliner pen, drawing a different border for each set of 6 before painting the inside area. We blended our own green and red using Splash Acrylic Inks. Once dry, cut a small section of self adhesive magnet from the 36" X 1/2" strip (we still carry these!) and attach to each finished Inchie Square. 

Leave a comment to win this Tic Tac Toe game!

We have a few of these 5" square magnet boards left and will be giving this one away - Tic Tac Toe markers and all! Just leave a comment here on our blog, or on our Facebook page, at any time during the Twelve Days of Trees. We will randomly select one winner from all the comments and will post their name on both the blog and FB on Tuesday December 23, 2014.  

  "There is, I conceive, scarcely any tree that may not be advantageously used in the various combinations of form and color.”  - Gilpin

The perfect purse size box

This is such a great idea from Dina as part of the Splitcoaststampers Holiday Tutorial event running from November 9 through 16! 

While she created this neat little purse size box for a particular purpose it would be a great gift idea as well. After constructing the basic box framework from cardstock she used white ATC size Art Squares for the front and back covers, stamping and then painting with watercolors.

For the specific constructions details visit Mama Dini's Stamperia!   

Using ATC's to create a gift card holder!

When Elizabeth looks at our Art Squares not only does she see a perfect surface for stamping, coloring and painting...but she sees a material that can be manipulated into other things.

In this case, she has used 3 ATC size Art Squares to create a holiday theme gift card holder.

It is ridiculously clever how she trimmed a dark gray ATC Art Square to create the middle 'frame' for the gift card and then sandwiched it in-between 2 full size white ATC's which she stamped with a Penny Black stamp and then added further decorative elements with Stickles and glitter.

She provides lots of details for this holiday theme card holder over at Studio Sessions, as well as the steps to create one that is perfect for non seasonal use like birthdays, thank you's or teacher gifts!

 

 

Studio Sessions - a wonderful new blog!!

Accomplished papercrafters Jill Foster and Elizabeth Allan have just launched a new blog...

"Studio Sessions".

It's a wonderful concept well explained by their tag line...

" A place where all artists can visit to share in the inspiration and ideas of two friends who share a love of all things creative"  

We couldn't be more excited that they have chosen to use Art Squares for their first week of project postings!!

 

Elizabeth's idea of turning a pair of 3" white Art Squares into the covers for a notepad is brilliant! 

Join us in wishing Jill and Elizabeth best wishes as they embark on their latest creative venture...and be sure and stop by "Studio Sessions" to see the details of this, and their other Art Square projects this week!

 

Valentine Sneak Peek #3

Having never worked with Silks Acrylic glazes before I was in need of tips and inspiration and visited the Luminarte Blog  and the amazing work of Jodi Ohl. I was also really curious how Silks would perform on the absorbent surface of Art Squares.

What a blast! Because the Art Squares are matboard weight they can tolerate layer upon layer of the glazes, and even a middle layer application of standard white acrylic white. What is so cool about the Silks glazes is they have a sparkly quality when dry, from bits of mica, and their texture can be manipulated with a bit of heat.

This was created by assembling the 9 white Inchie Squares (with a light adhesive) on a work surface and painting away with different layers of color...drying in between each layer. The Impress stamped images were added at the end using Brilliance graphite black ink. I am definitely a newbie when it comes to mixed media but find myself more and more drawn to this very fun and creative process.  

Hope to see you at Impress Tukwila on Saturday from 10 to noon!

Photo Memory Cubes!

Making a photo cube with precision cut Art Squares is super quick and easy. Sharon created this one using 3" white squares and custom coloring the edges with Copic marker. Visit Sharon's blog, Paperfections, to see the details, or visit our original "step by step" directions here. 

An inchie phone charm

Although Dina made this one for herself, this is a great idea for a holiday gift!

It always amazes me how much detail and nuance you can fit on a 1" inchie Art Square.

Be sure and visit Mama Dini's Stamperia for the details on this project