all in an inch

The most gorgeous ornaments....from inchies!

Dina has truly outdone herself with these incredible ornaments...all made from Inchie Squares!!

Not only that, but she has created a very detailed step by step tutorial that you can view over at the Splitcoaststampers website.

WOW!!

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. 

 

We have a winner!

 

We had a blast during our Twelve Days of Trees event and want to thank you all for joining us!

And, to announce the winner of the Magnet Display Board and Tic Tac Toes 'inchies'...

Congratulations to Katie Bond!

(Katie, please send an email to [email protected] with your mailing information)

Happy Holidays everyone!  

 

 

Twelve Days of Trees - Day 12

 

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Twelve Days of Trees. This was a totally last minute idea - and we owe a big hug to all who took time out of their crazy holiday schedules to share their 'tree' inspirations!

We would like to end on a favorite project of ours - using Inchie Squares to create your own custom inchie 'tree' for a perfect (and quick) holiday greeting card.

 - use your favorite photos; from floral to family, pets or projects

- these cards have 6 squares, but you could use 7 and add a centered 'trunk' at the base

- trim photos to a precise 7/8" squares using a punch, paper trimmer or Sissix GridWorks die

- center on each Inchie Square leaving a perfect 1/16" border around the photo and glue down 

- we used black Inchie Squares, but you can use any of our 7 available colors to coordinate with your photos (white, ivory, dark cream, wheat, light gray, dark gray or black)

- you can even add a bit of holiday sparkle by coloring the edges with a Krylon Gold or Silver leaf pen

There is still time to enter to win the Tic Tac Toe magnetic display board from Day 4.

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.  

"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees." - Karle Wilson Baker

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

An inchie mosaic

Gorgeous isn't it!

We told Dina when we first saw the photo of this card that we thought she was single handily creating renewed interest in using Inchie Squares in card projects!

She created this beauty for a Mix-Ability 'inchie' challenge using black Inchie Squares and stamps from Impression Obsession's Valentine release (so jealous she gets to use them before the rest of us!)

We spend so much time educating artists about the properties of our Art Squares and how they are so fabulous to use with direct application of wet media that we ourselves forget how perfect they are as a surface for an inchie mosaic or puzzle - especially the black and darker colors. By using the Sissix Gridworks die you are able to punch out 9 perfect 7/8" squares from your art. When you mount them on the Inchie Squares that leaves a perfect 1/16" border all around.

Suffice it to say that it can get a little challenging reassembling the squares (wink wink) but the results are simply stunning!

Visit Mama Dini's Stamperia for the details.   

 

An Inchie Quilt!

There are so many tiny details to this wonderful quilt style card that Dina has created using 9 white Inchie Squares. The combination of pink and green papers (and some from her own gel prints) works perfectly with a 'real' quilt pattern. And she even replicated stitching using an embossing folder.

The best secret about this card was instead of labor intensive hand or paper trimmer cutting, she used the Sissix Grid Works die that was created by Susan Tierney Cockburn to work with our Art Squares. This particular die cuts 9 squares at one time that leave a perfect 1/16" border when glued to the Inchie Squares!

For all the details, visit Mama Dini's Stamperia.

Inchies!!

 

If it's been awhile since you worked with Inchie Squares this may inspire you to get them out again! We love several things about the card that Dina has created:

- she used sweet floral stamp images from Impression Obsession

- the images were randomly stamped on one piece of sticky label paper

- which was then cut out into 9 perfect 7/8" squares using Susan's Grid Works die from Sissix

- and then mounted on our ivory 1" Art Squares 

(Inchie Squares Art Squares are available in seven different colors making it easy to coordinate - white, ivory, dark cream, light gray, wheat, dark gray and super black) 

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!

A last minute ornament

If you are looking for a great family activity for Christmas Eve you might consider making ornaments for the tree.  Although they won't be on the tree for very long, they will be a pleasant surprise to unwrap next year!

Any size of Art Squares can be used to make a cube, and you can see in Dina's posting that she used the 1" Inchie Square size, stamped and colored it and then embellished with coordinating ribbon.  

(our original posting of the Basic Cube Assembly tutorial on September 10, 2012 can be found if you click here)