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!! 

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!

 

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. 

 

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

Revisiting....CUBES!

 

There has been a recent renewed interest in cubes, and we just wanted to remind everyone that Art Squares are a perfect precision cut material for building them.

Click on the link below to see our original posting from 2012 showing step by step instructions on how to build them.

  http://inchiearts.typepad.com/inchie_arts/2012/09/basic-cube-assembly.html

or.... look to the right in the categories list of past postings and click on CUBES. 

We like to trim our photos to leave a 1/16" border from the edge of the image to the edge of the Art Square, making it look as if it is 'framed'. Now, instead of labor intense punching you can use the new Grid Works dies from the Susan's Garden collection from Sissix that were designed to use specifically with our Art Squares. They are available in 5 different sizes to work with our 1", 1.5", 2", 3" and ATC size Art Squares!    

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. 

Samples on their way to the UK

We always try really hard to send sample cards that utilize the size and color of the Art Squares that a store has ordered. At the same time, we often stretch a bit trying new techniques or different sizes and colors. 

This card was made by covering a 2" white Twinchie Square with strips of Washi Tape and then running the square through a die cut machine. (we did a couple of earlier posts in April using a masking paper technique that is similar) This technique is perfect with Art Squares because the die cuts into the square and through the Washi Tape or masking paper, but not through the Art Square. After you run the die and square through the machine gently peel away either the image (as in this case) or the background. The die is from Savvy Stamps and the sentiment is from Rubbermoon.  

 

 

It's been a while since we worked on photo cards and creating them is a guilty pleasure because not only do you reminisce about where you took the photos, but they are really fun to put together. This was created using a 7/8" square punch and black 1" Inchie Squares - leaving a perfect 1/16" margin around every photo. The sentiment is from Savvy Stamps.

 

With the appearance of so many different types of inks and sprays, paints and dies in the marketplace it is really fun to experiment. We were recently introduced to Splash Inks (thank you Karen!) and have begun tinkering with them - they are unbelievable! 

First lightly tack down 5 white 1" Inchie Squares on your work surface making sure they fit tightly together. Create squiggles all over the squares 'like waves' with a Versamark pen. Next stamp the Rubbermoon fish in two different pigment ink colors across the Art Squares. Dust the entire surface with clear embossing powder and heat set. Using an egg shell palette, place 1 drop of blue Splash Ink  in the well and add about a half a teaspoon of water to lighten and dilute the color. Apply this color with a brushpen over all of the squares - repeat - revealing the white Versamark 'waves'. Separate the squares a tiny bit when you mount them on the card. 

Working with Splash Inks is like opening a Pandoras box, stay tuned for future posts using these fabulous acrylic mixing colors.  

(and if you want to see these sample cards in person, visit Wolfs Head Crafts in Chorley, Lancashire!)

Cactus photo cards with Inchie Squares

From 2 different photos, mounted on dark cream Inchie Squares
 

I was recently in Arizona and took a ton of photos. I love mixing and matching textures from close-up photos. It's super easy to create these using a 7/8" square punch which leaves a perfect 1/16" border around the edge of the photo. Try using different color Inchie Squares and an assortment of paper backgrounds and card stocks to coordinate with the colors in the photos.

 

From 5 different photos, mounted on dark gray Inchie Squares 

 

From 3 different photos, mounted on dark cream Inchie Squares

 

From 9 different photos, mounted on black Inchie Squares

 

You just never know what you will see out on a morning walk!!

Instead of punching out the photo. Using a paper trimmer, cut the image down to a 2-5/8" square and then cut that into 9, 7/8" squares to create an inchie puzzle. Mounted on light gray Inchie Squares.

 

From 1 photo trimmed to 2-3/4" then cut into 4 equal pieces each measuring 1-3/8". Mounted on light gray 1-1/2" Inchie + Squares.

 No kidding...and this was atop at least a 7' cactus!  

Photo cards - colors and textures

4 white 1-1/2" Inchie + Squares

We can't seem to stop making photo cards and just wanted to share a few of the latest that we have taught in recent classes. When you shift the focus of attention to colors and textures rather than just a pretty picture, the results can be wonderful. We invite everyone to get out in the garden, set your camera to a close up setting and snap away! Whether using 1-1/2" Inchie + Squares (as in the card above) or creating a sequence puzzle (below) with 1" Inchie Squares...it's hard to go wrong.

 

5 black 1" Inchie Squares

 

1 dark gray 2" Twinchie Square

 

9 black 1" Inchie Squares

 

1 light gray 2" Twinchie Square

 

3 black 1-1/2" Inchie + Squares

 

5 black 1" Inchie Squares

Tip: When we are creating photo cards with our Art Squares, we always leave a 1/16" border all the way around each photo to create an effect that is quite different from flush mounting the photos all the way to the edge of the square.

This can be achieved by trimming your photos as follows:

For 2" Twinchie Squares; trim photo to 1-7/8" square

For 1-1/2" Inchie + Squares; trim or punch photo to 1-3/8" square

For 1" Inchie Squares; trim or punch photo to 7/8" square

A recent photo cards class

 It was the final card in the class...

The directions were to pick 3 photos from a table full of 4 X 6 garden photos of varying degrees of quality.

Then using a 7/8" punch...punch out 9 squares.

Then attach the photos to black Inchie Arts Inchie Squares and mount on a card.

These are the results....

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The results are just stunning....

 

A very sincere thank you to the class participants from Art N Soul in Lacey, Washington for allowing me to share their work. We had so much fun that we are planning a 'workshop' class to spend 2 hours doing nothing but making cards using this technique!