Arden's Blog - The Aartvark Studio: 2018

Sunday, December 30, 2018

So Hoppy

This great frog will be available January 3rd as a part of our Sale-a-Bration kickoff. It's free with a qualifying purchase.

The book pictured is The Very Funny Frog , a pop up book by Jack Tickle.

Look carefully and the flies' wings are iridescent (with Wink of Stella).

and now he dances. I used a Wobble Spring to make him move.

To put the wobble spring in, I cut a little hole behind the wheel with a 1/2" circle punch and made a slit to slide the back of the spring. The ribbon hides the slit.

Sometimes life wins.
I thought I’d share a few cards that I’ve made recently.
The cat punch is in the annual catalog. Starting January 3, there are two new cat and dog stamp sets and a dog punch. Yes, and this stitched heart die.

And an old favorite, for a boy and a girl. I think the tufted folder looks just like a baby quilt!

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The Aartvark Favorites 2017

I put together a short list of my very special favorites from the Retiring list, in reverse order...Drum roll, please!

#5. Magical Day Bundle

This little stamp set and matching dies are truly magical. A unicorn, mermaid, magician and a knight in shining armor. I'm hoarding this set... (#145985)

#4. Picture Perfect Party Paper

I love to have paper in 6" precut sizes. For some reason, I use them first. This paper is great for a quick birthday card. And my birthday cards seem to always be last minute. Get two! # 145559

#3 Petal Passion

I have a special spot for black and white paper designs. The matching stamp will be in the next catalog, but you NEED this paper to go with it! Really! #145589

#2. Rose Wonder and Rose Garden
I LOVE these roses! They are fun to watercolor! If I only had one stamp, this might be it for me. #140697 & 140619

#1. Teeny Tiny Wishes
This is my go-to stamp set. I use it on almost every card. I love the different fonts. Collect this one. You won't be sorry.

Check out these items and lots more retiring products before they are gone! I hope you will try my online store.

Petal Passion Designer Series Paper
$11.00

Picture Perfect Party 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
$10.00

Magical Day Clear-Mount Bundle
$45.75

Teeny Tiny Wishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set
$27.00

Rose Garden Thinlits Dies
$31.00

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set
$27.00

Monday, April 9, 2018

OH NO! The retiring list is out! There's some of my favorites in there! SHOP now before they are gone! I'll put a list together of my top picks really soon!

Shop now!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Dancing Panda!

Did you know the Party Panda can dance? I added a little Wobbler gadget to it.

This cute little guy is only available until March 31. Check out my store!

This is a really short video (more like a gif) - no guarantees on what YouTube puts on after it. (sorry)

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Celebrate YOU!

This week I'm focussing on some of the amazing stamp sets that are available for FREE during Sale-a-Bration. The idea came from Ras Harper . She used the Painted with Love suite.

I wanted to make a very quick little card. So I chose a fancy Designer Series Paper to do all the hard work for me. Picture Perfect Party paper (Bet you can't say that three times fast!) has some fun papers.

The new Celebrate You dies were perfect for my occasion. Then I just added three little coordinating banners and some fun sequins.

This is very mailable too!

Note that the Peekaboo Peach paper is retiring soon and the Celebrate You dies are available FREE with purchase during Sale-a-Bration - ending SOON!

Picture Perfect Party 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
$10.00

Celebrate You Thinlit Dies
$0.00

Banner Triple Punch
$23.00

Iridescent Sequin Assortment
$5.00

Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Peekaboo Peach 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Lemon Lime Twist 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

The Stamparatus

I made a short video about the Stamparatus(TM) showing four little helpful accessories I use with it. The Stamparatus is a new tool that helps you stamp more accurately and clearly. If you don't have one yet, it will be available in the new catalog. And - you can start collecting accessories for it! I'm only showing one of the two plates in my video - more tips on how to use it to stamp in a forthcoming video!

Sunday, March 18, 2018

I CASEd the catty

Do you drool over that cake card in the Occasions catalog like I do? I love that flower and that background - WOW! Today I gave in and made it! It's not for the faint of heart. Worth every minute, or maybe a bit longer.

and the one in the catalog (ahhh)

The background is watercolored with three colors: Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie and Peekaboo Peach. I tried the stamp - nope, you need to watercolor on paper. I wet the paper quite a bit.

The cake is Pool Party. I'm guessing fondant.. I wet my stamp with VersaMark, then Pool Party. I embossed it in clear. That made the flowers stand out against the same color background.

That flower - I tried several things. Eventually I simply colored on the stamp with Calypso Coral, Tangelo Twist and Peekaboo Punch Stampin' Write markers.

The extra bits are pretty simple, just cut paper in your Big Shot. I stamped before cutting the two flowers and leaf.

I think the cake must be on a copper or gold cake stand. After putting so much work on the cake, I decided it should be gold! Copper might compliment the peaches better. I cut the banners by hand.