Inchies

Good things come in small packages. You’ve heard it a million times and it’s usually true! Especially when the “good thing” is handmade, from the heart,  a reflection of the person who created it, and only 1” square. Of course I’m talking about inchies. 

What’s an inchie? An inchie is a work of art, an adorable, collectible canvas that is a huge amount of creativity in a tiny 1” square. Trade them, collect them, share them, frame them, make one-of-a-kind inchies, or duplicate them for inchie swaps. Create inchie magnets, charms, ornaments, and jewelry.  One of my favorite ways to share my inchies is on greeting cards...and since we are celebrationg World Card Making Day, I am going to  focus on inchie uses for cards. We will start with a great inchie and build an entire card around it. You can also use them in groups on a card. Or make an inchie mosaic card. Or make a teeny tiny 1” card. The possibilities are endless. Let’s look at a few ideas.

First, we’ll need an inchie. Using the Large Block Party squeeze punch, punch a 1” square. This is your inchie canvas. Now, decorate it using stamps, markers, paints, punched shapes, fabric, glitter, jewels, patterned papers, rub-ons, stickers...get the idea? There are no limits to creating your 1” square work of art! Working with such a tiny canvas might seem over(under?)whelming at first, but if you’ll just follow along here, you’ll see just how simple and rewarding this little process truly is.

For this “Tweet” card, I punched a 1” square and added a stamped background. There are two ways to do this. Either punch then stamp like I did or you can stamp your image on a larger piece of paper and decide with part of it you like best for your inchie and then punch that section out. When you use the Compact Stamp Press, you can see exactly which part of the stamp will be on your square, which makes the first method very simple.

 After stamping, I added rub-ons and my initials. I don’t add my initials to every inchie I create, but if the inchie is what I consider to be a special one, I will put my initials in a tiny corner. Once I have my inchie finished, I build a card around it. I love to add lots of details to my cards, but when I have a great inchie to focus on, I try to keep the surrounding details to a minimum so my inchie can really take center stage on the card and shine!

Here’s another example of a card that has an inchie as the main focus. I used the Large Block Party Squeeze Punch to punch the 1” square piece first. Using a Clear Acrylic Block and the Tricia Santry Studio Hoppy Days Clear Stamp Set , I stamped the dotted flight path on the square, then I stamped the bee on yellow patterned paper, cut it out, added some glitter to his wings with the Tool Taxi glue, and attached him with Adhesive Foam. I applied the rub-on words to the inchie with the Tool Taxi.  Next I punched a solid white square using the XL Block Party Squeeze Punch. I mounted my inchie to this larger white piece and attached it all to my 4” X 4”card base. Just to add a bit more “spotlight” to my inchie, I punched two brackets with the XL You Bracket, You Bought It Squeeze Punch in black and added them on either side. An idea here would be to mount the inchie to 1” square chipboard (for added strength) and place a strong magnet behind it before attaching it to the card. Then your recipient could remove the inchie from the card and hang it on a metal surface and be reminded to “bee happy” whenever she sees it!

Now that you’re getting the hang of the stamping on a 1” square, let’s make a card with twelve inchies on it! For this card, I used the Kimberly Poloson Words & Whimsy and Flourishes stamps and the Compact Stamp Press and stamped images in different autumnal colors on the 1” punched squares. After arranging the inchies on my 4” X 5 ½” card base, I stamped the words “Give Thanks” from the Fiskars Turkey Lurkey Stamp Set on one square.

This basic card looks great with all the stamped squares, but if you wanted to “step it up,” you could add stitching, Rain Dots, ribbon, or even layer some more punches or stamped images on some of the squares. The list goes on and on! This card is an example of inchies that make a big impact as a group, but no one square is an artsy “stand-out”. This is why  I didn’t initial any of them – just a matter of personal preference, of course – but don’t forget to sign the back of your card!

Once you start punching squares and layering tiny pieces, you’ll start feeling a little obsessed with what you can do with these 1” squares...go wild! On this Thinking of You card, I actually placed my inchies on the inside of the card with punched squares on the front piece so the inchies will show through. Talk about showing off your inchies...now the inchies are visible whether the card is open or closed. We’re talking maximum inchie exposure!

For this 4 ½” X 7” card, I cut a 4 ¼” X 6 ¾” piece for the front, used the Compact Stamp Press and the Cloud 9 Design Kensington Gardens Clear Stamps to stamp “thinking of you” all over the piece. I punched three squares on the right side, starting ½” from the bottom and keeping them ½” apart. Before adhering this punched piece to the card front, I created a red scalloped border with the Threading Water Border Punch and red patterned paper from the Cloud 9 Design Max’s Backyard collection. This border is 5/8” wide and 6 ½” long and is adhered behind the punched front piece so that just the edge of the border shows. I adhered this front piece to the card and used the XL Block Party Squeeze Punch to punch the second layer of square holes in the card front.

Cut a 4 ½” X 7” piece of the Cloud 9 Design Max’s Backyard Meadow Grass Stripe and adhere it to the inside of the card. Create three inchies with the ladybugs in the Tricia Santry Studio Clear Stamp Hoppy Days set. For the first inchie, I stamped the ladybug on red patterned paper, punched it out with the Medium Round ‘n Round Squeeze Punch, adhered it to my 1” square, and placed a Clear Jumbo Rain Dot over it. For the second inchie, I stamped the ladybug on kraft cardstock, colored it in with a red pencil, adhered the inchie inside the punched square, and punched holes for the brads using the 1/8” Eyelet Punch Tool. The third inchie has a ladybug that stamped on of red paper and cut out using the Finger Tip Craft Knife. I used the Cloud 9 Kensington Gardens dot stamp and the Compact Stamp Press to stamp a background on the square and then I adhered the ladybug and placed Black Rain Dots on her spots. I placed the smallest Fern Rain Dots on random dots on the background.

To finish the card, I tied a bow on the left side, sewed two Kimberly Poloson Cabana Blooms buttons on either side of the knot (use the 12-in-1 Sewing Multi Tool to pierce holes), stamped “thinking of you” on kraft cardstock, and adhered it with Adhesive Foam. This card is oozing with detail, but the inchies are still the star attraction.

Whether this is your first introduction to inchies or you’re an expert at creating these itty bitty pieces of art, I hope I’ve inspired you today to grab your Large Block Party Squeeze Punch and  make some big fun with some tiny squares.

And now for more inspiration from two other design team members...

Designer:  Lisa Storms

I can see why inchies are addictive!  It is fun to work with such a small canvas which allows you to organize a lot of different embellishments onto a card without overwhelming it.  When I decided to do a card inspired by one of my very favorite songs of all time, "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor, I knew I wanted to put my seasonal punches to work for a pretty card front.  Instead of adding punches to the inchies, I layered two different colored inchies together on foam adhesives dots with the punch revealing the bottom layer for a pop of dimension. 

I found that a 10 pt. font worked well with this one-inch canvas size.  The tweezers from the Tool Taxi came came in handy when working with such small letter cut-outs!  I took advantage of the holes punched with Threading Water's scalloped border for a sewing template to easily hand stitch around the edge.  It went so quickly, I felt like I was cheating!  I can't wait to get started on my next inchie card.

Designer Patti Milazzo:
This Thanksgiving card / photo frame is a great way to share and display your Inchies.  First, I made a 6” square card from cardstock and used the Square Shape Template to cut a 3” square from the front center of the card.  Then I matted patterned papers to fit inside the card – this is where the sentiment is placed and later can be replaced with a 3” square photo. 

For the Inchies, I stamped the designs on cream colored cardstock using a variety of Autumn colors and Fiskars Turkey Lurkey Clear Stamp set – lots of fun, small designs that are perfect for creating these little pieces of art.  I used a masking technique on most of my Inchies to layer my images.  Then I used colored pencils to add shade and depth to the designs.  Once the Inchies are matted on chipboard or cardstock, simply adhere them evenly spaced around the frame of the card. 

Note: When replacing the sentiment with a photo, remember to adhere the card closed.

By Stacey Kingman