Growing in Unity Day 5

Hey everyone! Today is the final day of my Growing in Unity Week. I love Donna Downey stamps and have been slowly adding them to my collection. They are perfect for inky backgrounds which I love to make too!

I asked my 16 year old to help me decided on the colors for the background. Rachel really liked the combo of yellow, orange and red so that is how this bold background came about. I used Marmalede(retired), Poppy and Buttercup dye inks from Concord & 9th. 

I ink smooshed until I was happy with the depth of color. Then, I added various images in the same ink colors. I'm kind of sad you really can't see the brick background I added to the entire panel, but it is there. I stamped the flower with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and embossed with clear powder.

I find making these kind of cards very relaxing.

Supplies used:

You are Important 

Hit the Brick

Make Today

When I See You

I hope you have enjoyed my Growing in Unity week! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and all your kind words!

Karen

Growing in Unity Day 4

Welcome back to another one of my Growing in Unity days! Today's card features Butterfly Moment by Ann Corbiere Scott. I have been eyeing this stamp set ever since it came out and recently acquired it. As you can probably tell by now I like larger images. I find them easier to color and come up with layouts than smaller ones.  

I love that you can use this butterfly image to create a slimline or A2 card! I especially love that you can create two A2 cards from the one butterfly. I really don't enjoy making multiples of the same card so I mix it up just a bit like I did with these cards. I swapped out the stencil and added some stitching to one of them. Do you like it better with the stitching or without?

Supplies used:

Butterfly Moment

Flutters to Go

Time to be Happy Again

Stencils- the dots are from a previous Whit Kit and the other one is from Gina Marie Designs

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen

Growing in Unity Day 3

Welcome back to another Growing in Unity day! Today's cards feature the Layering Tulips stencil in an array of colors. Lots of photos for you guys today!

These orange ones are my favorite of all the colors I used! All I did for each one was ink blend using the stencil as my guide. I only used the first two layers of the stencil and just kept blending until I liked it. Add a variety of sentiments and use some fancy edge die cuts for some quick cards. Easy peasy! 

Oh, and the butterflies were because of an oops on one of them that needed to be covered up. I liked it so much I added it to all of them.

I like to play and use color combos that are not expected hence the gray leaves on some of them. 

Supplies used:

Layering Tulips stencil

Empowered Words

Always by Your Side

Words Fail

She is Strong

Prayer Changes Things

Look Forward Trust God

Concord & 9th inks

VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen

Growing in Unity Day 2

Today is Day 2 of my Growing in Unity week! I love fall and earth tones are my jam! Dreaming Daze by Angie Blom is gorgeous! I love big floral images so much! Today's card was inspired by two Unity cards on the website by Sandhya (colors) and Echo (use of Vintage Ledger). 

I stamped the floral image on Bristol smooth watercolor paper with VersaFine Claire Nocturne ink and heat set. I like to heat set this ink because it does take time to dry. I watercolored the image with Altenew watercolor brush markers. When it was dry, I stamped Vintage Ledger over the top with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

I die cut the white and brown panel with the Deckle and Stitches nesting die set.  I blended some Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edges of the white panel and added some black paint spatters. I attached the brown and white panels together then added the twine/bow along the side before adding to a kraft card base. I used another black sentiment strip from the freebie with purchase a while back. 

Supplies used:

Dreaming Daze

Vintage Ledger

Deckle & Stitches Nesting Die set

Sentiment Strips(freebie a while back)

Bristol Smooth watercolor paper

Altenew Watercolor Brush Markers

VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink

Distress Ink(Vintage Photo, Antique Linen)

May Arts twine

I hope you enjoyed today's card and thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen

Growing in Unity Day 1

Hey Unity fans! Today starts my Growing in Unity week! I am so excited to be playing with my Unity stamps and I hope you enjoy my creations! Today's card features Eiffel Grunge and lots of other goodies(list at the end). I love vintage style cards and I knew I had to add this set to my collection. 

Here is how I created it. 

I die cut the pink and white panels with the Scallops & Rectangles nesting dies. On the white panel I stamped the dots with Ballet Slipper ink, the lady with Honeysuckle ink and embossed with the Vintage Script folder. I embossed the pink panel too and went over the top with white pigment ink.

I decided the white stamped panel needed a little more and added some black paint spatters. I stamped Eiffel Tower image on Bristol smooth watercolor paper with VersaFine Clair ink and colored with my Altenew watercolor brush markers. I die cut the image, assembled the card as seen and added a word strip from an order I received a while back(it was a freebie).

Supplies used:

Eiffel Grunge stamp/die

Love that Face

Dwelling Dots

Scallops & Rectangles nesting dies

Vintage Script embossing Folder(so glad I got this while it was available, love it)

Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper

VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink

I hope you enjoyed today's card and thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen

Word Art Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I am so excited to be a guest designer this month for Word Art Wednesday! Every two weeks they have a new challenge with an optional scripture verse to download and use in your projects. They sure would love it if you use the verse on your project!

I have found myself really enjoying creating with the scripture verses and finding ways to incorporate them into my cards. I hope you will give it a try too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies:

Aqua Sky, Ballet Slipper, Honeysuckle and Oceanside inks from Concord & 9th

Everything in Between stamp set from Unity Stamp Co

 

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen

 

GIU Blog Hop

Whoohoo, it's time for the GIU blog hop! In keeping with my GIU week theme, I decided to showcase a quick card from one of the fabulous designers for Unity Stamp Company. In all honesty, I needed a quick card to create for this hop because despite my best intentions, life has been crazy busy and time got away from me. Good Things with Botanical Background by Lisa Arana to the rescue!

For both cards, I stamped the image with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink onto my kraft cardstock and cut with a stitched edge die. Then, I cut the black panel with a scallop edge die, both dies were from Gina Marie Designs. Next, I stamped the sentiments with versamark onto black cardstock, sprinkled with white embossing power and embossed. I trimmed the sentiment panels to fit the top kraft panel. Finally, I attached all the layers as seen, popping up the sentiment and scallop edge panel with foam tape. Stamps sets used: Life Touches, 3 Little Butterflies and Happy Moments.

Your next stop on the hop is Selena.

Eunice

Edelmira

Katie

Laura

Linda

Joyce

Karen

Selena

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fantastic day!

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Growing In Unity Day 5

It's my final day as your GIU girl! Thank you all so much for your kind words and support this week! Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a fabulous grab bag of Unity awesomeness!

I don't know if you guys noticed, but I chose all easy and quick techniques this week. I did that on purpose because I think we all need to realize we can create beautiful cards without spending hours on them. Even the layout for today goes together quickly especially when you use a technique for the main image. The cards I made this week would be great to mass produce for our own stash, to give as gifts, to donate to an organization like Cards For Soldiers or Carrie Lee-Walden in the Unity S&T who collects cards for soldiers too during the year.


I want to share with you my favorite layout I cased from the Unity website. This card (shared with permission) by Lisa Arana created with Butterflies and Sunbeams is a layout I have used a lot over the past year and a half. I love it because it never fails me! Plus, it is a great way to use your pattern paper! There are a lot of photos today because I have included some of the cards I have made previously with this layout.

Lisa Arana's card from the Unity website.

I made a new card for today using the same watercolor stamping technique as day 4. I used Blessed Fall (kom 9/18), Isla Girl, a double stitched edge die, canson xl mixed media paper, enamel dots, foam tape, along with mowed lawn, picked raspberry and salty ocean distress oxide inks. Most of the time I pick my pattern paper before I start a project that uses it. Because I was experimenting I did not have a plan for how I was going to use all the images I created for day 4. I had to dig deep into my stash before I found paper that would work with the colors in the bird. In fact, these were the only papers that worked.  

My card.

Here are some cards I made previously using this same layout over the last 18 months. I used the following stamps sets: We Can Rise (kom 6/18), Happy Moments, Whatever Comes Next, Forward and Through, and Blessed Fall (kom 9/18).

As I  finish my week, I just want to encourage you guys to check out the Unity blog, quick tips and stamp set samples for inspiration. It is such a great resource! If you are stuck in a rut or have no mojo go find something new to try out and have some fun.

Thanks again for all the love this week and I hope you enjoyed the last day of my GIU week!

Karen

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Growing In Unity Day 4

Hey Unies, it's day 4 of my GIU week! Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a fabulous grab bag of Unity awesomeness! My choice for today is watercolor stamping by Laura Mooney. Check out Laura's post for step by step directions. I love this technique so much! I had a blast playing with it and trying out different stamp sets!

For these cards I used a Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer, canson xl mixed media paper, paintbrush (for paint splatters) and Kaleidacolor ink pads. If you do not have a Kaleidacolor ink pad you can use any coordinating single color ink pads. Just make sure to always ink up lightest to darkest color. I recently bought the Tim Holtz distress sprayer and I love it. Why did I wait so long? I'm hiding it from my kids so they don't try to steal it to dampen clothes for ironing.

The ink pads I used for today's projects. They have been in my stash forever and still work.

For my first card, I used the Calypso Kaleidacolor ink pad, You are forever beautiful and the sentiment is from You Matter (start loving yourself). I used the knotted string accent again from my GIU day 1. This is my favorite of the three cards I made for today!

A few more card fronts I haven't made into cards yet. I sprayed too much water on the stamp. I actually like how they turned out so I am going to use them anyways.

For my second card, I used the Celebration Kaleidacolor ink pad, Best of the Best, scallop edge die, stitched edge die, foam tape and small bling dots. I used the same layout as I did on day 3 with this set. I like to use easy layouts. I popped up the purple and white part with foam tape.

For my final card, I wanted to try this technique with a solid image to see how it would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It does not have the same amount of watery lines the other two have, but it has some and the water helped to soften the colors. I popped up the die cut panel with foam tape. I used the Pumpkin Patch Kaleidacolor ink pad, Blessed Fall (kom 9/18), Wishing You Happy Bird, foam tape and the stitched scallop basic edges die-namics from MFT.

I also used the bird from the same kom as the tree and the Late November Kaleidacolor ink pad. I'm still deciding on a layout so I didn't make them into cards, but wanted to show them to you anyways. How much water you add does make a difference in how it turns out.

Do you have a favorite from today? This technique is easy and it makes quick beautiful cards!


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed day four of my GIU week!

Karen

I would love to have you follow my new blog. Just click the follow button on the right if your interested. If your on the mobile version, just scroll down and switch to the web version and you will then be able to see the follow button.

Growing In Unity Day 3

Happy Hump day Unies! We are halfway through the week and on day 3 of my GIU week. Today I am featuring the DIY Background with Watercolor Masking by Crystal Thompson. Check out Crystal's video for how to do this technique. I first tried it in August 2019 and knew it was a keeper. I wonder why it took me so long to try it again.

Have you ever had an idea in your head and it turns out just the way you imagined or better? Well, this is that card for me. Fall is my favorite season! I love the cool crisp air, the crunch of leaves under my feet on a walk in the woods, boots, hot cider, apple picking, the trees in all their glorious fall colors and oh so much more. Sometimes, I wish it was Fall all year long. Because I love Fall so much I wanted to use this technique again with an Autumn color palette.

For my Fall version of this technique I chose the tree from Blessed Fall KOM 9/18 and the sentiment from We Can Rise KOM 6/18. I also used canson xl watercolor paper, watercolor paint (artist loft brand), flat paint brush, masking tape, VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink, brown ink, fall colored sequins and a stitched edge die.

Here is the card I made back in August with the same technique. I used Arteza real Brush Pens, canson xl watercolor paper, masking tape, scallop edge die, stitched edge die, sequins, VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and  Best of the Best.

I think I need to spend some time making up pretty painted backgrounds to have on hand.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed day three of my GIU week! Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a fabulous grab bag of Unity awesomeness!

Karen

I would love to have you follow my new blog. Just click the follow button on the right if your interested. If your on the mobile version, just scroll down and switch to the web version and you will then be able to see the follow button.

Growing In Unity Day 2

Welcome back Unies to day 2 of my GIU week! I picked the heat embossed window card by Heather Hoffman to play with this time. This is an easy card that goes together pretty quickly and is great for mass producing, as you will see.

I did not originally intend to mass produce this card layout. It all started because I couldn't make up my mind which color I wanted to use or which would work the best with white embossing powder. Of course, this meant I tried a bunch of different colors just to be on the safe side. Then what else can a stamper do, but answer the urgent desire to just make them all into cards. So that is what I did!

For the girl cards I used the following sets: Rebuild Herself, Whatever Comes Next, You Matter (start loving yourself) and Stand Tall KOM 7/18. I'm going to be honest with you, I struggle with lots of white space. So while I like today's cards I am still struggling with all the blank white space. I did try sponging around the edges of an extra white top piece and quickly realized that was a bad idea.

For the guy cards I used the following sets: Zeke Guy, Brian Guy, Hugs, Kisses & Birthday Wishes, and Faith Sees Beauty KOM 8/18. I'm really glad I decided to use Zeke Guy because guy cards are hard for me and I like how these turned out.

The perk of my indecisiveness is I now have eight cards in my stash and half are for the guys! Yes!

In Heather's video she did pop up the top white panel with foam tape, I did not. It does give it a neat window effect and I will try that next time. Heather used a stitched oval die to cut the top layer. I think it adds something to the front of the card and helps give all the white space the little something extra it needs. I did not have one so I used a plain oval die. So guess what I will be ordering in the near future?


That's all for now and I hope you enjoyed day two of my GIU week! Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a fabulous grab bag of Unity awesomeness!

Karen

I would love to have you follow my new blog. Just click the follow button on the right if your interested. If your on the mobile version, just scroll down and switch to the web version and you will then be able to see the follow button.