Home: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #3

Okay, here is the second card I made for this month's Unity {be inspired} Challenge.  I used both the layout inspiration from the challenge and my sister's recent move to come up with the concept for this card.  Personally, I believe that getting your first home together is a huge step towards building your family and it is most definitely a moment worth celebrating!

I used the Honey, I'm Home! kit from Unity Stamp Co for this card.  I hope you enjoyed!  Thanks for stopping by.

Best Witches: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #2

Happy Monday!  I have to make this quick because I am headed in for knee surgery this morning.  I had an unfortunate run in with the monkey bars back in March that ended in the destruction of my ACL.  Teach me to try to play on the same level as my 7-year-old!

Anyway, I decided to try my hand at the Unity {be inspired} Challenge twice this month and this is the card I created using the color palette as my inspiration. 

I love this Tabitha Fashionista stamp from Unity!  She so posh Halloween!  Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully I'll have a speedy recovery and be back to creating in no time!

Tag It!: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge #1

Happy Tuesday!  I need to get to bed but I just had to enter something in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge . . . Tag It!  I have never entered one of their challenges before but I have a very full shopping cart on their website (here's hoping I hit the lottery so I can finally checkout) and think their designs are really fun!

So before I call it a night, I threw together a little something using the scraps from some other projects.  I also wanted to play with my new Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil so I thought this would be a great opportunity.  Sometimes it is liberating not to have a plan when I start a project and just watch it all come together. 

This is actually the first tag I've made as well as my first entry into this challenge so it was a great creative opportunity for me.  Apparently I was struck by the Christmas spirit on this, the first day of fall.  

 

So there you have it!  Go get your tag entered in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge before it's too late! Don't forget to say hi in the comments! Farewell for now!

Sequins & Owls: Watercolor on Canvas

I love browsing the blogs of other craft aficionados and drawing inspiration from the amazing creative minds of others.  I am new to the wonderful world of stamping and card making so I spend a lot of time perusing the how-to's and enjoying all the really unique ways people come up with to use their stamps.  

I have really been enjoying my Distress Inks and using them to watercolor images on watercolor paper but this week I decided to take it one step further and try something I'd seen done by several of the talented folks whose blogs I have been following - stamping on canvas.

I really enjoyed how my first piece turned out!  I used Unity Stamp Co's Older, Wiser, Better Owl and stamped her on a 2" x 2" canvas.  I was worried that the image would not come out clearly in the center where there is no wooden frame to support the stamp. To ensure that I got clean lines I placed my canvas on top of my stamp rather than stamping onto the canvas and used one of the Mini Distress Inks (with the lid on) to apply pressure to the area inside of the wooden frame.  The image came out great and I was really pleased with how smoothly the watercolor Distress Inks painted onto the canvas.  And of course, some sequins add that final bit of dazzle that this lovely little owl needs.

 

I also used Whitney Girl from Unity Stamp Co on a 4" x 4" canvas to make a birthday gift for a friend. I think I'm hooked!  I can't wait to find more uses for these fun, funky little pieces!

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment and say hi!  I'd love to see all the great things you all are creating! 

 

Best Selfie Ever: Distress Ink Fun

Happy Sunday!!  I hope that the football teams you wanted to win scored a victory today.  My teams split with one win (Go Rams!) and one loss (we'll get 'em next week, Jets!) but it was still a great day of snuggling in with my hubby watching Red Zone for hours on end - just one more glorious thing about fall!

Anyway,  I received the great big order I'd been waiting on from Unity Stamp Co. the other day and I couldn't wait to try out the Gina and Me Kit!  When I started I didn't have a clear vision of the finished product (I'm a bad crafter that way, I often start with one element without planning ahead) but I knew I wanted to play with my Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Distress Markers to color in the super cute image of the best friends that comes with the kit.  

I opted to use my acrylic blocks to dab ink onto or scribble onto with the markers and then use my watercolor brushes to color the image.  Images made with Unity stamps are always so much fun to color in - they stamp so clearly and have so much detail that I really get to use a lot of colors and creative combinations.  

Once the image was colored, I added just a light watercolor wash for the sky and ground and trimmed up the image using my Fiskars paper cutter, rounded the corners, and added a funky little outline with a fine point Sharpie.  Then the real fun began . . . 

Using Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink I squished the colors all over my waxed paper (I don't have a craft mat yet but it's on my Christmas wish list . . .), spritzed them all with some water, and then smushed the little piece of watercolor paper all around in the colors.  Then I heat set the paint and went at it again, repeating this process until I liked the effect.  The sentiment fit perfectly and I thought the slightly off kilter bottom edge just added to the fun, funky feel of the card.  

I mounted it all on a 3.75"x6" card base and voila, the finished product!

I'm really loving how it turned out!  The sequins, glossy accents on the little cell phone, and Stickles on her shirt really help add that extra something.  Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest creation!  Now back to my Unity stash to play with the other great stamps that came in my order!! 

Ushering in the Fall: Unity {be inpsired} Challenge #1

September is finally here and with it comes cooler weather, freshly sharpened pencils, Sunday kickoffs and the anticipation of pumpkin patches, turkey, and Santa!  This is my absolute favorite time of year and for the first time in a long while it snuck up on me almost without warning.  Typically, I am counting down the days until I can put away my tank tops and start donning my cozy sweaters and winter scarves but a wonderful new job brought with it a very busy summer and before I knew it, fall was here!

The sudden arrival of my favorite season inspired this fun card made using my August Kit of the Month from the amazing Unity Stamp Company. 

I had a lot of fun finding the perfect patterns and colors to represent summer and its transformation into fall.  The sentiment and cute little leaves are both from the August Kit of the Month and the gold heat embossing on the leaves added just the right amount of shine.

This card will by my first ever entry in the Unity {be inspired} Challenge and I am really excited to be participating.  I chose to use the card sketch portion of the challenge as my guide. Unity does this challenge every month so all of you creative card makers out there, check it out!  

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my fall inspired card!  Now go dig out your favorite cozy sweater and enjoy this beautiful season!