Friends of Unity May Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity May Blog Hop. This month the theme is our favorite Angie Girl or Guy. I narrowed it down to two. One because it has one of my favorite flowers, the other because it has my favorite beverage.

In my first card I opted to go for a colorless image. Sometimes we need to make a card quick, other times we feel intimidated by people who just seem to color better than we do. This card was made to show that sometimes you can make a fabulous looking card without coloring it at all! The sentiment is meant for our current time. I am really "missing out time together". 

In the second card, I used some Tim Holtz Distress Oxides over a stencil. I love creating my own background paper with stencils and ink. Oxides and blending brushes make it so easy. The image was colored in with Copic markers to compliment the overall color palate. 

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see their creations... The winner of my giveaway from the April blog hop is Wilma DeG. Please contact me to collect your goodies!

Crystal O. Minkler

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Amber Trubiak
Bobbie Sue McConathy
Kim Klinkovsky

Dawn Fields

Joyce Verdon

Dawn Bryson
Robyn Jordan
Jeanie Hayes
Alaine Tanner
 

Stamps:
Emerson Girl (Unity Stamp Company)
Hope in Uncertainty 4/2020 KOM (Unity)
Daisy Girl (Unity)

Paper:
True Black (Papertrey Ink)
Stampers Select White (Papertrey)
Blueberry Sky (Papertrey)
Petal Passion Designer Series Paper (Stampin Up)

Ink:
Versamark
Memento Tuxedo Black
VersaFine Clair Nocturne (Unity)
Stormy Sky (Distress Oxide)
Bundled Sage (Distress Oxide)
Antique Linen (Distress Oxide) 

Accessories:
Sizzix Big Shot
Slanted Sentiment Strips (My Favorite Things)
Stitched Mod Square STAX (MFT)
Drifting Stitches Borders (Simon Says Stamp)
Scripty Thanks (Lawn Fawn)
Alabaster Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe)
Copic Markers

Disclaimer:
We all on the Friends of Unity design team appreciate every single comment we get.
That's why we use our own stash every month for a giveaway.
We are NOT sponsored by Unity Stamp Co. but, they do approve of our hop, and that make us all very happy.
We started this hop because we love Unity. That's it. This hop is our way of showcasing our cards made with our favorite stamps!!

Friends of Unity March Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity March Blog Hop. This month the theme is “Designers Choice”. This cue was completely done by random... and I mean random. I catalog all my Unity stamps on a Google Sheet. So when it came to deciding what I was going to use, I let random.org decide for me. Luckily it picked a stamp set that I haven't already used. I'm sure we all have a few (dozen) of those in our possession.

Once I had the stamp set, I next need to decide on my layout. Luckily I have a Pinterest board overflowing with ideas that are just waiting to be used. With my card, I embossed the center image which is hard to detect from my picture. Instead of using navy embossing powder, I stamped the image in blue ink, then stamped again with Versamark than used clear embossing powder to achieve the end result. I use this trick often since my crafty space is limited, but also it prevents stray embossing powder from mucking up my project.

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see their creations...

Crystal O. Minkler

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Amber Trubiak

Kim Klinkovsky
Dawn Bryson
Robyn Jordan
 Dawn Fields
Alaine Tanner

Jeanie Hayes
Joyce Verdon

Stamps:
So Very Grateful (Unity Stamp Company)

Paper:
Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink)
Stampers Select White (Papertrey)
Floral Boutique (Stampin Up)

Ink:
Dark Indigo (Papertrey)
Versamark

Accessories:
Sizzix Big Shot
Elegant Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)
Clear Embossing Powder (Unity) 

Stamping Platform

Disclaimer:
We all on the Friends of Unity design team appreciate every single comment we get.
That's why we use our own stash every month for a giveaway.
We are NOT sponsored by Unity Stamp Co. but, they do approve of our hop, and that make us all very happy.
We started this hop because we love Unity. That's it. This hop is our way of showcasing our cards made with our favorite stamps!!

Friends of Unity August Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity August Blog Hop. This month the theme is Furry Friends. While I won’t sit here and bore you to death talking about my cat... I will say that I am an animal lover of almost every kind. Our four legged fur baby has been with us for 8 years this fall, and life has never been better. I now can fully understand the concept of “pets are like family”.

I was inspired for the layout of this card by a similar card made by the talented Dawn Bryson. I liked the use of the cloud stencil background and decided to create a scene using dies and stencils to achieve a similar look. The cat and butterfly were fussy cut out and colored in with my Copic markers.

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see their creations. I am hosting a giveaway too... Make sure to comment for a chance to win!

Crystal O. Minkler
Eileen Mathys (you’re here)
Kim Klinkovsky

Dawn Fields

Jeanie Hayes 

Joyce Verdon

Bobbie Sue McConathy

Robyn Jordan

Stamps:
Kitten Encouragement  (Unity Stamp Company)

Paper:
Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink)
Stampers Select White (PTI)
Garden Green (Stampin Up)

Ink:
Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Spring Rain (PTI)

Accessories:
Clouds for Days Stencil (Simon Says Stamp)
Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips (My Favorite Things)
Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn)

Copic Sketch Markers

Disclaimer:
We all on the Friends of Unity design team appreciate every single comment we get.
That's why we use our own stash every month for a giveaway.
We are NOT sponsored by Unity Stamp Co. but, they do approve of our hop, and that make us all very happy.
We started this hop because we love Unity. That's it. This hop is our way of showcasing our cards made with our favorite stamps!!

Uncorked

My youngest turned 21 today. Nope... that doesn’t make me feel old at all. Age has always been a number to me. You’re only as old as you feel, right? One of my most favorite people in my life is an 80+ year old lady that visits me at work. She has more life and energy in her than people half her age. I can only hope to be as energetic as she is when I get older. 

I have fun, cutesy, even playful birthday stamps that I have used for several people. I bought this set to use as a different birthday and sentiment option for my mature adult friends. This wine stamp set in my opinion is very classy for birthdays but also can be used for a variety celebrations as well.

Stamps:
Uncorked (My Favorite Things)
Hit the Brick (Brutus Monroe for Unity Stamp Company)
En Francis (Stampin Up Retired)

Paper:
Scarlett Jewl (Papertrey Ink)
Vintage Cream (PTI)
Ripe Avocado (PTI)
Silver Glimmer paper (SU)
True Black (PTI)
 
Ink:
Scarlett Jewel (PTI)
Fine Linen (PTI)

Accessories:
Sizzix Big Shot (SU)
Wine Service (MFT)
Elegant Rectangle Stax Die-Namics (MFT)
Subtle Dynamic TIEF (SU)

Hey, Gullfriend!

When I saw this stamp set it was just too cute to pass up. I also couldn’t resist having a “punny” seagull stamp set in my collection. Especially since I didn’t already have one. I waited for both pieces to be in stock together and I bought them. Lucky for one of my besties, the set arrived just a few days before her birthday. Her and I share the same sense of humor, so I knew she would enjoy this card.

This horizontal cover plate from Papertrey Ink makes for a perfect template to cut out and then inlay the ombré of colors to represent the sky background. Several of the sentiments from this stamp set fit perfectly between the horizontal layers... but I chose the one I knew would make my friend laugh out loud when she saw the card. My Tim Holtz Stamp Platform was used and my sentiment was straight on the very first try.

Stamps:

Seaside Seagulls (My Favorite Things)

Ink:

Memento Tuxedo Black (Stampin Up)

Paper:

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Enchanted Evening (PTI)

Blueberry Sky (PTI)

Spring Rain (PTI)

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot (SU)

Cover Plate: Stripes Horizontal Die (PTI)

Die-Namics Seaside Seagulls (MFT)

Tim Holtz Stamp Platform (Blitsy)

Copic Sketch Markers (Jerry's Artarama)

Christmas Quilt

I had this warm and cozy quilt card designed in my head from the moment I saw the die and knew I wanted to buy it. It makes a great Christmas card as seen here, but paired with pastels, can also make a great baby card too. I love buying items with more than one purpose. It’s like the word “congratulations”... it covers a multitude of events. 

A few years ago, Stampin Up carried adhesive sheets, and I am happy to say we now carry them again. They are excellent to use in small projects like this quilt frame. The hardest part for me with this card would be finding a color scheme I would be happy with. It took a few tries, but once I got this arrangement set up, I knew it was the one I wanted. A few dots of liquid glue in each space as I was assembling this card and it was finished. The adhesive sheet was truly the key to making this card come together quickly and easily. 

Here are the supplies I used:

Stamps:

Greetings of the Season (Stampin Up Retired)

Paper:

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Garden Green (SU)
Patterned Paper (Miscellaneous Scraps)

Ink:

Garden Green (SU)

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot (SU)

Quilt Square Cover Up Die (My Favorite Things)

Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (SU)

Tom Bow Multipurpose Liquid Glue (SU)