Inked by Eileen

Friday, October 21, 2022

Falling for the Holidays 2022

Welcome to Build Your Stash Falling for the Holidays Linky Party! Let the creativity of the next eight days inspire your creativity and get you in the mood for some holiday cards. Now is the time where we start to see holiday decor in the stores, and we turn our minds to shopping for the holiday. In our neck of the woods the leaves are on the ground and there is a nip in the air. Mornings are cool and days warm up... but light jackets are almost a necessity. I prefer fall to spring, but I enjoy living in an area where we can see the seasons change in every facet of nature.

I have always said Christmas is my favorite season (minus the weather that goes along with it) and this is the holiday that I own the most stamps for. I especially love Christmas music. I didn’t marry a Grinch, so once November is here, it’s Christmas music all the time. We usually have to stream it online because some of our favorites don’t get played as often, while others get played a tad too much. That can be said for music on any station during anytime of the year.

We hope that you are inspired by our creations and will play along with us, so make sure to check out our BYSHC blog. We have awesome sponsors that have generously offered up wonderful prizes, so don't miss out!

Stamps:

Greatest Part of Christmas- Host Exclusive (Stampin Up)

Paper:

Poppy Parade (SU)

Garden Green (SU)

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Plaid~ Open Stock (Hobby Lobby)

Ink:
Garden Green (SU)

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot

Knit Sweater embossing folder (SU)

Banners Pick a Punch (SU)

Tree Punch (EK Success)

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Friends of Unity October Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity October Blog Hop. We are featuring anything but a card this month. This month I decided to share a quick and easy gift card holder. I was inspired by this video. Nothing is better than using what you have and not buying special dies to create this. I used the Stampin Up note cards as indicated in the video, but I think a standard A2 card could be modified easily to work.

I have purchased dies to make gift card holders in the past and find that they take several steps to make and assemble just one. This video was quick and simple and will more than likely be something I will create again. I love clean and simple, and if its quick too... that seals the deal! I hope you are able to watch the video and consider creating this quick gift card holder too.

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see what they created with this cue:

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Joyce Verdon

Dawn Bryson

Robyn Jordan

Stamps:

Holiday Hugs Kit of the Month October 2016 (Unity Stamp Company)

Paper:

Hello Christmas patterned paper (Echo Park)

Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)

Stampers Select White (Papertrey)

Basic White Note Card (Stampin Up)

Ink:
VersaFine Clair Nocturne

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot

Subtle embossing folder (SU)

Seasonal Label dies (SU)

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!!

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Friends of Unity September Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity September Blog Hop. We are featuring a coffee, tea, and cocoa theme this month. Hard to believe that unofficial end to summer is here and kids are heading back to school next week in our area.

For my card I decided to use one of the new stamps for my creation. This brought me back to a favorite background stamp, and I just recreated a past Friends of Unity favorite from 2020 and simply changed out the center element. The earlier creation was inspired from the very talented Echo Noble, and I brought the same colors forward onto the mug and loved the end result.

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see what they created with this color scheme:

Crystal O. Minkler

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Dawn Fields

Stamps:

Frondescence (Unity Stamp Company)

Warm Fall Hugs (Unity)

Paper:

Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)

Stamper Select White (Papertrey)

Terracotta Tile (Papertrey)

Ink:

Memento Tuxedo Black

Vintage Photo Distress Oxide (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot

Copic Sketch Markers

Rectangle Stitched Dies (Papertrey)

Saturday, August 6, 2022

Friends of Unity August Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity August Blog Hop. We are featuring a holiday theme this month. I decided to make a Halloween card, a season that I have never made cards for in the past. Now that I have grandchildren old enough to look forward to getting something in the mail, why not make something for them?

This card is a quick and simple layout that I have used several times in the past. This time I utilized a border background stamp instead of taking a smaller stamp image and stamping it many times over. This made the card a much quicker and easier process. Using any one of the many Tierra Jackson Halloween characters, this card can quickly be replicated featuring your favorite too!

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see what holiday they chose and what they created:

Crystal O. Minkler

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Stamps:

Mummy (Unity Stamp Company)

Entanglement Border Background (Unity)

Paper:

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Jelly Donut (Taylored Expressions)

Earl Gray (Taylored Expressions)

Ink:
Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Jelly Donut (Taylored Expressions)

Earl Gray (Taylored Expressions)

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot

Stitched Rectangle Dies (Papertrey)

Copic Sketch Markers

Friday, July 22, 2022

Christmas in July 2022

Welcome to Build Your Stash Holiday Hop! Let this holiday hop inspire your creativity and get you in the mood for some holiday cards. This is the time of year where Christmas is the furthest from our mind. Tank tops and flip flops litter our wardrobe, with our boots and jackets safely stored away. Yet, if you start to look around, you will find hints of fall and Christmas in the stores. Hallmark has their ornaments on display and school supplies are on the shelves

Stamps:

Oh Deer- It's Here (Concord and 9th)

Paper:

Real Red (Stampin Up)

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Jingle All the Way (Echo Park)

Ink:
Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:

None

Saturday, July 2, 2022

Friends of Unity July Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity July Blog Hop. We are featuring a stencil theme this month. I opted to recreate a card I made for a friend who celebrated her birthday in March. We both share a love for Winnie the Pooh and I know she hasn't discovered Unity yet (GASP!!!) so I was certain gifting her both of these stamps would be something she would really like.

Given the size of this stamp and where I wanted the placement of the sentiment to be, I opted to make this a mini slimline card. This size of card is becoming a new favorite for me as I found that a full slim line was a little intimidating. This is just a little bit bigger than what I was comfortable making, so making use of the extra space was never a worry for me. Pairing this cute stamp with the cloud stencil was a logical pairing as it really gives the appearance of floating off into the sky.

Hop along with the other Friends of Unity and see what stencils they used for this theme:

Crystal O. Minkler

Amber Trubiak

Eileen Mathys (you’re here)

Kim Klinkovsky

Dawn Fields

Stamps:

Pooh Just Knew (Unity Stamp Company)

How Do You Spell Love (Unity)

Paper:

Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Mini Slimline Sidefold Cards in Sugar Cube (Taylored Expressions)

Ink:
Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:

Deckle Edge Trimmer (Tim Holtz)

Cloud Stencil (Newtown's Nook)

Copic Sketch Markers

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Friends of Unity June Hop

Hello and welcome to our Friends of Unity June Blog Hop. We are featuring a masculine theme this month. I opted to make a quick card for Father's Day, as that will be something I will need in just a few short weeks.

We have dads with all sorts of interests... maybe its old muscle cars or tinkering around the house. Then we have sons who are fathers and their interests are in much different things... computers, video games, or outdoor sports. This card is reflective to my sons by marriage, those who love their technology and everything that goes along with it. The ones we call when something doesn't go right with out computers before we need to call the professionals. This card is made for them.