Unity March Challenge

I decided to play with the Unity March Challenge.  I have followed the color challenge by using PTI cardstock and dp.  I used Melon Mambo for the card base, dp from the Hodge Podge collection and Sweet Blush with scallop edge.  I used Hawaiian Shore to make the banner, then I used Memento Canteloupe and London Fog ink to stamp the images from Dutch Mustard Soup and the circle butterfly from Delight in the Beauty, Unity sets.  I added a button and Tim Holtz paper twine.
I also followed the Unity March card sketch challenge.

Thanks for stopping by, this was a fun challenge.  I hope to do more in the future.

Unity Friends with Flair

 Hello it is finally Friday and Friends with Flair.  This has been a tough week for our family.  Our 1.5 year old cat had gotten really sick and we took her to a vet and they started us on a treatment and we did not see any improvement.  She was actually getting sicker and weaker by the day.  When we called back they said that they did not want to see her they wanted us to drive 1.5 hours to another clinic.  We weren't in the position to do so, so we called another local vet.  They agreed to see her, but told us they did not know if she would make it.  They would do what they could.  We were praying for this little, sweet girl.  Our family loves her so and she is so good.  They kept her for the day to rehydrate her and load her with vitamins and antibiotics and we took her back home in the evening.  Slowly we started to see improvement.  The next morning she was a little more spry and by afternoon I had coaxed her to eat. She hadn't eaten in a week.  Ughh!!  Praise God.  With each day she is getting stronger and back to her old, curious self.  I wanted a card to thank the vet who agreed to see her and saved her life and this Phyllis Harris set seemed perfect or should I say purrfect :)  I paper pieced the chair and cut the girl out of cardstock after coloring her with Copic markers.  I used Spellbinder postage A2 die set for rug and added fringe.  (The fringe does not want to lie flat.)  I cut a rectangle (Spellbinders) for ottoman and popped up with foam adhesive.  This is the stop for the chair.  This is an easel card.  Below you can see the card folded flat and it fits in a standard A2 envelope.

 Thanks for stopping by and I am so happy that our story has a happy ending.  It really was touch and go with the sweet girl, but she does seem to be on the mend.  She reports back to the doctor early this next week for a follow-up and we will see what he thinks of her progress.
Have a great weekend.

Inspired Stamps DT Thursday

 Hello again everyone,  it is Thursday and time for another Inspired Stamps DT post.  Today we were asked to create a project using monochromatic colors.  I chose pink and the Hymn Girl May stamp set with the words that come in the set: May, Flowers.  The Inspired Stamps online store now also sells Bazzill Basics Paper.  Today I chose a pink solid with dp from Vintage Marketplace.  This comes in a pack of 24 sheets of beautiful double sided paper.  Since I was going for a monochromatic look I chose this soft pink floral paper.  I stamped the Hymn Girl on white cardstock with black Memento ink and colored her with Copic markers. I wanted a very soft look.  I was trying to decide how to mount her on the card and there on my desk was a pink paint chip (I had pulled for a different project).  I added all the elements together and liked the look so I mounted the girl to the paint chip with foam adhesive and then the paint chip to the card with more foam adhesive (to cover the pink trim).  I used a punch for the label and stamped May Flowers and added a punched flower (to match the one on her dress) and popped label with foam adhesive as well.  Thank you so much for dropping by and be sure to check out all the other monochromatic projects by the Inspired Stamps DT and all the new stamps and papers in the Inspired Stamps Online store.  Remember that at the Inspired Stamps blog, Antoinette is teaching how to art journal your bible verses.  Her work is gorgeous and she has some really great tips so please check it out.

Attention:  Inspired Stamps Giveaway
Inspired Stamps is celebrating 100,000 blog views by giving away 10 prizes of $10.00 store credit to 10 commenters.  The commenter must comment on an individual blog on today's post and next week's (April 3) post to be entered in the drawing.  You can improve your chances by commenting on each of the DT blogs and the Inspired Stamps blog this week and next.  You can comment on the blogs from March 24 until midnight April 9th to get their comments in for the drawing.  The winners will be announced on April 19th during the Thursday DT post and the winners are responsible to contact Antoinette at inspiredstamps@gmail.com by April 17th to claim your prize.  So please comment each week to be eligible.

 Have a great day.

Unity Friends with Flai

Happy Friday!  It is sunny and almost 65 degrees today.  Glorious day.
I made a shabby chic card today.  I have been playing with my Distress inks quite a bit lately.  I love this look when others make it but when I do, I think it looks messy.  Oh well, maybe it will grow on me.
I made the card by embossing top half and bottom half (leaving middle section without embossing) with beaded ribbon embossing folder.  I stamped the sentiment and houses from Unity's Dutch Mustard Soup set.  I only colored the heart and added Glossy Accents.  Side note:  Does anyone have trouble with Glossy Accents clogging up and what do you do?  I have tried unclogging with a pin but will inevitably slice the tip.  I have also tried leaving in a stick pin, but then it rusts.  So now I have a rusty, sliced tip that Glossy Accents blobs out the end.  I think I can replace the tip, but I need a tip to keep it unclogged or a way to unclog it that won't destroy the tip.  Help!
I added a piece of red patterned paper and then words piece (Colorbok, Flea Market collection), I added stitch lines and made stick pin by stamping stick pin from Sew Cute set and cutting out heart and adhering to straight pin.  The ribbon is Tim Holtz seam binding that I inked with Walnut stain distress ink, as I did card base.  I added a button with some linen thread and finished.  Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think.  I do so appreciate your comments.  Have a great weekend.

Inspired Stamps DT Thursday

Happy Thursday.  Today at Inspired Stamps we are bringing you Easter cards or tags.  I chose to make two Easter cards.  I used the same stamp set; His Cross for each but chose different color Copic markers to color the image and different Distress inks for background technique.

 For this first card I chose to stamp the focal image on a 2 X 3 inch piece of white cardstock and color with black and purple Copic markers.  I then scored the image (front facing up) every .5 inches to make a faux tile look.  I then inked with Pumice stone and Dusty Concord Distress inks to make the "grout" lines pop.  I added some punched flowers and leaves and mounted on black.  I embossed white card with embossing folder and inked with Pumice stone and matted on black.  The inside of card I used 1 Peter 2:24 and embossed a few straight lines on side and bottom and added same flowers and leaves (but in purple).

For second card I used two different embossing folders and Pumice stone and Dusty Concord distress inks on both.  I cut out the embossed oval with leaves and used foam adhesive to mount to second embossed image and matted whole thing on black cardstock.  I colored the leaves with Distress markers and added punched flowers.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Please be sure to check out the other DT projects.  Don't forget to check out the Inspired Stamps blog for the 31 days of Art Journaling your bible study.  Antoinette has some beautiful art and tips to share with everyone.  This set as well as many others can be purchased in the Inspired Stamps online store.

Unity Friends with Flair

Hello Everyone.  It is Friday and it has been a crazy weather week.  It has been in the 70's and back down in the teens, to today possibly in the 60's again.  Whew!  This weather and deciding how to dress each day and whether my kids need a jacket or not is exhausting.
For today, I decided to try my hand at a single layer card on Kraft cardstock using colored pencils.  I must admit I had to dust the colored pencils off a bit, they have not been used in a while.  Copic markers have become my coloring medium of choice for a while, but I have seen some cards with the colored pencils on Kraft and I really liked it so I thought I would give it a go (plus the pencils do not bleed to the inside like Copics would and the bleeding does not make for a good single layer card). I used two Unity sets today, the sentiment is from Quiet Essence and the flowers are from Best Wishes and Blooms.
I stamped the sentiment in black ink and then covered with paper tape (which I found at the Dollar Tree).  It makes for a quick and easily removable mask or I have even used it to make my own customized Washi tape.  I stamped and colored the flowers.  I added some white dots to fill in space and voila, a single layered card.  I will try this again soon, I really liked the outcome.  Thanks for stopping by today and I hope Spring is upon you.

Inspired Stamps March Release DT Thursday

 It is time for the Inspired Stamps March release.  Inspired Stamps will have these new Hymn Girl sets available in the Inspired Stamps Online store on Friday at noon.
I used Hymn Girl January today, she come with 3 words:  Confession, humility and January.  I chose to add the word Humility to my card.  I kept the image fairly simple coloring in the skin, for the dress I used a very light gray and a midtone for highlights and then added dark red for spot color.  I did the same on the card I kept it black and white, inking the music paper and oval with Pumice Stone Distress ink.  I did some faux stitching  and added a black strip with a dark red strip to bring out the color in my girl.  I colored some small pearls with a black Copic marker and added them above and below the strip on alternate sides.  Just a clean and simple card, really giving this sweet image center stage.
For the music paper I copied a sheet from our Hymnal and inked it and did the faux stitching.
Thank you for stopping by today and be sure to check the other DT creations to see the other Hymn Girl images.  Inspired Stamps is running a special on these sweet images, there will be one for every month of the year.  In today's release only January-June are released but if you purchase 5, you will receive the 6th one free.  So be sure to add these sweet images to your collection.  Visit the Inspired Stamps blog for more images, special details and more installments on the 31 days of Art Journaling your bible verses.

Unity Friends with Flair

It is Friday and the sun is shining and it is not freezing.  All good things.  I was going through my Unity stamps and I have a few cases (I keep my unmounted stamps in CD cases) of unmarked Unity stamps.  These are ones that I received as part of orders and as part of drawings, so I thought I would use a few to make a CAS card.  I used the sun image (so cute) and inked with two colors of Memento ink and tuxedo black for face.  I stamped the note paper and punched the edges with EK Success punch.  I took the "You simply Shine"  sentiment from the set Shine On and the "thank you" from the Country Pumpkin set.  Wow, I had a hard time finding a thank you sentiment in all my sets, maybe need to do some shopping.  We just need a good excuse, don't we.  I will have to wait for a while, since it is not in the budget currently.  I made the envelope with the envelope punch board (this size is not on the board markings).  I cut the paper to a 4.5 inch square and punched and scored at 2 inches and then followed the score lines to repeat the punching and scoring on remaining three sides.  I used flower and leaf punches for the foliage and added some pearls and voila, quick and simple.  I need a few of these to send to some lovely ladies who helped me with an event last week.  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope this card sends a little sunshine your way.  Have fun crafting and have a great weekend.

Inspired Stamps DT Thursday

 Hello Happy Thursday!  Today at Inspired Stamps, it is DT choice.  I chose to use Spring Sketches along with a sketch I found on Pinterest for today's card design.
I punched out the kraft postage stamps and added punched flowers and Copic colored butterflies, that I fussy cut and pop dotted.  The verse is also from Spring Sketches.  I am secretly hoping Spring will come soon and leave the cold and dreary weather behind.
The top of the card is an edgeabilities classic rick rack die set and the swiss dot embossing folder and some ribbon and a button.
Thank you for stopping by, please be sure to check out the other DT creations and see what is their favorites.  Stop by the Inspired Stamps blog for the 31 days of Art Journaling.  Have a blessed day.