Growing in Unity - Final Day!

 It's amazing how fast a week goes by when you are having so much fun! Welcome to day 5 of my Growing in Unity Week! Thank you for each and every comment and kind word both here and on Facebook....I am truly thankful and humbled by each one!

If you "know" me, then you know how I am a hoarder.......of scraps! It's so fun to find things that go together, but aren't supposed to go together! LOL Between all the Christmas card making, birthday card making, Thanksgiving card making, etc. my desk is covered with scraps. All sizes, all occasions, some solid cardstock, some red and white peppermint stripe paper! Not only that but bits and pieces of things....sentiments not used, leftover circles from a die cuts, just a hodge-podge of stuff! So for the last day of my week.....it's all about the scraps!

This is the beginning ^ picture! Paper, sentiments, images, vellum, all the things! Let's get to work!

All in all I made 3 birthday cards, one friend card and 4 holiday cards (one not pictured going on my Friends of Unity post {stay tuned} :) I can honestly say that there is plenty more scrap cards to come, two factors contributed to there not being more.....I've been fighting a cold all week and Thanksgiving Prep and subsequent cleanup! LOL ;)

Through this process, I used a bunch of sketches that can be found either at {BYSHC} Facebook Page, or on Tawny Owl Paperie Facebook Page! I am a sucker for a good sketch! Sketches are there to "inspire not require!"

I hope you give your scraps some love! Remember you kept them for a reason! That reason is now! I so enjoyed my week with ya'll! See you again soon!!

I'll leave the commenting until Sunday afternoon-ish and then will start the random-prize-winner-choosing-process! :)

Growing In Unity - Day #4

Hi and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 Whew! Day 4 already? Well it's been a great and fun week!

Today's card took some time for me to get it just right. I stamped, and walked away, then came back and did a little inking, then walked away, came back and found the "right" patterned paper....all in all, this one took all day! But in the end, I absolutely LOVE it!

I started with white cardstock, and stamped A Faithful Letter with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide. It was actually the second stamping, so it's nice and light. To that I stamped on the flowers from Simply Blessed. I wasn't too crazy about the fact that I could see the words through the stamping so I water-brushed the words out of the vase mostly. I used some inks as watercolors and gently colored in the image. I used Gina K Designs Ocean Mist for the vase, then I used some tea dye and wild honey distress inks for the flowers, leaves were gina k grass green. 

Then I die cut the image using one of the scallops and arches nesting dies and added foam adhesive. The background paper is from the Jubilant Tapestry paper pack, the other two pieces are leftover pieces that were on my desk that I tore the edges. The ribbon was recycled from a gift my daughter received. 

Sentiment is from ...aging gorgeously, stamped in black then slightly ink blended to match the rest. I added a paperclip for a little extra touch. The translucent enamel dots are from Gina Marie Designs.

Come back tomorrow for a "scrap-tastic" final day! Also, don't forget to comment to have a chance to win one of two $20 gift certificates!

Growing in Unity - Day #3

Half way through the week! Whew, that was fast! Since discovering Unity, I have learned so many techniques. I have also learned a bunch of things on Pinterest. It's a great place to find inspiration for all the things! 

I have done this technique before...white embossing, ink blending....but I found this set of cards on Pinterest and thought I had to give it a go! I have a bunch of Birthday's kicking off my new year, so Birthday cards are on my mind!

This card started as a full sheet of watercolor paper. I cut it up into 4 - 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panels. Since it happens to be "UNITY MEMBERSHIP MAKES," I grabbed a large mandala that happens to be from the February 2017 Kit of the Month. I purchased it second hand. I stamped this large stamp using VersaMark embossing ink and my Misti so that I could be sure the image was stamped fully and ready to accept embossing powder! White embossing powder and a heat gun, then on to the ink blending with some Salvaged Patina distress oxide. I then wiped the excess ink off of the embossing, then sprinkled some water on to give it depth. 

I then found a strip of patterned paper and added it to the edge, then a strip of black cardstock to divide the edge. Happy Birthday (from gotta love sentiments) was stamped with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.

I added some white enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs and it's done! I plan on making more of these in different colors!

Don't forget to comment to have a chance to win one of two $20 gift cards to Unity!

Day number 2 - Growing in Unity!

 Welcome to day two of my week Growing in Unity! It's a busy week with Thanksgiving prep and all, but don't miss out on some fun and freebies! I discovered this video and it really hit home with me because of all the little stamps that come in kits that just get ignored because they ARE so small! I did make a card using this technique during the {BYSHC} Falling for the Holidays Linky Party, but today's card is using a stamp from the 2023 Advent Calendar! The 2024 Calendar is about to start so I thought this would be a great time to use one of the smaller stamps for this technique! The video is from Natasha Foote (video link here). 

I chose the poinsettia stamp from the advent calendar (day number 11). I colored with KingArt alcohol markers and fussy cut a bunch of them out. Next I took a piece of white cardstock cut to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and die cut with the scallops and rectangles nesting dies. I cut the outside and then a panel in the center. I took the same markers I used to color the flowers and created the pink top to add the flowers to. I failed to take a picture of that part! :/ Some washi or pink/mint take did the trick to make a line to color against. I added the flowers a few with liquid glue and two with foam adhesive.

The sentiment is stamped at the bottom with VersaFine Clair in Nocturne. Sentiment comes from the October 2024 KOM. Perfect size and font! I added more foam adhesive to the back of the center die cut panel and then some clear flat sequins for sparkle. I love using the tiny stamps! Give it a try! 

Don't forget to comment on all the days for a chance to be drawn as one of two winners of $20 store credit! Stay tuned for tomorrow! It's Unity Membership Makes day! Before you start on your Thanksgiving prep, stop here first! ;)

Welcome to my Week Growing in Unity!

 Hello friends! Welcome to my little corner of the blog-iverse! My name is Jenni Shamblin and I am the Growing in Unity Girl for this week! I have been crafting for just about as long as I can remember, so it is literally a part of me. It is my stress reliever and my safe space! I can pour myself into a project and shut out *some* of the stress if only for a little time!

I am a HUGE fan of the technique called "ink smooshing." The variety of backgrounds that can be created is endless! When I sat down to start working on my projects for the week, I just wanted to get inky! So that's what I did! I started with a couple pieces of watercolor paper that I cut to generally the size of an A2 card. I wanted to make  "winter" themed cards. I am working on broadening my card collection to include all those that celebrate during the holidays.....not just Christmas!

I grabbed some speckled egg, broken china and stormy sky distress oxides and literally smooshed each one, one at a time, onto an acrylic block then spritzed with water. I then took a piece of acetate and dabbed into the ink, then dabbed onto the panel. Over and over again until I liked the coverage. With the leftover ink on the block, I used the other watercolor paper and then a scrap of white cardstock to sop up what was left. I now have two additional backgrounds to use!

To that I then added the snowflakes from the September 2024 KOM {wander and wonder} using Versa Mark embossing ink and some silver embossing powder from Nuvo. The panel was all well and good, but just wasn't grabbing me....it needed something more. So I die cut it with one of the scallops and circles nesting dies. The white die cut panel with the washi tape was not used on a previous project and was perfect to go with this beautiful snowy piece!

I die cut the snowflake from some silver shimmer paper using a die set from Waffle Flower called Winter Crystal Die. I then glued everything together. The sentiment (also from the same KOM) was stamped with versamark ink and white embossing powder was used on it. I stapled it to the die cut piece with some blue staples. Used some foam adhesive on the entire piece and then added some flat clear sequins to give it some pop! This was 1000% influenced by Unity Design Team Member Tenia Nelson! I just love her style!

Thanks for visiting and be sure to comment for a chance to be one of two winners that will be randomly drawn at the end of my week. $20 Unity credit! Lots of great things to come!!

Growing in Unity Day 4!

 The week of fun for me is quickly coming to a close! Day 4 of my {Growing in Unity} week is here! If you'd like to go back, links are here! Day 1, day 2 and day 3.

Birthday cards were on my mind today! I hope I'm not the only one that does this....but I stamp the image and think "nah, needs to be on white," "nope, let me watercolor that," "hmmmm maybe black on kraft is the answer." Then you end up stamping the image over and over and over! Well that happened to me with this image from the Kit of the Month 2/23 {happy soul}.

Started first with black on kraft. I wasn't super happy with that. Next was.....

Jolande's technique! I have watercolor pencils (from a Whit Kit a while back), that I did her technique (as best I could). But it still didn't really seem like "me," ya know?!?

Next I tried coloring with some alcohol markers that I found at Ross (not copics, or any other brand name I can think of)! 

After the alcohol markers I came back to the black on kraft and colored in the flowers with a white colored pencil (crayola if you can believe it)! Pretty sure it was a leftover from the kids school supplies! LOL

Closer look at the watercolor.

All the stamped images do not go to waste! I have one more image that needs to get used, but maybe not this time! :) All in all....see where your creativity takes you! In this case it took me in three completely different directions! Same floral stamp.....three different outcomes!

As I linked above, the floral is from the 2/23 KOM. The birthday sentiments are from gotta love sentiments, extended celebration and aging gorgeously.  I used the scallops and rectangle nesting dies, some foam adhesive along with some burlap and white twine and Gina Marie Designs enamel dots!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for day 5! It's been a great week!!

(products used....links above)

Growing in Unity - Day 3!

 Hello there and happy "hump-day!" My week as the Growing in Unity Girl is already half over....boy that was fast! Day 1 post here, and day 2 post here!

If you follow along with all things Unity....you know it's Unity Membership Makes Wednesday! 

Today my card(s) feature one of the larger stamps in the Kit of the Month. This happens to come from KOM May 2022 {one friend}. Sentiments are all from
Unity Sentiment Kit May 2022 ...extended celebration.

It's a set of 4 gender neutral birthday cards. There is something about white on kraft that just makes me happy!

Kraft cardstock is from Unity, along with all the stamps used. White pigment ink and white fine detail embossing powder are both from gina k. designs. Sentiments were stamped onto vellum in VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then embossed with clear embossing powder and die cut with a banner nesting die set that was in a Unity Whit Kit. Spiegelmom Scraps Frolic Along sequins, Pink Fresh Studio Jewels mix...espresso color.

Here's a closer look at each one.

Don't forget to keep following along and comment! 

A gift card could be coming your way! :)

Growing in Unity - Day 2!

 Hello and welcome back for day 2 of my Growing in Unity week! If you missed day one....you can find it here!

I am a big proponent of Thank you cards! If someone takes the time to send you a gift or do something nice for you or provides you with excellent service or ANYTHING, the least you could do is let them know how you feel about it and that you appreciate them thinking of you! Today's post is about saying thank you!

I love the simplicity but the elegance of this snowflake in this Sentiment Kit from October 2020 by Unity Stamp Co. called Heart of Christmas. It also comes with a die set that coordinates with the large words, but this "thanks" is not available any longer. I stamped the heart of snowflakes onto cardstock with distress oxide in stormy sky and embossed with clear embossing powder. I then die cut the panel with the large rectangle from Scallops and Rectangle nesting dies (from Unity). Stuck it to a white cardbase, die cut the word and then attached it to that panel using a glue pen! After all that was said and done....I thought it may need something more.

This is the original card.....embossed stamped image and die cut word.

Then I added a few rhinestones....

Then a few more......

Then I tried pearls (gina marie designs)! I love them all!

This card design/idea came about because my sister-in-law asked for thank you cards that were "not Christmasy, but wintery"! They don't have to be difficult or fancy or hard! They just need to be addressed and mailed! Easy peasy lemon squeezy! This simple but elegant card will be much appreciated by the recipient!

Don't forget to comment each day to be eligible for the random drawing of two Unity Stamp Co. store credits!! It could be you!