~ September 2025 Friends of Unity Blog Hop ~ Anything But A Card!

 

Hello and welcome to the Friends of Unity September 2025 Blog Hop! I am so excited to share with you what this month's theme did to my creative brain! LOL

To start with I was having a serious case of "oh my goodness what do I make?!?!?" Creative block at its finest! What does any good crafter do at that moment?!? Look for inspiration! I started perusing Pinterest and came upon this idea that I had actually wanted to do for months.....Composition Book Covering! I already had a bunch of supplies all pulled out and ready, just didn't have time! Well now I may still not actually have time, but I now have a reason!

Around here school started almost a month ago and the stores are filled with school supplies! My book however is a recycled book from when my son was in elementary school (peep the sticker that says "bell work")! Those books barely got used and I just couldn't bear to throw them away! So I grabbed some patterned paper and got started!

Patterned papers are from the Unity Paper Pack Wallpaper & Warmth (January 2025 Whit Kit). The Green paper has tiny little lemons on it! Super cute!! Measure, measure, measure! Since the papers are 6x6 and the cover of the book is NOT, I had to improvise! I taped the two sheets together. I tore the yellow sheet in half in order to use both sides of the tear. If interested in the measurements....I scored the top edges at about 1 1/8" and the side at 3/4". Next I slathered the entire front cover with mod podge (it's homemade....found recipe on pinterest) and then added the green sheet. When it was pretty well stuck down I added the yellow sheet, being sure to line up the edge with the edge of the black binding. I grabbed a large piece of green woven ribbon from my stash then used some Tombo Mono Liquid Glue to wrap it entirely around the cover....all the way to the inside. Speaking of the inside, I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 7 1/2" x 9 1/4". Added more liquid glue to the back and glued it to the inside cover....covering up all the "raw" edges of paper and ribbon on the inside that may not be too pretty!

Now the fun part......DECORATING!!! I'm trying to ignore the joining lines in the paper....it will be mostly covered by the decorations I put on the cover!  I am using some of the "thank you" gifts that have come from Unity which are included with my orders! A large manilla tag, wood butterfly and a sheet of crafting phrases. I went through all the Angie Girls I have and decided on Bryna. The tshirt, jeans and converse are one of my staple outfits! 

I colored her with KingArt Alcohol Markers and then used the paper backing (yes I saved it) to use as a mask to ink blend around her. I used whatever ink was left on the brushes, multiple colors likely! I cut up the sheet of phrases that was sent using my cutter-bee scissors. I looked on the website and didn't see them, but I LOVE THEM!!! They were perfect for this project! I attached them here and there, the torn paper behind is from takin' em fishin' (leftover piece from another card that I just tore up). The ribbon is from My Scrap Cabin Shop, color is daylily. This must be a favorite color because my skein is getting smaller! I typed and printed the verse with the crown myself. It's always a good reminder! :) I used the scallops and banner nesting dies to die cut the shape. I adjusted it to create a rectangle rather than a banner. The butterfly was added with some therm-o-web zots! The paperclip is very old....from an accessory kit from about 20 years ago....thinking Making Memories perhaps?

I hope you got some creative inspiration out of my project! I have been using this book to keep track of craft show and individual sales. I purchased a bunch of supplies to start participating in craft shows (a wagon, tablecloths, baskets, tier tray, blanket racks) and wanted to keep track of how long it took me to "pay it off" so to speak. The fall shows are getting ready to ramp up and now I'm ready! I may still add a pocket to the inside cover....to keep any receipts or notes I need to remember!

p.s. decided to make another paperclip.....used the second wooden butterfly that Unity had sent! :)

Attempting another project since this Composition Book cover took me less time than I expected....this next one took quite a bit of thought! Decided on a tag book. I've been sort of hoarding the tags that come in the thank you gifts from Unity. The smaller ones get used more often...because of their size. The giant tags that come, the 4" x 8" tags are harder to come up with a project other than a bookmark or something like that. So I searched for some inspiration and instruction on this and came up with this cute idea! A book made from the tags!

I started with 7 of the giant tags. This will create a front and back cover and 12 inside pages for decorating. They are all different colors but all have come from Unity! I had to figure out a "hinging" option. Did you know you can find just about anything on the internet! ;) 

I started by paperclipping the pages together to determine the number of hinges I needed to make. Then to determine a theme so I knew what papers and accessories to grab! Decided on a page a month!

Started with the cover! The paper is from The Secret of Change. I covered the page with two different patterns, tore the bottom one. I created the cover title piece using one of the postage stamp nesting dies, repositioning it to make it the size I wanted. The hearts were punched from scraps (those are the butterfly wings)! Some pink ribbon and a brad from eons ago! Onto the next!

The first page is of course January.... Mamma Mia! I used two different backgrounds (tuscan tile and ...damask grunge) and some distress ink in blueprint sketch to create the background. I cut the stamped images into 3/4" squares (used my fiskars trimmer) and positioned them opposite of each other to create the tile look. I then took a blue marker and colored in the "grout" lines! The arch was cut with the scallops and arches nesting dies. 

Next is my birthday month......February! This one uses patterned paper from Pastel Party Parade and many more birthdays stamp and die! I stamped the sentiment with versafine clair nocturne a couple times but it just wasn't juicy enough so I used ink-on-3 embossing ink to make it nice and sticky! Using the MISTI was key for this process! The page didn't move at all and I was able to re-ink multiple times and not have it shift! Then sprinkled on WOW! embossing powder in neutral ultra shimmer glitter, and heated it with Wagner Heat tool, to make it sparkle! Numbers were die cut with a tim holtz die set and I added some yellow gems from Pinkfresh Studio to make candles! Here's to 57!

The rest of the months will have to be done on my own time! LOL Ran out of time to get them done for the hop, but I think you get the idea! ;)

If you would like to start from the beginning, Crystal's blog is your starting point! If you are ready to move on, you can visit my friend Amber here!

Thanks for the visit and see you in October!

Guest Designer for September! SpiegelMom Scraps is the place!!

 Hi and welcome back! I have been asked by SpiegelMom Scraps to be a guest designer for September! I am so honored and humbled! SpiegelMom Scraps is an online store that sells mostly sequins....the MOST beautiful packs of sequins you'll ever see! They also carry a bunch of other goodies.....foam tape, acetate sheets, ephemera....check them out!

My second scrapbook layout created in about a gazillion years! LOL These photos are from 2011, paper is from 2010! I told you it's been a while! LOL 

The paper, rubons and brads are all from Fancy Pants Designs, a collection called Rusted Sun. I used some square and rectangle nesting dies to cut the photos and a ruler/die (not sure how to describe it) to cut the edges of the title panel...all are from Unity Stamp Co.  The sketch I used was provided from Creative Scrapbooker Magazine. This sketch is part of their Spring 2024 page call on their website. I am submitting this to be published (fingers crossed)! I've had cards published but not a scrapbook layout! 

I used a combination of two SpiegelMom Scraps sequin packs....Sunny Days (September release) and Summer Hygge. I had originally planned on only adding a cluster next to the "sunshine" block, but then I started to add more and more and thought....why not just keep going! I love how they sparkle!

Here is the sketch for reference! 

Thanks for visiting! Stay tuned for more good stuff!!

Guest Designer at SpiegelMom Scraps!

 Here it is September and I am honored to be the guest designer at SpiegelMom Scraps this month! SpiegelMom Scraps is an online store that specializes in packages of coordinating sequins! They also have other goodies....embellishments, foam tape and acetate to create shakers and cut files as well! I fell in love with the sequin packs because they contain coordinating sequins in different shapes and colors all in the same package!

It's been a hot minute since I have created a scrapbook layout, but oooooh these sequins had my creative juices flowing! I found this sketch on Pinterest. It belongs to Sketches in Thyme which I have since found on Facebook!

I started scrapbooking about 20 or so years ago.  I've got about 15 or more completed scrapbooks and TONS and TONS of pictures laying around!  For reference my daughter is 6 years old in the pictures I've used, and she just turned 16 in April! YIKES! I had better get busy on the scrapbooks! LOL

I started with selecting the photos and the paper and laid it all out to see what went together! The paper is some super old Basic Grey called Wisteria from 2008! Sketches to me are a good jumping off point. As you can see my photos are larger than the measurements in the sketch, but I made it work and fit everything in as best as I could! 

Next was creating the shaker element! I have literally made probably a total of 4 shakers in my life and whew, they are still a challenge for me! But I was determined to have one on this layout so here we go!! :) Started with a circle of white cardstock, then I cut several "rings" using a die set from Unity Stamp Co. I glued the cardstock rings together to create a thicker platform. Then used the circle dies to cut an acetate circle! The sequins I chose for this layout are from the Dramatic pack. I also added some gold seed and bugle beads I had on hand.  Love that shaker sound!

I had so much fun with this that I have gathered more photos to get another layout started!!  Here are more photos of the beautiful sparkly sequins I used!

Flowers, brads, twine and gold cardstock all from my stash! Letters were cut using my Cricut Explore 3.

Can't wait for more projects to come! Stay tuned!!