Growing In Unity Day 5

Welcome back for the last day of Growing In Unity for me this year! Thank you for all of the encouragement, kind words, and ideas this week! I look forward to growing this blog (probably not daily because that is overwhelming to me at this time) more often! There are 4 other posts on this blog that are all titled "Growing In Unity" and then the day number next (start here). Go check them out, leave a comment, and you could be one of the two (yes, 2) lucky random winners of a $20 gift card to Unity Stamp Company where you could snag the stamps that I used this week (and so much more)!

It's Friday and I hope that you have something fun and/or relaxing planned for this weekend (even if you work weekends - do something for you)! I will be attending a local hockey game this evening. Tomorrow I will be visiting with a friend I haven't seen in several years and then attending a local opera performance (two of my friends are performing). Sunday will be a day of relaxing which could mean cleaning and organizing (anyone else out there find those things almost therapeutic?!).

Okay, okay, here's day 5's card.

For this one, I combined stamp sets. There is so much versatility in these stamps! The plants are from "Bloom from Within" and the sentiment is from "Tree of Love {July 2021 sentiment kit}". They are both stamped in VersaFine black ink (surprise, surprise!). The flower patterned paper is from a 6x6 cardstock stack that I found on clearance that had no cover so I'm not sure which company it's from. The blue shimmer cardstock was from a shimmer stack that I got years ago and cut into card mats. I threw on three golden yellow adhesive dots from my stash (the magic of threes eh?!). I think I could have swapped out the white card base with a cream-colored card base to match a bit better, but it was already glued down when I had thought of that so I'll save that thought for next time.

It has been a pleasure sharing my card creations with you all. I hope that you have been inspired! For more inspiration from amazing artists, check out the Unity Stamp Co Growing In Unity Facebook group!

Growing In Unity Day 4

It's Day 4 of Growing in Unity which means that the weekend is almost here! You say Thursday, I say Friday-eve! Okay, not really, but it's on one of the GIFs in our chat program at work and there's a silly dance in it that cracks me up every time I see it.

This card was inspired by the gross white stuff that was falling from the sky this week. Yeah, I don't care for the snow. It's beautiful but I will absolutely stay inside with a hot cup of hot cocoa, coffee, or tea. Plus, I think nature forgot that the first day of Spring (here anyway) was March 20. Hoping for much warmer weather going forward!

The background cardstock for this was from a Winter cardstock stack that I have had for years and pulled apart while at the craft retreat in March. There are actually 5 layers (plus the base) to this card. Sweater print mat, sweater print with gold edge (2 pieces), teal cardstock (leftover from earlier cards I made), silver shimmer cardstock (gold and silver go together, right?!), and then the white cardstock with the stamped image.

Image is from the "Hello Love" stamp set and is stamped in black Versafine ink (yeah, that's my go-to). I colored the heart with the Spectrum Noir DR1 marker just to give it a little pop of color in the image.

What's in the inside of these cards? All of the cards from this week are blank inside. I have not yet determined who they will be going to and for what occasion so I will leave them blank for now. I often will just write inside them without stamping a sentiment but if I'm making a set for others, I will stamp a sentiment inside since that's the request I get most often.

Prize reminder: There are two (yes, 2) $20 gift cards to Unity Stamp Co up for grabs to two random commenters on these 5 Growing In Unity posts. If you missed days 1-3, no worries! Just click back a few days/posts on the blog, check them out, and comment.

See you tomorrow for Day 5!

Growing In Unity 2022 Day 3

Welcome back! It's Day 3 of Growing In Unity and I got to try a new technique today!

Before I go into that, remember that there are two (yes, 2) $20 gift cards up for grabs for two lucky random commenters so be sure to head back to Day 1's Post Here to see both Day 1 and Day 2 and comment there.

Isn't this background stamp image simply amazing?! Look at the detail! This is the Daisy Days stamp from Unity Stamp Co. This is a full card sized image but I wanted space for a sentiment so I put some washi tape down and stamped the full image over it. I then pulled the washi tape up (and got Versafine ink all over my fingers from not paying attention) and had a blank space. I pulled out the "Bloom from Within" stamp set and stamped the sentiment in the blank space.

I loved how this turned out so quickly and so detailed, that I made two other cards like it with different colors in the background. This is the one I liked best as I just adore the black details on Kraft cardstock. I love keeping things simple but by all means, add ideas in your comments about embellishments for this card so I have some things to play around with.

See you back tomorrow for Day 4!

Growing In Unity 2022 Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of me being the Growing in Unity person for this week with Unity Stamp Co. Check out the GIU Facebook group to see these creations along with those of many amazing artists!

What does this mean for you? There are prizes! You get to comment on these Growing In Unity Posts (Monday through Friday of this week). At the end of this week, two (yes, 2) random commenters will win a $20 gift card to Unity Stamp Company! You could snag some of the amazing stamps I used on these cards!

Alright, alright - onto Day 2's card!

The background paper was cut from a random paper stack that was Christmas-themed. I do not remember the name of the stack. I was at a weekend crafting retreat in March and spent a good chunk of my time cutting mats of patterned paper so when I sit down to make holiday cards this year, that part is done. This was one of those mats that I cut - so easy to just pull from the stack of pre-cut mats!

The sentiment and image were both stamped with Versafine black ink and are from the "All Cylinders" set by the fabulous Tierra Jackson. The word "Thanks" was colored with Spectrum Noir BT2 and BT4 markers. BT2 would have been a perfect match for the background paper but when I went to color with it, I discovered that there was no color left in it (perhaps because it's one of my favorite color families). So, I used BT4 and it's not a perfect match but still stands out. The detail on the car stamp is just so freaking amazing that I left it not colored.

See you tomorrow for Day 3!

Card set - blank inside - using up scraps

I had a request from a supervisor at work to make a set of cards. These are blank on the inside. Her father passed away and she was giving cards to the hospital staff that helped him while he was there. I, of course, jumped at the chance to make these! How thoughtful of her! All of the patterned and solid papers are from my scrap bin. The card bases are from Stampin' Up. I got the packages of the card bases a while ago from a friend that was selling all of her crafting supplies because she was unable to make things anymore due to her health. The money made from the supplies went to help pay for her medical care.

The fox and owl stamps are from the Going Wild set from Unity Stamps.

The rooster image is from the New Day Rooster set also from Unity Stamps.