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.

Growing in Unity 2022 Day 1

Whew! It’s been a while (5.5 years is still considered a “while” right?!) since I posted anything. Thanks to Unity Stamp Company for selecting me as the Growing In Unity Gal for this week! It has gotten my creativity flowing.

What in the world does that even mean? It means that I get to post my creations for the next 5 days (and hope to post more often now too). You get to comment on these posts for the next 5 days. At the end of the week, two (yes, 2) random commenters will win a $20 gift card to Unity Stamp Company!!

And now for day one’s card.

For this simple card, I challenged myself to use scraps. I found a bit of gray and some teal card stock along with some patterned paper that I had leftover from two cards I posted here. I used the Just Stinkin’ Cute stamp set (gotta keep things fun with a poop card) and stamped the image and sentiment in Versafine black ink. I chose to keep it super simple by not coloring the stamped image.

I hope you enjoy this one and are inspired to go make something simple and use up some scraps. See ya tomorrow for another card!

Birthday Card for Teammate

Clearly I enjoy making cards for my teammates.
This is no exception.
This is a birthday card that I made for my friend and teammate, Kathleen.

The pink dotted paper is from BoBunny.
The geographic print paper is from the Play Marbles collection by American Crafts.
The tan cardstock is from Recollections.
The birthday cake image is from the Unity ...so glad you were born stamp set. This was stamped in VersaFine Onyx black ink.
Inside the card, I stamped a sentiment from the CTMH Birthday Funnies set. The sentiment says, "Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake."
 
 

One Sheet Wonder - 2 cards for Coworkers

For these cards, I used a One Sheet Wonder template I found on Pinterest.
I have other cards that I made as a part of the set, but I have not put any images or sentiments with them yet.

These are both for coworkers that were leaving our team. One was leaving permanently and the other was leaving temporarily.
The blue and gray cardstock are from Recollections. The white is Georgia Pacific cardstock.
The patterned paper is made by Basic Grey and was from my stash.
The images are from the CTMH Ornate Blossoms stamp set.
The sentiments are from the CTMH Just to Say... stamp set.
The images and sentiments were stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.
 

Work Anniversary Card for a Teammate

This is an anniversary card for a previous teammate. She celebrated 5 years with the company this year.

The blue paper is from Recollections.
The stamped images are from the CTMH Ornate Blossoms set.
The sentiment is from the CTMH Say It All set.
The white is Georgia Pacific cardstock.

Set of Birthday Cards

As you know, I switch teams occasionally at work. This is because of shift changes both at my level and at the supervisor level (people move to other departments, new people come in, some just switch to make their work schedule work with their outside-of-work schedule).
I recently switched teams (my goal is to have this one stay the way it is for a while). One person from my old team took over handling the team celebrations and asked me to make a set of random birthday cards for her to use. I was delighted to be asked to make them!

Here they are:

For this one, I used yellow paper and green bling from my stash.
The sentiment is from the CTMH Art Philosophy Celebration stamp set stamped in CTMH Sweet Leaf ink.
The orange patterned paper is from DCWV.

Inspiration for the above "Celebrate" card

The grey card base for the card above is from Recollections.
The 'b' and the 'star' are from the DCWV Alphabet stack.
The candle and the "hip hip hooray" banner images are from the CTMH Artiste Collection Birthday stamp set.
The banner was stamped onto a white chipboard banner piece that came in the Cricut Artiste set.

All of the patterned papers on the above card are from the Celebration stack.
The card base is white cardstock from WalMart.
The black and kraft papers are from my scrap stash.
The twine is from a large spool from Michaels.
The buttons are from my embellishment stash.

The kraft paper is from Recollections.
I used Darice Nesting Wavy Squares dies to cut the kraft paper. For the white layer, I traced the inner side of the wavy square die and cut the shape by hand.
The sentiment and the image is from the CTMH February Stamp of the Month, Balloon Animals. The image was stamped in CTMH Outdoor Denim ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
 

The candle image (stamped twice) and cupcake image is from the CTMH Artiste Collection Birthday stamp set, stamped in CTMH Chocolate ink.
The sentiment stamp is from the CTMH Art Philosophy It's a Party stamp set. It was stamped in CTMH Chocolate ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
The kraft paper is the negative space from the previous animal ballon card.
The green patterned paper is from a DCWV stack (I can't remember which one).

National Scrapbook Day Observance 2016

National Scrapbook Day is the first Saturday in May. This year that falls on the day before Mother's Day. In celebration of National Scrapbook Day, I joined my friend Maggie at an all day scrapbooking/crafting event on April 30.

Here we are having a blast at attempting a selfie (No, I don't take them often and am just now learning to look at the right spot while taking them):

I was not as productive as I would have liked, but I made a few cards, experimented with new embossing powder, troubleshot a Cricut issue I was having, became more comfortable with using my new Cricut Explore Air, and, of course, made new friends.

Toward the end of the day, I made a Cricut free card design for mother's day. I whipped up that card on Mother's Day and gave it to my boyfriend's mom. It was rather pretty, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I also decided on using some patterned paper from my stash.
My daddy's birthday is coming up and I chose to make him a birthday card. This will be posted at a later time so that he doesn't come across it before I give it to him.

The second card I made is for my man. I make cards for him randomly.
I didn't even use a sketch for this one. I found the stamps I wanted to use and put the pieces together. I have determined that this layout could easily be turned so that the shape surrounding the camera resembles a Polaroid picture.
The cross-stitched lines is an image from the CTMH Typeset stamp set.
The camera image and sentiment stamps are from the Captured my Heart set by Unity.
The blue papers are from Recollections.
On the camera image, there is a tiny heart. I colored that with a borrowed red pen, just for a little pop of a different color.

Maggie had some new embossing powder so I had to open it and give it a try. I had this wonderful new stamp from Unity that I was dying to try and I thought it would be beautiful heat embossed. I was right. :)
I used kraft paper from Recollections.
I stamped the Dream Tree image by Unity in Versa Mark ink, sprinkled the embossing powder over the image, and then hit it with my heat gun.

This is what came out:

I added that to a cream card base. This card was give to a previous teammate for her supervisor who had the same surgery I did. The team was going to each individually sign the card so I left the inside blank.

I have several of the embossed trees to use on other cards. I think they would be great for many occasions! 

Dashwood Wedding Invitations

My boyfriend and I have a couple of friends that are getting married this summer. We both are part of the wedding and my main gift to them is to make their wedding invitations. I always make a few extra since it's easy to make them while mass-producing than to make them individually if needed later. I made a total of 75 invitations.

I do not have pictures of the inside, but the invitation wording was printed directly onto the cardstock in the inside.
Here is the final product:

The card base is cream cardstock from Recollections by Michaels.
The background piece is kraft cardstock, the dark brown pieces are from an Earth tones collection, both from Recollections. All three pieces were dry embossed through my Cuttlebug using the Darice Wood Grain embossing folder.
The tag was cut from the same cream cardstock as the base using the Darice Bookplate Dies. The tree image is from the Always Grateful stamp set by Close to my Heart. It was stamped in Sweet Leaf ink also from Close to my Heart.
The extras are twine and eyelets.

I presented a ton of card ideas to them and they chose three that they liked the best. I then made three prototypes based on those ideas.
The final product was inspired by this card created by Linda Aarhus:

Here are the other three prototypes and their inspiration:

Inspiration

Embossed and inked clouds, birds on wire embossing on vellum overlay

Inspiration, found on Pinterest

Dark brown base, white top layer, jute/nylon ribbon, tree image cut from the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge

White on Kraft - Inspired Anniversary Card

The wonderfully talented Heather from Houses Built of Cards created this beautiful card that I just had to attempt:

My supervisor at work asked for an anniversary card for her husband. I had this picture saved for a while and decided I wanted to attempt something similar. By the time I did the white coloring, it was late into the night and I skipped the vellum or any of the fun shaped mats. I kept it simple.

For the front:
 
I used Versafine Black Onyx ink to stamp the Unity image.
I used a white Crayola colored pencil for the accents.
The kraft paper is from Recollections by Michaels.
The card base is white cardstock from Walmart (found in the printer paper aisle).

For the inside:

I used the same kraft paper from Michaels.
I ran the kraft paper through my Cuttlebug using the Darice Bookplate Dies. On white cardstock, I traced around the outer part of the die and cut it out by hand. This gave me the white border. I wanted it to pop against the white card base so I inked the edges with black ink. Unfortunately, some of this ink smeared a little.
The sentiment is from the Another Reason to say Thank You set by Unity.

This is the supervisor that, as you may recall, requested that I put something in the inside of the cards because she never knew what to write. I didn't know their relationship at all, but I thought this sentiment is perfect for any successful relationship.

Notes to self:
 
Be sure to have a pencil sharpener near me when attempting to do more white on kraft (or use a white gel pen).
Work on a better card inside (strip of paper, mat with writing area).

Positive Chemistry cards

I was very excited to order this set of stamps!

Positive Chemistry set from Close to my Heart

The Basic Grey paper I used was in the back of my mind when I ordered the stamp set.
The paper is Authentic from the Origins collection of Basic Grey.
The red paper was from my friend's paper stash.
I stamped the atom image with Close to my Heart White Daisy ink. It wasn't quite as crisp as I wanted it to be so I went over each one carefully with a white gel pen.
I used a sketch I found on Facebook:

This sentiment is perfect for so many occasions:

This one I made a duplicate of, but the original intent was to make it for my boyfriend. He loved it! I used the little heart stamp in red and then decided to add the red mat for that extra pop of color.

Supervisor request for a birthday card

My supervisor requested a birthday card for one of her fellow supervisor coworkers.
I don't know this person well so I just made a generic birthday card.

The inside is blank.

The patterned papers are all from DCWV and are scraps from my stash.
The background square is kraft paper from Recollections.

This was the sketch that inspired this card:

My Favorite Things has some really cute stamps and other items. They have a challenge blog as well that you can play along with as well.

My supervisor liked the card. She did have some feedback though. Every card I make for work has the inside left blank because there are generally many people that sign the card and I want to be sure there is enough room for all of them. This card was only for one person though. My supervisor, who, like many people, don't know what to write inside cards so she suggested that I put something in the inside of the cards as well or instead of something on the front.

I like to write something on the insides so this is different for me. I appreciate the feedback and will utilize it on the next card I make for one person.

This was a pretty quick sketch to follow and one that I will keep in my arsenal of sketches.

Beautiful in every way

I went, yet again, to my friend Maggie's for some crafting. I took all of my Basic Grey paper with me. I have a huge stack of it. I bought it from someone that had a huge sale of all of their scrapbooking stuff. I got a whole magazine file full of paper for $10. It had so many various patterns, brands, and colors. I finally got around to sorting it by company and decided to utilize some of it.

I was able to make 5 cards out of the one sheet. I had stamped and punched the circles for 6 cards so I ended up grabbing another Basic Grey paper (I forgot to write down which pattern it was) and finishing the 6th card.

The gray paper is from Recollections from Michaels.
The blue paper is from my stash.
The butterfly and "beautiful" sentiment stamps are from Unity.
The "today and always" sentiment stamp is from the Springtime Wishes set by Close to my Heart.

Here are the six cards:

Here is a closeup of one:

And this is the one I made after I used all of the first sheet of patterned paper:

I found this to be a great way to use up random individual sheets of patterned paper and to mass-produce cards to have on hand. I think I like the idea of making the cards and adding the sentiment later so they could be used for almost any occasion.

Another coworker's birthday

In case you haven't figured it out, I make cards for my teammates at work for different occasions (anniversaries, birthdays, promotions, etc.).
This was a quick birthday card that I put together during one of my many crafting days with my crafty friend Maggie.

Front

Inside

For the front:
The patterned paper is from Basic Grey.
The birthday cupcakes stamped image is from Close to my Heart.
The candles stamp is from Unity Stamp Co and is from the Frankly Said set. The actual stamp is only a few candles, but I just stamped it multiple times in a line.

Inside:
The sentiment stamp is also from the Frankly Said stamp set from Unity Stamp Co.
The lines are hand-doodled.

This card was for a spunky coworker and she absolutely loved it!

Welcome cards for new teammates

We have a fairly high turnaround in our department at work. It is mostly internal (people get promoted or move to other departments). Because of this turnaround, we have many new training classes that join us throughout the year. I happened to be on a team that was receiving five new team members from a new training class. The management and supervisors hand write messages in corporate note cards for the new employees. I wanted to create something from the team as a whole to show the new employees that we were excited to have them join us.
As a new employee in training, it can be hard to feel welcomed because there isn't much interaction with current employees.

I found a card I liked on Pinterest and then adapted it.
Here is the blog that the Pinterest entry links to. Jackie provides a great tip for lining up the squares easily. I did not read her blog post so I didn't follow her tip. I just laid the squares on the paper until they looked aligned to me. I think it turned out pretty darn good for not measuring.

This is the original inspiration card:

I love the little banner at the bottom, but I was working on these later in the evening and decided to keep it simpler by just stamping on the card itself.

Here is my card:

I used a white card base (I buy it by the ream at Walmart in the printer/office supply section).
The kraft piece is from Recollections. I bought a package of the smaller pieces on clearance some time ago at Michaels.
The patterned papers are from the DCWV White Ginger stack.
The sentiment stamp is from the Close to My Heart Hello There stamp set. This came with the Twitterpated Workshop on the Go (back when they used to include the stamp set with the kit).
I stamped it with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I have leftover squares and will be making another set of these note cards for my current supervisor. This was a little time consuming to get everything lined up and I cut the 1-inch squares with my paper trimmer (note to self...must purchase a punch for this next time), but I think they turned out to be pretty darn cute!

Artiste Cupcake quick birthday card

I needed a quick birthday card for a coworker. I knew it was his birthday, but I kept putting it off thinking I had more time to make a card (story of my life...).
I used kraft paper by Recollections that I purchased at Michaels.
The blue/teal paper is from Stampin' Up. I don't know the name of the color. I bought some loose sheets of paper from a friend who was getting rid of her crafting supplies.

The stamped images are from the Close to my Heart Artiste Cricut collection.
I love these collections because they come with stamps, paper, sometimes die-cuts, and a Cricut cartridge that all coordinate together.
To line the sentiment stamp up, I used a sticky note on the blue paper and then stamped the image. Then I adhered the kraft cupcake piece on top.

Super simple and quick to make and perfect for my coworker since he loves cupcakes!

People like my creations!

I am excited to share this. I made a Christmas card for my supervisor this year. The unfortunate thing is that I forgot to take a picture of it. She liked it so much that she has been asking me randomly to make cards for her for certain occasions in her life. This is a different supervisor than the one I made the set of 10 blank cards for. I change supervisors at work frequently as schedules change and we add more people to our department. I will actually be changing supervisors again in April when I start a new Monday through Friday shift).
Anyways...she asked me yesterday to make an anniversary card for her to give to someone else. I made the card below and was very excited for it. When I got to work today, I just happened to notice all of the anniversary balloons floating at people's desks (we get balloons and a candy bar from our management team in the month of our anniversaries). It dawned on me that I should have clarified with my supervisor, Sarah, whether it was for a work anniversary or a wedding anniversary (which is where my thinking was when I made this card). I mentioned that to her when I presented the card but she loved it and said it was perfect for either. She then came back to me and told me it was for one of our male supervisors and wondered if we could take the bow off. Because of the way I put it on, I was able to untie it and remove the glue dot and it was sans bow.

• The card base and black layers is Recollections card stock from Michael's.
• The white card stock I bought from Walmart. It comes in a ream in the printer section. 
• The ink used is VersaFine Onyx Black. 
• The ribbon is from my stash (I'm pretty sure it was given to me at some point along with the rest of my ribbon pieces in a jar). I don't use ribbon very often so I don't have much of it. It is two pieces. The first piece was adhered to the back of the middle panel, wrapped around and then adhered to the back again. For the bow, I slipped a smaller piece of ribbon under the wrapped piece, tied the bow and then stuck half of a glue dot underneath to hold it in place. This is why it was so easy to remove.
• The stamp on the front of the card is from Fiskars. It is called Elegant Vine. I purchased it on clearance a few years ago and didn't realize until now (since it hadn't been opened yet) that it is for their Continuous Stamping Wheel (that I didn't know existed until now). I don't have that tool, but I just pulled it off from the plastic backing (this was tougher than I thought it should have been) and used it like a normal acrylic stamp. I stamped this a few different times randomly over the three panels using this technique. I watched videos of this technique and many crafters use non-permanent adhesive to layer their papers before stamping. I did as the person in the linked technique tutorial and just layered them on the table (I put a piece of paper underneath them so that I could stamp off the edges) and stamped.
• I realized after making the front of the card that I don't have any Anniversary stamps so I improvised. The inner stamp is from the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut Collection. I used a black pen to write the sentiment.

I am very pleased with how this turned out and I will definitely be using the triple stamping technique again in the future.
I have also now been asked to make another anniversary card and a birthday card for my supervisor as well. I am in charge of my team's recognition for this month and next so I will continue to make birthday cards and anniversary cards for them as well. This gives me goals to meet so that I can book time into my schedule to work on them. If it weren't for those goals, I would put crafting on the back burner and forget to schedule it as part of me-time.