Friends of Unity August 2018 Blog Hop

Hello, again, Unity Stamp Co. friends! Back again, with another blog hop. But, first, I’d like to announce the winner of last month’s giveaway! Using a random number generator, Mary Reiner won my giveaway. Mary, to claim your prize, please message me with your mailing address and I’ll get it out right away! You have 2 weeks to claim this prize. This month there are 3 other friends offering a giveaway, Eileen Mathis, Jeanie Hays and Robyn Jordan! All you need to do to win is leave comments on each blog in the hop.

With this month’s theme, Coffee and Tea, I found stamp selection was so easy as Unity offers a large selection of coffee/tea based stamps. I decided to focus my efforts on a, new to me, stamp, Spring to Go, for the coffee theme, and, for the tea theme, one of my very favorite stamps, Sweet Tea Kitty. Had to do both themes because I’m a lover of both beverages!

For the first card, I stamped the cup in both gray and brown archival inks and the sentiment in brown. For color inspiration, I decided I wanted to incorporate the washi I included on the card. So, the color scheme is cool blue, yellow, cream, brown and a soft orange. Using my Prismacolor pencils, I tried mirroring the white flowers and used the blue for the leaves and cup top. I added the washi tape and used a Gina K die to cut the paper, and coordinating colored patterned papers. I added coordinating twine, a coffee cup paper clip and enamel dots. I also cut out raised shiny beans from a patterned paper I picked up in a junkie kit.

For the second card, I started by using an embossing folder I picked up in a discount store. I spritzed water on the paper before running it though my Big Shot. I then ran both pink and red inks over the raised areas and diluted the white background by adding a little Antique Linen color in the depressions (I did this by adding color to the folder and repressing the paper.) I then stamped the image on watercolor paper in red and brown archival inks. I stamped the sentiment in red. I used tube paints and distress inks to add color to the image. I then added paint to the background. After this I pulled out a Gina K. stencil I had also picked up on sale and added red and brown marks to the background and red marks to the sentiment. Once dried, I added a Heidi Swap metallic white paste over the top of the same design, adds a cool luster in spots. I added some Spectrum Noir Glitter ink to the kitty. I then took coordinating patterned paper and used a Tim Holtz die cut on it. I used a combo of Gina K and Memory Box dies in this card. I backed that and the sentiment with burlap patterned paper to tie in with the kitty! I finished off the card with gold and red ribbon, glittery gold enamel dots and a gold butterfly. What can I say...I love texture!

Hope these cards and the others shared on the following blogs help to stimulate your creative ideas (like I find when I hop). Remember, if you wish to participate in the giveaways, be sure to comment on every blog entry in this Hop. We, all, on the Friends of Unity design team, are always interested in your feedback! That’s why we use our own stash to offer giveaways.

We are NOT sponsored by Unity Stamp Co., but they approve our hop. We are huge fans of the company, their products, the owners and staff, and the Unity Show and Tell community, which is why this Hop was started. Just wanted to share our theme based designs and some of our favorite stamps.

Friend of Unity blog hop:

Eileen Mathys

Robyn Jordan
Jeanie Marie Hays
Crystal Minkler

you are here —> Joyce Verdon

Next up —> Dawn Fields

Wynne Cochran Grob

Thanks for stopping by! Till next time, happy crafting!