Sunday, March 21, 2021

Growing in Unity Blog Hop

 Hello there, welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop. So fun to enjoy this little extra hop after our week events!


So, for my card, I used this month’s, March’s, Whit Kit, Wayward Florals. I took one of the papers from the Golden Marble paper pack and 2 Prima Color in Bloom sprays, Spring Dandelion and Magic Stone. Inside a box, I placed the Stencil Girl Rooted in Nature stencil over the paper, and first sprayed a little of the yellow and then sprayed the Magic Stone color. Love how this turned out. I had used the reverse side as I wanted to use the leaves stamp that leaned to the left.

After it was dry, I added a little script and dots using various Unity stamps with Rusty Hinge and Tattered Rose oxides. I then clear embossed the leaves stamp using Versafine black ink. I used Prima’s and Gambi Tansai metallic inks and a white Posca pen on the leaves. I used a white pencil around the image.

After embossing the sentiment with Rose Gold powder, I used dies to cut both the image andsentiment down. I backed the sentiment with black paper and used a black patterned paper with gold foil dots on it for the image. I finished off the card with fussy twine, sequins and Prima dots. 

Pretty pleased with how different this one turned out and loving the combination of stencil and the leaves stamp.


Thanks for hopping! Remember to leave a comment before you go for a chance at Unity stamps. You should have arrived at my blog from:

Amy’s Blog

Next up in the hop is:

Lynda’s Blog

And if you want to start at the top, go here:

Teresa’s Blog

Monday, March 8, 2021

Hello Gorgeous Card

Decided I needed to get my watercoloring on today! And I chose a flower stamp I’d used before, in a much different way, from the 4/18 KOM, Eyes of the Beholder. I used papers and the color palette from Mintay’s Lady paper pad for this card.

First attempt, in my early carding days:

I had pulled out this kit again recently and saw again the beautiful flowers buried in the background. After playing a bit with various options, I finally settled on the technique I’d use. I pulled out a sheet of hot press Arches paper and cut out 2 pieces. I also grabbed Ken Oliver’s Color Bursts in Alizarin Crimson and Lemon Yellow and my Schmincke watercolors. I mixed the 2 powders in a tray with a bit of water. Then I loosely painted stripes in first one color on my glass mat and laid the card down. I dried the card and did the same with the second color. I then painted a watered down blue green from my pan set to add a little duller color to the base. Once dried, I pulled out a Tim Holtz stencil, and Archival Library ink and added little squares in 3 areas. I then stamped the image using the same archival ink.

On the second paper I stamped the image again with Distress Antique Linen ink. I then used my watercolor set to paint the leaves and flowers. I didn’t fuss over the painting as I knew they would blend in with the whole larger image. I then fussy cut out the flowers and leaves. After laying the pieces over the background, I decided I needed to push back the background by painting over it with a watered down white gesso, effectively muting it a bit. 

I die cut the papers, used foam tape to adhere all the flower pieces and added a stamped sentiment from the Aging Gorgeously kit.


Hope you like this card. I have one rose blooming right now and all the others have gorgeous growth on them. Can’t wait! Till next time, happy crafting!

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Friends of Unity March Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back to our Friends of Unity Blog Hop. This month we’ve focused on a sketch that Crystal came up with. I struggled a bit with this new theme, but think I accomplished the goal. 


As usual, there will be Unity stamps given away with our blog hop to commenters by various members. I intend to do a giveaway myself this month. To be eligible, just comment on every blog in the hop! I’ll announce my winner in the April hop, so stay tuned!

So I made 2 cards for this hop. On the first card, I used pretty Market 49 papers and an image from Feel the Fear. I started by embossing the image with Distress Glaze powder over Oxide inks, and added colored pencil coloring. To add more color to the papers I stamped a butterfly with the second generation technique and also the sentiment from the image kit. I cut out some of the papers for mini tags at the top. I combined edge papers to make the strip down the side. I used a Market 49 ephemera tag for the sentiment.  After receiving great advice from a friend because of the soft feel of the card, I used a sentiment from last April’s sentiment kit, Trust it Will Be Okay I embossed it with purple powder from Crafters Companion. I inked all paper edges using violet ink. To complete the card, I added violet and light aqua enamel dots to the card.


For the second card, I combined elements from Unity’s KOM, from 4/18, Eyes of the Beholder, and Prima’s Pretty Pale paper pad, along with the sentiment kit from above. I embossed the bee on paper from the kit, using Brutus Monroe Espresso brown powder. I then added embossed dots using an embossing pen and Crafter’s Companion Copper powder. Once die cut, I also embossed the edges. I then embossed the bee hive pattern with the copper powder on another sheet from the pad. Again, I cut it down and embossed the edges. I added black flecks of paint onto the hive paper. Finally, I added an embossed spotted pattern using another stamp from the kit to the black paper behind the bee. After embossing the edges of the top level paper, I embossed the sentiment and backed that with paper. I added tags using the matching Prima Washi tape.


Hope you enjoyed these ideas! Remember to leave a comment before you go! Now, if you want to continue on in the blog hop with my very creative friends, go here: 

Alaine’s Blog

If you want to start from the beginning, visit:

Crystal’s Blog