Friends of Unity October Blog Hop

 Hey there… time for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop! This month is all about technique!

Before I start, I wanted to congratulate Jan Vint on being my giveaway winner from last month’s hop. Congrats! Please PM me, Jan, with your address to claim your prize and I’ll send out your goodies as soon as I’m able to! Reminder, my friends and I regularly give out new Unity goodies from our own stash. To be eligible, all you need to do is enter a comment on each blog! 

For this exercise, I created 2 different Christmas cards… yeah, I know, I’m either too early or too late. These are my first for 2021! Anyway, for the first card, I unapologetically plagiarized a card from one of my favorite crafters, Tracy Evans (see Youtube video https://youtu.be/MsG_gkX-u2g). I can listen to her voice all day long. Anyway, she reminded me of one of the classic techniques, second generation stamping. In my case, I used branches from the Beauty of Life kit and oxide inks. She also used the cool technique of using circle dies to create Christmas ornaments and a frame. I decided to put a bird on my ornament as well and used the image from an old KOTM, Love the Little Things. I also used a music script from another kit to add further embellishment to the ornament and frame. I had received an ornament topper stamp from Unity to pair with their pattern stamps. I stamped that out to put at top of ornament. I also drew lines in. I first made a simpler version of the card, then changed it up by hand drawing berries in and adding color to the bird. You can let me know which you like better. I may make more of these. To complete the card, I backed with brown paper and added sprinkles and crystals.

Here’s the original:

Here’s the modified version:

For the second card, I used different favorite technique I picked up from Gina K, another talented lady. I used the September Kit of the Month, Looking Forward for this card! Ever since I saw this technique demoed bu Gina, I seem to make a holiday card every year using it. It’s quite simple - first start by white embossing the image and sentiment. Then using 3 coordinating inks, add color, using a blending tool, to the image, starting at the outside edge with the lightest color and moving toward the center with the darkest color. I them went back and added more to the leaves and the berries using a paintbrush. This time I used red to pink colors. This creates a very soft look and is easy to do. To complete the card, I backed the panel with a soft green glitter paper and a patterned paper, and added twine and crystals.

Hope you enjoy trying these “borrowed” techniques! I really cannot do either of them the justice they deserve! Remember to leave a comment! Now on to some fabulous cards from my crafty friends! You should have come to my blog from:

Dawn’s Blog

To continue, check out:

Alaine’s Blog

To start at the beginning, visit:

Crystal’s Blog