For this card, I pulled out an older My Mind’s Eye paper pad, called Sugar Plum… pretty pastel pinks, blues and greens, and foiling. I used 5 papers from the pad, one of which was a scene that I stamped on. I embossed the image from Unity’s Merry Christmas Treeline onto the scene using Liquid Platinum powder. I then cut it down and used watercolors on the trees. I mounted that on another patterned paper and added die cuts using another paper. I then added 3 liquid dots in gold, blue and pink to the trees. I cut the remaining pieces and added cream paper backing. I mounted it all on a blue card base and added crystals for embellishments.
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
Today, I pulled 2 stamps from another vendor (or 2) out of a hat, or really, out of my stash… Picket Fence’s A Christmas Flower and a Unity sentiment. I really want to go back and paint this one when I have more time! I wanted to use this pretty paper I’ve had in my stash for a while now… somehow I think it’s from DCWV. This card was pretty simple to create, although I fussed a bit with different options. Finally, I ended up silver embossing the image twice, once on gray card stock and once on white card stock. I then fussy cut the top leaves and attached it to the gray flower with foam tape. I used a gold paper to embellish the top layer and added the embossed sentiment on red scrap paper. Both papers have metallic shine to them so it was important to have the flower stand out. I added crystals and gold thread as well.
It’s a very pretty stamp and I would like to go back and paint this one next time.
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
Today, I pulled out a never used stamp & die set from Pretty Pink Posh… one of our sponsors… yay! The Joy stamp and die sets are just adorable. I can see using it over and over with many different combinations of paper and colors. I used a Unity patterned paper and another lighter green one from my stash to define the colors I would use for stamping ink and for watercoloring with my Arteza pens! Can you believe this is the first time I’ve used these ink pens? Geez… they were perfect for getting into those small images. This was so fun and such a break from the techniques used on my other cards!
I strongly encourage anyone who can to pick up this perfect set! There are a couple different ways to use it… may need to try a shaker card with it!
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
So, I had fun putting this card together with paper scraps, dies, stamps and ephemera from my holiday card stash. (I don’t know about you, but I hate to throw away paper.) So, I began by piecing together the background with vintage Paper Studio papers scraps. I then pulled out an older Impression Obsession die, called Christmas Tree, and a vintage textured gold paper. I decided to back the diecut with paper I added white embossed snowflakes and red pen “ornament” dots to. Then I found a winter Tim Holtz paper doll I could combine with the tree and added rosy cheeks.
I then went to town looking for other embellishments I could add to the card. I found a Joy die from a magazine and used that with the same paper. I found a brad, an old braided ribbon, and other odds and ends. I fussy cut some of the ephemera to fit the card. I used a Unity stamp to add another “No Peeking” embellishment using Unity’s Ticket to Christmas.
I must admit, I do like collages of vintage cards; all the layers and textures!
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
For this card, I used Colorado Crafts stamp kit, Slimline Gnome. I watercolored the festive gnome image, added white gel pen highlights, and Posca pen “snow” dots to match the background paper I picked out. To complete the card, I added the sentiment from the kit and coordinating enamel dots. I did add a little sparkle to the snow drifts at the bottom.
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
For this very simple card, I used a piece of paper from an older paper collection called Painted Poinsettias, by Wild Rose Studio (which no longer exists). I just love the soft colors in the collection and the bird image on the paper. I used Unity’s September KOM, again, Fa-La-La-La-La. I stamped the poinsettia using a combo of Festive Berries and Ripe Persimmon oxide inks and embossed with a very light sparkling clear powder.
I cut the paper down to size and found some matching paper to back it with. I die cut the word Love from a shimmery soft mint colored paper and backed it with a darker color. I added a sentiment from an older Unity Kit and a piece of Washi tape with the words Merry Christmas. To complete the card, I added red/white twine and matching crystals.
Well, this certainly turned out quite different from yesterday’s card! Hope this provided some inspiration for using a stamp like this in concert with a beautiful piece of paper.
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
So, I bought this 12x12 paper set from AB Studio, called Breeze of the Forest. It’s clearly very ethereal, fluid and full of free flowing designs with a winter and/or holiday theme. It’s available through Etsy and AB Studios site. It’s a very thick paper which I thought could be useful for water mediums. This paper coupled with watching mixed media artists create more “artsy” holiday cards, inspired this card. I think I also saw a recent video showing the technique I used below on a standard card as well.
I started by cutting a piece down to card size. I then pulled out inks which coordinate or match the colors in the paper… more of a magenta/plum color and a green. I placed the paper in my Misti and pulled out Unity’s Fa-La-La-La-La kit (September’s Kit of the Month) and the Christmas Over/Again background sta mp. I first stamped the poinsettia with the “magenta” color onto the card. Then, I cleaned the stamp and stamped the background stamp onto the poinsettia stamp and in turn onto the card. Now, with words, you need to be aware that it stamps the mirror image, which I was okay with (and actually the sentiments in the background stamp go upside down sometimes anyway). I loved the look, but I wanted more…
So, I then proceeded to add by hand leaves to the poinsettia and used my watercolors to add some color loosely. There were also branches already in the paper I added color to as well. I took a charcoal pencil and using the side of the pencil I added very rough outlines to the larger image. I took a green pen and gold and silver Posca pens and randomly outlined and added filler to some of the letters in the poinsettia. I added outlines to the leaves as well. Finally, I stamped the background stamp around the whole card and added spatters. I stamped the sentiment from the kit, fussy cut it out as well as a few flowers from the paper set. Finally, I added twine, backed it with paper from the kit and added some dark green enamel dots, and called this messy card done. Like all mixed media, I can’t tell you how much fun I had pulling this together!
Hope you enjoyed this messy artsy holiday card, for a complete change. Clearly, this will need to go to someone who enjoys mixed media… let me know if that’s you and I’ll send it along!
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
For this non-traditional card, I used a popular chair stamp from Unity Stamp Co. (one of our sponsors!), designed by a crafty friend, Jeanie Hays. This stamp can be purchased in the standalone set, My Happy Place, or if you are a member, in a prior Kit of the Month (KOTM), Beginning of Anything, from May 2020. I got the idea of this card from looking at new 2022 paper pads… chairs seem to be in! And why not! They are comfy and cozy… especially with a little holiday decor!
I also used a new paper pad that reminds me of my little Havanese dogs, Paper Roses’ Snuggly Christmas. I love the fresh use of a new color for holiday cards! So, to begin I stamped the chair, added a little pencil shading and fussy cut it out. I did end up also using a white Posca pen to outline the chair. I then stamped the pillow twice on 2 different sheets from the pad, shaded them and fussy cut them out. I also fussy cut the ornaments and a cute little pup! I decided to make the background using 2 of the sheets from the pad, one for the rug and one for the wall.
Before putting everything together, I decorated one of the pillows with a snowflake to match the ornaments. I found the perfect one in September’s KOTM, Fa-La-La-La-La, along with a perfect sentiment! I embossed both using a sparkly blue Stampendous embossing powder. The pillows, sign and ornaments are all foam raised. I used a navy and a silver pen to “attach” the ornaments to the ceiling!
To be honest, this turned out better than my expectations! But then I’m known for my love of quirky cards! Hope you enjoyed this one… now… your turn!
Join in the fun and link up some pretty holiday cards… and check out all the beauties already submitted! Remember, the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party also has a great list of sponsors and giveaways. See rules in the attached blog post!
Thanks for stopping by… till next time, happy crafting!
I needed a card for my grandson’s 4th birthday, so I pulled out Unity’s …Bountiful Owl kit and a sentiment from Hugs, Kisses and Birthday Wishes. I found my fall paper scraps and pulled out an embossing folder I think I picked up in a magazine!
I started by spritzing the green patterned paper with water and added brown ink to the embossing folder. The impression turned out pretty good, so I added color to the tree image just using my distress ink cubes.
I then brown embossed the owl image and used the ink cubes again to add color. To enhance the image, I used colored pencils and a brown pen and a white one. I used more scraps for backing papers and a green card base. I just embellished with a few crystals.
Pretty simple card for a bright happy little one! That’s it for today, happy crafting!
Welp, made my 2nd, 3rd and 4th 2022 holiday cards! I’m on a roll! So, ended up making 3 similar cards on my “second” holiday card for Sketch Challenge 27. I realized as I was taking pictures of my first rendition that I had attached the panels wrong! So …I started over! And, actually, I wanted to try another technique to create the image and I had leftover paper I could use!
So, to start off with, these cards were first inspired by a very pretty holiday paper I received years ago in a magazine. It’s the bottom layer on right side of both cards. For some reason, I was just fascinated and in love with it. Without being shimmery, the colors and shading used created that illusion. So, then I started pulling out distress oxides I thought I could use to recreate the tones of colors in the paper. I used Wilted Violet, Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch and Tumbled Glass for all the cards, but with different techniques. I used a Brutus Monroe sparkling white embossing powder… that actually gave me some problems. And, finally, I used the Season of Joy kit from Simon Says Stamps.
For the first card, I used a smooshing technique on a mixed media paper, and over that, because I wanted a darker background, I ink blended the inks onto the card. I think the combination of colors approximates the paper colors. I clapped my hands over the paper with water to create drops. I also spattered white acrylic ink over the paper. To create the snowy mounds, I used the same ink as well as Posca white pen. I had to go over the embossed parts as I found the powder flaked off or was not opaque enough. I used a bluish purple card base for this one. I added glue all over and sprinkled tiny silver stars onto it. I used a Spellbinders Joy die for the sentiment. When I was taking the picture, I noticed I layered the pieces wrong 😟.
For the second card, I copied a Tracy Evans technique, “brayering” the ink onto the card. Her latest video shows how to do that. I used the same water and ink spattering techniques. I also changed things up by embossing tracks from a Unity SMAK kit to create the hills. I filled in colors again with both the white inks and, this time, I also used white paint from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paint kit. This time I die cut stars for embellishment and embossed a sentiment from the kit. The card base this time is a purplish blue. Again, the embellished image was problematic for me.
For the last card, I changed things up by using Bristol paper and Gina K fine detail white powder. Also, I had to resort to other papers but pretty much kept to the same palette with the addition of a little green. I used the Brayer again but also used ink blending with a torn paper to make the hills. I used a specialty white shimmer paper for one of the panels the stars and the Tonic die cut sentiment.
If at first you don’t succeed… well… you know what they say! That’s it for today, happy crafting!
Well, hello to a new group of fellow cardmakers! Yay - I’ve just joined the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmembers Design Team! I’m was so excited to be able participate in this group, that I immediately made my first holiday card and here it is! Here’s the sketch providing inspiration for this card!
For this card’s focus, I used a Kraft paper card base, a paper from Prima’s Santa Baby pad, and 2 Simon Says Stamp kits, The Magic of Christmas and Season of Joy. I started by stamping the image using Victorian Velvet Oxide ink onto the a piece of precut mixed media paper. I watercolored the image using same tones as the Prima paper strip. I lightly added both paint spatters and a very faint Unity script stamp to the background. To add a fancy border I thought would match the Kraft paper, I embossed strips of Stampendous powder. I did this by taking a small cube of Brutus Monroe embossing ink and very carefully wiping it down the edges of the paper.
To create the card, I found some coordinating paper scraps I cut down and used those to recreate the sketch image. I embossed the sentiment and added that to the image. To complete the card, I added Simon Says stamp die cut leaves (Privet Branch), painting the paper in the same tones, and a few sequins.
So happy to have been invited to join this team and looking forward to creating a bunch of holiday cards! See you next time and happy crafting!
Welcome to our Friends of Unity October blog hop! This one held a very different kind of challenge…
Well, I really had fun with this challenge! Finally had the opportunity to take my mixed media skills to another level. I’ve been wanting to develop skills in this area as I’m just in awe and fascinated watching the wonderful YouTubers that handle this technique with such ease and create such beautiful creations. I would love to complete my own art journal completely filled with page after page of inspiration to look back upon. To go from this…
to an inspirational page, like below, with special meaning to oneself is so rewarding! Art therapy is a real thing, and I totally enjoy every minute getting away from the world as I wander around in the creative process. Also, will serve to track my progress as I continue to develop my skills.
Before I continue on to this month’s efforts, I’d like to congratulate
Crafty Deb
on being the winner of my post from last month’s hop! Please message me your address and I’ll send along a little package with some Unity goodness! As usual, I, as well as others on the hop, will be doing another giveaway this month as well, so be sure to leave a comment on each post for a chance at some freebies!
So, I started attacking this challenge by opening my large art journal I picked up at a class a few years ago. I pulled out some interesting ephemera, I think from Bo Bunny, that I picked up at a discount store years ago. (I’ve collected a variety of odds and ends that I could use on this technique.) I also pulled out Unity stamps, coordinating paper scraps, acrylic paints and went to town. It took me over 2 days with a lot of drying in between layers. The thing about art journaling is that the audience for the piece is oneself. There’s no one else that needs to be satisfied with the result. Did I make a ton of mistakes… heck yeah. Would I change any of the decisions I made… of course! Does it make anyone else happy… probably not. But it was so fun! I took amateur video of my efforts, and sliced and diced it into 2 parts. Used several stamp sets and stencils for this one: Unity’s Stories to Tell, Just Magic, Open Your Eyes, Emerge and Border of Bells, and a Studio Light and an Art Anthology stencil. Hope you enjoy watching them! (There were a few steps I missed filming, but I think you can get the gist of what I did.)
For my second project, I wanted to make a tag using freebies from my Unity membership. This time I used 2 stamp kits, Love Anchors and The Ocean is Calling and paper scraps again… in some cases crumpled for texture). I also used a couple stencils on this one as well.As you will be able to tell from my video, I am all about texture! Enjoy watching this one!
Finally, my last 2 efforts were devoted to making Christmas tags using some of the tiny stamps from Unity’s Advent calendar kit. The first set, Ho Ho Ho, were developed with distress oxides, Primary Elements shiny powders and specialty embossing powder. Because the backs were dirty I attached paper that I used to paper piece the hat. I added some die cut snowflakes and a snowflake button to each.
The second set was developed using 2 tags. I adhered large music sheet Washi tape strips over the top tag. I then stamped the images and papers pieced them together (with the exception of the largest tag which I just added pen colors to). Fussy cut them out and added little die cuts and preprinted sentiments. Had fun creating these Christmas tags… I need to do this every year!
Thanks for stopping by… hope you received a little inspiration from my creations! Remember to leave a comment! Now onto my fellow bloggers’ beautiful ideas…
