Its a Scrappy Saturday!

My brother's birthday is coming up soon so I needed to make a card for him.  I decided to use the sketch challenge at the Unity Stamp Company blog along with the color inspiration.  I had stamped the WooHoo owl image as soon as I got my shipment from Unity and he was just floating around my desk unsure of what to be used for.  I was cleaning off a few things to start crafting and found him and thought he was perfect!  I know I've said it before but if you love cute owl stamps you need to go to Unity Stamp Co!

I decided to play with my Spectrum Noir markers some more.  I am still figuring out how to use them and have them look nice.  I am finding that I am woefully lacking the colors I want to use and wish instead of the brights I had gotten another set first.  Hopefully I can add some soon.  After coloring my image I had to use these cute black vinyl flags I picked up in Target's dollar spot.  Love that dollar spot!  I pulled out my Stampin' Up Whisper White craft ink pad and an older Stampin' Up stamp set for the sentiment.  I love this white ink but it takes forever to dry so you have to be really careful not to smudge it!

After digging through my scrap papers and adding a bit of Close to My Heart shimmer trim my card was done!

I really hope my brother likes it.  Even though it was a "boy" card I just couldn't resist the sparkle!  Thanks for visiting today!  If you want to play along with the challenges I used for inspiration follow the links:

Hiding in my Craft Room - Super Scraps Saturday!

Unity Stamp Company Blog - Monthly inspiration challenge

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Something New!

Happy Crafting!

Crafty Goodness!

My life has been challenging lately and I haven't been crafting as much.  When I do make a card or two I haven't had a chance to photograph and upload it - sorry for the long absence!  I am really hoping to get more put up in the future!

Today I made two items to share.  I was inspired by the Unity Stamp Co. and the Mojo Monday sketch challenges.

First up is a card created with itty-bitty Unity Stamps.  These stamps are perfect for cardmaking!  They usually contain an image and a saying (though not always) but are always super cute!  I love owls so I had to snatch this one right up.  Seriously - if you love owls too head right over and check it out - they have SO many cute owl stamps!!  I recently purchased some Spectrum Noir markers to start coloring with and I am having fun with those.  The paper came from my scrap bin so I have no idea what it is!  The flowers are Recollections found at Michaels.  I also broke out my We-R-Memory Keepers Cropodile to set two eyelets for the centers of the flowers.  I have to admit they were a bit dusty! A little sparkle by Stickles and this card was done!

My granddaughter is one year old now and I am woefully behind on her baby book!  There is another little girl due in April so I really need to get with it and get her book as caught up as possible before I have two to do!  There is just something about cute babies that makes me want to scrapbook.  They are just so fun!  With a 12 year old boy left at home I am glad to have some girliness again!

She is just so spunky!  The paper is from Recollections (can you tell I just went to Michaels?) The number background stamp and the typewriter are both Unity Stamp Co.  I had fun with this layout.  The split design in the back was inspired by Mojo Monday and seemed perfect to highlight the two sides of my cute baby girl!

***This week's challenge over at Hiding in my Craft Room is Freestyle so be sure to head there to enter that challenge as well!

Thanks for stopping by!!

CAS-ual Fridays

I just found this fun blog - CAS-ual Fridays. They host a challenge every few weeks so I thought I’d play along with the current challenge.  The challenge was to choose a word for the year and I chose the word “thanks”. One of the things I want to do this year is be more thankful and focus on my blessings not my lack. In that vein here is the card I created:

I used Certainly celery ink from Stampin' Up for the line stamp from Unity Stamp Co., Slate ink from Close to My Heart for the sentiment also from Close to My Heart.  I cut the banner out of the Art Philosophy cartridge with my Cricut and added a Heidi Swapp cherry and a bling brad from Making Memories. Super easy and super quick!

Thanks for stoppin’ by today!

Friends with Flair Friday!

Every Friday Unity Stamp Co. hosts Friends with Flair - your chance to link up to your great creations made with Unity Stamps.  Seeing as I love a good sketch I headed to Scrapbook Challenges. Scrapbook Challenges has lots of them!  I picked Sketch 372 to work on the other day and really love how it turned out.  I used Unity Stamp Co. stamps from the Love Beyond Measure set to make my background paper. I really love how it turned out!

Growing in Unity day Five!

It is my last day for Growing in Unity week.  I love participating in this group each year. If you have ever wanted to be a Growing in Unity gal head over to My Unity Place and check it out. There are signups for next year posted.

Today I am ending my week as I began - with an embossed resist technique.  I used the Distressed Dots stamp for the background with Twilight and Cornflower Blue ink from Close to My Heart.  The ticket stamp is from “A Love Beyond Measure” and the birdy and sentiment are from “Fall for You”.  

Thank you for joining me this week as I showcased some of my favorite Unity Stamps. Be sure to comment on each day to be entered to win your choice of any two itty-bitty stamps!  Happy Scrappin’!

Growing in Unity Day Four!

Welcome to day four of Growing in Unity week!  I am using another new stamp today - the “Absolutely Priceless” itty-bitty.  I LOVE this stamp! It is just so cute!  I stamped the ballon on three different scraps from my scrap basket and then once on white paper with my black stazon ink. I then cut out the small sections and adhered them to the base stamp. This card was so quick and easy! 

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to comment and be entered to win your choice of two itty-bitty stamps!!

Merry Christmas! Growing in Unity Day 3

I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas!!  We are celebrating with our baby granddaughter who is 6 weeks old.  I know she won’t remember her first Christmas but I’m so excited she will be with us!

Anyhoo - here is my creation for today.

I gave my big basket of Unity Stamps to my daughter and so my choices for Christmas stamps were very limited.  I decided to capture my son and some of his mischievous faces for this layout.  The paper stamp from “A Love Beyond Measure” was perfect for a letter to Santa! I cut the kraft paper on my Cricut using the Cricut Craft Room to turn the rectangle into a trapezoid to skew the background a little bit.  Throw in a couple of Heidi Swapp brads that have been sitting in my stash forever plus one pin from last Christmas and a few sparkly letters...... you get a quick and easy Christmas layout!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win your choice of two - yes 2! - itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co. You can enter every day this week by commenting on each of the 5 blog posts.  Thanks for stopping by!

Growing in Unity Day Two!

Welcome back and Merry Christmas Eve! Today I am using an itty-bitty stamp that I just got in the mail last week! The Charming Cone Flowers is one of my new favorite stamps!  After stamping in Stazon Black I used Close to my Heart ink in Hollyhock, Sorbet, Topiary and Buttercup to color the image.  I dug into my scraps to find the paper for the background.  I also used another sentiment from “Just Wanted to Say” (seriously one of my favorite kits!!!) to finish it off.

Did you know that Unity hosts a challenge each month?  They do!!  Head over to the Unity Stamp Co. Challenge Blog and play along.  I used the card sketch for December as my inspiration on this card. 

Thank you for stopping by today and be sure to leave a comment every day! One lucky commenter will win their choice of 2 itty-bitty stamps!  So fun!

Growing in Unity Day One!

I am so happy you are here! This week is my week to host “Growing in Unity” showcasing some of Unity Stamp Co.’s most amazing and fantabulous stamps! Seriously - I love these stamps!!

This week I am using images from two different sets - Just Wanted to Say and A Love Beyond Measure.  I was inspired by the amazing Maria Levine - one of Unity’s  ‘ippity chicks’.  In her video she shows how to do an embossed resist and I couldn’t resist (heehee) trying it! (click to see how she does it!)

I stamped the butterfly image from the “A Love Beyond Measure” kit with versamark ink and used B&J’s Art Stamps embossing powder in Mystic Fire on top. After heating it I used Inguilde Bolme chalk ink in Coltsfoot Stemens and Close to my Heart ink in Sorbet over top.  The sentiment is stamped in Stazon black from the “Just Wanted to Say” kit. The blue butterfly sticker is from Typo.

Thank you for stopping by today and be sure to leave a comment every day! One lucky commenter will win their choice of 2 itty-bitty stamps!  So fun!

HIMCR #107- Freestyle!

Today’s card (yet another birthday card!) was made with the new Ruby- RockIt! Carnival Queen papers.  These were really fun to use.  I dusted off my Cricut (literally - there is too much dust here!) and cut out the cute cupcake from the Rock Princess cartridge.  The sentiment tag was cut from Art Philosophy and the stamps on the sentiment are my new stamps from Unity Stamp Co. I topped it off with some sparkly stickles and a few metal gems from Joann’s.  I really love how it came out and know my niece will love it too :)

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head over to Hiding in My Craft Room to see all the other yummy treats the DT has to share with you today!

HIMCR #98 - Try a New Technique!

This week we played around with the Faux Linen technique.  I have to admit it sounded a bit intimidating until I actually tried it and found that it was easier than I thought.  I really enjoyed it and made several small cards with the technique that I may post another day.

Go over to SplitcoastStampers for the technique tutorial to learn just how easy it is.  Laurie, from Hiding in my Craft Room, has used regular cardstock and found that it worked well so if you don't have glossy cardstock you can still give it a try.  Remember to head back to Hiding in My Craft Room to link us up with your Faux Linen creation!

I used a variety of stamps for this one - the music notes and corner flourish are from Unity Stamp Co. and the bird is from Stampin Up.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Vintage photo for the faux linen.  The sentiment is also from Stampin Up.

HIMCR #85 - Embossing!

That's right! Its time to break out your embossing powder and get scrappin'! I used this cute little stamp from Unity Stamp Co. and a cobalt blue embossing powder for my background.  I love embossing on my backgrounds like this - just stamp randomly, apply powder and then heat it up!  It really makes such a cool raised effect.

We were given cute digi stamps this week from Sweet n Sassy Stamps to work with.  They have some adorable images that are so fun to work with! I used ink from Stampin' Up and Close to My Heart to color the image then added a phrase with another Unity Stamp Co. stamp.  I fussy cut the image then added it to my card - super quick and easy!

Thanks for joining us and don't forget to link us up with your embossing creation over at Hiding in my Craft Room!

Chalkboard Technique - Challenge at Scrapbook Challenges

As part of their fun blog challenge hop they challenged us to create a chalkboard effect.  I LOVE this technique! It looks so cool!  I used black paint and painted a rectangle on my cardstock.  Then I cut out a cute frame from the Art Philosphy cartridge on my Cricut to dress it up.  Using a white craft ink pad from Stampin' Up and some Close to My Heart and Unity Stamp Co. stamps I added my words.  I just love it!  Head over to Scrapbook Challenges to see more inspiration and play along!

TPE #45 - Lift It!

I love the challenges at The Pink Elephant and I tend to forget to upload them after I do them so this week I'm getting it done right away so I don't forget! This week the challenge was to lift it - use another layout as inspiration.  I went to the gallery at Scrapbook Challenges and found this amazing layout by Mette.  I loved the placement and the clusters of fun ephemera so I just had to lift it.

These pictures were taken during our family photo shoot in Nov. 2012.  My kids are such goofballs and I love it.  I've been wanting to scrap them for a little while now but didn't have the right inspiration - until today! I pulled out some stamps from Unity Stamp Co - the background, flourish, the 'you color my world' phrase and the little ruler in the right corner.  The Eiffel tower stamp came from a little store called Typo (have you been there yet? oh I love it!) The other things are bits and pieces I had laying around my scrap area.  I added a little washi tape too.  I cut the word 'agents' from my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge (seriously you must get this - I use it constantly!). The smaller letters are Bazzill stickers.

Thanks for looking! Be sure to head over to the gallery at Scrapbook Challenges to check out Mette's amazing layout and leave her some love!

HIMCR #78 - Freestyle Baby!

For our last challenge of 2012 you get to choose!  Lets see what you love and where your talents lie :) Its a freestyle challenge so use any supplies you want to create anything you want!

This week I finished a small mixed media canvas I've been planning for awhile.  It of course took on a life of its own when I actually got started.

To begin I used an old sewing pattern.  I tore a piece slightly larger than my canvas then glued it down letting it bunch and gather to create dimension.  After it dried (a few weeks later when I got back to it!) I painted the background a shade of blue and then looked at it some more and realized the pattern formed what looked like a tree trunk to me so off I went with it!

I sprayed the background with some shimmery mist made with the Create-a-Shade paint from Close to My Heart.  This stuff is fabulous!  You use the spray pen with a little water, a few drops of the paint and any re-inker ink to make your own glimmer mist.  I love it! (if  you'd like these fun tools for your very own click on the link for each and you can order them from my website!)

Once that all dried I used some craft white stamp ink from Stampin Up and a sponge to dab some white along the top and sides for 'clouds'. I used brown paint to define the tree branches and some green for grass.  I also used a grass stamp with two different shades of green ink to stamp over the paint when it dried.  Next I cut the leaves, ran them through my Xyron and then grouped them on the tree.  

I found this great sentiment in the Fall for You kit from Unity Stamp Co. It reads "laugh with your eyes hug with your soul and smile with your heart".  Using some more paint I painted the stamp and applied it to the canvas.  I really like how this came out and now I need to figure out where and how to display it!

Don't forget to head over to Hiding in My Craft Room to link us up with your creations!

Supplies used: Making Memories paints, create a shade paint from Close to My Heart, Cosmo Cricket butterfly stickers, Unity Stamp Co - sentiment, various green papers I had in my stash cut from the Plantin Schoolbook with my Cricut.

HIMCR #75 - Super Scraps Saturday!

Welcome to Super Scraps Saturday at Hiding in my Craft Room!  The challenge is to dig into that scraps pile and use some up on a new creation!

One of the great things about moving is finding stuff you didn't remember you had!  This is true with my scraps too - except for the cardstock base my layout was created using scraps of paper I have had for ages!  They were in a plastic folder that I completely forgot about!

I received my Cricut Artiste bundle from Close to My Heart this week and had to use it right away!  I cut the heart, scalloped background and 'Love' from that cartridge.  I love it already!  I have to admit I bought it just to get the Eiffel Tower shape!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to go link your creation at Hiding in My Craft Room!

Papers - American Crafts and Piggy Tales

Stamps - Oo la la - Close to My Heart; lines - Unity Stamps; Eiffel stamp - Typo

flowers - Prima

brad - Making Memories

jewels - Bo Bunny

Last day - Growing in Unity

I have really enjoyed sharing my Unity Stamp Co. creations with you!  For my last day I am sharing another layout.  Since it had been awhile I decided to make a 9x9 layout and keep it simple.  I used the itty-bitty Bubble Gum Tree stamp and paper pieced in the lower corner then found this quote I have had forever it seems.  I have no idea where I got it - it was just hiding out in my stash!

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win 2 itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co!  I will be announcing the winner on Monday so don't forget to check back!  Thanks for joining me this week!

Hoo Loves Ya Baby? - Growing in Unity

Welcome back for the next installment of Growing in Unity this week!  Today's card is a masculine one.  Having a husband, two boys, a father and 3 brothers I tend to need masculine cards often!  I chose to use Owl Always Love You  today.  I love the owls!  I think Unity Stamp Co. was the leader in the owl trend because this is one of the first kits I bought!

The owls are stamped with Chocolate and Barn Red ink from Close to My Heart with the branch and sentiment in Chocolate and Baja Breeze from Stampin' Up.  For the background I used some Coordinations paper I had left over from another project and two of the words from Sentiments O'Simple stamped in Whisper White from Stampin' Up. The size of the card is a bit bigger than normal :)  I cut the paper at 7 inches wide x 8 inches tall to fold down into a 7x4 card.  I like to mix it up once in awhile!

Thanks for visiting today and be sure to leave a comment on any of the Unity Stamp Co. posts I've made this week to be entered into a drawing for 2 itty-bitty stamps of your choice from Unity Stamp Co.!

Sweet Stuff Card - Growing in Unity

Good Morning!  Today I wanted to share another card I made using stamps from Mix Up of Cuteness. There are a lot of great images in this set and I chose three sweet treats coloring them with a blender pen and ink from CTMH and SU.  The sentiment is also from Unity.  A few years ago they were selling a grab bag of images and it came in that.  I added a little washi tape as my background and two bling jewels from Bo Bunny. Thanks for looking today and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win 2 itty-bitty stamps!!

***This just in!  It's Brown Bag Thursday at Unity!  Get a Grab Bag of 15 random stamps for only $9 using code 50THANKS. I have gotten this in the past and ended up with a great mix of stamps!

My Nana - Growing in Unity

Welcome!  I'm so glad you are joining me this week as I feature fantabulous stamps from Unity Stamp Co. Today I have a layout to share with you.  I am slowly making my way through pictures of my childhood and came across this one of me with my Nana and her dog Fifi from July of 1984.

I love these trees from  Tiny Giggle Grove but for a layout I wanted them a bit bigger.  Fortunately they are available individually in the slightly larger size- Hackle Berry Point, Shade Tree, and Shurberry Tree.  I thought these papers from Anna Griffin would be perfect.  After stamping them on the pattern paper I cut out just the branches sections and then stamped the trees directly on my cardstock, adhering my cut out branch sections.  I also used some stickers from Simple Stories to create my banner and the letter stickers came from Jillibean Soup.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to leave a comment!  At the end of the week I will be drawing a winner from all the comments this week to win their own choice of 2 itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co.!