Oh, Happy Day

Another week has passed with still no craft time. I tried today to get down to my craft table during nap time/quiet time for my boys but was interrupted so often and eventually had to get the baby back to sleep in my arms (which don't get me wrong, I will cherish every second of that limited cuddle time)!
Anyhow, here is what I got done in the short time I had today. I was attempting a new technique and it's not quite finished yet. I still want to add more details and doodles to it.

I used my Dylusions paints and stencils for the background and then the flower is from Unity's LOL kit Much of a Good Thing and the sentiment is from Unity's sentiment kit Bright, Happy You.
I hope to find the time to finish this up soon but wanted to share what I had for Friends With Flair today.
I hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

Sending Love

I almost didn't have anything to share today for Friends With Flair because I haven't had any crafty time in nearly 2 weeks! :( I was having severe withdrawl so instead of going to bed last night when I should have (my toddler has currently been waking me up for the day at 4am), I forced myself to go to my craft table for at least 10 minutes and try to make something. I spent a little longer than that because this card started coming together by itself pretty quickly!

The flower stamps are from Unity's Feb 2015 SMAK kit Life is What You Make It. The leaves are Dylusions Around The Edge and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I created the background using Worn Lipstick and Broken China distress inks sponged on and then spritzed lightly with water. While that dried I stamped the flowers and leaves onto watercolor paper, colored with ink for the flower and Dylusions for the leaves and cut out. When my background was dry I stamped the flowers and leaves onto it and colored the leaves with a paintbrush dipped into my Dylusions spray ink. I also spritzed the cut out flowers with a clear glimmer mist and popped them up onto the card.

I am linking this up to Unity's FWF linky party and look forward to seeing everyone elses lovely Unity creations from this week!

Happy Friday,

Crystal

Bright, happy {dylusional} tags

Last week I was so excited when my Dylusions paints finally came in that I just had to get playing as soon as possible! I made up a bunch of tag backgrounds for future use and of course I had to make up some tags right away with some of my newer Unity stamps as well. :)

These tags use stamps from Don't Be Like The Rest Of Them (butterfly, flower), You Are Important (sentiment), A Round Of Cocktails (margarita sentiment), Need a Squeeze (orange slices), and When Life Gives You Lemons (margarita glass). I white embossed and painted with my Dylusions sprays for a very vibrant color.

 The envelope is painted and then stenciled with paints as well. The sentiment on the front is a Donna Downey sentiment and the Da Vinci girl is an old unmounted stamp from origins unknown.

 The back of the envelope uses Unity's Art & Soul kit and I was able to lightly sponge my new Dylusions paints right onto the stamp and got a gorgeous and clear impression!

I am linking up to Friends with Flair super quickly today and then it's outside with the little ones to enjoy this phenomenal spring day!

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Crystal

Vintage, shabby chic encouragement tags and envie

I've been busy this week and have so much to share but not enough time to share it all so here is one of my favorite projects of the week, some distressed tags and a matching envie using some of my favorite Unity stamps, distress inks, a sheet of Prima rub-ons, and some Melody Ross chipboard stickers.

This post is picture heavy because I wanted to show you all of the details on each of the tags as well as the front and back of the envelope.

I started by using Antique Linen distress ink on the tags and envelope front and back and then used some Walnut Stain ink on the edges and blended it in.

 I used walnut stain again to stamp the images which are all from Unity. I used a few different sets here. This first tag is a little different because I used Worn Lipstick distress ink instead of the walnut stain for the hearts which are from Unity's SMAK November 2014. I made this tag special for my hubby just because. It's even extra special because I used what tiny bit of silk ribbon I had left from when I made our wedding invites years ago and used this pretty sunset colored ribbon.

 This next tag is from an older Melody Ross kit All Worth It, which is on sale at Unity this weekend. Don't you just love their weekly sales!?!

 This tag was actually the first one I made and uses my new favorite Unity kit Vintage Era Backgrounds. It is a gorgeous kit and I am so happy I picked it up during their huge 60% off sale. I almost passed on it but it has been one I've come back to over and over!

This tag uses another Melody Ross Unity set called She Sprouted Wings which is also on sale this weekend. I think all of the gorgeous Melody Ross Unity stamps might be on sale and I just adore all of her lovely stamps! I love how this chipboard sticker coordinates so wonderfully with the Be Brave mantra because aren't we all So Much Stronger Than We Think We Are?

This next tag uses another SMAK kit (Dec 2014) and one of my favorite background images from Unity. I just love these Moroccan tiles!

The envelope uses stamps from the Vintage Era background kit. All of the colored images are actually from one sheet of rub-ons from Prima that I've been hoarding for the longest time and finally decided to just use and am super happy that I did!

I hand wrote the Please Deliver To with my Walnut Stain distress marker. I am still crossing my fingers each Thursday in the hopes that Unity will finally release some stamps that say this as well as a few others for decorated envelopes. Please, Please, Please Unity!!! I really need a few of these as I don't care for my hand writing at all.

I am linking this up with Unity's Friends With Flair and if I get a chance I may try to post a few of my other projects from this week as well. Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments each week, I truly appreciate them all and look forward to reading them all as well as visiting your blogs to see what you've been creating!

Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Crystal

ATC's and APC's

I started making ATC's (artist trading cards) and APC's (altered playing cards) this past month and have become addicted to these tiny art forms! I love to grab my paints, stencils, stamps, dylusion ink sprays and just start playing and see what emerges.

Here are a couple of things I made within the week using my Unity Stamps. The first ones use a lot of background stamps from a few different SMAK kits as  well as the butterfly from Vintage Era Backgrounds. The sentiment is from the Nov 2013 SMAK kit Be Your Own Beautiful. The stars are from a Dylusion stencil.

 I made 2 of these putting my ATC's side by side to paint so they are not exactly the same. I used white acrylic paint on my Unity background stamps and did a layer of white paint with the star stencil and then a layer of pink so the pink would pop a little more.

 I also used the same Vintage Era Background kit to decorate my envelope as well as a Tim Holtz sunburst stencil and some yellow acrylic paint.

Envelope backside.

 

This last one is an Altered Playing Card that I covered with a light layer of gesso, sprayed with Dylusion inks, stamped the wing and pure heart background from Nov 2013 SMAK for the background and then used a gel medium to adhere the sentiment (from Dylusions) and the bird from Unity's March KOTM. Both were painted with Dylusion inks.

I am linking up to Unity's Friends With Flair today and I wish you all a very wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter if you celebrate!

Dream and Harmony

Just a quick post today with some cards I made last night using Unity's Dream Girl and Harmony Girl.

 The backgrounds were made using some glossy paper and alcohol ink blending and Staz-On black ink to stamp with. The dream girl card has some gold smooch ink flourishes because I tried to transfer a gold rub-on and it didn't work and left random marks that needed to be covered up.

It's Friday and that means Friends with Flair on the Unity blog so I am linking up there. Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Crystal

Happy spring!!!

I just love the 1st day of spring, probably one of my favorite days of the year!

I have a little card to share today using Unity's latest Kit of the Month, Always Begin Again and an oldie but goody sentiment kit called Inside & Out, which I'm not sure they make anymore because I couldn't find it on their website. They should make it because it was awesome! A whole sheet of red rubber filled with great sentiments for the inside and outside of your cards! I didn't take a pic but the sentiment inside from the same kit says, Thanks for being you.

I stamped the sentiment, masked it and then stamped the beautiful you flowers all around and watercolored them. There are a few gems in the centers of some of the flowers but its kind of hard to see in the pics.

I'm linking up with Unity's Friends with Flair today and can't wait to hop through all of the wonderful link-ups this weekend to see what  everyone's been creating with their Unity stamps!

I am also linking up to the Anything Goes March challenge at Anya, Oddies, and Others.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Crystal