Free Spirited Gypsy

I have been dying to ink this beauty up and I got my chance tonight.  Oh, is she ever gorgeous and I had SO MUCH FUN coloring her!  She is Suzi Blu's Gypsy Warrior by Unity Stamp Co and I believe she is ON SALE this weekend if you don't already have her!

When I see this gypsy beauty I always get a song in my head from The Zac Brown Band called Colder Weather so I wanted to incorporate music onto my journal page.  I stamped Worn Sheet Music by Unity Stamp Co all over the background and then covered it with a layer of gesso to mute it a bit.  I stamped her and then used a Moroccan tile stencil from My Favorite Things and sponged Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers distress inks around her.  Then the coloring fun started.  I used the same color distress markers as well as Mustard Seed and Vintage photo and colored and used a wet paintbrush to move the color around.  The Free Spirit is an old rub-on from Scenic Route Paper Co and the quote is from the Unity set Whitney Girl.

I added a few touches of gold smooch ink to the flowers in her hair and then left her alone. 

I am linking up with Friends with Flair on Unity Stamp blog cause it's FRI-DAY and they have a linky party every Friday with prizes and all!  Lots of lovely inspiration every week guaranteed! And you can leave a comment for a chance to win some Unity, they announce winners every Monday!

I also just discovered Art Journal Everyday so this will be my first time linking there.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,
Crystal

Birdie duet

I am learning that sometimes a page comes together fairly quickly and everything just works out in a way that makes me smile.  That was this page (quite the relief after my last page).  I only had a short amount of time to play during naptime today and was able to make this page from start to finish (with a heat gun used for drying between stages).

I started with some gelatos (orange, yellow and some pink) scribbled onto the page and then used a wet brush to move and blend (my first success with this technique).  After drying that I used some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and sponged it over a stencil (Heidi Swapp Confetti).  Then I stamped a border stamp (Dylysions Around the Edge) around the edge and used another stamp from that set inked up with some Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and stamped randomly.  I then grabbed another stencil (DCWV) and applied gesso over it in a few spots.  I stamped She Script (Unity Stamp Co) up in the right hand corner and then got an idea to use some pretty chipboard birds from Melody Ross (which I applied with a gel medium) and found this perfect bird cage stamp set from Unity Stamp Co called Birdie Duet.

 

 

I used a white gel pen to detail around the birds on the cage and a Pitt Pen to detail around the chipboard birds.  After that I called it finished.  I am still unsure about when a page is "done" but I called this one done when the kids woke up from nap. 

 

Thanks for visiting and happy crafting!

With a Joyful Heart

I wanted to stamp this sentiment inside of a wineglass stamp but I didn't have a stamp big enough so I sketched one!  It's a bit playful and inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.  I like CAS cards (easy to put in the mail) but even so when I finished this one it was a bit too CAS for me so I added some splashes of watercolor to the bottom to hopefully look like reflections from the glass.  I used my distress markers to color the wine glass and watercolors to color the table.  The stamp is a Bitty Itty Bitty from Unity Stamp Co.

Good advice: Drink your wine with a joyful heart.

 

Just for you

I came across some great inspiration for a card today at the Inspired By blog.  After seeing Laurels inspiration photo I just had to run to my craft desk as soon as I could to make this! 

Here is her inspirational photo:

Isn't it pretty!?!  I too LOVE lilacs and they bring back many happy memories from my childhood of playing hide and seek with my brothers and our Quaker neighbors in our HUGE lilac bushes.  Oh, that smell is divine and whenever I see or smell lilacs I am just transported back to that magical time in my childhood and playing in the lilac bushes. 
I didn't have a lilac stamp but I did find this Penny Black brush hydrangea stamp that I inked up with my Tim Holtz distress markers and spritzed with water to blend.  I masked it and then stamped it again to look a little less lonely.  I cut it out and found some great washed wood paper to put behind it.  I stamped the sentiment (Unity Stamp Co Botanical Bliss) in Staz-on on vellum.  I think that little area is missing some kind of embellishment but until I can find the perfect one I'll just leave it alone. 

Entering this into the Inspired By #115 challenge.  Thanks for a great bit of inspiration and a happy memory to fill my head today!

Distress Markers used:  Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss.

You're the Best

Unity Stamp Company has some challenges going on over at their blog for WCMD and here is my entry for their Stamp A Border Challenge #6.

This didn't quite turn out the way I had planned it in my head but when do they ever.  I used Tim Holtz distress markers because I didn't have some of the more masculine colors I wanted to use for this in my Copic collection and I think the darker colors kinda drown out the DAD in the arrow but because of the repetition you get the idea. 
Supplies used:  Dad arrow stamp (Unity June 2012 KOM), You're the best (Unity April 2012 KOM), Tim Holtz Distress Markers.

So Many Thanks

World Card Making Day has come and gone and although I didn't get to play along on Saturday I got a few hours to myself on Sunday and decided to play along with the awesome WCMD challenges over on Unity Stamp Co's blog.  They have 8 challenges in all and you have until October 20th to link up and as always they have awesome prizes to give away!
Here is the card I created for Challenge #3 (embossing).

 I stamped the butterfly onto a white shimmer panel with watermark ink and clear embossed.  I sponged distress inks over the top and wiped away the excess from the butterfly.  I lightly sponged some Tumbled Glass distress ink onto the cream flower and tied a twine bow behind it.
Hopefully this week I can find some extra time to do all 8 of their challenges, I love inking up my Unity stamps!!!

Supplies Used:  Unity Stamps (butterfly from July SMAK, so many thanks from Happy Everything), My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Tim Holtz distress inks (Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint), flower from Michaels, Watermark ink and clear embossing powder.

Aren't YOU Super

I LOVE fall!  Oh, for so many reasons I just love this season but today my favorite reason is that I feel like I can finally craft again.  Things just slow down, the kids go to bed at a reasonable hour and I just get things done.  Must be something in the air.  :)
Here is a card I made this week for Andrea at Unity Stamp Co because her customer service just rocks and she is always amazing and super helpful.  Great stamps, awesome customer service, amazing peeps, I just LOVE Unity!!!

Supplies used:
Unity Stamps:  Wings of Hope (butterfly), The Best (#1, aren't you super), Love in Return (original)
Ranger Tim Holtz distress ink (Antique Linen) and distress markers (Pine Needles and Broken China)
Design and colors were inspired by a card by Betsy Veldman in Stamp It Cards Vol 9

If you haven't yet head on over to Unity's Friends with Flair post and play along by commenting on the blogs in the hop.  Every week Unity is generous enough to send free stamps to one participant and one commenter along the hop.  I was thrilled to see that I won last week and got my stamps yesterday! 
Thanks for visiting today and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friends with Flair Mojo

Happy Friday y'all!
I've been busy crafting this week but my mojo was on vacation for the first half of the week.  When I have both time and a compulsion to craft but no mojo where do I turn:  usually to past FWF posts and my latest Paper Crafts mag! 
Here are a couple of cards I made this week while trying to get my mojo back.  Usually I will use a card as a jumping off point and when I'm done only I can tell where the original inspiration came from.  Sometimes when the mojo is really gone it looks much more like a scraplift.  Eventually after a few near scraplifts the mojo will make it's way back home. :) 

I got the inspiration for this card from the May/June 2012 issue of Paper Crafts, designed by the talented Sarah Jay.  I made it my own by switching up the papers and using some fabulous Unity stamps in place of die cut flowers and embossing the cardstock.
Supplies used:  Unity Stamps{Fabulous Girl Itty Bitty, You Did It Itty Bitty, Better With Love}, Silhouette was cut from A Child's Year (Cricut), Crate Paper, Copics, Cuttlebug embossing folder.

This next card is also inspired by a design from Michelle Woerner in the May/June issue of Paper Crafts. 

Supplies:  Unity Stamp{Thoughts of the Heart}, Tim Holtz die cut flower, Spellbinders Scalloped circle, PP, Authentique and My Mind's Eye.  I am entering this one in the March Unity Challenge: Doors and Windows.

This last card is something that took on a life of it's own when my mojo started coming back!

Supplies used: Unity stamps{sentiment from March 2012 KOM, star from We Treasure You}, paper is American Crafts, Cuttlebug embossing folder and stars die cut from Cricut's A Child's Year.

I do have more cards to share, some inspired from the talented ladies who link up with Friends With Flair every Friday but I ran out of time on this post since the little one just woke up from a nap.  I look forward to Fridays every week because of the talented Unity and Ippity chicks and friends of Unity who post amazingly talented projects using their Unity stash of stamps.  It is such a great community and so much fun to browse through the pretty projects and leave some love in the form of comments and a chance to win great prizes from the generous peeps at Unity!

Consider Yourself Vintage

I have a birthday card to share for today's Friends With Flair.  It's a 6x6 card which I rarely make but this paper was just too cute to cut up!  Course it was also too heavy to stand on it's own which is why that ribbon is stapled to keep it up but I wasn't thinking and then couldn't open the card to write inside.  It's a little goofy but that's okay, it just has character!
I really liked the colors on the PP so I tried to bring them all together in my cardstock choices.  The grey didn't look right at first so I distressed the edges and used some T.H. Antique Linen distress ink which gave it just the color I wanted.

Supplies used:
Patterned paper: My Minds Eye (Dilly Dally), Cardstock: Bazzill, Stamps: Unity Stamp Co (February KOM, Blossom Stackers, June 2011 KOM), Spellbinders label die.

You and me, my boy.

It's Friday and it's snowing!!!  It's really kind of a pathetic dusting but I think it's only the 3rd time we've gotten snow this winter so I've got my fingers crossed that we'll get enough to be able to take the kids snowing. 
I've got a couple of projects to share today for Friends with Flair.  Head on over to Unity's blog to see the list of participants this week and leave some comments on their projects for a chance to win some amazing stamps! 
First up today I have a layout I created this week using Crate Paper and some Unity SMAK stamps.  I am not a SMAK club member but I had a great discount coupon a few weeks back and used it on this kit from November 2011 and I'm telling you I LOVE IT!!!  So versatile, I really wish I could afford to be a SMAK member because these kits are AWESOME for scrapbooking!

All of the papers and embellishments are Crate Paper aside from some felt stars that I had laying around.  I used glossy accents on the stickers and stamp that I used in the middle of the stars.  The border punch is Fiskars. 
The next project is a card that I made a few weeks back and forgot to post.

Supplies used:
Kraft cardstock
Crate Paper Random collection
Unity stamps:  Carnivale Alpha, Distressed Dots
Inks:  Ranger/Tim Holtz, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed, Victorian Velvet, Faded Jeans
Border punch: Martha Stewart
Inspired by a card in Paper Crafts mag

Thanks for stopping by my blog, wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!

We're all a little flaky snowman

A couple of quick Christmas cards, it's getting down to the wire now! 

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the snowman and Broken China distress ink to color.  The stamp is from Unity Stamp Co's Jolly Good Fun.  I used a spellbinders die around it and inked the edges.  Going to enter it into Unity's Let it Snow monthly challenge.

Believe in Miracles and Let your Heart Sing

It's finally Friday!!!  I've got a couple of cards to share today for Friends With Flair.  Be sure to stop by the Unity Stamp Co blog to see all of the other talented ladies and their great projects this week.  The first is another Christmas card, still plugging away at those.  Hoping to get them all finished this weekend and sent out on Monday.  That's the goal anyway!

Simple and quick card using kraft cardstock, October Afternoon PP, Unity's Believe In Miracles and brush markers to color the stamp.

The second card I wanted to share today is a quick card I made last night just to play with my new stamps and take a break from the Christmas cards and refresh.

The music note embossing folder is Tim Holtz and I sponged some Broken China T.H. Distress ink over it to add a touch of color.  The birds are from Unity's new itty bitty Love Birds.  The sentiment is from the May 2011 Kit of the Month.  Both are colored in with Copics.Wishing you all a weekend of miracles and song!

Crayon Resist

A couple of weeks ago while trying to keep my toddler entertained I had an idea to try crayon resist painting with her.  I also thought that I could make a card or two at the kitchen table while she was busy.  That didn't happen by the way but I got my cards done later and she had a lot of fun coloring with white crayon on the images I had stamped for her and then painting them and herself too!

Here she is very intently painting...

And having even more fun painting herself!

I made this pretty patterned paper by stamping leaves (Stampendous) over and over onto white cardstock, coloring around the leaves with white crayon and then using Tim Holtz distress inks to sponge over the paper.  I was going to cut it up into smaller squares to use on cards but then it was so pretty I didn't want to cut it, ever have that problem with a paper!?!

I did manage to actually make a few cards using this technique as well.

Distress inks used: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint and Fired Brick.  No clue who makes the pumpkin background stamp, it's a wood block stamp that I've had forever with no identifying marks on it.  The banner die is Spellbinders.  I really had fun with this technique but wow were my hands messy after sponging all of that ink on!

Friday, FWF and blog candy!!!

Happy Friday and Friends With Flair!  It's been quite a week here and I'm happy to see the weekend on the horizon.  I've got a couple of projects to share with you today as well as some blog candy I'll be giving away!  I've had some double Unity Stamps laying around for a while and think it's about time to give those babies to someone who can ink them up and make them feel loved.  For a chance to win please follow my blog and leave a comment on this post.  A couple of days ago I really messed things up with my blog by changing the domain and I'm afraid that all of my current followers are no longer receiving any new post notifications and cannot locate my blog from their following list.  My apologies for that, I am computer illiterate to begin with and this weeks time change hasn't been going over well with the little ones and I am getting even less sleep than usual.

I just received an order from Unity's recent sale this past week and had to ink some of those babies up immediately!  The first project I want to share is a layout that I have been itching to make with our recent family photos.

Stamps used are all from Unity Stamp Company, Generations (always & forever), Roots and Wings (The Story, Est, and Like Branches on a tree...), Woodgrain background on the title and Distressed Dots on the orange strip of paper.  The paper is Little Yellow Bicycle.  Family title was cut with Cricut's Wall Decor and More.  Border punches are Martha Stewart (scallop), EK Success (notebook edge) and Fiskars (wave).  Brad is Basic Grey.  Tim Holtz distress inks: Antique Linen and Vintage Photo.  I popped up the title and small wallet size photos.

My second project today is a new baby card using Unity's itty bitty Twinkle Twinkle.  I am entering this into Mojo Monday sketch challenge #214.

Papers and chipboard star are My Mind's Eye.  Tim Holtz for paper distresser and inks (Walnut Stain and Antique Linen).  Copic BG15 to color stars in.  Button and Twine to finish.

Thanks for stopping by blog today and for hopefully becoming a new follower or a return follower!  I'll post the winner on Wednesday, I'm super excited to give away my first blog candy!!!

Unity and distress inks, Oh, the places you will go!

I have 3 projects to share this week for Friends with Flair!!!  Fall is great because I have so much more time to craft and I've been busy at it cause I've missed it so much over the busy summer months.  It's nice to be able to ink up some of my neglected Unity stamps too. 
The first project I want to share is a layout I finished last night. 

 Lots going on here.  I used some of the new Crate Paper Random collection and a little from their Emma's Shoppe collection as well.  The title is from Cosmo Cricket (chipboard courtesy of Unity, came as a surprise gift with a KOM earlier this year)!  I stamped a sentiment from the October KOM onto this cute little Crate Paper tag and it fit so perfectly and that's where the inspiration from the LO came, from a stamped tag.  I had this photo laying around in my To Scrap pile and thought the quote was perfect for this picture of my daughter "walking"with us when she was a year old.  I originally laid the design out on the pink woodgrain background but thought it just wasn't interesting enough so I handcut and doodled around the edges to give it some character and layered it over a bright bluejean colored Core'dinations cardstock.  I stamped the bicycle from Unity's Generations set 3 times below the photo as part of a border. 

The next 2 projects are cards I made earlier this week when I was having some fun playing with my Tim Holtz distress inks and blending sponges.  This first card I wanted a Halloweeny, twilight look to use with the amazing Glowing Hours sentiment stamp so I used Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed inks and then stamped Unity's Glowing Hours and tied some black floss and bats for the finishing touch.  I entered this card into Unity's Autumn Harvest Challenge.

                                       

The last project that I want to share today is a bookmark that I made.  I am constantly reading and wanted to make a bookmark to keep my place instead of the random scraps of paper that I usually use.  This sentiment from the recent The Time is Now kit from Unity was perfect for my special bookmark.  I also used stamps from October's KOM and the June 2011 KOM as well.  I handcut a tag and stamped the flowers 3 times with white acrylic paint then blended Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint distress inks from Tim Holtz over the flowers.  I stamped the sentiment and then masked it to stamp the butterflies and stars.

  

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, look below for some more Unity projects that I made earlier this week.  Wishing you all a wonderful Halloween Weekend!

Camp Sweet Camp

After 4 months I still consider myself a Cricut novice and am trying to find my Cricut style.  I figure what better way to do that than to play with it and use it as much as possible, right?  Well it certainly got some use on this layout!  Everything was cut using the Camping Critters cart and it took me a little while to put together (3 days worth of the kids napping and after they went to bed too)!
I really love stamping too and I try to incorporate that on my layouts as well but didn't succeed too well here.  The only stamping I did was the quote on the tent that I had to cut the sentiment apart to get to fit on.  I also like to add a lot of journaling on my layouts and I couldn't really find a good space on here to do that so I used the badge feature on the cartridge and the title flips up to showcase another photo and hidden journaling.  The photo of my kids together in the camping chair also was cut with the badge feature and flips up for 2 more photos as well.  This one I feel is a primarily Cricut LO and I don't really feel that it represents my style very well.  I like it though and I know that the more I play around the closer I will come to finding a style that is uniquely me.  The patterned paper is Imaginisce.  I used the Cuttlebug tiny dots and Tim Holtz's woodgrain embossing folder for the trees.  I added some doodling and googly eyes to the animals and some glitter glue to the fire. 
The pictures are from our camping trip at the beginning of June.  We love camping so much that we decided spur of the moment to get up north and enjoy some nice weather and camping with the kids (almost 2 years and 2 months old at the time)!  It was a fun trip and actually very successful, we're going again in 2 weeks!

I am entering this LO into the Let's Go Camping challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and for the Summer Fun challenge over at Die Cutting Divas.  Thanks for stopping by and happy camping to you all!

Friday = Friends with Flair!!

I actually made a card more than a month out from the occasion instead of waiting til the last minute!!!  Actually I made this for my hubby and our anniversary isn't until August 25th so I'm 2 months early!

 The patterned paper is Echo Park and Graphic 45.  The tags are Tim Holtz.  I love this cute Itty Bitty stamp from Unity!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's Friday!!!

Plus we're spending all weekend with family so I'm really feeling the love today!  Here is a layout I made with the help of Archiver's for National Scrapbook Day last week.  Of course I had to personalize it, so I used some wonderful Tim Holtz tickets in the photo strip and used a Unity journaling stamp from a recent Kit of the Month.  The butterfly stamp is actually from Unity as well.  Papers are Echo Park.  Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a wonderful weekend!