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

Phyllis Harris/Unity Blog Hop

I am so excited to be hopping along with the other talented Growing In Unity ladies today and showcasing the wonderful images of Phyllis Harris!

Last week I was thrilled to receive this beautiful stamp set in my mailbox from Unity called Best Day Includes You.

It is such a timeless image, reminding be of both my own childhood and also my kids who are now growing up faster than I can sometimes comprehend. When this arrived I was so excited because it's a stamp I didn't already have (because I really do love the PH images) and also because I had an idea in mind for it immediately! The horizon called to me and reminded me of many a summer night my brothers and I played in the waters of Lake Michigan as the sun set (so my dad could get sunset pictures) and I just knew I needed to create a sunset with this pretty image. I decided to make a little wall hanging for my daughters room with it (because like most 5 year olds, she takes her job as big sister pretty seriously).

I love the sentiments that are included in the kit but for her wall hanging I wanted something a little bit bigger so she could read it easier. I even skipped my normal cursive handwriting and printed as neatly as I could making it easier for my beginning reader. I've seen this quote a lot but always about brothers but she likes superheroes too and it was more fitting for her than the "being a princess" girl version of the quote.

I used some distress inks and sponged them onto some watercolor paper for the background and then lightly sprayed it with a mist of water to lightly blend them. I used Faded Jeans and Tumbled glass for the water and Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, and a little bit of Tumbled Glass for the sky. When that was dry I used the Tim Holtz Rays Stencil and sponged on some Mustard Seed for the sun rays. I stamped the image again onto another piece of watercolor paper and used the Tim Holtz distress markers in the same colors plus a green and a Tea Dye and used a wet paintbrush to move and blend the colors. When everything was dry I fussy cut the kids, boat, and sand and used a gel medium to adhere them down.
I did have to extend the scene a little bit to fit it onto a 5x7 size. I wrote out the sentiment with a fine point black Pitt Pen and then used some Worn Lipstick distress marker to color it in after I had cut each word out.

I wasn't sure how to finish it after that. It didn't look right in a frame and I tried to find a small wooden plaque I could adhere it to but didn't find the right fit so finally I used some pretty tye-died crinkle ribbon from 3 Girl Jam and adhered it between my watercolor paper and a sturdy piece of cardboard. I wanted to use some eyelets for the ribbon holes but the only craft time I had this week was when my kids were napping or sleeping and I only have an old-fashioned noisy eyelet setter so that idea was out (because I do have my sanity to consider).

I love how this turned out and think this Phyllis Harris stamp from Unity was just the perfect fit for me. I think my daughter is really going to love it and probably going to start asking how soon we can go to the beach!

If you came by randomly and want to start at the beginning of the hop here is a list of the gals hopping today along with their blogs in case you get lost. This is such a talented group of ladies and I just love all of their beautiful creations! I am the last stop on the hop today and I'm so glad you stopped by.  Remember to leave a comment as there is one awesome prize pack that Unity will be giving away to one of the commenters along the hop!!!

Lena Nunn
Teri Burson
Tenia Nelson
Maria Levine
An'Jenic Gibson
Karen Nofziger
Carisa Zglobicki
Crystal Rodner {you are here}

Unity Stamp Company Blog

Have a great day! Crystal