GIU Winner!

 So if you stopped by last week and left a comment on my blog then you were eligible to win some free stamps from Unity.

I drew a winner and it was commenter #2 on Thursday's post:

Bella's mama!

Go grab a drink and then sit down and look through all 60 pages of Itty Bitty stamps and  select your two favorites! Shoot me an email at amberloyana at yahoo dot com and I will send your choices over to the peeps at Unity.

Thanks for all the lovely comments that you all left!

3 silly monsters

My middle child loves to be a clown and have attention. And bother his brothers! All I wanted this nice afternoon was to snap a few photos of them together and he certainly kept it entertaining for us!

This layout was inspired by this sketch from The Paper Girls Challenge:

And this mood board from Jot Magazine:

Without the mood board I totally would have gone with more natural muted colors. But I like the bright colors and the fun monsters!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Linking up to Jot Magazine May Mood Board

kind of a hot mess up in here

This is my 2nd post of the day. For my Day 5 GIU post click here.

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So I saw a background page in my art journal that I really liked and tried to replicate it on this 6x6 canvas. It sorta worked. I sprayed some dark navy, lime, and teal inks and sprays on it. I stamped some background stamps (Classified Newsprint and Quatrefoil).

Then I wanted to use this sentiment stamp (that I still can't find the name of) so I smeared on some gesso to make a spot for it. And then proceeded to smudged the sucker when I stmaped it. So I had to go over it with my fine tipped Pitt Pen to fill it back in. Then it was getting lost in the messy background and I decided to spray some yellow paint and spread some yellow gelato around it. Hmm. See what I meant when I titled this post a hot mess?

I liked the stars and wanted to add some more yellow. So I tinted some modeling paste with my yellow and gold gelatos and and applied it over a star stencil from Heidi Swapp up in the left corner. After they dried I added a little glaze to shiny them  up.

It was still a bit bright and busy so I smudged some grey gelato around the edges to soften it up a bit.

Then I walked away from it not thinking I would even share this baby on the blog. I even thought about painting over it and starting over. But then my son said it was cool. I love that kid.

So I am trying to agree and see it from his eyes.

It's growing on me!

GIU Day 5

It's the last day in my week as Growing in Unity!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice.

So this last card of the week is roughly the fifth project I made or partially made for today. Nothing seemed to work. So let's just pretend that this is all nifty and stuff okay?!?

 My craft room is such a mess that I can not find the package for this stamp to tell you the name of it. It's a sad state of affairs on my craft table right now I tell you what.

Thank you all for stopping by this week. I loved reading all your wonderful comments. You make a girl feel all good and stuff.

Remember to come back on Monday to see if you are the winner of the two Itty Bitty stamps!

GIU Day 4

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

 I used the Unity stamp set  Gratitude = Joy for this card:

 After I photographed it I realized the kraft cardstock was really washing out the card.

So I took everything off and added it to a darker color kraft cardstock and I think I like it better.

I think. Hmm.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today. See you tomorrow for the last day of GIU.

GIU Day 3

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

It's day 3 and we are half-way done!

Today I made a card with one of my favorite color combos.

 I made a yellow watercolor background on my panel, dropped some ink splatters, and stamped that wonderful greeting from Imagine It in grey. Several layers of fun patterns later and it's a card. I'm trying to get myself to use more patterned paper on my cards because, well, I like it and also because I need to get rid of all this paper so I can justify buying more! Anyone else do the same thing?!?

Thanks for stopping by. Keep coming back through Friday for more chances to win. And stop in on Monday to see if you are the winner. Have a great day!

Linking up to Virginia's View challenge to use stitching.

GIU Day 2

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

Today I've got just a quick little card using Tiny Giggle Grove and Born an Original.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU Day 1

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

Today I have a trio of cards I made:

The first one uses the Devoted stamp set and the monthly color challenge from Unity as well. Lots of Distress inks were used to create the background.

Both of the next cards use Imagine It and Something Within stamp sets. 

This one used lots of Ranger Archival Ink and alcohol for the marbled background.

 And this one used Distress inks and water for the softer watercolor background.

Thanks for stopping by today and remember to stop by every day this week and comment for your chance to win some lovely Unity stamps!

carrots and peas

Over at The Paper Girls Deborah has challenged us to use canning jars. I immediately thought of my collection of October Afternoon Farm Girl that has yet to be used. So I whipped it out and put this together:

So simple and fun to put together. The sentiment is a stamp from a retired Sweet Stamp Shop set.

Linking up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday - Use Patterned Paper

water coloring with a stencil

It's May already. How did that happen??

I was inspired by the lovely spring weather we're having to make something light and playful. I water colored this flower using a stencil I have. 

 It's one of those stencils found near the painting section of the crafts. Notice the price tag of $1.99. Can't beat that!

So I just held the stencil firmly with one hand and painted with the other onto water color paper. I didn't even use real water color either. I cheated and used my distress inks, a craft mat, and water brush.

I finished with a fun stamp from Unity and was done! 

Nice and flat and totally mailable.

Linking up to:

Unity stamps' Friends with Flair

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (Anything Goes)
Jot Magazine May Mood Board