wildflower tag

Welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop! 

Two lucky commenters chosen from among all the blogs will be chosen to win 25 random Unity stamps!

For today's hop we are using our favorite Unity stamp kits.

I used several to make this tag:

One of my favorite background stamps is the chicken wire stamp

One of my favorite image stamps is Insightful Meadows

And one kit of sentiments I find myself using a lot lately is Empowered Words

Thanks for stopping by and remember to leave a comment here and at the other stops on the way for your chance to win!

Here's the rest of the hopping order:

Next stop>> Debra Davison

Rachel Bogner

Berina Febin

Beth Fiscus

Lisa

Rebecca Wong

Laura Beth Buchi

GIU Winners!

Thank you so much to all of you that left such nice comments for me last week! I had a lot of fun participating in Growing in Unity!

And now, as promised (just a little late), here are the two winners that were randomly drawn to receive a grab bag of 25 stamps from Unity:

UTs Hobby Time

and

Tami

Please email me your name and mailing address and I will pass it along to the generous folks at Unity! I'm at amberloyana@yahoo.com

GIU Day 5, wonderful mess

It's the 5th and final day of my Growing in Unity week!

 I posted 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.
Since I am posting a couple days late I will give you through Monday to leave comments and draw the winners Tuesday.

Today I have a paperboard letter I picked up at the craft store and decorated for my craft room. It started out a kraft color. I painted it a poppy red color. I stamped parts of the Up Against a Wall brick stamp. And then distressed with a few gelatos.

The sentiment is from the You Are Important stamp set.

The leaves are from the Wildflowers & Wings set.

I finished it off with a Prima flower and yellow twine.

Thanks for visiting my blog this week! Come back on Tuesday when I announce the winner. And thanks to Unity for sponsoring Growing in Unity!

GIU Day 4, sunflower card

It's Day 4 of my Growing in Unity week.

 I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.

Today, I have a quick little card.

 I stamped the sunflowers in a light distress ink and then watercolored it in so that the lines of the stamp blended in to the coloring. The sentiment is from this set.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll have one more project tomorrow before the week is over!

GIU Day 3, card organizer

It's day 3 of my Growing in Unity week!
 I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.

Today I have a card organizer I made. It's a 6"x8" spiral notebook that I use to organize my greeting cards by month. I think I've shared different versions of this twice before. Somehow I gave them all away and finally decided I needed one for myself!

The cover was decorated with some leftover papers I had lying on my desk.  I used the Wildflowers and Wings stamp set and blended a couple gelatos on with a water brush.

Here's a look into the inside:

I used the Here's the Ticket stamp set to stamp the month on each page and just drew a few lines to add some dates to. On each month I add in any birthdays, anniversaries and holidays that I want to mail cards out for. If I make any cards ahead of time, then I store them in the pocket of each page until it's time to mail.

Here's a quick little tutorial in case you'd like to make one.
You'll need 6 sheets of 12"x12" patterned paper plus two 6"x8" pieces of paperboard for the covers (I just use the piece of  heavy paper that comes in some paper packs like Stampin Up's packs).

Score each paper horizontally at 4" from the bottom and vertically right down the middle at 6".

 Fold up from the bottom and then in half so the pockets are on the outside.

Do the same on the other 5 sheets. Stack them up with the covers and bind with your choice of machine (I use a Cinch). The folds will be on the opposite side of the spine. I recommend making the binding wire at least an inch wide to allow enough space for cards on the inside.

Then I just added white cardstock to the pocket fronts to keep track of dates.

Edited to add: This organizer was not my design. I first made one many years ago with directions from an old Stampin Up demonstrator. I've also seen it on the SplitCoastStampers forum. Decoration and paper choices were my own however.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU, Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of my Growing in Unity week! I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. You can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day!

Today I have a page in my art jounal to share.

The background was created with dictionary pages, washi tape, Chicken wire stamp, and lots of distress ink and ink splatters. The flowers were stamped in white from the Insightful Meadows set. This is probably my most used Unity stamp set. You must own it. You won't regret it!

The quote was printed on my label maker and I just used a Pitt Big Brush pen to shade around it.

Thanks for stopping by. Remember to come back every day through Saturday for a new chance to enter. I'll announce the winner on Monday.

GIU, Day 1

Guess what?? I get to be the Growing in Unity girl for this week!

That means that every day this week I will post a new project using Unity stamps. I'm a little late because I was a last-minute fill-in, but, hey, I still get to do it!

And  you have a chance to win some stamps too. Every day you can comment on my posts and get entered to win a selection of 25 Unity stamps! Cool beans.

For my first post I made a fall-themed gift sack/envelope.

I wish I coud tell you which stamp set this sentiment came from but I'm not sure. I think I got it in a grab bag from Unity.

Thanks for stopping by today!

yellow thanks card

The challenge at the Simon Says Stamp flickr group is to use Black, White and Yellow.

 I used Giving Thanks stamp set for the tree and sentiment over a watercolored background. I stamped the leaves is SSS Sunshine ink and added more leaves with a lighter yellow marker. And then that yellow twine. Yellow twine is just so happy!

Farmers Market pop-up card

The current challenge over at The Paper Girls is "Food".

I created a pop-up card for my in-laws. They are big gardeners so I wanted this to look like a big bountiful basket of produce. And, yes, I realize some of the veggies are out of scale with the others. Oh well!

I started with a pop-up card from svgcuts.com (sorry, don't remember which one) for the crate and made it fit what I needed. The veggies are from this cut file and are so fun to make.

After assembling the veggies, I added a little shading with my chalks.

And this card folds flat for easy mailing too!

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thaks for stopping by and have a great day.

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, part 2

Here is my second entry for the Fall Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop!

I fell in love with this coffee cup svg file from SvgCuts a few weeks ago. I purchased it knowing I would have to make one for this blog hop.

So here it is:

 This cup is made from scrapbooking paper. I got a little messy on the lid, but I'll change the blade out on my Cricut next time and use less glue! :)

From her left side:

And her right:

 And the lid comes off. I'm not sure if I'll use this as a gift holder of some sort or not. Honestly, I love it so much I think I will just keep it in my craft room as decor.

The paper is an old SU pack I've been hanging on to for a few  years called Autumn Meadows. My leaves and acorn are die cut from watercolor paper and painted with a water brush and distress inks. Then I finished it off with a Simple Stories chipboard banner and a fabric flower.

I love making 3-d objects from paper!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

I'm also linking up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

It's time for the Fall edition of the Coffee Lovers' blog hop! This is a fun quarterly hop with tons of prizes to be won! Make sure to check it out and be ready for the next round of fun.

I made a simple little card with a stamp set that I won in the last edition of this hop! It is the Treats of Friendship set from Close to my Heart. The leaves are from a Stampin Up set called French Foliage. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Friendship Messages.

And just like me this post is short and sweet ;)
Thanks for stopping by!

I'm also linking up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes