Hello My Friend

Here's a last-minute card I threw together. A crafty group I'm in does a swap box/secret Santa thing. We draw names and then shop for our partner off of a wish list they've provided. We give ourselves a couple months to shop and set a budget of roughly $20. Many people go way over the budget and many stick very close to it. But it's fun to keep an eye out for sales on things she wants and try to get as much in there as possible. We have a deadline but you can mail your box any time before that once you're done. The current swap session ends October 31st. And I just mailed my box yesterday. It's only got to go from Colorado to the west coast so it won't take too long. It's super fun!

Any way, as I was getting ready to head to the post office I decided I should make a card for my swap box buddy. So I used Unity's KOM October Sketch Challenge and made this in a snap:

I'm also posting this as my Friends with Flair blog hop post for Unity too.
Go hop on the FWF blog and you can win some free Unity stamps. Also, the prize for the KOM sketch challenge is 100 random stamps and any past kit of the month of your choice!

The sentiment is from the April 2011 kit small things Matter Most.

 And this is one of my favorite dies:

It's the Fun Flowers Bigz die from Stampin' Up.

Supplies:

MME Stella & Rose paper

Unity April 2011 KOM stamp

Sizzix Fun Flowers die

Sizzix Little Leaves die

SU Early Espresso ink

A little Halloween laugh

I haven't had much time for crafting lately. : (

But I needed a costume for my Bunco group last Friday.
I decided to go as Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials!

And this is what I came up with:

 

I wore all white and purchased a plain white apron. Using my Cricut I cut out the letters for Progressive on blue cardstock and hot glued them on. I also made the "I love Insurance" button and nametag too! The base is white cardstock and I cut the letters out of adhesive vinyl. There was no way I was going to apply glue to letters that small. Vinyl is awesome because it's already sticky.

This was super easy and fun.

I also crafted that headband out of some old ribbon in my craft room.

And no Bump-its. I am proud to say I do not own any! That hair is just lots of hair pins and hairspray!

LOL. I hope this was good for a laugh!

Happy Halloween

Project #34

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For Just Us Girls Challenge #106 to use the colors orange, green, purple, and black.
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #134 which is to choose your own theme (I chose  Halloween)
Here Come the Boys Challenge #7 which is Halloween!
and Unity's monthly challenge Autumn Harvest which is taken from a poem (I took from the Halloween bit)!

I used the Unity Cuter than Most and Glowing Hours stamp sets. I stampped, colored, and fussy cut those cute little goblins and added the antennae with some wire.

One goblin for each of my little goblins. I don't know if it was the full moon or what. But seriously, my three little guys have been monsters lately!

Supplies:

SU black cardstock

orange paper: MME Ooh La La

striped sticker is EP Happy Halloween

Little Leaves Sizzlet die

SU punches (frame and circle)

Stamps: Unity - Glowing Hours (bats), Cuter than Most (monsters), sentiment (grab bag)

2 for 1!

Projects #32-33
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I have two cards for today's Friend with Flair blog hop!

The first is a baby card:

This is also for the World Cardmaking Day sketch challenge #3over at the Unity group on SplitCoastStampers.com.

 Stamps: Unity's Life Documented (banners);

the sentiment came in a Unity grab bag, so I'm not sure which kit it belongs in;

font is from studio g

Papers: a really old Imaginisce line (Baby Powder) that I didn't even know I had!

Ink: a mix of SU and Distress Inks (I can't exactly remember which colors I used!)

Next is a card for Challenge #1 over at the Unity SCS group and for Scrapmaster's Paradise October Challenge. The Unity challenge was to use Distress Embossing. The Scrapmaster's challenge was to use orange.

 My card base is orange as is the ink around my sentiment frame.

Embossing folder is Manhattan Flower from SU. I after embossed I ran my sanding block over the image to reveal the white core of the paper.

Stamp set (frame and sentiment) is Unity's Just a note.

Happy hopping!

With Sympathy

This card is my second entry into Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge #70.

 The challenge is to use your favorite technique. For this card I utilized scoring to make an unconventional card. I also used scraps (is that a technique??). I hate throwing beautiful paper away. So I have a whole box of scraps in every size and color. I like this card because all the small panels let me use up my scraps without needing too big of a piece. I even made an envelope to match!

Opened up:



 To get an almost A2 standard size card use a 5 1/2" x 12" pieceof cardstock for your base. Score at the 2", 4", 8", and 10" marks. This gives a 4" x 5 1/2" card.

From the top:





Thinking of you

Project #31

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This wee little card is entered into 3 challenges: Unity's FWF, Unity's KOM sketch challenge, and Wee Memories challenge

What is Friends with Flair (FWF) you ask?

Well, let me tell you!

 Unity Stamp Company hosts this FWF blog hop every Friday. And anyone can participate by creating a project using Unity stamps and then linking up here.

So you get to create (FUN!) and you get to blog hop (FUN!).

But wait.

There's more!

Unity gives prizes!!!

TWO prizes.

One goes to a random participant who links a project. And another goes to a random person who simply comments on a blog. So even if you aren't a crafter or don't have time to create you can still play by commenting! I've already won twice in the last few months and each time I received a goody bag of stamps. Delicious red rubber stamps! So play! And comment here because you could win.

Ok. Here's my project for the day:

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I am also entering this into Unity's Kit of the Month (KOM) Sketch challenge. Every month there is a different sketch in which you create a project using only stamps from a kit of the month. The winner receives their choice of any kit of the month plus 100 random stamps for free!

 suh-weet. xx-fingers crossed-xx

the sketch:

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(If you aren't already a KOM subscriber and you suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to join, please use me as a referral. If you do I'll get a free stamp kit! And I'll love you forever.)

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Wee Memories Challenge Scrappy Saturday #70 is to use your favorite technique. I l-o-v-e to distress. So I ran my distress tool around every single edge of all those strips and the card base. I had a lot of paper dust in my black shirt today!


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For today's card I used:

MME Stella and Rose papers

AC white cardstock

SU label punch

SU ink

Distress ink in Pumice Stone

Unity's August KOM ...What I Know
SU distressing tool

Sonshine

Project #30 of 100

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This layout was supposed to be for two challenges - the Authentique Color Challenge and the Unity Friends with Flair Challenge. But I missed the deadline for Authentique. It was Wednesday : (  I guess since FWF is on a Friday I just had today in mind to post this. Oh well. *(more excuses at the bottom of post)*

Here it is:

Authentique's challenge was to use pink, blue, and yellow. (Way out of my neutrals and earth tones comfort zone!)

 I cut my title using my Cricut.

The flowers were stamped and fussy cut from the You + Me = Bliss set from Unity that also happens to be a co-brand with Authentique!

The tags and stickers are Authentique's as are the 12x12 paper and the patterned paper making the rays. Those were punched with the SU ribbon trim punch.

This turned out way different than I had intended. But I like that I have pink and flowers and a doily on a layout about the boys.

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*I think I seriously worked on this layout for almost two weeks. Only for like 5 minutes at a time, but still.  Baby has been teething like forever now. Nothing like a grumpy needy baby to keep you from getting things  done. Then the kindergartener decided to catch strep and miss 3 1/2 days of school. Nothing like a needy baby and sick 5-year-old to keep me from getting things done! Then baby also decided to spend an afternoon vomitting on me. Stomach bug? IDK. Luckily it didn't last too long. I haven't posted anything in 2 weeks : \  That feels like so long. But we all appear healthy now*

for you

Project #29

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This is for Authentique's FIRST monthly challenge! The first half of the month is a sketch challenge (one each for a layout and a card) and the second half is a color combo. This is my card:

The only items that aren't Authentique are the card base, green swirl sticker and I-Rock gems.

From Authentique I used the Blissful 6x6 pad, Diction stickers and Petite Type Circle Stickers.

The lighting isn't the best in the photo. But, oh well.

I love those little alphas!

FWF post

Project #28

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My Unity Friends with Flair Friday blog post. In case you aren't familiar, every Friday Unity Stamp Company hosts this Friends with Flair blog hop and give prizes to a random participant and a random commenter. So leave a comment for a chance to win and head over here to see the other participants and leave them comments too for even more chances to win!

This might be the fastest and sloppiest card I've ever made. I {just barely} made the linky tool before it closed. Whew!

I stamped the cloud with the Sunny Happy Skies set and then covered it with white flocking powder.

Don't know if you can see the flocking or not:

 It looks so soft and fuzzy...

The baby clothes were stamped from the April 2011 KOTM Small Things Matter Most. And the patterns on the clothes are stamped with the Bitty Backgrounds stamps.

I had initially stamped a blue background on white cardstock using the diamond pattern from the April KOTM kit and it looked so good. But then the little clothes and their patterns got lost on it so I had to take them off and stick them on this plain blue card. I kinda like it. I think it still needs a little more to finish it but oh well. It's late and that was all I could manage to do in time to make the blog hop!

: )

Teacher Survival Kits

Projects #25-#27 of 100 (I'm counting each card and box set as only 1)

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So this year for teacher gifts I decided to make a Teacher Surival Kit! I've seen the idea alot but stumbled on this one on pinterest and decided to try some.

We have 2 kindergarten teachers and 1 second grade teacher. These photos are horrible. I know. I literally took them in the morning last minute as we were scrambling to get out the door. They are crooked and weirdly colored and you can see my shadow. : ) I'm sorry!

Surprisingly, the boxes in my store's jewelry and craft section didn't have customizable inserts! Really? There is a new brand in there now and you can only work with the sections they give you.

As if! : )

So I searched all over the store and found these in the fishing section. Whew. Crisis averted.

I decorated the outside with some scrapbooking supplies. The third box uses a discontinued SU scrapbooking kit and the top two have a bit of that plus some AC paper plus those fun Thickers.

For the insides I filled it with a few necessities I thought they could use including Post-Its, paper clips, push pins, binder clips, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, some energy drink mixes and chocolates!

And here are the matching cards for each box:

(Also for ScrapbookSteals MCM #46 card challenge)

(Also for ScrapbookSteals MCM #47 card challenge)

This poor card. After I put it together I realized I should have inked the edges. So I took it apart and inked the edges and put it back together. It's barely together and looks like I let the baby play with it! Oops.

And I managed to get these to the teachers only 1 week after school started! One day, I'll have something made by the time school starts.

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**Linking this up to Think Pink Sundays over at Flamingo Toes. Go check out the linky party for some really awesome crafty ideas**