Growing in Unity Day 5

I always look forward to Fridays but I'm a little sad to see this one come because it means it's my last day as your GIU gal.  I have had such a FUN week sharing my Unity Stamp projects with you all and reading your lovely comments. I can't thank you all enough for taking the time out of your day to write such wonderful comments on my posts, you have really made my week special!

AND did you see that Unity is at it again with ANOTHER amazing sale this weekend!?! 60% off of regular price stamps so get those wish list stamps now because these prices won't come around again soon!

I have two projects to share today for my last post. The first is a card I made using the lovely Donna Poppies and a sentiment called Strong is Your Only Choice. I stamped the small poppy outline in india black ink 3 times each going a bit off the paper. Then I used Ripe Persimmon and Barn Door distress markers to color the small silhouette poppy, spritzed lightly with water (repeated 3 times) and tried to go slightly off of the outline to get a better watercolor look. I kept it clean and simple and used a blue cardstock to contrast a little. Everyone needs a reminder now and again of just how strong they really are!

My next project that I'm sharing is an ongoing project that I started back in September when my oldest started Kindergarten. I have shared some of these last fall when I sat down one night and made a big batch of lunchbox notes and the ones I'm sharing today are ones I've made and given to her with her lunches since January. She LOVES these little notes and keeps them all in a small Project Life album. The paper I use is just plain white 3x4 Project Life cardstock so it's already to size and the corners come rounded. I sometimes sit down and make a few at a time and other nights I just quickly stamp something and color it for the next days note. Most of these were colored with Copics and I have used A LOT of different Unity sets here! It was hard for me to let my baby go to Kindergarten, these notes have really helped to make it a little easier because I know that when she opens her lunchbox she gets that little reminder in the middle of the day that I am thinking about her and love her. I write a little personal note on the back of each card along with the date.

Honestly, at the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up with a new note each day of the school year but it really hasn't been a problem at all (and my Unity collection sure does make it easy to create a fun new note for her 5 days a week)!

The panda notes are some of her favorites and as soon as I saw the Plenty of Pandas set by Unity I had to grab it! It's also on sale for only $6 this weekend and you get 5 adorable pandas and lots of little sentiments, you can't beat that price!!!

 

I am linking this post up today for Unity's Friends With Flair. If you haven't heard of it, check it out, it's awesome! They have a linky party each Friday and we all link up our Unity projects we've been working on and there is always a ton of beautiful inspiration and also prizes because Unity is so generous like that!

 

Also, if you haven't checked them out yet, go back and see all of my GIU projects from this week and leave a comment for a chance to win! Unity is giving away grab bags of 25 stamps to 2 winners and I will be picking 2 additional winners for a personal giveaway from all of the comments on my GIU posts this week! 

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

I will be posting a new project each day this week (Monday-Friday) on my blog using Unity stamps and when the week is over I get to pick 2 winners from all of the comments during the week who will each get a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps! I will also be having a small giveaway of my own with 2 winners so there will be 4 winners total!!! I will post the winners on Monday, March 2nd.

Thank you for visiting me today and hanging in there all week with my long posts! I'll see you back here on Monday with some winners!!!

Have a happy weekend,

Crystal

Growing in Unity Day 4

I'm back with for Day 4 of my Growing In Unity week with some card inspiration. I don't think anyone likes to make sympathy cards. They're hard, you want them to be just perfect with the perfect "feel" to them. You want them to be more than a card, you want them to be hug sent across the miles. Luckily Unity Stamp Company has some perfect kits for those tough-to-create cards with beautiful images and heartfelt sentiments to help us card-makers out. Thankfully I don't need this card now (I can NEVER create them under pressure), but I do need to replenish my stash so here is just a simple little card that will hopefully be a "hug" to help someone during their grief.

I used the ...Beautiful Life, Blessed Memories kit for this card and stamped that pretty floral heart in Versamark ink onto a non-textured white cardstock. Then I got out my pearlescent chalks and used a small cotton ball applicator (q-tip size) to color in the stamp. It can be hard to see the details of the image in the clear ink but if you go a little off, don't worry. You can color over it again with a different color chalk and it still sticks. When you have the chalk where you want it you can brush any excess off with a dry Swiffer sheet. This technique also works really well on black cardstock with a completely different look.

 

For the sentiment I stamped it on clear vellum with a black Staz-on ink and let it dry for a moment and then colored the vellum with the pearlescent chalk. This sentiment actually has a small error on it which Unity was kind enough to make note of in the kit. It's really easy to "fix" though. The word in is repeated twice in a row so I simply put a small piece of tape over the second one at the beginning of the next line, inked the sentiment and then removed the tape before stamping. After I adhered the vellum I added a few small pearls and popped it up on a lavender piece of cardstock.

I tried getting a picture of some of the pretty shimmer of the card from the pearlescent chalks. I'm not sure how well it photographed.

I also made a quick matching envelope using Unity's Insightful Meadows kit and the same technique with the Versamark and chalk.

GIVEAWAY:

I will be posting a new project each day this week (Monday-Friday) on my blog using Unity stamps and when the week is over I get to pick 2 winners from all of the comments during the week who will each get a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps! I will also be having a small giveaway of my own with 2 winners so there will be 4 winners total!!! I will post the winners on Monday, March 2nd.

Thank you all for visiting all week and leaving such kind comments! I love learning new techniques and so I try to share the techniques I'm using when I remember because we are all on a different place in our crafting journey and it's fun to evolve and see where new techniques may lead us!

Hugs,

Crystal

Growing In Unity Day 3

I can't believe it's already my 3rd GIU post for Unity Stamp Company, this week is flying by and you are all so sweet and kind with your comments! I have another art journal page to share today, I call it: She Blossomed in the Spring.

I love winter. Seriously, I really do, but it's been SO COLD this winter and getting outside with little ones in tow becomes practically impossible so I was feeling a little bit of cabin fever when I started this page and I went with bright, spring colors and it just took off from there.

I started with a scribbled gelato background with yellows and a touch of blue and moved it around with water and my fingers. I randomly stamped the Shescript background in india ink and the Plump Polka Dots in Mowed Lawn distress ink.

I used the Heidi Swapp confetti stencil with some gesso for the dots and when that dried I went over it again with some Picked Raspberry distress ink. The lovely SHEart lady is Christy Tomlinson's SHE was a daughter. I paper pieced the skirt and watercolored the top half. I added some perfect pearls for details on the dress and some lace around the collar and the bottom hem. The butterfly wings are from the January 2015 KOTM Magic of Beginnings. I stamped them on a scrap piece of glossy brayered background paper that I had made previously and used a Staz-on ink due to the glossy surface.

 

I adhered her to the page with some gel medium. The scalloped floral border stamp is from the April 2014 SMAK Wildflowers and Wings. I wrote the sentiment out on a piece of Dylusions soaked up scrap paper that I had laying around. I cut it apart and edged the pieces with gold glitter glue and then added a few gold sequins to give it an even sunnier look. She makes me happy and has me dreaming of walking barefoot in the grass and getting my hands dirty in a garden!

 

GIVEAWAY:

I will be posting a new project each day this week (Monday-Friday) on my blog using Unity stamps and when the week is over I get to pick 2 winners from all of the comments during the week who will each get a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps! I will also be having a small giveaway of my own with 2 winners so there will be 4 winners total!!! I will post the winners on Monday, March 2nd.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to comment here for a chance to win!

Have a happy day,

Crystal

Growing In Unity Day 2

Hi and welcome back to day 2 of my GIU week where I am showcasing the wonderful Unity Stamp Company stamps!  I'm really excited to share todays projects with you.  My passion is leaning more and more towards mixed media and I just love playing with colors in my art journal and dabbling in new areas. Today I have an art journal page, a postcard (yes, I've started making and mailing my own mixed media postcards!), and a decorated envelope to share with you all. I still have a lot to learn but it's making me happy to try new techniques and ways to express myself artistically!

First up, the art journal page:
I lightly sprayed my art journal (which has heavyweight watercolor paper) and then scribbled on some gelatos in yellow, orange, and pink. I smeared them around with my fingers and when that dried I stamped the gorgeous flower from Donna Downey's You Are Important kit in Picked Raspberry distress ink a few times in the page. I then stamped the grid from Track This, Graph That SMAK Oct 2012 in Spiced Marmalade distress ink around the page randomly. I stamped the chevron from Dec 2012 SMAK Love Story Clips in India Black ink. The sentiment is from Nov 2014 SMAK Trust Your Soul.  I stamped the Donna Hollyhocks in white gesso and when that dried I outlined them with teal Liquid Pearls. The butterfly is from Feb 2015 KOTM Happiness Looks Gorgeous and was stamped on watercolor paper and spritzed with some teal Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

 Here are some close ups for more detail.

I always have so much fun when I get time to play in my art journal. It's so rejuvenating!

 

Now for the postcard:

I had a 12x12 sheet of thin cardboard that I dropped some pink and yellow acrylic paints onto randomly and I used an old credit card to swipe the paint around and when it dried I cut it into 4x6 sizes for some artsy postcards. I used the Serenity Fashionista and some sentiments from that kit as well and the large mandala is from the July 2012 SMAK kit Cre-ate (I think Unity now sells just that stamp separately from the kit too). I used a white gel pen to add some details and then I paper-pieced the yoga mat onto a scrap that I had used to soak up some Dylusions ink previously. I edged the yoga mat in gold glitter glue and added some sequins in two shades of blue/turquoise. Maybe she's juggling, maybe she's just found her zen.

 

And finally the envelope:

I have been having a blast with mail art and decorating envelopes lately and here is my most recent creation that will be mailed out by the end of the week. I just think it's so FUN to get happy mail and bright and colorful packages and envelopes are sure to bring smiles all the way through their snail mail journey!

I painted this bubble mailer by smearing around some pink and blue acrylic paints and when it dried I flipped it and painted the backside in the same way. I stamped the Carnivale Alpha alphabet and the elephant from Original You in India Black ink. I stamped the border from Carnivale Alpha in purple paint. This is for an alphabet swap so I went with an alphabet theme for the envelope!

 

 

GIVEAWAY:

I will be posting a new project each day this week (Monday-Friday) on my blog using Unity stamps and when the week is over I get to pick 2 winners from all of the comments during the week who will each get a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps! I will also be having a small giveaway of my own with 2 winners so there will be 4 winners total!!! I will post the winners on Monday, March 2nd.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. I hope I've inspired you in some way to try something new to you, it can be SO fun!

See you back here tomorrow crafty friends,

Crystal

Growing In Unity Day 1

Hello and welcome! I am so excited to be your Growing In Unity gal this week! I have been a huge Unity Stamp fan from the beginning and it's been so exciting to see how much they've grown and expanded both their little company and their stamp lines. They just reached 60K followers on Facebook and are having their biggest discount sale ever which ends today (so go shop if you haven't)!

For my first project I wanted to showcase one of the beautiful sentiments from the newest Kit of the Month, Happiness Looks Gorgeous.

 I wanted the sentiment to stand out and I was inspired by Swarups beautiful watercoloring to try to stamp a beautiful flower border around the sentiment. Now the bouquet I used is actually the "hair" from the Let Your Inner Beauty Shine set. It had just the right sized flowers for what I wanted so I just inked up the top portion of the stamp with some Distress Markers in Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, and Mowed Lawn. I spritzed it with water and after re-coloring the stamp each time around the card I took a paintbrush and moved some of the color around to make it look painted.

I colored in a few bits of the sentiment, used a glitter gel pen on the stars, inked the edges with charcoal ink and popped it up on white cardstock.

GIVEAWAY:

I will be posting a new project each day this week (Monday-Friday) on my blog using Unity stamps and when the week is over I get to pick 2 winners from all of the comments during the week who will each get a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps! I will also be having a small giveaway of my own with 2 winners so there will be 4 winners total!!! I will post the winners on Monday, March 2nd.

Stop by every day this week to see what else I've been working on and remember to leave a comment on each post this week for a chance to win some Unity Stamp grab bags!

Happy crafting,

Crystal

My Favorite Weather

It was -10 outside this morning and I could still hear the birds chirping. I just love that they don't let anything stop them from singing and living their lives!

Here is a tag/bookmark I made yesterday for a birds/bees theme swap.

 I used an old Kaleidacolor ink pad in Riviera and applied it directly to my watercolor paper tag and quickly spritzed with a light gold glimmer mist to lightly blend the colors and add some sparkle. When that dried I stamped Unity's Worn Script background in grape. I used some woodgrain patterned paper on the bottom and as a little tab at the top of the tag. I inked up the bird from Unity's Just Be You kit with Marvy markers and fussy cut it before adding it to the tag. I used some small letters from Cosmo Cricket for the sentiment and finished it with a little wood veneer heart and some blue ribbon and a twine bow.

 Here is a close-up showing the hint of shimmer.

 And of course I have another decorated envelope to share with you as well! Since it was a birds and bees swap I went with a bee theme for the envelope and used the queen bee from Unity's One Precious Live as well as some sentiments from Unity's Just Be You kit and the Tattered Chickenwire background stamp.

 The queen bee on the back of the envelope and the Yes, I'm the Queen sentiment are stamps from Catslife Press that I've had forever. They just crack me up everytime I use them!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday and enjoying the Friends With Flair hop inspiration!

I am also linking to Anya, Oddies, and Others: March Anything Goes challenge.
and DL. Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #150 Blue

Happy crafting!

Crystal

Mixed Media Monday & Creative Blog Hop

A couple of weeks ago my talented friend Cari, from Creative Paper Crafting had asked me if I'd like to take part in a creative blog hop, answer 4 questions, and post on a certain day. Well today is that certain day so I will share a project and a few other things with you today!

Here are my 4 questions and the answers.

What are you working on?  I am a paper crafter so I love working with paper! I started out as a scrapbooker and cardmaker over 10 years ago, started doing Project Life about 5 years ago when my first child was born and in the past year have started playing with some mixed media techniques. Currently I have become obsessed with mail art and although I have always loved sending out cards and happy mail I have really been loving taking it to the next level and decorating my envelopes too.

How does your work differ from others in your genre?  I love art because I think everyone brings something different to the table. Past experiences, personal likes, dislikes, everything that is you goes into your creative outlet, whatever form that may take. I wouldn't say any one thing makes my work different but for the fact that I create what makes me happy and others create what makes them happy.

Why do you create what you do?  Simple, I love it! Creating is like breathing to me, something I need to do on an almost daily basis. Even if it's just a simple little note for my daughter that I put in her lunchbox each day or something of a mixed media nature that I have to come back to over and over and keep adding to and waiting for things to dry, I am making something almost daily.

How does your creative process work?  I get ideas for things everywhere. Sometimes the most ideas come at night when I'm trying to fall asleep and something will pop into my head. I try to keep a pen and paper handy for times like that when I need to write something down to remember it. Other times I just head down to my craft space and play with whatever catches my eye first (my craft table isn't neat so there is often a lot of stuff to choose from!).

I think it's about time to show you all what I've been working on this past week!

I made a postcard this week! It's not traditional in any way but it was fun to make and my very first one ever!  I got my acrylic paints out and swiped them around on a piece of recycled cardboard with an old credit card to mix them up and spread the paint evenly. I stamped that glamorous gal from Unity Stamp Company's February 2015 KOTM and highlighted a few areas with a white gel pen. I sketched the sentiment out, filled in the lady with yellow paint and used a black pitt pen around the paint. I stamped the flowers from the same Unity kit in white and then again in black slightly off and highlighted with the white gel pen again. The flower was fussy cut from a piece of patterned paper, it's sparkly with glitter. The feathery, fancy ribbon at the bottom is from Webster's Pages.

I also made a tag on watercolor paper. I watercolored the background first and then stamped the flowers and sentiment from Unity's Have A Little Faith. I colored in the hearts with a white gel pen. I used gelatos to stamp the butterflies (from Unity's January 2014 KOTM Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful), fussy cut them and added some black gems to the yellow one. I added a little black tab that I cut out on the top of the tag, punched a hole through the layers (there's cardboard on the back to keep the watercolor paper from curling), and added some pretty ribbons and a bow.

I'm linking this up to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #9: Think Pink for all of the pink in the postcard.

Also be sure to go back to Cari's post to check out her great creation from last week!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful week!

Crystal

Always

Woohoo, am I ever happy that Friday is here!!! Can you tell it's been a long week? The hubby has a 3-day weekend, it's mid-winter break next week so I get extra cuddles and time with my oldest, and yesterday was just a comedy of errors so here's to a new day, Friday and Friends with Flair!!!

Today I'm sharing a card I made for a swap and the theme was to try a new technique. I didn't know what I wanted to try until I saw these great burlap cards at Joann's from DCWV. They had regular burlap and a package of brights. I was naturally drawn to the package of brights with turquoise, green and pink.

I have never stamped on burlap before so I thought I'd try an acrylic paint in gold and generously covered my stamp in gold paint and stamped it onto the burlap. Even though I had put a lot of paint on my stamp the burlap really soaked it in so I had to go over the heart with a sponge and add more paint and then over the always with a paintbrush dipped in the paint to bring out the details. The heart is from Unity's Beautifully Confused and the Always is from Unity and Donna Downey's 'Adore' Words. I added some flowers with a gold sequin center to finish the cards off. I think these would work nicely for guy valentines!

Once again I got creative with my envelopes as well. The Snoopy stamp is from Stampabilities but all of the other stamps are from Unity. The happy day and zigzag stars on the back of the envelope are from the May 2014 SMAK kit Day Dreaming. The clouds and banner on the front are from Unity's Playground kit. The flowers on the bottom by Snoopy are from Unity's A to Z Coordinates.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Crystal

Truly, Madly, Deeply

I just have to say that I LOVE Bogart and Bacall and think they must have had one of the best Hollywood love stories of all time. Classic movies have been a passion of mine for a long time and Humphrey Bogart is one of my favorite actors from that genre. Now onto my card!

I made this tag (a few of them for a Valentine's swap in fact) and knew I wanted to incorporate it somehow in my valentines card to my hubby who also loves cuddling and watching classic films with me.

For the tag:
I found this fantastic kiss image of Bogey and Bacall and did a bit of editing to give it a stamped look and then printed it onto a cream colored shipping tag. I stamped the lips (Unity Stamp Co: You Make my Heart Puffy KOTM) in red once and then again without re-inking for a second generation image. I distressed the tag with both Antique Linen and Walnut Stain distress inks. I put some heart washi on the bottom of the tag. The stickers are some super old epoxy stickers from Creative Imaginations that were perfect for this project (yes, I am a craft supply hoarder)! I added some silky, red ribbon and some rustic twine to finish off the tag.

For the card:
I love this old American Crafts patterned paper and decided since it had such a nice kraft inside to just make my whole card out of patterned paper and that way the back of the card has all of these romantic words and sayings too! I did distress the edges with Walnut Stain ink. For the inside I used a Dylusions red spray ink to color a white doily (which was also used as a stencil on the envelope). I stamped two sentiments from Unity's January 2015 KOTM Magic of Beginnings.

 

 

 

For the envelope:
I used the doily in the card as a mask and sprayed the envelope with red Dylusions ink. The arrow stamp and the express delivery are from Unity's December 2013 KOTM Happy LOVE Day, the white rabbit stamp is from Stamp Francisco, and the hearts are from Unity's December 2014 SMAK kit Moments Like These.

As for the chocolates, they were Lindt and they are long gone!

Other Supplies used:
Stamps are Unity Stamp Co and Stamp Francisco (white rabbit).
American Crafts patterned paper
Dylusions spray to color the heart doily
washi tape
Epoxy stickers: Creative Imaginations.

I am linking this to several challenges going on right now.
The Allsorts Challenge: Love is all Around.
The Fantasy Stampers: p.s. I Love You.

Thanks for visiting today and I hope you have a wonderful week and a very happy Valentines weekend!!!

Hugs,

Crystal

Floral notecards

I never seem to have certain cards on hand when I need them, you know what I mean? Thank yous, sympathy, birthday, are the usual ones I am scrambling to make at the last minute and I don't usually have the time to sit down and create as needed either. The other day I decided to fix this and make up some quick notecards for those "Oops, I need a card for this NOW!" occasions.

 I cut my watercolor paper down to size and stamped the flower from Unity's Imperfection Is Beauty and sentiments from Everything Wonderful and then later I grabbed my watercolors and brush and painted them at the kitchen table while the kids did arts and crafts. I love pre-stamping images on watercolor paper for that reason because it doesn't take up much space and is a pretty portable project for my busy life.

 Here are some closer looks.

I made 2 sets before I ran out of watercolor paper, one of which I'll be shipping to a friend in Australia! For hers I stamped some of the wonderful botanicals from the gorgeous Wildflowers and Wings SMAK kit by Unity onto the envelopes.

Happy Friday and Friends with Flair at Unity! I wish you all an amazing and crafty weekend!

I am also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: All things bright and beautiful.

p.s. If any of you are on Instagram I finally just got around to starting an IG account and would love it if you would come by and follow my crafty endeavors. There is a giveaway in the works that I'll hopefully have organized by next Friday! Here is the link to my page: http://instagram.com/crystalamariscreations/

Hugs,

Crystal

Mixed Media Monday!!!

I'm going to try something new and attempt to post a mixed media project every Monday. Hopefully that will help me to create more mixed media projects and play in my art journal more which I love! Here are two pages I made over the weekend.

The first page I made around a wine label I really liked. I glued it down in the middle of the page and then used some Twinkling H2Os to paint around it. I added a few Unity stamps (Age & Wine and Let's Uncork), used a Crafters Workshop stencil  and some distress ink for the blue arrows and then added another Unity stamp (from the Magic of Beginnings KOTM) for the vine-like border.

 The next page was kind of a weird experiment. I made the background using my Dylusions spray inks and added lots of water to blend it around. When that dried I added the sun rays in the top corner with some acrylic paint and a Tim Holtz stencil. Doodled around it when it dried and really didn't like it. I stamped the couple under an umbrella from Unity's January 2015 KOTM Magic of Beginnings, added some torn paper, stamped the hearts (Unity's Dec 2014 SMAK Moments Like These) in gesso, and finally added some stenciled arrows with Peacock Feathers distress ink and the sentiment from Unity's December 2012 KOTM. This one took a while because most of the steps needed drying time in between.

Hope you enjoyed my first Mixed Media Monday and I hope to bring you many more as I learn the ropes and play around with new techniques.

Happy crafting!

Crystal