Tuesday, October 31, 2017

A Frightfully Fun Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I have a frightfully fun shaker card to share with you today.




 I had some leftover papers and sequins from the September card kit that I used to make this card. I thought the colors were perfect for this little vampire from SugarPea Designs' Monster Mash set. Scrapping for Less has some fun SugarPea Designs stamps right here.

I hope your family has a frightfully fun and safe Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ Day 3 ~

Hello! It's my final day for my 3 Days of Halloween series! I know I already shared a card using this beautiful stamp... but I think Unity's Esmerelda Girl is my favorite so I just had to make another card!




For this card, I stamped Esmerelda on a piece of white card stock in Memento Tuxedo black ink and then colored her in with the following Copic markers: Dress/hat - V01, V05, V09; Hair - E02, E07, E08; Skin - E50, E51, E53; Broom - E55, E57; Ground/belts - N01, N02, N05. I die cut the piece using the largest rectangle in the In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Stax set from My Favorite Things. I then blended some Hickory Smoke and Black Soot distress inks around the edge. I stamped a few background stamps from Stampin' Up!'s Ghoulish Grunge set. I still had the Tim Holtz Cobweb thinlit die on my desk so I decided to cut out another True Black cobweb. I added some glittery goodness to it using a clear Wink of Stella pen. I decided to cut up some of the web so I could fit more of it on the card. I then decide to add some more purple to the card and mat the panel onto a scalloped rectangle of Blackberry Bliss card stock from Stampin' Up! I adhered the entire panel to a card base of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. The finishing touch was a quick sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp set If The Hat Fits I used on yesterday's Halloween card. I stamped it in VersaMark ink and then heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I fussy cut a banner and popped it up on the card using dimensionals. I just love how this card turned out! I sure hope you do, too!

If you missed Day 1 of my ~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ series... you can check it out here and Day 2 can be found... here.

I sure hope that you've enjoyed my ~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ series!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Monday, October 30, 2017

~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ Day 2 ~

Hello! Are you ready for another Halloween card?! I am!! I had so much fun making this card...




I started out by looking through my Halloween papers. I found these old Stampin' Up! papers and thought they'd be fun to use. I cut the True Black card base for this card like normal (11-1/2" x 4-1/4"), but I scored it at 3-1/2" and 9". I then cut out the papers using an Edgers die from Papertrey Ink and layered them together. Once I had that done, I realized that the top portion wasn't going to be sturdy enough just using patterned paper so I layered it on an additional piece of True Black card stock. I adhered the entire piece to the top fold of the card and then set it aside.




 I stamped these fun hats from the If the Hat Fits stamp set from Simon Says Stamp onto a piece of white card stock using Memento Tuxedo black ink. I colored them in using Copic markers and then fussy cut them out. I also stamped the sentiment onto some Very Vanilla card stock and then die cut it out using the My Favorite Thing Fishtail Banner Stax dies. I had the negative die cut piece of the black and vanilla paper left so I adhered it to the bottom of the banner. I popped up the banner and the hats on the card using dimensionals.




I don't always stamp the inside of my cards, but when I do... it's fabulous!! Lol!
The sentiment is from the If the Hat Fits set and the web is from the Ghoulish Grunge set by Stampin' Up! That may, or may not be a clue for what's coming tomorrow ~ my third and last day sharing Halloween cards! Hope you enjoyed this card and will be by tomorrow for my final card.

If you missed Day 1 of my ~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ series... you can check it out here.

Be sure to come by tomorrow for Day 3 of my ~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ series!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Sunday, October 29, 2017

~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ Day 1 ~

Hello! I've always had a love for Halloween... I love all the fun decorations and the costumes! Even more than all that, I love all the fun Halloween stamps and papers that are released from all the different companies. They get more fun every year! I was starting to get bummed because I really hadn't had time to play with my Halloween stamps and get some Halloween cards made to mail out. So... I decided the housework could wait, and I got inky!! Yay!




I just had to ink up Unity's Esmerelda Girl... I love this stamp and how fun is she to paper piece?! I used some Papertrey Ink papers that I had bought during their big sale. I die cut the layers using a set of Edgers dies from Papertrey Ink. I added a little bit of purple with some washi tapes from my stash. I die cut the Tim Holtz Cobweb thinlit die from True Black card stock and then added some glittery goodness using a clear wink of stella pen. I adhered that to the layers on the card. Now the fun part, I stamped Esmerelda in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white card stock so I could color some of her using Copic markers. I also stamped her on the black and white star paper. I colored the parts of Esmerelda that I wanted and then fussy cut out her dress and hat and adhered those to the image. I then cut out the entire image and adhered her to the card. Now this sentiment is hilarious... I just had to have it when I saw it. It's from Simon Says Stamp, in their If the Hat Fits set. I stamped it and die cut it with My Favorite Things Jumbo Fishtail Banner Stax die. To finish off the card, I added a few drops of black Nuvo drops. Such a fun card to make! Hope you like it!

Be sure to come by tomorrow for Day 2 of my ~ 3 Days of Halloween ~ series!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal


Friday, October 27, 2017

Let's Get Merry & Bright ~ October Flavor of the Month Blog Hop



Merry Halloween? Well, it is here at Scrapping for Less! 

Since our cards reveal the last Saturday of the Month and then take a bit of time to get them shipped out (although we have a brand new system set up for this month... so, hopefully, we will get them out in record time!). 

So, with all that said, our October card kit is our “Merry and Bright” Christmas kit…the Design Team ooohed and ahhhed over the September kit….and this one is not any different they are soooo excited! And cannot wait to show you their creations! So hop on along with us and get inspired with all of the loveliness you are going to see along the way. 

But don’t delay in getting your kit because I know this one is going to sell out in lightning speed! Head on over to the Flavor of the Month page and either sign up for a subscription or if you just want to try it out you can order a 1 time purchase. 

The card kits this month are amazing!! They are all full of Merry & Bright goodness!
For this hop I used just the products in the Double Dip Sundae subscription.




I had so much fun with these kits... I love Christmas papers and stamps!! Don't you?!? They are so fun and cute! Here are the four cards that I made for the hop using the four collections and the four sketches... 




My first card using Collection One and Sketch 4. 
I stamped the Snow Flurries stamp repeatedly over the white card front using a Mocha ink that I stamped off a few times to get the light brown flakes. I then cut a strip of the tree paper and mat it with green card stock. I adhered that piece and then decided to use this cute Ephemera piece as the focal point. I added a couple of the sweet stockings and a few sequins to finish off the sketch. So cute!




My second card using Collection Two and Sketch 2. 
I cut and adhered two pieces of patterned paper and added a thin strip of green card stock. I die cut a white circle and a green scallop circle for the focal point trimming them to fit. I added a few light blue snowflakes (I borrowed the stamp set from Collection One) and some sequins for the snow to tie the scene in with the snowflake paper in the background. I stamped and colored the little seals on a separate piece of card stock and then fussy cut them out. I colored the bottom of the cut circle to give the seals a place to 'sit'. I had to get creative for the sentiment on this one. I decided to use one of the Ephemera pieces so I cut it (it originally said 'Christmas Cookies') and stamped directly on it masking the unnecessary words. So it became "a Christmas kiss"... so cute!! The last touch was popping up the sentiment. 




My third card using Collection Three and Sketch 3.
I had fun with this sketch... I love that it used so many different layers so I could use more of the pretty papers. Out of all the collections, the Knit Picky papers in this collection are my absolute favorite!! I started with a large piece of patterned paper and then added the other pieces. I also wrapped a white twine from my stash around the piece and then adhered the entire piece on a white card base. I die cut a white circle and then stamped my sentiment masking the words as needed. I stamped the otter on a separate piece of white card stock and colored it in with copic markers. I fussy cut it out and set it aside. I die cut the leftover strips of paper from the background piece using a stitched hillside die. I layered them on the bottom of the circle to give the little otter somewhere to sit. I popped up the circle piece on the card and then adhered the little otter. The last few touches on this card were the red pearls and the little snowflake sequin (on the green circle piece). 




My fourth card using Collection Four and Sketch 1.
This card came together pretty quickly. I cut and layered all the pieces onto a white card base. I die cut a stitched oval from one of the pieces of patterned papers and mat it on a white stitched oval. I layered the pieces and adhered them to the card. I added a few sequins around the oval and then decided that the card needed something... the words 'quiet time' in the sentiment got me thinking that a deer in the meadow is just what I needed. I blended a few different brown inks on this wood deer to soften the deer up. I adhered it to the card and called it done. I love the snowflake background with the deer prancing off... it definitely says 'quiet time' to me!

I sure hope that you've enjoyed the cards I have to share with you for this hop. Now it's time to check out the rest of the wonderful projects created by the Design Team...


~ Blog Hop Line Up ~




Crystal O. Minkler <--- you're here

up next ---> Tina Smith






Make sure to head back to the Scrapping for Less blog and enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a great prize! 

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop Challenge

Hello! Today, I'm sharing a card for the Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop challenge. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to play along with this challenge but at the last minute I had an idea so I went with it.




The inspiration for this month's blog hop challenge is the picture below:




I have to admit, this was tough for me... at first, these images did not interest me or inspire me at all, but I came back to the images later on and was inspired by the colors, the trees and the little houses. In any case, I came up with this card.




I taped down my watercolor paper along with the tree outline stencil from the Wonderland Scenes Stencil Collection. I spritzed my watercolor paper and then added some Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, and Harvest Gold inks using a water pen. I let that dry and then pulled off the stencil and replaced it with the other stencil to add some shading to the trees. I blended some Smokey Shadow ink and then decided the lines were too clean so I went over the color with a watercolor pen, dabbing with a paper towel so it didn't get too messy. Once I was done with that, I die cut a house from the Winter Village die set. It was a little big, but it was all I had so I went with it. I used a punch to cut out the 'windows' and then adhered the house to the watercolored panel. I decided to add a road so I stamped a road from the Winter Village stamp set with Smokey Shadow ink and then using my water pen again I went over the lines dabbing with paper towel. I think it gave a neat look to the road. I also added some Soft Stone ink to the center of the road. I cut a stitched rectangle frame from Enchanted Evening card stock and adhered that to the piece. I adhered the entire panel to a white card base. Last thing to do was decide on a sentiment.... that was hard. I decided to go with 'you're on my mind' from the Ways to Say: Thinking of You set. I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark ink and heat set some fine white embossing powder. I cut out the sentiment with a stitched banner die and adhered it to the card. I like how this turned out. I'm not sure who I will send it to, but it was a creative challenge that I'm glad I accepted and was able to complete.

I've added links throughout my chatter above so if you're interested in any of the products, just click on them and it'll take you directly to them. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal


Monday, October 23, 2017

October Flavor of the Month ~ Sneak Peek!!

Hello! Today I'm sharing a cute Sneak Peek for the October Flavor of the Month card kit! I am loving this month's kit!! This card is just a tiny peek at some of the amazing products included in this month's kits!!




I love Christmas and I am seriously a hoarder of Christmas pattern papers! I have to say the papers in the kits this month are so amazing!! Love them all! For this card, I die cut a couple strips of the papers using a stitched border die. I layered those on a piece of green card stock and then adhered the entire piece to a white card base. 

Have you ever noticed how some 6x6 paper pads of patterned paper have that little strip along the top?! Since I'm a hoarder of Christmas paper you can just bet that I carefully remove those pieces from the paper pad and use them whenever I can. In this case, I used a fun red piece behind the sentiment. Since I knew the sentiment was rather large I was able to cover up the hole that was in that strip of paper... love it!! 

My last little touches to this card was some clear wink of stella to the sentiment (you can kind of see that in the picture) and a couple dots in the corner. I sure hope that you like my sneak peek for you. Be sure to come by tomorrow for another sneak peek from the Design Team!! 

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Friday, October 20, 2017

Make It Monday #300 ~ Build-a-Wreath

Hello! I'm so glad that I was able to play this week because the Make it Monday challenge was definitely something that appealed to me. I love wreaths!! For a time, I used to make them for our home. Making wreaths was so special to me because I also made them as gifts for family members. I have a few wreaths still in our storage... maybe I'll go hunting for a fall one to display!




Anywho, I discovered that I didn't actually have a wreath die or stamp set from Papertrey Ink. I've since added a few to my wishlist! Ha! But for this challenge I had to get creative. 

I pulled out my Brushed Off Circle die and since I hadn't separated the two pieces yet... I used them together to make my base for the wreath. Once I did that, I happened to remember the Spruce & Sprigs stamps and dies that I recently bought and thought they would work perfectly to build my wreath. I cut out several 'branches' in Dark Chocolate, Cocoa Bean, and Canyon Clay card stock. I also cut some berries out in Pure Poppy card stock. And then I thought.... buttons!! How cute would buttons be as 'berries'?! So I found a few little Pure Poppy buttons to add. 

For the base of my card, I decided to go with my favorite card stock - Kraft!! I did a little stamping directly on the front of the card with a few of the elements from the Spruce & Sprigs set using all the same colors, except I added some Ripe Avocado in there. Once that was done, I adhered the wreath and realized I hadn't decided on a sentiment. I thought a banner would be nice but I didn't want to use any of the sentiments from the Banner Style set so... I found my new Keep It Simple: Blessed set and decided I could bend that to make it work and it did!! Woohoo! It fit just right! I stamped it in Dark Chocolate and then adhered that piece to a Pure Poppy banner. 

The bottom of the card looked a little too empty... so I decided to add another sentiment using the Keep It Simple: Thanksgiving set. I love these little sentiment sets... Papertrey Ink has them for just about every occasion. Love it!!

That's my card for today.
Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal  

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

More Perfect Princess Fun With Echo Park/Carta Bella

Hello! Today I have a few more cards using our brand focus of the month ~ Echo Park and Carta Bella! I was given the Echo Park Perfect Princess paper pad and matching Frames & Tags Ephemera pack... can we say Adorbs!! Oh my goodness... the cuteness is just too much in this collection.



For all three of the cards that I made I used basically the same sketch. I die cut the background paper and added a strip of paper along the center.




I then found different frames to feature on each card with a tag accent to add. Each one has a fun sentiment that completed the card very quickly.




On my last card I flipped the frame and off set it. I also trimmed the sentiment tag so that it wasn't too big and take away the fun of the fairy.




On the Unicorn card, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the pink frame and the hair of the unicorn. You can see that a little better in this picture.




I also added some clear Wink of Stella to the fairy's wings, shoes and her wand. It's not as easy to see in this picture, but it's there! I promise! 

I really hope that you've enjoyed the cards I've shared today. They were definitely fun to make!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Sunday, October 15, 2017

Make It Monday #299 ~ Sentiment Window

Hello! I was able to find some time today to play along with the Make it Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink. I love this particular challenge using a sentiment as the focal point! I just had to play along... and I thought it would be a great way to get some Christmas cards made. Sadly, I have not kept up with my personal challenge to make 8 Christmas cards per month.




I love that this card has some dimension from the technique because I could keep it super simple and not have to worry about it being more postage to mail. I die cut the patterned paper from the Summer Camp patterned paper that I was able to get during the huge sale Papertrey Ink had earlier in the year. I adhered that piece to my kraft card base and then die cut the center using the Brushed Off Rectangle die. I stamped the sentiment from the Winter Village set using VersaFine black ink. I then stamped the trees using Ripe Avocado and Fresh Snow. I stamped a few more trees on some scrap kraft card stock and die cut them. I then stamped the house using Dark Chocolate, True Black and Kraft inks and then I die cut it. This was the first time I actually inked up this set and other than needing some practice lining up the pieces... it was pretty easy and I loved the result! The last thing to do was to adhere the trees and the house. I did decide at the last minute to add a little drift of snow on the roof of the house using a white Prismacolor pencil. I love it!


Here are the products I used for this card:
Stamps: Winter Village (PTI)
Card Stock: Kraft (PTI), Summer Camp (retired PTI)


 I'd love to hear what you thought of my creations.
Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Friday, October 13, 2017

Scrapping for Less Blog Hop featuring Carta Bella and Echo Park



Scrapping for Less is in love with Echo Park/Carta Bella!!
All of us here at Scrapping for Less absolutely love Echo Park Paper Co. They are a really diverse company and bring many, many patterns out each and every year. They have at least one release each month and could not be cuter! Cause who doesn’t love some absolutely cute pattern paper? 

This month’s focus is this fabulous paper company and the Design Team has outdone themselves with some great projects. You can read all about the interview Teresa had with Madison Parker (the owner of Echo Park/Carta Bella) just in case you missed it.





I love Echo Park's papers!! The 6x6 paper pads are so much fun to play with and what's better than some fun paper piecing! I think it was an absolute must for this cute card! I was inspired by the Perfect Princess paper pad to share a bit of magic! Being a bit of a bookworm myself, I imagined my daughter entranced in the magic of one of her fairy tale books... and this card came to life. 

I stamped the image from My Favorite Things BB Our Story on white card stock as my base. I colored the skin and hair using copic markers. I then stamped the image a few more times on the different pieces of patterned paper and fussy cut the different pieces. I adhered all the different pieces to my white base... it's like putting a puzzle together, so fun! 

I die cut a circle making a 'window' and then die cut a stitched scalloped circle to adhere on top. The 'magic' sentiment is a die cut cardstock piece from the coordinating frames & tags ephemera pack. I sponged a little bit of distress ink around the edges to help pop the sentiment. 




I also added some clear Wink of Stella around the stitched scalloped circle and the sentiment. You can see the glittery goodness a bit better in this picture.


Now here's the hoppers lineup...

Scrapping for Less

Stacy Tiedemann

Crystal O. Minkler <--- you're here

up next ---> Jessica Wilson

Tanya Hahn

Katie Williams

Tina Smith

Sandy Hentzel

Don’t forget to head back to the Scrapping for Less Blog to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a 6x6 paper pad and matching embellishment. Thanks so much for joining us today!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Growing in Unity Winners

Hello! Last week I had so much fun sharing my love of Unity stamps!! I really enjoyed reading through all the comments that were left on my blog throughout the week. You all were so kind! The winners for the Unity grab bags are...


Eileen Mathys & Trisha Magnus!! Congrats, ladies! Please contact me with your mailing info so I can get your Unity grab bags in your hands ASAP!! :)

Haha! My daughter helped pick names from a hat. She had some fun doing it in her big brother's Darth Vader costume... please excuse her Wookie Hair Don't Care!! LOL

Thanks again to all those that came by to check out my posts!!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Friday, October 6, 2017

More Fun Featuring the September Flavor of the Month Card Kit!

Hello! Today I'm sharing another batch of fun cards from the September Flavor of the Month card kit! I've had so much fun with this kit... I'm going to share just a few more cards that I've made.




My first card was very simple. The paper really did all the work for me. I just trimmed down this piece of patterned paper and then mat it a couple of times and adhered it to the white card base. I added a few of the fun Gina Marie Autumn Enamel dots. A quick & cute card!




My second card was also pretty simple. I attached the fabulous tree sticker to a piece of white card stock and then die cut it out with a stitched oval die. I then die cut a piece of the navy blue card stock and mat the tree oval to that piece. I set that aside and then cut a strip of this beautiful fall paper that I adhered to a white card base. I popped up the oval piece with foam tape. I found a fun sentiment in the patterned papers and just trimmed it to a rectangle. I popped the sentiment up, as well, and then I just added a few green sequins. Isn't it just sweet! I love that tree sticker!




My third card features the fun Neat & Tangled Pumpkin Everything stamp that comes with the Banana Split subscription. This is such a fabulous stamp! For this card I stamped it using VersaMark and then heat embossed it with fine black embossing powder. I die cut the piece with a stitched rectangle die and then found this fun patterned paper for the layer underneath. I die cut that paper with a slightly larger stitched rectangle die. I adhered those layers and then mat them on a piece of brown card stock. I then adhered the entire piece onto a white card base. I added a few of the leaves and the pumpkin stickers to the corners. A fun fall card!




My last card was so much fun to make. I started off with the cute kitty and pumpkins. I stamped them using Memento Tuxedo black ink and then colored them in with copic markers. I fussy cut them out and set them aside. I then die cut the purple star paper and adhered a piece of acetate to the center. I added foam tape to the back and set that aside. I grabbed a piece of white card stock and blended a galaxy background. I have a tutorial on my blog with step by step pictures on how to make a galaxy background... you can find that here. I adhered a piece of purple card stock to the white card base. I adhered the galaxy background to the purple card stock and then I added some sequins and adhered the shaker portion of the card. Once that was done, I fiddled around with the little kitty and pumpkins trying to figure out where they wanted to sit. I finally settled on the bottom left corner so I adhered them there. I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment using a fine white embossing powder. I die cut the sentiment and then popped it up on the card. I don't make too many shaker cards because they can be pretty involved, but I sure love when they come together and look as cute as this one!
I sure hope that you like the cards I've shared with you today. 

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Growing in Unity ~ Day 5 ~ Seasonal Fun!

Hello! I can't believe that today is the last day for my Growing in Unity week. 
I've had a blast sharing with you all. I am a self proclaimed Unity addict so you can be sure that I'll be blogging more Unity love... hope you'll come by again to check it out.




I am loving the look of the Eclipse cards that I've been seeing so I thought this fabulous background I made would work beautifully with this technique. First, I made the background using the leaves from the September 2016 Moments Between Moments KOM. I stamped them all over a piece of watercolor paper with VersaMark ink and then I heat embossed them with a fine white embossing powder. I then added some color burst pigment and spritzed. I dabbed a lot of the color to keep it soft. Around the leaves I blended in some more yellows and oranges to help the white leaves pop. I die cut the word 'fall' and adhered the pieces back in place, but to give them the Eclipse look I popped up the letters. I then stamped the 'happy birthday' stamp from the Hugs, Kisses & Birthday Wishes sentiment kit masking the birthday portion of the stamp. I used VersaMark and Autumn Rose ink and then heat embossed it with fine clear embossing powder. I adhered it to a layer of Autumn Rose card stock and then adhered the entire piece to a Canyon Clay card base. The last touch to this card was a few drops of Ripened Pumpkin Nuvo crystal drops.




Here's a side view that shows the Eclipse technique a bit better. The effect is so much better in person. I sure had fun making this one!




I've had the layout and design for this card in my mind for so long, I think I've even dreamed about it. Ha! I love Esmerelda Girl!! I knew when I saw this web stencil from Tim Holtz that finally my vision for this card would come to be. I stamped Esmerelda with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored her in using copic markers. Black copic coloring is a challenge... I think the key is less is more. I didn't even use a black copic on this image. The darkest color I used was N10. Anywho, I got her all colored and set her aside. Now it was time for the background. I did a light blending of the purples and some grey, and then I laid the stencil on top and blended in more purples, grey, and black. I kept the black blending mostly to the edges. Once I was done blending, I went over the web with a clear wink of stella pen. I'm so bummed you can't see it in this picture. 




It was also very hard to get a picture that showed any of the glitter, but you can see a bit of it in the center here. In person, the glitter can be seen throughout the web and I even added some to Esmerelda's belt, hat, and hair. To finish off the card, I layered some fun Halloween papers and the web panel onto a black card base. I then stamped the sentiment with VersaMark and heat embossed some fine silver embossing powder and then I die cut the sentiment out and popped it up on the panel. I also popped up Esmerelda. I absolutely love how this turned out... it's a great feeling when your idea turns out the way you envisioned.



So, I made a Fall card and a Halloween card... now it's time for a pretty Christmas card. I stamped the image and the sentiment from Poinsettia Wishes on watercolor paper using VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with a fine black embossing powder. I watercolored the image using ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens and my water pen. I die cut the image using the stitched oval die and then mat it on a die cut stitched black oval. I set that aside and searched through my stash of embossing folders... I finally decided the Holly folder would look pretty so I grabbed a piece of white card stock and ran that through my big shot. I lightly sponged on some Festive Berries and Shabby Shutters distress inks. I layered that piece on a black mat and then tied a bow with some black organdy ribbon. I adhered that to the white card base and then popped up the oval piece. Love!! I just love how pretty this one turned out.


 I had so much fun making all of these cards to share with you all. I sure hope you've enjoyed them!

Be sure to check out Berina Febin's post today as well, she's another Growing in Unity girl this week. You can check out her blog ---> here!

Now, don't forget to leave a comment on this post to be entered into a drawing to 
win a grab bag from Unity. I'll be drawing names for 2 lucky winners!!


Thanks for stopping by!!
See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Growing in Unity ~ Day 4 ~ Coffee Coffee Coffee!

Hello! I can't believe that it's already Day 4 of my Growing in Unity week... it's flying by way too fast!! Today, I am featuring not only my love of Unity, but my love of Coffee!! Unity has some wonderful coffee stamps!!!




My first card started out as a CAS kind of card... but... the ink just kept talking sweet to me like it needed to go on this card. Ha! I started with a Kraft card base and I inked up a fun background stamp in the Vibes kit with Ground Espresso distress ink. I love the cool splatter and coffee ring vibe to the image. I dabbed a sponge in different areas around the edges in different colors. I like the texture it gives to the card. I stamped the image of the coffee cups from the February 2017 Unexpected Place KOM directly on the card and then stamped it again on a scrap of white card stock. I colored the cups with copic markers and then fussy cut each one out and adhered them to the stamped images on the card. I did it this way for two reasons... I didn't want to fussy cut a mask for each cup and this way the cups give a bit of texture to the card. I stamped the sentiment using Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink on Dark Chocolate card stock and heat embossed it using a fine clear embossing powder. I also added some Nuvo Chocolate Fondue glitter drops. You can't see the glittery goodness in the drops, but in person they are so pretty! I adhered the sentiment and called it done!




For my next card I used the new fall themed coffee cup kit called Fall to Go. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored it in using copic markers. I paper pieced the body of the cup. I then stamped the sentiment in VersaMark on another piece of patterned paper and heat embossed it using a fine white embossing powder. I decided I wanted this card to have the feel of a home so I grabbed my 6x6 pack of Wood & Notebooks Basics papers and found a nice piece to make my 'table'. I cut that out using an oval stitched die. I then cut out the sentiment using a label die and mat it on a different wood themed paper. I wanted it to look like something hanging on the 'wall'. I then had to decide on what papers to use as my 'wall' and 'floor'... I'm terrible at home decor so this was difficult. Ha! I finally settled on this yellow with white polka dots paper and a nice light brown. I adhered all the fun pieces to my card and I have to say I love the way it turned out!!




My last card for today features the fun coffee mug from the Cuppa Comfort sentiment kit. I blended a few fun fall colors on a piece of white card stock and then stamped the mug. I liked the fall theme with the colors so I decided to stamp a leaf from the August 2017 Never Be Afraid KOM and I loved the way it looked so I went with it. I added a little highlighting to the leaf using a white prismacolor pencil and I colored in the heart with some Cranberry Bliss silk. I fussy cut the mug out and set it aside. I grabbed a piece of watercolor paper and painted some 'steam' for my mug. I decided the card needed more so I dug through my collection of Jolande & Marleen stamps and found a few kits to use.... You Can Do It, You Matter, Hug, and I Am Who I Am. I did a little bit of blending on the edges and then stamped my sentiment from the new kit called Hug using VersaMark and Ground Espresso distress inks and then heat embossed it with a clear fine embossing powder. I adhered the watercolor paper to a piece of Dark Chocolate card stock and then adhered the entire piece to a white card base. Love it! I didn't plan on a fall theme for my coffee cards today, but I think I'm ready for some cooler weather!


I sure hope you like the cards I shared with you today! Come back tomorrow for my final Growing in Unity post. I'll be featuring some fabulous seasonal stamps from Unity! You won't want to miss it!

Be sure to check out Berina Febin's post today as well, she's another Growing in Unity girl this week. You can check out her blog ---> here!

Now, don't forget to leave a comment on this post to be entered into a drawing to 
win a grab bag from Unity. I'll be drawing names for 2 lucky winners!!


Thanks for stopping by!!
See ya next time.
~ Crystal