~ Friends of Unity April Blog Hop ~

Hello! I'm really excited today... it's time for the April Friends of Unity blog hop!! I love love love this month's inspiration... Showers! I've mentioned before that I love rain. I'm kind of obsessed with stamps that include anything related to rain... umbrellas, rubber boots, puddles, duckies, rain drops, and so on and so forth. :)

With that being said, I actually had a hard time deciding which stamps to use for this hop because well, I was overwhelmed by my collection... yeah, it's a collection. Lol! I went back and forth on so many kits and then my fellow hoppers claimed this one and that one. That was actually a help... it narrowed down which stamp to use. But really... when it came down to it, I had to use Weather Any Storm. Not only does it have an umbrella to work with the inspiration cue for this hop, but it also has owls! So, it was a must!

Now can I admit something here... I don't like making shaker cards. I know. I know. They are so cute and fun, but they are A LOT of work. I'm a CAS kinda gal... Clean and Simple appeals to me because well, I'm a busy homeschooling mama that steals any second I can snatch to work on my cards and other crafty projects, so quick and easy is the way to go. BUT for this card, I had this crazy vision for a shaker card using a Glazed Oxide background that I had made last week. It was like it was just challenging me to use it in a fun way. So, with all that being said here it is! 

Like I said, I had made the Glazed Oxide background last week. I die cut the piece using the Scallop Circles dies from Pretty Pink Posh. I stamped the owls on the die cut piece using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink and heat set it. I then stamped the image on white card stock with Memento tuxedo black ink and colored it in using the following Copic markers {Umbrella/Apron - RV06, RV10, RV11; Owls - YR24, YR27, Y06, Y35; Flowers - V01, V06, YG09, YG13}. I fussy cut the image and adhered it to the background. 

Now since I wanted the focus for this card to be on the main image with the shaker element, I decided to go simple with the front. I pulled out a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 piece of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. I blended some Tumbled Glass and Broken China distress inks on the card stock using a new Tim Holtz Blending Brush and a Mini Raindrops stencil from The Crafters Workshop. I just received this new blending brush in a card kit and I have to say... I love it!! It gave me a nice soft blend that I just wouldn't have been able to achieve with the blending tool. I then stamped the sentiment using Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. 

Once I had that done, it was time to build the shaker card. This was painful, I'll be honest, I had to make sure that everything would line up just so... which took a lot of time and patience. Anywho, I managed to get it done and then I adhered the whole thing to an Enchanted Evening card base. I may not like making shaker cards, BUT... I think this one turned out pretty nice and every once in a while it doesn't hurt to take on a crafty challenge! ;)

I have some business to take care of now, before we move on to the hopping. Last month I had a giveaway and I need to share who the lucky winner is... drum roll please... hmmm... anyone else hear that?! Okay, let's just pretend we did... the lucky winner of the Unity Stamp Grab Bag filled with 25 fun and exciting stamps is...

KAREN DECKNICK!!!! Yay! 

Karen please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com with your mailing address to claim your prize. Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

Thank you to all those that hopped with us last month and of course, this month!

Now let's get hopping!

Amber Trubiak

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

up next ---> Jeanie Hays

Eileen Mathys

Wynne C. Grob

Dawn Fields

Robyn Jordan

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal