Saturday, November 3, 2018

~ Friends of Unity November Blog Hop ~

Hello! It's one of my favorite times of the month... it's time for another Friends of Unity blog hop!! This month Dawn had a fabulous suggestion for November cue ~ Strength... in particular the Strength of women. We kept the cue simple but I have to say this one was a challenge. 


Unity Stamp Company has over 100 Angie Girls to work with and several of them have empowering words and even different variations of the word Strength... but I still struggled. What finally 'clicked' for me was thinking of the Strong women in my life. I've had many strong, inspirational women to look up to and so many of them were the strongest women I'm proud to have known that have inspired me to be the woman I am becoming. Some are no longer with us, but they have left an impression of Strength that will be with me for the rest of my life. So enough of my chit chatter...  let's have a look at the cards I created.

Along with keeping our cue simple, I decided to keep my cards simple and let the image and sentiment be the focus. Last month I made two cards using the same Hoppy Fall  set but using Copic markers to color one and ZIG watercolor pens for the other. So, I thought... let's see how coloring on kraft with Prismacolor pencils looks compared to Copic markers.


 For my first card I stamped Stronger than Anyone ~ Jessica Girl and the sentiment with Amalgam black ink and then colored in the image. I absolutely love the sentiment in this kit! Every time I read it, I instantly think of one person and I think I'm going to send this to her to let her know that I think she's an amazing, strong woman that I am honored to know! 
I added some patterned paper from Carta Bella... called Christmas {yup, Christmas paper and it's not even a Christmas card! Ha!} I loved the black plaid to compliment the red plaid on her shirt. I die cut the edge of the patterned paper with a scalloped edge die from My Favorite Things. I adhered that to the kraft card stock. I die cut the piece with a stitched rectangle die and then I mat the kraft piece on black card stock and wrapped it a few times with white baker's twine tying a small bow. I popped up the panel onto a kraft card base and there you have card number one.


Here's a close up of the coloring on her jeans and purse. When I'm coloring with Prismacolor pencils, once I've blended the colors using a colorless blender pencil, I sometimes like to use my Prismacolor Scholar eraser to clean up the lines of the ink where the pencil has gone over the black lines. With this card though, I also rubbed the eraser on the jeans to give it a bit of worn texture. I really love the way that it roughed up the jeans a bit. I also used the silver Prismacolor pencil to add some touches on this image... her watch face, jean's button, and some accents on her purse. I love the bit of shine that it gives to the card, even though it's subtle.


Now, my second card... I considered stamping and coloring the same image for a more accurate comparison, but... I really wanted to ink up Dream Girl. I'm embarrassed to admit that Dream Girl was a stamp that I purchased for my first order with Unity Stamp Company {along with my absolute favorite ~ Dream of Being} and this is the very first time I've inked her up! It's been almost 3 years!! Can you believe that?! Shameful!! Well, anywho... I inked up Dream Girl using Memento tuxedo black ink. {I could have used the Amalgam black ink again, I just grabbed the Memento... really no rhyme or reason.} Dream Girl reminds me of my beautiful niece and so I just had to try to color her hair similar to my niece's hair. This turned out lighter, which was hard to gauge until it actually dried because while the Copic alcohol ink was wet on the kraft it was darker. I used E09, E15, E97, R89 for the hair and E0000, E000, E00, E01, E04, E51 for the face, neck, and shoulder. Just like the first card, I added a strip of patterned paper and then die cut the piece with a stitched rectangle die. I mat it on a coordinating piece of card stock and wrapped it with a natural twine. I then popped the whole panel up on the kraft card base.


Here's a close up of the Copic coloring on Dream Girl. I really love how she turned out!
As far as a comparison, I think these turned out really nice, but the medium is definitely different. The texture with the Prismacolor pencils is very different from the softness of the blended Copic markers. I love them both really... couldn't choose a favorite, but it sure was fun to play and compare them. I sure hope you enjoyed my cards today!


There are a few giveaways this month so be sure to check out each of the blog posts and comment! We absolutely love all of your comments!
Now I think it's time to get hopping!

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Kim










Thank you friends for checking out my blog post! 
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!
~ Crystal


64 comments:

  1. Wow Crystal. I loved reading this so much! Your use of the prismas on the kraft, and your use of the eraser. Oh so wonderful!I will be doing this soon! And you used our Dream Girl! Our first purchase! I laughed when you said you hadn't used her yet. Heehee. I've used her a few times for my daughter! She's so lovely! Your coloring of her facial features is just perfect. Beautiful cards, my friend. Beautiful representation of strength in your work and your writing.

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    1. Awww... thank you so much, Bobbie Sue! Isn't it funny how those must have stamps sit unused for a time.

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  2. Gorgeous cards
    and I love that
    second one. Lots
    of strength in both.
    Carla from Utah

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  3. The 1st card is my favorite! Love that "Christmas" paper too. That sentiment says it all!

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  4. I love the look of colored pencils on kraft; one of my favorites!! So I think that is my favorite card. But both are gorgeous and beautifully designed.

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  5. Love the first card! The coloring on those jeans in the first card is fabulous #coloredpencilgoals!

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  6. Beautiful cards!! I love them both!
    I love Jessica's red shoes~
    I don't have Dream Girl, but now I want her!!

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  7. I dont have either one of these stamps. Never seen the first one. Both are very inspiring to me. Colors are great. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. So beautiful, Crystal. I love the coloring on kraft and roughing it up with an eraser. Great tips. And Dream girl is just stunning. So inspirational in your design and writing. Great job!

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  9. Your talent always amazes me Crystal! I love the coloring on this gorgeous card! 😍

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  10. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be the pencils, because somehow, I think it's better suited to the slightly rustic nature of the kraft paper. These are both gorgeous (and I don't want to tell you how many Unity stamps I own that are waiting for their first inking). I love the clean and simple look of this card design.

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    1. Thank you, Jan! I think you have a great point about the pencils being suited to the kraft paper... so true!

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  11. Oh, love both of these cards! Problem is now I’m considering buying these stamp sets🙄😏!

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    1. Thank you, Joyce! That's a great problem to have! LOL

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  12. I have never tried coloring on Kraft Paper... it's so gorgeous! Your coloring is phenomenal!

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    1. Thank you! I hope you give it a try... it's so much fun!

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  13. Both your cards are great! The coLoring doesn't get any better your jeans look just like my own! Thanks for sharing

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  14. I was just looking at the Unity sale last night and was caught by Jessica Girl. Your coloring and choice of papers just may have sealed the deal on me adding her to my AngieGirl collection.

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    1. Thank you, Meg! Ohhh... I hope you added Jessica Girl to your stash! She's a great stamp to have in your collection!

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  15. Wonderful cards! I really like how you gave the jeans some texture. I'm going to try it. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  16. I really like how you used the scallop die on both these cards! I love how the jeans turned out and your coloring is wonderful! I think it's good to have different mediums to color with as they each bring a different vibe to projects.

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    1. Thanks so much, Karen! I like using different mediums for just that reason.

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  17. Great cards and thanks for sharing your coloring comparisons.

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  18. Crystal, both cards are beautiful! Your coloring is amazing! I need to get the eraser and blending pencil you mentioned. I bought Dream Girl when she first came out. I have yet to ink her up.

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    1. Thanks so much, Dawn! It's good to hear I'm not the only one with uninked stamps!

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  19. These Angie Girls are so beautiful. Your cards are great. Pam Foy

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  20. Both are great cards. I love the plaids and the coloring of the jeans on the first card. I didn't know how Copics would work on Kraft paper, so thanks for showing that.

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  21. What a wonderful way to show strong women you care.

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  22. Wow! That's a great theme this month!!!
    Love the gorgeous colors and the sentiments of your cards!

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  23. These cards are beautiful! Your coloring on Kraft is always my favorite, something I should try more often.

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  24. Loved both your cards. I have better luck and am more comfortable with my Prisma colored pencils. I use gamsol for blending. I keep trying with alcohol markers and am building a set of copies but don’t always get that blended look yet with them that I want. Work in progress😊

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    1. Thank you, Debbie! I've only been working on my copic coloring skills the last couple of years though I've been building my collection for 10 years now. :) I like that... a work in progress! For sure!

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  25. Thank you for sharing your techniques in such detail. Your work is beautiful.

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  26. Love them both! I've never used alcohol inks on Kraft!

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  27. I really loved seeing the stamp of the sentiment with the large half of a girls face. It is quite dramatic and powerful. I love the red tone paper and hair. Also the first card is awesome with the plaid paper and great coloring.

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  28. Just beautiful!!! You make amazing cards!

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  29. The Dream Girl stamp would be great for encouragement to someone. Fabulous job!

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  30. I ove them both. Simple with bold statements and your coloring is excellent.

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  31. Wow, your cards so beautifully portray strength. Gorgeous!

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  32. Hey Crystal, These 2 cards are just amazing! I really love the way you colored the pants on the Jessica girl! They totally look like blue jeans! Dream Girl is amazing too! I love how you said it took 3 years to use it! Well I think she looks fantastic!

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  33. Beautiful cards! I love the way you colored you colored Jessica Girl's jeans!

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  34. Gorgeous coloring and beautiful cards!

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