~ Friends of Unity December Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friends!

It's my favorite time of the month and this month it's extra special because...

we're celebrating 2 years of hopping with Friends of Unity!! Woohoo! I am so beyond excited about this month's hop! Eeeep! 

We have some fun stuff planned... our usual giveaways PLUS we have 2 HUGE prize packages that Angela Magnuson graciously put together from Unity just for this celebration AND we also have 3 FABULOUS guest designers hopping with us this month!! A HUGE thank you to our Guest Designers... Donna K Baes, Shannon Edwards, and Jessica Pickeral!! We are so excited to have you talented ladies join us this month!!

So when I say HUGE prize packages... I. AM. NOT. KIDDING!!

Prize pack #1!!

And prize pack #2!!

Amazing, right?! I'll have details below on how you can enter to win one of these fabulous prizes!!

Now, onto our hop... and the cue this month is All is Calm... 

a little bit ironic, am I right?! Our cue is about a time of peace and calm when we're having a huge celebration. It made me giggle but I love it! I mean, it 'tis the season!

My first card is using the gorgeous deer stamp and sentiment called All is Calm all is Bright... a sweet Itty Bitty kit just perfect for the Holidays! I combined it with the beautiful Prancing Holiday {paper pack} to make a super quick card! No joke, this took me maybe 10 minutes... and that was only because it took me a couple extra minutes to find just the right red ink for the deer.

I just love it! Beautifully simple and a card that will go through the mail easily without any extra postage! Bonus!

I loved the design of my first card so much, I decided to make another one with a new release... this adorable snowman with his little birdie friends from the All the Small Things kit... oh my goodness! I love it so much! I decided to use another fabulous paper pack from Unity called Brilliant Blizzard!

I tied in the colors of the Brilliant Blizzard papers by coloring the snowman's mixed matched clothes with similar colors. Too cute! I just love this sweet stamp!

My last card is another take on the cue... rather than another Christmas card, I thought I'd create a scene of a calm winter's night using a few of the gorgeous stamps from the October 2019 SMAK kit called All Bundled Up. The last few SMAK kits have been absolutely amazing and this one is definitely a favorite!! 

I started by taping off the bottom portion of my card stock with some purple tape. I then blended Tumbled Glass, Wilted Violet and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide inks. Once I had a nice blend, I did a little water splatter and white acrylic paint splatter. I let the panel dry overnight to be sure that it was completely dry. I also heat set it just a bit the next day with my heat gun. I knew I was going to heat emboss the cabin image and I wanted to be sure that the embossing powder wouldn't stick to the background. I also rubbed my Ranger Anti-Static pouch over the panel to be safe. 

I then stamped the cabin with VersaMark watermark ink and heat set a black embossing powder. At this point you could still see the background through the cabin so I pulled out my Hickory Smoke, Black Soot and Mustard Seed Distress Oxide inks to watercolor the background with along with my water pen. It took a few applications of the inks to get a nice layer over the background but I think it turned out well. You can see some of the white acrylic paint splatters on the cabin but it almost looks like a light snow... even though I was working towards a calm winter night. I also added a touch of gray to the ground to give the snow some dimension around the cabin. 

To finish off the panel, I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark watermark ink and heat set a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the panel down to 4 x 5-1/4" and mat it with white card stock measuring 4-1/8 x 5-3/8". I then adhered the mat panel to a black card base. Using both black and white for my layers helps to make the black and white embossed images pop on the card.

That's it for my cards this month! AND because I love the October 2019 SMAK kit SO much... I may have just bought an extra to giveaway for this fabulous celebration of 2 years!!! Woohoo!! I will be announcing the winner for my giveaway on December 14th so hopefully the winner will receive their prize in time for Christmas!! Seriously... SO exciting!!

Thank you all so much for your continued support of our little hop for these 2 fantastic years!!! I really, truly do appreciate each and every one of your sweet comments! 

A few of my friends are having giveaways on their blogs too, so be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs!! And if you'd like a chance to win one of the fabulous Unity Prize packages be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs... two winners will be randomly chosen from the comments and they could be chosen from any of the blogs participating in the hop, not just mine!! So be sure to hop and comment!! 

Winners for the Unity Prize packages will be announced on December 14th here on my blog and in the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group... are you a member of the group? You can join by clicking ---> here!! 

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you are here

up next ---> Eileen

Joyce

Dawn B.

Alaine

Kim

Amber

Jeanie

Dawn F.

Robyn

Donna

Shannon

Jessica

Thanks so much for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal