~ Friends of Unity February 2021 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

Welcome to our February 2021 Friends of Unity Blog Hop! I'm so excited to share the creations I've made for today, but before we get to that I have some news... we have two new friends joining us! 

Please give Colleen Balija and Rachel Duong a great big welcome!!

I've admired the fantastic creations shared by both of these talented ladies and was super excited when they both accepted our invitation to join our little hop! Let's get to it, shall we?

Our cue this month is one of our faves... Paper Piecing!

For some reason I struggled getting my mojo going, but eventually it kicked in and I was able to make three CAS cards... each card seemed to inspire the next! Love when that happens!

My first card features the beautiful Peyton Girl... she's looking cute in some Everyday Eclectic papers by Echo Park. If you're not familiar with paper piecing, it's very much like paper dolls for stamps. You stamp the image on different papers and fussy cut the pieces and then adhere them to your main image.... piecing it all together. I stamped Peyton on a card front of white card stock measuring 4-1/4 x 5-1/2". I trimmed my first patterned paper about the size of her smock and secured it to my stamp platform using purple tape. I stamped Peyton again and then secured a piece of the pink patterned paper to my stamp platform using purple tape and stamped her pants. I fussy cut those and cleaned up the edges with a Memento Tuxedo black marker and set the pieces aside.

I colored up Peyton with the following Copic markers:

Skin ~ E0000, E00, E11

Hair ~ E51, E55, E57

Paint / Paint Brushes ~ R21, R32, YG01, YG11, N0, N2, N4, E55, E57

Flowers ~ R0000, R21, R32, YG01, YG11

Shoes ~ YG01, YG11, BG01, BG10

Once I had Peyton colored how I wanted, I added tiny dots of glue to the areas that I was paper piecing. I then die cut the card stock with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border die. I adhered the pretty patterned paper to the back of the panel being sure that the panel measured 4 x 5-1/4". I then adhered the entire piece to my white A2 top-fold card base. I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx black ink and trimmed it down. I popped it up on the card with foam tape.

My second card is a fun Valentine's Day card that I made using the Love to Go stamp set. I used the beautiful Love is All Around Us {paper pack} for my paper piecing. I had originally planned to use the same card design for this one as my first card, but as I was working on it the striped papers caught my eye and this design came to mind. I love it! Now for the papers on this one... these were some of the first papers that Unity produced and there's a bit of a shine on them. The Memento Tuxedo black ink just sits on the paper and will smudge if touched so I added some Hero Arts Ultra Fine Clear Embossing powder and melted it... no more smudging! Thought I'd share that tip if you have some of the older Unity papers in your stash. I fussy cut the papers, cleaned up the edges with my Memento Tuxedo black marker and then set them aside.

The Copic coloring for this one is pretty simple. A little C00 and C2 on the cup; R000, R14, R27, R37, R89 on the lid; and N0, N1, N4 on the drink hole and for grounding the cup. I adhered the fussy cut papers to the cup and die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die. I then stamped the sentiment which thankfully still fit... lol. I cut the striped paper to 3-3/4 x 5" and adhered it to a white A2 top-fold card base. I then popped up the focal piece with foam tape. I added a little red to the hearts around the cup with R14 and R89 to finish off the card.

My last card... another Valentine's Day card... features the absolutely adorable Bear-ly Enough stamp set... how stinkin' cute is that bear?! I just love him! He was so fun to paper piece too! I used the White Winter {paper pack} from the December 2020 Whit Kit ~ Winter Shake Up. These papers are now available separate from the kit!! They were just perfect for this cute bear! I stamped the bear on a scrap of white card stock and then again on the knit paper and the plaid paper. I cut the nose and belly from the plaid papers and adhered them to the knit paper and then fussy cut the whole bear. I partially stamped the bear one more time inking up the heart.

I colored the heart with R000, R14, R27... I fussy cut it and cleaned up the edges with my Memento Tuxedo black marker and adhered it to the bear. I set that aside and grabbed a white card front measuring 4-1/4 x 5-1/2". Using purple tape, I taped off the top portion and the bottom and blended some Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide inks. Once I was happy with my ink blending, I did a little water splatter. I dabbed up the excess with a paper towel and then I removed the tape slowly so as not to tear the card stock. I trimmed the card front down to 4 x 5-1/4" and adhered it to a white A2 top-fold card base. When I fussy cut the bear he lost some of his fur detail so I decided to stamp him directly on the card. Of course, this was after I'd adhered it to the card base so I used my Stamp Grid Transparency to ensure that the bear was in the right spot. I adhered him to the card and stamped my sentiment with VersaFine Onyx black ink. Done!

That was a bit long but I sure hope it was helpful to you. Now, before we get to the hopping... I'm thinking it's time for another giveaway!! I will randomly chose a winner from the comments so be sure to comment on each of the blogs while you're hopping! I sure appreciate each and everyone of your comments! I believe that a few of my friends are also having giveaways so...

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Colleen

Kim

Rachel

Amber

Dawn B.

Dawn F.

Joyce

Robyn

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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