~ Friends of Unity October 2022 Blog Hop ~

 Hello there crafty friend!

It's one of my favorite times of the month... time for the Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Our cue this month is a fun one that we played with last year. We had lots of fab ideas last year... can't wait to see the creations our friends have to share with us this year! 

Now, let's get to the cue...

... Anything But a Card!! Fun, right?! 

I had several ideas come to mind and I thought about revisiting one of the ones I shared last year but I decided to go with something new. You may have heard that I was lucky enough to visit the wonderful family behind Unity ~ the Magnuson and all the crew!! Such an amazing experience!! The Unity crew is amazing and they're truly a wonderful family!! Anywho, I made little gifts for everyone and I may have been early but I went with a fun Halloween theme. This way I wouldn't forget to send out my Halloween cards! Haha!

 

A few years ago, Bobbie Sue hosted a Napkin Decoupage challenge in the Unity Show & Tell. I got to thinking I could decoupage the front of these cute little Kraft gift bags I had found at Walmart. I also got some cute orange plaid napkins from Walmart in their dollar section. I separated the 2-ply napkins leaving me with just 1-ply for the orange plaid design. I unfolded them and cut them into sections that were slightly longer than the front of the gift bags. I then used Mod Podge to adhere the napkin to the front of the gift bags. I let the Mod Podge dry and then I tore the tops of the napkins off.

I placed the gift bag in my Stamp Platform and stamped the fabulous tree and the Happy Halloween sentiment from the Hallow's Eve Tree stamps with Black Amalgam ink from Gina K. Designs.

Copics I used for the Witch Gnome:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11, E04

Hair ~ C00, C2

Hat ~ V000, V12, V15, V17, YG11, YG23

Shoes ~ N1, N3, N5, N7

Cauldron ~ N1, N3, N5, N7, V000, V12, V15

Broom ~ E21, E23, E25

I used a tiny blending brush to add a bit of Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges of the napkin. I wrapped each gift bag twice with some {Black} May Arts Burlap string and tied it off with a pretty bow.

Copics I used for the Vampire Gnome:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11, E04

Hair ~ C00, C2

Hat ~ R20, R14, N3, N5, N7

Shoes / Bat ~ N1, N3, N5, N7

I fussy cut each of the adorable gnomes from the Witch Way stamps and cleaned up the edges by coloring them with a Memento Tuxedo black marker.

Copics I used for the Frankenstein Gnome:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11, E04

Hair ~ C00, C2

Hat ~ YG11, YG23, G14, YG91, N1, N3, N5

Shoes ~ E21, E23, E25

Pumpkin ~ YR21, YR15, YR68

Candy ~ YG11, YG23, V12, V15, YR15

I slipped a napkin, a Halloween card, some cute Halloween stickers and candy inside the bags. 

So fun! I love how they turned out!! I think everyone liked them too.

For my second Anything But a Card Project I went with my fave... a bookmark!! I love making bookmarks for my friends and family. I started with a die cut bookmark using the Bookmark Die from Newton's Nook Designs. I die cut two bookmarks - one from white card stock and the other from Hawaiian Shores card stock and set the Hawaiian Shores one aside.

I blended Twisted Citron Distress Ink on the bottom of the bookmark. And then I blended Peacock Feathers Distress Ink in the center. And last was Tumbled Glass Distress Ink which I let fade into white by just lightly blending near the top. I went over each section being sure to blend into the other colors until I was happy with my blends. I have found that three times is usually the charm for blending. I loved the blends but it needed something so I grabbed a stencil... I used a cute one from Gina Marie Designs called Mini Triangles 6x6 Stencil. I blended over the stencil without adding more ink to my brushes leaving a light background of the cute little triangles.

I stamped the beautiful stack of books from the I Love Big Books Itty Bitty directly onto the bookmark and also on a scrap of white card stock. I also stamped the sentiment directly on the bookmark. I colored the books on the white card stock with my Copic Markers and then fussy cut the image on the black line. Here's a quick list of the Copics I used ~ RV21, RV14, RV29, C00,C2, YG11, YG23, BG10, and BG23. While fussy cutting the image I cut off the twirly black line because I was basically paper piecing my image onto the bookmark. I cleaned up the edges of the fussy cut image by coloring them with a Memento Tuxedo black marker and then I adhered it to the bookmark. The back of my ink blended bookmark did get a bit messy from the ink on my desk so I adhered it to the Hawaiian Shores bookmark I had die cut at the beginning. Love how this turned out!!

Now before we get to the hopping, I chose a lucky winner from the comments on last month's hop to win a fun prize package and that lucky winner is...

... Carla Hundley!! Congratulations, Carla!!

Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Prize must be claimed within two weeks. 

Well, that's it for me this time! I hope you'll try your hand at some handmade gifts. I had so much fun! Please hop along and enjoy some more inspiration from the Friends of Unity... I can't wait to see all the different projects being shared! I'm sure that some of my friends are having a giveaway so be sure to comment as you hop along.

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Amber

Kim

Rachel

Bobbie Sue

Gaylynn

Dawn F.

Colleen

Eileen

Joyce

Dawn B.

Robyn

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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