Crystal O. Minkler: ~ Friends of Unity June 2023 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of June which means it's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! This month's cue has become an annual theme. It's one that us card makers are always looking for ideas and inspiration for our makes. I hope that you'll hop along with us this month and find lots of inspiration from our friends. Now, onto our cue this month...

... Masculine. Yup! Those cards for the guys in our lives. Sometimes masculine cards can be tough. I'm sharing a couple of easy masculine card ideas that never fail. Let's get to it...

Brown on Kraft - Monochromatic Earth Tones

I'm excited to share my first card because it's also a sneak peek of a new stamp that will be releasing in just a few days. And yes, I got permission to share early. Woot woot! Thank you Ang & Whit!! I'm super excited about this upcoming release... it's Tuesday, by the way. Unity is releasing some super cool background stamps... a collaboration with Brutus Monroe, along with some other wonderful stamps. I just adore the Wrinkle background stamp. I inked it up for my background on Kraft card stock using Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, and Ground Espresso Distress Oxide inks with a spritz of water here and there. It almost gives the background a leather vibe. Don'tcha think?!

I just love the texture that it gives the card. I also die cut the background with the recently released Deckle & Stitches Nesting die set. So excited to get these amazing dies in my recent order. Can't wait to use them more! So fun! I also stamped a fun background using the large fonts from the Favorite Dad stamps. I used the same three distress oxides to stamp those. I actually stamped a larger panel so I might just use the leftovers for another card. I laid the sentiment background over the Wrinkle background and then I placed the large deckle die overtop and secured it to the sentiment background with a couple pieces of washi tape. I then pulled it away and die cut it. Then I adhered the pieces together.

Did you notice the design for my card?! It's the sketch I recently shared in my Tawny Owl Paperie | Inky Inspiration Facebook group. It's also the same sketch that I used for one of my cards in last month's Inspired By hop. I just loved the card design so much I had to turn it into a sketch. I'm actually hosting a challenge in my group for this sketch with a fun prize. I hope you'll join us and play along!

The cute mustache was stamped with Vintage Photo and then I swiped the Ground Espresso ink down the stamp adding a cool texture to the mustache. I don't think you can see it as well in the photo though. It was die cut with a plain circle die and then adhered to a Dark Chocolate card stock mat from Papertrey Ink that was die cut using the smallest stitched circle die from the Scallops & Circles {nesting dies}. The sentiment, also from the Favorite Dad stamps, is stamped with Ground Espresso ink. I die cut it using the recently released Scalloped & Stitched Sentiment Nesting dies. I also used a slightly larger die to die cut a mat for the sentiment from Early Espresso card stock from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is adhered directly to the card and the mustache is popped up with foam tape. Brown on Kraft is always awesome for a guy card.

Nature Scene Cards

My second card features the sweet Happy and Cozy stamps. I had a blast playing with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers. I used a couple of fun watercolor techniques for this card. I actually recorded my progress while I made this one. I'm hoping to share it soon {video is now below}. The background was created with a few blue ZIGS and a green one. It was actually really easy and it turned out pretty nice.

I dried the background with my heat tool and then stamped the trees using the ZIGs to color and then stamp each part. It was a tiny bit time consuming but it was fun coloring directly on the stamp. I played around a bit with the background until I was happy with it and die cut it with the deckle stitched die. Loving this die for guy cards! I stamped the cabin on a scrap of Canson XL watercolor paper using Black Amalgam ink from Gina K Designs. I used a few ZIGs to color up the cabin. Once it was dry, I fussy cut it. I colored the edges of the cabin using a Memento Tuxedo black marker. This is a great tip for making fussy cutting look nice and neat.

You can check out my process video here... Watercolor Techniques featuring Happy and Cozy | Unity Stamp Co.

I stamped the sentiment from Favorite Dad stamps again... this time I heat embossed it with Sugar Cube Pigment ink from Taylored Expressions and Alabaster White embossing powder from Brutus Monroe on Early Espresso card stock from Stampin' Up. I just trimmed the sentiment this time and adhered it to the card. To finish off this card, I added a few more stars using a white gel pen. Nature cards are another great idea for guy cards.

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 and the lucky winner is...

... Vannessa Osbourn!! Congratulations Vannessa!!

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! Please hop along and enjoy some more inspiration from the Friends of Unity! I'm so excited to hop and check out all the pretty creations shared by our friends!! I can't wait to see the masculine cards our friends have made to share with us. I will be doing another fun giveaway this month!! Be sure to hop along and comment for a chance to win. {When you comment please leave your name just in case it posts as anonymous.} I'll announce the winner next month!

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Amber