~ Friends of Unity September 2023 Blog Hop ~

   Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of September! Time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! 

This month's cue is so much fun! It's something I've been playing with each month actually so it was hard for me to narrow down my options but I went with my go-to. I hope you'll hop along and enjoy some wonderful inspiration from our friends!

It's all about Techniques this month! My go-to technique is definitely Ink Smooshing. If I need a quick card or just a quick background, I ink smoosh. And as it happens I needed something quick for this hop!

My first card features the adorable new Whimsy Warmth stamp... so excited to have new Phyllis Harris stamps available!! Love her illustrations! The girls and sentiment were stamped with Black Amalgam ink and I colored up the girls with the following Copic markers:

Skin: E000, E00, E11, E04

Red Hair: YR23, YR27, R59, G14 {rubber band}

Brown Hair: E43, E44, E47, E49, R43 {barrette}

Purple Shirt: V000, V12, V15, V17, YG11, G14

Yellow Shirt: Y11, Y15, Y35, R11, R43, R27

I wanted a soft background for these sweet girls so I ink smooshed Scattered Straw, Speckled Egg, and Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide Inks. I've been challenging myself to play with inks that I haven't really used or wouldn't normally combine. So that was why I picked these. And I'm SO glad I did! I love the background I created.

You can check out my process video for this card here... Ink Smoosh Background | Whimsy Warmth | Unity Stamp Co.

I added some adhesive to the ink smooshed background and wound some gold thread around sticking it to the adhesive. Just to add a bit of interest to the background. I trimmed the background to 4 x 5-1/4". I should have done that before adding the thread but sometimes ideas don't come in the right order. Haha! I die cut the main panel using a die from the Deckle & Stitches Nesting Dies. I added a bunch of foam tape to the main panel and popped it up on the ink smooshed background. And then I adhered the whole panel onto a white A2 top fold card base that I turned on the side for a landscape card. 

My second card features another new release... the adorable Galactic Dino Party stamps!! Eeek!! How stinkin' cute are these dinos!?! Love, love, love them!! Since I decided to play with some ink smooshing, I was thinking these cuties needed to go to outer space with a fun galaxy background. So fun! And they fit so perfectly in a fun mini slimline card.

I stamped the dinos, stars, planet, moon and sentiment with Black Amalgam ink. Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used:

Green Dino: YG11, G14, G16, Y11, Y15

Yellow Dino: Y11, Y15, Y35, YG11, G14

Purple Dino: V000, V12, V15, V17, G14

Purple Balloon: V000, V12, V15

Green Balloon: YG11, G14, G16

Yellow Balloon, Moon and Stars: Y11, Y15, Y35

Planet: V000, V12, V15, R11, R43, R27

I fussy cut all the colored images. I left a bit of a white border around the balloon strings and the ring around the planet. To make the black line edges all nice and neat, I colored them up with a Memento Tuxedo Black marker. Just where black lines from the stamp were on the edge though.

You can check out my process video for this card here... Ink Smooshed Galaxy Background | Galactic Dino Party | Unity Stamp Co.

The galaxy background was created using Mustard Seed, Lumberjack Plaid, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Oxide Inks. I ink smooshed all four colors and then blended some Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot inks around the edges to darken it up. To finish off my galaxy background, I added some white acrylic paint splatters. I think it turned out pretty cute. I die cut the background using the Wonky Stitched Mini Slimline die from Gina Marie Designs. Adhered it to a 3-1/2 x 6-1/2" mini slimline card front of True Black card stock from Papertrey Ink. I then adhered the card front to a 7 x 6-1/2" mini slimline card base that was scored at 3-1/2". So cute!

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...

... Linda Abel!! Congratulations Linda!!

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 what techniques each of our friends played with to create their projects. 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 ---> Dawn F.

Jane

Joyce

Rachel

Tammy

Gaylynn

Colleen

Bobbie Sue

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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