Crystal O. Minkler: ~ Friends of Unity April 2024 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! I have to be honest, this month's hop is a bit hard for me since my mom passed away over six years ago now. I miss her every day. I still struggle with making Mother's Day cards.

I'm very fortunate though to have beautiful, strong women in my life and I wanted to celebrate them this month even though they aren't my mother. So my cards this month are dedicated to them.

First up is a lovely card featuring the gorgeous Lauren Girl. I was drawn to her because of the gorgeous rose. Roses were my mother's favorite flower. I think it'll be a lovely card to send to my sister. She is the most wonderful mom I know.

I paired up Lauren Girl with the gorgeous Nostalgic Amour {paper pack}. Again, the roses got me! Though the papers have a vintage vibe to them I think they look nice with Lauren Girl. I probably could have distressed the edges around Lauren a bit for more a vintage feel, but I like the pop of white.

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used to color up Lauren Girl:

Skin: E000, E00, E11

Hair: E71, E74, E77, E79

Shirt: R20, RV14, E23, E25

Capris: B91, B93, B95, B97

Shoes: R20, RV14

Rose: R20, RV14, RV06, R29

Leaves: G12, G24, G99

I used a die from the Stitched Scallop Basic Edge dies from My Favorite Things on the pattern paper with the roses. I adhered the pattern papers together and adhered them to a white A2 top fold card base. The sentiment from the Happy Mother's Day stamps illustrated by Graciellie Design was the perfect finishing touch for this card. I die cut it using a die from the Scalloped & Stitched Sentiment Nesting Dies. I popped up the sentiment with foam tape. Otherwise the rest of the layers are flat for easy mailing.

Next up, I've been wanting to play with the gorgeous flowers in the He Provides stamps. I love the floral stamps that Angie Blom illustrates for Unity! These are a favorite! Of course, I wanted to play with different colors so why not make a set of cards!?

A lovely yellow for my first card. Now I used the awesome Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils to color the flowers but since I had stamped the flowers on Stampers Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink rather than a watercolor paper I didn't use a lot of water. I also didn't get to add more pigment and more water but I love the light wash of color I got on these cards. And the mix of the colors is so fun. For this first card I used Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry for the petals and Salvaged Patina with Peeled Paint for the leaves and stems.

For my second card I used Kitsch Flamingo with Spiced Marmalade for the petals and Twisted Citron with Mermaid Lagoon for the leaves and stems. After coloring the flowers I die cut each of the panels using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}.

For my third card, I used Tumbled Glass with Shaded Lilac for the petals and Crushed Olive and Rustic Wilderness for the leaves and stems. I stamped the pretty 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment also from the Happy Mother's Day stamps. So many lovely sentiments in this set of stamps!

For my final card I used Spun Sugar with Dusty Concord for the petals and Bundled Sage with Brushed Corduroy for the leaves and stems. I adhered the floral panels to A2 top fold card bases that coordinated with the card fronts. And for one final touch on each of the cards, I used a mini stencil from the Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 5 and my Vintage Photo Distress Ink blending brush, but without adding more ink so it was just a light touch on the white panel.

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...

... Meg Crawford!! Congratulations, Meg!!

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

Please claim the prize before May 1st, 2024.

Well, that's it for me this time! Please hop along and enjoy some more inspiration from the Friends of Unity! I can't wait to see how our friends were inspired by this month's cue. 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

Jane

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!