~ Friends of Unity January 2025 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! This month's cue is really fun! But before we get to that we have a new friend joining us... please stop by Doreen Guilfoyle's blog and be sure to give her a great big welcome! I am super excited to have Doreen join our team! Woohoo!!

This month's cue is Use Old Stuff from Your Stash! I have to admit that after 26 years of cardmaking I have quite the stash. Sometimes I wish I could go back to simpler days when my set up was just a tiny nook off of our kitchen. 

I actually found a photo! Here's the left side of the nook.

And the right side of the nook. I had two desks and it was so easy to keep this space clean. Now I'm in a bedroom and it's unorganized and a disaster. Not complaining about my space, at all! I'm blessed beyond... but I sure wish it was finally organized and neat. I think this year my goal is to do just that. I'll try to keep you all updated as I go. Maybe I'll even do a blog post and/or video. That would help me be accountable for sure. We'll see! Anywho... I've gone way off track here. Back to your regular broadcasting... :)

I remember why I went off on that tangent. All the stuff I have!! I went looking through my paper. I have a lot of old Stampin' Up papers that I never touch anymore. I thought I'd pick out a paper and make a card. Somehow it turned into 5 cards! LOL!

I absolutely love butterflies so I was immediately drawn to the Botanical Butterfly DSP. I used both sides of the papers for these 3 cards. The butterfly papers are die cut using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}. And then I got to looking through my SMAK and KOM kits. I saw this cute ticket in the November 2012 Kit of the Month called So Into You. I thought it would be fun to add a sentiment to it. Of course, then I had to go looking for a sentiment. I found the Happy stamps and boom! That was that. The sentiment was stamped with Wilted Violet Distress Ink. I colored the edges of the tickets and the hearts with Copic markers: R00, R20, R43.

Same story for these... once I got started I thought I'd make a couple more. So many fun butterfly papers in that pack. I used the same Wilted Violet Distress ink for the sentiments. I colored the edge and hearts of the tickets with V000, V12, V15 Copic markers. I didn't pop anything up or add any bling. Keeping them flat and light for easy mailing! These were easy peasy and fun.

 Using old stuff for me also means those panels you started and set aside for a later time. Well, I got to looking through mine and found this fun panel I've made over time. I ink smooshed the background when I made a couple rainbow ink smooshing cards.

I found the video. If you watch the first few minutes, you can see I make the two panels for the birthday cards but I also make a third panel with the leftover ink. That third panel I used for my birthday snail card. So I used Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks for the ink smooshed background.

And then in September I was experimenting with Transfer Gel DUO and tried out some spatters on this panel before I made the card I shared on my blog and YouTube. I used some Transfer Gel DUO to spatter and then foiled with Silver Shattered Glass Deco Foil. I die cut the panel using the largest die from the Deckle & Stitches Nesting Dies.

Here's the video of my other card if you're interested in seeing how I made the spatters. It's a SUPER fun and easy technique with awesome results!

This fun background needed a great stamp and I had been wanting to ink up the sweet snail and mushroom from the May 2017 Sentiment Kit Happy Snail Mail. Darn it! It's retired! Such a shame. Hopefully you have it in your stash. It has so many great sentiments and, of course, the adorable snail and mushroom. Anywho, I stamped it with Black Amalgam ink, Copic colored it and then fussy cut it on the line. I colored the edge of the fussy cutting to make it all nice and neat and then I stamped the sentiments. I trimmed them up and adhered the one to the mushroom and then I added a bunch of foam tape to the back of both sentiment and the mushroom/snail and popped them up on the black card base.

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used:

Snail: BV11, N2, N4, N6

Snail Shell: BV11, BV34, BV25, BV29, YR000, YR21, YR12

Mushroom: R00, R20, R14, R37, R59, C00, C2, W00, W1, W3

Grass: YG11, YG23, YG67

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... {we had internet issues while I was picking and I wasn't able to save the random dot org number but it was #23}.

... Becca Yahrling!! Congratulations, Becca!!

Email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Please claim the prize before January 29th, 2025. 

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 what kind of old stuff our friends played with for this month's hop. 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

Dawn

April

Toni

Jenni

Joyce

Rachel

Doreen

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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I Love Winter ~ Frosty Kisses Anya ~ The Greeting Farm

 Hello there crafty friend!

I am super excited and honored to be joining The Greeting Farm Design Team!! Woohoo! I can't wait to share my projects with you all. 

Today I'm sharing a sweet winter card featuring the adorable Frosty Kisses Anya. I just adore her sweet face and her cute snowman friend.

I stamped the adorable Anya with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored her up with Copic Markers. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find Frosty Kisses Anya on the website. But if you'd like to have her you can check out the Farmers Market and submit a request via email... maybe she'll be available for the next Farmers Market. 

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used:

Skin: E000, E00, E11, E04, R00, R20

Hair: E43, E44, E47

Hat: C00, C2, Y11, Y15, Y38, R00, R20

Coat: C00, C2, Y11, Y15, Y38

Buttons: N0, N2, N4, N6

Gloves: C00, C2

Boots: N0, N2, N4, N6

Dress / Leggings / Bows: V000, V12, V15

Snowman: B000, B00, YR21, YR15

I ink smooshed the background with a bit of Tumbled Glass and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks. And then I heat embossed several snowflakes using the cute snowflake in the stamp set. I also heat embossed the sentiment on black card stock.

I fussy cut the snowman and Anya and colored the edges of my fussy cutting with a Memento Tuxedo Black marker so it looks nice and neat. Added a bunch of foam tape to the back of Anya and popped her up on the card. Love the dimension it gives to the card! I hope I've inspired you to get inky!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 53 ~ Sparkling Christmas Wishes Ephemera ~ Not 2 Shabby

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for a new sketch challenge over in the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group! Today I'm sharing a sweet Christmas card featuring gorgeous papers and ephemera from our wonderful sponsor, Not 2 Shabby! Not 2 Shabby has generously offered up a $25 gift certificate as a prize for the {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 53 this month! So fabulous!!

For my first card this month, I used the Pink Christmas 6x6 Paper Pad and I paired it up with the Sparkling Christmas Wishes Ephemera. 

I trimmed the pink pattern papers down to  3 x 4-1/4" and mat it with a piece of white card stock trimmed to 3-1/4 x 4-1/2". I just eye-balled the corner piece. I placed the paper over the card base and just marked the edges where I wanted the triangle to sit on the card and then I cut it with my trimmer.

The sweet sentiment is from the Purrs & Cocoa stamp set. I adore this sweet stamp set. You have got to take a look at it {click on the ^^^ link}.

Here's a look at {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 53 for the month of January. If you're interested in seeing a bit more inspiration for this sketch, check out the amazing inspiration from the design team over on the {BYSH} Cardmakers blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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