Saturday, July 5, 2025

~ Friends of Unity July 2025 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!
It's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! This month's cue is a lot of fun! 


I love getting inky with a fun mixed media card. I did struggle a bit getting going with these but once I did some ink smooshing I was on a roll! I can't be the only one who finds ink smooshing so relaxing. I love it! It makes a bad day so much better.


I ink smooshed my background for this one using Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink leaving a good amount of white space. I added a little bit of Squeezed Lemonade but it's really not noticeable. I partially inked up A Faithful Letter background stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.


The pretty little butterflies are from the retired {...With Her Own Wings}. I just inked up a handful of the butterflies for the corners. I die cut the background using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies} and then I adhered it to a white A2 top fold card base. I finished off the background with some black acrylic paint spatters.   


The butterflies are from the Paper Wings stamps. I colored them with Copic markers and fussy cut them on the line except around the antennae where I left a white border. The butterflies are adhered to the card on their bodies and antennae. I folded up the wings for some dimension. The sentiment is from the Extended Celebration stamps. I trimmed it and adhered it to the card. I finished off the card with a few pearl embellishments I think I got from a Unity order.


My second card also has some ink smooshing. Ink smooshing is my go-to mixed media technique. This time I used Twisted Citron and Wild Honey Distress Inks. I wanted to use colors that I normally wouldn't put together. For some reason these colors made me want to work with a chicken stamp so I grabbed the fun new Still Peckin' Fabulous


 And then I stamped the fun Chicken Wire background stamp.... which is retired. Bummer! Maybe you have it in your stash. I stamped it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I also stamped the squiggly lines from the stamps called Never with the same ink. I heat embossed the circle trio with clear embossing ink and Penny embossing powder from Brutus Monroe. I love the texture and shine it gives the card.


I stamped the fun chicken and colored it up with Copic markers. I heat embossed the sentiment with a white pigment ink and white embossing powder on a dark brown card stock. I fussy cut the chicken and adhered it to the sentiment and then I added foam tape to the back of both and popped them up on the card. Voila!

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used:
Chicken / Eyes: C0, C2, C3
Beak: Y11, YR20, YR15, YR27
Waddle: R20, R14, R27
Hat: YG11, YG03, YG63, B00, B02
Present: YR20, YR15, YR68, B00, B02
Balloon: Y11, YR20, YR15, YR68

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...



... Wilma DeG!! Congratulations, Wilma!!
Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 
Please claim the prize before July 30th, 2025. 

Well, that's it for me this time! It's a short hop this month with just six of us sharing our makes. Be sure to hop along and enjoy some more inspiration! 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 ---> Jenni






Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!
We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,
Crystal



4 comments:

  1. ❤️Love the ink smooshing backgrounds for 2 very different cards. I think I need to go ink smoosh!😁

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  2. Ink smooshing is one of my favorite techniques. Your results are just beautiful. Mixed media is a fun style to add various textures and patterns being thrown together in fun and playful ways. I have often thought that the medias form their own art message, and we the artists just apply it where it seems to tell us to put it.

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  3. Great cards!! Love the ink smooshing technique. Wee done!

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  4. Such cute cards! I love the chicken card best! Wow… I notice Unity has retired so many good stamps! I also have a retired stamp on one of my cards!

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