Hello there crafty friend!
It's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! This month's cue is another fun one!
Our cue this time is Creating a Background! So fun! And even more fun because we're hosting another fun challenge in the Unity {Show & Tell} Facebook group! Be sure to hop along with us to see inspiration for the challenge. I sure hope that you can play along with us. Three lucky winners will each win a $25 gift card to Unity! Yippee!!
For my first card I created a fun wintry background for the new deer stamps from the November 2025 KOM called Tinsel, Toasts & Truth (the website should be updated with the new KOM on Monday). It's also available separately in the Where Treetops Listen stamps.
I started the background by ink smooshing Salty Ocean Distress Ink. And then I swiped the ink pad down the card front leaving fun streaks of ink. I dried the panel with a heat tool. And then I heat embossed the Grit & Glint Snowflake background stamp using white pigment ink and white embossing powder. Such a fun background! It was hard to cover any of it up.
I had used this technique back in August with the fun Ghastly Gourds stamp. It's a really quick way to add color to your background. You can check out the details for this card here... Have a Spooky Day card. You can see more of the ink smooshed background in this one.
I cut a simple hill from white card stock to ground the scene. I fussy cut the trees and deer leaving a white border around them and adhered them to the card. And then trimmed the sentiment and adhered it too. Love how this turned out!
My second card also has some ink smooshing. Ink smooshing is my go-to technique for backgrounds! This time I used Candied Apple and Lumberjack Plaid Distress Inks. Once I was happy with the ink smooshing, I blended some more Candied Apple over the panel to cover all the white spots. I did a bit of water spatters by spritzing some water in the palm of my hand and clapping over the panel. I dried the panel completely with a heat tool.
And then I did some stamping! I stamped the ink smooshed background with the Linen background stamp using Candied Apple Distress Ink. Can you see the texture in the background? I love it! I then stamped the background with the Buffalo Plaid background stamp using Black Soot Distress ink. I love the technique of using two background stamps together. I've shared some fun cards with this technique in the past. You can check them out here... Fun with Background Stamps {there's also a video}. I die cut the background using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies} and adhered it to a black A2 card base.
I stamped the cute Santa from The List Guy stamps and colored him up with Copic markers. I fussy cut him on the line {except around the fur trim and pom pom where I left a white border}. I adhered Santa to the card covering up the edge of the scallops on the bottom right corner. To finish off this card, I heat embossed the sentiment, trimmed it and adhered it to the card.
Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used for Santa:
Skin: E000, E00, E11
Beard / Mustache / Fur Trim / Pom Pom: C0, C2
Hat / Coat: R20, R14, R37
Belt: N0, N2, N4
Buckle: Y11, Y15, Y28
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...
... Meghan Kennihan!! Congratulations, Meghan!!
Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize.
Please claim the prize before November 26th, 2025.
Well, that's it for me this time! Be sure to hop along and enjoy some more inspiration from our friends! I can't wait to see how they all 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 ---> Doreen
Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!
We appreciate you so much!!
Inky Hugs,
Crystal
