~ 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

Toni

Rachel

Doreen

Joyce

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Advent Calendar Day 21 ~ Unity Stamp Co.

Hello there crafty friend!

It's Day 21 of the 2023 Advent Calendar from Unity!! I'm revealing the Advent Calendar stamp on my YouTube channel each day and also have a short blog post. I had some fun with today's pretty stamp!

A pretty bunch of butterflies stamp is the next Advent Calendar stamp! I stamped the butterflies separately using Faded Jeans, Candied Apple, Mustard Seed, and Speckled Egg Distress Ink. Die cut the butterflies using the smallest circle die from the Scallops & Circles {nesting dies}.

Inspiration for today's card comes from the Tawny Owl Paperie Inky Inspiration Sketch 3. All the pattern papers are the measurements shared in the sketch. The only thing I changed up for this one is a smaller circle and I guess the sentiment on the side.

I paired today's Advent Calendar stamp with the pretty Kindness is Magic {paper pack}. I adore the colors in these papers. They are so fun! I thought it would be fun to use the colors for the butterflies too.

I stamped the love sentiment from the Winter Cheer and Deer stamps using the Mustard Seed Distress ink. I fussy cut it and adhered it to the circle and then popped them both up using foam tape.

You can check out my video revealing the Advent Calendar Day 21 stamp and my process in making this card here... Advent Calendar Day 21 | Unity Stamp Co.

I think there may be some Advent Calendars still available if you didn't order one yet. I'll be back tomorrow for Day 21 of the 2023 Advent Calendar from Unity! Have an ink-tastic day!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

 

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

{Please note that comment moderation is on. Your lovely comment will appear once approved.}

~ Friends of Unity April 2023 Blog Hop ~

  Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of April which means it's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Okay... can someone please tell time to slow down. This year is zipping by so fast!! Before we get to the cue and my cards, I wanted to welcome two sweet new friends to our hop. Tammy Hawes and Jane Bosi are joining us on the Friends of Unity team and I am super excited to have these talented ladies join us! I am a huge fan of their creations and I hope you'll give both of them a great big welcome! Now, onto our fun cue this month... 

Butterflies!! I love butterflies!! I think this was actually one of the cues that I suggested for 2023. Unity has a bunch of butterfly stamps. If you do a search on the website just for butterfly 160 results come up! And each of them are so beautiful! Needless to say it was kinda hard to narrow down which stamps to use.

My first card features the beautiful butterfly from the Another Name for Love stamps designed by Gina K. Designs for Unity. I stamped the butterfly with Black Amalgam ink and colored it up with Copic Markers. I fussy cut the butterfly and adhered it to a die cut circle of vellum card stock leaving the wings free so I just put glue under the body of the butterfly. 

I die cut pattern paper with a stitched scalloped die from the Scallops & Circles {nesting dies} from Unity. The vellum circle was then adhered to the pattern paper circle using a bit of liquid glue under the butterflies body again. Here's a quick list of the Copic Markers I used:

Body ~ Y11, Y35, R22

Wings ~ R00, R12, R22, R05, BG10, BG32

I was excited to play with the new sketch I shared in my Tawny Owl Paperie Inky Inspiration Facebook group. Such a fun sketch and so perfect with a bunch of pretty pattern paper layers. I used the Simple Spring {paper pack} for my paper layers adhered to a white A2 top fold card base.

I finished off the card with a few gems from my stash... the Silver Glitter Gems from Close to My Heart. I wanted to add a little sparkle but I also needed to add a bit more adhesive to the vellum card stock. It was sticking up a bit. Adding the gems gave me an opportunity to add a few more dots of liquid glue to the vellum under the gems.

Up next is a set of birthday cards I made using the gorgeous new Rustic Flutter Background stamp along with the butterfly and sentiment from the Beautiful Birthday Wishes. 

I have been working hard to add more birthday cards to my stash AND mail them out. So happy with how this set of cards turned out.

I used Crushed Olive Distress Oxide ink on Limeade Ice card stock from Papertrey Ink. While the ink was still wet I added some fine clear embossing powder and melted it with my Wagner Precision Heat Tool. I used the following Copic Markers for the green butterfly ~ YG11, YG03, G24 {in person this butterfly coordinates much better than it looks in the pictures}.

Each of the backgrounds were die cut using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}. And then they were adhered to a white A2 top fold card base measuring 4-1/4 x 11" and scored at 5-1/2". I stamped the background for this one twice. Thank goodness that card stock has two sides!! But still my embossed background had a couple open spaces in the bottom. I know the stamp is fine though because it did fine with the other inks so I'm thinking my ink pad needs to be re-inked...?

Anywho, for this one I used Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide ink over Lavender Moon card stock from Papertrey Ink. I really thought I had grabbed a pink card stock. LOL! Thankfully the two colors work really well together. I used the following Copic Markers for my pink butterfly ~ RV000, RV10, RV13. 

I die cut some vellum card stock with the smallest rectangle die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}. I trimmed the longer edge to 2-3/4". I die cut circles from each of the card stocks with a die from the Scallops & Circles {nesting dies}.

I paired up Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide ink with Aqua Mist card stock from Papertrey Ink for this card. I used the following Copic Markers for the aqua butterfly ~ BG000, BG10, BG32.

I gently folded up the wings of each of the butterflies and adhered their bodies to the die cut circles. I then adhered the circles to the vellum 'squares' and added glue behind the circles to adhere the vellum to the cards. 

For my last card I paired up Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink with Winter Wisteria card stock from Papertrey Ink. I used the following Copic Markers for the purple butterfly ~ V000, V12, V17.

The sentiments were stamped with Sugar Cube Pigment ink from Taylored Expressions on the different colors of card stock and then I heat embossed Alabaster White embossing powder from Brutus Monroe. I die cut each of the sentiments with a Banner Nesting Die {from the March 2023 Whit Kit}. I finished up this set of birthday cards by popping up the sentiments with foam tape.

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...

... Tracy Grauer!! Congratulations Tracy!!

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 all the pretty creations shared by our friends!! 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 ---> Kim

Tammy

Amber

Jane 

Colleen

Gaylynn

Bobbie Sue

Rachel

Eileen

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

{Please note that comment moderation is ON. Your comment will appear shortly.}

Ink Smooshed Butterfly Cards ~ Wings & Petals Ledger ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

Today's the last day to order from the Brown Thursday Sale over at Unity Stamp Co. I'm sharing the two cards I made using the beautiful Wings & Petals Ledger background stamp from the Brown Thursday release!!

Both of these cards were so quick and easy... I inked smooshed a card front with Squeezed Lemonade, Evergreen Bough and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks. 

Once I was happy with the ink smooshed background and dried it completely with my heat tool, I stamped the beautiful Wings & Petals Ledger over top with Ranger Jet Black Archival ink.

I trimmed the background to 3-7/16 x 4-11/16" and adhered it to a piece of white card stock die cut with the largest die from the Pleated Lace Rectangles dies from Gina Marie Designs.

For this background I just ink smooshed Squeezed Lemonade and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide inks. I really love these two colors together!

I trimmed this background to the same size I mentioned earlier. Once I had the backgrounds adhered to the die cut panels, I adhered them both to True Black card fronts. I love how the black background brings the stamped images into focus!

The 'happy birthday' sentiment is die cut using the beautiful Chic Script Salutations {die set}... which is currently on sale during Black Friday but it ends today!! I die cut both words four times and adhered two pairs together to give the sentiment a bit of dimension. I do think I'll die cut it one more time in black for my second card and adhere it on top of the white. It seems to get a bit lost in the background but I think if it's black it'll pop more. Head over to Unity and check out the amazing sale before it ends!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

{Please note that comment moderation is on. Your lovely comment will appear shortly.}

Scrapping for Less ~ Glitter Lace Butterflies and More!!

Hello there crafty friend!

Today, I'm sharing a couple of cards using products from the A La Carte section of the Scrapping for Less shop! Anyone else obsessed with butterflies?! I love them! Today I'm sharing the Lace Butterfly die by Gina Marie Designs that is available in the shop here ---> Lace Butterfly die.

I die cut the beautiful butterfly several times from the DCWV Single-Sided Glitter card stock in all the colors of the rainbow!! I decided for this card to use the turquoise glitter butterfly... it looks so lovely over the Insulation Pink card stock.

I applied some beautiful Glitter Glaze from Brutus Monroe over the Coffee Dot stencil by Echo Park. I think the Nuvo Frostbite Glacier Paste would give a similar look and it's in the shop here ---> Nuvo Frostbite Glacier Paste. So much glittery goodness!! I wish the pictures did it justice!

I trimmed the Insulation Pink card stock to 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" and adhered a Scalloped Stitched Rectangle frame by Gina Marie Designs that I die cut from white card stock. If you don't have a scalloped stitched rectangle frame in your stash, there's one in the shop here that is just slightly smaller than the one I used ---> Sunny Studio Frilly Frames Hexagon Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die... and it has that cool hexagon too! I stamped the 'Live Your Best Life!' sentiment from the Your Best Life Collection in the April 2020 City Streets and Country Roads card kit with Memento Tuxedo black ink and die cut it with a banner die. I trimmed it down and popped it up on the card.

To finish off the card, I added three cute flower sequins to the body of the glitter butterfly... it is so enchanting in person!!! Truly beautiful combined with the glitter butterfly!

Now, remember I die cut a whole bunch of these glitter butterflies... let me tell you there was glitter everywhere!!! But a handy tip for cleaning that up is using Swiffer Sweeper dry cloths. I was able to clean up everything with just one cloth... they are super sturdy and hold a lot of glitter!

For my second card, I wanted to make a slimline card that looked like the butterflies were flying in the clouds. I made a little video showing the ink blending and assembly of the card. You can check that out here...

I hope that you've enjoyed the cards I shared today! Be sure to check out all the fabulous items available in the A La Carte section of the shop! You can restock those consumables you've used up in the kit or find some other must have goodies to help enhance your card kit creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

A Fresh Start ~ Unity Stamp Company

Hey there! I'm back for Day 4 of the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and I just HAD to use this lovely stamp from Unity Stamp Company! This is a Uniquely Unity kit called Flutters to Go and I just adore it! It's one of my absolute favorites! I mean... coffee and butterflies... how could you go wrong!?

I stamped the image on watercolor paper using Versamark watermark ink and then heat embossed it with ultra fine white embossing powder. I used ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers to watercolor the image. I then die cut it out using a new die set to me from Gina Marie Designs called Pleated Lace Rectangle die set... isn't it awesome!? I love it!

I adhered pretty papers from Echo Park called Hello Easter to a piece of white card stock and then ran them through the big shot with a stitched rectangle die. I then adhered that piece to a white card base. I popped up the cup image using foam tape and then set it aside. I really wanted the sentiment to pop so I grabbed a scrap of True Black card stock from Papertrey Ink and heat embossed it with the same white embossing powder. I adhered the sentiment to the card and called this one done!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI156 - Makes Me Smile

Happy Sunday! I'm excited to share my Can You Case It Design Team

 card for our latest color challenge! We have an ombre challenge using any 4 colors you wish... how fun is that?!

Here's my card for the challenge. I used four of the new Distress Oxide inks to do a watercolor wash ombre style! So fun! The inks blended beautifully even with water. I love these inks!

Once my watercolor panel dried, I stamped the lace stamp from Unity's January 2015 Kit of the Month called Magic of Beginnings using VersaMark ink and heat embossed fine white embossing powder. I then stamped the sentiment that says "Everything about you makes me smile" also using VersaMark ink and white embossing powder. It's a great sentiment from Unity's Everything {Flight of Faith} kit... I'm bummed it doesn't show up as well in my picture.

I then spritzed my palm with some water and did some water splatter by clapping my hands over the panel. I let those droplets sit for a bit and then put a paper towel down to soak up any excess water. I then stamped the background butterfly stamp from Unity's {... With Her Own Wings} kit using VersaMark ink and heat embossed clear embossing powder on the top portion of the card. I really love all those little butterflies! I used an old distress tool to distress the edges of the panel and then adhered it to the white card base. 

I stamped the butterfly from Unity's Keep Going Anyway kit on a piece of scrap white card stock using the Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink and then I heat embossed clear embossing powder. I blended a bit of Worn Lipstick and Broken China inks over top of the butterfly. I added a few touches of white gel pen on the butterfly. I then used my bone folder to bend the wings of the butterfly a bit and adhered it to the card along the body of the butterfly so the wings would give it some dimension.

 I can't wait to see what you create using an ombre style - 4 color combo as your inspiration!! Be sure to join our Facebook group so that you can enter the challenge... Can You Case It? Challenge Group and go check out all the creations by the CYCI design team on our Facebook page!

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Magic of Beginnings KOM, Everything {Flight of Faith}, {... With Her Own Wings}, 

Keep Going Anyway (Unity)

Card Stock: White (PTI), Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor (SSS) 

Inks: VersaMark, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Fired Brick (SSS)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS)

Tools: Heat Tool (SU!)

Miscellaneous: Fine White Embossing Powder, Hero Arts Ultra Fine Clear embossing powder (SSS)

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Butterflies and Roses

When I originally wrote this blog post I was super excited about posting my card. I absolutely love this sketch! But now I'm sad. Unfortunately, the owner/coordinator has decided to discontinue the challenges at Can You Case It?. I truly enjoyed my time with the CYCI Design Team. I'm still very honored to have been asked by my crafty friend, Eva, to join her team. I wish all the members of the team all the best in their crafty adventures.

In order to keep up with my busy busy life as a SAHM to four kids that I also homeschool, my plan to keep on track with the design team was to stay ahead on the challenges. So, I do have a card to share that would have been the next challenge. I absolutely love this sketch! I had a blast designing and creating this card!

I don't know if you've noticed but I tend to go with clean and simple designs. Now, sometimes I'll step out of that and really layer up a card. But typically, it's the pretty simple designs that I create. This grouping sketch is a mix of the two and it just made me happy!!

I stamped the butterfly image from Unity's Butterfly Endearment kit in Scarlet Jewel ink on Very Vanilla card stock and then fussy cut it out. I decided that the butterfly needed a little something so I grabbed my new Gold PanPastels from Fun Stampers Journey and applied some lovely gold shimmer to the butterfly. Sadly, it's not very visible in the picture. I stamped the large butterfly again in Crumb Cake ink on Very Vanilla card stock. I stamped over that image with the splatter stamp from the Touches of Texture set using Baked Brown Sugar ink (retired SU!). I die cut that image using the scallop circle die from the Circle Card Thinlits set (retired SU!) and adhered it to a circle piece I cut out of the Baked Brown Sugar card stock. I rounded out the wings on the larger scarlet butterfly using a bone folder. I adhered the scarlet butterfly to the crumb cake butterfly just adding glue to the thorax of the butterfly and then I lifted the wings.

I decided to stick with the butterfly theme so I stamped the three butterfly image directly on the Crumb Cake card base in Baked Brown Sugar ink. You're probably wondering where the three butterflies are... two are hidden behind the larger butterfly image. Poor butterflies!
I stamped the "hello darling" sentiment in Baked Brown Sugar ink on Crumb Cake card stock. I used the Hexagon punch (retired SU!) to cut the edge of the banner piece and then adhered it to a piece of Scarlet Jewel card stock, also cutting the edge with the hexagon punch. Now it was time to assemble all the pieces. I put a strip of gold glitter washi tape (SU! from Sale-A-Bration) just under the butterfly trio. I popped up the circle image and the sentiment using stampin' dimensionals. The white rose was also popped up with stampin' dimensionals, however, I had to double them so it didn't squish the banner or circle. I adhered the two pink roses with glue dots and called it done!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal