~ Friends of Unity December 2020 Blog Hop ~

 Hello there crafty friend!

Welcome to the December 2020 Friends of Unity Blog Hop! Our cue this month is...

... My Favorite Things!!

So fun! I have A LOT of favorite things... owls, coffee, books, snowmen, wreaths, holly & berries, old trucks, daisies, sunflowers... really I could go on with about a dozen more of my favorite things but the TOP of that list is Unity Stamp Co.!! I'm a HUGE fan of the fabulous company which is why I started this awesome monthly blog hop, along with my awesome friend Amber! Today we are celebrating 3 fantastic years of us hopping with Unity inspiration!! Woohoo!! I can't believe that it's been 3 years already... I for one, can't wait to see what the next 3 years brings!

I hope that you'll hop along with us and enjoy the fabulous inspiration we're bringing this month. Speaking of... let's get to it! 

My first card features the fabulous new Uniquely Unity stamp called Take a Break. If you're new to Unity, Uniquely Unity is a fabulous membership that Unity offers monthly. Each month you receive a wonderful stamp set in all different styles. It's one of my favorite memberships!

Anywho... if you've followed my blog you may recognize this card design. I used it with a Santa stamp a couple of years ago and I really love the design so I thought I'd recreate it with this new beautiful stamp that just happens to feature one of my favorite things... Coffee!! I also paired it up with one of my new favorite Christmas papers, the Farmhouse Christmas papers! The colors in these papers are just gorgeous! I also used a piece of the Cozy Christmas papers... the sweater piece! Love it! 

I die cut the image with the Papertrey Ink Shape Shifters: Oval 2 die and colored it with the following Copic markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11

Hair ~ E35, E74, E79

Hat/Sleeve ~ E41, YG67, YG93, R00, R21

Blanket ~ E0000, E41, E81, R14, R27

Mug ~ BG70, BG72, N0, N1, N4

The sentiment is actually from a piece of patterned paper from Tim Holtz Christmas Paper Stash paper pad. I cut the words right out of the paper and adhered it to white card stock and then popped it up on the card along with the popped up focal image. I adore this card!!

My second card features the beautiful Start Something New stamp set... and books!! Another one of my favorite things!!! Notice anything about the design of this card?! It's another take, like a mirror image, of the first card. I used one of my favorite techniques... layering stencils to create my background. First I used the Scalloped Circle Masquerade Stencil from Heffy Doodle and blended a bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink over it. I then used the Twinkle Stencil from Whimsy Stamps and blended a bit of Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide ink. I stamped the sentiment and the girl with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I trimmed the card front down to 4 x 5" and adhered it to a Tempting Turquoise card front measuring 4-1/4 x 5-1/2". I then adhered the card front to a white A2 top fold card base.

I then colored the girl using the following Copic markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11

Hair ~ E21, E25, E27

Clothes ~ YR000, YR12, YR15, YR21, B95, B97, B99

Books ~ W3, G14, E57, E43, YR000, YR21, E74, B95, B97, G94, C00, C1

I fussy cut the image and popped her up on the card. To finish off this card I added a few dots with Nuvo Blue Lagoon Glitter drops. Love it! I really love that the designs are similar but so different!

I started a third card but didn't have enough time to finish it up. Boo!

I'm hoping to share it in a few days though. 

In celebration of our 3 years of hopping I am having a giveaway!! I will use random.org to chose a winner from the comments so be sure to comment on each of the blogs while you're hopping! I believe a few of my friends are also having giveaways this month!

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Alaine

Kim

Joyce

Bobbie Sue

Amber

Dawn F.

Robyn

Thanks so much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Growing In Unity ~ Day 1 of My 5 Favorite Things

Hello there crafty friends!

I'm super excited about this week... it's my turn to be the Growing in Unity gal and I am over the moon excited!! I am a Unity addict through and through and being able to share my love of Unity for a whole 5 days... it's just an amazing opportunity!! 

I have been so excited, in fact, that I had so many ideas and then all of sudden my mind went blank on what to share. And then I got to thinking... I could share some of my favorite things about Unity, as well as my favorite products, techniques, or crafty tips... channeling the wonderful Oprah Winfrey, you may say! Lol... so I'm going to share My 5 Favorite Things!

One of my first favorite things about Unity is the gorgeous floral stamps!! There are hundreds of absolutely stunning stamps with all kinds of flowers... literally, if you do a search on the website, over 300 stamp kits come up! Something for everyone!!

One of my absolute favorite flowers is the lovely daisy and this beautiful daisy from Graciellie Design's Be Unstoppable kit is perfect! I thought it would be fun to color it blue but let the color fade out at the tips of the petals... love how it turned out. Sadly, I didn't write down the copic markers I used for this but if I had to take a guess I would say it was B0000 and B24, along with YG11 and YG23 for the leaves. For the center of the flower, I think I used Y11, Y35, and E55.

I die cut the daisy using a Pleated Lace Circle die and popped it up on my already prepared card base of Pacific Point card stock with a beautiful layer of brown patterned paper by Bo Bunny called Penelope Collection that I had adhered a wide Pacific Point ribbon from my stash (can't remember the name of it). To finish off the card I die cut the sentiment with a banner die and mat it on a die cut piece of Pacific Point card stock. I think it turned out pretty.

Now, another favorite thing of mine is to use an easy sketch when making my cards. You'll notice that my two cards today aren't identical, but they use a similar sketch or design with the patterned paper on the card base and the main image die cut with some ribbon accent. 

A great design for a quick and beautiful card!

For this card, I colored the gorgeous tulip from the same Be Unstoppable kit with BG000, BG11, BG23, YG11, G24, and G28. I then die cut it with the Pleated Lace Rectangle die and adhered it directly to a stitched rectangle die cut piece of Stampin' Up Wood Textures patterned paper. I wrapped some White Sheer Organza ribbon around the panel tying just a knot... like a faux bow... and adhered the panel to an Aqua Mist card base. And this time I just popped up the sentiment on the main panel. 

Two lovely cards using one basic design that look very different from each other. 

Love how they turned out! I hope you like them too!

Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win one of two fabulous grab bags of 25 stamps from Unity Stamp Company!!! Love me some deeply etched red rubber stamps! Oh yeah!!

Come back tomorrow for Day 2 of My 5 Favorite Things!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs

~ Crystal