~ Friends of Unity August Blog Hop ~ Coffee & Tea

Hello!! It's time for the August Blog Hop with the Friends of Unity and our theme this month is...

Coffee & Tea!

Ahhh... I don't know about you but I just love a good cuppa, be it coffee or tea! I tend to drink more coffee though so for this hop I decided my projects are all about the coffee!! I'm also a huge fan of blues with browns ~ my absolute favorite color combo! So let's get to the projects...

It's been a while since I've worked on a mixed media project. I wasn't sure where this was going to go... but I like how it turned out. I started with a panel of watercolor paper. Using mod podge I added bit of papers... the paper with text is from a pack of Stampin' Up! papers called Typeset Specialty DSP and the other papers are from Heartfelt Creations Coffee Talk Collection. Once I had my papers adhered and the mod podge was dry I smudged some acrylic paints just using my finger to apply it. I also used a bit of bubble wrap to add texture. Some of the bubble wrap spots smudged terribly so I covered them with mod podge and laid antique gold tissue paper over top wrinkling it here and there. I let the mod podge dry and then tore off the excess paper. I applied more mod podge around the edges of the gold tissue paper and also adhered a doily... you can see some of the texture of the doily in the girls face.

 So once all the mod podge was dry, I did some blending with Vintage Photo and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks. I stamped the coffee girl image from Unity's Itty Bitty set called Best Friends. I just love this girl... she's all full of sass! I also stamped a coffee ring and splatter using my new Ground Espresso Distress Ink! So excited to have this new color in my stash! The coffee ring stamp is from the January 2017 SMAK kit called Progress and Change. The splatter is from the Blow Your Mind kit.

I trimmed the panel down to 4-1/2 x 6 inches and then wrapped some gold thread around it several times after threading the heart charm onto the thread. I added a touch of Ranger Multi Medium Matte around the edges of the heart charm to adhere it in place on the panel. To secure the thread I just used some packing tape on the back of the paper.

My final touch for this piece was the die cut COFFEE. I die cut it twice from white card stock and then once with Lost Lagoon card stock. I adhered all of the layers and then sponged some Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the letters. I then adhered it to the panel. Well, it was still too clean... lol... so I stamped a splatter stamp from the Never kit with the Vintage Photo distress ink and that did it. I thought I was done at this point but when I saw it the next morning I decided to not make it into a card, but to mat it and potentially frame it. So, I mat it on Lost Lagoon and then Early Espresso card stocks. I really like how this turned out. I hope you do too!

Now for my card, I started with a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I blended some Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks over the little flower stencil (not sure that it's a flower but we'll go with that) in the Woodblock Prints from Papertrey Ink. I then blended some Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide ink over the Knitted Sweater Stencil from Echo Park. I then blended some Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink over the Mini Art Is stencil from The Crafters Worshop and the coffee and splatter stencil from Tim Holtz' Mini Stencil Set #3. I stamped the big ornate background stamp from the Never kit using VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed fine white embossing powder. I did goof and forget to use my embossing buddy so the powder kind of splattered but we're going with it. I did also heat up the embossed area again and added some more embossing powder... it kind of thickened it up. I die cut the piece using a Wonky Scalloped Frame die from Avery Elle. I did this so I could mat the piece and then pop it up on the card. I mat it using Lost Lagoon card stock from Stampin' Up. I then mat the scalloped frame on Early Espresso card stock and adhered the entire piece to a white card base. I stamped the girl from Dream of Being on a piece of white card stock and colored her in using Copic markers {E0000, E000, E43, E47, E57, C1, R20, RV21, BG10, BG13, BG32}. I fussy cut her out and adhered her to the card. I added a few enamel dots here and there. I stamped my favorite 'happy birthday' stamp from the Abundant Blessings sentiment kit onto Early Espresso card stock using Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment and adhered it to the card. And there you have it! My projects for this month's hop.

Here's a look at both projects... it looks like the girls are looking at each other. How funny... I just noticed that while writing up my blog post. LOL

Before we move on to the hopping, I have some business to take care of. Last month I had a giveaway and I need to share who the lucky winner of the brand new Jolly Ol' Santa stamp set is...  drum roll please... the lucky winner is...

Marjorie Dumontier!!!! Woohoo! 

Marjorie please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com with your mailing address to claim your prize. Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

Thank you to all those that hopped with us last month and, of course, this month!

 One or two of my friends are having giveaways on their blogs for this month's hop so be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs so you'll be entered into this giveaway. We sure appreciate and love all of your fun comments! 

Now let's get hopping!

Eileen

Robyn

Jeanie

Crystal <--- you are here

up next ---> Joyce

Dawn

Wynne

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

It's a Blogiversary Celebration ~ Day 2 of Technique Tutorials!!

Hello, again! It's our second day of technique tutorials and I was thinking we'd give a new technique a try.... Stencil Painting with Color Burst!! I recently saw a video of Ken Oliver demonstrating this technique and I thought it would be so much fun to give it a try. Let's get started.

First, you'll need a stencil and watercolor paper. I'm using Canson XL watercolor paper... it's 140 lb weight paper. I cut mine down to fit the stencils that are 6x6 inches. Then place your stencils over the paper as shown above.

Now, you'll need your color burst. I grabbed a bunch of different colors... for the leaf stencil, I chose Orange, Sepia, Yellow Ochre, and Alizarin Crimson. Sprinkle the pigment powder in the open spots of your stencil.

For this big floral stencil, I chose Merlot, Fuchsia, Lemon Yellow, and Violet. I think I also sprinkled a bit of Orange in the center of the flower.

For this fun wintery swirls stencil, I chose just one color... Violet. I had wanted to go with a monochromatic theme for this one, but you'll see later that I changed my mind and a oopsie changed the whole project... ohhh, suspense! Ha!

Now, for the fun... it's time to mist the papers. Now it's important that you just mist the papers. The pigment will react and 'burst'... the intensity of the 'burst' depends on the intensity of the water being sprayed. I think my leaf stencil got spritzed rather than misted because some of the color leaked under the stencil. You can see in the picture above where the Sepia color went under the leaves.

Now, carefully lift the stencils up and see what you've created! How fun is this?! I love the intensity of the colors on the flower and in parts of the swirls! 

Here's a closer look at the violet swirls. The stencil for this one is actually by Echo Park and it's called Flurries.

Here's a closer look at the fall leaves. The stencil for this one is actually by The Crafters Workshop and it's called Mini Climbing Vine.

And, lastly, a close up of the beautiful flower. I love the mix of colors on this one! The stencil for this one is actually by The Crafters Workshop and it's called Mini Zen Flower.

I mentioned above that my plans for the wintery swirl didn't go as I had originally planned. A mishap with a die cutting wonky will change plans, for sure! I improvised and found a tag die that would salvage a big enough piece to work with. I added a bit of blue to the watercolor piece and smoothed out some of the lines with my water pen. I put that aside and stamped this adorable snowman from Unity Stamp Company's kit called Rolly Polly Winter Joy in VersaMark and heat embossed him in white on some vellum card stock. 

I colored him in with my Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut him out and set him aside. I then stamped the sentiment using VersaMark and heat embossed it in white on a piece of vellum card stock that I cut out with the same tag die. I ran the vellum tag through my Xyron sticker maker and adhered it to the stencil painted tag so I wouldn't have an issue with adhesive showing through the vellum. I then adhered the snowman to the tag. I punched a hole in the top center and added a bit of sweater trim ribbon from my stash. Not my original plan, but I like how it turned out!

This stencil painted panel really made me start thinking of Thanksgiving and being grateful for so much. But why wait for Thanksgiving... start each day with a grateful heart... I love that! The sentiment is a sticker from the Tim Holtz Small Talk pack that I stuck onto a piece of kraft card stock and fussy cut out. I really wanted to showcase the stencil painting so I cut it out using a large die. I put it on a kraft mat die cut from the same set of dies - Blueprints 14, which by chance are also part of my giveaway pack mentioned on my Happy Blogiversary post. Aren't they awesome!?! I adhered the whole panel onto a 5x5 inch kraft card base. I added a few drops of gloss white Nuvo crystal drops and popped up the sentiment. I love how this one turned out!

Now, out of all three stencil painted pieces... this one is my most favorite! I did go over the flower a bit to wash some of the paint and cover the white space. I also painted some blue around the outside of the flower. I really love it! I definitely struggled with cutting this one down but I pulled out my trusty Blueprints 20 dies from My Favorite Things and cut out my stencil painted panel. I adhered that panel to a mat of Royal Velvet card stock and then I adhered that piece to a Hibiscus Burst scalloped rectangle from the same die set. The entire panel was then adhered to a white card base. The sentiment was another sticker from the Tim Holtz Small Talk pack that I stuck on a strip of Royal Velvet and fussy cut a banner end. Isn't it pretty?!

Here's a picture of all three together. I think if I did the snowman tag again I would emboss him in black. Sadly, he gets lost in the background. But overall, I love how they all turned out! I hope you do, too!! I had so much fun doing this stencil painting with color burst technique that I am definitely going to do it again!

That's the second technique tutorial for my Blogiversary celebration! 

Please leave a comment letting me know what you thought and if you haven't already, click on the Follow button on the right hand side so you won't miss the next technique tutorial!!

 Did you comment on my Happy Blogiversary post for your chance to win a prize?!  Check out the details ---> here!

And if you missed the first technique tutorial, you can find that ---> here.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal