Pattern Paper Scene ~ Spring Mouse ~ Unity Stamp Co.

Hello there crafty friend!

Today I'm sharing a sweet little card using an adorable new release from Unity Stamp Co. called Spring Mouse and I've created a fun little pattern paper scene with one of my favorite paper packs from Unity... Pretty Polka's!! I love polka dots! And the colors in this paper pack are so pretty!! I love them!

The sweet little Spring Mouse and sentiment are stamped with Gina K. Amalgam black ink and heat set with my heat tool. I trimmed the sentiment, mat it on Kraft card stock, and set it aside. I then watercolored the sweet little mouse with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers. Once it was dry I trimmed it to 2-5/8" square to fit nicely with the Kraft stitched square mat.

I trimmed a piece of the blue polka dot paper for my sky that measured 4 x 5-1/4" but as you can see in the video below I had to trim it slightly to straighten the focal piece. I had two strips of the green polka dot paper that were roughly 2-1/4" and 2" in height and 4" wide. I die cut the tops of both of these with a Grassy Border die from Lawn Fawn. I adhered all the layers together and then wrapped the burlap string around and tied a little double bow. I adhered the pattern paper scene to a Kraft A2 top fold card base and then popped up the sentiment with foam squares. Such a sweet little scene!

As mentioned above, I have a little video sharing how I created a Pattern Paper Scene for this sweet little mouse. You can check that out here... Pattern Paper Scene | Spring Mouse.

I just adore this sweet new stamp... and such a great sentiment too!

Stop by Unity Stamp Co. and check out all the wonderful new releases... I'm hoping to be back in a couple days with a fun set of cards that I have planned to work on today with another of the new releases!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge #6 ~ A Time of Peace ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

I'm back with another Christmas card using the {BYSHC} Sketch #6... sharing my last card for the January sketch challenge. There's only a couple more days to play along! My card today features the adorable A Time of Peace stamp set from Unity. I paired this stamp set up with the Echo Park's Wise Men Still Seek Him papers and the light blue paper is from the Carta Bella Santa's Workshop papers.

I had set aside a stack of Christmas stamps that I wanted to make cards with way back in November but I never got around to creating cards with those stamps so since I've made the goal of creating a Christmas card a week... I've been able to pull those stamps from that stack and this adorable A Time of Peace stamp was in that stack. So glad I was able to finally ink it up! 

I stamped the sweet angel and sheep with VersaFine Onyx black ink on Canson XL 140lb watercolor paper and used ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers to color it in. I die cut the watercolored image with a stitched rectangle die and decided not to mat it. I die cut a few stitched fishtail flags from the two paper packs with the Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX dies from My Favorite Things. I like how the mix of papers look on the side. I added some scrap papers behind the focal image so it was adhered level on the card. I masked the sentiment and stamped it so I could die cut it with a circle die and popped it up on the card with foam tape. 

As I mentioned above there's only a couple more days to play along with the {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge #6 so be sure to join us in the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group and check out the challenge!! We'd love to have you join us in the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Unity Stamp Co. ~ Stick Together ~ Mojo Monday Sketch!

Hello there crafty friend!

I'm popping in here real quick to share a card that I created for the recent release over at Unity Stamp Co. using this gorgeous Stick Together stamp!

Such a beautiful stamp to watercolor! I've really been enjoying my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers! It's nice to play with a different medium sometimes.

I combined this beautiful stamp with some old Stampin' Up! papers called Festive Birthday from my stash... I'm sure that they are retired, it's been so long! But they really worked well with the colors that I used to watercolor this image.

I used this beautiful Mojo Monday sketch #538 for my card design... I did move the orange patterned paper over a bit more to work with my design, but otherwise I kept to the sketch. I am loving using black for my neutral color lately. I hope you're liking it, as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ May 2020 Whit Kit Have Courage ~ Enjoy the Little Things!

Hello there crafty friend!!

Today, I'm excited to share a couple of beautiful cards that I created using the stunning May 2020 Whit Kit called Have Courage!! Such a gorgeous kit!! It has fabulous watercolor papers, and glitter embossing powder AND these gorgeous flowers!!

Both of my cards are very similar in design, I just used different colors for the papers and for watercoloring the flowers.

How fun is this card design overlapping the patterned papers?! I just may use this design again and again... I love the contrast it gives to the card!

And those stunning flowers!! They were amazing to watercolor! 

And my second card using purples... I even added a touch of pink to the tips of the flowers! Love how they turned out!

A little bummed that I messed up the placement for my sentiment, but sometimes you just gotta go with it... LOL!

Here's a closeup of these stunning flowers!

Now, if you are interested I made a video for these cards showing my process in making these cards but I'll warn you... there's a bit of a glare from my OTT light overhead. I almost deleted the video completely when I realized I goofed, but I thought someone might like to see it anyways so I'm still sharing it...

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity June Blog Hop ~

Hey there crafty peeps!
It's one of my favorite times of the month... it's time for the June Friends of Unity Blog Hop!!
Our theme or cue this month is Wedding...

My first thought when I was looking at our cue was... Flowers! Flowers always work for a wedding card... so I pulled out my Delectable {Border Backgrounds} kit!! These flowers are gorgeous!!

I stamped the flowers on Canson XL watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I watercolored the flowers with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens... to achieve the pretty colors on the flowers I used Yellow {No. 050} and Light Pink {No. 026} watercolor pens. First I lightly colored the flowers with the yellow watercolor by scribbling the color on my acrylic block. I then used my watercolor brush pen to pick up the color and paint on my panel. Without waiting for the yellow watercolor to dry I did the same with the pink watercolor... scribbling the color on my acrylic block and using my watercolor brush pen to pick up the color and I painted in swirls around the petals of the flowers allowing the watercolors to blend.

I love that the yellow and pink blended to make a beautiful peach color but you can still see the yellow and pink in the petals.... so pretty! I also used two greens for the leaves... Yellow Green {No. 053} and Light Green {No. 041}. I started by watercoloring with the yellow green using the same technique picking up the color from my acrylic block. I always use this technique when I want more control over the amount of color on my project. I then watercolored with the light green... blending with the yellow green but also allowing the light green to dry over top of the yellow green in some spots. I love the defined lines that it gives the leaves when you allow the layers of watercolor to dry in between colors.

Here's a close up of my favorite flowers on the card. I'm so pleased with how it turned out... so pretty!

My second card came together in my mind when I was searching through my background stamps for the Delectable {Border Backgrounds} kit... I happened to see my never-been-inked Barn Wall background stamp ~ a collaboration by Brutus Monroe and Unity Stamp Co ~ and thought it would make for a lovely background with the From This Day Forward kit. I started by stamping the Barn Wall background with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed Emerald Creek Patina Oxide Baked Texture embossing powder... WOW!! This embossing powder is amazing!! If you click on my photo above, you can hopefully see the awesome colors and detail in the embossed background. I watercolored the background using a mix of Light Blue {No. 036} and Turquoise Green {No. 042}. Once dry, I die cut the background using a stitched rectangle die and adhered it directly to a white card base using mono multi purpose liquid glue by Tombow.

Next I stamped the beautiful bride and groom image, as well as the flowers in the From This Day Forward kit using VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I watercolored the couple using Flesh Color {No. 071}, Light Gray {No. 091}, Brown {No. 060}, Mid Brown {No. 065} for the bride; and Flesh Color {No. 071}, Light Gray {No. 091}, Dark Gray {No. 095}, Mid Brown {No. 065}, Dark Brown {No. 062} for the groom. I added some sparkle to the bride using the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen...

Here's a close up of that shimmer... it's really gorgeous in person!

I ended up taking a couple close up shots because my OTT light kept giving me a shadow... but I think with the two photos you can see the beautiful shimmer. Oh, and this second photo gives you a little close up look at the Patina Oxide embossed background... if you look between the leaf and the purple flower in the bottom left corner. Love it!

I watercolored the pretty flowers blending Lilac {No. 083} and Violet {No. 080} with a touch of Bright Yellow {No. 052} and Yellow {No. 050} in the center of the flowers. For the other flowers {not sure what they are called} I used Blue {No. 030} and then blended them with clean water. For the leaves, I used Pale Green {No. 045} and May Green {No. 047}. I fussy cut the couple and flowers and adhered them to the card... popping up the couple with dimensionals. I then trimmed off the edges of my card base where the flowers were hanging off the edge. To finish off the card, I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder and then die cut it with a banner die. I adhered that to a black layer that was also die cut from the same banner die, however, I cut the black layer in half and adhered it just to the ends of the sentiment banner. I also added a touch of the Patina Oxide embossing powder to the edges of the black banner using a VersaMark watermark marker. I popped up the sentiment on the card and called 'er done! I think it turned out pretty nice!

Now before we get to the hopping... a little business. Drum roll please... 

the winner of my giveaway is...

...It's a Card Knock Life!!! 

Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

Thanks to you all so much for your continued support of our little hop... and for all of your lovely comments! I just feel awful that I haven't had time to reply to each comment to let you know just how much I appreciate it and I really, truly do appreciate each and every one of your sweet comments.

So real quick... while I was unpacking my Unity stamps I found a box full of grab bag stamps! Yup... a box... not a ginormous box, mind you, but a box full! Anywho, I've decided to give away two grab bags of 25 stamps each!! Woohoo! Winners will be chosen and announced in our July blog hop. So be sure to hop along and comment on each of our blog posts!

Let's get to it, shall we...

~ Blog Hop List ~

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Bobbie Sue

Dawn

Jeanie

Robyn

Kim

Thanks so much for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ December 2018 Blog Hop ~ Animals in the Arctic

December’s kit is all about Arctic Animals…Now if you are anything like me, you hate the cold weather, snow, and anything that would mean being cold. However, snow and these cute little critters in this kit are all about fun! So grab your warm beverage, sit back, and hop along with us to see these adorable critters and all the inspiration our designers have to share. Check out the Flavor of the Month page to place your order if you haven’t subscribed. Also, don’t forget to check the A La Carte items (items that are leftover - full packs and such - from putting the kits together, and other items that we have on the website that may coordinate with this kit). Make sure you also put your name in for that Rafflecopter prize!

Hey there! I am loving the theme of this month's kit... Animals in the Arctic! The critters in the stamp sets are all so cute! Let's not waste anymore time and get straight to the cards!

For my first card I used Sketch #2 with Collection One.

I did a mix of layers using the Winter Skies patterned paper by Scrapping for Less along with some Sno Cone card stock. I adhered all of the layers on a white card base. I added a few sequins to the main image and on the card base.

Here's a close up of the watercolored bear. In real life the watercolors coordinate a whole lot better with the colors in the background. You can also see the touches of purple organza ribbon on either side of the bear.

For my second card I used Sketch #4 with Collection Two.

I say I used sketch #4 for this one but it's a loose interpretation... what I mean is, I went rogue! LOL! I kinda sorta used some of the elements of the sketch, but it really had a mind of it's own. ;)  Now you may notice that this card looks kind of similar to my sneak peak card... and that's because I made them at the same time. I just loved this color palette that I pulled from these Alexandra Renke papers included in Collection One so I had to use it for this card too. I trimmed my layers of patterned paper and adhered them to a kraft card stock base. I stamped the adorable penguin with memento tuxedo black ink and colored him in with the following Copic markers:

Penguin ~ C0, C2, C4, C8, R20, YR15, YR27, YR68

Hat/Scarf ~ BG10, BG11, N0, N1, Colorless Blender

Mug ~ B0000, B000, B39, B99, N1

I added some sparkle to the hat and marshmallows using stickles from my stash. I then die cut the image using a wonky square die. I popped it up on the card base and adhered a few die cut snowflakes using the snowflake die from Collection Three. The sentiment was simply stamped, trimmed, and then popped up, as well.

For my third card I used Sketch #1 with Collection Three.

I adhered my layer of grey snowflake patterned paper to a piece of Grape Jelly card stock. I stamped a few snowflakes on the white card base using Wilted Violet and Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide inks. I adhered my grey/purple panel to the card base and then stamped the 'Snow Much Fun' sentiment using Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink.

I trimmed a small piece of white card stock for my focal scene and stamped the mountains and chunk of ice using Memento Tuxedo black ink. I then stamped the owl and penguin on a scrap piece of white card stock and got to coloring using the following Copic markers:

Mountains ~BV20, BV23, N1

Sky ~ B60

Water/Ice ~ B000, B02, BG0000

Penguin ~ N0, N1, N5, YR15, YR68, V17

Owl ~ C1, YR15, YR68, B02, BG0000

I fussy cut the penguin and owl and adhered them to the scene. I added a few banners cut from the Frosty patterned paper by Pink and Main in the collection. And my last touch was a few sequins here and there.

For my last card I used Sketch #3 with Collection Four.

Now for this card, I flipped the sketch because I wanted to use the Winter Tree Stencil from the Banana Split subscription in my focal panel. I blended Worn Lipstick, Tattered Rose, and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide inks over the stencil and then set it aside to dry while I stamped and colored the owl and moose. The owl is part of the stamp set included in Collection Four, but the moose is from the Arctic Sentiments set by Scrapping for Less that is in the Banana Split subscription. I colored the images using the following Copic markers:

Owl ~ BV04, BV20, BV31, YR27, YR68

Moose ~ E00, E01, E02, R01, RV95, W5

I fussy cut the images and adhered them to the focal panel that I had mat on Bubblegum card stock. I adhered a few banners on the back of the focal panel and then popped up the panel on the card base. I adhered some snowflakes and sequins all over the card and then realized I didn't have a sentiment yet... so I stamped out the 'Snow Much Fun' sentiment again, trimmed it, and adhered it to the card.

Such a fun kit to play with!! I had a blast creating these cards. I sure hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have.

Here's a look at the Double Dip Subscription.

Here's a look at the Banana Split Subscription.

Next up on the hop is Luci!

After checking out the hop, make sure to join the Rafflecopter back on the SFL blog to have a chance to win an awesome prize!!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

Coffee Loving Cardmakers ~ I Just Need Coffee!

Hello! Today, I'm sharing some truth... I just need coffee!! Haha... but really, I'm sharing a fun card for another fabulous guest spot at Coffee Loving Cardmakers. 

I created an alcohol ink background and also used Alcohol Lift Ink and of course, one of my favorite owl stamps from Rubbernecker Stamps.

Trying to get a photo of this card was a challenge because of the shine on the Yupo cardstock. With that being said, that white behind the owl (to the right) is glare. 

I was having fun the other day creating a bunch of backgrounds using alcohol inks and I thought it would be fun to use some coffee colors. I don't have a lot of alcohol inks so I ended up using Butterscotch, Espresso, and Turquoise (of course!) with a bit of Gold Mixative. Once my background was how I liked, I blended Alcohol Lift Ink over the Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 3 - the one with the coffee ring and splatter. I dabbed the background with a paper towel until it wasn't as saturated and then I rubbed the background to remove the rest of the Alcohol Lift Ink. Doing that basically lifts away the alcohol ink that was on the background. Such a fun technique!

I set aside the background piece and stamped Preston ~ isn't he the cutest! ~ onto Canson XL watercolor paper using VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I watercolored Preston with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens and then die cut him out with the coordinating Preston Die Cut.

I set Preston aside and went back to work with the background... I needed a sentiment, but Preston doesn't come with one so I searched through my Rubbernecker Stamps and found the perfect sentiment, ironically, in the Coffee Set. Preston looks like he NEEDS coffee! Don't we all?!

I stamped the sentiment using Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. Since I was heat embossing on Yupo card stock which is a plastic card stock, I was careful to not heat it too long... just enough to melt the powder. 

I then mat the background piece with Taken with Teal card stock from my stash. I popped the background up on a Vintage Cream card base and then adhered Preston with Multi Medium Matte. I just adore this card! I sure hope you like it too!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post! 

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

~ Friends of Unity October Blog Hop ~

Hello! Happy World Cardmaking Day!! I hope that you get to play on this day for us card making peeps! Speaking of... can you believe that it's October already?! Time is flying by so quickly. I do love the cooler temperatures and the gorgeous colors appearing in the trees. Speaking of trees... wink wink... our Cue for the Friends of Unity October Blog Hop is Leaves.

I LOVE Fall! I've mentioned this in other posts. I just can't help myself... the rich oranges, yellows, reds and even the browns! Sigh... I love love love them! Add to that an adorable fall themed stamp set and Oh My Goodness... again, I say Love!

Another thing that I love... is a good sketch! I found this sketch in my Sketch Journal and thought it would be perfect to showcase this adorable stamp from the Hoppy Fall stamp set. I started by stamping this sweet bunny and a few leaves using Gina K's Black Amalgam on white card stock AND on Canson XL watercolor paper. The card above was colored using the following Copic markers ~ Y000, Y02, Y06, Y11, YG0000, YG61, YG63, YR15, YR16, YR68, R14, R20, R27, N0, E000, E23, E25, E30, E31. I die cut the bunny with the Labels Three die from Spellbinders. I also die cut a piece of Kraft card stock that I cut in half and adhered just on the edges of the bottom and top portion of the main panel. Since the center portion wasn't adhered, I could slide my patterned paper in between the layers of the focal image. I adhered those pieces in place and then popped up the whole piece on the layers adhered to a Kraft card base.

For my second card, I flipped the sketch and also watercolored the image using ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens with similar colors to the Copic colored version. I changed up the patterned papers a bit but I really love how these two cards turned out.

The inside of the first card. I added a piece of white card stock with a strip of patterned paper and stamped the entire sentiment with Memento tuxedo black ink.

The inside of the second card... just like the first, I added a piece of white card stock with a strip of patterned paper and stamped the entire sentiment with Memento tuxedo black ink.

Surprise!! I have another card!! Did you know that the beautifully colored part of the Poinsettia plant is actually colored bracts which are modified leaves?! A fun fact I've learned and one of the reasons I'm playing with the Poinsettia with Love sentiment kit for this hop. Let's check out the card I made...

I started with a pretty simple sketch idea with a diagonal cut of patterned paper mat on a piece of gold card stock, also cut diagonally. I wanted the words on the paper to stand out so I adhered the mat patterned paper to a white card base. I then stamped the gorgeous poinsettia on a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper (110 lb) using Amalgam black ink. I watercolored the image with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens and once it was dry, I fussy cut it out. I added some gold to the center of the flower using a gold gel pen and I also added some glossy accents to the red berries to give them some shine.

I popped up the fussy cut poinsettia on the card using dimensionals and that was it... I absolutely love how this card turned out! I originally wanted to add a sentiment near the top in the white portion of the card, but decided against it. I just love it how it is... so I'll add a sentiment inside or maybe I'll just leave it blank to hand write my holiday greetings to the recipient... who knows?!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post! I sure hope that you like the cards I've shared today. There are a few giveaways this month so be sure to check out each of the blog posts and comment. We absolutely love all of your comments!

Now I think it's time to get hopping!

Kim

Robyn

Bobbie Sue

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Jeanie

Dawn

Joyce

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal