~ Friends of Unity August 2026 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Woohoo! I've been looking forward to this month's cue for awhile now!

Today we are sharing inspiration for the Grunge cue!! The possibilities are seriously endless with this one... I had several ideas and only time to make a couple. 

First up is a fun Halloween card featuring I Bite Pissy Kitty. But I think the star of the card is actually the Ghastly Gourds background stamp. Oh how I love these pumpkins!! 

I did a bit of ink smooshing first with Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin and Black Soot Distress Inks.

And then I swiped the panel with my Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink. I love the streaks of ink this technique creates!

I then stamped the panel with the Ghastly Gourds using Black Soot Distress Ink. And then I inked up just the top portion of the Smell My Feet background stamp and stamped it crooked on the top and bottom corners of the panel. I think the stamp was actually upside down... but that's okay. LOL

I Copic colored the fun kitty and fussy cut it leaving a white border. But then it was too bright so I distressed around the edges using the residual ink on my black blending brush. I added some black string to the panel and popped up the kitty using foam tape. And then I heat embossed the sentiment and popped it up on the card to finish it off.

Copic markers used:

Cat: C0, C3, C5

Eyes: YG11, YG06, YG67

Nose:RV02

Wings: C2, C5, 100

Bow: V12, V15

Pumpkin: YR20, YR15, YR68, Y15, Y08, E21, E25

I went a very different direction with my second card. I wanted to use Seraphim Wings but instead I ended up using the coordinating Seraphim Wings die (unfortunately I don't see this on the website currently). I didn't take photos of my ink smooshing for this one. I used Speckled Egg, Evergreen Bough and Vintage Photo Distress Inks for my ink smooshing.

And then I stamped the gorgeous What's Old is New background stamp with Ground Espresso Distress Ink. I die cut the panel with the Seraphim Wings die. And then I ink smooshed another panel with the same colors. I inked up the background stamp again this time with Vintage Photo but only in random spots. I didn't cover it completely with ink. And then I lightly placed the stamp on top of the ink smooshed panel and pressed gently. I still had a puddle of brown ink (I think it was Ground Espresso) so I used it to spatter the panel.

I used a die from the Notebook Borders Die Set  to cut that left edge on my background panel. Distressed the edges of the die cut butterfly with residual ink on my brown blending brush. Stamped the sentiment with Ground Espresso Distress Ink. And then I ink smooshed another white panel with just Speckled Egg and Evergreen Bough distress inks for my bottom panel. I adhered all my layers onto a white A2 top fold card base. I feel like it needs something... maybe I'll add enamel dots. What do you think?

Now before we get to the hopping, random dot org 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 August 26th, 2026. 

Well, that's it for me this time! I'm so excited to see how our friends were inspired for this month's hop! 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 ---> Jane

Von Marie

Toni

Jenni

Joyce

Rachel

Dawn

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

{BYSHC} Christmas in July 2026 Linky Party ~ Snowman Globe ~ RAM Stamps

Hello there crafty friend!

I'm so excited to share my first card for the {BYSHC} Christmas in July 2026 Linky Party hosted by the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group! This is our seventh annual Christmas in July Linky Party! Woohoo!! This event is a great excuse to get ahead on those holiday cards to relieve some of the stress later on in the year during the holidays. I am super excited to add a few more holiday cards to my Christmas card stash and I sure hope that you'll join in the fun!

For my first card I've made a sweet holiday card using the adorable Snowman Globe Digital Stamp from our Sponsor Rachelle Anne Miller Digital Stamps AKA RAM Stamps. I combined and resized a few digital stamps on a page and printed them off with my printer. I colored up the cute snowman globe image with Copic markers. I wrapped the globe with white baker's twine and popped it up on the card with foam tape.

Copic markers I used:

Snowman / Snow: C0, C2, Colorless Blender

Nose: YR20, YR15

Arms: E57

Hat: N1, N3, N5, R20, R14, R27

Scarf: C0, C2, YR11, YG03

Stars: YG11, YG03, R20, R14, R27

Globe: YG11, YG03

I like to revisit some of our past sketches when I'm looking for inspiration. I went WAY back and chose BYSHC Sketch 19 for my card today. Such a fun and quick sketch... I just might use this one again.

I paired up the cute globe with the Knit Picky Winter 6x6 Paper Pack from Sponsor Lawn Fawn. I also used the retired Winter Otter stamp set for the sentiment from Lawn Fawn to finish off my card.

I'm also a Sponsor for the {BYSHC} Christmas in July 2026 Linky Party!! I have a wonderful prize set aside for one lucky winner. For a chance to win my fun prize make a Christmas card and link it up to the linky party blog post on the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers blog. All of the winners of all the amazing prizes will be announced on the {BYSHC} blog on Tuesday, July 28th.

Be sure to stop by the {BYSHC} Christmas in July 2026 Linky Party to check out all the wonderful holiday inspiration from our Sponsors and the {BYSHC} Design Team!! I'm so excited to continue building my stash of holiday cards for 2026... I hope you'll join in the fun and play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity July 2026 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend & Happy 4th of July!!!

It's time for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Woohoo! This month's cue is lots of fun because it's a challenge that we are hosting in the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group. I sure hope that you can find some time to play along with us! 

Today we are sharing inspiration for a fun Color Challenge!! A nod to America's 250th!! But it's not a 4th of July themed challenge - if that's how you are inspired though, go for it! We're just looking for fun and creative cards using the red, white & blue color combo. There are 4 fabulous prizes up for grabs for 3 lucky winners!! All you have to do is enter a card into the Color Challenge album in the Unity Show & Tell FB group.

I was inspired to use the new Sweet Bee Blooms stamp that's available separately or in the July 2026 Kit of the Month called Ahead of the Holiday Herd. Isn't it amazing?!!

Other than my addition of neutral black, I kept strictly to the color combo. A little out of my comfort zone giving the bees a little shading to keep them white and also keeping the centers of the flowers white with a little shading, but I think it turned out pretty.

Copic markers used:

Red: R20, R14, R27

Shadows for White: C0, C2

Blue: B000, B02, B24

I tore the edges of my layers and adhered them to a white A2 top fold card base. And finished it off with the sentiment that I popped up with foam tape. Kept it easy peasy and only made one card this time. My back is getting better but I'm still being careful not to sit too long and doing my stretches and exercises. Thanks to all those who are praying for me. I appreciate the get well wishes, too.

Now before we get to the hopping, random dot org chose a lucky winner from the comments on last month's hop to win a fun prize and the lucky winner is...

... Carla from Arizona!! Congratulations, Carla!!

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

Please claim the prize before July 29th, 2026. 

I'm also sharing the winners for our friend Dawn. She wasn't able to participate this month but wanted to share her winners so I'm sharing them here. The lucky winners are... Meghan K. and Vannessa Osbourn. Please reach out to Dawn at lovepaperetc@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Well, that's it for me this time! I'm so excited to see how our friends were inspired for this month's hop! 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 ---> Von Marie

Jenni

Rachel

Toni

Joyce

Doreen

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity June 2026 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Woohoo! This month's cue is lots of fun. But before we get to that we have a new friend joining us... please stop by Von Marie's blog and be sure to give her a great big welcome! I am really excited to have Von Marie join our team! Woohoo!!

Today we are sharing inspiration for the Food & Drink cue!! The possibilities are seriously endless with this one... I made three cards but I had ideas for a few more!! LOL! There's just so many food and drink stamps available at Unity. It was really hard to chose just a few.

You may have seen the other card I made with this gorgeous stamp. I just shared it a couple days ago on my Instagram. I absolutely love lemon everything so I just had to ink it up again. This beauty is from the June 2026 Whit Kit You're the Zest membership. The stamps are also available separately... You're the Zest {stamps only}. 

I paired the lemons up again with the gorgeous Squeeze the Day {paper pack}. I love the colors in these papers! And I have a bunch of scraps so I thought I'd use some of them for this card. I fussy cut the lemons and the sentiment. I popped up the lemons on the card with foam tape.

I used pretty much the same Copics for this card as the one I shared a few days ago.

Copic markers used:

Lemons: Y000, Y11, Y15, Y38

Branch: E11, E57

Blossoms: C0, C2, Y15, Y38

Leaves: YG00, G00, YG11, G02

Bee: Y11, Y15, B000

My second card features a sweet stamp called Just Peachy. I love a yummy peach! Nectarines are actually my favorite stone fruit but I love peaches too. I stamped this cute stamp with Black Amalgam ink and colored it with Copic markers. I stamped the sentiment and fussy cut them both. I adhered the sentiment to the peaches and then popped them up on the card with foam tape.

Copic Markers used:

Peaches: B000, Y11, YR21, YR61, YR23, YR15

Leaves: YG11, YG03, YG63

Bowl: BG10, BG70, BG93, BG72 

I paired the peaches up with the Cozy Cup Cafe {paper pack}. This paper has a coffee theme but I just love the peachy polka dot paper. It was a must for this card. I used some of my very old white grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up. I hardly ever touch my ribbons. Any one else not use ribbons very often? Just me?! I used a Sakura White Gelly Roll pen to bring back the white of the polka dots on the bowl.

Last of all I inked up one of the new cups from the June 2026 KOM The Art of Summering. I don't drink but I sure love me a yummy Arnold Palmer. So I colored up the tall glass with Copic markers to look like my favorite non-alcoholic drink. It sure was fun to color! If you're not interested in the membership, the Boozy & Bougie stamps are available separately. 

Did you notice that wonderful background stamp?! It's also from this month's KOM. And available separately here... The Paper Apothecary. I stamped it with the Lost Shadow Distress Ink from Ranger/Tim Holtz. And then did some ink smooshing with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Vintage Photo Distress inks. I wanted it to look like I spilled some of my drink... haha!! 

 I die cut the panel using the largest die from the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}.

Copic markers used:

Lemon: Y11, Y15, YR15

Tea: E21, E35, Y11, Y15, YR15

Sprig: YG63

Ice cubes / Glass: C0, C2

Now before we get to the hopping, random dot org chose a lucky winner from the comments on last month's hop to win a fun prize and the lucky winner is...

... Linda Abel!! Congratulations, Linda!!

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

Please claim the prize before July 1st, 2026. 

Well, that's it for me this time! I'm so excited to see how our friends were inspired for this month's hop! 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 ---> Von Marie

Jenni

Toni

Joyce

Dawn

Rachel

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity May 2026 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's time for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! Woohoo! This month's cue is another fun one...

Today we are sharing inspiration for the Farmhouse cue!! There are so many directions to go in for this cue... I only had time to create two cards though.

When I was a kid I worked at a farm stand for a couple days and we were selling flowers. I'm pretty sure we weren't selling lilacs... I think it was daffodils or daisies but when I saw this gorgeous stamp in this month's Kit of the Month membership I just knew I had to ink it up. You can sign up for the KOM membership and get this gorgeous stamp along with all the others in the kit, plus all the perks of the membership, mailed straight to your door. OR buy it as a 1-Time Purchase. Such a gorgeous stamp!

I inked up the gorgeous lilacs from the May 2026 KOM Odds, Ends & Adorable, also available separately in the Lilac Poise stamps. I stamped them directly on a piece of pattern paper from the Rustic Farmhouse {paper pack}. And die cut the paper using a die from the Deckle & Stitches Nesting Die Set.

I colored the lilacs on the pattern paper using the following the markers.

Copic markers used:

Lilacs: V000, V12, V15, B000

Stems / Leaves: YG11, YG03, YG17

Outline: C0, C2

I also stamped the lilacs on a piece of white card stock and colored up 5 of the tiny little flowers. I fussy cut them and colored the edges with a black marker and then I popped them up with a little foam tape. I love the dimension this adds to the card!

My second card also features a stamp from the May 2026 KOM Odds, Ends & Adorable. It's available separately in the Still Kickin' stamps. Such a fun stamp!

Copic Markers used:

Donkey: W0, W1, W3, W5, W7, R00, R20

Hat: RV10, RV02, RV14, B000, B00, B02, Y11, Y15, YR20, YR15

My card design was inspired by the Tawny Owl Paperie Inky Inspiration Sketch 42. I'm hosting a fun sketch challenge in the Tawny Owl Paperie Inky Inspiration Facebook group. The challenge is open until May 25th and there's no theme. Just the sketch to inspire creativity. Lots of time to join in the fun and play along!!

I paired up the cute donkey with the Yay, It's Today {paper pack}. I used colors from the papers to color up the donkey. And I wanted him to pop a bit more BUT I didn't want to cover up the papers in the background so I added a rectangle of vellum card stock behind him that I die cut using the Scallops & Rectangles {nesting dies}.

I popped up the donkey and the sentiment with foam tape. I adhered the vellum layer by adding glue behind the donkey. I finished off this one with a few enamel dots from my stash. I thought they were white, but it looks like they are an off white. Close enough! LOL!

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...

... Indy's Designs!! Congratulations, Debbie!!

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

Please claim the prize before June 3rd, 2026. 

Well, that's it for me this time! It's a short hop this month with just six of us sharing makes. I'm so excited to see how our friends were inspired for this month's hop. 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 ---> Toni

Jenni

Rachel

Dawn

Doreen

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you so much!!

Inky Hugs,

Crystal