{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 18 ~ Foxy Monochromatic Christmas

 Hello there crafty friend!

Today I'm sharing a cute monochromatic card with a vintage vibe using the {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 18 for the month of January and an adorable stamp from Unity Stamp Co!! Actually, I used four different stamp kits from Unity for this card... so fun to combine all these stamps for one card!

 

First I stamped the background for the bottom panel with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink on Kraft card stock using the Search for those Moments {Layers of Life 11/17} stamp kit and the Magical {Bliss and Wonder} {Layers of Life 10/13} stamp kit. I distressed the edges with a bit more Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink with a blending brush.

I stamped my favorite Christmas background stamp... The Christmas Tree background stamp... on a scrap of Kraft card stock with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink and trimmed it to a banner. I distressed the edges of the banner using the Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink.

I stamped the Foxy Christmas stamp and the sentiment... yup, you guessed it... with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink on Kraft card stock. I trimmed up the panel and then distressed it again with the Ground Espresso ink. I mat each of the layers with a slightly larger piece of Early Espresso card stock and then another slightly larger mat of Kraft card stock. Each mat was approximately 1/8" larger. 

I added a few scraps of card stock underneath the fox layer on the left side so that it would lay flat. I also added a couple scraps under the right side of the sentiment. A great trick to get all flat layers! I adhered the entire panel to a Kraft A2 top fold card base {turned on the side}. I finished off the card with a few Kraft enamel dots from the Cozy Flannel Gloss enamel dots pack from Gina Marie Designs.

Here's another look at the {BYSHC} Sketch 18 for the month of January!

I hope you'll join us and play along with the sketch! Come join in the fun over at the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group! If you're interested in seeing a bit more inspiration, check out the {BYSH} Cardmakers blog! I'll be back next Friday with my weekly Christmas card and more inspiration for the Sketch Challenge 18! And on a side note... Unity is having a sale with fun new releases for Angela's birthday!! Head over to the Unity website to check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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Unity Stamp Company ~ June 2020 Whit Kit Live in the Sunshine ~ Sparkle Dust ATCs

Hello crafty friend!

I'm back with a little ATC fun for the June challenge in the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group! This fun challenge is hosted by my sweet friend, Dawn Bryson. You can check out the challenge here ---> Unity Blog... or here ---> Unity Show & Tell.

I'm using the gorgeous June 2020 Whit Kit called Live in the Sunshine... this kit is stunning! All the fabulous glittery goodness is amazing!! And the beautiful papers... I just can't get enough of this kit! 

I'm a huge fan of kraft card stock combined with blues so when I saw the Nuvo Sparkle Dust in the kit, I just had to make a background on kraft card stock!! 

To see how I created the fabulous sparkly background for these ATCs check out my video below!! I also show my process in assembling the cards.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ Hero Arts ~ Fennec the Fox

Hello there crafty friends! 

Today I'm sharing another card using the fabulous Fennec the Fox by Hero Arts... paired again with the awesome Kraft & Gold cardstock stack by DCWV!! I am loving this gorgeous desert inspired set and I just can't help but use the kraft papers... it's a perfect pairing of product!! Say that five times fast!! Lol!

My card design was inspired by a Sketch Saturday sketch from a couple of weeks ago and even though I'd miss the deadline to enter my card in the challenge, I still had to play with this sketch! I trimmed the polka dot foil kraft paper to 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" and adhered it a Vintage Cream A2 card base. I then trimmed a piece of Vintage Cream card stock down to 4 x 5-1/4" and then ran it through my Big Shot with an oval die. I set those aside and then stamped and colored my images.

I used the following Copic markers:

Fox ~ E0000, E000, E95, E97, E99, R00

Cactus/Flowers ~ YR09, YR15, YR21, R17, R27, Y06, YG00, YG03, YG63

Ground ~ E23, E25

How awesome is that foil shining in the background?! Such amazing paper!!

Next, I stamped the sentiment on a strip of kraft card stock from the Kraft & Gold cardstock stack with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I die cut it with my favorite Everyday Sentiment Banner die by Lawn Fawn.

To finish off my card, I adhered my fussy cut images to the Vintage Cream layer and then I popped up the entire piece on the card using foam squares. I love the dimension the popped up layer gives to the card! The foxes in this beautiful set are so fun to color! I sure hope you've enjoyed my card today!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! 

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ Graciellie Designs ~ My Sympathies

Hello crafty friends!

Today I have a couple of cards to share... the kind of cards that are necessary sometimes to make, but not as fun because of the reason for the card. I found myself in need of a couple of sympathy cards so I checked out my favorite sketch challenge blogs and found this one... 

from Freshly Made Sketches #389 ...perfect for a simple sympathy card! 

I pulled out the My Sympathies sentiment kit by Graciellie Designs from Unity Stamp Company and went simple with a little watercoloring and the sentiment embossed on vellum over top... subtle and soft with an offset edged layer.

Here's a close-up of the embossed sentiment.

For my second card, I went with kraft and black... I used Unity Stamp Company's Don't Give Up sentiment kit along with the same sentiment from the first card. A simple and quick card that literally took me... maybe 5 minutes.

If you ever find yourself stuck designing a card, be sure to check out the sketch challenges... Freshly Made Sketches is one of my favorites!

Thanks for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Growing in Unity ~ Day Four ~ Happy Birthday

Hello! Welcome to Day Four of my Growing in Unity week!

Today, I'm sharing my fourth Source of Inspiration... CASEing. If you're not familiar with this term CASE a crafty acronym for Copy And Share Everything ~ basically it means you copy aspects of a card, like the colors, the design or the product and make your own card based on that. 

For today's card, I CASEd a lovely project made by Unity's Design Team member, Amanda Garrett. Amanda jazzed up some pretty kraft envelopes by stamping on the flap of the envelope and coloring it in. I thought... that would be gorgeous on a card!

I stamped the Border of Magnolias stamp on a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4" piece of Kraft card stock. On that same piece I stamped the Border of Orchids stamp. I stamped both with VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed a fine white embossing powder.

I colored the flowers using the same Prismacolor pencils. I started with the darkest purple, added some pink and then blended them together with a white pencil. I loved the way the white pencil pulled the purple and pink up into the petal. It's really gorgeous in person. And on a side note, for some reason the colors in the pictures here are a bit distorted. The kraft is really lighter than it appears here. I blended an olive green and a brown pencil for the stem (it's really not as dark as the picture makes it look).

And then for my Border of Orchids card, I did the same. I used the dark purple pencil to make the spots for the orchid. I added a touch of the pink on the spots and then I blended those colors with a white pencil. I went back in with some more purple and pink here and there to darken it up. I really love how this turned out!

Once the flowers were colored, I die cut them using first a stitched rectangle die that was just a little smaller than a card front. I then die cut the center of the panel using a Stitched Scallop Basic Edge die. I stamped the sentiment from the Let Your Wishes Fly sentiment kit directly on the kraft card base using VersaMark ink and heat set a fine white embossing powder. I popped up the flower pieces using foam tape and there you have my CASEd cards! Thank you for the inspiration, Amanda!

The Unity Design Team is a fabulous source of inspiration! As is, the very talented Unity customers that share in the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group. If you're not a member of the group, I really recommend joining... there's always fabulous creations being shared!

Be sure to leave a comment on each of my GIU blog posts for a chance to win one of two fabulous grab bags of 25 stamps from Unity Stamp Company!!! 

You can check out my other GIU days:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Come back tomorrow for my final Source of Inspiration post!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal