~ Friends of Unity August 2020 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of the month and you know what that means... it's time for the Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! I look forward to these hops so much each month. I hope you do too!

Our cue this month is Sympathy... a tough card to make at times. Definitely a card that we can't always be prepared for. With this in mind, I created 3 quick cards to share with you all.

My first card uses a cute Itty Bitty stamp called Floral Scroll that pairs up really nicely with just about any patterned paper to make a quick card. I cut my patterned paper to 4 x 5-1/4" and layered it on a piece of card stock measuring 3-15/16 x 5-3/16". I then wrapped some twine around the panel and adhered it to a white card base.

I set the card base aside and found an ink that would coordinate with the color in the paper... I settled on Crumb Cake. I stamped the floral scroll image and then stamped the sentiment. I die cut the stamped image with a circle die and then popped it up on the card. A very quick card that could be made with any patterned paper in your stash.

My second card is very CAS... Clean and Simple... I did a little watercolor washing in the center of a 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" piece of watercolor paper with Milled Lavender Distress Oxide ink. I heat set the background with my heat tool and then stamped the pretty flowers from the July 2020 Sentiment kit called Aging Gorgeously with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

 I set that panel aside and grabbed a strip of Vellum card stock. I stamped the With Sympathy sentiment from the September 2017 Sentiment kit called Abundant Blessings with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then heat embossed some fine black embossing powder being careful not to warp the Vellum card stock. I adhered the sentiment to the watercolored panel with PLUS vellum tape and then wrapped it around the back and secured it with Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive. I then adhered the panel to a white card base. I really like how this one turned out and the background color could easily be changed up to suit the recipient. 

My last card is actually a CASE... Copy And Share Everything... of a card that I made last year. You can check that one out here... Don't Give Up Sympathy card. I kept the Kraft and black combo, but decided to do a slimline card. I used my new Gina Marie Designs slimline dies to die cut my panels.

I stamped the beautiful floral from the Abundant Blessings sentiment kit with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and splattered some black acrylic paint on the panel. I set that aside to dry and stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Kraft card stock. I mat it with some True Black card stock. All that was left was adhering my layers onto my Kraft slimline card base measuring 3-1/2 x 8-1/2". Another quick card!

Here's another look at all three of my cards together. I was able to make all of these in an afternoon... I hope these ideas are a help for when you are struggling to make that difficult sympathy card.

Now... it's time to announce the winner from my giveaway last month and the winner is...

Becca Yahrling!! 

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

Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

A few of my friends are having giveaways so be sure to check out all of the fabulous creations along the hop and comment on each blog for a chance to win!!

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Amber

Dawn F.

Dawn B.

Kim

Bobbie Sue

Robyn

Alaine

Jeanie

Thanks so much for supporting our little hop! We appreciate it so much!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ Frankly Said ~ Watercolor Wash Birthday

Hello there! I'm dropping in with a super quick card... seriously, this is really quick! The most time-consuming part of this card was the dry time for the watercolor washed background.

I could have dried the background with my heat tool, but I decided to let it sit overnight so that I didn't re-heat the embossed sentiment from Unity's Frankly Said sentiment kit. So, to start I heat embossed the black sentiment onto the watercolor paper. Using painters tape, I taped down the watercolor panel to my board and wet the paper with a clean watercolor pen. I got the paper very wet... and funny note here... that's when the pizza delivery guy arrived with our dinner. LOL! So... after all that fun, I came back to my watercolor paper that was still a little wet and brushed more water on it. I scribbled my orange ZIG over my acrylic block and picked up the ink with my watercolor pen. I then brushed over the background. I went over it a couple of times to intensify the orange on the top, but I didn't want it too dark and I wanted to go with an ombre look... and the pizza was getting cold! LOL

The next day, I came back to my watercolored panel and I love how the background turned out. I die cut it with the Big and Little Chain Rectangle die by Gina Marie Designs. I die cut a piece of black card stock with the largest die in the set and then I adhered the black layer to a kraft card base. I popped up the watercolor panel using foam tape and that was it! I love the sassy sentiment on this card and I know the recipient will get a kick out of it!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

You're Amazing!

Hello! A quick post today for the Inspired By Challenge #38 ~ Fall Foliage.

I was inspired by the fabulous colors in the challenge photo and also the cup or mug (not sure?) in the photo. I wanted to focus on the rich colors of Autumn with reds, oranges and yellows, but also include the browns. I love the rich brown in the scallop background piece poking out from the behind the watercolored washed background. I die cut the Large Scallop Stackers from Dark Chocolate card stock for that piece. 

I ran Canson XL watercolor paper through the big shot with the Papertrey Ink Book Print Impression Plate and then did a watercolor wash with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors. I die cut the piece with the Noted: Simply Stitched A2 Vertical dies also from Papertrey Ink. I adhered those layers to a Kraft card base and then set it aside.

I stamped the Tea Cup Floret by Graciellie Designs (sold by Unity Stamp Company) in Gina K's Black Amalgam ink. I heat set it with my heat tool and then colored it in with the same Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors I used on the background, but also used some browns and white for the cup, saucer, and coffee. I added some copper metallic thread to the bottom of the fussy cut image and then popped it up on the card. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed some fine white embossing powder. I die cut it with a banner die, trimmed it, and adhered it to the card. I am loving how this one turned out!

The Inspired By Challenge just started today so I hope you also get a chance to play along.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Make It Monday #283 ~ Every Day

I'm back again with another Make It Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink. This weeks challenge is a watercolor wash background. I'm a huge fan of watercoloring so I just had to play along with this challenge. It was also a great excuse to play with some new goodies I got from Papertrey Ink.

I stamped the image from the Quoted: Start Again stamp using VersaMark ink and then heat embossed white embossing powder. I was very excited to have another chance to play with my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors. They've been sadly neglected sitting on my shelf. I used a few colors to do my watercolor wash background. I cut down my piece of watercolor paper and then distressed the edges. I love the texture that gives to the card. I adhered the watercolored panel to a white card base and then I splattered some watered down white acrylic paint onto the whole card. I popped on a few sequins and called it done. Not sure that I like the image off center... but I did call it done! So it's done... :)

Here are the products I used for this card:

Card Stock: White (PTI), Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor (SSS)

Watercolors: Kuretake Gansai Tambi - Set of 24 (Amazon) 

Tools: Heat Tool (SU!)

Adhesive: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS)

Miscellaneous: Vintage Chic sequins (SSS), Apple Barrel Matte White Acrylic (Amazon) 

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal