{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 15 ~ Festive Wreath ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

I'm back with my weekly Christmas card and this time I used the beautiful new release called Festive Wreath by Graciellie Design available in red rubber at Unity Stamp Co. I am a huge fan of poinsettia stamps and wreath stamps so this one was a MUST to play with!

I haven't quite unpacked all of my pattern papers but I did find some of my 12 x 12 Christmas papers and I thought I'd make a regular size slimline using the {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 15. I love to mix things up and adjust sketches when I can and this large wreath stamp definitely needed a larger card base. I decided to go with the pretty Wonderland papers by Kaisercraft.

I love the pop of red on the dark papers but it needed something when I was putting my layers together. I decided to add a strip of red card stock to the Christmas print papers. I think it ties in the red of the pretty poinsettias.

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used:

Wood sign ~ E23, E27, E50

Poinsettias ~ R00, R14, R27, Y15, Y35, YR27

Magnolias ~ C00, C2, Y15, Y35, YR27

Pinecones ~ E23, E27, E50

Here's a little video showing the glittery goodness of the wreath after I added some Glitter Gloss Nuvo Aqua Shimmer to the poinsettias.

I am loving this slimline version of the mini slimline sketch for this month. I'm so glad that I got to ink up this gorgeous wreath. Be sure to check out the fun new release and sale going on over at Unity... so many fabulous stamps!!

Here's a look at the fun {BYSHC} Sketch 15 for the month of October!

I hope you'll join us and play along with the sketch! If you're interested in seeing a bit more inspiration, check out the {BYSH} Cardmakers blog! I'll be back next Friday with my first Christmas card for the Falling for the Holidays 2021 {BYSHC} Hop! Woohoo! I hope you'll join in the fun and play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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Hello Pumpkin ~ All Things Halloween Challenge ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

I am back with another Halloween card for the All Things Halloween Challenge going on this month in the Unity Show & Tell group! Today I decided to make a Halloween card using Fall stamps. Not every Halloween card needs to be spooky or scary... and not every Halloween card has to have your typical Halloween theme of spiders, bats, witches or jack-o-lanterns! So if you don't necessarily have a lot of Halloween stamp in your stash that's totally fine... maybe you have a super cute Fall stamp that will work just as nicely.

I wanted to make a cute Halloween card for a friend of mine who doesn't really celebrate Halloween but I didn't want her to feel left out when I send out my Halloween cards. So I stamped the adorable Hello Pumpkin Itty Bitty stamp with Gina K. Black Amalgam ink. I then die cut the image with a Wonky Stitched Circle die from Gina Marie Designs.

I colored up this adorable Fall stamp with the following copic markers:

Owl ~ W00, W1, W3, W5, YR15, YR68, C00, C2

Pumpkin ~ YR15, YR21, YR68, E11, E23, E25

Leaves ~ Y15, Y35, R14, R27, YR15, YR68, G24, G46

Grounding ~ E11, E23, E25

I paired this cute stamp up with some fun Fall papers from my stash called Hello Fall. And even cut strips from the lined papers in the paper pack to add some interest where my focal image would be placed.

Of course to finish off the card I needed a sentiment and I just love the font for this one from the Hallow's Eve Tree stamps. The texture in Halloween is eye-catching! I adhered the sentiment to the focal image and then popped them both up with foam tape... gotta love that added dimension!

Thanks SO much for stopping by today! I sure hope you'll join in the fun over at the Unity Show & Tell group! I can't wait to see all your amazing and fun Halloween creations! I'll see you all back here next Thursday with another fun Halloween project for the All Things Halloween Challenge!

Supplies Used:

Hello Pumpkin

Hallow's Eve Tree

Gina K Black Amalgam ink

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Repeat Stamping ~ Great Day Owl ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

Am I the only one that finds myself repeating... 'Today is going to be a great day!' over and over to feel like it's actually going to turn out that way?!? Some mornings are definitely started with this mantra!

So I decided to turn my crazy morning mantra into a card!! LOL! This sweet owl may look like me some mornings... frazzled and in need of caffeine! I love him... a new release from Unity Stamp Company called Great Day Owl!!

I went with a simple card design to let the owl and sentiment take all the focus. I just added a strip of paper from the Coffee Lovers {paper pack} to the edge of the card front and cut a skinny 1/8" strip of black card stock to transition the pattern paper to the mostly white card front.

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used to color up the owl:

Owl ~ W00, W1, W3, W5, YR15, YR68

Hat / Scarf ~ C00, C2, BG01, BG11, BG72

Mug - E50, E23

Ground ~ N0, N2, N3

Mr. Owl and I hope that you have a great day!

Go check out all the new releases over at Unity and, of course, there's a fab sale going on!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 15 ~ Milk & Cookies {Again!} ~ Doodlebug Design

 Hello there crafty friend!

I am slowly unpacking my studio and I actually found my inks and glue this week!! YAY! I also discovered just how much I rely on my Stamp Platform!! Stamping has definitely evolved over the last 20+ years... I love a nice crisp image when I stamp and sometimes that doesn't happen the first go-around! Anywho, I decided to make another quick and easy no stamping card for this week using more elements from the Milk & Cookies papers by Doodlebug Design that I used last week.

This little Santa die cut from the Milk & Cookies Odds & Ends die cuts is just TOO cute!! I paired him up with papers that had some sweet treats on it. Oh, and did you notice this is an A2 card? I decided to change things up and adjust the mini slimline sketch for this month's challenge to a fun A2 size! It's always fun to switch things up!

The sentiment is also from the Milk & Cookies papers... one of those sentiment strips that you can cut apart. Such a fun and quick card using these papers! The fun pink glitter card stock is from the Milk & Cookies card kit that I have in my stash from Simon Says Stamp. This is an older card kit from December 2017. Well, that's my Christmas card for this week! Phew... another card for my stash! I hope to find more of my inks and card stock so I can share something a little different next week.

Here's a look at the fun {BYSHC} Sketch 15 for the month of October!

I hope you'll join us and play along with the sketch! If you're interested in seeing a bit more inspiration, check out the {BYSH} Cardmakers blog! I'll be back next Friday with another cute Christmas card!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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A Real Witch ~ All Things Halloween Challenge ~ Unity Stamp Co.

 Hello there crafty friend!

I'm super excited to be hosting the October challenge over at the Unity Show & Tell!! This month's challenge is All Things Halloween!! I love making Halloween cards but it's also fun to make tags, scrapbook pages, journal pages... oh, and don't forget little treat bags for those adorable trick-or-treaters! 

Today I'm sharing a fun Halloween card using the beautiful new A Real Witch stamp that just released and I just had to pair it up with the new Coffee Components stamps... they were made to go together. Well not really, but you know what I mean! 

I love how the purple and green mixed to make a wicked brown... a perfect touch for a little coffee element!

I colored up the witch with the following Copic markers:

 

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11

Hair ~ C00, C3, C5

Nails / Ring ~ YG11, YG13, V01, V04

Hat ~ N0, N1, N4, N6. N8, V0000, V01, V04

Clothes ~ YG11, YG13, V0000, V01, V04

Mug ~ C00, C3

Thanks SO much for stopping by today! Be sure to visit the Unity blog for more information on my card! I sure hope you'll join in the fun over at the Unity Show & Tell group! I can't wait to see all your amazing and fun Halloween creations! I'll see you all back here next Thursday with another fun Halloween card for the All Things Halloween Challenge!

Supplies Used:

A Real Witch

Coffee Components

Gina K Black Amalgam ink

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity October 2021 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

Welcome to our October 2021 Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!! Does it seem fast to you, too?! Our hop this month has such a fun cue...

Technique!! I had SO many ideas... it's truly been mind boggling trying to decide which technique to use for this hop! I did finally decide on one simply because I hadn't done it before and I had the perfect stencil to help me do it!

So... I chose to do the Bokeh Technique. Have you tried this technique before? I've always admired cards used with this technique but in all of my 20+ years of cardmaking I haven't once used this technique myself. I remembered though that I have the cool Bokeh Stencil set from Newton's Nook and let me tell you... this stencil made this technique SO easy!! I love it and I'm hooked! I'll be using this one again and again! Anywho... so I started with a couple fun ink blended backgrounds.

For my first card I ink blended Mermaid Lagoon, Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide inks. And then using a Jumbo Round Sponge Dauber from Gina K Designs I added Sugar Cube white pigment ink from Taylored Expressions over the first stencil in the Bokeh Stencil set. I replaced the first stencil with the second stencil in the set and applied more white pigment ink. Now, I decided to experiment on my next step. For my first card, I used the Gina K Designs Black Amalgam ink and it kinda blended into the background which it's cool... I love the effect! I used the fabulous Insightful Meadows stamp for my cards... love these stamps! I should play with them more often! And I also used a cute little butterfly stamp from the Within Each of Us stamp set. 

For my second card, I used the Wilted Violet, Kitsch Flamingo and Broken China Distress Oxide inks and used the same Sugar Cube white pigment ink over the stencils. After applying my Ranger Anti-Static pouch all over the dried background, I stamped the flowers and the butterflies with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and melted a fine black embossing powder.

To finish off the cards, I stamped the sentiment from the Aging Gorgeously {July 2020 Sentiment Kit} with Wow Clear embossing ink on True Black card stock and melted Alabaster White embossing powder with my Mini Wagner Heat Tool. I trimmed the sentiments and popped them up on the cards. This time the flowers and butterflies became the focal piece of the card. I love how this one turned out, too! I really can't choose between them. What do you think? Which one is your favorite? 

That's it for me this time! I hope you'll try out a new technique and have some fun! Please hop along and enjoy some more inspiration from the Friends of Unity... I can't wait to see all the different techniques being shared! I'm sure that some of my friends are having a giveaway so be sure to comment as you hop along.

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

Eileen

April

Dawn B.

Rachel

Colleen

Dawn F.

Joyce

Alaine

 

Robyn

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge 15 ~ Milk & Cookies ~ Doodlebug Design

 Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first of October and that means there's a new sketch challenge over at the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group! Today I'm sharing my first card using the fun {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge #15... another fun mini slimline!! I just love this size of card!

So... can I tell you a secret? Promise not to tell. This isn't actually a full card. It's a card front! LOL! See my family just moved and I'm slowly unpacking my studio. I haven't found my Scor-pal yet so I just cut a card front for this card... thank goodness I was able to find a couple of my old holiday card kits. This is an old card kit (December 2017, in fact!) from Simon Says Stamp called Milk & Cookies which makes sense since it uses the Milk & Cookies papers from Doodlebug Design. I also happened to have some Milk & Cookies Odds & Ends die cut pieces that I had tossed in with the card kit and this sweet puppy and candy piece came from that pack. 

I used the Desert Storm card stock for my 6 x 3" card front and I used the Tropical Tide Glitter card stock for my mat behind the sprinkles papers. Both of those card stocks were included in the card kit. To finish off the card, I cut one of the sentiment strips from the papers. Absolutely no stamping for this card... I still need to find my ink pads! Heehee! But I think it turned out pretty cute and I'm super happy that I'm keeping to my goal of at least one Christmas card a week!

Here's a look at the fun {BYSHC} Sketch 15 for the month of October!

I hope you'll join us and play along with the sketch! If you're interested in seeing a bit more inspiration, check out the {BYSH} Cardmakers blog! I'll be back with another cute Christmas card next week!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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