Merry Christmas Water Color Trees

Hello everyone. I sat down to make what I thought would be a quick card, but I forgot water colors hate me. Or maybe I hate them?  It actually took two tries to get close to what I was trying for. I saw this awesome poster in a Tuesday Morning window and it had really colorful trees with white lines. Then I got my November kit of the month from Unity Stamp Co and it 5 adorable pine trees in it.

I pulled out some water color paper and started stamping the trees and heat embossing them with white embossing powder. I water colored some "tree" shapes over them with 3 different colors. I used those same colors to splatter over the card.  

The sentiment was made from two different kits. I had a giant Merry Christmas in one kit, but it wouldn't all fit. So I did some creative masking of Christmas on another set. I used Distress Oxide in Mowed Lawn for the sentiment. I ripped the edges and mounted it on green card stock.

Stamps used:

Wonder-trees

A Christmas Hello-merry

Full of Merry-Christmas

December Friends of Unity Blog Hop

Hello everyone. It's that time of month again for the Friends of Unity Blog Hop. You are going to want to be sure to check out the full hop this month. It is our 2 year anniversary and there are lots of prizes. I am giving away a prize on my blog but be sure to scroll down to see the other amazing prizes. We also have some wonderful guest designers joining us to really celebrate.

I decided to do some Nativity cards to go along with our theme this month.

This first card uses a tiny Itty Bitty called Brightly Shining and a beautiful background stamp called Flourish Wonder. I used used Gina K ink in Fresh Asparagus and Red Hot along with some Neenah Desert Storm card stock to make this simple but pretty cards.

This image from Lying in a Manger was stamped and embossed in gold. Then I embossed the scalloped frame because I didn't have any solid gold paper. The background is gold foil paper from a paper pack from Hobby Lobby.

This card uses the stamp set O' Holy Blessed Night and Copic Markers. I just used some post it tape to mask off the edges and filled in the background with my Copic markers. I dotted colorless blender for the "stars". Some simple coloring finishes this off. 

Friends of Unity Blog Hop turns 2 this month. We are celebrating by giving away 2 amazing prize packages from Unity Stamp Co. All you have to do is comment on every blog to be entered to win. Winners will be announced December 14th on the Unity Show & Tell Facebook page. So be sure to join or check there on the 14th.

Be sure to follow along with the hop and comment to win!

Crystal

Eileen

Joyce

Dawn B

Alaine-you are here

Kim

Amber

Jeanie

Dawn F

Robyn

Donna

Shannon

Jessica

Hello Gnomie card

Hello. Today I was playing around with a fun digital image from SheepSki Designs.

I had a blast coloring it and have a few more printed out to try some different coloring techniques.

I printed this great image using a laser printer on my Neenah 80lb card stock. I have to admit I didn't keep track of the colors I used. Scroll down and you will see why. I picked to red combos, two blue and two green combos for the hats. I tried to give the beards some texture. I will be coloring this image again just to try some other techniques.

Aren't these guys just the cutest?

I used a zig zag cover die in black and mounted it on black card stock. The gnome image is also matted in black. It looks much better in person. The sentiment is from a Unity Stamp co set I own.

It looks like my marker case exploded all over my desk. Yes, I really used this many markers to color this image. The sad thing is I feel like it really needed some better techniques. Hopefully practice will make perfect.

Supplies used:

Garden Party-gnome selfie

Things Take Time-sentiment

Peony cards

I have a couple of cards using some different peony stamps from Unity Stamp Co.

This first one uses an older set with a lot of fussy cutting.

I started by cutting a frame die in white and using a small spring stamp to randomly stamp all around it. I stamped 2 peonies and to leaf/stems and colored them up. I used four colors of pink Copics using the 3 lightest on one flower and the 3 darkest on the other. I arranged them in and around the frame and tacked them in place with some glue. I stamped a flourish background and heat embossed it with white embossing powder for the back ground. I cut that down with a stitch die and matted it in black. The frame and flowers were centered on that.

If you look close you can see the white embossing. It's really pretty in person. I realized too late that my stem and slipped to the side so it's in a strange place. 

The second card uses a couple of stamps from Unity Stamp Co.'s November Kit of the Month. It is entered in a black and white challenge on their Facebook Show and Tell board.

I stamped the border stamp using my Misti on one edge, then I just flipped the card around to do the other side to get them same placement.

Copics used:

Light flower: R81, R83, R85

Dark Flower: R83, R85, R89

Centers: Y15, YR23

Leaves: YR23, YG63, YG67

Stamps used:

Step Out Peony-pink flowers and leaves-outline images only

Flourish Wonder-embossed background

Girl Truly-sentiment

Wonder-spring on frame & flower and border on black & white card

Raven Girl card

Hello everyone. I spent most of October planning and hosting my daughter's baby shower. It went amazing and I was so happy to do this for her. Now I am getting back into my regular routine of making whatever the inspiration wants me to. Unity Stamp Co has a line of stamps called Angie Girls created by the amazing Angie Blom. They were on sale this week and I had to get some that have been on my wish list forever. I decided to make a card using one I haven't gotten to yet while I wait for my order to come.

This is Raven girl. Isn't she amazing. I love that Angie girls come in all sizes and shapes. Unity Stamp Co also started making and selling their own patterned papers recently. This layout uses 2 pieces from one of the packs. I used this paper for my color inspiration.

Copics used:

Shirt-RV93, RV95, RV99

Pants & hat-colored everything with C3, then used E25 & E29

Vase-E42, E43

Flowers-B95, center E25

Leaves-YG83

Hair-E08, E39, E29

Skin-E00, E21

Supplies used:

Raven Girl-sentiment and image

Autumn Dream-paper pack

Friends of Unity November Blog Hop-Giving Thanks

Welcome to the November Friends of Unity Blog Hop.

My card is pretty traditional for the theme. I had a lot of fun making it because I got to use a gel plate background I made some time ago. I had a couple of  full size sheets of paper I had played with and then stuck in the closet. I finally pulled them out and decided to cut them down with a stitched rectangle die to see if I would come up with a way to use them. This panel was just sitting there and I thought, hey, it's fall colors I'm going to use it.

Our theme this month is Giving Thanks.

I started by putting it in my Misty and stamped this swirly leave stamp randomly all over it with Distress Oxide in frayed burlap. I just moved the stamp and paper all around to fill it it. Then I used Distress Oxide in antique linen and frayed burlap to blend over the lighter areas in the background and bring the colors closer to what I was doing with my leaf stamp.

I colored and fussy cut the leaf. I die cut a square and used Distress Oxide antique linen and frayed burlap to ink it up. I used Distress Oxide in ground espresso to ink mats for the leaf, sentiment and backgound paper. I stamped the sentiment and inked it with the same to Distress oxides. I matted every think with my custom colored mats and assembled it by mounting the leaf and sentiment panel with foam tape.

Copics used:

Leaf: YR23, YR24, E55

Stamps used:

Simple Blessings-Swirl background

Autumn Dream-sentiment

Change can be Beautiful-leaf

This last card is a bonus. I have spent the month of October preparing a baby shower for my daughter. It's today. I decided to make her a stack of Thank you cards as part of her gift. I kept them very simple because of time constraints and I wanted them one layer for mailing purposes. This is what I came up with. Just simple stamping and one element colored with color pencil for no bleed through. 

 It is me giving Thank yous to my daughter so she can Give Thanks to those who came to her shower.

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog hop!!!

Crystal

Eileen

Kim

Alaine-you are here

Jeanie

Dawn B.

Bobbie Sue

Joyce

Dawn F.

Robyn

Happy Birthday cup card

Hello. My son's birthday was this weekend so I made a few birthday cards. I ended up giving him an older one I had made but I thought I would share the last one I made on the blog

I just can't resist trying to make my own backgrounds with my Copic markers. 

I started my coloring random rectangles with BG72 all over my A2 card panel. I took a .03 permanent pen and drew loosely inside the colored rectangles. Then I took BG70 and colored all the white space. I trimmed that down 1/8" on the top and side and mounted it on black card stock.

I colored the image and then used used BG70 to wash the white card stock around it and the sentiment. I used the same black pen to draw a border around them. These were mounted on black and well and then popped up with foam tape.

Copics used:

Background: BG70, BG72

Cup: BG70, BG72, BG75

Cream: E40

Grounding: W5

Stamps used:

Coffee Lovers-cup

Change can be Beautiful-sentiment

Hello My Friend-autumn colors

I just got this lovely lady and decided to use her with some Autumn colors to enter a challenge on the Unity Stamp Co.'s Show & Tell Facebook page.

I started by making my ink blended background first so I could color her up in similar colors. 

I blended Distress Oxides in aged mahogany, rusted hinge, fossilized amber, and pealed paint.

I then took a couple of small leaf stamps that were similar to the leaves in the girl stamp. I randomly stamped them all around with Distress Oxide in ground espresso.

I stamped up the girl and colored her and then used a light hand to blend fossilized amber and rusty hinge around the edges. I also did that to the sentiment.

I trimmed the girl and background down and matted them on green card stock. I wrapped some twine around the background before attaching it to a card base. The girl is popped up with foam tape.

Colors used:

Scarf-Y32, YR23, YR24

Leaves-YR24, YR27, YG63

Hair-E43, E44, E49

Skin- E00, E11, E21

Jacket-E15, E17, E19

Shirt & coffee cup band- YG61, YG73

Bag- YG63, YG67

Coffee cup-E42, E43

Stamps used:

A Little Warmth-girl

Change Can be Beautiful-sentiment

Fall Leaves Bright Leaves-leaves on background

Cuddlebug Werewolf Card

I love the line of Cuddlebug stamps drawn by Tierra Jackson. Most of them are stamp kits sold by Unity Stamp Co. A few are digital images you can purchase straight from her. This werewolf is one of the digital images. Isn't he just the cutest?!

I printed him out with a laser printer and colored him with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol.

I matted him with some yellow spider web paper that I used Distress Oxide Soot to distress the edges. The sentiment comes from a Cuddlebug stamp set.

Supplies used:

Werewolf-digital image

Bride of Frank-sentiment

Be sure to go to Unity Stamp Co and search Cuddlebug to see the entire adorable collection of stamps in this line.

Simple Blessings card

I am not feeling well today but I really wanted to make something. I decided on simple stamping using my inks for color rather than coloring an image with my Copics.

I am working my way through some new stamp sets. I found one recently that I loved all the images and can't wait so see what else I can come up with.

I started with a piece of Neenah Desert Storm card stock and took the 3 leave images from the set and randomly stamped them in Distress Oxide Ground Espresso.  I cut that down so that it measured 3 7/8" x 5 1/8". I inked the edges of an A2 size piece of card stock with Ground Espresso to mat the leaf piece on.

I took a scrap of Desert Storm card stock and stamped the pumpkin in Distress Oxide Rusty Hinge. Then I inked the top and bottom edge of the pumpkin with Distress Oxide Fired Brick and used my finger to soften the inside edges before stamping over the  Rusty Hinge. I used Ground Espresso on the stem. Then I stamped over the entire thing with Versamark embossing ink and heat embossed it with clear powder. I cut a mat and inked the edges with Ground Espresso and distressed the edges.

The sentiment was done the same way. I stamped it with Distress Oxide Rusty Hinge and then randomly added Fired Brick and Ground Espresso in a few places. Again using my finger to soften the edges of the ink on the stamp before stamping it down over the first layer. I also clear embossed the sentiment as well. It makes the Distress Oxide inks really pop.

I lightly blended some Distress Oxide in Ground Espresso around the edges of the sentiment, leaf, and pumpkin panel before I matted them. I mounted the sentiment and pumpkin panel on the leaf base with foam tape.

I used Simple Blessings from Unity Stamp Co for the card.

Friends of Unity October Blog Hop-Change

Happy World Cardmaking Day!!!.  I think that makes it a great day for the Friends of Unity Blog Hop.

 This month's theme is Change. Wow, what a hard one for me. I gave it quite a bit of thought. I tried to think about what images came to mind with change. Being the beginning of Fall of course I thought about the changing colors of the leaves. I also thought of caterpillars to butterflies. But I got a lovely new stamp in the mail last week and along with a beautiful sentiment from another kit, I decided to go a different route.

My first card uses this amazing background by Angie Blom and Unity.

 I thought the pathway into the woods would work beautifully with this sentiment to maybe send love and encouragement to someone making a big change in their life. This was colored with Copics. I will list all the supplies below. 

I wasn't super happy with just one card so at the last minute I decided to see what butterfly stamps and sentiments I had. I found this one and knew I had to make a card with it also.

This butterfly has been a favorite on mine since the day I first saw it. And this sentiment also seems to be perfect for someone making  a change in their life. I colored this one with Copics also but I just had to add some metallic gold splatters. I am sorry they don't show up well in the pictures but they are lovely in person.

And now for the winner from last months blog post. DebbieR, please email me within 2 weeks at Alaine63@gmail.com to claim your prize.

DebbieRSeptember 12, 2019 at 6:55 AM

Love the magnets but the card is great too!

Now for the rest of the hop!
Crystal

Kim

Eileen

Alaine-you are here

Dawn B.

Joyce

Dawn F.

Copics used:

Pathway-E40, E42, E43, E44

Grass-YG61, YG63, YG67

Sky-B21, B23

Trees-E23, E25, E27, E29

Butterfly & flowers-V20, V22, V25

Centers-Y26

Leaves-YG61, G94

Stamps used:

A Walk in the Woods-background

Being Who You Are-sentiment

Allow Yourself-butterfly and sentiment

Killer Halloween Frank

Hello. I spent the afternoon shopping for Halloween costume fabric with my daughters yesterday so I guess I am still in a Halloween mood.

I loved watching the old black and white horror movies with my Mom when I was a kid so today I tried to color with image like it stepped out of one of those movies. Although Frank is far to cute to be that scary.

I colored him with 3 families of gray Copic markers. I even used a Copic marker to color the edges of the matching mats. The spider web strip was left over from my witch card I posted a few days ago.

Copics used:

Border-C5

Skin-C2, C3

Boots & bolt-N4, N5

Clothes-W3, W5, with C2 under and over it.

Then I used a C00 to color over all the white space on the image, sentiment and spider web piece.

Supplies used:

Frank-image

Bride of Frank-sentiment

Entanglement-border strip

You Say Witch....

Hello all. Just stopping by to share a really quick card I made this afternoon.

Unity Stamp Co has a line of stamps called Angie Girls. I adore them. They also have a ton of witch stamps which I also adore. So Esmerelda Girl is perfect for me.

I stamped her off to the side on an A2 size piece of card stock and colored her up. I trimmed that down so it was 1/8" smaller on all four sides. She looked like she was missing something so I smudged Distress Oxide ink in Hickory Smoke around her.  The web came from a wonderful border/background stamp. I just cut some of the pieces out and arranged a couple of them so they were popped up on the edge.

Colors used

Dress- R37, R39, RV69

Straw broom-YR23, Y15, E25

Hair-E44, E47

Belt-YR23, Y15, silver colored pencil

Skin- E00, E11

Stamps Used

Esmerelda Girl-witch

Entanglement-border background stamp

I Think You're Special Flower Card

Hello. I wanted to make a quick card with a delicate feel today. I think this has just the feel I was going for.

Each part was colored with just one Copic marker. I waited for it to dry and then I used the same marker color to add some shading. Really quick and easy. I stamped the sentiment and then die cut the panel with one of my favorite dies. I mounted it flat on an A2 card blank.

Copic Colors used:

White flower center- BG10

Darker Pink flower-RV00

Lighter Pink Flower-RV91

Leaves-YG11

Flower center-Y00

Shadow/outline-B0000 and C00

Supplies used:

Every Single Day-flower & sentiment

Pleated Lace Rectangle die

Here are some older cards I have made with this stamp set. You can get some really different looks just by changing up how you color it. 

Matching Boots and Hat Halloween card

Hello everyone. I am super excited to share this card. As soon as I saw this Halloween set show up on Polka Dot Orchard digital stamps, I knew I had to buy it.

I spent an hour learning how to use Photoshop Elements just so I could combine the boots and hat exactly how I wanted. Bonus that I learned enough to draw in the basic floor lines also.

Are these not the cutest witch boots you have ever seen? I know my coloring didn't do them justice so I will be trying again. I can see them in all the Halloween colors.

I started in Photoshop Elements by layering the boots and hat and adding the sentiment. I decided it looked like they had been tossed down by a tired witch so I used the draw tool to draw in lines for the baseboard and flooring. I then searched the internet for a free spider web graphic in a .png file and added that to the wall.  I used this tutorial to color the flooring. Copic Wood Texture Tutorial

I wanted the walls to have and aged, dirty look so I used this image from the internet for my inspiration. I colored them with Copic markers but it might have been easier to use some Distress inks and blending.

Copics used:

Floor: E13, E35, E37, E59

Baseboard: E41, E71, E44

Trim on boots & hat: V20, V22, V25 and gold metallic Prismacolor pencil

Main color of boots & hat: C4, C5, C6, C7

Wall: G20, YG61, YG63 and E42. Lots of layering.

Digital stamp set used:

Best Witches-boots, hat and sentiment

Free spider web from the internet.

Wrapped Around My Finger-mummy

I had to have the Halloween Cuddlebug stamps by Tierra Jackson that Unity Stamp Co just came out with. I love the Cuddlebugs to begin with and these are simply adorable. I love that several of them have sentiments that can be used for other things besides Halloween. This mummy is the perfect example

Isn't he the cutest. I colored everything with Prismacolor pencils. I used the warm grays for the mummy and the background. The spider is the darkest cool gray and the outline was sepia. Everything was blended with Gamsol. The sentiment is stamped in Archival Distress Hickory Smoke.

I really wanted to make a mummy wrap background for this image. I took my cue from his wrap and just used a fine tip pen to draw some lines. I used the same warm gray pencils and Gamsol to color it in. I made the edge a bit curvy and cut along it so that it was slightly smaller than an A2 card.

Last week, I made a card using the Count. He is just has fun and versatile as the mummy.

My friend Echo makes the most amazing cards and I had to use her Distress Oxide blended background and make one of my own for the Count. I just used a circle die to make a mask for the circle.  Distress Oxides used: Fossilized Amber, Stormy Skies, Black Soot.

Copics used:

cape-All over with C3, then I used BV23 and BV 25 over that. 

Clothes-C4, C5, C7

Frog & bottle YG06, YG11 & C3 over all the frog first.

Supplies used:

Cuddlebug Mummy

Cuddlebug Count

Double Stitched Inside Out Stitched Rectangle Die