The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #277 - A is for Animals

Welcome, welcome, welcome! The Sisterhood and Good Queen Jenn, are playing - A is for Animals and we'd LOVE you to come and join us. 

My offering isn't on the snarky side, but does have cute in abundance.

Just look at these Unity sheep from the set Shear Surprise. They are currently on sale... just sayin'. 

As always, we would love for you to join the sisterhood and play along.

Penny Black Fun!

Hi there, today I'm playing along at The Penny Black Saturday Challenge! They have an Anything Goes/Something New Challenge on offer and my card features a new-to-me image from the set Happy Critters which I bought here a few weeks ago. 

Aren't the cats adorable? The background is embossed in white with a balloon stamp from Unity. I decided not to add a sentiment and placed the column of kitties centre-stage. 

There are some fun cards in the gallery , so why not head over and take a look! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #223 - Q is for Queen

 

Edna's looking very regal today (and possibly a bit chilly too) as she dons a crown to help the Sisterhood play Q is for Queen!

To be honest, I had a little trouble getting rolling with this theme, but once I spotted a gorgeous Hero Arts background everything clicked.

I inked a piece of water colour card in Distress ink and then spritzed the stamp with water and pressed it onto the card. I left it there for a minute or two so that the water soaked in. The effect looks really good and, surprisingly, there's a lovely texture too. A VLVS image, a Unity Sentiment, a tiny Unity Grab Bag crown and I was done!

I'm delighted that my special blogging buddy Gail is our queen for this challenge. Please come over and see what Queen Gail and the team have created! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #179 - Q is for Queen

 

Just look at that graphic - do we have the best graphics goddess or what! 

Yes, another stunning Edna signals a new challenge for the sisterhood, and I can guarantee you'll be singing Bohemian Rhapsody for the rest of the day!

It took me a little while to get my head around this one, but once I'd found a teeny, tiny crown in a Unity Grab Bag I was away!

The sistahs have created some fabulously regal fun for this challenge, so please head on over and take a look!

Less is More

 

I was delighted to see the first theme of 2021 at LIM was Fashion and Accessories and knew immediately which stamp I wanted to ink up.

Isn't this one a beaut? I've had it for ages. It's from Inkadinkado and I believe it's called My Mother's Dress, although I've seen it listed under other names too. Unfortunately, it's no longer available anywhere that I can find.

It's a while since I last used this stamp so I thought I'd bring things right up to date by using the Pantone Colours of 2021 and smooshy watercolouring.

The sentiment is from a Unity Grab bag and I love how well the image and the font style match. The embossing folder is from Crafts Too.

The LIM gallery and DT inspiration cards are a delight, so I'm grabbing a coffee and heading over to take a look! Take care and stay safe!

Something beginning with B... Last day!

Here I am, as promised, with my final card for Challenge #113 over at Lost Coast.

I had heaps of fun making this card!

This cute little guy is Strange Bird from Unity and the die cut is a beauty from Stamplorations. I'm sorry to say that the embossing folder, which is a lovely leaf pattern, is an oldie and I've lost the details.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this little trio - I've had fun making and sharing them with you. Lost Coast is a lovely, inspiring challenge blog and deserves many more followers and entrants, so please head on over and take a look. There will be a new challenge starting very soon!

Take care and keep safe.

Something beginning with B... again.

 

Hi there, I'm back with my second card for the current Lost Coast Challenge.

Both of these stamps are from a Unity Grab Bag I was lucky enough to win a couple of years ago. I think they work rather well together. The background is a smooch of Distress Inks on watercolour paper. I recoloured the sweet bird and the hearts to make them stand out.

The challenge finishes tomorrow and I'll be back with my final card in the morning. Stay safe, peeps!

You're Unbelievable!

There's another fun challenge on offer over at Lost Coast and Carmen's Veranda...

and I simply HAD to play along!

I've had this cute stamp for a very, very long time. It's a Suzi Blu stamp called Elena Seaside and was produced by Unity Stamps about ten years ago. Isn't she a beaut? I can't believe that I've not inked her up until now. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Loveable Legends set.

I knew I wanted to have her swimming in the sea, but wasn't sure how to achieve the look of water. Then I tried colouring some vellum with Distress Inks and discovered this worked perfectly! A little die cutting and I was done.

I'll probably give this card to my niece as it's her birthday next month, so I decided not to adhere the mermaid to the card for a little added whimsy and fun!

This would have kept me entertained for hours as a child, but I doubt my niece will be quite as excited as I would have been - I was a child of simple tastes who loved to make up stories!

This challenge runs until April 30th, so there's still plenty of time to play along!

Stay safe, and keep crafting!

Growing in Unity Blog Hop!

Turns out that this is my 700th Blog post!

The girls from July and August 2018 Growing in Unity are delighted to be hop, hop, hopping today!

If you are following the hop you should have arrived from Helen Smit's blog.

Here's the full hop in case you get lost along the way!

Jennifer Mitten
Jeanie Marie Hays
Denise Sayers
Sue Nagata
Aimee Phillips 

Helen Smit
Jo Avery - You are here!

Teresa Godines.

For my hop creations I decided to use the gorgeous kit I picked as my GIU prize: Stories to Tell (smak 8/18).

I've not had time to play with this set, so picked out the stunning smaller sunflower image to be the focal point of my card and tag. I think it was this image that originally drew me to the set.

Just look at all the different images in this kit - what a beaut! You can see why I bagged this one as my prize.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit here today. Don't forget to leave a comment as there are two lovely Unity prize packs up for grabs along the route of the hop.

Thanks for hopping with the GUI gals today. Your next stop is the blog of the lovely Teresa Godines. Have fun, and thanks for visiting!

Growing in Unity - Day #5

Thanks for joining me for my final day of GIU.

Today, we are kinda back where we started on day #1 with Whatever Comes Next by Angie Blom. I really do love this stamp set!

This time, she was coloured (with Promarkers and pencil crayons) and cut out so that I could drop her onto a stenciled background. I'm loving grey and yellow as a colour combo right now, so decided to go with this for my grande finale make! The sentiment is from the set, and a few pieces of washi tape complete the card.

Thanks for your company this week; don't forget to comment on each of my posts to go into the draw for a fabulous 25 stamp Unity grab bag! Thanks also to Kelli and all the gang over at Unity FB for giving me the chance to be a GIU girl!

Growing in Unity - Day #4

Holy moly, how can this be day #4 of my GIU week?

For my card today I got smooshy with water colour paper and Distress Inks and Oxides.

I really love this Itty bitty Summer Citrus stamp as it's just so much fun! The image was stamped onto the paper using my Misti and then I heat embossed with clear powder. I used my stamping block to smoosh the inks onto the paper and set it aside to air dry. After everything was dry I went back in with ink on a slim bush to add detail to the glasses and leaves. The cute sentiment comes with the stamp. I hope you like the effect of the limited palette of colours - I always think there is something super-summery about pinks and yellows together.

Thanks for joining me for day #4, and don't forget to leave a comment to be 'in it to win it' when I draw the two lucky grab-bag recipients after my final day of GIU tomorrow.

Growing in Unity - Day #3

Welcome to day #3 of my GIU week! Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, I'm sorry I have a 'no reply' thingy on my blog, but please know that I'm reading them all each day!

Hands up if you love paper-piecing Unity images? Yep, me too! 

For today's card I decided to use this sweet image called: More like a Sister. I achieved a CAS look by using the image of the girls, but I'm sure the more artistic of you could create a lovely scene with a gorgeous sunset - there are so many possibilities with this set! The paper-piecing is subtle here, which I think works well for this image.

Whenever I'm paper-piecing, I try to find patterns that don't look out of proportion with the characters. Also, I think it's a great way to use up those precious little scraps of pretty paper that we just can't bear to throw away!

Thanks for dropping by again today and don't forget to leave a comment so I can put your name into the grab-bag draw at the end of the week! See you tomorrow for day #4.

Growing in Unity - Day #2

Welcome back, it's day #2 of my GIU week and I'm buzzing to share my second card with you.

I think this little beauty may have been a free gift as I can't trace it over at Unity, but if it's gorgeous sunflowers you're after there's plenty right here.

To make my card I selected water colour paper and stamped my image in Versa Fine ink. This gave a nice, crisp image to emboss with Hero Arts clear embossing powder. I used a stencil to create a soft Distress Ink background after carefully masking the main image. I then watercoloured with matching Distress Inks and matted and layered in coordinating colours.

I don't know about you, but I tend to find it easier to water colour embossed images. I think this has something to do with the raised surfaces created by the embossing powder: it makes little 'reservoirs' which contain the ink/paint perfectly.

Thanks for sharing day #2 with me. You can find day #1 here if you missed it. Don't forget to drop by again tomorrow, and leave a comment to be in with a chance to win a 25 stamp grab bag at the end of the week. I'll be randomly drawing the names of two lucky people and it could be you!

Growing in Unity - Day #1

Welcome to day #1 of my Growing in Unity posts!

I'm delighted to be the GIU girl for this week and am very grateful for the chance to showcase some of the gorgeous products available from Unity Stamp Co.

I've long been a fan of Unity stamps and can actually remember a time when you could purchase their products here in the UK (I have the Susie Blu stamps to prove it!). I've swooned over all things Unity for quite a while, and eventually decided to take the plunge and buy the stamps direct from the company in the US. This turned out to be a very simple and pain-free thing to do... Almost too painless, if you know what I mean!

I thought I'd start my week with one of my all time favourite Unity images. Is it just my imagination or does this actually look more than a little like someone rather special at Unity?

Whatever Comes Next by Angie Blom

I used my Misti to get a good, crisp image and then partially coloured using my Promarkers. I just thought this was a different effect to try. The sentiment stamp comes from a grab bag which I won on my friend Gail's GIU week last year.

I very much hope you've enjoyed my first day as a Growing in Unity girl. Don't forget to visit and comment on my blog each day this week so you can be in with a chance of winning a fabulous 25 stamp grab bag donated by those lovely people at Unity.

See you tomorrow for day #2!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #108 - X is for Xyloid

So, I had to do a little enquiry work before beginning work on my card for this challenge:

'Definition of xyloid: resembling wood, having the qualities or nature of wood, woody, ligneous.'

Now that we've got that sorted, here's my creation... Is this woody and ligneous enough for you, Edna?

I just love this stamp from Unity. Perhaps this should be stamped on my forehead as a warning to all and sundry! I stamped in Blue Versafine and then used some lovely Stampin' Up papers as I thought they'd pair well with the wood effect paper. Always love blue and brown together.

The sistahs have had a total Snarkfest with this, so please head on over for a giggle...

The Library Challenge #4 - Memoirs of a Geisha

What a fabulous book cover (and what a fabulous book!) - Marina has done us proud again with great inspiration for her fourth Library Challenge.

It's quite a long time since I read this book, but I do seem to remember that I enjoyed it very much. I purposefully avoided the film in 2005 as I wanted the pictures in my head to be the images from the book and not the movie. Anyone else do that when they love a book?

Here's my take on the inspiration. I used this beautiful Donna Downey image (Colliope) from Unity Stamps and limited the palette to the colours of the book cover. The actual image is huge, so I just used a portion of it.

The other entries in this challenge are gorgeous and well worth a look if you haven't already seen them. Marina is dropping hints about Challenge #5 and she says:

 "Challenge 5 starts on Sunday April 15th and we'll be heading back to the children's section for a book with a number in the title." 

How very intriguing! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #87 - A is for Arty

It's mixed-media time over at the Sisterhood for our new challenge.

To be totally honest, I wasn't looking forward to this challenge as I've never considered myself to be a 'mixed media' kinda gal! Once I'd stopped panicking, I decided to use a favourite Vera Lane image; colouring with Promarkers and Prismacolour pencils. I adore Janet's quirky, fun designs.
The background was created with stamps, paints and stencils, and a Waffle Flower die. I LOVED creating the layered background and brayered away to my heart's content... I think I may just be a mixed media girl after all!

I'm pretty pleased with result, and only hope that the recipient likes it!

My super-talented Sistahs are far more confident and competent when it comes to mixed media, so why not go take a look and come get all arty with us for Challenge #87!