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 Stamps Challenge #117 - A is for Apple

I'm liking Edna's latest head gear, but please don't mistake her latest apparel for a hat. This fortnight we are celebrating APPLES for Challenge #113 over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

I discovered that I have zero apple stamps or images in my stash, but was delighted to discover this sweet little Vera Lane cutie with her pineapple head wear! I love her paired with this sentiment.

Why not check-out our latest challenge... I never knew apples could be so punny and amusing! You can find all the fabulousness by heading here...

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday #481

What a joy to have time to post in WoYWW again after such a long break!

As you can see my desk is in need of a tidy up as my crafting space is getting smaller and smaller. Actually, I really will need to tidy up before the weekend as I'm planning to turn an old duvet cover into some new scatter cushions for our conservatory.

On my desk at the moment I have a semi-failed 'Fast Watercolouring' attempt, which I tried after being 'wowed' by Chris's beautiful card here. Not sure if I can salvage that one - ideas welcome!

Over on the far left of my desk you can see a newly arrived Grab Bag from Unity stamps won on the Growing in Unity FB group a couple of weeks ago. Whoop, whoop! In the middle of my craft mat you can see the set of stamps and the die I'm about to use to make my next Card Chain Challenge card. This one of my most favourite challenges of all time (not just because I'm an admin of the challenge) because you send and receive a card. I think this is such a fun thing to do as you know just how much love and care has gone into the beautiful handmade card you'll receive. It's a none pressure group and people can play along for a while and then drop out, while others play for years and years... and may be addicted to their monthly card fix! In a way I guess it's pretty similar to Julia's WoYWW in that it enables arty folk to make connections with fellow crafters and to chat a little about why we love doing what we do! 

Now I think it's time to grab a cuppa and see what my fellow Wednesday crafters have been getting up to. Many thanks to the lovely Julia for making this possible for all of us four hundred and eighty-one times!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #116 - D is for Denim

I wonder if Edna thinks she looks as good as we all did when we dressed like this?

This time at SoSS we have D is for Denim for you for your entertainment and enjoyment.

I have to be honest and say that I really struggled with this theme. I played around with the idea of 'jeans and genes' on the recommendation of Sister Toni, but just couldn't make it work with the stamps I have. Thankfully, this cute little Hero Arts cupcake stamp came to my rescue after I found a jeans related meme on Pinterest.

For some reason I decided to try to create some fluffy frosting with liquid applique. I now need a new tube of liquid applique, but it was quite a fun thing to try.

My sistahs have had the most amazing time with this challenge and we think you will too, so please head on over and enjoy the fun!

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - July 2018

EDITED: Oh, dear... I wasn't going to 'reveal' this card until I'd heard from my recipient to say it had arrived, but I forgot that I'd set this post to publish. Duh! I hope Helen won't be too upset if she sees her card here. I won't add it to the reveal over at CCC until I get the nod from her.

It's reveal time again at CCC!

As always, you can see that I monkeyed around with the sketch and the colour combos.

I had such fun creating this card, using Gillfriends from BB at My Favourite Things. The water was created with Distress Inks and then sprayed with lots of Tattered Lace sparkly stuff. It looks gorgeous IRL.

My sender for this month was the lovely Shylaa. For her card she stuck to the sketch and created this bright and cheery little beauty. Great photography too! You can see Shylaa's post and the card she received by clicking here.

The August Sign-up is still open if you'd like to play along with us. We have new players and twenty-two lovely, talented card makers in the link-up; could you make it 23?

I'm also linking to the current Monday Challenge of Wild Things over at Simon Says Stamp, where the DT gang have once again surpassed themselves with fabulous inspiration on this fun theme.