Unity Stamps Challenges

Hello again friends!!

Last week I entered two challenges at Unity Stamps.

The Color Challenge April 14 – 21

 

Using teal and green combination, I made this card for baby. Earlier in the day I made a card for my sister who was going to a baby shower but I didn’t take a picture of it.  So I made this one using a Sizzix die I found on sale at Hobby Lobby, by Stephanie Barnard,  Triple Circle Flip-its.  I couldn’t find teal cardtock so I took white cardstock and my acrylic paints and made some!  Easy peasy!

When  you open it, it reveals another sentiment.

These cards are hard to photograph, but I did the best I could.  I used the Hello Little One kit.  I first stamped the animals on gray cardstock using black ink, I cut them out and added the small hearts in red.   I added the black, gray, and white cord for added texture.

The second card is very similar, but instead of using the die, I just made an old fashion 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card using coordinating papers from a 6×6 stack.

I just happened to have some googly eyes in my stash small enough for these elephants.  Aren’t they cute!!  I also added three hearts in three different sizes.

Here’s a close up of the elephants.

Anything Goes Challenge – April 21 – 28

This time, I didn’t have to spend time making a card, because I created a card for my cousin’s daughter when she got married in Phoenix two weeks ago.

I used the Cherished Moments kit by Angie Blom.  You can see more on this card in one of my previous post here: 

Lastly, Angela Magnuson, the owner of Unity Stamps made a video on the Face Book  Unity Stamps Show and Tell group  and challenged us to “RE-CREATE a card like Angela made (using any UNITY stamp) and post it in the comments below for your chance to win a grab bag of {100 stamps/sentiments!!!}”

Wow! I want to win 100 stamps!!

So this quick card was created in less than five minutes!

I used a feather from the  Beautiful is Never Perfect kit by Angie Blom.  I so love the detail!!

Angela stamped her feathers one on top of the other one, but I just randomly stamped mine so the details could be seen.  I used three different colors of distressed inks, and “wallah!”

I also used one of the sentiments that comes with it inside double stamping it for a shadow effect.

So much fun playing in my craft room!

I just finished reorganizing my craft room and I found so many things I don’t use any more.  I will be posting what I have for sale here and my FB page.  There will be stamps, stamps, and more stamps, as well as a “never used – new” Making Memories Slice machine with design cards and accessories, Cricut cartridges, embossing folders,  a gypsy, two Jukeboxes that hold six Cricut cartridges each for designing or combaning your own images, and lots more!

Until next time, you have yourselves a great week and keep on creating!!

Carmen

 

Unity Stamps Photo Challenge April 7 – 14.

Since I didn’t have to make a project for this week’s Life Book 2016, I spent my time making cards for a couple of challenges.   I hope you read my previous post about the projects I created for Club Scrap.

This week’s photo is open to interpretation as you can see by the image.  I’ve seen a few of the cards people have made for this challenge and many involve rain drops.

I chose to concentrate on the colors instead of the raindrops.

I went to Hobby Lobby and found a Spellbinders Stained Glass die cut on clearance.  I think this was an excellent purchase and will make great use of it.

I used the You do This stamp which has several words you can insert in the banner.  I chose “amaze.”  I then cut out the letters and the banner individually so the “stained glass” wouldn’t be obscured.  I used silver cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot.

I die cut another piece using white cardstock and used it as a mask, then used inks, colored pencils, and markers to add the colors on the photo.

Here’s a close-up

I really enjoyed making this card although had to take my time to color each segment of the “stained glass” and fuzzy-cut each letter.

I hope you enjoyed your visit here, and until next time,

make some art!

Carmen

Life Book 2016 – Week 16 and Club Scrap Technique Challenge

Artist Interview With Roben-Marie Smith!

This week we didn’t have an artsy lesson, instead Tamara interviewed Roben-Marie Smith who is an awesome teacher and artist.  Tam does this once in a while so we can catch up on some lessons we’ve missed or try and redo some lessons we are not happy about.  It is also a good time to go back and revisit the lessons we’ve enjoyed and make a new project. 

I thought about redoing Roben’s lesson from last year because I wasn’t very happy with it.  I’ll be doing that this week too.

Instead, I made some cards for a couple of challenges.

Technique Challenge at Club Scrap

I subscribe to Club Scrap to get information on their new releases and to be inspired by their scrapbook pages and cards made by their Artists Team

The technique for this month was the Stained Glass look hosted by Lisa Dolezal.

I jumped right in because I found a stained glass die on clearance at Hobby Lobby!

Lisa used Color Burst Powder, but since I don’t have Color Burst powder, I used Colourcraft Brushos Crystals and Magical Micas from  Lindy’s Stamp Gang.

I started by spraying water on the watercolor paper, then using the shaker container, I applied only three colors that would not make mud – Color Brusho in Lime Green; Rose Red, and Yellow Ochre.  The results were stunning!  I got a clear vivid image I was thrilled with.

After the Brusho powders  dried, I cut out the background and the “stained glass” out of shiny silver cardstock.  I did notice that the cardstock came out with a strange texture because it picked up the scratches from the plate when I ran it through the cutter; but I took advantage of that since it made it more realistic.

I cut a piece of acetate and glued it between the watercolor paper and the die cut and added pink floss and tied it in a bow.  Then I glued this piece to two other pieces of cardstock.  Then stamped the sentiment, cut it apart and adhered it to the stained glass.

This is a closeup of the background and the sentiment.

Second Project

 

This is the technique that Lisa demonstrated using the Stamper Star

In my haste, instead of following the directions, to  stamp and emboss the image first, then add the Color Burst powder, I used the dried watercolor paper with the Brushos, then using my MISTI, I stamped the image a couple of times to get a good impression.

The results weren’t as stunning as Lisa’s project, but I managed to save the project by adding several different mediums to the paper like stencils, molding paste, other stamps, then I added black ink to the edges and adhered it to black cardstock so I can put it in a frame later.  I’ve had this stamp so long, I don’t remember the name of the kit, but I also used the alphas and the border that came with it.

A few close-ups

I’m going ahead and adding this to the challenge as well.

Thanks for visiting!

Carmen

 

 

 

Unity Stamps Anything Goes Challenge

 Unity Stamps is having a challenge using any girl stamp and I jumped right in using one of Angie Blom’s girl stamps.

I was really limited on what surface to use because this stamp is only  2.5″ x 3.75″ so I cut a piece of watercolor paper just an 1/8″ smaller than my card.  I used an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black cardstock folded in half.   I used acrylic paint, stencils, gesso, and my Tombow Dual Brush Pen Markers to color the image.  I popped up the wagtercolor paper with mounting tape.

Isn’t this tatoo girl amazing?  I added a sheet to cover up her bottom 🙂

I also used the script stamp from the “Let It Go And Focus” stamp set.  It is the perfect size for greeting cards.  This is a close up to show detail of the sentiment.

Sure had fun making this mixed media greeting card, now to find someone to give it to.

Hugs, and create something today!

Carmen

Teaching My Friends To Make Cards

Good morning my friends!

I’ve been making cards for several years and I love to give them out to people.  Some have said they wish hey could make cards, but find it too difficult.  So I decided to give card classes for them using a variety of stamps.

I started in the summer and I find that not only are we making cards, but we’re also getting to know each other better and enjoying a creative form of entertainment.

 For this week’s lesson, I set up all the materials for them and will show them how to put them together.

I had so much fun making this one – lots of layers and dimension, but it will take some time to put it together.

I used the Now And Always stamp kit (an oldie) from Unity Stamps.  I love this kit because it has flowers that can be stamped on different colors of cardstock, and be cut apart to stack them and give them dimension.

I saw this type of card online and since I don’t have a beautiful butterly die like the one they used, I chose an older dragonfly from Spellbinders.

And, used this kit with that has many different sentiments and fonts!

Finally, this is my favorite.

I used Poppy Pattern Penny Black background stamp for this one, and the sentiment from this kit:

One of the friends that comes to take classes prefers 6×6 cards and I usually make 5 1/2 by 4 1/4,  and so I’ve been trying to accomodate her, but the background stamps are usually 5 1/2 by 4 1/4.  I guess I’ll have to use single stamps to make the background, but it will be more time consuming.

So, if you’re in the area and want to learn how to make stamps in two hours, leave me a message on my Facebook page.

Have a wonderful day!

Carmen

Unity Blog Hop Challenge

I hadn’t had a chance to enter the Unity Blog Hop Challenge in a while because the day of the blog hop was changed, but this week it happened on a different day and I decided to enter my cards since I made two cards for a couple of friends.

I’m taking a Craftsy class called “Lovely Layered Cards From Top to Bottom” taught by Sharri Carroll and these are the cards I made for the homework.

One of the segments was called “Layering With Mixed Media.” I used corrugated cardboard for the top of the card then added crackle paste.  I also cut out a couple of hearts and the top and bottom of the cardboard of with my dies.

I used Authentique 6×6 double sided designer paper pad for the second layer where hearts were laid, and the bottom layer.

For the embellishments I used a Prima flower and a rolled flower I made myself plus the “Love You” brad.

I finished it off by adding glitter to the crackle paste as well as the flowers.

The ribbon is from my stash.

This second card is a Sympathy Card I created for a dear friend who lost her mom – she was only 58 years old – so young!!

This segment was called “Distressed Collaged Background”

I used the same paper pad for the top of the card, collaged the front with  torn designer paper and tissue paper with mat medium to soften some of the dark color of the designer paper.  I also used a stencil and Flexible Modeling Paste on the bottom right hand side and colored it with distress inks.  I then dded a few butterflies punched out in three different sizes from the same paper.  Died my own ribbon with distress inks, and added the black Prima flower.  The sentiment I used was from Unity Stamps also.

Thanks for coming by and if you wish, follow my blog!

Hugs,

Carmen

Online Watercolor Class – Exploring Mediums – Day Two Continued

 One of my aunt’s friends at her Senior Residence is leaving and she asked me if I had anything in my craft room to give her.  Since I was in the process of making more cards for my class, I decided to make her a special card.

I used tube watercolors on this one and I really like the intense hue that came out.  I used a Japanese brand, not Koi, but it’s probably similar.

She’s known her ever since they moved in and has enjoyed spending time with her and being part of the council.  So it was a very special friendship.

This class was taught by Dawn Woleslagle.  She does a terrific job at coloring line stamps.  This was my rendition.

The greeting says “Thanks for your friendship”

This is a close up of the flower.

Kristina Warner used her beautiful talent for creating no line watercolor images.  I don’t have any good size line stamps, so I used one of Unity Stamps by Phyllis Harris.

Phyllis has a beautiful collection of stamps and sentiments.  This was hard to paint, but I took the challenge and came out with this creation.

More cards tomorrow and maybe a Life Book 2015 update.

Thanks for visiting,

Carmen

Several Cards I Have Created in The Last Few Weeks

Here are some cards and other mixed media projects I’ve created, but haven’t posted.

My grandson Sage stayed with us for a few days this summer and wanted to surprise his girl friend.  He said he wanted a folder to tell her how much he loved her.  “Grandma, can you make something for Emma?”  What do you want me to make?  “Oh, just take a folder and do your stuff on it!”  He loved it!  You should have seen the look in his eyes when I gave it to him.

Emma’s Folder

I used stencils, spray paint, acrylics and a black marker

 

The back of the folder with a silhouette of a person dancing.

Close up of the stencil I used and the word Celebrate!

This is a mixed media canvas for a dear friend of the family who just found out she has Ewing’s Cancer, a rare form of bone Cancer.  She is so sweet and only 14 years old.

A closeup of the quote:

It didn’t take long for her to start loosing her hair, so I sent her a card to cheer her up!

I used a couple of Unity stamps for this one.

One of my cousins asked me to make a Sympathy card for a coach who just died, so I dusted off my Cricut and cut out a few images from the Basketball cartridge.

I also used my single stamps and stamped the inside.

Finally, I’ve been taking some Craftsy card classes and these are a few of the cards I’ve created.

The lessons were given by Catherine Pooler – so much fun!

Sympathy Card

Sympathy card I created for a family member whose brother just died recently.