Growing in Unity 2020 - Day 5

Wow Day 5 already. I hope you have all been leaving your comments. I may not have got around to replying to all, but I hope I will get it done and two people will win a prize.

Thank you for putting up with me for the week. I am not sure how many Australians you get on the Unity Groups. I hope my attempt at a bit of humour sometimes was not a pain for you.

This year especially we have to keep the humour going, otherwise we will curl up in a little corner and sob uncontrollably.

More cards today, but a different technique was used. My beautiful interstate crafty friend sent me a Craft Stamper magazine for my birthday. I was sad to find that they are stopping the magazine soon. I used to subscribe a few years ago until the price and postage went up too much because of the exchange rate. Anyhow, they are magazines I will never throw away, too many good techniques in them - some simple, some not so, I still have to graduate from the easy ones first! And I was so glad my friend gave me this March issue as I found the perfect tutorial for backgrounds.

The tutorial involved BRUSHO, something I bought ages ago. As soon as I browsed through the pages, I knew I just had to get them out - never been used, surprised, I'm not. I used the BRUSHO as instructed on photo paper and spritzed to activate the crystals. I then decided to stamp the backgrounds the next day when they were completely dry. Well, it was a simple technique until Gail could not find her black Stazon ink.

Doesn't matter , I will use an Archival black ink, it will be better for the intricate areas of the stamp.

Well what a disaster, it would not dry on the photo paper. Where the bloody hell is that black Stazon? Would not have a clue, and I am not sure whether the last time I used it, it needed refilling.

You know how in craft you can always fix mistakes by doing something. Well not me this time. I know I could use clear embossing powder if I remembered where that was. How about the heat gun? Not a good idea, I melted the photo paper, so in the bin that went.

Not to worry, I only wasted two, as only two had been stamped. OK Gail, I do know where I have ink pads I haven't even take the cellophane off yet, and guess what I found a few colours in the Stazon range. Hopefully all is not lost and it wasn't!

I love the effect I got, except the background that had a bit too much colour on it. No worries I will use Opaque White Stazon, which apparently you have to put the ink on, not pre-inked. Well the ink was there and I stamped the background, but it didn't stand out enough. I made a change by using an image I had previously stamped. I solved the problem and here are my efforts, I hope you like them. Photo paper, Brusho and STAZON INK - love the effects I achieved in the end.

Allow Yourself - Unity

Planner Gal: Don't Be Perfect - Angie Blom

(For my Grand-daughter who has a few self-esteem issues)

Hope is a Beautiful Thing (Feb 2020 Sentiment Kit) - Unity

Just a Glass - Unity (this is the one I had to play with!!)

Cuddlebug Giraffe - Mini - Tierra Jackson

Coffee & Flowers - Graciellie Design

So here they are - completed with gems, resin stars, a black marker, and of course on my Cuddlebug Giraffe index quote card a little bit of hand drawing with Copics.  The green Brusho was just in the right place to add grass and leaves.

I hope you have enjoyed my week for Growing in Unity 2020 and good luck.  Unfortunately there will only be two winners, but don't forget there are more GIU weeks and then of course, hopefully 2021 will bring us another Growing in Unity Year.  

Bye for now,

Gail

Bugaboo Stamps Friday Freebie

This week's freebie is a Stella stamp, Whoopee, as you know I love Stella!

My inspiration is in the way of an index card for my collection.  I have a box I am putting all these index cards in and I will be able to look back at some of the quotes I find that tickle my fancy.  In the case of Stella's quotes, I will use hers.

Stella Calendar Month - September

Grab her quick, she is only free for one week.

Growing in Unity 2020 - Day 4

You know how I told you I got carried away with my projects, well here's the thing!

I have 5 cards for you today, a bit of overkill I know, but I just could not stop myself.

1st - gift card inside and out - Gingko Greetings (digital)

Unfortunately no longer available as digital, but guess what

available in rubber, how fantastic

Gingko Greetings by Sandhya Iyer

2nd - OK sorry, another digital set not available now (I told you they were limited edition)

 but again it's in the shop as a rubber stamp set by the fantastic Tierra Jackson

Jesus and Germs

3rd - You know the drill but now available in a set

A Work of Heart 

4th - The Limited Edition time for Nurture Your Soul has not ended yet.

Whoo hoo, its available as a digital set

Nurture Your Soul

Limited Edition Digital stamp set

Snuggle Time

I hope you liked all those cards and I hope you will join me tomorrow for the last day of my week showcasing the fantastic stamps Unity Stamp Co. has to offer, and the best part about it is, they are always having sales!!

See you tomorrow!

Gail

Growing in Unity 2020 - Day 3

Day 3 - now what do I have to show you today.  I say this because I might have gone a bit berserk with my Unity creations and I want to show them all to you;  even though I might have done too many.  I still have two days to cramp them in.

I love my craft and each year I get into it more and more.  It is a great stress relief for me.  I don't much like the blogging but I guess that comes with the territory.  I have had this blog for quite a while now, only setting it up when I was asked to go on my first Design Team.  I taught myself everything I know about blogs which is not much and very recently a lovely Facebook friend who I have been on a design team with, pointed out to me that I had not activated the Followers button and I should have one to showcase my work.  She gave me a crash course on where to find it, don't ask me know how I did it now, but I have one.  If you like my work I would love you to click on it. I might get into double digits before the end of my GIU week if I am lucky!

Anyhow waffling on again.

Today's creation is a QUATRO FOLD CARD.  I found this tutorial over at  Beccy's Place - the blog.  Beccy has an A-Z tutorial list of card folds, and guess what, she is an Aussie too, so I have to give her tutorials a plug.  Here is the link to all the tutorials.


I have some photos of the different steps, but probably not as organised as Beccy's tutorial.

 

Now the final step is folding the card using the closing a box with 4 flaps method.  You know that one, that one that stumps me every time!  Even when I had the embellishments on the parts I wanted to show, I still had to think.  But anyhow I love the card and I just know the friend who will be receiving it later in the year for her birthday.  She has been a great buddy of mine for a long time now, older than me and she will love the old gals!

Of course I used my stash again, the designer paper pad came from a $2 shop and the embellishments were in there too.

Unity stamp sets used are Tierra Jackson's Demand a Re-Count and Only Old Once.

I love the Quatro Fold card because I did not have  to procrastinate over which sentiment to use, I USED THE LOT because I could.

See you tomorrow

Gail

Growing in Unity 2020 - Day 2

I thought for Day 2, I would make a calendar for 2021, to try and forget 2020 for obvious reasons - what a year we are having.

I chose another digital stamp to play with for this project.  Unity digis aren't just like other digital stamps.  With some you get varying layouts already set out for you to print off.  The flower I have used for the calendar comes by itself; or you can print out a whole page already set out for you.

I do hope Unity Stamps will introduce more digital stamps. Even though I still buy physical products from Unity, I like the versatility of digital products and I don't have to pay huge shipping costs and wait forever for delivery.

OK I will get off my soapbox now and return to my calendar.

I have used In This Together and I am so glad it is still available in the shop if you are interested.  The sentiment I used is in the You Owe Yourself digital set which is also still in the shop.  I am on a roll here with availability of these limited edition digis  - hooray!

I have used A4 Stampin' Up cardstock for the base of the calendar.  The 2021 mini calendar file I found at Creative Fabrica as a freebie.  Unfortunately it is not available as a freebie now, however, I am sure there will be a free calendar somewhere on the net.  To make the calendar a suitable size for A4 I had to crop the year off it, but I added my own when I enlarged it and set the flowers and sentiment where I wanted them.  I printed on Copic card and coloured using G46, G43, RV02, RV00, RV000, RV0000 and Y04.

For the design paper, I used my Graciellie Designs digital paper Wild-Whimsy Paper Pack, No. 1 Sheet cropped from a square to a rectangle, enlarged and printed on photo paper.  Unfortunately this particular range is only available as digital direct from Graciellie Designs however, if you go here to the Unity stamps shop you will find a good range of Graciellie Designs paper packs.

I have placed magnets on the back of the cardstock to attach to a refrigerator.


I hope you like my 2021 fridge calendar.

See you tomorrow with Day 3.

Gail

I am a Growing in Unity Girl 2020 this week - Day 1

Hello and welcome to my week for Growing in Unity 2020.

 For Day 1 I am going to show you 2 cards I made, one for my daughter's partner who lost his dad recently. The other card is for a lovely lady who was a supplier in Australia for Unity Stamps.  I bought some from her and then when my passion for Unity increased, I started looking on the internet and found I could order direct.  Anyhow I still bought heaps of my stash from her to the point where she told me one day, Gail, stop spending so much money with me and use what you have - grab a basket and go shopping in your own craft shop. I always remember that and  thanks to her, I do that now. Sometimes you just have to pull in the reins and say to yourself, you can't afford to keep spending like you do.  I found this out when I left work through health issues and more so this year as my husband and I finalise our business to enter a new phase in our life - RETIREMENT.

Anyhow, off the track there, as I was saying about the destination of the cards.  My lovely shop owner and Facebook friend lost her husband recently and the other card is going her way.

I used the digital stamp, "Plant Hope" still available in the Unity Shop as I write this post.  I do remember when the digital stamps first hit the Shop, they were labelled Limited Edition, so only Unity Stamps knows how long they will be available.

I made both cards the same except for my colouring.  Here is the first - I chose pastel colours in Copics.  I must have used just about every 0000, 000 and 00 in every Copic Combo I had. To the light blue card base, I added another sheet of white before placing the image on the background.  I have used one of the sentiments that comes with the digital stamp.

With my next card, I used Copic shades of red and red/violet.  I know both cards are similar but I just wanted to see the flowers coloured using all colours and then just similar shades.  Which one do you prefer?

I hope you have enjoyed my inspiration for "Plant Hope" and I will see you tomorrow and don't forget to comment on my blog for a chance to win a pack of random grab bags full of Unity Stamps - there might even be 2 up for grabs!

Gail 

Guest Design Team Member - Sandra Caldwell

This month I was honoured to be asked by Sandra Caldwell to be a guest on her team again.

All her new releases this month are fantastic and it was hard to choose one in each release to showcase.

Here are my creations.  Hope you like them.

#3247  Sleepy Gnome

An index card using #3206 Out of the Box

Etsy Shop

Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook Group

Thank you Sandra for asking me once again.

Bugaboo Stamps New Release

Today's new release is Bobblehead Big Eyes - Princess.  I have added to my index card collection with this image.

Hope you will check out this cute princess over at the shop

See you next time.

Gail xx

I have entered https://bizzybecsstore.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-anything-goes-challenge.html

World Elephant Day

 In honour of World Elephant Day, 12th September, I decided to make an elephant card for Bugaboo Stamps "Humour Me Wednesday" over at Catch the Bug Blog Challenges.  I found it hard to find a really funny quote, but I thought this one was very appropriate for Jodie's image Critter Balloons - Elephant

See you again soon,
Gail

I have entered:
 https://bizzybecsstore.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-anything-goes-challenge.html 

 http://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-41.html

Bugaboo Stamps Sunday Sketch Challenge

Today we have a Sketch Challenge over at Catch the Bug Blog Challenges.

And her is my inspiration using Make it Snappy -Meowy Christmas

I hope you will join us in this Sketch Challenge and don't forget, this challenge is open for a month.

See you,

Gail DT

SheepSki Designs August Blog Challenge

The theme for August is "No Rules" anything you want.  Well for my inspiration I made a scene to suit "Walkies" another great gnome image from SheepSki Designs.  I have also used "Flutterby" which is available in the Freebies tab on the Blog.

To make the scene I used some digital paper for the background, the grass and flowers another digital stamp, a fence die and leaves ribbon.

Don't forget your special discount code at SheepSki Designs Etsy shop for my blog followers.

                                  SKIANDREA10

You can find #41 Blog Challenge here.