Well we are at the end of my time as a GIU girl and I have to say that all of your wonderful comments are certainly a boost to my spirits and my mojo.  Remember that I will be randomly picking two winners on Sunday out of all the comments for a grab bag of 25 Unity Stamps.  I will also pick one winner from those following my blog for two of my extra Unity stamps.

When planning my themes for each day of my week, I knew that I wanted to do a day of crafts and not cards with the stamps.  What a coincidence when the current challenge on Unity {show and tell} was pretty much the same thing. After pinning all these great ideas on Pinterest and I decided to try some of them. The first is transferring stamped images to candles. Splitcoaststampers has great instructions on doing this here. The candle below is made for my brother.  He suffered four years with Chronic Pancreatitis before having it removed over a year ago.  They separated his Islet cells (the ones that produce insulin) and transplanted those into into his liver where they produce insulin.  The miracles of modern medicine are incredible. The color they use for Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer is Purple, so I used a Distress Oxide in purple. The stamp sets used were Worth it All and Pain and Strength I used an electronic candle that is made with wax.  The picture on the right shows it in the dark.

Next I stamped and heat embossed on an empty dressing jar.  I chose this jar because it had flattened sides.  I wiped it down with alcohol and then used an embossing buddy before stamping with Versamark.  I didn’t put the stamp on block but instead put the jar on its side and carefully laid the stamp on it pressing all over with my fingers to make sure it stamped on the slightly rounded edges.  I ended up wiping it off twice because it didn’t stamp or accept the embossing powder well.  The third time was a charm and I could go ahead and apply the heat.  Glass does take a lot longer than paper to get hot enough to melt the embossing powder.  This stamp called bubbles {fashionista}was perfect since I filled it with homemade bath salts. A really cute, but inexpensive gift idea.

I like seeing the glass blocks that people decorate and had an idea that I thought could work.  I started by putting a liberal amount of alcohol blending solution on one side of the glass block and adding a couple of colors of alcohol ink all over it.  I tried tipping it around to get them to move, but ended up using my gloved fingers to blend them together.  After it dried I stamped big snowflakes from the October 2017 KOM called Conspiracy of Love and the little snowflakes from a set called A Joyous Season with Versamark and then covered them with silver embossing powder.  I will tell you right now that the embossing works, but it took about 15 minutes of the heat gun on high and constantly moving around the surface to get the glass finally hot enough to melt the powder.  It probably didn’t help that my craft room was a little chilly, so the glass was cold.  Next time I might put it in front of the heater for a little while before stamping and embossing. I put miniature lights on the inside, but couldn’t get a good picture with them on, so here is one without the lights on.

Here is what happens when you hit the tip of your heat gun on the melted powder.  I turned this side to the wall, but might try to cover it with some sort of tag.

Finally I did another hot pad, using a 6 x 6 tumbled tile, but did a slightly different method.  I stamped images from the set called Winter Blessings (I just love this set) in brown Stazon ink and the sentiment in green Stazon.  I then used a brush and green alcohol ink to apply the green to the needles.  By leaving the tile plain instead of using a background of alcohol ink, it was easier to paint the needles on and they didn’t run. I tried doing it the other way and it didn’t work out.  The great thing about alcohol inks is that if it didn’t work out on the tile, you can just wipe it all off with rubbing alcohol. I will probably heat set it in the oven before using it and putting the cork on the bottom.

I have had a blast being a Gui girl and look forward to the creations others make in the coming weeks – Denise

The week is just flying by and I really appreciate all the comments.  Remember to comment everyday to increase your chances at winning one of two Unity Grab Bags of 25 stamps.  I will randomly choose the winners out of all the comments for the week on Sunday.  I will also choose an additional winner from anyone who follows my blog and send them a couple of my extra Unity stamps.

Part of my journey in starting this blog is to stretch my creativity.  I truly have an accounting mind and like thing to line up and be neat (although looking at my craft room and office, you might not believe that). Today I am trying to do styles that are not my usual.  I even joined the SMAK membership at Unity for the next few months to see if I enjoy doing that style too.

I started small by doing a simple tag . The stamps are from the set Let Go and Focus which I stamped with Versafine and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then used a blending tool to rub on Distress Oxide inks in Abandoned Coral, Broken China, and Vintage Photo. I sprinkled some water on it and then blotted it off.

Another thing I don’t do a lot of is glitter.  I had just received my November KOM called Better With Age and it had this background image in it.  I decided to glitter it up a lot.  After stamping in Versafine and heat embossing with clear embossing powder, I colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.  Heat embossing helps keep the colors from bleeding into one another.  I then took out some Stickles glitter glue which I have had so long, I was afraid they wouldn’t still be good.  I put different colors on a lot of the cake decorations and also on all the flames and hearts.  I pulled rhinestones out of my stash that just sat there and put them everyplace there was a little circle.  Anything that was left was was coated in Wink of Stella.  After I stamped the sentiment, I pulled it across Versamark and then coated it with clear chunky embossing powder to heat emboss it.  Matting it with red glitter paper put even more sparkle on it.  This was fun and I think there a couple of people on my list who might enjoy it, but I will probably still shy away from it.

A closer look at the sparkle.

I added some random texture to this card by smooshing some Distress Oxide ink in Abandoned Coral on my craft mat and then mixing Texture Paste with it. I applied that through a stencil to the corner of my cardstock.  After it dried, I stamped the image and sentiment from Love That Face and heat embossed them.  They have a vintage feel, which I do love, but adding the texture paste is something I have only done one other time.  It really adds something, so I will have to keep it mind to do again.  I then blended Distress ink in Abandoned Coral, Stormy Sky, and Vintage Photo randomly across the card.Here you can see the texture.

Finally a card that is a lot more messy that I would normally do, but it did turn out pretty well.  I started by stamping the lights from the set See the Light in Versamark black ink.  I then stamped the messy writing that came as part of the November SMAK set called Feel and Give Love in different places on the card keeping away from the lights. I heat embossed all of it.  Next I sponged on Distress Oxide in Fossilized Amber around the lights and Broken China everyplace else.  I sprinkled it with water and blotted that off.  I then took Distress Spray in Picket Fence and spattered it over everything.  I did the same thing for the sentiment on a different piece of cardstock and tore around it before coloring it.  I popped it up on foam tape to stand out. On the inside I used two more stamps from the same SMAK kit but only colored the lights and around the edges.  Messy, but kind of cool.

Inside the same card.

Please join me tomorrow for my last day as a GUI girl when I do projects other than cards. – Denise