Today is Day 2 of being a Growing in Unity participant.  I am overwhelmed with all of the kind comments people have made. Remember that I will randomly pick two winners out of all of the comments for the week on Sunday for a grab bag of Unity stamps. I have also decided to pick a winner from those who choose to follow my blog and send them a couple of my extra Unity stamps (don’t ask how I ended up with a couple of duplicates) All of these cards were made using stamps from Unity Stamp Company. They are a great company and there is also a fun Facebook page called Unity {show & tell} where people can share their creations and get lots of inspiration.

On to today’s cards.

I added texture to this card in a couple of ways.  I embossed the background using a Darice embossing folder.  To leave the clouds white, I lightly sponged Distress Ink on the debossed side so that the color went over the indentations and not into them. Then I stamped this adorable sheep set called Love Ewe on white paper coloring the face and legs, then fussy cut it. I stamped it again on white felt material.  I tried a four different inks including Satz-On, Versafine, Memento Dye Ink and Memento Luxe.  The Memento Luxe did the best job.  I stamped it about three times (using an empty DVD case as a home-made Misti) to get a decent image.  After making sure it was dry, I fussy cut the bodies and glued them on top of the paper cut outs.  I stamped the sentiment on green paper and put that at the bottom, placing the sheep on top of that.

Close up of sheep.

The card below is similar to one from yesterday.  It uses corrugated and cork paper from DCWV.  I stamped three different images from All About the Journey on the cork and cut strips in various widths and lengths putting a notch at the end of each. I overlapped them before attaching them to the base.  I did sponge the edges of both the cork and the corrugated paper to add visual depth.

I love looking through the clearance aisles to see what interesting things are there and I picked up a package of sheets made of actual wood by EK tools.  I cut a piece and stamped Forrest Guy on the wood.  Because it is wood, the image stamped a little roughly, which I thought looked cool. The background paper is from a 12 x 12 pad by g.c.d. called The Great Outdoors.

Finally I dug out some burlap paper from a pad by DCWV that I purchased on clearance a few months back.  I stamped trees and a deer from A Joyous Season onto the burlap using Distress Oxide ink.  It took stamping it about three times for the colors to be dark enough to see. A Misti=type tool is a must for doing that.  I tried to stamp the sentiment on too, but it was just to bumpy to be able to read it, so I stamped it on cork and put that over the place I tried to stamp before.  I piece of green twine tied in a bow gave it a little extra.  I also sponged the edged of the burlap with the same green as the trees.

Adding texture with fun papers or other materials you can come up with are a fun way to make cards look extra special.  Don’t forget to comment and follow my page for chances to win Unity stamps. To follow, go to the home page and click the follow button on the right hand side. -Denise

I am so excited to be a Growing in Unity participant this week featuring stamps from Unity Stamp Company.  Being a GIU girl actually pushed me to start a blog of my own and these will be the first posts on my blog. Today I decided to share birthday cards made with Unity’s great rubber stamps. Leave a comment and you will have a chance to win a grab bag of Unity Stamps.  I will randomly pick two winners from all the comments made during the week.  I guarantee you will love the stamps.

First a quick warning.  Since this is my first time as a GUI participant and because they already chose the next years participants (by a random draw) and I am not on it, I intend to make the most of this week, so be prepared for a lot of projects, lol.

This is a twist and pop card I made for my daughter-in-law who loves coffee and used to work at Starbucks.  The front features a cup and sentiment from the August Sentiment kit called Cuppa Comfort.  I stamped it with Versamark and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  After fussy cutting it, I mounted it on paper from Club Scrap. The inside images are from the following sets- Love to Go, Pumpkin Spice, Spring to Go, and Fall to Go.  I don’t like coffee, but just love those cups.

This was a quick card for a member of my church. The stamp on the front is from the May 2017 Kit of the Month called Free Your Dreams and the inside stamp was one that I received in a grab bag from Unity. The paper is from American Crafts, Amy Tangerine called Plus One.

This card was for another member of our congregation and I used a page from an old hymnal as the background for the stamp from The April 2017 KOM called Be My Bird. I stamped with Versafine in Tuxedo Black and then painted using Distress Ink.  I sponged the base card with two colors of Distress Inks. On the inside I stamped the same butterfly in the yellow Distress Ink, but first stamped off on a scrap piece of paper then stamped inside the card without re-inking to make it lighter.  The sentiments are from a Unity kit called Abundant Blessings.

This is a final card done for a member of the church this month. I stamped the images on cork and then cut them with octagonal dies on my Cuttlebug.  The images come from the January 2014 Kit of the Month called Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful and a set called Consider Yourself Vintage.  I mounted them on blue Corrugated paper from DCWV.

Between family and my church, I make a lot of birthday cards.  I love how quickly they can come together with the stamps from Unity.  Join me tomorrow when I will add some textures to cards. – Denise