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

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