Today is day two of my GIU week and I really appreciate all those who have taken the time to comment.  Remember that I will be drawing two names from all of the comments for the week on Sunday to give away a grab bag of Unity stamps graciously given by Unity Stamp Company.  I will also draw an additional name for three Distress Oxide inks that I have doubles of.

Yesterday I used stamps from a SMAK kit.  Today and tomorrow I will be doing cards all made from the July 2018 KOM (Kit of the Month) and one paper pad by Pink Paislee called Citrus Bliss.   It went well with this kit and forced me to use some of my paper stash that is much too big.  I have belonged to KOM for over two years and still love getting it each month.  It fits my style better than SMAK and I think the value of either membership can’t be beat.  You not only get a wonderful selection of images and sentiments each month but also discounts on orders over $40 and can buy past kits for half off.

Now on to the cards.

This uses the paper piecing technique that can be found on the Unity quick tip videos.  While I like paper piecing for the Angie girls, I like using it for other images too.  I stamped the lemons on one pattern and the leaves on another and fussy cut them.  I stamped the whole image on white card stock and placed the fussy cut pieces on top of those.  I put the middle lemon and leaf on foam tape which gave it a nice dimensional look.

I pretty much did the same technique for this card using a patterned pink paper for the body of the flamingo.

I send a birthday card to the members of my small church and this year I have been using the pages of an old hymnal as the backgrounds for my cards.  Unity has so many stamps that work well for this and this July’s KOM had a beautiful floral that was perfect.  I stamp it with Versafine ink and watercolor the image.  I found that if I work lightly and dry the paint as I go the page stays nice and flat. The mat for the card and sentiment came from the same paper pack as the other cards.

This is the KOM that I made these cards from and tomorrow I will have even more cards from the rest of the stamps in the kit.- Denise

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I was a GIU participant last year and was so excited when a week opened up and I was able to snag a spot for this year.  I love these rubber stamps and the company has turned me into a devoted stamper.  Be sure to comment as I will randomly pick two people from the comments to win a Unity grab bag of 25 stamps graciously donated by Unity Stamp Company.  I will pick a separate winner and send them three Distress Oxide inks from me since I ended up with duplicate colors and would like to pay them forward.

I decided to try the SMAK membership for a little while to stretch my creative style.  I am no longer a member and still had some kits that I had never inked up.  I knew this week would be a great way to use at least one of those kits.  The February 2017 SMAK is called Be You for You and can be found here.  My goal was to use most of the stamps in the kit.

This first card was done utilizing shadow stamping with alcohol inks.  I saw this technique by Jennifer McGuire (found here) I cut out a top panel using a die from Gina Marie to mount over the stamped panel using foam tape.  The sentiment was from the February 2017 KOM.

For this card I first embossed the sentiment using Versamark and White Pearl embossing powder.  I then used a couple of colors of Distress ink and used a blending tool to go over the panel building up the colors.  I wiped the ink of the embossing which resists the ink.  I then took the same two colors in Distress Oxide inks and stamped the floral pattern various placed on the panel.  Since the Oxide ink is more opaque, it shows up nicely on top of the regular Distress ink.  I did have to wipe it off the sentiment, but the embossing resisted it too.  I blended the Distress Oxide on the base before mounting the top panel with foam tape.

These kinds of backgrounds are what I struggle to use.  I covered the background with Distress Inks and splattered with water.  I then used Distress Oxide ink to use the pattern for the background.  I embossed another “splat” pattern using Versafine with clear embossing powder.  It is hard to see in the pictures but here is a closeup.    I also embossed the sentiment before distressing it.  As I used the blending tool, I wrinkled the paper.  I decided to just go with it since it was to be a messy card anyway.

This card was done by stamping on kraft paper using Deco Paste, letting that dry and then foiling it using Deco Foil and my Minc machine.  It is not as neat an image as when using a printer, but since this is a SMAK kit, that messier look worked.  The background paper is from a DCWV called Kraft & Gold.

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These are just simple stamping and then masking off a section with painter’s tape, coloring with watercolors and taking the tape.  I cut the panel with an oval die and added a sheer ribbon on one and braided ribbon on the other.  One of my goals is to use the mass of ribbon I have collected.

My final card means I used all of the images and all but one of the sentiments from the kit.  This was a simple stamping on a slightly patterned paper, tearing and distressing the edges.  Taking a couple of patterned papers from my stash and tearing and distressing those too.  I wrapped some twine around the image to give some more interst and added some clock die cuts from my stash.

I hope to see you tomorrow when I use stamps from one of my KOM kits. Don’t forget to comment to be in the drawing. – Denise

I haven’t posted in a while so I thought I would show some of the cards I created for the Card A Day Challenge blog.  There are a few of us who take different weeks and create cards based on challenges by our leader Theresa.  I had the last week of June and first week of July so if you want any details on the cards I show below (and others for those weeks) just go to the site here.  You can search for those weeks on the right side of the page in the history.  It is fun to come up with things based on those challenges.

I have been a contributor the blog Card a Day Challenge for a few years now.  This was my week for April and these are some of the cards I created for this week.  There is an overall theme of flowers and pastels this month and each day has a different challenge.

Check out the blog by following the link above to get details of these cards.  Since there is a different designer each week, it is a wonderful way to see different styles and get some inspiration. – Denise

Inspiration can strike anywhere.  While waiting at the doctor’s office with my father, I was staring at the art work on the wall which was a set of wrapped canvases that made one picture.  I thought maybe I could do that on a card.  Here is the finished card I came up with followed by the process I used after a few experiments.

A close up of the panel sides.

I started by stamping the same images on two pieces of 5 1/2″ x 8″ paper.  Using a Misti or stamping platform makes this easier.  I would stamp one of the images, change to the other paper and stamp it again on the new one.  I would add another element, stamp it, change the paper and stamp again.  I repeated this process until I was happy with the overall picture and made sure the sentiment was in a place that would fit on the far panel. I then cut one image in half and cut two inches off each end of the second image.

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Next I took a piece of balsa wood cut to 2″ x 3 1/2″ and placed it on top of the far right image so that the sentiment was positioned where I wanted it to be.  I tried the first time with a piece of thicker foam, but it was harder to crease the edges done in the next step and glue, so I decided to go with the wood.  I went around the edges with a scoring tool, then used a ruler to extend those lines with the scoring tool to the edges of the paper.

After I did that, I cut the four corners out using the score lines as a guide.  I then put the wood down on the back again and brought each side around the wood creasing the edges.  I took the wood back out and cut at a slight angle to the edge of the second crease.

I re-wrapped the wood with the paper and laid it down on the second panel to line up the images.  I put the second piece of wood down a little way from the first piece and repeated the process of scoring and cutting above.

I then repeated the same process for the third panel, using the center one to line it up.  After all three were cut out I used Modge Podge to adhere them to the wood wrapping them around the back.  Here is what the backs of each looked like.

Finally, I put a coat of Modge Podge on the fronts of each panel and when they dried attached the three to a piece of brick paper to look like they were hung on a brick wall.  It looks pretty cool in real life because you can see the sides and how the pattern continues on the side of each panel.   I used all Unity Stamp Company stamps from the following kits. I’d Go Anywhere, Stay Classy, Find Your Zen, and Just Go.  I used Distress Oxide Ink for the background images and Stazon Brown ink for the bike and sentiment.  This is my first post trying to describe a technique, so I hope it is clear, and not clear as mud.  Try it because it really wasn’t that hard or time consuming to do. – Denise

I was the designer for the last week of February on Card a Day Challenge Blog found  here.  The theme for the whole month was everything love, the colors were red, pink and white.  The technique for Tuesday that week was coloring in dark or kraft paper.  Here are the cards I made for the challenge.  Details can be found on the Card a Day Challenge Blog.  Check out the other designers for the month.  It is fun to see what different cards are made with the same challenges. – Denise

Welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop.  This is the start of the blog, so make sure you follow the links at the end of this post to see all of the participants.  Leave a comment and you could win a prize package from Unity Stamp Company.  They are always a wonderful assortment of stamps that I am positive you would love.  Comment on everyone’s blog to increase your chances to win.

It is such a busy season, that I only had time to make a couple of cards.  Lucky for me that using Unity stamps makes it really easy to do this quickly.  I signed up for the KOM just a little over a year ago and while I love it, I don’t always get a chance to use many of the stamps before the next kit comes.  I am challenging myself to use more of them in the coming year.  For these two cards, I went back to the November 2016 KOM called Midnight Kisses.  I had only used two stamps in this kit since I received it last year, so I used images and sentiments that I haven’t inked up before.

Inside

I am so excited that I actually have made a New Year’s card in time to send it out this year.  I stamped the girl and sentiment with Versamark on black card stock and heat embossed them with gold. I cut them out freehand so that I had room to position them on an A-2 size card base.  I backed the images with Foiled Velum by DCWV.  For the inside, I also used Versamark and gold heat embossing.  The star background was stamped three times across the top to cover it all.  I really like the gold and black together.

InsideFor this second card, I stamped with Versafine ink on water color paper and then used Distress Ink and a wet brush to color the image.  I used Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Rusty Hinge, and Bundled Sage.  I also put a faint wash of gray around the whole image to make it pop.  I have seen people use this technique and it really works well. I stamped the sentiment on the same water color paper and cut around it with an oval die.  I brushed around the edge with the Fossilized Amber and then wet it slightly with a wet brush. I did the same technique for the inside.  The background paper is from an Authentique 6 x 6 paper pack called Latest and Greatest.

I ended up using a total of 9 stamps from the KOM that I used and there were still a lot I didn’t use because there are so many in those kits.  Keep hopping along and be sure to comment to enter for the prizes. If you want to see my original GIU posts, just look in the November archives on the right hand side of this page.

Your next stop is Lori.

Here is the full line-up in case you get lost.

Denise https://thecraftyledger.blog/      ⇐ You are here.

Lori  http://mncrafting.blogspot.com/?m=1   ⇐ Go here next

Shannon  https://lingeringhappinessco.blogspot.com/
Amber  https://allamberallthetime.blogspot.com/
Kim https://mycutecrafts.com/
Angela https://stampingbowd.blogspot.com/2017/12/growing-in-unity-blog-hop.html
MariLynn  https://mississippi-mcgyver.blogspot.com/?m=1
Amanda  https://salnclts76.blogspot.com/
Paula https://scrapaddictsattic.blogspot.com/
Amanda  https://amandascreativecorner.blogspot.com/?m=1
Crystal  https://crystalominkler.blogspot.com/