GIU - Growing In Unity Gal Monday

What a great week this is going to be!  I'm going to be featuring stamps from Unity Stamp Company each day this week.  Be sure to visit all week and comment on each of the Growing In Unity posts, because there will be a drawing for some FREE UNITY STAMPS from all of the comments received during the week.

     

Today's June 20th, the first day of Summer.  What do you love about summertime?  Though I'm not a fan of the heat, I've enjoyed fishing for as long as I can remember.  I didn't realize this when I moved here, but Idaho has lots of lakes, rivers and reservoirs that are great for fishing.  We've even got vending machines that sell nightcrawlers!

     

This isn't what I'd call a 'traditional' fishing card, but it was definitely fun to create.

        

     

It's a fairly easy card to duplicate.  First, I stamped the fishing pole and sentiment in hot pink, then mounted that rectangle to a matching hot pink rectangle.  Then, on a gray card, I added a striped panel (from American Crafts), followed by the stamped panel.  I added a rhinestone to the fishing reel and colored in the heart.  Last, I added two quick strips of very thin washi tape (Little B Designs) in an X pattern.

    

Thank you for visiting today!  Remember to comment on each of this week's posts to maximize your chance to win.  (One comment per person per post, please.) Winners have been drawn.  Thank you!

    

Happy Summer Solstice & Happy Stamping!

     

Cuttin' and Stampin' Challenge: Cute Critters

Everything is coming up Spring (well, it is in most areas of the country, anyway).  Spring is when all the cute little forest creatures and baby critters make their appearance, and we're ready to focus on that.
   

This week, our team made projects with the MFT Cute Critters stamp set and Amy Tangerine Stitched collection 6x6 paper pad.   These products and so much more are available at Cuttin and Stampin Scrappy Supplies.

My challenge project focuses on love.  Love can be any time of year, not just Valentine's Day.  Think a note in hubby's briefcase, little card in kid's lunchbox, etc.

All three of the patterned papers I chose were in the Amy Tangerine "Stitched" pad.  I used a Spellbinders label die to cut out the raccoon and sentiment, but the card is only showing about 40% of the whole die shape.  As you can see, the heart is also only showing a portion of the shape.   Your investment in dies is so much more valuable when you flex the creative muscle and realize you don't have to use the entire shape.

I felt the "Love" paper was very bold to the point where it could be overwhelming, so I only used a thin strip.  The card itself is a very dark grey and I used Memento dye ink in Grey Flannel for stamping.

As an aside, this card would be especially funny for me to share with my husband.  He had an epic war with a raccoon a few years back.

Happy Spring & Happy Stamping!

Weekly Challenge #6 - Writing Instrument

I took a pretty loose interpretation of a writing instrument for this project...  I was thinking of writers like Hemingway and Tolkien writing their manuscripts -- long before the invention of the IBM Selectric II that we had at home growing up.

    

   

For my project today, I stamped the typewriter on cream cardstock.  I stamped the paper on white cardstock and cut it out.  Then I cut a slit in the typewriter to allow me to slide the paper down into it, making it look like it was coming out of the typewriter.  The typewriter font sentiments in the set were perfect for this!  The "for you" sentiment is from the Paper Smooches "Falling for You" stamp set.

    

Because the typewriter is a solid stamp, you may not get your desired result when stamping it with dye ink.  Because of its water base, dye ink tends to bead up on clear stamps causing either an incomplete image or an unbalanced image.  For the typewriter stamp, I got a perfect image using a pigment ink.  It was VersaFine Onyx black.  It takes a long time to dry, so I highly recommend heat setting it.
   
The ribbon started out as a cream-colored 1/4" silk ribbon from May Arts.  It was too light to match the cream cardstock and I really wanted an embellishment to carry the turquoise color through.  I colored the ribbon with the BG13 Copic Sketch marker, but then it was a bit too bright for the antiqued turquoise pattern.  The next step was to tone the color down and "age" it a bit by dabbing it on the Chestnut Roan chalk ink from ClearSnap.  Perfect!

   

I hope you'll join us for the challenge and submit your project(s) featuring a writing instrument.  Also, check out the main challenge page where the other fabulous group of DT members have created their own creative interpretations. 

   

Happy Stamping!!

   

New Card & News

Lots of fun new stuff on the stamping front today! First, a new card that was designed for the big stamping project mentioned in an earlier post. More than 150 items (cards, tags, envelopes, etc.) to be displayed in 5 different states were created and this is my favorite.

The stamp set used for this card is from Hero Arts. It's called Joyful Greetings and also includes a Christmas tree, star, two more snowflakes, a second big swirl, and sentiments. The blue cardstocks are two of the new Smoothies from Bazzill and WOW are they ever smooth! I love stamping with them!

Supply List:
Stamps: Joyful Greetings (Hero Arts)
Paper: Island Breeze & Tropical Breeze Smoothies (Bazzill Basics), Pearlized White Cardstock (Verve Visual)
Ink: VersaMagic Ocean Depth (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Light Blue Gemstones (Hero Arts), Ribbon (American Crafts), Bind-It-All (Zutter), Rotary Cutter & Scallop Blade (Fiskars), Pop Dots (EK Success)

On to some fun stamping news & sales:
-- Steve Vander Meer at Meer Image is celebrating FIFTEEN YEARS in the stamping business! All his tiny peg stamps are half price, and there are 27 brand new styles. Sale runs through 11/15/07.
-- Starving Artistamps has eight pages of new stamp images. There are two pages of equestrian stamps for you horse lovers out there.

-- Viva Las Vegastamps is having a huge sale called "Stampsgiving" on their unmounted sheets, giant grab bags, and Miracle Tape. They can be found in the Bargain Basement at http://www.stampostore.com/ or by scrolling down to “Latest Products” on the shopping cart home page and UM plates, just order your Plates in threes and put “Happy Stampsgiving” in the comments to get your FREE plate with purchase of two. Sale runs through 11/22/07.

I love the idea of Stampsgiving... Couldn't we all use a day to be thankful for the bounty of stamping? Think of all the people you've met and friendships that have developed because of this great hobby of ours, and the creativity and relaxation! Let me know if you think of any fun Stampsgiving traditions. :)

Happy Stamping!