GIU - Growing In Unity Gal Thursday

I'm 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. Unity Stamp Company is providing TWO generous prizes of 25 stamp grab-bags each.
 
Yesterday's card featured stars, and today's card does too! The timing is great for this type of card, especially because we're between Flag Day and Independence Day here in the USA. I spent some time yesterday at our Idaho State Veteran's Cemetery. It's such a beautiful place.
   

   
The Support Our Troops ribbon stamp is from the Unity in America stamp set.  There are so many things to love about this set! It includes logos from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, as well as a flag poem and various words. For this card, I stamped it with Memento dye ink from Tsukineko in Daffodil. The patterned paper is from We R Memory Keepers, and the stitched rectangle die is from Lawn Fawn.
 
Thank you for visiting my blog today! Remember to comment on each of this week's posts to maximize your chance to win.  (One comment per person per post, please.)   See you again tomorrow for my final GIU day of the week! Winners have been drawn. Thank you!

Happy Stamping! And many thanks to our troops and their families, past and present, for the sacrifices they made for all of us.
 

Cuttin' and Stampin' Challenge: Winter

Merry Christmas, Papercrafters!!  It is my sincere hope that you're all warm & safe, and that you're surrounded by family and friends this holiday.

Our challenge for the next two weeks is winter.  We've been inspired by the All Bundled Up line from Carta Bella and the Yeti, Set, Go stamp set by Lawn Fawn. 

       

For my project, I liked the idea of a wintery scene without having it be Christmas-y or actually saying winter.  I went with the snowman sticker from Carta Bella with his arms outstretched.  It seemed to coordinate perfectly with the "need a hug?" saying from the Lawn Fawn stamp set.  Unfortunately, lots of people get the blues in the winter... this would be a great card to help cheer them up!

        

        

The grey, snowy paper made a great background.  I added a rolling hill which can be cut by hand or, in this case, I used a pair of Paper Smooches dies -- one for the cut and one for the stitches.  And, a little glitter (or Stickles) goes a long way on a card like this by adding some glisten to the snow.

   

I'm more of a CAS (clean & simple) stamper, but this card could be dressed up even further with things like black gems on the eyes & buttons of the snowman, pop dots behind the snowman sticker, bling in the snowflake background... there are a thousand ways to add to it.

 

Whether you like 'em fancy or plain, I encourage you to submit your project!   Please see Tuesday's Cuttin' and Stampin' post to enter yours.

    

Happy Stamping & Merry Christmas!   

  

Weekly Challenge #22 - Father's Day

 With Father's Day coming up, I already have my standard plan in place.   I'll make my dad's favorite Strawberry Pie, hope I can find some nice fresh sweet corn & tomatoes for his favorite dinner, and I'll make him some sort of nautical Father's Day card.  

   
My parents honeymooned in Fort Lauderdale and ended up renting an apartment and staying for more than a year.   A few years (and 2 kids) later, they returned to Fort Lauderdale.  Dad's return lasted for 30 years!   I remember our house had lots of jars of seashells and paintings of boats.  We even had a table fashioned like a boat propeller.
   
So when I learned that we'd be featuring the "Anchored" line from Authentique as well as the "Float My Boat" stamp set from Lawn Fawn, I knew this combination would be perfect for my dad.
    

    
For today's card, I used three different patterns of paper from the "Anchored" paper line.  I was going for a vintage look, so I edged all the pieces with Chestnut Roan chalk ink from Clearsnap.   I think my favorite part of the card is the "ahoy" sticker, which also came from the "Anchored" collection.   Dies for the ovals and anchor are from Spellbinders.
  
Also submitted for these challenges:
SCS Sketch SC490
Eureka Stamps Father's Day 
Incy Wincy Designs Something for a Guy 
Squigglefly Father's Day 
Cards Galore Encore Anything Goes 
Ladybug Crafts Boys and/or Dies 
Really Reasonable Ribbon Masculine & Using a Fiber/Ribbon 
Amusing Challenges Father's Day w/o Digi 
Lacy Sunshine Punches or Dies 
Corrosive Challenges Anything Goes 
Pumpkin Spice Blog Summer 
We Do Doobadoo Different Shapes  (ovals & rectangles)

    
Happy Stamping!