Friends With Flair Friday!

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(Psst - There's Unity in there!)
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OMGosh, I can't believe how long it's been since my last Unity FWF! Now that I'm back from my little hiatus, I figged it was time.


For this card, I wanted a slight departure from what I've been doing lately. Gotta keep it fresh, right? And I thought Unity's Brave Girl set was just the ticket. I love the vintage look of this kit and know I'll get a ton of use from this set. I kept it fairly simply, and tried not to use my Copics, but they snuck their way in for the dress. I custom colored the doily with a mix of chalk pigment and Distress Ink to coordinate with the ribbon. Her butterfly wings are highlighted with Shimmerz.

For more fabulous creations, please pop over to the Unity Stamps blog for a complete list of today's FWF stops.

Have a great weekend!


Stamps: Unity Stamp Co. - Brave Girl kit
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey - Nook 'n Pantry 12x12
Embellishments: vintage buttons, twine, Making Memories ribbon, Little Yellow Bicycle - doily
Inks: Memento - Rich Cocoa; VersaMagic; Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Cardstocks: Papertrey Ink - Rustic White; kraft card base - local source

Homerun Birthday!

My family is wrapping up a wonderful weekend of laughter and fun as we celebrate my dad's birthday! It started with a very fancy and delicious dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours with the best seafood ever! Yesterday, we enjoyed a rare victory by our beloved but embattled Cleveland Indians and lots of yummy ballpark food and fun. Afterward, it was time to blow out the candles and open cards & prezzies. And that's what I'd like to share with you today - my card for Dad.

I just love this simple baseball player stamp from Amuse. I tried a new-to-me technique with the Copics and love how it turned out! I used circle nesties to highlight the image to prevent it getting lost against the strong pattern paper and to keep with the baseball theme, and added a banner using part of an old SU sentiment. I sponged the edges with Night of Navy ink and think the glue dots and some gently rolling of the paper gives the impression of a banner flitting in the wind. Coordinating brown ribbon and my last 2 antique gold brads (pout & add to shopping list) provide an anchor and tie the banner to the image. Inside, I wished my dad a "birthday that's a real homerun" and just had to add a little baseball embellie that I tried to place so it looked like it was on it's way over the outfield fence. :)

I feel so blessed to have shared such a special life and a special weekend with my dad. I strive to cherish every moment with him and the rest of my family, and I wish you the same opportunity to truly savor every moment with those you love.

Have a joyous Sunday!

TFL & Hugs,

Craft Clutter Challenge - Reward

Hi friends!

I'm such a dufus sometimes! I totally forgot to take pics before meeting Susan IRL (woohoo!) last weekend and giving her the prezzies for completing our 2-man Craft Clutter Challenge - DUH! Luckily, Susan is super amazing and awesome, and she snapped and sent these pics to me. If only I could get her to give me a photography lesson... ;)

The only guideline for these was that they should be semi-organizational, so as to help us maintain our freshly organized craft areas. Drawing on her "Shabby Chic" look and colors of her room, and inspired by Carol's genius idea to reuse & decorate priority mailing boxes, I made this little organizer. I have a little thingy on my desk where I keep 1/4 sheets of white CS at the ready for stamping images. I think Susan is going to use it to keep the images she receives in swaps. Whatever works, I'm just glad she liked it and can use it. I started by carefully measuring and drawing my cut lines onto the box, then I cut an extra piece to fit in the bottom, for extra stability. Everything got 2 coats of white acrylic paint. My mistake on this was in starting with the floral DP. I should have started with the pink, which lines both the interior and exterior sides of the back panel. But honestly, the pink was an after thought once I took a look and thought the white back looked too plain and stark. Ah well, craft and learn... ;) Hopefully it will look better filled with paper goodies! :) The flowers are colored with copics, topped with a Melissa Frances button, and secured with glue dots and twine.

I jazzed up the little pail with ribbons because Susan had admired my little pails that hold some of my copics, and because it strikes me as very "Shabby Chic". And the jar was inspired by my little collection of button jars that now sits prettily on the back of my desk. I'm sooooo hooked on buttons lately, and I just love displaying them this way.

TFL & thanks for all of your encouragement with the clutter challenge!
Hugs,

40 Years

Last week, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. They are pretty low-key, and didn't want a big to-do. But while they aren't boisterous, they do have a knack for sarcasm (where do you think I got it from, eh?). And this stamp was especially fitting since my mom loves garlic, and my dad has developed something of an allergy to it and can't eat even a tiny bit without getting sick. In my book, true love isn't all wine and roses. It's giving up garlic in your marinara! ;)

TFL and hugs,

"Coffee and Tea, and the Java and Me"

I'm primarily a coffee drinker, but my sis and I go to tea at least once a month, so I couldn't resist taking 2 spots in Tanja's (3boysathome on SCS) All About Coffee/Tea Swap.

Once I found the DP (at Archiver's in the clearance section - and it was the last sheet!), the card just came together effortlessly. The image stamp is by Inque Boutique. I colored in copics, and then stamped the sentiment. I didn't have quite the right brown for a card base, so I just used white CS, hoping it would be okay since the DP has white, glittery swirls. I also used Bazzill texture CS and Bazzill shimmery textured CS. I finally got with it and bought some of those Robin's Nest dew drops - love 'em!

This one was made with a Unity stamp - a rather large one with lots of swirls. I stamped and cut out the tea cup. The tea rooms I go to with my sis are usually Victorian decor, so I wanted to go for a vintage feel. I've been holding onto and loving this DP for a long time, just waiting for the perfect project to use it on. Now I'm crying because I only had 1 sheet of it, and now all that's left is a little strip. I had a hard time with coloring, only because out of all the blues I have, none was quite right when I tried coloring the inside of the cup and saucer. And then it hit me - don't fill it in, just use it as the shadow - duh! I debated over adding brads or other embellies, but I really wanted the DP to shine, so I opted for the "less is more" look. The inside sentiment reads "Friendship begins with a cup of kindness." So true!

TFL!

Happiness Is...

Well, I guess it's different for each of us! LOL!!!

I found this stamp set at a convention when I was going through my divorce. Of course I never really meant my XDH any harm, but this sure did make me smile (deviously, of course!) at the time. As the years have gone by, I've moved on and wish my XDH all the joys of life. But I'm one of the lucky ones. There are plenty of girls out there whose XDHs give them nothing but grief. So, when my dear buddy Michelle was feeling a bit down and unable to truly be free of some of the less than wonderful men in her life, I thought about my evil stamp set and the belly laugh it might inspire - to hear that she had a beverage shoot out her nose upon seeing it is just priceless!

I used DP from Basic Grey's Lily Kate collection, Copics, Nesties, my beloved photo corner punch from SU! and my newest punch purchase - the SU! scallop border punch. I glued two ribbons together to add a little interest, along with some coordinating bling. TFL!

Now Charlie has his own source of happiness - snow! I'll try to capture his frolicking for you and post later on. Until then, these pics are for those of you in the tropics (which I am currently defining as anything above 32 degrees Fahrenheit) who feel like you are missing out on all of our chilly fun!

It's Vintage, Dahhhhling

My card for a vintage swap, hosted by the fabulous Kadie (kmensley). I started with completely different ideas and materials, but this is what I finally came up with. I got to use some of the awesome buttons Michelle had sent me as blog candy many moons ago - the one on the flower, and mixed it with some self-adhesive buttons from a pack I picked up at Joann's. The ribbon is May Arts - the perfect vintage-y texture - has a slight rustle, but isn't at all stiff. The bird is from a line by Magenta - an EZ-mount single from their Crafty Individuals line. The DP is Basic Grey. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink and SU Wonder Color Crayons for the main image, and Versacolor and Distress Ink on the paper flower.

TFL and hope you enjoy!