Welcome back to Day 2 of my week of Growing in Unity with Unity Stamp Company (If you haven't already, you can visit Day 1 here). I am thrilled to be sharing my love of Unity Stamp Company this week.
Today I'm sharing cards made with Unity Stamp Company stamp sets in my stash that had never seen ink (you never do that do you? Buy a stamp you just have to have and then let it stay un-inked?)
The first one is one of the few Angie Girls that I own ... I'm just not normally drawn to that style of image (I think it's the missing faces), but had to have Renee Girl to make cards for my amazing sister. She is training for her second marathon and inspires me every day (especially since she is dealing with the fact that the marathon she trained so diligently for has been rescheduled for later in the year).
That's one of the awesome things about Unity Stamp Company is that there is such a wide selection that there are styles for everyone.
I stamped Renee Girl on white cardstock and then paper pieced her together using various cardstock scraps from my stash. One of the tricks I use when paper piecing an image like this is to slightly overlap pieces (for example, the top of the shorts are tucked slightly under the top), so cuts don't have to be exact on all sides.
My sister has awesome purple hair, and while it's shorter than Renee Girl, I still wanted to keep her color. Since she'll be running another Marathon, I added 26 number stickers to her running bib.
My sister also has a collection of coins she has found on the ground while running, so I had to scatter a few coins around her feet.
Here we were working out together with our running hair don't care in the lights of the Kansas City Plaza over Thanksgiving Break.
That is one of my absolutely favorite things about cardmaking ... being able to completely personalize the cards I make for the recipients ... and knowing they will never have another card exactly like it.
For my second card, I played around with Archival Inks and a Spray Bottle full of Alcohol (I realized when I was done that my alcohol was only 50% and the video says this works better with 90%). I saw a video by Wendy Vecchi on Instagram, and I'm not sure how I missed that these inks will work with Alcohol ... so much fun. I created backgrounds using Garden Patina and Thistle for my next two cards.
You use the pads to apply the Archival inks to a craft sheet ... and then spray on lots of Alcohol before dipping your cardstock into the ink. I used My Picket Fence Intense Black Hybrid ink and my MISTI to stamp the images on the inked backgrounds.
My sister and I also both share a love of Whales ... I especially like the artsy one found in the Unity Stamp Company The Other Side of Fear... I really love the sentiment too.
I added a bit of colored pencil to the flower on the whale tale and the sail boat to help them stand out a bit more on the inky background.
I finished with lots of scattered bling where the bubbles were on the stamped image.
I used the same inky paper (I added more alcohol for this one and got better blending) for my next card featuring stamps from Unity Love Abundantly.
I'm joining trend week at the Just Us Girls Challenge using a Black Background with my vibrant colors. The sentiment was stamped on paper inked with just the Garden Pantina Ink.
I added some gem flourishes to the center of my Butterfly and cut the sentiment into two pieces to frame it.
And lastly, this is one of the few stamp sets that I went and purchased the moment I saw it (actually I think it was a gift with purchase originally, so of course I had to buy enough to get it) ...
we collect all things BEET related at our house (my husband's Fantasy Baseball Team name is Schrute Farms), so I knew I had to have Beets for You.
A simple but happy card using my MISTI to stamp the beet with two shades of ink with the Fab Friday Sketch.
Thanks for joining me for Day 2 of my week of Growing in Unity. Remember, leave a comment on each post this week for a change to win one of two Rubber Stamp Grab Bags from Unity Stamp Company. I had so much fun reading all the comments from yesterday ... thank you so much for your kind words.
Awesome cards! That whale design is one of my favorites!
Posted by: Denise Bryant | March 19, 2020 at 10:27 AM
This is the first I've heard about the Archival/alcohol smooshing, Stephanie, but I love smooshing of any kind. It made a great background for your butterfly. Thanks for sharing that card with us at Just Us Girls.
Posted by: Bobby Hagen | March 19, 2020 at 08:04 PM
Great cards! Love the tip about the alcohol. I’m definitely going to have to try it.
Posted by: Nikki | March 20, 2020 at 08:08 AM
Love making personalized cards for people! Great cards you made today...loving he colors!
Posted by: JenniferE | March 20, 2020 at 11:04 AM
Hiya Stef, popped over to see your card with a black background and found a whole GALLERY of cards! These are all fabulous but I got sidetracked with that lovely pic of you and your sister :) I feel the same about being able to personalise cards - it makes people feel very 'known' and cared about. If I had Angie Girl stamps I would add faces I think! Didn't realise Unity was so amazing at sentiments - these are inspiring. Vicky x
Posted by: Vicky | March 20, 2020 at 01:07 PM