Unity Challenge and Growing in Unity Winners!

Happy Tuesday! Today I am playing along with the Unity Show and Tell Face Book group challenge.   This challenge is all about creating cards for NEW BEGINNINGS-- could be new baby, wedding, new job-- etc. 

I used the stamp set Feather Flight.  I started by stamping a background (OK, I can't remember what the background is and I didn't label it) using my Misti. Then I used the ink I stamped the feathers with like water color and splattered the background.  I stamped the feathers and sentiment then fussy cut the feather.  I inked the edges of the sentiment with the same blue ink.  

My husband got me a new MacBook and tonight loaded it all up so I can use it with my Silhouette, so hopefully I can start creating cut files and get back to using the Silhouette more.  

I layered the images and tied them off with some twine to finish the card.  

And now for the Growing in Unity Winners! 

Ellie Hass Wilkins

Patricia Cousins 

Congrats winners! 

Unity Feather Flight 

MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle 

Misti Monday and Impression Obsession Challenges.

Hey again today, can you tell what I'm doing today? I'm getting caught up with all my favorite stamping challenges! For this card I combined the Misti Monday challenge on SCS and the Impression Obsession heart challenge. 

I use my Misti for everything.  Can't you tell it's well loved!? I stamped the floral spray then masked it off, then stamped the heart, using my Misti of course! 

For this card I'm using the Impression Obsession Floral Heart set.  Isn't it a stunning image. 

The Impression Obsession challenge is hearts. Isn't this gorgeous and is a heart for more then just Valentines Day, I made this as a note card.  

The Misti Challenge is to use the 2020 Pantone color of the year, Classic Blue.  

I don't think I use Blue nearly enough so this is working out well for me.  

Some copic coloring, then used the grid lines on the top of my Misti to line the panels up.  

You can find the Impression Obsession Challenge HERE. 

You can find the Misti Challenge HERE.  

If you can get some time to play along I would love to see what you make! 

Hope your having an awesome start to your week!

Love you more,  Joyce 

Misti Monday Challenge, Panatone Color

Have you seen the Misti Monday challenge on SCS? It is amazing! And the prizes are awesome! I hope to win so I can order the brand new improved Misti.  I use my original all the time, so I'm super excited to see what the Misti folks have done to improve it.  This months challenge is to use the Pantone 2020 color of the year, Classic Blue. 

I made this card using an image by Deep Red.  I colored with shades of blue to highlight the Pantone color.  I love it! Just reminds me of winter!

And here is a close up of the ribbon and embellishment. 

And of the coloring.  I find the darker blues and reds the hardest to color with, and my copic B28 was super juicy.  

While the rest of the crafting world is at Creativation I'm here all cozy and warm watching what's to come for us in 2020 and coloring with years years beautiful Pantone color! 

Have a great day and thanks for visiting! 

Growing in Unity Day 5!

 Hello everyone, thanks for joining me this week as I explored my Unity stamps and made some pretty fantastic cards if I do say so myself.  Today I have 2 cards for you.  First a warm and cozy card to send cheer to a dear friend.  This is another one of my favorite Unity stamps, I could definitely cuddle into a warm sweater today.  

I started this card by coloring the image then fussy cutting it.  I had no idea what I wanted to do with it so I pulled out some water colors and attempted to make a background, but none of my water colors matched.  So I scrapped that idea and went to my inks for a similar shade and ended up using a stencil to make a subtle background.  

I added a sentiment from a holiday kit that I thought worked perfectly.  

My fussy cutting isn't perfect but I think it gives a homemade feel to the card.  

For my second card I played along with this weeks CAS(E) this sketch challenge CTS355.

I bough this fun image last year and never used her so I thought I would make a card with her today.  

I added some ink splatter and a sentiment for a quick and easy Valentine card.  

Thank you all for joining me this week.  For a chance to win a prize pack from Unity Stamp Company be sure to comment each day this week on my blog, face book post and instagram.  

I'll announce the winner next week.  Thanks for playing along and hope you have a great day! 

Joyce 

Growing in UNITY day 4

Day 4, what a week it has been! So hard to pick what images from Unity to use, honestly if I had time I would love to do a year of Unity and make a card a week.  Maybe after my beautiful daughter is wed and moved on to begin her new family.  I first saw this image from a swap I participated in on Splitcoast Stampers and I just had to have it.  I love poppies, although I have never lived where I could grow them.  And I never knew they came in so many colors until I googled them for inspiration to color this image. 

Someone asked how I mail my cards so I thought I would share a few tips I have learned over the years.  First if the card is just a bit bumpy I just used an extra sheet of card stock and place it on top of the card in the envelope.  

If the card is a bit too thick for just a sheet of card stock I use a piece of bubble wrap and a slightly larger envelope.  I place an extra 20 cent stamp on it and write on it in red to hand sort. I've never had an issue with mailing cards this way.  

For this card I started with the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #528. 

Of course I used a little maneuvering of the elements but I think It turned out great! 

And one final close up of my simple pencil coloring for this gorgeous Unity image.  

If your just finding your way to my blog this week be sure to  comment on each post this week to be entered to win a Unity Stamp Company huge prize pack of stamps! 

You can enter here, on my fb page as well as on my Instagram post for each day.  

Hope your week is going well. 

Joyce 

Growing in Unity Day 3

Welcome! Today is day 3 of of my week of posts as the growing in Unity card maker. Each week Unity Stamp Company pick a different person to showcase their work. So that's 52 weeks of fun and inspiration as well as giveaways each week!  If you aren't familiar with Unity stamps be sure to check out their store HERE as well as Unity Show and Tell group on facebook.  It's an awesome group to hang out with and be inspired by.   

For this card I used the Focus on the Things stamp.  Isn't it awesome!? Unity has several camera stamps so if you love cameras or have camera loving friends to make cards for be sure to check them out.  

I used a black card base for this card so I had to finish the inside as well.  

Just a quick add of white paper and a swatch of card stock and it's all ready to write a note and get in the mail.  

If your just joining in this week be sure to visit each day of the week and leave a comment on all the GIU posts here on my blog, on my facebook page, and my Instagram and I'll pick 2 winners to win an awesome prize pack from Unity Stamp Company! 

Growing in Unity Day 2

Hello friends, so happy to be blogging along with Growing in Unity this week.  If you are  just checking in be sure to comment on yesterdays blog post as well for a chance to win a Unity prize. 

Todays card is a CAS card with one of my favorite embellishments, ribbon.  I still love ribbon and buttons.  This is a super sweet little Charlie Brown Christmas tree stamp that I just love.  It is super quick to stamp and color and makes not only perfect cards but tags as well.  

You can find Small Stuff Christmas stamp Here in the Unity Stamp Company store.  

The sentiment says life is about the small stuff Merry Merry Christmas.  

Be sure to comment on each of my blog posts this week as well as on my facebook and Instagram posts to increase your chances of winning an awesome prize of stamps for Unity Stamp Company!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.  

Growing in Unity Day One

Welcome! This is my first day post for my Growing in Unity week.  When I started making my cards for this week it was right before Christmas so you'll have to bare with a few more holiday cards.  I was really bad with holiday cards for this year and didn't mail any so I thought this year I'm going to make a holiday card a week so I'm all ready to go next year.  Do you make your holiday cards early or do wait until the last minute?  I"ll invite you to join me in making a card or tag a week, I would love to see them.  

For my first card I copic colored this image.  

You can find this beauty at Unity Stamp Company Here. 

A close up of the coloring and the sentiment I used.  

And that's it for me for day one of GIU. I'm so excited to be blogging all week with Unity stamps. And it's likely I'm wearing my Unity hoodie as well.  Maybe I'll get a pic when I'm all put together.  

 Be sure to comment on this post as well as every post this week here on my blog, on my facebook and on instagram (Joyce Casaldi) and I'll pick to 2 random winners for a very nice gift of stamps from Unity Stamp Company!

Thank you for joining me and have a great week!

12 Tags of Christmas Day 2

This years theme is Christmas Carols! Nothing better then the holiday tunes filling the air in the craft room while you get your craft on! You can find more info on the 12 Days Challenges, prizes and tons of inspiration HERE or by clicking the logo below.

For today's tag I chose Lisa's tag as inspiration.  

You can see Lisa's tag HERE. 

This was a total lift on my part.  I just used some sparkly red and gold water colors and tried a few on Kraft carstock as well.  

Happy 12 Days of Christmas Day 2! 

Brea Reese Water Colors 

The Greetery Sentiment 

twine and paper from my stash. 

12 tags of Christmas Day 1

Have you played along with Ellen Hutson's 12 tags of Christmas? I have been playing along for a few years.  I actually remember being so excited when they started because I liked playing along with the Tim Holtz challenge, but they always felt very technique heavy for me and it just didn't seem to be my style.  When Ellen added the feminine twist, I was thrilled, even though the event has evolved and no longer totes the twist I still love it and have been playing along every since.

This years theme is Christmas Carols! Nothing better then the holiday tunes filling the air in the craft room! You can find more info on the 12 Days Challenges, prizes and tons of inspiration HERE or by clicking the logo below.

Today's carol is Rudolph! I love, love, love the original Rudolph so was totally stoke to see this for day one!

For the day one tag I loved several of the designers inspiration so I chose two to use for my card. First, I love all the layers Therese used and second I love the pink that Lisa used. 

You can see Therese tag HERE.

You can see  Lisa's tag HERE.

And here is my cute little Rudolph inspired tag with lots of layers and a touch of pink! 

Thanks Ellen and team for helping make the holiday fun and festive!

Patterned Paper- DCWV 

Embossing Folder- Darice 

Rudolph- Inkadinkado

Sentiment- (I don't remember and put the stamps away already! First time for everything!)

Twine- stash 

#thedailymarker30day , Power Poppy Challenge

Hello and thanks for stopping by! This month I'm coloring along with the 30 day coloring challenge.  I'm awful at posting daily but so far I have been able to color at least a few minutes every day! Yay!  For today's coloring  I'm playing along with the Power Poppy Creative Confetti challenge.  The challenge is a sketch challenge posted by Julie.  Thanks Julie, love a sketch challenge and your inspiration!  You can find the challenge by clicking on the photo below to take you to the Power Poppy blog.

Here is the sketch.  

And here is my first day coloring.  I was picking out stamps for an SCS swap and thought I just needed to use this cute little stocking.  Coloring with copic reds is always hard for me.  I think I over saturate the paper and it's very hard to look completely in the lines.  So fussy cutting to the rescue! 

I inked the edges of the patterned paper as well to help hide the white core of the paper.  I think this just gives it a more finished look.  And I'm one of those ones that embraces everything about the holidays so if you come in my house you will surely smell the fresh pine cones and cinnamon candles.  Yay!  Even in my craft room I keep a candle lit ( see it here!) It smells so nice.  We need a scratch an sniff blog.  

Thanks for stopping  by! 

Stamps - Power Poppy Poinsettia set 

Patterned Paper- DCWV 

Ribbon - stash

Copic Markers

Inky Paws Chalenge #95

Today I'm playing along with the newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge.  

I pulled out this vintage paper from my stash by Little Yellow Bicycle.  

I'm not really sure it can be technically called vintage but I have had it in my stash for a long time.  

I colored the image using Faber Castell Gold faber and Aquarelle pencils.  

I finished by adding twine to the center portion instead of on the fishtail.  

And because of the vintage feel of the paper I went to my vintage button bottle and found this adorable button to finish the card.  I love buttons! And because I love buttons so much I have this entire drawer dedicated to these little gems! I used to have them displayed on my wall but in my new room I had these oversize drawers put in and it worked out perfectly for my jars.

To play along and learn more about Newton's Nook stamps and challenges visit the blog by visiting HERE!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Splitcoast CAS challenge 3 in a row

I hope you are surviving winter where you are! It's the coldest day of the year here in North TX! Honestly, I had no idea it got this cold here when we moved here.  I was so very misinformed.  But I'm holding out hope that very soon there will be bluebonnet sightings very soon.  And that just makes me smile.  Right along with this beautiful stamp set from Altenew.  Lavender is just so pretty.  I don't think I've ever seen more then photos of lavender fields, but I can just imagine how beautiful they must be. And the smell must be divine!

This was such an easy set to stamp using the Misti stamping tool.  I was able to cut and stamp a pile of pretty lavender in just a few minutes.

I used Impression Obsession inks in orchid, lavender and lilac to stamp the flowers. I inked the first layer of the lavender color, then I inked just the tips with the lilac and stamped then stamped over the entire image with lilac.  I love how this makes each one just look a little different and natural.  I finished the stems and then tied them together with twine.  

I thought the all white background needed just a bit of color so I added just a bit of green patterned paper before I die cut the edge piece. I love layering die cuts to give the card a bit of dimension without taking away from the image focal point.  I finished by stamping the sentiment.  

I did take some creative liberty with this weeks challenge.  I attempted to use my buds in a row but they just seemed to want to cluster.  I hope you join our Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge, I can't wait to see where the challenge takes you! 

Stay warm and cozy my friends, 

Affiliate links are used

Black Shop at: IO	Melon Shop at: IO	Lavender Shop at: IO	Lilac Shop at: IO
Orchid Shop at: IO	Mint Shop at: IO	Lime Shop at: IO	Copic Sketch Markers Shop at: DB
Misti Shop at: Amazon	cut align ruler Shop at: Amazon	Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-namics Shop at: stamps	Lavender Bud Stamp and die bundle Shop at: stamps