Unity Stamp Challenge

I've got a card today that was inspired by the current Unity Stamp Challenge. My card is loosely based on the card sketch they provided.

Here's my interpretation:

I started with a piece of watercolor paper, and stamped the bicycle image (Reasons to Smile by Unity Stamp) with Versafine Onyx Black. I covered the wet ink with clear embossing powder and heat set it.

Next I pulled out several color of Distress inks and rubbed some of the color on my non-stick craft sheet. Using water and a brush, I applied the inks in a watercolor style. I set it aside to dry while I worked on the card background. (After it was dry, I rounded the edges with a Corner Chomper and stitched it to piece of gray cardstock.)

I thought it would be nice to have the effect of rays of sun coming down from the top left, so I chose the Stripes stencil from Tim Holtz and rubbed Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink through the stencil using an ink blending tool. To mimic the stripes on the card sketch, I used some complementary papers from Vintage Bliss by Simple Stories.

For the sentiment (Big Summertime Bouquet by Unity Stamp), I blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink on a scrap of white paper, then stamped the image with Versafine Black and heat embossed the same way I did the bicycle. I cut the strip with notched ends, and layered it on a scrap of black cardstock. 

Everything was layered on the card base with adhesive - for the smaller pieces, I find it easier to use glue.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Unity Stamp Challenge

I have recently been experimenting with some of the stamps from Unity Stamp Company. Their stamps are all made in Minnesota. The prices on sale are really great, and shipping is quite reasonable. Each month, on their blog, a new challenge is posted. Participants have the choice of basing their inspiration on a sketch and/or a color scheme.

I love the look of vintage ornaments, so the photo really caught my eye. I decided to try to incorporate the colors and the card sketch. Here's the result:

I started with an off-white cardstock that I colored with Distress Ink - Old Paper, using a blending tool. Then I inked up a background stamp - Thin Stripes from Impression Obsession, using Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. The pink panels are from a 6 x 6 paper pad by Colorbok that I found at Walmart. 

The sentiment is from Unity Stamp's October 2014 Sentiment Kit. I stamped it on a plain old manila shipping tag using Ranger's black Archival ink. The tag was colored with Distress Ink Peacock Feathers, with Vintage Photo around the edges. I spread a crackle medium over the entire tag and let it dry. I love the cool crackled effect!

The thread is some heavy cotton thread that I colored using Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Vintage Photo. I smooshed some ink on my craft sheet and spritzed it with water. Wearing a glove to prevent stained fingers, I rubbed the thread into the ink until it was colored, then dried it with a heat tool. I wrapped both colors around the bottom of the tag, and also made a bow at the top.

Till next time,

Immi