Lazy Summer Days

 When I saw the July photo for the Tuesday color challenge I swooned. It’s a dream photograph of a perfect moment. 

Despite my multiple attempts, I don’t think I did the photo justice. 

I used Unity’s, July 2023 KOM, Anchored By Love. I just love that sand castle! I stamped it on acetate and used that image to transfer the reflection. I did the same with the birds. The castle is heat embossed and colored dark for that silhouette look. Everything below the horizon shimmers, just like sand would.

I cant wait to take a beach trip! 

Cattitudes

 Happy Friday! Today I have a set of fun cards using Most Favorite Kitty, #cattitude, and Ups & Downs Kitty sets. Of course I couldn’t resist using more of the spin art pieces, I just love them so much and think they go well with the styles I chose for these images. I used a 3D embossing folder called Jumbled Triangles from Sizzix. It’s the perfect kind of wonky, isn’t it? To add a bit more depth in the spin pieces, I ran them through with my subtle embossing folder. The caption bubble, from Snarky Cat Thoughts, was too small for the first two cards sentiments so I extended it by stamping half of it at a time using acetate to be sure of placement and fitting both just right. These kitty’s were the first I colored with my new markers.  I need lots of practice but I had lots of fun using them, especially in these cartoony colors. I think the second one is my favorite. She totally fits the mood around here lately. I used gel pens to accent the kitties and diamond painting bits for finishing touches.  

We’ve reached the last day of my week featuring everything Unity. I enjoyed making everything I shared and hope you feel inspired by something. Thank you for joining me and all the wonderful comments you’ve left. I’ll be back in a few days to announce the two winners of the $20 Unity credit. 

❤️ Shannon

Celebrations

 Last month my husband and I celebrated our 38/35 years anniversaries. It’s surreal that we have been together that long. Last month was also the first time we had the opportunity to see the Northern Lights. We stayed up late and ventured out to a dark area, just taking in the sight together. It was amazing. I wanted to commentate that moment on his anniversary card. For the panel I used a blue piece of card stock and smeared oil pastels in vertical streaks using the colors we saw, greens at the bottom and pinks and purples at the top.Then I sprinkled some white ink all over and added our constellations from the set Zodiac with white ink, and embellished the areas of significance with tiny gems, foil and stars. The sentiment came in a “free with purchase” bag, it seemed perfect for this card. Inside of the card I used the happy anniversary and stars from Jar of Mixed Sentiments.  

The next card was created for Moon’s promotion to first grade. Her Mama suggested a card with a girl on a swing and the phrase to go with it, which I printed. I used the tree from the 8/17 KOM Never Be Afraid, extending the trunk a bit to fit the slim line card base and help be in proportion with size of the girl. I also reversed the image so the girl would swing away from the tree. In hindsight, I wish I had left it alone and her feet sung towards the tree, not her head. The swinging girl is one of my most loved Phyllis Harris images called, Happiness is…, I’m so happy her designs are available from Unity. Her little dress is also extended a bit, and paper pieced, then textured with an embossing folder to mimic Seersucker material. Lastly, I added a little rainbow pocket, full of posies. She is attached with jute twine and really swings. The background was made using Unity’s Cloud and Wave stencil. 

As I was looking through my Phyllis Harris collection, I was inspired by, Easier With You By My Side. Moon’s elementary school mascot is a horse. Since their school color is blue, I decided the horse needed to be blue too. I colored everything with watercolor pencils, then accented with gel pens and sequined hearts in the colors of the rainbow background. It look’s like it’s raining love! One Crazy Bird’s I love you  sentiment fit with this perfectly.  

That’s all for today. Let me know what you think! I hope you come back again tomorrow for one last share. Remember to comment for your chance to win Unity credit! 

I’m so grateful for your time and comments. 

❤️ Shannon
 

Cats in Plants series 2

*Warning the third card in this set has a naughty word. Please skip over that one if it’s not your thing. 

When Scaredy Cats was released, I could not wait to create another set of Cats in Plants! My previous set was created with another company’s products. I have to admit, Unity’s are so much better, I just love them! 

* Notes:

• All sentiments are from Snarky Cat Thoughts.  
• The baskets on each card were created using the stamped outline of the large pumpkin in the 8.23 KOM, Phases. Once I had the shape stamped onto kraft paper, I used different texture stamps to make each one unique. Card 1 uses the bullseye from Let Adventure, card 2 uses the chicken wire from Blow Your Mind, and card 3 uses the starry texture stamp in the Phases KOM. 
• All of the cards in todays post are oversized. Card 1 is 6.25x4.25. Card 2 and 3 are both 6.25x5. 
• The little embellishments I used are leftover diamond painting bits. They are great on cards!  
• I was happy to use up some hoarded patterned papers on these as well. I have no idea what brand they are though. Sorry!    

Card 1 - The plant is from the set, Simplicity. Various shades of green were color blended onto white cardstock, then I stamped and heat embossed in different shades of green as well. The plant was fussy cut and trimmed to fit the basket and panel. The cute kitty is colored to look like my daughters big fluffy Calico named, Twix. She was fussy cut, and fit just so into her spot inside the basket. She chewed up a couple leaves, bad little kitty! I used heart shaped sequins to mimic “please forgive me” catchlights in her eyes. Hahaha! 

Card 2 -  The plant is from Time to Refresh. This Tortie colored gal has lots of added texture and is appearing very antisocial. Her thin catchlights are highlighted with thin glitter strips that fit her perfectly. It looks like she visits that plant often, at least the leaves do. The stressed look was achieved by watercoloring a whole sheet and stamping the leaves all over then fussy cutting them out. It took me a while but I think it was worth it. I love how it turned out. 

 

Card 3 - The plant was created just like card 2. This cat looks so mischievous, He’s certainly up to no good. I had to pair his naughty demeanor with the naughty sentiment. They just fit perfectly together. Speaking of fitting perfectly, doesn’t he just look so comfy in that basket?! That poor plant! Obviously it’s stressed out and has lost a few leaves. LOL! I thought he would look good in grey, using those gel pens for furry texture. I used chunky glitter bits for his catchlights. 

Thanks for your comments on the previous posts! Keep them coming, I love hearing what you think of the creations. 

See you tomorrow! 

❤️ Shannon

Star Dust

 Hi Friends! 

Today’s cards all feature the Falling Stars background die. I don’t see it on their website. I hope it’ll be back soon! Luckily, all the images I used are available.

For the first cards, I die-cut the star panels, then interchanged the stars on each. The white one is glittery fun foam featuring the Beautiful Unicorn and a sentiment from Looking Up. The colorful one is a baby wipe swiping technique piece. It features the huge moon from the 8.23 KOM, Phases. The sentiment is an Itty Bitty called You are Magical, it was stamped and heat embossed on vellum. Both are adorned with tiny stars. I used some vintage Prima flowers on the floral crown of the Unicorn.   

I really like how this turned out. I used metallic watercolor, Wink of Stella, glitter and glittery gel pens to make the Unicorn even more magical with all the lovely, soft shimmer.

I have to admit that I’m quite impressed with how this one turned out. That colorful panel was nearly tossed out. I’m so glad I found the perfect use for it. The moon was stamped and watercolored with a pearly soft Lilac color. I really wish you could see it in person. I tried to get the hue to show in the photographs. You can see a slight hint of it in the close up below, especially at the top of the moon. I used Elmers spray adhesive to attach the vellum and love the uniform look and contact it gives. 

The birthday card uses one of those spiral panels in the background. Look closely and you might see the lines of colors. I think this card is really fun, perfect for a youngster. The main panel is a very thin sheet of holographic paper glued to a medium weight cardstock. It cut beautifully, and it’s so shiny! Eeek!    

The sentiment is from Cheers & Confetti. I love that set! They are a great size, fun font, and look amazing heat embossed. I used Stamp-n-Stuff vivid blue. I embossed it twice for a more bubble letter look. Most colored powders I’ve experimented with are matte or cloudy finished. I was so happy to find this one stays shiny. 

My husband suggested a frame around the sentiment. I used matching holographic paper in magenta. After cutting the shape, I left the paper in place and carefully ran an embossing stylus around the inside edges of the die, creating a path to follow as I fussy cut it out. I’m glad I took my husbands advice. It does make the sentiment pop a bit more. To make the frame match the card better I trimmed the whole panel and backed it with the magenta paper too.  

Now that Moon is in school it’ll be good for. Me to have cards like this on hand for her classmates. I can see many themes and varieties of colors using this fast concept. In fact, as I typed this blog post I decided to create an another one from scraps and leftovers. My first attempt to put the magenta holographic paper on my card base turned out a mess, I used liquid glue and it buckled and oozed out making streaks, bubbles and smears. I ran it through my favorite, subtle textured embossing folder to camouflage all that. I also had some stars from another project that used the same silver paper, There were just enough left to fill the panel. The images I used are from Little Outer Space and Kawaii Rainbow. Eeek! Isn’t it cute?! I used the die to help place the stars on the panel, colored and fussy cut the images, then added more tiny embellishments to finish it off. The bow in her hair is a tiny butterfly tucked in a bit. The shooting star streak is from a section of one of those spin art designs. The big star was in my leftovers from that original project (photo below) as well. The sentiment is heat embossed & the banner was hand cut.    

 

Ok, I’m done for today! LOL! I hope you enjoyed everything I shared! Let me know!

See you tomorrow! 

❤️ Shannon

Spin Art!

 Hi everyone! 

This week is Unity week! I sure had fun creating all the cards I will share this week and I hope you all enjoy them and get inspired. 

If you comment each day you’ll receive the opportunity to win a generous Unity store credit worth $20.   

Spin Art is something Moon and I love to do together. You might notice our little machine is very well loved. Have you ever tried Spin Art? I think those colorful circles are perfect backgrounds for the Scaredy Cat cards I’m sharing today. 

I adore these funny cats and really like how the Cheers & Confetti sentiments look with them. 

The cats were colored with my new Ohuhu alcohol markers I received for Mama’s day. I’ve finally conquered my markers fear and love the results these have. I do need a lot of practice & I’ll get there!

After the cats were colored, I accented them with shimmery gel pens. I loooove gel pens. I always use them in my creations. They’re great for highlights, eyes and adding texture to furry critters. I added some angle shots so you can see the textures. 

 

Today’s final card features the hilarious, and relatable sentiment from Snarky Cat Thoughts. 

Each card was embellished with whole sequins Unity offered a few years back.   

Let me know what you think! I look forward to reading your comments. 

See you tomorrow! 

Shannon

Sun Kissed

 Hi friends! Today’s Color Challenge is all about the beach! The three summery colors in our challenge photo were so easy to use with this theme.  

The image I used is from Practical Publishing International, it was a freebie with the purchase of a stamp magazine in 2018. The sentiment I used is from Gina K designs, Make a Wish.

I stamped the sunbathing beauty on watercolor paper with antique linen distress ink and watercolored her with Daniel Smith watercolors. Her hat is shimmery from Daniel Smith’s primatek mineral watercolors colors. Ooooo, I love them so much! 🐦‍⬛ 

While she dried off I created the bold background for her with an embossing folder of rays. I lightly brayed the raised dots with white acrylic paint, adding Wink of Stella in-between each ray. So shiny! 🐦‍⬛ 

Next, I cut the watercolored panel and two Gina Marie Geometric Double Frame dies to make her really pop. The sentiment was heat embossed and cut apart to be at the top and bottom of the frames.  

I just loooove how it turned out! 

Be sure to come back next week! I will be sharing Unity creations all week long for Growing In Unity. There is a prize for consistent commenters throughout the week so don’t miss out! 

See you then! 

Shannon ❤️ 
 

Change Can Be Beautiful

This months challenge from Tuesdays Color Challenge, features the Zebra photo below. Use black and white, stripes, and the color of your choice. This was the perfect opportunity for me to finally ink up Unity’s stamp set called, Spark.   

You might notice that the original caterpillar stamp image doesn’t have stripes or antennae. I added those by hand and painted them with acrylic paints for that rich, vibrant look of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. There are so many varieties of butterflies, I couldn’t help but make a little fuzzy wuzzy one too. The littlest changes can create exactly what you need. How fitting is that?! 

The main panel of the card was embossed and treated to the fun blackout technique. I also used acrylic paint for that and it got messy! Yellow paint was stippled and flicked onto the panel to add some light in the darkness. The caterpillar didn’t stand out as much as I wanted it too, so I softened the heavy background with an embossed panel of vellum. The sentiment was heat embossed on vellum also, then fussy cut following the flow of the words. Lots of shiny baby butterflies and vintage photo corners finished off the card perfectly.  

I’m really proud of my monarch butterfly caterpillar. I’d love to hear about changes you’ve made to images so they fit your needs.

Next month I will be back with another color challenge and a whole week of Unity love. Is there anything you suggest for the week? 

Until then,

Shannon ❤️