GIU Day Five - Graduation Wishes

Hi everyone! Today is my last day as a GIU girl and this is my final project. My cousin is graduating from college this month and Unity's Graduation Wishes is perfect for today's card. 

I colored the image with Copic markers. I'm very glad that I have both warm and cool grays because if I used only one shade for both the hair and the gown, the entire image will look very blended together and nothing would stand out. Here's a complete list of all of the colors I used: 

(from darkest to lightest shades)

CAP & GOWN: ......... C9 / C7 / C5

HAIR: ..................... W9 / W7 / W5

SKIN: E04 / E11 / E21 / E00 / E000

SASH (Blue): ................. B39 / B37

SASH (Yellow): ............. Y18 / Y13

Then I stamped the varsity letters with VersaFine Clair Blue Belle ink and the sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. After layering with patterned paper and vellum, the card is complete. 

I hope you enjoyed today's creation. Don't forget to comment on this week's post for a chance to win Unity's awesome prize bag! 

GIU Day Four - Lotus Encouragement Card

Hi everyone! I'm a little late with my fourth GIU post, but here it is! This set is called Steps of Courage and I thought it's perfect for an encouragement card. I was actually inspired by the sentiment from this set, and decided to have the black and white image contrasting the cheerful, rainbow background.

I ink blended the background with Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, and Peacock Feathers Distress inks. Then I stamped the image onto a separate piece of cardstock and fussy cut it out. After that I mounted it with two layers of foam tape and adhered some sequins to finish off the card. Thanks so much for stopping by, I'll be back with my last post tomorrow!

GIU Day Three - Kissmas Hedgies

Hi there, crafty friends! Welcome to my third day as the Growing in Unity girl. Unity has a whole line of Itty Bitty stamps and I decided to give this Kissmas Hedgie set some love today. <3 

Since the image is itty bitty, I went with repetitive stamping and only colored the middle image to create the highlight effect. I used Prismacolor pencils because the pigment still shows really well on kraft colored cardstock. 

After stamping the sentiment on a small banner with Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink, I mounted several layers of cardstock and embellish the card with gold thread and red stitched ribbon. I hope you enjoyed today's simple card. Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my first and second GIU posts, I love reading them and they truly warm my heart. :) 

GIU Day Two - Flurry Snowman

Good afternoon, crafty friends! Welcome to my second GIU post showcasing the adorable Winter Frosty snowman!

This little guy is perfect for the upcoming holiday season. I decided to choose a not-so-traditional palette to watercolor him. All of the ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers I've used are listed below from lighter to darker shades. If used the same marker twice, it will be indicated in parenthesis. 

SNOWMAN: ........................................ No. 303 / No. 302

SCARF (PINK): ................................... No. 021 / No. 082

SCARF (TEAL): ................................... No. 049 / No. 042

BUTTONS: ........................................................... No. 092

HAT & NOSE: ...... No. 050 / No. 052 / No. 070 / No. 061

HOLLY BERRY: ................................................... No. 024

HOLLY LEAVES: ................................. No. 053 / No. 400

BACKGROUND: (No. 302) / No. 032 / No. 030 / No. 038


What is a holiday card without some gold sparkles?! I love splattering gold and white paint droplets onto the background for some extra pizzazz. They certainly make a difference, don't you think?

Then I die cut the panel with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangles die and mounted it on Stampin' Up's Rose Red cardstock. After adhering the snowflake die cuts from the Seasonal Tags Framelits set, my card is complete! I love how this turned out, and I hope you do, too!

P.S. Unity is generously giving away 2 prize packs for 2 random commenters. Don't forget to comment below for a chance to win some awesome stamps!

Challenges Entered:

Dies R Us: Snowflakes

GIU Day One - Watercoloring, Paper-Piecing, and Sentiment Background

Hi everyone! This week I'll be sharing a couple of creations featuring Unity stamps as the GIU girl, and here's the first! The stamp set is called George & Scarlett. It's my very first Angie Girl stamp and I love it dearly. So I thought I'd dedicate my first post to this set. 

I combined simple watercoloring with paper-piecing to dress up the images. I used ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens, and I watercolored a faint halo around the couple as well so they stand out more from the background. 

Paper-piecing is a really fun and easy technique and I'm surprised that it look me so long to try it out. I paper-pieced the vest and the skirt using patterned paper from the DCWV Fresh Floral Stack. 

For the background, I used the bold Stripe Builder stamp set from Concord & 9th. I stamped it with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then picked out various sentiment stamps from Winnie & Walter to stamp on top of it. For the ink to show on a black or dark layer, you would need to use pigment inks. I went with VersaMagic dew drops, my go-to inks, today.

Finally, I embellished the card with some washi tape, a couple of enamel dots, and a piece of silver thread, and the card is finished! I hope you enjoyed my creation. Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win some Unity stamps! 

Christmas Background ft. STAMPlorations

Hello, stamping friends! Can you believe that it's December already?!? Time sure flies, and we have a new CUTplorations challenge for ya!


I was inspired by the clipped notes and decided to create a large postage stamp using the Warm Hands, Warm Hearts set. After stamping the images quite randomly with Memento Onyx Black ink, I colored the them with Copic markers.


I love STAMPloration's metal dies, especially the Christmas ones! For today's card I used the Season's Greetings CUTplorations Dies. I die cut it from gold glitter and black cardstock, and adhered them together. This way, it creates a shadow effect and makes the gold lettering pop against the busy background.


I also splattered on gold acrylic paint to add some interest to the card panel.


After the paint has dried, I adhered all of the elements together at a slanted angle; another inspiration from the cue image! Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you'll find some time to craft during the lovely holiday season. And if you do, give this fun challenge a try!