GIU Girl - Day 1

Hi everyone!

It's all about Unity Stamp Co this week on my blog.  I'm one of their "Growing in Unity" Girls and this is my week to share my love of Unity.  *doing the happy dance*

Unity, being the awesome company that they are, donates 2 grab bag prizes of 25 Unity stamps, to be drawn for during each GIU week.  All you have to do to be entered to win is to comment on each of my daily blog posts throughout the week!  So be sure to come back every day and leave a comment!!  I will draw the names Saturday morning.

In addition, there is a 2nd "veteran" GIU Girl this week, who also receives 2 prize packages to give away, so check out Monica's blog here.  So many chances to win and so many projects to enjoy!!

To start the week off, I thought I would show what you can do with a fantastic image and some pretty patterned paper. 

First up is one of my most favorite Unity bunnies... I think you'll agree with me that he is ADORABLE.  

This little guy comes in the Unity Sentiment Kit "Bunny - Keep You Forever".  (Click on these 

hi-lighted links and you will be taken to Unity's shop to see the entire set of stamps in the kit.)

Oh yes it would!

I used Bo Bunny's pretty Petal Lane paper to make this card and did a bit of shading on the bunny with my Copics.  Easy peasy... and so cute you really DO want to hug him!

The second card I made with some paper from Close to my Heart.  This was a special edition paper collection made only for the month of May called "Live Beautifully".  I thought the serene colours were perfect for these stamps.

These stamps come from the April Kit of the Month (KOM) called Be My Bird.

To make this card, I first stamped the butterfly on the front.  I then made a mask, which is a duplicate butterfly stamped on scrap paper and fussy cut out.  Here's what mine looked like.

I laid this over my first butterfly on the card, and stamped the background flower stamp over top.  I then stamped the butterfly a third time, on white cardstock, shaded him lightly with Copic markers and fussy cut him once again.  A black sharpie used on his antenae made them "pop".  After colouring, I brushed him with clear Wink of Stella to give him a beautiful shimmer, curled his wings slightly, and glued the center part of his body over top of the butterfly on the card.  Dressed him up with some "bling" and called him "beautiful"!  

The sentiment was heat embossed with Ranger Superfine White embossing powder and die cut with a Spellbinders label die.

To finish the card off, I added a strip of glitter paper along the striped piece.  I didn't have any black glitter paper, so my sharpie came to the rescue again and I coloured white glitter paper with it.   In the picture below you can see the glittery, glimmering details a littlel bit better.  You can also get a sense of the depth you achieve when you glue a second butterfly over top of the first one.

With more stamps from that same kit, I finished off the interior of the card.

In my opinion, you can't beat the Kits of the Month for value and creativity.  For details on becoming a member and getting them, click on this link and scroll down a bit.

So that's it... Day 1... and 4 more fun days to go!  I hope you have been inspired to pull out some pretty paper and get stamping!

  Be sure to comment below so you can be entered in for the draw prize at the end of the week!

In my introduction on Unity's GIU Facebook page (a fun place to hang out, by the way), I mentioned I like to spend time with my dogs.  Here's a photo of them.  One is big, one is small, and they are very good friends.  

Oakley the big fellow (my gentle giant is what I call him) is 40% Golden Retriever with some Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky thrown in, and Dixon the little one, is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the cuddliest companion you could ever want. 

So that's a little bit about me... share with me some details about yourselves in the comments.  I would like to get to know my Unity friends a little better! 

Thanks SO much for stopping by today!

Linda