Growing in Unity - Day 5

Happy Day to you!

For my last Growing in Unity day, and with Valentine's Day looming in a month, I chose to make a Valentine card.

These two cute little birds were calling my name!  They can be found in a Kit of the Month from May, 2017 called "Free Your Dreams".  The frame die that I used for this card is from Avery Elle and is called Dotted Frame.

I used a combination of techniques to colour the birds:  starting by watercolouring with Distress Inks, and doing some finishing up touches with Copics.  I heat embossed them with white embossing powder, which gives them a soft look but it meant I really had to work at colouring the eyes, because I lost some of the details of the stamp with the puffy embossing powder.  Don't you love how he's whispering in her ear???  I'm not sure though, if I like the bow I chose for this card... so let's take a poll... should I remove it and find maybe a burlap bow... or keep it to balance the pink hearts?  Help me out friends!  ;)

When I was creating the distress ink paper for this card, the other day, I also did some up pinks and reds.  This is what I cut the hearts out of.  The hearts are from a die set called "Lovely Moments" by Studio Light.

To create the inside, I used my inked up watercolour paper, and this sweet sentiment from the April, 2017 Kit of the Month "Be My Bird".

So that brings my Growing in Unity week to an end.  Thank you so much for all of your kind, fun, and friendly comments.  They really made me smile!  

One final reminder... if you comment on my blog posts for this "Growing in Unity" week, your name will be entered in a draw for one of TWO grab bags full of 25 Unity stamps that are waiting to go to a happy home!  

I will be drawing for the prizes this weekend.  I will wait until Sunday to give those last minute commenters a chance to get their names in for the draw.  Good luck everyone!

Linda

GIU Girl - Day 4

Hello!  Hello!

Today's card is focusing on one beautiful flower from the October, 2015 Kit of the Month - Beauty Comes From Being Yourself.

I chose to colour the flower with my Copic markers.  Once I chose my background paper, then I took a piece of scrap paper and tried out different colours to see what looked nice with the patterned paper, and used my favorites.

I love to colour with my Copic markers, but I am far from being an expert at it.  I take monthly online colouring classes from one of the nicest and most talented colourists out there ...Alyce Keegan at Kit and Clowder.  Every month I learn something new and get a little bit better.  I can't recommend Alyce enough if you are wanting to learn more about colouring... and we all know Unity has MANY stamps that are perfect for sitting down for a quiet afternoon and enjoying this peaceful style of art.

Alyce even has a free class called "Mindful Me" where she explains the importance of Art Therapy and gives helpful suggestions on how to incorporate time for crafting in our busy lives.  You can see more information about it here.

On this card, I used a couple of dies from Tutti Designs.  The background lacy piece that I used on the front is called "Rose Frame", and inside I used one called "Rose Duo Frame".  You can get them at Frantic Stamper or at DiesRUs where they quite often go on sale.

The inside sentiment "Hello Friend" came from the May 2017 Kit of the Month - Free Your Dreams.

When I was making this card, I made the base from Core'dinations 110lb Smooth Cardstock which gives you a nice sturdy card that stands up without sagging.  This was a tip I got from my cardmaking whiz friend, Allison Cope (Your Memories with Ally) and it has made such a difference in my cards. Click the link to see some of the cards Ally makes... they are really incredible!

The other thing I did, to give it a little oomph... is I die-cut the rose, as well as a piece of foam, with the same round scalloped die (Spellbinders) and glued them together.  This gives some nice, sturdy dimension to the rose and makes it a real focal point on the card.

Thank you once again for stopping by!  I appreciate so much, all the lovely comments that have been left this week!

Now don't forget.... to leave another comment below... because there is a prize of 25 Unity stamps that will be going home with two of  you at the end of the week!  All you have to do, to be entered to win, is comment on EACH of my GIU blog posts this week!

And for even MORE chances to win, comment on Monica's GIU posts as well!

Good luck!

Linda