Shout Out to Limelight

This is just a drive-by posting, but I really want to give a shout out to Mandy at Limelight Papercrafts. There are people in the crafting world who go out of their way to give good service and who really care. Mandy is one of them.

She's also really talented and has an awesome design team. You can check out the Limelight blog here.

So Mandy, thanks for being you.

Friends with Sheetloads of Flair

Hello and happy Friday! I hope everyone out there in blogland is having better weather than we are. It's just rainy and yucky here - but my mom is on her way up and that makes it all better!

Did you guys see the fantabulous Donna Downey set that Unity released yesterday? Yup, that's right. I said fantabulous. That's the word you have to use when discussing anything and Donna Downey! That is one awesome lady! It's called The Artist in You, and it's on sale this weekend! If you haven't visted her blog before, you are seriously missing out!

So I took it a little on the easy side and went for a Christmas card. I used the sketch from this month's Sheetload of Cards. This is only a photo of one of them, but I did make more. The big branch from Christmas Bough stamp fits perfectly. It's stamped in a combination of Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks. The sentiment is Fired Brick. The lovely striped patterned paper is from Basic Grey's Wassail collection. The ribbon is from work. It's leftover from the chocolate making biz.

Check out the Unity blog for a full list of peeps participating today. Spread the love around.

Multiple Challenges R Us

Hello everyone! My mojo took a slight vacation, but I think it may be back? This card is for several challenges and a swap-bot swap.

First of all, Etsy Inspired Challenge #61. JaredKS's Fine Art Nature Photography is the shop for the week. I was inspired by this photo of a magnolia blossom. I just love the pinks!

Next was the Whimsical Ink Saturday Challenge posted by Ashley, which was to use a butterfly. Lorali is a butterfly mermaid. Got that one! In fact, I've had Lorali coloured for days. It was just the rest that was stumping me.

Enter the Paper Makeup Stamps Release Challenge from this past weekend. It's a recipe challenge.
foundation: use textured cardstock (prism, bazzill, or embossed);
blush: use the color pink;
eyes: use the color black (like mascara);
lips: use something shimmery/shiney (like lip gloss)

I'm covered! My core'dinations paper is definitely textured. Then I embossed it with the divine swirls Cuttlebug folder and sanded over the top for some added dimension. The card was pink before I even started anything else, so check that one off, too. Oh, and because I was colouring with Copics, I used Tuxedo Black Memento ink. That's three...and to finish her off, I added some sparkles with Spica markers, which I adore.It was the sketch challenge from Just Us Girls Week 6 that was my lifesaver. The little butterflies are also Queen Kat and come from one of the monthly kits. I just don't remember which one off the top of my head.

And lastly, for the first time, I managed to pull off a Pile it On challenge! This week's was to use a leaf or leaves. The flower in Lorali's hair - has two leaves.

Whew! I hope the person I'll be sending this to likes it. It's not going to be an easy one to send away.

AiFactory Tuesday - Challenge #11

Good morning everybody! It's time for AiFactory Tuesday! This week it's Live Free with Brads and Eyelets! We're challenging everyone to use one of the freebie images in the AiFactory store and to incorporate brads and/or eyelets into the design. The design team is doing it Splitcoast Stampers CAS38 style, so we're keeping it clean and simple this week.

I chose the snowflake scatter brushes. Bet you'd never have guessed! It took a little bit of playing around, since I'm not quite used to playing around with different brush styles just yet, but I got the snowflakes to show up in the sizes I wanted, changed their colour - several times, actually, until I was happy with how they appeared. Then I printed them out, chose the ones I wanted, and used a circle punch to cut out the few that I wanted. I CASE'd this card. My sentiment is a traditional rubber stamp by Karen Lockhart, but the snowflakes? All digital, baby! Oh, and how do you like my new card stand? It's my Unity A handle. I couldn't find my card stand the other night and couldn't get the card I was trying to photograph to stay put. This worked brilliantly! Why not, right?

Okay, so the gory details. You have until midnight next Monday (11/16) to play along. This week we are requiring that you use a freebie from the AiFactory Store. It should also include brads or eyelets and be Clean & Simple. We don't ask for much, do we? Don't worry. I know you can do it!

This week, someone will win the Christmas Decoration Tree digi stamp! So get cracking, okay?? Don't forget to link your project to the challenge blog. When posting to online galleries, please use AIF011, aifactory and CAS38.

Now it's time to head over and see what the rest of the team has for you to see!

Angie
De
Erin
Fink
Kerry
Lola
AiFactory Challenge Blog (Link Posts HERE)

Growing in Unity Winner!

ACK! I almost forgot to post this! It's been sitting on my desktop since Sunday night.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6

Timestamp: 2009-11-8 23:28:32 UTC

So, by my count, the winner is...

Monika in VA said...

Love that 'tree'! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!

November 2, 2009 8:37 PM

Monika, drop Eryn an email with your choice of Unity single!! Congrats and thank you for the sweet comments!!

Growing in Unity - Day 5 is Friends with Flair!

Hi everyone! Today is my final day of Growing in Unity. I have had an absolute blast this week. Please remember to leave a comment for your chance to win a Unity single of your choice. I'll wait until Sunday evening before drawing a name just to give everyone a chance to make the blog rounds.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this week as much as I have. I can hardly wait to see what next week will bring - and who will be the lucky stamper to be hosting.

For my final card this week, I chose a stamp that is very dear to my heart. It will always remind me of Hip Hop and all the friends and fun that went along with it. We all know that it's always All About the PIE!!The stamp is, of course, from Hodge Podge of Happiness, the ultimate stamp kit with all stamps chosen by Unity customers. This particular stamp was designed by Lisa Hetrick, of pie-loving fame. DP is by Graphic 45. The sketch (yup, the sketch kick continues) is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #105.

Unity has some awesome sets on sale through Sunday. {ippity} is here, too. Check it out.

Thanks to all for being so supportive this week. You guys are awesome!

Growing in Unity - Day 4

Oh my wow! Did you guys see what Unity has up their collective sleeves now?? {ippity} is finally here and you can bet your britches that I'm signing up for this one! Or rather, I already have! This is super exciting!

Today I have a birthday card that I put together using Mojo Monday's challenge for this week. It gave me a chance to use a stamp I got from the ever-so-sweet Miss Ashley, Unity's Horn Honker, and to play with the Fleur-de-lis Borderabilities.
The DP is from Basic Grey's Lemonade and the sentiment is from Birthday Chic, which, along with several other kits, is on sale through Sunday!

Funny little story about Birthday Chic. I knew I had it somewhere, but could not for the life of me find it - and the birthday sentiment from Love in the Air was just too big for what I wanted this time. I had finally given up when I noticed it was sitting on top of the drawer to my craft table. Under the table.
This is the view from my computer chair. I have no idea why it was sitting there. I can't explain it at all. You may all laugh at me now.

I'll be back tomorrow with my final Growing in Unity post!! See you then.

Growing in Unity - Day 3

I know...finally. Card first. The tree is the same one I used on Monday, from Bright & Merry Winter Wishes. The sketch is from a challenge at Stamp TV, and the presents are from a GinaK kit (designed by Gina's daughter, btw. Talented kid!)
Tomorrow Angela is supposed to explain "ippity" to us. I don't know about you guys, but I am super curious. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be interesting.

One thing I really like about Growing in Unity is that it really forces me to take the time to create, no matter how tired I am. It never fails to make me feel better, either. So even if you're stressed out the wazoo (yes, that's a technical term!), do yourself a favour and make something! I don't care what it is. Heck, make reservations, but make something. You'll be glad you did.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more Unity goodness!

GiU- Day 3 delayed

Have to run into work - and it's not gonna be fun. I'll get this up as soon as I get home.

Growing in Unity - Day 2

I'm back with Day 2 of Growing in Unity. Thank you for the kind words you left yesterday. They always bolster my spirit.

For those who may be looking for the AiFactory Challenge post, scroll down one post, please.

I'm in alter mode today. Some of you know that I swap on Swap-bot. One of my recent swaps involved creating something - as long as it included an owl in a Santa hat. Unity to the rescue!

I took the larger of the two owls from Owl Always Love You and gave him a hat, courtesy of the Cricut. The little notebook was one that came from the Philly Candy Show. Eldest son says it looks "much less boring" now. Coming from him, that is a huge compliment.I also used Snowflake Border from Bright & Merry Christmas Wishes and the inside has Worn Music stamped tone-on-tone using the same red paper. The whole thing is based on Card Patterns Sketch #39. (did I mention that I'm on a sketch challenge kick?) I hope my partner likes it.

AiFactory Tuesday - Challenge #10

Guess what? It's AiFactory Challenge day and this week Erin challenged us to a free-for-all! Yup, she gave us free reign to use any image from a prior challenge - or one from the AiFactory Store that we'd been hankering to try. I really like Alicia Goes Snowboarding so I'm using her again.

Speaking of hankering, does that word make anyone else think of that old commercial "hanker for a hunk of cheese" or is it just me? For those who are too young to remember, here it is.

Okay, so back to the challenge. Erin did have one teeeeensy little caveat. No cards. We had to alter something. Okey-dokey. I can do that. That I can do! Uh oh. Now I'm quoting A Chorus Line. I'll try to behave myself.

I've seen several "stamped" candles lately. I think they're really cool and would make neat Christmas/Hannukah/Yule/insert-your-holiday-of-choice presents, particularly if done in sets and presented in a nice, decorated box.

I wasn't exactly sure this would work - but it did! Because this is a digital stamp, it works a little differently than the tutorial I followed, written by Katie Renz. She did make a really cute gift box to go with her stamped candles. I haven't got any acetate, unfortunately, but it's on my shopping list! I placed my image in Photoshop and rasterized it. Using the paint bucket and the colours from Color Throwdown #66, I filled in the different areas to get a fully coloured Alicia. Isn't she cute??Check out the rest of the team and see what they've got to share with you this week. We've got another new team member, so please help us welcome Betty to the fold! She's going to be a great addition to the team.

Angie
Betty
De
Erin
Fink

Kerry
Lola
AiFactory Challenge Blog (Link Posts HERE)

The short rules for playing along: you do not have to use an AiFactory image, but we would be thrilled if you did. Freebies are available here if you're still a little leery of digital images. If you post your project to an online gallery, please tag your photo(s) with AIF010. The prize this week is a digi-paper of the winner's choice. For full rules, and to link your project, head on over to the AiFactory Challenges blog.

Lastly, AiFactory has a new Monthly Kit Club. It's on special for $5 this month. All the deets are here. Check it out!

Back later with my Growing In Unity post.

I'm Growing In Unity!

Good morning everybody! I'm hosting Growing In Unity this week. I'm super excited about it because this week is the first anniversary of Growing In Unity! It started out with a bunch of people who love Unity stamps doing projects for a week to showcase their love for the stamps and the company - and now it's been growing strong for an entire year! Not only that, but people have signed up to take weeks through next April! Now that's dedication! But we love our Unity!!

I've got a little Christmas card today. It's the first time I've used Spellbinders' Petite Borderabilities - and they're fun! I'm still on my sketch kick, so this one comes from The Sweet Shop's Saturday Sketch, #28.
The stamp comes from Bright & Merry Winter Wishes. I'm loving this set! A shout out to De S for the Bow-Easy. Once I got over being fumble-fingered, it worked great! Thanks, De!!

I'll be back tomorrow with two posts - one for AiFactory and another for Growing in Unity! See you then!!