FWF - Unposted Unity

I wasn't really posting earlier this year, but I'm doing my darnedest to post for NaBloPoMo, do here's a page I made in August. It's been a very difficult year for my family and, as I wrote on the Creative Inspirations Paint blog, I tried to put everything I have been feeling into some art. This page is one I've made that I can look at when I'm feeling particularly down and need a little help remembering that it does get better.See if you can figure out which kits and/or single stamps I used.

Friends With Flair - March 25

Hey everyone. I hope you are all having a really good week. The boys have been on Spring Break, so that's been nice. Today and Tuesday, the spousal unit will be taking the civilian form of the language test that he's taken yearly for the military. His results could net him a job, so I'm on pins and needles. It would truly be a wonderful thing for him to have a job offer prior to his final military paycheck on 1 April.

Anyway, it's Friday, so time for another episode of Friends With Flair! For a full list of participants, check out the Unity blog.
For my card today, I used the sketch from CPS#210. The colour combo is from the Play Date Cafe #74. The stamps are from an older kit I don't recall the name of and Simply Said. I get my Unity and Memory Box patterned paper at Paper Maniac.

Have a great weekend. Good luck finding the blinkie!!

Friends with Birthday Flair

Good morning! I think. Well, actually, let me rephrase. It's morning. I'm up but I'm a little worried about some people on the other side of the world (hi Opal!)

My heart goes out to everyone affected by the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan and elsewhere.

It's time for Friends With Flair and I have another card for All Things Unity's Birthday Challenge. I'm using this week's Hip Hop Sketch Challenge (HHSC48) and the color combo from the Play Date Cafe (PDCC72.)










The stamp set is {ippity} Party Hat Wishes. I have one kit currently in stock.
For Unity stamps, head over to my favourite retailer, Paper Maniac! She has all ribbon on sale (35% off!!) for the month of March.

Check out the Unity blog for a full list of FWF participants.

FWF - Feb 11 2011

Hey Peeps. We're still in hack city around here. That's one of the things about some big families - once something starts to make the rounds, it usually goes around a few times before it's all done. No big deal, really, just a minor annoyance in the greater scheme of things. When it causes me to miss Hip Hop, though...that's really pushing it!

For FWF, I have a super CAS card pulling my sentiment from the Unity/Samantha Walker set Swirling Snow and layering it onto some Jillibean Soup paper. You can pick up both at Paper Maniac. The sketch is Clean & Simple Sunday Challenge #5.
For a full list of this week's participants, check out the Unity blog.

February's First FWF

Wow. I think yesterday was the absolute slowest/least attended Hip Hop I've ever seen. I think a lot of peeps are either still traveling back from CHA or just haven't yet recovered from all the excitement and exhaustion, not to mention catching up with the lives they put on hold while they were in LA having fun while the rest of us were wishing we were there, too! I know we will all reap the benefits in the coming months, so I'm working on my patience.

In the mean time, there's a new Hip Hop Sketch Challenge (#43) and since I'm still working on Rachel's unofficial Neglected Unity Challenge, I've used one more stamp from the January '09 KOTM, Love, Etc. The heart stems come from the Sept. '09 KOTM, Go Ahead Wish. I may use it for my next "neglected" kit, particularly as these are the first stamps I've used from it! Three down, 18 to go...
Other than the two mentioned, I'm only entering this one in two other challenges - both Flourishes Timeless Tuesday (#103) and Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge (#40) have asked for a Valentine this week.

I tried Patter Cross's (ex-Unity DT) method of tying ribbons (shown here), just to see if I liked it better than my normal way. I think I will need to give it a few more tries before I make a decision. I had a little bit of a hard time making the bow lie straight, but that may just be because I need more practice. In theory, it should make things much easier, so for now I'm going with user error. In the end, I think the bow came out pretty well.

Head on over to the Unity blog to see who is hopping today. I'm sure the rest of the peeps are not as wordy as I. Good luck at finding the blinkie!

FWF - Jan 28, 2011

Morning! Ever have one of those days when you have a card in your head and you can't quite seem to get it to come out right? Yeah...that's the card I've been working on. You'd laugh at me if you'd seen how many times I stamped the main image until I got the green I wanted. I honestly lost count. What finally worked? An old Colorbox cat's eye.

I'm just glad to be stamping and blogging again, after nearly a week's hiatus. Sometimes my back sure makes life difficult!! I'm still using stamps from the January 2009 KOTM, Love, Etc. I still have a few more stamps from this kit that I haven't yet used, but I'm getting a lot closer to using the entire kit. Thanks for the push, Rachel!!

I made an easel card for All Things Unity Challenge #23. You have until Saturday, February 5, to play along. For full challenge deets, check out this post on the ATU blog.

Okay, that's enough from me. Make sure you head over to the Unity blog to see who's participating in FWF today. Back tomorrow with some EtsyInspired fabulosity!

FWF Goes 3x3

Morning! Thank you to all for the kind words about my back. I'm feeling better, courtesy of rest, anti-inflamatories and muscle relaxants. I did get a shot of Toradol on Monday, which helped, though not as much as usual, but then again, I hadn't had anything spasm quite like that before either. It isn't an experience I care to repeat!
Did you guys see all the amazing goodies Unity added to their site yesterday?? ZOMG!! If only it were not the week before classes start back up again. Fortunately, the boys can share books for one class, so that's helping the textbook bill a bit, but mine alone are....you're sitting down, right?

Are you sure you're ready? I mean, I'm only taking two classes.

Getting one book off Amazon, as it's almost half the price (new!) of a used book via the college and the others through the school, my bill will be $489.13.

Did you choke as much as I did?

Okay, back to the more fun world of stamping. In my quest to use stash and unloved stamps (thanks Rachel!!), I pulled out 2 of my first Kits of the Month. This fits in perfectly with OWH's Unused/Unloved Supplies challenge! The little flower pots are from October 2008 and the sentiment is from August '08. Both kits retired last month, but you can still become a KOTM member and get in on the fun - there is a new kit each and every month. Deets are here. I've used other stamps from both kits before, but not either of these.










I took the sketch from Get Sketchy #69, the colours from the Play Date Cafe #64, Meljen's Designs #41 (challenge to make a square or oval card), and mixed them in with ATU's mini card challenge and this is what I came up with.

Hop on over to the Unity blog to see who is participating today. I wonder who's got the blinkie?? I know I'll be on the hunt for it!

See you tomorrow with something new and EtsyInspired! Have a fantastic day!!

New Year, New FWF

I'm starting off the new year right...with Friends With Flair!! I'm going to make a commitment to post every week this year - all 52 weeks of FWF. Who's with me?

Unity is featuring their Kit of the Month club this week. I've been a member since I first found Unity in 2008. Until this week, I was missing only one kit - which came in the mail yesterday. Believe me, it is a fantastic bargain. Only $26 plus shipping for a full sheet of deeply etched red rubber - and you get a code for 25% purchases through the Unity website *and* a free kit up to $29 retail value, so long as your order reaches $35. You cannot beat that with a stick!!

Today I've used some "unloved" rubber. I've had Tree-mendous Love since it was released, but just hadn't used it yet. This card, using Mojo Monday's sketch #172, seemed like the perfect fit.

Supplies:
Stamps: Unity Tree-mendous Love
Cardstock: GinaK Pure Luxury (black), Neenah Classic Crest (cream)
Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934
Ink: Distress Ink Black Soot
Etc: ribbon, chipboard hearts & rhinestones from Caffinated Cropper kit; clear embossing powder, Smooch Spritz Cherry Ice, square Nestabilities

Head on over to the Unity blog for a full list of participating peeps! Someone will be hiding the blinkie...wouldn't it be great to start off the year with some free stamps from Unity?

Back tomorrow with some new EtsyInspired goodness. See you then!

Friends with Newsy Flair

Hey everyone!! It's Friday Friends with Flair and I have news! I am super-duper thrilled to be able to share that I am one of 4 new members of the design team for my favourite challenge!!! The official news is posted here on the EtsyInspired blog. Can you say "bouncing off the walls"??

So of course, my FWF project is EtsyInspired, right? I have new Unity/Bella Blvd stamps and this gorgeous necklace from Tzaddi Shop reminded me of one of the Bella Doilies. I pulled the sketch from this week's CAS97 challenge on SCS. It just seemed perfect for the Bella Doilies, so I went with it. I topped off my challenge trio with the Play Date Cafe's Challenge #60, black & white with a splash of yellow.Before I go, there are two things I'd like you to remember. First of all, of course check out the Unity blog for a full list of this week's participating peeps. Find the hidden blinkie, leave a comment, and you could win 25 random Unity stamps! Not bad for a little blurfing, eh?

Second, the All Things Unity challenge blog is in full swing and we'd love to have YOU participate! Full deets on the most recent challenge are here. What are you waiting for?

I Love FWF

Good morning everyone! Sheesh, but I can't type today. I hope I catch all the typos I'm bound to make. It only took me 4 tries to properly spell "everyone" - dyslexia of the fingers. Would that be dysgraphia? Anyway...it's Friday, so that means it's time for Friends with Flair at Unity! Yesterday we hopped until we dropped. For some of us, that was pretty darned literal!

So today I have a CAS card for OWH. They're taking Valentine's Day cards through December 7th. I went with the Play Date Cafe's colour challenge #58 and used *only* red and white, which is fine with me. I think it's a super fresh combination. Love it! Then I checked out this week's EtsyInspired Challenge #116, Heartsong. Check out this pretty wire hanging. Wouldn't that be lovely in any room of the house? The word Love has a heart in it. Hmm...so does the word Love in a certain stamp I know...Got it. I know what to do for my card!
Oh! Almost forgot. The flower is for this week's CAS challenge (CAS95) on SCS. It's a "ways to use it challenge" calling for flower accents.

I'm just a bundle of acronyms again, aren't I?

Be sure to check out the Unity blog for a full list of participating peeps. Remember, somebody is hiding the blinkie. Find it, leave a comment, and you could win some Unity rubber - and that's always a Good Thing™.

FWF Writes Home

Hey guys. As I mentioned a few days ago, my thyroid function is off and I keep falling asleep any time I sit still for more than a few minutes. This is Not A Good Thing™.

Anyway, quick post here for Friends With Flair. Full deets of all participants over on the Unity blog. Massive (and I do mean massive!) sale at Unity this weekend. Check it out. You'll be super glad you did. It includes some of the brand new Bella Blvd co-branded stamps. They are super cute!!My card for today is another Valentine's Day card for Operation Write Home. They're trying to collect 4000 Valentines by December 1. Archway Cookies will match cookies for cards to send to the troops. As of Thanksgiving Day, they were up to 3305 cards!

I used Be Owl Mine and some fun Basic Grey paper. I even decorated the inside.

Don't forget, you can vote here every day between now and Dec. 4 for OWH to win $50,000.

A Little Bit of Flair

Good morning! Happy Friday!! I've got a busy, busy weekend ahead of me - not only do I have my normal homework/test cycle, but Monday starts my week for Growing in Unity and it's the first day of NaBloPoMo. I'm not up for NaNoWriMo - there's no way I could write 50,000 words in a month - but I think I can manage a blog post a day for 30 days. Anybody else up for the challenge?

So of course, being Friday, it's time for Friends With Flair! For a full list of participating peeps, check out the Unity blog - and don't forget...someone is hiding that blinkie. I'm still hoping I win those 25 stamps one of these weeks!

And speaking of stamps, did you guys SEE the new stamps?? Unity and Jillibean Soup! Now there's a cool combo!! I'm trying to figure out if I can maybe, just maybe, find a way to justify buying some of them.

So, my flair card today fulfills several challenges. I said it was a little bit, though, because it's only 4" square! First of all, it's for All Things Unity's paper piecing challenge. It's also my 2nd Hope You Can Cling To challenge card. Lori Craig's challenge was to "bring in the brown" - use brown with the pink for breast cancer. Done and done.

The Etsy Inspired Challenge shop this week is just downright gorgeous. Drool-worthy even. I already knew I was going to make a pink and brown card because of the challenge from HYCCT. But the style from the prints in Stelettoheights, and The Dream Thief in particular, lead me directly to some old Sugardrop paper from Memory Box. Yum!!

And lastly (I think...it's late and my brain is getting pretty fuzzy) it's Mojo Monday 162.So that's it for me. Enjoy the hop and have an awesome weekend! I should have pics to share next week of my youngest two all dressed up for Halloween. Then {ippity} on Monday and who knows how the rest of the week will go. You'll just have to come back and be surprised.

Sweet Friends With Flair

There is a story behind my card for today. Fairly late during Hip Hop yesterday, Julie came in to do her giveaway (go Rachel!!) and those of us who were left got to talking about Halloween cards. Well...Lisa and I had never made any before. The conclusion was that, obviously, Lisa and I needed to rectify that little situation. I hadn't decided what to do for FWF yet...so a Halloween card was in order! I'm trying to get done some of the WCMD challenges now that my crazy school week is over (I got an A for my class! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!) so I pulled out the biggest of my Nestabilities Labels 8 to make it a shaped card. I went with the little candy corn tree as a nod to this week's Etsy Inspired shop, Lemon Kissed, which has really cute leaf earrings and this tree necklace.

That's all from me for now. Check out the Unity blog for a full list of Friends with Flair. I'm going to be working on challenge cards today - and then heading over to Splitcoaststampers Virtual Stamp Night forum at 6pm Eastern for the On Cloud 9 VSN mini! I hope to see you there!!

One Layer FWF

Morning Peeps. Hope you've all had a good week. Things are crazy here, but with 5 kids, that's pretty much status quo. I have a final exam coming up early next week. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I always get nervous about such things.

Today I've got a one layer card for you. It's super simple. The only thing I'm not happy about is that I really thought I had some silver cording. I found some gold, but that...um...no. Not gonna work. Instead, I used a very thin ribbon. I may pick up some silver cording this weekend and change it out.

I noticed that All Things Unity has teamed up with Jennifer McQuire to do Cards for Kids, so I was on the lookout for card idea. I'd wanted to do a one-layer card for today's post, and for Kelly Mahany's WCMD challenge, so I was thinking up ideas on that when I came across the One-Layer Wednesday challenge. Uh oh...a new-to-me challenge. This week's is to add a metallic element to your card. As soon as I read that, everything came together.

I used the bicycle stamp and Smile sentiment from Everyday Adorable and embossed them with silver detail embossing powder. I still wish I'd had silver cording! I think it would have set the card off perfectly.

That's it for me today. Check out the full list of Friends With Flair on the Unity blog. I wonder who's hiding the blinkie this week.

Friends with Ah-Ah-Achoo, I Mean Flair

TGIF. And TGI isn't raining any more! It was pretty intense around here yesterday! I've got a house full of sickies, myself included - probably just colds, but we're all kinda miserable. The girls will be off to the doctor this afternoon to make sure, and to get notes for missing school.

It's time for Friends With Flair....all participating peeps are listed on the Unity blog. Somebody will be hiding a blinkie that could be worth 25 random Unity stamps to you if you find it.

I have a little project I made a while back and totally forgot to blog! It's meant to hang on the wall at Christmas.

The star of this show is Christmas List, which is one of my oldest Unity stamps. I want to find some sort of chain to hang it with, after putting holes into the top corners. I've been assured that I will not crack the old cuttlebug plate I used as a backing if I use a crop-a-dile to punch through it. I'm just being a chicken about it.

Have a great weekend. Tomorrow is National Cardmaking Day, so there are all kinds of big happenings on SCS and all over the place. I'll be participating. Will you?

Dreaming of Inspired FWF

Buenos dias, peeps. Time for Friends with Flair. I promise I'm awake this week. I'm even ahead on homework! How cool am I today? As per usual, to get the full deets, check out the Unity blog. Somebody is hiding a blinkie that could be worth 25 stamps to you.

I've got a CAS card today that is Etsy Inspired. I took my inspiration from this pillow. Go with me on this one. First we have the pinks, but that's not really it. It's the paisley shape. I saw this paper from Basic Grey's Olivia collection and it just reminded me of the paisley.

Yes, I have a strange mind. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Retro Flair

Wow. It has been a week! I'm getting back into the swing of school again. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm definitely having to work at it. I got a 96 on my first unit test, so I'm pleased.

Today, of course, is Friends With Flair day for Unity. A full list of participating peeps is over at the Unity blog. Somebody will be hiding the Flair blinkie - and that means 25 random Unity stamps are at stake! Find the blinkie, leave a comment on that blog, and you could win!

I am still on my mission to play with all of my unused rubber, so I pulled out Going Retro. I got this one when it was released - and then it got packed away. Yeah...no good there! So I pulled it out and went CAS with a sketch challenge from StampTV.
I may come back later and do the "gussied up" version, too, as I've got some Basic Grey paper that I think would be perfect. I have a couple other things I need to get to first - like homework and some special cards.

Have a great weekend! Around here, we'll be having a slumber party for DD#2's 14th birthday! That's Hannah, for those who are keeping track.

It's a Pink Friday

Hey everyone! It's Friends with Flair Friday and I'm feeling very pink today. As usual, check out the Unity blog for a full list of participants. Someone is hiding a blinkie that could net you 25 random Unity stamps.

Now, before we get to my card, I have a quick announcement. This weekend, starting tonight at 6pm, is VSN over at Splitcoaststampers! That is Virtual Stamp Night - a big gathering of people with challenges, chat and fun. There are prizes to be won for each challenge. You don't have to be present to win, but you do have to post your project no later than 10pm EST on Monday, Aug. 30 in order to be eligible. I will be there during most of the event, but my challenge time slot is 2pm on Saturday, so I will be at the keyboard, chatting away and answering any questions you may have during that hour. I hope to see you there!!

My card today uses another stamp set I hadn't gotten inky yet. It was one that had gotten packed away before our move. The box was unearthed last week (and the knights rejoiced!), much to my pleasure. I've rotated Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try and cracked open my Basic Grey Olivia paper. I just love this Donna Downey quote.I'm also entering this in the current All Things Unity challenge, to show your style. The only problem, really, is that my style changes as often as my mood. Isn't that a woman's prerogative??

Simply FWF

Ever have one of those days when nothing is working? My card today looks almost nothing like it started out. Well, except for the sketch (Get Sketchy #51) and the mushrooms (EIC#101: this apron) - but the colours and the papers? All different. So is the sentiment.
It's Friends With Flair Friday, so check out the Unity Blog for a full list of participants. Find the blinkie and you could win 25 random stamps.

My family is heading back to school on Monday. Things are about to get really crazy around here. It should be fun.

Thinking of Alice

Hey everyone. It's Friday, which means Friends With Flair time. I'm sorry I'm late getting this up this morning. For a full list of blog participants, check the Unity Blog. I had the blinkie last week. I wonder who is hiding it today...

Tomorrow is the Celebration of my friend Alice's life. It's been nearly 4 weeks since she passed away and it hasn't really gotten any easier. I'm looking forward to the memorial in some ways, but in others...it just makes everything that much more final. Some of us are working on knitting 12" squares to make into a blanket. It would have been for her, but will now be for her husband, Barry, in remembrance.

So I was thinking of Alice when I made my card today. I took the image from this bird pendant in this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge shop. The colours, dark brown, green & beige, are from the Play Date Cafe, Challenge 42. I also used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #86.

Deets:
Stamps: {ippity} Because of You and Just Wanted to Say...
Ink: Unity burnt umber
Paper: beige SU, dk brown PTI, Basic Grey Origins

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for all the support you've given me the past month.