GIU: Blog Hop!

Good morning hoppers!! I am so excited to be featured as a stop along the current Growing in Unity blog hop!

Today I'm sharing a card I made for the June challenge at the Unity Show & Tell facebook page. This challenge is to create a card using any Unity animal! I love the Woodland animals and decided to use Woodland Owl set for this card.

I'm also trying to grow as a watercolor artist, and with this card I learned that less pigment is best to build layers. I dried between layers and I'm really happy with my colors. I used my Prima Watercolor Confections - Classic set to paint this one.

Thanks for stopping to visit me along the hop! Don't forget to visit each blog along the way and leave comments for a chance to win Unity Stamp Company goodies! As always, HUGE thanks to Unity for all they do for their corner of the stamping community!

BLOG HOP!
Lee Ann Barrett
Shannon Pavlovic Edwards
Brianna Jackson <-- YOU ARE HERE!
Jeanie M. Hays
Bobbie Sue McConathy
DeAnn O'Neill

Have a great day!

Growing in Unity: Winners!

I am excited to announce the winners from commenting on my Growing in Unity posts last week! Drumroll, please...

And the winners are...
Michelle
Cindy Trudeau
Congrats!!! Please send me an email with your name and address to receive your Unity goodies! Brianna @ her.ghost@gmail.com You have up to two weeks to claim your prizes.

Since this is an official Growing in Unity post, I had to share a quick card I made with a funky set. I love the 60's feel of Going Retro and knew I had to throw something together with yellows, oranges, and brown. This was quick and fun to make. I thought about adding embellishments to the top/bottom, but decided to stick with the simple & clean look.

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment on my Growing in Unity week! Huge thanks to Unity Stamp Company for the GIU program, the amazing and supportive community on facebook, and their fantastic stamps!

Growing in Unity: Feel the creative love!

It's Friday and my Growing in Unity week is drawing to a close. I was lucky enough to be a GIU participant in 2017 so I knew day 5 would arrive quickly, but this week flew by faster than I remembered. To finish off my week I have two cards to share. The first one gives love to one of my favorite food groups (and I know many of you can relate): COFFEE!!

I used Arteza real brush watercolor markers to color this one. Every time I use them it's a lot of trial and error, but this time I was very happy with how the coloring turned out. I wanted to use patterned paper, too (I am trying to make a dent in my stash so I can buy more! XD).

I finished this one off with a few dots of glossy accents... and then a few more! I may have went overboard with the dots, but I love this card and the bright colors.

Since it's my last day, I wanted to share a bonus card, too. I love silly memes and grab bags, and this card shows off my love of both! I ended up with the fluffy bird from a swap and the row of houses from a grab bag. When I was organizing my stamps and I saw them side by side, I thought of this fun meme:

From there, this silliness ensued:

I created the background with distress oxides on craft. I used yellows, reds, oranges, and black to top it off and make it look like the background is smoldering. The bird was colored with prismacolors.

I used foam adhesive on the row of houses so they would be in the foreground. I didn't use bright colors because I wanted the focus to be on the approaching birdzilla. I have a small set of letter stamps that I found at Walmart when I started stamping, and I used those to create my own sentiment. Imagination is truly the limit, even with stamps!

That's it for my Growing in Unity week! I have enjoyed sharing my Unity creations with you and I feel amazing when I read through the comments! I'm going to work on replying to each comment this weekend. If this is the first post you've read, don't forget to go back and comment on each of my Growing in Unity posts (5 total) this week for a chance to win a grab bag of red rubber goodness from Unity Stamp Company! Even if you don't win, now is the PERFECT time to try Unity because it's their 11th birthday and they are having a mega sale--go see!

Thanks for swinging by and I hope you have enjoyed my cards this week as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you! Lots of love to Unity for the Growing in Unity program and the fantastic camaraderie they foster in their Show & Tell community on Facebook! I'm so proud to be a Unie and share my love for their company and their stamps with you!

Growing in Unity: Kitty Love.

Happy Thursday! I wanted to use simple stamping, minimal colors, and a few layers on today's card.

I created my own background with watercolor markers using the hearts from A Chance to Change (KOM March 2016). I colored the stamp with a darker pink, added splotches of purple, then spritzed with water before stamping. I used a pawprint border punch to add the strip of pawprints to the side, then embossed the kitty from Really...Kitty? on vellum. A few sequins and a grab bag sentiment later, and we have this cutie.

This is one of my favorite animal stamp sets. As someone who loves cats, this look is very recognizable. Either someone wants love or to pounce... it could go either way! For this card we went with love and kept the theme and colors simple.

I hope you enjoyed today's card! I am having a blast sharing my Unity creations with you and can't believe tomorrow is the last day. Don't forget to check back tomorrow and leave a comment on each post this week for a chance to win Unity goodness.

Growing in Unity: Sentiment Focus!

I can't believe it's Wednesday! This week is going by so fast! Today I wanted to share a card I made with the focus on the sentiment. Unity has such amazing images that I often overlook some of the other items in my crafty stash, such as embossing folders, stencils, and die cuts. I challenged myself to make this card using some of those items and one of my favorite sentiments--Who You Are--It's Enough. It's from the Itty Bitty Collection but don't let the name fool you--this sentiment is BIG!

I wanted this card to have a masculine feel, so I made the background using a funky stencil that has a bunch of cogwheels. I used red and yellow distress spray stains over the stencil, then flipped the stencil and ink smooshed the liquid that was masked off--this gave the background more layers and depth. I have a bottle of Pearl Ex shimmer powder and water that I sprayed over the top to add some shine. The dies are a set by Sizzix and Tim Holtz that I found on sale at Hobby Lobby last fall. I added some shimmer to them with the Pearl Ex spray, too.

I wanted the sentiment to stand out as the focus but not take away too much from the background, so I stamped it on vellum and embossed before attaching. My favorite part about this card is that it feels so layered but it was really simple! It also gave me an opportunity to make a fun background with stencils and use fun die cuts that I don't use very often. Sometimes I overlook my amazing sentiments in favor for Unity's wonderful images, but the sentiment can be the star!

I hope you enjoyed day #3! Don't forget to check back each day and leave a comment on each post for the chance to win goodies from Unity!

Growing in Unity: Shaker!

It's day 2 of my Growing in Unity week and I'm excited about this shaker card. I took inspiration from Jennifer McGuire's video using acetate--check it out! I decided to try a similar stained glass effect with the Wild & Free kit, acetate, and alcohol markers.

Once I colored the flower, I knew I wanted to make a shaker. I die cut a window, stamped the sentiment to the card front, and added some sequins and glitter. This was the result and I love it!

It was a quick, fun card with a bright pop of color. I like how the alcohol markers react and blend together on the acetate. It reminds me of how alcohol ink reacts on yupo and I look forward to experimenting with alcohol ink and acetate in the future!

Thanks for stopping by to check out day 2! Don't forget to leave a comment each day this week for a change to win a grab bag of fantastic red rubber stamps from Unity Stamp Company!

Growing In Unity 2019: I ❤ Unity!!

It's been a while since I've posted! I'm excited to announce I was randomly selected to be one of Unity Stamp Company's Growing In Unity gals this year!! I will showcase a project made with Unity stamps each day this week (Monday through Friday). Leave a comment on each post to be entered into a drawing for a grab bag of high quality red rubber stamps from Unity!

I wanted to start the week off by showing my appreciation and love of Unity and their stamps!

This card was made using the Unity's Unies kit and the Gina K Designs wreath builder template. I used the template to space her crafty tools.

I used Prismacolor colored pencils to color her and her crafty tools. I masked her off and used Distress Oxide ink to create a pop of color to the background. I added her tools with foam adhesive, with placement guidance from the wreath builder tool. To finish the card, I embossed the sentiment on a strip of black paper and added it with foam adhesive.

I hope you enjoyed the first day! Don't forget to check back each day this week and comment on each post for a chance to win Unity goodies!