So Many Thanks

Hello everyone! Today I'm super excited to share the card I created using the new stamp set, Charmed. This stamp set is packed with so many whimsical images and coordinating sentiments--this is one of those stamp sets that makes card making so easy because of how great each of the images work together and the sentiment variety means you can use this stamp set to create so many different types of cards and projects. 

I always love using the watercolor technique when using Mama Elephant stamps--that technique always go so nicely with any of their images. I used light yellow cardstock for the card base an the scalloped panel, and used a variety of pastel Copic colors. This little sleeping fox is so adorable! 

I always love thinking of different ways to use my stamps, and I thought that the wreath in this set would be perfect for creating Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards, too. All you'd have to do is color the wreath in according to the holiday you'd use it for and maybe even add a Santa hat to the fox or owl. How cute would that be?! 

I hope you enjoyed this card and thank you so much for stopping by! 

Lawn Fawn Inpsiration Week--Fintastic Friends + New Ink

This is the final day of Lawn Fawn Inspiration week--I know how sad! BUT don't worry there is still lots more in this Summer release so stay tuned for the next inspiration week. Today we are sharing the new stamp set, Fintastic Friends--cute images, and punny sentiments (as per usual, right?!) Lawn Fawn never fails to wow us with their adorable stamp set ideas and I'm thinking that this set, like lots of their others, can be used for many different occasions. I can also see how this set would be great for masculine cards; such as, a young boys birthday! 

I just love how this set comes with both a fish tank and a fish bowl. There is so much variety and I love it. You'll also notice that I used lots of color on the background card base. I'm using the new Lawn Fawn inks! There are five new colors in this series and they are stunningly beautiful. I've fallen so in love with these new colors! You'll definitely be seeing more use of color with these inks in the near future--especially in the upcoming inspiration weeks! 

I hope you enjoyed this week of sneaks--and you can go ahead and head over to the Lawn Fawn blog, leave a comment to win this set and the inks, watch two intro videos by, Kelly Marie, and get inspired by all of the other DT samples that we created for you! 

Thank you so much for stopping by! <3

Sending Hedgehugs

I had so much fun creating this card! I was one of those times where I just needed to stop when I was doing and create something new, fun, and just for me. At times I tend to get a bit bored when creating the same things over and over again for my shop--I do love what I do, though. I'm not really complaining, but if you're a crafter, too, I'm sure you can understand what I mean, hehe.

To create this card I used the stamps set, hedgehugs, along with it's coordinating dies--by Lawn Fawn. To create the triangle look at the bottom and top of the card I used the stamp set, argyle backdrops with some gold embossing. I also used some Tim Holtz watercolor card stock and some of the my Tim Hotlz distress markers in: shabby shutters, weathered wood, tattered rose, victorian velvent, and frayed burlap--to create the watercolor background panel. I stamped the cute hedgehog images in some versafine black ink (which is a ink perfect for use with watercolors--no bleeding). For the text bubble I used one of the dies form the set, chit chat, and stamped the sentiment using black ink. The tag was also created using a LF die, and paper from the new, Sweater Weather collection. Lastly, the sequins in, Lemon Meringue, Marshmallow, and Pink blush were by Pretty Pink Posh.

I just adore how this card turned out, and I can't wait to make many more like it--when I have some more time. I hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to leave me a comment!

Have a great weekend!

Nicole

Crafty Weekend Fun

If you follow me on Instagram (@unifyhandmade) you may have already seen two of the cards I’m showing here on my blog today. I made these cards for fun, and I like having lots of them on hand and ready to go for myself and for my family and friends as well. The last stash I had collected was running very low, and lately I’ve been trying to make at least one card a day—for fun, to keep my stash alive, hehe. I think making one card a day is an easy goal—and it’ll certainly be a fun one. It seems as though I’ve haven’t been making as many cards as I used to these past couple of months. But now I’d like to ensure I put time aside to create at least one card a day. I think I’ve said this in the past a few times, but this time around I’m really going to make time for all of my stamps, dies, and other craft tools. I can’t let them just sit there collecting dust. They’re all too cute and fun not to use!

I do get my crafty fix when I’m working all day on the papercrafts I sell in my shop—and that’s such a blessing it itself. Maybe that’s why I didn’t even realize that I wasn’t making enough cards for fun because I have fun everyday just working on orders, too. Once in a while when I’m working I’ll glance over at my stamp stash and realize they’re being neglected but I always tell myself, “Oh the weekend, I’ll make as many cards for fun as I can” or, “I’ll make one card tonight before bed”. Usually I’ll post a light night card on my Instagram, hehe.

This weekend I also went to Lawn Fawn’s 4^th birthday party at, Stamp Fever, in Orange, CA. It’s a cute little craft shop filled with all the things to fulfil your crafting needs—plus the staff there is super nice! If they don’t have something you need, they’ll simply order it for you. Kelly Marie, and Mike, (two out of the three LF owners) were there greeting everyone, and doing fun make-n-takes. It was really fun to be in a fun crafty environment with friends. I even took my boyfriend, Gabriel, and I made him do a make-n-take with, Nancy, hehe.

While I was at Stamp Fever I picked up a few new stamp sets, and dies. I’ll probably be sharing those on my blog soon. I love supporting small business so I tried to spend as much as I could without going overboard at Stamp Fever—actually I think I did go a little overboard but it’s ok! Haha.

Tomorrow I have a new video on the Lawn Fawn blog so I hope you stop by their page to view it. I’ll probably share it here on my blog as well.

I hope you have a great day! 

New Stamps and New Card

I recently placed my first order over at the Mama Elephant website, and I ordered the femme frames die set, and the Party Kit stamp set. When I first discovered that stamp set I was in awe of how cute it was. I absolutely love streamers and anything party related—so this stamp set was a must-have! It has all the elements needed to create a really cute party themed card, or layout but what I think I love the most about this stamp set is that it’s so versatile—you can’t go wrong with a set that can be used for any kind of theme your making a project for.

The dies I purchased are a must-have as well (at least I think so) it makes creating cards a cinch and I like that. I added a piece of paper in between the die cuts for a little added interested and I’m really loving the way it turned out. 

I used a wide variety of Hero Arts dye inks to achieve this pastel color palette and I thought—this card NEEDS gold in it—somehow. So, I thought I’d use the small circle image (from the stamp set) to create this confetti look with gold embossing. I think next time I’m going to try making some of the streamers in gold, too.

When I order stamps from companies I’m always curious to find out how they package there items. So many great companies have such cute packaging—and Mama Elephant was no different. I loved that they used Kraft wrapping and their custom sticker to package this all together. I thought that was super cute. 

Even though this stamp set has a create selection of sentiments—I thought I’d mix it up a bit by using the Sentiment Sampler set by Paper Smooches. I love that set; and, I think it’s perfect because it can be used in so many ways and for so many different things. I created this banner by hand using my paper trimmer, scissors, and bone folder. 

But the fun doesn't just stop there, I recently purchased a few new crafting tools and I was excited to give this envelope punch board a try. I didn't do my research on this product, however. If I’d of known there were problems with it I would have purchased the Stampin’ Up version—but I just put a note written on the back of this board with the new A2 size envelope measurements—so that should work. Overall, I’m happy with this new product and I can’t wait to design a zillion things with it, hehe.

I’m also super excited to send this card out. I recently got a pen pal, and I’m going to send her this card—it’ll be the first of many and I hope she loves it. She might actually be reading this right now…but I promise all the other cards will be surprises, LOL!

Take care lovely readers and have a great weekend! 

Card of the Week, You're a Good Apple

I was inspired to create this card by my niece, Samantha. She just entered pre-school a few days ago and I can’t believe it! It’s really cool though, because now I can be one of those crafters/card-makers that makes cards for teachers now, hehe. For this particular card design, I used a few old Lawn Fawn stamp set, and a few new ones as well. To create the pattern paper background I stamped the line paper stamp directly onto a white A2 size card base, using the stamp set, schoolhouse backdrops. That stamp set comes with the cutest stamps! 

To create the chalkboard, I used the wood grain pattern paper (which I love), from the, Into the woods petite paper pack, and the black chalkboard paper (for the sentiment) from the, Peach Love Joy petite paper pack. For the sentiment on the chalkboard, I used the LF stamp set, A good apple. 

The two ink colors I used for the paper pattern design on the card base are, Soft pool, and Pale tomato by Hero Arts. I’m SO IN LOVE with their ink—it’s not even funny. I’m always trying to find a reason to use them. The quality is amazing. Well, I hope you enjoyed this card, and feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what you think! Have a great weekend. 

Card of the Week is back and my computer is still down...

I thought today would be a great day to bring back my 'Card of the week' posts' because my computer is still down and I don't have a way to edit photo's at home anymore (until my computer is fixed). I made this card during the week and I had to wait until today to edit it on my boyfriends computer. Even though I've been feeling a bit stressed because my computer is totally dead, I still managed to find some peace while creating this card. I used the newly released 'Blue Skies' stamp set by Lawn Fawn and the matching dies, too. I seriously had so much fun making this card, and for some reason it's my favorite! At the beginning of the week I purchased some new distress inks and used them to create the blue sky in the background. I also used a masking technique with the clouds, and a tone on tone look by using the same distress ink to add the stars. I think I'm going to save this card for the new craft room I'm designing for myself. I'd like to have a shelf of all the things I can make on display! Let me know what you think of this card, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have a great weekend. 

Vlog—Graduation Card from Start to Finish!

I made a quick video showing how I made this super cute Graduation card, using the new stamp set named, ‘Blue Skies’ by Lawn Fawn, and the coordinating Lawn Cuts. I think making videos of me paper-crafting is starting to become my newest obsession, hehe. I really like making videos of my process, and I hope that it inspires all of my readers to create something too! Well, I hope you enjoy watching how I made this card; and, don't forget to leave me a comment letting me know what you think. 

Card of the Week—making colorful cards with paper—No markers needed

There was a time when I didn’t have any art markers at all, and used to be so jealous of those card makers that had tons of Copic markers, hehe, but I’ve never let it stop me from creating cards—it simply taught me how to get creative with what I had at the time. Using paper to create vibrant cards is perfect way stay in the card making game—if one doesn't have any art markers yet. My collection of Copic markers is still very small but it’s growing, I usually buy one at the time—whenever I can get my hands on a 50% coupon from my local craft shop.

For this card I used the new petite paper pad named, Pink Lemonade, by Lawn Fawn; and, I also used one of their recently released stamp sets, Here’s the Scoop. If you’d like to purchase any of the new Lawn Fawn stamps, stickers, twine, paper, or dies, the release date is: February  21^st. I’m so excited! Oh, and I almost forgot, I used one of my favorite alphabet sets for the, ‘I love you…This much’ sentiment: Smitty’s ABCs, if you’d like to purchase this set or ‘Here’s the Scoop’, click here and here.

To achieve the clear scoop image on the green and yellow polka dot card stock, I used this clear embossing powder by recollections. This can be found at any Michaels.

I’m also in the process of creating new cards for my shop, and I wanted something simple yet sweet for this particular design. So, I used this super cute popsicle stamp on some cream card stock, colored it in with a frost blue Copic marker, cut it out, and adhered it to my white cardstock, and added my sentiment using, Quinn’s ABCs, and Smitty’s ABCs. If you’d like to purchase these sets you can click here and here.

Thank you so much for stoppin’ by for another card of the week, and let me know what you think in the comments! Can’t wait to read them :-p 

Card of the Week--I Love You

It’s been a while since I’ve had a card of the week post; and, I needed one! You all know I need to create at least one card a week, for fun, to stay level headed. While I was sitting at my craft desk, I was just gazing at all the stamps, trimmings, ink, and paper I had and I thought I really should use it, haha. Lately I’ve been making really simple one layer cards and this time around I wanted to make something a bit more intricate. So, I pulled out some stamps I’d recently purchased but never used and I came up with this super adorable Valentine’s Day theme card. I really, really love it too. 

As you can see in the above images, there are hearts stamped onto a piece of kraft card stock; and, to achieve this tone on tone look I simply use my versa mark stamp pad, which is used to create this water mark effect or to be used with embossing powder. In this instance I used a recollections heart background stamp that I purchased from Michaels with the versa mark ink and stamped that all around the card. 

I also bought this really cute mini paper pad, named With Love, by Recollections. There is such a wide variety of really cute pattern paper. I used the ledger paper for this card as you can see—and btw, ledger paper is my FAV and it was in pink. I was so excited about that, haha. 

I also used some of my Lawn Trimmings, by Lawn Fawn. Their trimmings are so awesome and made with such great quality. I also used this distress ink by, Tim Holtz, in Vintage photo. 

For the bird image, I used this stamp Luv Ya stamp set by, Inkadinkado. I simply stamped the image onto a piece of high quality cream card stock, cut it out leaving a boarder, and applied some vintage stain around the edges. 

To color in the hearts I used this Copic Marker, color:RV11. I’m so in love with my new set of Copic markers! 

For the ‘Flying by to say’ sentiment I used this mini set, Flyingby, by Lawn Fawn. This set is so wonderful and I love it because it can be used for so many things. 

I also used this set, A birdie told me, by Lawn Fawn to create the text bubble background in red ink. I felt these text bubbles would work really well with the whole ‘Flying by to SAY’ theme, hehe. 

Lastly, I used this white gelly pen to create the faux stitches’ around the boarder. What do you think? Isn’t it cute?