Black Friday, Sealed With A Kiss Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn

Today we are excited to share with you, the new Black Friday Stamp Set--Sealed with A Kiss. This is a mini set, and you can also purchase the coordinating dies, too, by heading over to the Lawn Fawn website, here. If you take a closer look at the times you will also notice that I'm using a few new Lawn Fawn products, too!

For more details on this new stamp set + dies, a look at all of the other DT samples, an intro video by Kelly Marie, and a chance to win a prize--head on over to the Lawn Fawn blog!

Happy crafting and thank you for stopping by!

Designer Series with Mama Elephant, Friend Indeed

Hello! It's Nicole Gavaldon here with another designer series blog post featuring the sweet stamp set, Friend Indeed. I just love all of the Mama Elephant sentiment stamp sets because you can use them in so many different ways; and, with so many different stamp sets, too. What I love the most about this set is the large hand scripted 'friend' stamp. I think it's so pretty and I can image stamping this in so many different colors but on todays project I'm simply stamping it in black ink because of all the different colors going on the background. I thought it would be cute to make the sentiment the focal point of this card and so I thought taking a smaller image from the set, Sunday Stroll, would work out perfectly--and I was right! 

Lately, I haven't been able to make a card without reaching for my distress inks to do some wild and free watercoloring, and while making this card I used the distress ink colors, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, and Spiced Marmalade--on some Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock (my fav) and then die cute that out using a stitched rectangle die, and also used my favorite ME dies--the Femme Frames die set. I really can't get enough of that set I think it adds so much to my cards!

To finish the card off I added some Pretty Pink Posh sequins, in the colors, Metallic Gold, Sparkling clear, and Pink Blush. I just love how all of the colors came together and I can't wait to make more cards and projects with this great set, Friend Indeed.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

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! 

Card of the Week--Miss You

I had a blast making this card! I feel like I haven’t taken the time to make an intricate card in a while—so it was about time I did. It may not look as though this card took hours upon hours to make but it did, hehe. It’s really nice to spend a good 2-3 hours on one card because I feel like it’s a therapy for me. I think the therapy part actually comes from me making a huge mess of all my stamps, paper, ink, etc. I don’t usually get messy when I’m working on orders because I feel that keeping everything neat and organized—as I work—helps me to finish them faster. 

I used so many stamp sets by Lawn Fawn for this particular card and the list of stamp sets used is as follows: Yeti set go, Into theWoods, So much to Say, Let it snow, You’ve got mail, Plus one, and Bannerific. I also used the new LF, Journaling die, you can find it by clicking here. 

I just love how this card came out, and I’m so excited that I used the yeti stamp for something other than Christmas—that’s something I love about LF stamps. They’re usually good for all year round projects. Well, I hope you enjoyed this card of the week and let me know what you think in the comments! Have a great weekend. 

A2 Stationary Box with A Window

My favorite season (Fall) is finally upon us! I couldn’t be happier right now. This means I don’t have to suffer in the summer heat any longer, and I can get out all of my sweaters, gloves, and beanies out. Not only do I love the fall weather but everything else that comes along with it; such as, the awesome fall inspired crafting products. Lawn Fawn came out with some pretty amazing products for fall, and—of course, I LOVE them! Today I’m making a really cute A2 box with a window using their new fall paper collection, Intothe Woods, as well as their new die set, Stitched Journaling Card (which I used to create the window on the back of the box). Not only did I use their new paper, and die set for this—I also used their super cute new brown and white twine, you can find it by clicking here.

As if the paper, twine, and dies aren't cute enough—Lawn Fawn also has a coordinating stamp set that goes with the entire collection named, Into the Woods. This set contains adorable images like this deer, clouds, and text bubble that I used to create the stationary. I was so excited to get this stamp set out and create something with it. I’ve been working so many hours, getting all of my orders out, and I haven’t been able to use that many of the new products I got from LF. So you can image how happy I was to make these cards, hehe. I wanted these cards to be colorful yet still only one layer. I used plenty of different, Hero Arts shadow inks, and I think the colors I used match perfectly with the paper I used to make the box.

If you are interested in learning how I made the box, you can find the tutorial I made on the subject by clicking here. I also created a template for this box so that I will always remember the dimensions—it really comes in handy, because I make so many different things and it’s hard for me to remember the sizes of things!

If you have any questions on how I made this box, feel free to leave me a comment, but don't forget you can click here for the tutorial. Have a great Wednesday! 

Card of the Week, and Lawnscaping Challenge No.64

I recently made this mini-greeting card; namely, because I’ve been feeling like it’s been so long since I made a card just for fun—and it was about time I did! Sometimes I forget that I need to step away from making things for my shop, and make something for myself that can keep my creativity flowing. I feel that, that is an important thing to do—especially if I want to keep on creating new things for my shop.

I also noticed that Lawnscaping is currently hosting a fun challenge where you create a card using distress inks, and since I have a few distress inks I thought I’d give the challenge and try. I’m not too sure that I’ll win though, because while I did use 3 different distress inks you can’t really notice it that much. When I was making this card though, I just had fun and didn’t worry too much about how much or how little I was using distress ink—I mainly just wanted to have some fun. 

So, as you know I’m a huge fan of Lawn Fawn so of course I had to use my LF: stamps, paper, and twine! Here’s how I made the card: I cut a piece of card stock at 9 1/2” x 3 1/2”, and scored it length wise at 4 3/4” and set it aside. Next I cut a piece of yellow pattern paper from my Pink Lemonadepetite paper pack by LF, and cute it at 4 3/4" x 3 1/2" and set that aside as well. Next I grabbed my LF stamp sets: a birdie told me, say cheese, and critters in the forest and stamped out two of the Polaroid image, one fox, and one small text bubble on a piece of white card stock. Next I cut out the picture part of the polaroid image on one of the two images, and stamped the stump, and the tree as the background. Next I stamped the same images onto a piece of post-it paper and cut those out to use them as a mask so I could apply my distress ink colors, Broken China, and Peacock Features. Next I used a LF stamp and the distress ink to apply the stars in background. Once that was finished I removed the masks’ and colored in the tree and stump. Next I colored in the fox image, and the text bubble, then cut them out leaving a white boarder—I also cut out the full size polaroid image, too. Once all of that was cut out I adhered everything together, and applied some, Antique linen distress ink all around the polaroid image to make it look a bit vintage. Using the same Antique linen ink I grabbed a camera image from another one of my LF stamp sets and stamped that image three times at the bottom of the pattern paper to emphasize the polaroid picture. Next I wrapped some mint LF twine around the pattern paper, and adhered the image to the yellow panel using some foam adhesive, then adhered the whole thing to my card base, and it was finished!

Once this was done, I was so happy with it. I can’t wait to give it out. Isn’t it cute?

What I’m working on—I’d love any feedback

 I’ve started to notice that my virtual shelves are clearing out, and when that happens’ I usually start creating new items for me shop. Since I make so many different things for many different occasions I feel like I’m not really that awesome at creating solid collections; or, maybe I have trouble with it because I have a short attention span, haha. When I was making purses for my first shop, Nicole Marie Handbags, I used to love doing it but I’d always day dream about buying stamps, trying out screen printing, and just being an overall super-craft person. I love all things crafty, and I just can’t stop trying different things…it’s just too much fun. But, moving forward, my boyfriend bought me a really cool Bamboo table for Christmas and I started learning how to use it; and, even began editing pictures with it—but I also wanted to get creative with it so I started turning my paper drawings into digital sketches to make some cool cards. I definitely love using the tablet for this purpose but now I’d like to push my limits and see what else I can create with it. Perhaps my own pattern paper designs, wall art, and more! Below are pictures of all the things I’ve been working on: Cards, cupcake toppers, and a new stamp! I’d love to hear what you think!

The, ‘You shine like a…(star)’ card is Gabes’ (my boyfriend) favorite, hehe. This card was creating on Illustrator and handwritten by me. The, ‘I love thee/Happy Anniversary’ card was handwritten + a font I downloaded from dafont.com. I think this simple yet cute card is adorable, I like it.

Next, I created this card or stationary perhaps, with a starry night/mountain theme. I think this one turned out to be my favorite. It’s funny because when I drew it I didn’t think it was that cute, until I printed it—now it’s turned out to be my absolute fav! I also made this super cute floral wreath ‘Happy Birthday’ card. I drew the floral wreath by hand using the tablet and Illustrator CS5 but the free font was downloaded from dafont.com. This floral wreath took me literally hours to do (the first time), and while I was nearing completion of the image, my computer shut down on me! I was so upset—but I just did it all over again, hehe. I was happier with the final result the second time around though, so that was great.

If you read my Wednesday post, you may have already seen this super cute card. I made it using a few stamps sets created by, Lawn Fawn, my favorite stamp company. To find the stamps I used you can click here. 

Next I wanted to create a new set of, Mr. and Mrs. Cupcake toppers for my shop because I felt the ones I already had in my shop were a bit dated—I think they’ve been in my shop since I opened, and it was about time I made some new toppers. 

Lastly, is this new hand carved stamp. If you’ve followed along with my hand carved stamp adventure you’ve seen all the other stamps I’ve created—and this is the most resent one. I’m still working on making about 10 stamps before I have them available in my shop. So stay tuned for that! Well, thanks for stopping by again and I’d love to hear your thoughts on my new things! I love reading all your comments and I apologize if I haven’t been replying to them all in time. I still read them though, and they always make me smile.  Have a great weekend!

Card of the Week—Floral Wreath

I typically have my ‘Card of the Week’ posts’ on Wednesday; however, I thought I mix it up a bit and have it today—Friday! I wanted to make another Valentine’s Day themed card but this time around I wanted it to be different and not the normal reds and pinks. It’s also been a while since I’ve created a card using ribbon, and I have tons of ribbon just sitting on my desk, hehe. 

I used another one of my mini paper pads that I purchased from my local Michaels. They’re selection is out of this world cute—and I’m not usually one to buy mini paper pads because I feel they’re a little pricey but oh my gosh, they’re so cute! I also used this floral wreath rubber stamp (purchased from Joanns), and a piece of Kraft card stock cut to an A2 size.

After spending a good amount of time marveling over all the cuteness in the mini paper pad, I finally decided on this vintage stripe paper, and cut out a piece at 4” x 5”. Next I applied some vintage photo distress stain around the edges.

Next, I grabbed my floral wreath stamp and pressed that on a piece of cream card stock, by recollections, using chocolate pigment ink.

I used my Copic markers to color in the flowers and leaves—what a difference from that image without color and with.

 Next I cut a piece of ribbon and tied that around the pattern paper, and set aside.

I thought about stamping the ‘I love you’ sentiment (by LawnFawn, btw) right in the middle of the wreath but I’ve done that many times before and I decided on using my Cuttlebug and banner die cut, by W9 PlusDesign, for some dimension.

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this card of the week, and I’ll see you again on Monday! Have a great weekend everyone. 

D.I.Y. How to make 3 x 3 Note cards, with Matching Envelopes, and Envelope Seals

 It’s been awhile since my last D.I.Y. and I thought I’d make something really easy and super cute.  Plus I might just be looking for a reason to put my new Martha Stewart scoring board to use. I’m always trying to get people I know into crafting; and, I’m secretly kind of hoping I can convert some of my readers (who aren't already crafters) into crafters too, hehe. So, back to the project—I’m making some 3 x 3 mini note cards; and, I’m also showing everyone how they can make matching envelopes, and matching envelope seals. This would be something you can make as thank you cards, or anything really. If you don’t have all the tools and stamps that I have it’s fine, maybe you can cut out some of your favorite phrases and pictures, and adhere those to a piece of scratch paper. If you need to you can go old school and simply use a ruler, scissors, and X-acto knife to cut everything out.

Since this D.I.Y. has a lot of steps I made a video for you! I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to like it and leave a comment! Have a great Monday! P.S. I used a lot of transitions to make the video a bearable length because  I tend to branch off into off the topic subjects and my videos end up being like 30 minutes—so you’ll notice a lot of cuts. I tried to control myself this time, haha. I kept thinking in my head while filming, “Don’t go off topic, don’t go off topic, just say what you need to say”, LOL. I’m rambling now…as per usual.