Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week--Finley's ABCs, 123s, and Violets ABCs

 Today is another fun day in a week long inspiration week with Lawn Fawn! Today Kelly Marie, is introducing Violet's ABCs, Finley's ABCs, and Finley's 123s. These sets are so much fun to use when creating so many different types of projects. For instance, I used a combination of Finley's ABCs and 123s to create a mini Christmas banner using the stitched banner dies. I also used Violet's ABCs to take an already existing sentiment and simply make it bigger. For more inspiration go ahead and visit the Lawn Fawn blog by clicking, here, and you can also view Kelly's awesome intro video with a more detailed look into the stamp and die sets. You'll also get a chance to win a stamp set!

Blick Art Haul

Over the weekend I stopped by Blick to purchase some much needed Copic refills for two of my most used markers; and, while I was there I decided to look around and see what interesting things I could find. The last last time I was there about a few months ago I hadn't yet discovered my love for watercoloring so I didn't really pay any attention to all the tools, paper, and other accessories they had available for that particular medium. So this time around I was pretty excited to ask about all the cool things I could use and test out. One of the employees there mentioned these really cool watercolor pencils--and since they were on sale I thought I'd give them a try. When I got home I tested them out on one of the watercolor postcards I purchased (in a set) and they seemed to work very well. The colors are really vibrant and I love that. Aside from the watercolor pencils and Copic refills, I also purchased a pack of blank watercolor post cards, some really thick 140lb. watercolor cardstock, a Copic color swatch book, and some carving rubber to make a handmade stamp. I can't wait to make some new things with these.

Did you do any craft/art shopping this weekend?

Celebrate--Featuring V's Sweet Ideas Stamps

Today I'm excited to guest design for, V's Sweet Ideas! She has recently released four new stamps sets and, Birthday Wishes, was one of my favorites--I think it's so cute. This set is so great because it's a mini; and, that means it's also a great price. There are lots of images and sentiments--which makes it a versatile set. I'm super obsessed with watercoloring right now so of course I had to include a bit of that in this card I made. If you get a chance head on over to her website--you can find links to all of the new stamps sets for sale. You can also find her blog link--she's going to be doing a giveaway soon!

Have a great weekend!

Have A Purr-fect Birthday--Video

Today I have a fun video over on the Lawn Fawn blog, and I'm sharing how I made this adorable, Have a Purr-fect Birthday!, card--using several different LF stamp sets. You can watch the video on Youtube (above) or click here to be directed to the LF blog for details on all the stamps, dies, and embellishments I used when creating this card. I hope you love it! 

Watercolor Christmas Cards---My Etsy Shop

If you follow my Instagram account @unifyhandmade you may have already seen a sneak peek of these cards that I’ve released in my Etsyshop. I’m super excited about these cards because they include some of my hand painted watercolor designs—and since I’m totally obsessed with watercoloring right now it seems appropriate for me to incorporate my love for painting into my newest Christmas card collection. What also makes these extra special, to me, is the fact that I created some of the accents—like the laurel—on these cards using my tablet. I’ve been playing around with it for 2 years now and trying to get the hang of digital drawing (it’s so much fun).

These cards are being offered in sets of 8, and you can purchase a set of one particular design; or, you can purchase a variety pack. I also created some adorable tags with the same watercolor theme, too.

 I wanted to create some place cards using this wood mounted stamp I purchased from Paper Source a few months ago, and I thought it would be a great time to create some for Christmas. Perfect for use at dinner time for Christmas Eve; or, Christmas day!

I’ve always wanted to mass produce my very own watercolor designs and I was able to do that by simply creating my designs on this Tim Holtz watercolor paper and then transferring them to my computer by scanning them into Photoshop.

I’ve always wanted to create a red and white themed Christmas line—and this year I finally did it. In this collection I’m using traditional Christmas colors but with a modern day twist. If you can see in the last image (shown above) I also created a heart shape. I have big plans for new cards coming this Valentine’s Day. I can’t wait to share them!

To view my new Christmas cards you can find them in my Etsy shop, here, here, here, here, and here. I hope you've enjoyed this close look into my new Christmas cards and feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what you think!

Have a great Friday!

Nicole 

Milk and Cookies--Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week

I love the adorable images in this stamp set, Milk and Cookies. It's so easy to use this set in so many ways; and, for this card I created a mini card using some watercoloring, and paper piecing. I used one of my favorite sheets of paper from the, Sweater Weather paper collection--and used it as a table cloth. I can imagine one could use this stamp set for creating adorable Christmas card scenes, tags for home baked goods, etc. Lawn Fawn has also created the coordinating die set, here, to make crafting more convenient for us!

You can head over to the Lawn Fawn blog by clicking, here, for your chance to win your very own stamp set. You can also view all the other DT samples and, of course, watch Kelly Marie's great intro video! I hope you're inspired!

Snow Day--Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week

Woohoo! Another Lawn Fawn inspiration day—the set being featured on the LF blog today is, SnowDay; and, this set perfectly coordinates with the Snow Day paper collection, too! The cute and whimsical images in this stamp set just blew me away the moment I laid my eyes on them. I always brag about how versatile their stamps set are and I can’t help but do the same with this stamp set, too. Everything minus the ‘Merry and Bright’ sentiment can be used year round; for instance, you have the cute bunnies, the heart images, tree images, and the little bird. Combining the bunnies from, Snow Day, and a LF alphabet set, for example, can provide you with the perfect stamp combination for creating some Easter tags, or cards. 

When creating this card I wanted to set a snowy scene; therefore, I wanted to stick to colors like: white, light blue, silver, and muted tones—as shown on the bunnies. I stamped the tress in some versamark ink and heat embossed them in silver. I than used white cardstock along with the forest border die, and the stitched hillside border dies to create the layered snowbanks. I was inspired by Kelly, who was inspired by Nancy (who works at the LFHQ) when I added the light blue distress ink between each snowbank. Nancy’s idea was brilliant and it adds so much to this card. For the base of the card I used the 12x12 paper from the Snow Day paper collection, and I love how the color and sentiment on that paper matches with the rest of the card. 

Because LF has come out with so many fantastic elements that make papercrafting a cinch, I was able to make this card in no time! No more measuring and sketching out hills, no more cutting panels—everything is so easy to put together now and we can stick to focusing on which scenes we’d like to create!

The always generous, Kelly Marie, is having another giveway today! Head on over to the LF blog by clicking, here, to get your chance to win a stamp set. While you’re there you can browse through the DT samples and even watch Kelly work her magic as she formally introduces us to, Snow Day, in her new intro video.