Unity Stamps Friends with Flair Friday

It's Friends with Flair Friday over at the Unity Stamps blog!  Welcome to anyone who is popping in from Unity :)

I didn't get to a layout using the stamps this week like I'd planned, but managed a few quick cards yesterday.

The first is a sympathy card that used the "I Swear" kit from Up The Street.  I love this stamp from May's Unity KOM and I've actually already done another card like this in different colours (but forgot to photograph it before it was sent out).  I stamped using Versafine in Smokey Gray and then went over it with Perfect Pearls in Blue Patina and Green Patina.  I was trying to replicate the same colour as the metallic cardstock in the background and was quite pleased with the end results.

It doesn't really show up in the photo, but the colours are almost identical. 

And a suuuper quick card using Tim Holtz paper and some fun trim I've been hoarding.  I love that you can mix and match the greetings from the Itty Bitties.

When I use white (or black) embossing powders for an image, I also like to do a rough "frame" around the outside of the paper to pull it all together.

Supplies used:

Stamps ... May 2011 KOM, Basket Full of Wishes Itty Bitty, Just a Note Itty Bitty

Patterned Papers ... Crate Portait Bouquet & Accent Cuts, Tim Holtz Paper Stash Lost & Found

Specialty Paper ... Bazzill Emerald Metallic

Inks & Embossing Powder ... Ranger Embossing & Antique Linen Distress Ink, Versafine Smokey Gray, unknown white embossing powder, Ranger Pewter Blue & Pewter Green Perfect Pearls

Trim ... unknown

Be sure to visit the Unity website.  They've just released a new series of stamps co-branding with Simple Stories and have a wonderful sale going on for the next few days.  Great deals to be had!

Up The Street June Kits

The June Kits are now available at Up The Street and have been selling quickly.  To locals at least.  This postal strike is just a little inconvenient.  Oh well, it's not the end of the world ... yet ;)

Usually, the two sides of the kits mesh really well together, but this month, they're a little more "stand alone".

"I Swear" has some lovely wedding bits, but you're definately not limited to wedding layouts.  In fact, I don't think any of the design team has actually done a wedding layout with the kit.  I managed a card so far and will likely try to sneak in a wedding page yet. 

The "Lazy Days" kit is so much fun.  I'm so impressed with the Simple Stories papers and cannot wait to order in more of their lines.  And they've now teamed up with Unity Stamps to offer matching stamp sets!  Whee!

The June Gallery is, once again, out of this world.  I can't believe I've managed to trick these talented ladies into creating with my kits.  So much inspiration there :)

Unity Stamps Friends with Flair Friday

If you've ever visited the Up The Street blog, you'll be familiar with Lesley Langdon's work. 

Lesley has been working with my kits from basically the beginning and never fails to stun me with her talent.  Lesley is also on a number of fabulous manufacturer's design teams ... one of which is Unity Stamps.  While I am really not much of a stamper, after watching what Lesley manages to do with these stamps, I couldn't resist.  I am so glad that I did. 

This is one of the videos that convinced me to try Unity.  The Bella Doilies.  Loveliness.

The Prima Paper that I used for this layout already had the lovely watercolour background, so I just used Versamark ink and clear embossing powder for my images.  By rubbing on a bit of Distress ink in Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters, the images just pop.

I also used my poor, neglected Silhouette for the "summer" die cut and covered both the letter stickers and die cut in Glossy Accents.

The butterflies are from the March 2011 Kit of the Month.  I stamped one using the same technique as the doilies and the other with Distress Ink, accented with Copics and Distress Stickles.

Supplies used:

Stamps ... Unity Bella Doilies & March 2011 KOM

Patterned Papers ... Prima Fairy Flora Collection "Fairy Flora" & Madeline Collection "Spring Tide"

Title ... Webster's Pages Country Estate Alpha Stickers,

Silhouette die cut "summer" (cut from Basic Grey Hello Lucious "Sparkling")

Embellishments ... Maya Road Sheer Doilies; Prima Flowered Tendrils;

Zva Crystals; Cosmo Cricket Social Club Bling Bling

Ink ... Versamark; Ranger Peeled Paint & Shabby Shutter Distress

Distress Stickles ... Peeled Paint & Worn Lipstick

Copic Sketch Markers ... RV34 & BG10

Clear Embossing Powder

Ranger Glossy Accents

Be sure to pop over to the Unity blog for links to the rest of the participants

of Unity's Friends with Flair Friday.

New Challenge at Up The Street

What a lovely day. I just walked back from my friend Julie's house after having a wee afternoon cocktail. I suppose I should be thinking about making supper, but I'm in far too mellow of a mood to get off the couch now. I can hear chips being consumed in the other room, so I guess they won't starve any time soon. There's a new challenge at Up The Street using self portraits as the theme. Head over to the blog for more of the back story, or to the website for the other March/April challenges. I used the Country Air kit for my layout. I can't remember when I've put a layout together so quickly. I didn't even cut the paper ... those were bits left from other layouts. I bit of stamping ...

... and we're done.

August THAW layouts ... week #1

I've been a member over at Willow Traders for several years now, but this is my first time participating in this type of challenge activity. You're challenged to do three layouts per week and each week is sponsored by a different kit company. As Up The Street took the first week, I came up with a sketch and two challenges. You would think that I would have been a little more organized and had my layouts done ahead of time. If only.
Anywho ... this is the sketch (also being used for the August Contest at Up The Street) ...
And this is my layout from the sketch ...

I used my leftover from the April kit and add-ons, as well as the Black Soot Crackle Paint from the July kit.

The second challenge was to use a base of neutrals with just a dash of one other colour. I've had the My Minds Eye Life Stories kit for several months and have been waiting for an excuse to use it ...

The vintage Scrabble Tiles are from August's project kit. The Prima leaves and Basic Grey stitched brad are from June's main kit. And the nifty vintage ruler was picked up at a yard sale this spring :)

My final layout was completed for the third challenge ... to use a movie as inspiration. In this case, I used "Where The Wild Things Are" for my title.

After having Michelle Clement guest design with the July kit, I was inspired to use some of her techniques on my layout.

Journaling with stickers ...

Lots of little bits clustered and stapled ....

And although I don't have walnut ink, I splattered around a bit of alcohol ink ...

The ribbon is the yellow that came in the kit, but I sprayed it with Before Dawn Shimmerz (from March's add-on "Pretty Bits") to get this beautiful smokey gray colour.

Now I'm ready for this Sunday's challenges. Hope I can keep this up for the rest of the month :)

TGIF?

It's Friday. I'm never certain whether I look forward to the weekends or not.

Pro ... no rush on Saturday morning to get kids ready for school.
Con ... I have to get up and ship pigs on Sunday morning and the truck driver is usually here before 7:30 am.
Pro ... the kids are home.
Con ... the kids are home and usually arguing.

To be honest, weekends have never been a big deal to me. Before we had the boys, I worked at a resort and generally worked weekends. Now we farm, have three boys, and there are no days off at all. We don't go out all that much or have weekend getaways like people who have the Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 jobs.

I guess that Dave recognizes the weekends more than I do. He still has to go the barn every day and will be in the field if the weather is good and crops need tending. But if he's caught up, he'll do something non-farm related on a Saturday afternoon and take it easy on a Sunday afternoon.

For example, this is what he's been doing with his spare time this spring ... a cabin, on a hill, looking down toward the river at the other farm. Most of the structural materials were "scavenged" so the project hasn't cost very much at all. Someone we knew had put an addition on an older home a few years back and ended up building a new home last year so offered the addition to Dave. The wall that connected to the main house was missing, so Dave framed in old windows and plans to add a deck on that side, as it looks down on the river.
I'm calling it the Man Shack because there is no bathroom. But Dave thinks he could rent it out for scrapbook retreats. I don't think he really understands the concept. Ladies like to be able to sit on a toilet. At least I do ;)

The next challenge at Scrap Your CRAP goes up tomorrow so here's a wee peek. Any guesses as to the theme?

Just a reminder that the 30% off NSD sale is running until tomorrow at Up The Street :)

National Scrapbooking Day Sale

There's something about the bright colours in Sassafras products that just make me happy :)
These are photos from Will's birthday.
Just simple chipboard pieces for a title of sorts.

I love these new border stickers. There is a set included in the Salad Bar add-on kit and I've been using them on all kinds of projects lately. Sometimes stickers feel a little flat to me, so to give the strip running vertically down the page a bit of dimension, I simply outlined the edges in a grey marker.

I've got a huge sale running at Up The Street this week in honour of National Scrapbooking Day. Take 30% off EVERYTHING in the store until May 1st. E-mail your order directly to upthestreet@isp.ca to take advantage of this incredible deal!