End of an era

Having been on the Make The Day Special DT for over 3 years I decided this week that it was time to call it a day and try to rekindle my love of scrapbooking and cardmaking etc with no Design Team commitments.

I've had a fab few years working with, and for, Emily at first and then Lou and meeting some fab team-mates and wonderful ladies along the way. I'd urge you all to keep an eye on their blog at Make The Day Special blog to see their wonderful creative makes. I know I'll be visiting often.

Bookmarks

It's my day to post over at the Make The Day Special blog today so I've been busy making a couple of bookmarks:

I seem to be overrun with cards and tags so decided to make a bookmark for today's post as I'm always needing more of them, with books lying all around the house!!

I started with a base of watercolour paper which I sprayed with Dylusions inks and then stamped the image from Unity's Love Life stamp set using black Memento ink. I then doodled around the edges using Posca paint pens and added a ribbon:

I also made another bookmark using another Unity stamp which unfortunately is no longer in stock in the shop but can still be bought from Unity here:

Sunny Sunday cards for MTDS

I haven't blogged for a while as it's been too hot to craft and when I did plan to have a day of crafting I was met by Jess waking up with chickenpox, although thankfully only a mild case.

I've made a couple of cards using a stamp from Unity's kit "The Right Words" but coloured the stamp in two different ways:

I hope that you're enjoying the weather wherever you are?!

The secret......

I've used one of my favourite co-ordinating colour schemes of orange and turquoise and dug out my embossing folders.

The sentiment is from Unity's "The Right Words" store kit and stamped using Versamagic chalk ink on to Coredinations cardstock with the heart shaded in with a pastel pencil. 

Behind the Mask

Today I've been playing with some masking tape and chalk inks to make a couple of Unity cards.

I used the Christy Tomlinson Urban Chevron stamp for the card on the left and the sentiment on the right card is from the Bold Insight store kit.

I've then added stickers and a die-cut to embellish.

Now I'm off to try some more masking and inking.

Go With Your Heart tag

Today I've gone back to my tried and tested "shabby chic" style to make a tag for the Make The Day Special blog.

I've used the Unity/Authentique Itty Bitty stamp Go With Your Heart which I stamped with Versamark and then embossed with WOW embossing powder on Prima paper. 

Materials used: Prima Madeleine papers, Unity stamp as above), Versamark ink, WOW! embossing powder, Joy Crafts die, organza ribbon, Prima pearls, Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, lace, lace butterfly, velvet ribbon, organza.

Smeared Ink tag

Today I have a tag to share with you using stamps from 2 Smeared Ink sheets - "As Death" and "Holy City".

I coloured my tag (made using a thick watercolour paper) using Derwent Artbars which I blended and then used a grey inkpad to stamp the graveyard scene on the tag. I used distress embossing powder around the edges.

I then stamped the church steeple using black ink on to watercolour paper and used the Artbars again but this time as watercolour paints to colour the stamping before cutting out and sticking with foam pads on to the tag.

The saying was also stamped on watercolour paper and given a light watercolour wash over.

Pencil on Kraft

It's my day for posting on the Make The Day Special blog but this time I thought I'd try something different from my usual and go for a Clean and Simple (CAS) card.

I stamped the flowers from Unity's Quiet Essence kit on to kraft cardstock using brown Memento ink and then coloured the image using Prismacolor pencils.

The sentiment from Unity's "A Mother's Love" kit was then stamped, again using the Memento ink.

A couple of Unity tags

I have a stack of tags already coloured with either Dylusions inks or distress inks and turned to those today to make a couple of Unity stamps tags.

The tag above was coloured with Dylusions inks and then the sentiment from Bold Insight was stamped using grey Memento ink. The dragonfly from the same set was stamped on to card coloured with distress inks before being cut out and adhered to the tag.

This second tag is slightly smaller but made the same way. The sentiment is from Moments in Bloom and the flowers are from Bold Insight. I added a tiny rhinestone to the centres.

Unity Love Life canvas

Well, after missing posting last week due to a case of nothing going right with my make I'm back this week with a canvas for my Make the Day Special blog post this week.

This started off as a 6" x 4" canvas board from The Works (great value at 99p for a pack of 5). 

I coloured the background with Derwent Artbars which I then blended using a baby wipe.

The Love Life stamp from Unity's Love Life set and the butterfly stamp from Unity's Life Becoming set were stamped on to patterned paper then cut out. 

I used K and Co printed die-cuts, metal embellishments , Prima lace, a beaded string from a Christmas decoration and more to embellish.

Materials used: canvas, Derwent Artbars, Unity stamps (as above), Pink Paislee London Market paper, brown Memento ink, K&Co die-cuts, Prima lace and flowers, lace embellishment, metal charms, Vintaj Patina paint, vintage glass button, beaded string from Christmas decoration.

A royal Unity tag

Here's the tag I made for the Make the Day Special blog today:

I cut the tag from scrap cardstock and then sprayed it with Dylusions ink sprays before stamping the "She is the Queen" stamp from Just Be You on to it using Memento ink.

I then sprayed some different Dylusions sprays on to another piece of card and then stamped the winged crown stamp, from the same stamp set, on to this and then cut it out.

I used the border from the "I make stuff" stamp from Better Somewhere Today to randomly stamp around the edges of the tag and used a fine paintbrush and the Dylusions to paint the leaves.

I then assembled the tag and added a few beads to the bottom:

Materials used: scrap cardstock, Dylusions ink sprays, Unity stamps (as above), sequin waste, velvet ribbon, Dovecraft brad, black and brown Memento inks, various beads. 

A Unity picnic - MTDS

I have a layout to show you today made for the Make The Day Special blog which uses various Unity stamps from the shop:

I used some leaves and foliage stamps on the journalling block and at the bottom of the layout from the Unity  kits Moments in Bloom and Naturally You and stamped these using Versamagic chalk ink.

I also used a couple of sentiment stamps from Life Becoming which I stamped straight on to the photos using Stazon ink.

Unity tags

It's been a long time coming but I've finally got a bit of stamping mojo back and have done a DT blog post for Make the Day Special on the blog today.

 

I've been playing with distress inks today to make a couple of tags to share with you. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and they may spur me on to make more!!

I used Unity stamps from Key to Joy and The Right Words.

Both tags were cut from scrap cardstock. I have a box full of tags ready cut in many different colours so I can just dip in when I need them but these were both originally cream.

I used various distress inks to colour the tags and then stamped the key background using distress ink.

The butterfly was stamped on to white cardstock and then coloured using Faber Castell Big Brush pens before being cut out.

The sentiment was also stamped on to white cardstock and then lightly tinted with distress inks. I needed to do a bit of masking with this one as some of the words are very close together and wouldn't cut out square.

For this one I used an old metal key that I painted with Vintaj paint and then used twine to hold it on the tag.

Materials used: scrap cardstock, Ranger Distress inks, Memento ink, Faber Castell Big Brush pens, Unity stamps (as above), velvet ribbon, ric-rac, keys, Vintaj metal paints, twine, beaded string, Christmas beaded decoration.

Wishlist doilies - Journal page

Today's project I'm sharing is a journal page on which I've used the Unity/Bella Blvd stamp set Bella Doilies.

I used Derwent Artbars to make a background which I then blended with water. I stamped the doilies using various chalk inkpads to create some texture.

The lettering was done using rub-ons which I outlined with a fineliner:

Materials used: Unity stamps (as above), chalk inkpads, Derwent Artbars, Scrapworks Rubz, Letraset fineliner pen, Mamelok scrap.

Just Be You bag charm

Here's a bag charm I made for the Make The Day Special blog using the Life Is Beautiful stamp from the Unity "Just Be You" set.

I stamped the image on to shrink plastic using Stazon ink before cutting it out, adding a punched hole and then colouring with chalk pastels. I then used my heat gun to shrink it before adding a jump ring and then adding it to the bag charm:

Hindsight tag

Here's a tag I made for the Make the Day Special blog this week using stamps from Unity's Bold Insight store kit.

I stamped the sentiment straight on to the patterned paper tag and then the flowers were stamped on to white card before being coloured with Prismacolor pencils then cut out and layered on foam pads:

Materials used: Cosmo Cricket paper, Unity stamps (as above), black Versafine ink, Prismacolor pencils, pleated ribbon, beads, organza ribbon.

Naturally You tag

I made a quick tag for the Make The Day Special blog this week using Unity's Naturally You kit.

I stamped the cute tortoise from the kit using Faber Castell Big Brush pens and coloured it in with the same. The sentiment was also stamped using two colours of the brush pens. I added Stickles to the hearts on the tortoise:

Materials used: scrap cardstock, Unity stamps (as above), Faber Castell Big Brush pens, CraftWork pompom trim, spotty organza ribbon.

Crafty Templates August #2

Here's my second card for Crafty Templates this month. It uses the Hat Boxes template sheet. To read more details on signing up to get the templates monthly have a look here.

I used items from the stunning Quirky kit "Tell Me More" which can be seen in the shop here. The only thing not from the kit is the tiny alphabet stickers:

Crafty Templates August #1

Here's my first card for Crafty Templates this month. It uses the Bow Dress template sheet. To read more details on signing up to get the templates monthly have a look here.

I used items from the stunning Quirky kit "Tell Me More" which can be seen in the shop here.

I paper pieced the dress and used the pink netting as an overskirt.

Alcohol ink with Unity

I made 2 cards for the Make the Day Special blog this week using Unity stamps and my sadly neglected alcohol inks:

Materials used: Kraft cardstock, glossy cardstock, Ranger alcohol inks, Unity/Christy Tomlinson stamp, Craft Robo sentiment, Prima flower centre.

Materials used: Kraft cardstock, glossy cardstock, Ranger alcohol inks, Unity/Bella Bvd stamps, Kaisercraft rub-ons.