Growing in Unity Hop + Prizes

Boy (or in this case girl) - do I ever have an exciting couple of minutes planned for you. I'm so jealous because you guys (or girls in this case) get to hop through some AMAZING talented cardmakers AND you get the chance to win some awesome prizes from Unity Stamp Company.

If you're here from the hop, you're on the caboose of the talent train. 

Here's the official order:

Terri Burson from Waving My Wand

Sarah Vait from Sarah's Stamping and Stuff

Deborah Adams from A Creative Life 

Becca Cruger from Damsel of Distressed <-- YOU ARE HERE

Here in North Dakota, we saw the first snow of the season this week! Naturally that put me in a Christmasy mood (aka the pre-Christmas panic of realizing I haven't made any Christmas cards this season and I now have exactly ONE MONTH to get crack-a-lackin'). 

I bought the Unity Itty Bitty stamp set All is Calm All is Bright stamp set last Christmas season and never opened the package. So now I'm killing two guilt birds with one stone! I get to use a never-before-used-schtuff (in the words of Darnell Knauss) AND start my Christmas card spree. 

I stamped my image and then sponged over it with some Broken China Distress Oxides. Then I spritzed it with a little bit of water. 

To add a little texture and shimmer to my background, I schmeeeared some Heidi Swapp metallic white embossing paste through a stencil. 

Instead of letting it air dry, which would have produces flat circles, I used my heat tool to dry it. You can see that this causes the paste to bubble and crack, producing a yummy texture (and helping impatient crafters like me get on with their business). 

I put it all together, and got this little lovely! I even think I can get away with mailing it with no extra postage. Woot! 

Thanks for popping by! If you're new to my blog, I'd love for you to give me a follow. I love teaching new mixed media techniques and sharing my processes with you all - so you won't be bored! 

Now get to hopping and win some prizes!

Oh Deer! Growing in Unity + Prizes

WATERCOLOR ALL THE THINGSSSSS!!!

When I devised my Growing in Unity plan, the above statement was not a part of it. But then after two days of watercoloring with different mediums, I said "hey self! This could make a cool week-long exploratory series." My self agreed with my self and thus, the past week has been spent in splishy splashy bliss.

On the docket for today's watercolor medium: Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals. 

If you want to talk about creating gorgeous, vibrant, unexpected backgrounds or watercolored images, these Colorburst crystals are INSANE! My bloggy friend Lauren Bergold's instagram feed is all full of Colorburst examples and I finally had to break down and buy all the colors. No Ragrats!

Also, I wanted to play along with The City Crafter's latest challenge, which is to mimic one of these splashes as a background on your card. 

Obviously, you can tell that I chose the green splatter for my design. 

Here's how I made this background.  

Step One: 

Use a wet paintbrush and apply water around your stamped image.
P.S. this deer comes from Unity's Woodland Deer stamp set.
Be careful not to get the water inside of your image.

Step 2
Add a teeeeny bit of Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals.
Seriously. A teeeeny bit. A little of these babies goes a LONG way. 

Step 3
Cry a little bit, restamp your image and repeat steps one and two because you added too many crystals.

Step 4

Use a damp paintbrush to move around the color, carefully

Step 5:
Oooooh and aaah over your final creation.
So stunning without even trying! 

I love how this little card turned out. It's CAS but packs a wallop of intensity. I also really like that it's appropriate for the fellas because I have SUCH a hard time not going all frilly on things. 

If you're interested in getting some of your very own Color Burst Powders, Amazon has sets of them for a decent price. (ps - I use affiliate links to help support my blog)

 

I'm also going to enter this into
As You Like it - Flora or Fauna (I like fauna better because you never know what you should expect from animals)

Cardz 4 Guys - Something Beginning with "D" (Deer!)

Also - thank you to those of you who followed my blog yesterday! I'm just >>ONE<< measly follower short of my 300 goal. Can you help a girl out?!?!

Don't forget to leave a comment down below because Unity is giving two lucky commenters some pretty sweet swag!

Mixed Media Card Challenge - Thanksgiving

Fall is slowly fading here in North Dakota. The first frost planted its icy breath all over my windshield and flower bed late last week. All of the leaves have been blown from the trees and are scattered atop my unraked lawn - a leafy standout amongst my neighborhood's block of well-kept lawns. 

Even though fall is fading, that doesn't mean I can't MAKE my own dang fall scenery. And that's exactly what I did for my card for The Mixed Media Card Challenge this month. I watercolored up a super sweet little autumnal scene.

Our theme is Thanksgiving and our optional element is table. I used the colors from the inspiration image, and also decided to make a sweet thank you card to go along with the theme.

I muddied up a piece of patterned paper by applying a coat of gesso and then adding random drops of Distress Spray Stain in Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, and Fossilized Amber tones. I dabbed some of the color off while it was still drying to tone down the vibrancy. I shaded the edges and added a big ol' bow.

The deer and the tree are from the Stampendous Winter Trees set. I've probably owned this set for a good 10 years or so. It's a classic and definitely one I turn to when the Holiday season approaches. The sentiment is from the STAMPlorations Grateful Beyond Words set - love the bold lettering! 

I'm going to send my card over to play in the following challenges: 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Thinking of You 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Watercolor (I know, I know, I'm lacking in the snark department, but I wanted to support my girl, Lauren B!)

I hope you'll join in the Mixed Media Card Challenge this month! 

 Psssssstttt - I'll be drawing names for the winners of the Hop to Stop prizes tonight around 9 p.m. CT on my Periscope Channel @damselofdistressed is my handle.