Growing in Unity + Card Concept + Prizes

Today, I'm combining both my Growing in Unity post PLUS announcing the return of The Card Concept Challenge! So ya'll get a double huzzah!!

My card today is brought to you by the new inspiration image up at The Card Concept challenge, which is back from its summer hiatus. 

Look at all that lovely texture, woodgrain, and pretty florals - there are so many different things you could be inspired by and we would LOVE to have you come play along. 

I guess this week I have been unintentionally exploring different watercoloring mediums. 

Yesterday, I showed you how to use traditional watercolors to make a splashy card and on Day 1 of my Growing in Unity posts, I showed you how to watercolor with Distress Inks. 

Today, I'm going to talk about my latest watercolor effect medium obsession: Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks.

People. People. 

If you want to talk about the easiest way to watercolor EVER,
These. Are. It.

Like their name implies, you just scribble around with them. Originally I thought these would be like gelatos or Tim Holtz Distress Crayons but they are far from it. The scribble stick is hardened and if I was going to compare it to anything, it would be a watercolor pencil (although these are MUCH more vibrant). 

Once you have a little bit of scribbled color down, take a damp brush and just pull out from the center of the color. Easy peasy gradient that looks oh-so-lovely! 

If you're wondering where that big ol' beautiful flower came from, it's a design by Donna Downey for Unity Stamp Company called Wild & Free. This set is PERFECT for dramatic cards and is large enough for mixed media canvases or art journaling, too! 

Once I had my poppy all watercolored, I added a teeny bit of texture to the center with some white acrylic paint. 

I wanted to incorporate the burlappy (that's a word if I say it is) texture from the inspiration photo, so I used some burlap cardstock from DCWV. I embossed a lovely sentiment from the same kit and viola! 

This card is also going to go play along at Craft Stamper Take it Make it Challenge and Artistic Inspirations Anything Goes Challenge. 

PSSSTTT... check out my followers section in my right sidebar. Do you see that I am only >>SIX<< bloggy friends away from hitting 300!? Can you help a girl out and help me hit that milestone? I'd be ever so obliged! I love making new bloggy friends!

Inspirational Cards - Typografia Motivate Release

Inspiration comes in all forms - including stamps. I absolutely adore motivational sayings. I'm one of those weirdos that has them hanging in her office and her bedroom and... well basically anywhere with a little bit of empty wall space. 

That's why I was SOOOO excited when STAMPlorations announced they were coming out with a line of inspirational typography stamps. These stamps are one-man shows and perfect for making quick, impactful cards. 

I played around with two of the stamps from the line. 

This one uses the Beautiful Destinations stamp.

Yep! That is all one stamp! I stamped it twice - once in blue and once in red so I could cut out the van and give it a little POP. 

I wanted to play along with the current challenge at Just Us Girls so I used some fun designer papers  from Bo Bunny and a couple of cute enamel arrows. 

Next up, I used the Doubts stamp to create this little number.

What I love about these stamps is that they speak for themselves. A little splash of watercolor and some background stamping with the In Bloom: Floral Bliss Trio and voila! A card was born. 

Today we are showcasing 13 of the 33 new Typografia Motivate stamps over on the STAMPlorations blog and we're giving some away, too! Go check it out! 

Pssssttt... for my bloggy readers, you can get 20% off anything in the STAMPlorations shop by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Happy shopping!