Friends with Flair ~ Field of Sunflowers

It's Friday again! The day I get to play along with the Friends with Flair linky on the Unity blog! If you've created with Unity goodies, play along! If you haven't, then click through and comment anyway, there are so many talented projects to see!

Friday is typically the day I receive my Stamp of the Week in the mail, and last Friday, my favorite one *ever* arrived! You see, a few weeks ago the owner of Unity Stamps asked on facebook what images we (the customers) would like to see on the upcoming SOTW's, and my reply was sunflowers. To anyone who knows me, this is no surprise...I love those happy flowers! 

In fact, I've got some blooming in my backyard right now!

Well, the sunflower stamp is gorgeous, of course, but I kicked it up a notch by using a mask to stamp multiple times on my cardfront...then I actually pulled out my markers and used my meager coloring skills to brighten things up a bit! With some distress ink around the white areas, my work was done! I didn't think that the front needed much embellishment, so popped the colored panel up for a bit of dimension, tied a ribbon, and that was that.

It reminds me of the fields of sunflowers that I used to drive by when I lived in Kansas...quite a sight to behold! I used another Unity set to stamp an encouraging sentiment on the inside.

And look...I want to show off the 'signature' on the back, too. My sister took a trip to China (she got to hold a baby panda!!!) and while she was there she bought me something called a 'chop'. It is a stone column stamp carved with a unique identifier that traditionally has been used to verify documents. In my case, my name in English and phonetically in Chinese. (Although for all I know, it could say, "Crazy crafty lady"! LOL)

When she sent it to me, I tried to use it with my regular stamp pads...no luck. So I ordered the special ink and gave it another try...awesome! The ink almost acts like a dense sponge...and the ink itself is solid, I don't know how else to describe it...but it works like a charm!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Recollections (brown), Neenah (white)
• stamps: Unity Stamp Co
• ink: Memento (brown), Ranger Distress Inks (blue)
• markers: Spectrum Noir
• ribbon: stash

I hope you had a crafty week, and thanks for stopping by!

Meredith