Friends With Flair ~ Floral Notecard

Oh my...is it Friday already? 

I like Friday for a lot of reasons, but in my little papercrafting world...Friday means its time to link up to Unity's Friends with Flair! (Which has been growing, my friends!) 

If you've created a project with your Unity goodies this week, join the party! If you haven't been able to create this week, come look around for inspiration! If you don't have Unity goodies...now's a great time to get them...Unity is having Happy Hour this weekend! (Bye-bye, paycheck!)

I have a simple notecard to share today...I've got some Unity stamps pre-stamped onto cardstock that is tucked into the front of my coloring pencils...when I have some down-time as I'm out and about I like to pull them out and color, so relaxing.

I added just a bit of dimension with pop-dots, inking and the sheer bow. Now I've got a lovely bit of cheer ready to send to someone who needs it!

Supplies:

• cardstock: white (Wausau), blue (scrap bin)
• patterned paper: Recollections
• ribbon: JoAnn's
• stamp: Unity Stamp Company
• ink: black (Memento), gold/yellow (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)

Thanks for stopping by!

Meredith

Friends With Flair ~ Birthday Candles

Just a quick post today to participate in Unity's Friends with Flair...it's tax season...and that means I am busy, busy, busy! Just not in the craft room, as I'd like to be!

This card was super quick to put together...I had colored the stamped image weeks ago, the base was a reject from a prior card because the pink was too strong a color, the purple mat came from the scrap bin...all I had to do was a bit of trimming, then tie on the twine and glue on the button!

It'll be perfect to send to a friend who has a birthday in two weeks!

Supplies:

• stamp: Unity Stamp of the Week
• cardstock: Wausau (white), Coredinations (pink), Recollections (purple)
• ink: Memento
• pencils: Prismacolor
• twine/button: stash

Thanks for stopping by!

Meredith

Friends With Flair ~ Celebrate

Friday Friends With Flair time! WooHoo!

Come on over and join in on the fun! Just link up your Unity projects and/or skip along and comment on other projects that are linked up.

Does anyone else have a bit of trouble with having creative fun while making up cards for the gentlemen in their lives? I can make masculine cards...but I normally feel like I'm stifling my typical level of creativity to do so. 

Not with this one! This card is inspired by this pin here. I found that papers that are quite feminine when looked at as a whole, can be suitable for a masculine card when cut into smaller pieces!

The patterned cardstock that I used has flowers, butterflies and lots of soft colors, but when I cut it into smaller strips and accented the darker gray...wow!

Between the sentiment banner, the buttons and twine and the popped-up patterned panels, there is lots of dimension on this card, so it will cost a bit more to mail. I'm so happy with how it turned out though, I'll probably be making several similar ones!

I kept the inside simple, since we need room to write the birthday wishes to the fil!

Supplies:

• cardstock: recollections (cream), stash (gray)
• patterned cardstock: K&Company
• stamps: unity itty bitty
• buttons: stash (sewing store)
• ink: memento
• twine: walmart jewelry making isle, little box of $1 stuff

I hope I provided some inspiration today! Thanks for looking!

Meredith

Friends With Flair ~ Hearts on a Line

I'm so happy that its Friday! Among other happy things, it means that its time to link up your Unity projects to Friends With Flair! If you don't have any projects to link up, come hop around and enjoy the inspiration that everyone has for you.

This week I've got a card that I honestly don't know if I'm going to use as a Valentine or a birthday card...it could easily be either! I guess that if I don't make up my mind soon that I'll just have to make another one, and have both!

The layout was taken from this pin, I do so enjoy using my sewing machine on my cards!

The hearts are stitched only through the middle, so that they can be bent up slightly for dimension.

I'm using lighter weight cardstock for the card base, because it was the right color, so I needed to stabilize the back piece by lining...but who says linings have to be plain?

Supplies:

• cardstock: recollections
• printed cardstock: basic grey (sweet threads)
• stamps: unity kom (feb 2011)
• punch: the paper studio
• ink: memento
• other: my sewing machine

Thanks so much for stopping by, Enjoy!

Meredith

Peacock Calligraphy Card

The more I use my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine, the more I am impressed with its capabilities!

I'm still making my way through the list of birthday cards that I need, and one of the intended recipients loves peacocks (based on her pinterest pins!), so when I saw this calligraphy peacock cut file at the silhouette store I knew just which card to make for her!

Well, after I bought the file and first opened it in my software, I thought that there must be a mistake...the lines were much too thin to be workable...or so I thought!

The finished card size is 4" wide by about 9 1/4" tall, so if fits a standard envelope. I did have to cut the card a few times to get the result I wanted...the mess ups were my fault (such as, when will I ever learn to regroup pieces before moving them?) while trying to find the right cut settings for the cardstock I was using (and really, how did I not see that I was cutting the non-shiny side of the metallic cardstock?). But in the end, the result was stunning!

The thickest part of this design is a mere 1/8" wide, and the narrowest part? The narrowest part of this design is less than 1/32"!!!! And the Cameo cut it!!! Wow!

The design is part outline and part cutout of the base card, allowing the lining to peek through and add a surprise of color to the front, so gorgeous!

I didn't feel this elegant peacock needed much embellishment, so I just knotted a ribbon  off to the side and called it good. 

Supplies:

• cardstock: Recollections (Michael's)
• cut file: Silhouette America
• ribbon: Great Value (JoAnn's)

I'm entering this card in the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge for this week...go check out the gorgeous entries from others!

Thanks for stopping by!

Meredith

Colored Ice Crystals Valentine

Back in November 2012 there was a challenge on a message board that I belonged to to use the Ice Crystal technique on your card. It was a fantastic technique, and makes a lovely and unique background.

Here is the card I made using that background...you can see the 'ice crystals' on the dark blue cardstock behind the main image.

At the time of the challenge, there was talk on the board about trying the technique with colored water on white paper, and whether or not that would turn out. Well, I colored some of my solution with red food coloring (the liquid kind) and tried it out...it still made the ice crystals, but the color dried a faint pink...not something that I was going to work into the Christmas cards I was making at the time. So I put the page away until Valentine's. 

Guess what? That's right, I pulled it out and used it today! There is a challenge over on a new message board (the old one was closed) www.scrapzee.com this week to use a handmade flower on your card. I pulled out my box of flowers and found some great ones that I had received in a swap from Christina. (Thanks!) The red and pink flowers were perfect to use in a row on my card, (layout based on pin here) but I needed something to make them pop.

Enter my perfect pink shimmery ice crystal background! Its hard to capture in a photo, but the crystals really do shimmer and shine, and the coloring made it the softest pink color that is perfect to let the flowers take center stage!

I've been making Valentines for an exchange that I signed up for...do you like to swap and exchange handmade papercrafts? You should come check out the Scrapzee forum, its the friendliest place I've found for papercrafters on the web! 

Oh, and if you're interested in learning the ice crystals technique, there is a great video to explain it here.

Here's the inside...the card base that I'm using is pretty flimsy, so I always line the cards with something to reinforce them. Besides, I needed someplace to use the last two flowers!

Supplies:

• card base: stash
• flowers: swap from Christina
• cardstock: coredinations (glitter), wausau (white)
• stamps: studioG

I've found a new crafty challenge to play along with, Craft Us Crazy. Their current challenge is Valentine/Love/Red...this card oughta fit!

Thanks for stopping by to look!

Meredith

Friends With Flair ~ Naturally

Its time to show off your Unity projects with the Friends With Flair on the Unity blog!

I bought a new cut file (surprise!) And wanted to try it out...so out came the Cameo machine.

After I cut the card, it definitely needed some dressing up...so out came the stamps!

I used the snail and ferns from the 'Naturally You' set by Unity, the little snail is so cute with the heart antennae! 

Inside I stamped some more ferns...and that's where the cut file is cute...it cuts the little heart corner as a part of the card. You can tuck the front of the card into the heart if you want...I decided not to this time.

Supplies:

• patterned cardstock: Basic Grey
• cardstock: stash (green), Recollections (brown), Wausau (white)
• stamps: Unity
• cut file: Silhouette America store
• ink: Memento

Thanks so much for stopping by! I love reading your comments!

Meredith