Diana Girl: Growing in Unity Day 5

Today is the last and final day for me to be the returning Growing in Unity Girl this week. So far this week we have played with Ink Smooshing, Heat Embossing, Texture Paste, Black and white images, and now, COLOR, GLORIOUS COLOR!!!

I bring you day 5.

Two cards made using bright colors and patterns. One with pattern using dies and the other with pattern using patterned paper.

Diana Girl

This is the Diana Girl Stamp from Angie Blom and it is one of my favorite from the Angie Girl line. She exhibits the strength each woman has inside her and I love how empowered I can make someone feel when I send them a card using this image. 

For this beautiful, colorful, powerful card, I used the new Birch Press Dazzle Layering dies for the background. These are really neat and you layer the three die cuts to create this intricate pattern. Eye catching and bold, am I right? 

I went with the tried and true Copic Coloring for the Diana girl  and just fussy cut her out and popped her up on foam tape. Simple, more simple than it looks, for sure! 

The second card I wanted to show was this one.

You Make Cute Babies

As you can see, this is a very colorful and bold card as well. Almost all the colors are a result of the adorable paper, excluding the one bit of coloring on the heart. This card also uses simple layering of die cuts to create a cohesive looking card. 

Don't forget to leave a comment below for your chance to win some Unity Stamps!

(be sure to go back and leave comments on all this week's blog posts for more chances)

Products used to create these cards:

Diana Girl

Diana Girl stamp set can be purchased here: 

Diana Girl

Birch Press Dazzle Layering Dies

Copic Markers

3M foam tape

Michael's card stock

SSS stitched banner dies

You Make Cute Babies

You make cute babies stamp set can be purchased here;

You Make Cute Babies

Doodle bug patterned paper

SSS Intense black ink

3M foam tape

Copic R27 & R29

PMS Peggy: Growing in Unity Day 4

Yesterday,  we played with heat embossing as a technique in a black and white color scheme. Today, I wanted to elaborate on the idea of a black and white focal image and colored patterned papers. 

PMS Peggy

PMS Peggy has to be one of my favorite edgy Unity stamp sets. I was especially fond of this set while pregnant with our youngest. It always made me giggle. There are two additional sentiments in the kit, check it out by using the link below.

This card uses a fairly simple recipe and you get a nice eye catching card with little effort. 

The green patterned papers are from a Michael's green paper 6x6 from the dollar bin and I paired it with a simple focal panel of Peggy, stamped in black ink. I colored the heart on her belt red for a little pop of color, but other than that, this is a very monochromatic card. 

Don't forget to leave a comment below for a chance to win some Unity Stamps!

 Products used to make this card:
PMS Peggy

Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink
Copic R29
3M foam Tape
SSS green apple card stock
Black card stock from Michael's
Green patterned paper from Michael's

Warrior Cancer Ribbon: Growing in Unity Day 3

If you've been with me for the since day 1 this week, you would have read my bio where I explained I send Cards of Hope to cancer patients and have been doing this for over 3 years.

Today, I wanted to expand on the technique used yesterday, heat embossing and introduce you to this beautiful black and white card of hope with heat embossed image.

Warrior Cancer Ribbon

Sadly, my list of recipients is ever changing I find myself mass producing these cards of hope each month. I try to send a card once a week and some times the list of recipients is nearly 30 or better. It does make me sad when I have to take people off the list for one reason or another because I know these cards really do help make people smile.



Cancer ribbons are in all sorts of colors to represent each type of cancer. I currently have two people on my list of recipients who are battling melanoma skin cancer. The color representing this type of cancer is black. I played on this with black and white cards.

A simple gesture can make someone's whole day.  I've had people message me and let me know their loved one kept all the cards they received, or that they saw those few and far between smiles on days when cards showed up in the mail. I'm very proud to be able to do this for people who are suffering. 

Don't forget to leave a comment below for your chance to win some Unity Stamps.

Products used to make these cards:

The stamp Warrior Cancer Ribbon can be purchased here:

Warrior Cancer Ribbon

Miscellaneous black and white patterned paper 

Black card stock from Michaels

Ranger Black Embossing powder

Versamark watermark ink pad

Going Wild: Growing in Unity Day 2

 I figured we could just expand upon the techniques and artist used yesterday with two projects for today.

Going Wild

The first is this adorable fall-esque card created with the Going Wild stamp set by yesterday's featured artist, Susan Weckesser. I stacked the cute animals on top of each other and used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color them to coordinate with this adorable patterned paper. A little Spectrum Noir Sparkle overlay and some glossy accents on the owl glasses and this image was complete.

I finished the inside of the card with a strip of leftover patterned paper and some leaves stamped on the edge.

This second card expands upon the ink smooshing from yesterday but I also added embossing paste and heat embossing to create this textured fun card. I even used some ribbon from my stash (GASP!)

Sorry Wine Does That

The texture is easier to see in this photo, it is basically a strip along the edge and just adds additional interest.

Be sure to leave a comment below for your chance to win some amazing Unity Stamps.

Products used to create these cards:

Going Wild stamp set can be purchased here:

Going Wild

Strathmore Bristol Smooth

Versafine onyx black ink

glossy accents

A Muse Studio button & twine

Lawnfawn patterned paper

Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

         23, 33, 36, 60, 64, 70, 71 & 72

Sorry Wine Does that stamp can be purchased here: 

Wine Does That

Tim Holtz Watercolor Card Stock

Brown Card stock from Michaels

Ribbon from Stash

SSS Ultrafine Antique Gold Embossing Powder

Liquitex Modeling Paste

SSS Large Morrocan Stencil

Ranger Distress Ink

Twisted Citron

Cracked Pistachio 

Unicorns & Rainbows: Growing in Unity Day 1

Hi Everyone, 

My name is Renee and I am one of the Growing in Unity girls for the week. I've been paper crafting for almost 20 years (I just gasped at that too). I started out with scrapbooks when I was pregnant with my oldest son, now almost 19 and have since switched almost exclusively to card making. I love the instant gratification cards bring. 

As I said, I started nearly 20 years ago while pregnant with my first son and just a few short weeks ago my husband and I welcomed collective baby number 7! We are a big blended family and our kids range from almost 19 to 5 weeks old. 

We endured a tragedy in 2013 when our 10 day old daughter Delaney passed away. Since then it has been my sole mission to spread joy and happiness. Although she did not pass away from cancer, I felt the people battling cancer were feeling the same helpless feelings my husband and I were while we watched our daughter struggle and fight. So, I've been sending cards of hope to cancer patients for the last 3 1/2 years, mostly anonymously, always full of love and hope. Unity has been a huge part of this because they carry such an amazing line of cancer stamps (so grateful for that, btw). 

This week I want to focus on techniques and bright fun cards. I hope you enjoy my cards as much as I do. Today's technique is INK SMOOSHING. By pressing the distress ink pads down on a piece of acetate and spritzing the pigment with water and dabbing your paper into the ink pool, you can create some really interesting and beautiful designs, images and backgrounds. 

My first card this week required me to step outside my crafty comfort zone, completely. I'm not usually a fan of ink smooshing because it delivers results that are less than ... controlled... and I'm a pretty clean and simple card maker. The background on this card is rainbow ink smooshing, what else would you think would be appropriate for this super cute Unicorn by Susan Weckesser?

This set is called Unicorns & Rainbows and comes with 6 red rubber stamps. I used three image stamps and the sentiment to create this card.

I paper pieced the cute unicorn and cloud onto the background, colored the rainbow with some fun copic markers and added some sparkle to the unicorn. How much fun is this card!












Be sure to leave a comment below for your change to win some fun stamps from Unity Stamp Company!



The products used to create this bright and cheery card are:

Unity Stamp Co Unicorns & Rainbows available here:
Unicorns & Rainbows

Ranger Distress Inks:
Candied Apple
Carved Pumpkin
Mustard Seed
Lucky Clover
Blueprint Sketch
Wilted Violet

Additional Products Used:
A Muse Studio Landscape die- cloud border
Mama Elephant Die- Park Ave. Frame
Copic Markers- Rainbow colors
PPP sequins
Tim Holtz water color paper
Spectrum noir sparkle overlay pen

It has been a year

Where has the time gone? It has been a year since I last posted a blog! In that time I've lost 83#, given birth to our newest son, had my oldest son graduate high school and move away from home, and so much more. I have tons of cards to get posted and will be trying to post on a M-W-F schedule for the rest of the year with some weeks posting once a day! I know, seems like a lot for someone who hasn't posted a darn thing for a year... but here's to wishing I can handle this with a newborn and toddler at home. ;) Wish me luck!