Colored Pencil on Colored Cardstock and Adding a Shadow

This is my last and final blog/ video combo for my Growing In Unity Week.  If you are stopping by the week of 10/21/2019-10/25/2019 please leave a comment below for a chance at some Unity Stamp Company Goodies. And while you are at it, make sure to leave a comment on all the other blog posts from this week to multiply your chances at some super happy mail!

I wanted to finish this week off with a little colored pencil coloring. You see, I don't do it very often, colored pencils are not my go-to coloring medium of choice. I love the look I get with them and I know if I practice with them more I will probably pick them up more often. But, the reason I chose colored pencils today was because this week was a challenging week for me. If you've followed my blog posts this week you will have seen an extra blog post and video talking about my beautiful baby girl Delaney who was born in 2013 and gifted us 10 beautiful days before passing away. Every year those 10 days, 10 hours & 20 minutes are the longest and hardest for me. To say they are a challenge is an understatement but if I were to relate how this is for me back to crafting, I'd say it is something I'd do over again and with practice I am holding up ok and am learning how to live in our new normal. So... the reason I chose colored pencils, I need the practice to learn how to be ok with the outcome.


For this project:
I used Rebuild Herself
designed by Angie Blom
You can find it here: Rebuild Herself

 I also used Pretty Darn Amazing



March 2017 Kit of the Month
You can find it here: Pretty Darn Amazing

So now that I've shared why this is my final GIU project of the week, here is how I did it.

After stamping the frame from the KOM in Ink on 3 blackout ink, I colored it with my Prisma colored pencils. I used several shades of brown and a cream color along with my blender pencil to hopefully get a wood carved feel.

After I spent over an hour second guessing myself for starting such an endeavor, I placed a reverse mask over the image with just the center oval cut out and stamped this beautiful image from the Rebuild Herself set so she appeared in the mirror. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified at this point that I was going to screw this up so bad.

But I didn't. And in all reality it is just some paper. I colored the rest of the image inside the mirror using more Prisma colored pencils and I really love how that purple just jumps off the page. I'm glad I chose that color combo. Purple and Chocolate brown for the WIN!

I really didn't want to cover any of this image with a sentiment label, panel or even the original circle I had planned so I heat embossed directly onto my colored panel with white embossing powder. Yep, I held my breath while I did it. Again... I just knew I was going to screw all this up. But I didn't.

As I was looking at my finished panel I realized it still didn't have the dimension I had hoped for and I decided to get my N Copic markers out and add a shadow. In the coordinating video you can see how slowly I built up the color because I had real fear folks, this was a test of my courage this card. ;)

In the end, the card I ended up with is so beautiful and perfect and worth every nail biting, heart stopping, no turning back now, moment.  Be that crafter, step outside your box, go for it. It feels so good to practice at something and be ok with the results.


Unity Stamp Co does this very cool thing each week where they give some of their awesome stamps away just for some comments... seriously! So, to participate, if you are here during the week of 10/21/2019 - 10/25/2019, just leave a comment, it is that simple.

To watch me make these cards, you can watch them be made on my YouTube channel by clicking here: Delaney Jane Cards

All items were purchased with my own funds. 

Confused about why I named it all Delaney Jane Cards if my name is Renee’?

This entire thing, shop, YouTube channel, blog, etc, it is all named after our angel daughter who passed away in 2013. I made her some promises when she passed away. I would spread joy, I would make her proud and I would speak her name daily. This is one way we choose to honor her memory, and help me keep my promises.

Check out our online store at: www.delaneyjanecards.com

Want to visit us on Instagram? Check us out at @delaneyjanecards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delaneyjanecards/

Email: delaneyjanecards@gmail.com

Ink Blending, Dry Embossing and NOT STARTING OVER

This is my fourth post for my GIU week. If you are visiting the week of 10/21/2019- 10/25/2019 make sure to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win some goodies from Unity.

For a while I could only afford maybe one or two small stamps a month, sometimes even every two or three months. I found I needed to have retail therapy for my crafty soul as much as I needed to make time to craft. Having something new is always a Mojo builder for me. At that time I really had a tight budget and I found Unity's Itty Bitty line, which by the way are never that tiny. I love the diversity of this line in particular. I could order two stamp sets (most of the time an image and coordinating sentiment in each) and they could be two totally different things. Like one Itty Bitty could be a snarky sentiment like I used today and the other could be an adorable baby set or sympathy set. The Itty Bitty line really helped me build my stamp collection into what it is today. 

For this project:

I used Whiskey than Tea

designed by Angie Blom

You can find it here: Whiskey than Tea

I created a beautiful blended background to highlight this snarky sentiment. Using Distress Inks I blended the colors onto some Bristol Smooth Cardstock. Any white cardstock would work it might take a little more ink and a little more effort. Use what you have.

I wanted to use a technique from "back in the day" what I would call selective dry embossing. I know there is probably a real name for it but that is what it actually does so we will call it that. 

It didn't work but here is why. The last time I tried this technique was before the newer deeper etched embossing folders. Or that is the excuse I'm using anyway. 

So how was it supposed to work? Well, I cut an oval from a piece of chipboard and it was the same size as my card panel. After securing this blended card panel into my embossing folder I taped the chipboard template over top making sure the sentiment was in the cut out oval. Theoretically it would leave that area sans embossing... or without the dry embossing. 

Well, not so much. This embossing folder, which is stunning btw, is one of those deeper etched embossing folders so it is thicker that the old ones. And there was enough pressure through my machine to emboss everything. I almost tossed it but it didn't change how the card really looked so I kept going and I'm glad I did because I think this card is stunning.

I think because the color is lighter at the center of this panel it worked out okay. If I had maybe ink blended a gradient from top to bottom without that center highlight maybe it would have worked out as nicely. I'm just guessing here. ;) 

Unity Stamp Co does this very cool thing each week where they give some of their awesome stamps away just for some comments... seriously! So, to participate, if you are here during the week of 10/21/2019 - 10/25/2019, just leave a comment, it is that simple.

To watch me make these cards, you can watch them be made on my YouTube channel by clicking here: Delaney Jane Cards

All items were purchased with my own funds. 

Confused about why I named it all Delaney Jane Cards if my name is Renee’?

This entire thing, shop, YouTube channel, blog, etc, it is all named after our angel daughter who passed away in 2013. I made her some promises when she passed away. I would spread joy, I would make her proud and I would speak her name daily. This is one way we choose to honor her memory, and help me keep my promises.

Check out our online store at: www.delaneyjanecards.com

Want to visit us on Instagram? Check us out at @delaneyjanecards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delaneyjanecards/

Email: delaneyjanecards@gmail.com

An Extra Post to Honor Delaney Jane Moran 10/22/2013-11/01/2013

If you are following along my blog or YouTube channel this week you will see that I'm the GIU girl for Unity Stamp Company and have started posting projects using their stamps. Today is the second day in a 5 day guest spot with them.  This is an extra project because of a very special little girl.

I didn't get picked this year to be a GIU girl. I tried but didn't get picked in the random drawing. Which is fine. I don't always need to be picked for things but that doesn't mean I wasn't a little sad. I've had the opportunity before and it was just not my season. Well, sometimes things work out in mysterious ways. I happened to pick up my phone and check my Facebook feed first thing the other week and low and behold there was a post from Unity asking if anyone wanted to fill a spot that someone had to back out of. I responded. Now, here is the thing. I've been a fan of Unity for years and have been a part of their fan club page since probably 2015 or so but I rarely see their posts in my feed because... well Facebook!  The timing was perfect and I saw the post and commented and I got the spot. Now, that doesn't seem all that crazy does it. I mean I am subscribed to their fan page and all but here is where it becomes a perfect timing thing.

In 2013 at about this time in the year I found Unity Stamp Company. I had purchased a small stamp at a stamp show and looked their company up on Facebook and liked their page. They were a small almost local stamp company and I really didn't have much else on my Facebook at the time so I saw all their posts. And they were really starting to gain a following. One morning I saw a post with a card and they used to do this thing where they'd pick a random winner from the comments for that post and low and behold I won. Still not to the timing thing, sorry, this post means a lot to me so hold on.

The day I found out I was the winner of this random drawing I was on my way to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to visit my daughter Delaney Jane Moran who was in the CICU there. She had been born with a heart defect and when the doctors went in to fix it, a mistake happened and her heart was damaged more. I was in a state of shock, I was numb, I was sad, I was overjoyed to finally have a daughter, I was sore because I had just had a c-section but I was doing everything I could so my baby didn't have to spend too much time without her mommy.

On this day, I was really struggling. I felt like the world was against me in every way but no one had any idea. Everyone just went about their day in complete ignorance of how badly my world was struggling. And then I received a single Facebook notification from Unity Stamp Co asking me to contact them because I had won.

The amount of joy that little notification brought to my day is something I will never forget. Unity as a company didn't have any idea what an impact something like that would have on a person. They are just genuinely trying to be good people, build a solid business, and provide excellent customer service while maintaining quality products. All of which they are rocking btw.

So while this stamp set is no longer available from Unity Stamp Company, I thought this week was the perfect week to showcase it. After all, this week falls into Delaney's Days, Delaney's Dates, Delaney's Dash. This week is significant in my life.

If you've read this long, I'll spare you the details on how to make this card because it was some Copic coloring, paper piecing and some die cutting. I've got all the details in a video for you: Delaney Jane Cards 

If you do leave a comment here I will be including them into the drawing for the Unity Goodies at the end of the week. So it could increase your chances.

Unity Stamp Co does this very cool thing each week where they give some of their awesome stamps away just for some comments... seriously! So, to participate, if you are here during the week of 10/21/2019 - 10/25/2019, just leave a comment, it is that simple.

All items were purchased with my own funds. 

Confused about why I named it all Delaney Jane Cards if my name is Renee’?

This entire thing, shop, YouTube channel, blog, etc, it is all named after our angel daughter who passed away in 2013. I made her some promises when she passed away. I would spread joy, I would make her proud and I would speak her name daily. This is one way we choose to honor her memory, and help me keep my promises.

Check out our online store at: www.delaneyjanecards.com

Want to visit us on Instagram? Check us out at @delaneyjanecards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delaneyjanecards/

Email: delaneyjanecards@gmail.com

I Am Unicorn 4 Ways

This is my first blog for this week where I am the Growing In Unity Guest. I've had a long standing love affair with their red rubber stamps and I would 100% say my stamp collections largest category is Unity.

The last time I was able to participate in the GIU fun was in 2017. I was assigned a week in June and it happened to be the week my husband and I brought home our now 2 1/2 year old from the hospital. It was fun and busy. This time I don't have a newborn so I'm hoping it will be easier to carve out more time to interact with everyone. ;) 

For this project,
I used the stamp set titled I Am Unicorn designed by Angie Blom.
You can find the set here: I Am Unicorn









I created 4 cards using this set. They all have the exact same layout, images, die cuts and embellishment mix but in the end I create 4 cards that feel very different.

An all aqua mane with these golden eyes on a sweet and dainty star background. 

A gold and aqua mane with beautiful aqua eyes to coordinate with these more earth tone papers.

Gorgeous jewel toned mane in aqua, purple and yellow to coordinate with this super cute unicorn themed paper. This card has some super pretty holographic paper too!

And an aqua and purple mane to coordinate with the pure rainbow tones in the background papers. 

You will notice not a single rainbow colored unicorn in the bunch ( I know, I couldn't believe it either!)

I finished each of the cards with the other part of the sentiment

Unity Stamp Co does this very cool thing each week where they give some of their awesome stamps away just for some comments... seriously! So, to participate, if you are here during the week of 10/21/2019 - 10/25/2019, just leave a comment, it is that simple.

To watch me make these cards, you can watch them be made on my YouTube channel by clicking here: Delaney Jane Cards


If you've made it this far, I'd love to know which one is your favorite?

All items were purchased with my own funds. 

Confused about why I named it all Delaney Jane Cards if my name is Renee’?

This entire thing, shop, YouTube channel, blog, etc, it is all named after our angel daughter who passed away in 2013. I made her some promises when she passed away. I would spread joy, I would make her proud and I would speak her name daily. This is one way we choose to honor her memory, and help me keep my promises.

Check out our online store at: www.delaneyjanecards.com

Want to visit us on Instagram? Check us out at @delaneyjanecards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delaneyjanecards/

Email: delaneyjanecards@gmail.com