Growing In Unity - Day 1

I'm so happy to share with you this week of Growing in Unity.  I fell in love with stamping some 10 years ago.  A lovely lady showed me some stamps at a fair in Kentucky (when I was there for a short work visit) and the rest is history.  Stamping is so much fun & cardmaking as well - when I used to work full-time (with crazy schedules), it was a great way of having a break after a long day.  Unfortunately, none of my friends share this passion of mine, hence, I'm really thankful for all the crafters I meet online, because you inspire me and reassure me I'm not alone in my mad, mad love for stamping and cardmaking.

I LOVE Unity stamps - I discovered Unity while browsing the net oneday.  I live in Asia, and I often worry buying items online as shipping cost could be high, and more importantly if the products would arrive and not get lost!  After some thought (and really because I just could not resist Unity stamps!), I decided to join Unity's Kit of the Month club in March earlier this year.  I've not been disappointed, I love every single KOM I own.  It's great value and the images are really adorable.

Here's my first card for today, the sentiment is "Thankful" and I thought it's a great way to start off the week, as there's a lot to be thankful in life.  Especially, if one gets to stamp & express one's creativity in cardmaking... you know what I mean :)

As you probably will realise, my cardmaking style is really simple.  I love colours and I love ribbons, so I guess you will see a lot of these combinations in my cards.

This card uses 3 stamps from 2 KOM's - the focal image was stamped with the April's KOM while the sentiment is from Sep's KOM.  The focal image was stamped on an ivory cardstock, using Versafine Vintage Sepia and Versamagic Red Magic.  The flower was coloured using Memento Markers New Sprout & Dandelion.  On the outer blank area within the frame, I used Memento Marker Summer Sky to draw the lines to match one of the patterned papers used.  Some Distress Ink Scattered Straw and Tea Dye were sponged around the edges to match the distressed edges of the patterned paper.

Here's my second card:

My first attempt to make an autumn-ish card.  All stamps are from Unity's September KOM.  The sentiment was stamped with sepia ink and cut with nestabilities scalloped oval, and sponged with Distress Ink Antique Linen.  Two of the leaves were stamped on ivory cardstock and coloured with colour pencils.  The leaf on the right was stamped on watercolour paper - the stamp was inked with markers (Cantaloupe, Tangelo & Potter's Clay - with lighter colours towards the centre) and given a spritz of ink blending solution.  When dry, use a white gel pen to accentuate the leaf grains.  The cardbase was partially embossed with Cuttlebug's embossing folder.

I hope you like the cards and thanks for stopping by.  I really appreciate it.

First card:
Stamps : Unity KOM April 2010 (focal image), Unity KOM September 2010 (sentiment)
Inks : Versafine Vintage Sepia, Versamagic Red Magic, Distress Inks Tea Dye & Scattered Straw, Memento Markers New Sprout, Dandelion & Summer Sky
Papers : Cosmo Cricket Togetherness, PTI Vintage Cream cardstock
Others : Imaginisce i-rock, EK Success border punch, Scor-buddy

Second card:
Stamps : Unity KOM September 2010
Inks : Versafine Vintage Sepia, Memento Markers Cantaloupe, Tangelo and Potter's Clay, Distress Ink Antique Linen, Tsukineko's Ink Potion #9 (ink blender), Prismacolor pencils
Papers : BasicGrey Kioshi papers, GKD Pumpkin spice cardstock
Others : Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Ovals, Sakura Pigma Micron Sepia (0.5), Cuttlebug Embossing Folder