Dark and Stormy Stamping!

To clean or stamp? The struggle is real!

On a dark and stormy day...

...whatever can you do besides clean or.....stamp? So... Maybe if I use stamping as a reward system for myself that it would motivate me to clean....maybe...nah. 

So...I created a dark card on a dark and rainy day. (Creates bad lighting too.uggh)

Out of black paper sprung a vine of green and a bloom of red. My youngest son asked...."where is the dirt? How will this thing grow?" I told him, "This is a magical flower." He just giggled and went on his way.

I found that the bold colors, like red, showed up the best on the black background. In order to make a yellow flower center you must lay down white first. I also colored right on top of the white craft ink. I added a little black ribbon stapled down and some red twine tied in a bow.

So what do you do

 on a dark and stormy day...you grow magical flowers!

Lets see....what else can we do? Maybe announce the winner of the roll of Washi tape!!!!   Thunder roll please..... Jen R....you win! Email me at jeaniehays00@yahoo.com with your mailing address.

Thanks for blog hopping with Friends of Unity!! Until next time....uni's.

A Little Magic Winter

A little Magic Winter

What's better than a unicorn in glistening snow? Yeah, I dont know either!

Embossed watercolor washed Pool Party snowflakes fall in the background. 

Blushing Bride defines the horizon that rests on snowy glittered texture paste. 

Gray watercolored shadows elongate the unicorns face. Alcohol and ink markers brought controlled color to it's mystical mane. Wink of Stella covers the mane and parts of the body. Fine silver glitter sparkles on the spiraled unicorn horn!

An extra tag with the magical sentiment hangs from silver glittery and Lost Lagoon ribbon and is underlined with silver washi! A snowflake floats by a thin silver thread ready to fall.

I hope you enjoyed stepping into a little bit of wintery unicorn magic today!

Leave a comment and you'll be entered into a drawing for a surprise new roll of washi tape from my stash!

Gallop and blog hop along with us today!

Crystal O. Minkler
Amber Trubiak
Eileen Mathys
Dawn Fields
Wynne Cochran Grob
Robyn DeRosset Jordan
Jeanie M. Hays

Christmas Gifting With Unity

I love making gifts for people. Now weather or not they appreciate the handmade gifts is a different story. Ha! I often imagine my work going into someone's trash can....but hopefully not this time. This year for Christmas I've decided to upcycle some glass mason and old food jars turning them into wintery candle holders.

I started by making sure all adhesive was cleaned off the jar. I even broke out the Goof Off! After running them through the dishwasher they were good to go.

Then I took some Wal-Mart white chalk paint and slapped on two coats with a cheap sponge brush.

While it was drying I dove into my Unity stamps and found one I thought would work with the winter theme; woodland deer. The sentiment is from a Unity grab bag and I think it works perfectly. The tiny snowflake is from A Joyous Season.

I attached that doe to the largest piece of glass I had and then inked it up with some Archival black by Stampin Up.

Holding the jar sideways and rolling it over the image while pressing firmly gave me the best image.

The tiny snowflakes are done in pool party ink by SU. I didn't have to roll these little flakes on though. Pressing them as one would normally do worked just fine.

How did I color that deer? Ink? Nope! Colored pencils came into play here; Prismas.  I then used a SU blender pen to smooth the colors a bit. I only know the correct coloring of a deer because there is one staring at me in my living room. Ha!

I hope you noticed the deer standing in some fresh powder? The sponge brush came in handy again here. It took only a thin layer of Mod podge to hold on the fine snow glitter.

The icing on the cake is some twine wrapped around the top a few times along with a wooden snowflake!

Join the fun and hop along with Friends of Unity!

                          Crystal Minkler

Wynne Cochran Grob

Eileen Mathys

Robyn DeRossett Jordan

Jeanie Hays

Amber Trubiak

Dawn Fields

Always Late

You'd think that a cardmaker would be on top of birthdays right? Nope...not me. Fb often keeps me in the loop and that's not necessarily a good thing. By the time a birthday notification pops up...it's THEIR BIRTHDAY! Hello! It's too late to get a card out! But...I've got two Unity sets that make it ok; Sloth Endearments and happy snail mail. On the inside it says, "better late than never!" So, yeah...I think it's all good now. Kristen got her card about 2 weeks late; had to go all the way to Alaska. I thought she needed some jungle sloth.

The Horse and The Washi

I wanted to start by showing you my beloved Chukka. He is the reason for the 'Horse' in my cardmaker/designer/blog name. For many years he was my sanity; my escape. He gave me so many good, crazy, flying, courageous, breathtaking, crap-your-pants memories that I'll never forget.
    Crafting has been my outlet since I haven't been in the saddle. When I was younger I spent hours and hours sketching horses. Over the past few years I found myself making more and more cards; it has grown into a love. I've discovered a love for Washi tape! It can bring so much to a design... so to me this is a natural blend of loves. Put this all together and what do you get? (The cheerleader in me just came out.) Lol. .....The Washi Horse!
  I hope you all enjoy this new adventure of blogging creations and learning with me.