Category Archives: Unity Stamp Company

it takes hands to build a house, but only {hearts} can build a home

tap..tap..tap…Is anyone out there?

I’m back from a unintended, but needed break from paper crafting. It felt really odd to be sitting at my stamp table this morning, and even more odd to not know where my USB cable had drifted off to in the last few weeks. Don’t you always find yours under the passenger seat of your car when it disappears? When I left off last month, I was in the middle of 3 or 4 big projects (work, PTO and home improvement). I’ve wrapped most of them up, and it feels good to be moving on.

For the Weekend Sketch Challenge, this is a card for my mom — we’re celebrating her birthday this weekend. My brother and his kids and my parents will arrive today, and I’m really looking forward to it – even though my house is a mess and I’ve not cooked a thing. 🙂 It’s always fun to spend time together.

To give you a hint of how sweet my mom is, she has just called from Costco in ‘the city’ to confirm a few things I had sent her on ‘my list’. Bless her heart – it’s the PTO paper goods list for the entire year. Then she’s stopping by two other stores to pick up things for me that I just can’t get here in town before she heads this way. I could really go on for hours about the many, many ways shes built our lives with love – of course – I’d be in tears because I just don’t fathom how a girl could be so fortunate. My mom blesses me, not by what she does, but for the woman she is.

As usual, more sketch-spiration from Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon.  It’s good to be back, and I hope your weekend is full of wonderful moments.

•  Stamps: Hearts can Build a Home & Vintage Backgrounder – Unity Stamp Company 
• Cardstock: Indian Summer – Basic Grey, Kraft & Ivory cardstock 
• Ink – Rich Cocoa Memento 
• Accs: Copic Markers, ribbon – Taylored Expressions, oval nestabilities, sew-mini, brad – Basic Grey & punch – Fiskars 

Every month, just for fun, I do a challenge with a few friends where one person picks a stamp image that they like and another friend picks some patterned paper. Then using only the selected patterned paper (with solid papers to coordinate) and the stamp, we each make our own card. A few weeks ago I got this sweet little package in the mail from Kim Hughes with this cute Twizzle Tree from Memory Box, compliments of sweet Ellen. (Thanks, Ellen!) Then a few days later, sweet Julie sent me a few pieces of this pretty double sided polka dot paper,  Pink Floral JustChillin’ Girl from Making Memories. So sweet!

I paper pieced the circles on the tree from the big floral print on the backside of the paper, and added the fun polka dot print from the front side and some pearls that I airbrushed with Copic ink. Ribbon from Papertrey and a sentiment from Unity…Sweet!  This came together very quickly, but I am happy. (That’s not always the case! LOL)

Make sure you check out all of the Just For Fun girls: Alli, Julie, Kim and Michele. I love these girls, and I love watching them work. 🙂

In other news: It’s a day full of blessings here in Midwest USA: new babies, pretty paint colors finally decided for an exterior face lift, hubby is returning safely from a long hunting trip, crisp fall weather… God is good!

Weekend Sketch Challenge 92: Love Beyond Measure from the Unity 100% Happy set.  I adore this image and immediately knew I would rip a page out of an old Grange cookbook. Does anyone know what the Grange is anymore? I remember the Grange Hall being on the same country road as my grandparent’s farm when I was a little girl. I smiled as I looked thru all of these recipes from the 50 and 60s – do they still sell Dream Whip in stores?

You can see the sketch on Sharon’s blog this morning. Loved this one.  I used Cherry Pie paper from Cosmo Cricket’s Early Bird collection and matched it up with this Spring Willow Medium from Prism – color inspiration from an apron that I have of my grandma’s. I cut the focal images with Nestabilities and stitched – around the circle – I’ve been asked how I get even stitching on the circle and oval images – I turn the wheel on the sewing machine by hand when I want stitching in non-straight lines.  The image is colored with Copic Markers and then accent with clear Sukura glaze. The ribbon is silk from May Arts. I {heart} this stuff – so thin – ties beautifully – knots lay flat – ribbon perfection.

More sketch-spiration can be found if you visit Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn and Laurie.

Chris and Angela from Unity were at our very first cupcake event for advertisers in Anaheim 2008 – before the first stamp had been sold. Here we are at the SCS booth at the CHA SuperShow last weekend where they hosted a darling luggage tag Make & Take. We’ve never crossed paths with the Magnuson family in any fashion that they weren’t smiling, laughing and optimistic. Unity peeps = beautiful people.

I’ve actually got several other cards to post in the next day or two.  I always come home from CHA with creative brain overload – and it’s a wonder I can harness any of that for one particular project again, but I try.  I’ll try to post another card over the weekend. Hope your next few days are filled with moderate temps, plenty of sunshine and clear blue skies. Happy Friday!

• Stamps: 100% Happy – Unity Stamp Company
• Cardstock: Cherry Pie – Cosmo Cricket, Smooth Vanilla & Spring Willow Medium – Prism Papers
• Ink:  Brown Memento
• Accs: ribbon – May Arts, Copic Markers (R37, W1, B0, C1 & Spica Glitter), brads – Taylored Expressions