Hip-Hopping into Day 4 of the Unity Celebration!!!

It is day 4 of our Unity 1-year celebration!! 

We are having so much fun!! 

I hope that you have had a chance to join in with all the challenges, games, and chat that is happening over in the SCS forum. If you haven't, please come over and join us. We really are having a fun time this week and the week is not over yet...

Today, Angela has whipped together 4 AMAZING new release kits... Folk Inspired, Little Me, Everything Adorable, and Confession: I {luv} Unity. 

I am so excited about ALL of these, but esp. the new scrapbooking one. I will have some more art to share using it coming soon (probably on Saturday which just happens to be National Scrapbooking Day.)

For this mornings card, I used Everything Adorable. I just love those little heart flowers. I think that this makes the perfect little {adorable} friendship card to give to a friend.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Everything Adorable

*Cosmo Cricket Jack's World

*ribbon

*watercolor pencils

*American Crafts brads

*Top Note Die Cut

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For today's May Kit of the month sneak peek, we are getting to feature an adorable journaling block stamp. Those three little journaling blocks are all together as one stamp...is that not the cutest thing ever?

Are you getting the idea yet that you need this kit?!? ;o) 

I hope so because every single stamp in it is amazing and at $24 + $5 shipping, it is also a serious bargain! You are getting a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet FULL of amazing stamps for that price!?!

 You can see the details about becoming a kom member here... and while you are there, be sure to check out April's kit too because it is also adorable.

Supplies Used:

*Unity Stamp Co. May kit of the month

*Unity Stamp Co. Polka Dot Girl

*Unity Stamp Co. Simply Adorable sentiment (retired)

*MME papers & die cut (main paper)

*Heather Bailey papers (floral paper behind photo)

*pink gingham brad

*Prima Flowers

*watercolor pencils

*Heidi Swapp chipboard number

*PinkPaislee sticker

Now you need to hop on over to the amazingly talented....

***JEANNE***

Unity Celebration Day 3!!!

Wow! I cannot believe that we are already halfway through this week. It makes me a bit sad as all of these challenges and sneak peek stamps have done WONDERS for my creative muse! I love it when she is feeling so darn creative that I can't keep up! ;o)

So we are on to day 3 of our fun and games celebrating Unity Stamp Company's first year in business. You will definitely want to go check out the Unity blog where Angela will have the 4-1-1 of all the happenings for the day.

We are also on day 3 of our sneak peeks into what is coming in the fantabulous May kit of the month. I absolutely fell in love with this stamp image the moment that I saw it and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it....

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. May kit of the month

*Unity Stamp Co. Tea Time Toile

*Spellbinders Die Cut

*gingham ribbon

*cardstock

*watercolor pencils

*StazOn Jet Black inkpad

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Over in the Splitcoast forum, we are hosting daily challenges and games every day this week. The ever-talented Maren is our challenge hostess for today and she found an incredible grouping of cake images to take inspiration from... Cake Inspiration.

I decided to play using the bright pink/purple swirl one with the blue and orange and pink flowers as my inspiration... Lauryn's Birthday cake.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Little Buggers

*Unity Stamp Co. Tiny Trinity

*Unity Stamp Co. Fresh Beginnings (swirl- April kom)

*GCD Studios paper (orange)

*KI Memories paper (blue)

*AC paper (orchid)

*white sharpie

*CTMH orchid inkpad

*stazon jet black inkpad

*black brads

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Finally, for today's party events, I was in charge of the game. We are having a scavenger hunt through the customer blogs. I will link up the thread here whenever it is posted. I hope that you all will come and play... this bag is going to be the prize to one of the random players who gets all the answers correct.

Simply Unity Stamp Company images (Wish Sticks and Create Yourself) stamped directly onto the canvas and muslin using Black StazOn inkpad.

It's a Unity Celebration Day 2!!!

Welcome to 

Day 2 of the week-long celebration

 for Unity's first year!!!

Everyday in the Unity SCS forum, there is a challenge and a game (as well as the normal chat & fun!) Every challenge this week gives you the chance to win the Unity kit of the month FREE FOR THE WHOLE YEAR!!! (You can find the details here.) 

Today's challenge is from me and here is what it entails:

And this is the card that I designed for this challenge. I used Amber's sketch from this week for the basic layout of it...

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Endings & Beginnings

*Unity Stamp Co. Worn Music

*Webster's Pages paper

*ribbon

*Prima blossoms

*Memories brown inkpad

*Tattered Angels glimmer mist (brushed over the butterfly for slight shimmer)

*brads

*Marvy Uchida scalloped circle punch

*Martha Stewart border punch

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And here is my card that I created for today's sneak peek from the May kit of the month. Aren't these two stamps just the cutest?!? So much fun and this card would be absolutely perfect for a new neighbor or just moved card.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. May kit of the month

*Webster's Pages papers (blue & pink)

*MM paper (green) and sticker

*Bazzill Kraft cardstock

*Martha Stewart border punch

*MM button brads

*Memories brown inkpad

*ribbon

Happy Birthday, Unity Stamp Company!!!

Today is the start of a very special week!!! 

It's Unity Stamp Company's 1 year celebration!!! 

One year ago on May 1st, Unity officially opened it's doors and the stamps started flying out to wonderful crafter's hands everywhere.

Everyone has been working hard behind the scenes to plan a week-long celebration full of the fun for you. Be sure to watch the Unity blog every day at 10:00 EST. I think that most of the announcements for the day's fun will be there every day this week and then it will simply be a matter of following the links to the different activities.

One of the fun things that will be happening this week is Daily Sneak Peeks of the new kit of the month for May. This is another fabulous kit that you won't want to miss out on getting!! It's an incredible kit. The first stamp that we are featuring are these fun little birdhouses. I love this stamp and it works so perfectly with this fun Basic Grey paper!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. May kit of the month

*Unity Stamp Co. Worn Music background

*Basic Grey paper collection

*Martha Stewart border punch

*twill ribbon

*corner rounder

*copper brads

*Memories brown inkpad

*K&Company journaling piece

*Marvy Uchida scallop circle punch

*buttons

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Another daily event will be daily challenges from the Unity Stamp Co. Design Team. Today's challenge is from Jen Buck and it was to use the Stampin Up colors Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Ruby Red, and Kraft in a project.

I made a bookmark for my project that measures 3 1/2" x 8 1/2"...

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Becoming Butterfly

*Unity Stamp Co. Linden Branch

*Websters Pages paper

*Martha Stewart butterfly and border punches

*KaiserCraft bling

*Prima flowers

*CTMH Desert Sand inkpad

*Memories brown inkpad

I hope that you plan to come out and join us in all the festivities. It's going to be fun!!! 

Exercise Your Creativity- Week 17- May Day

I am still learning my new Mac, so if for some reason you cannot view/print the file below, email me and I will send it to you as a pdf... snowchris_01@yahoo.com

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Inspiration from the internet....

Lace Cuffs by etsy seller LittleSparrowNest

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May Pole Ribbons Necklace from etsy seller thetwistedtree

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May Day Dance Print from etsy seller noel139

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May Handmade Card from etsy seller ShopPaperScissors

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Pretty Spring Basket from etsy seller SweetPumpkins

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Hanging May Day Basket from etsy seller HenryandZoeStudio

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May Day Basket from etsy seller Simple Joys Paperie

It's already a fantastic Saturday!!

Wow! When I got up this morning, it was already 71 degrees and is already an absolutely gorgeous day!!! The guys are on a Scout backpacking trip this weekend so it is just us girls around the homestead. 

The plans for today are...

*a little bit of shopping

*a little bit of playing at the park

*a little bit of Nascar

*a little bit of chick flicks

*a WHOLE LOT of stamping ;o)

It's going to be a fun day!!!

Unity Stamp Co is sponsoring a fairly new sketch blog this week called 

Card Patterns. 

The dt were given a little head's up about this so I played with this weeks fun sketch yesterday using the April kit of the month, Fresh Beginnings. I just love those fun kites... they are just so perfect for springtime cards!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co Fresh Beginnings (April kit of the month)

*SEI Orchid paper collection

*watercolor pencils

*StazOn jet black inkpad

*black brads

*marvy uchida punches

And now I need to share the winner from the stamp kit, Love Birdies, on Monday's post...

Congratulations, Kathy H.!!! 

Email me (snowchris_01@yahoo.com) with your mailing info and I will get that kit in the mail to you Monday!

Hip Hop Happenings!!!

Good Morning Everyone!!!

This Hip Hop is the official kick-off (i.e. your invite) for the mega-huge Unity Birthday Celebration that will be happening all week next week. There are some seriously fun happenings coming so I hope that you plan to play along with our daily fun!

But as a gear-up to all the fun, 

today is the official opening of My Unity Place!!!

Come check out all the fun happenings over there!

And now for a bit of art-share...

My first project is a layout about Unity's birthday. Their birthday may be May 1st, but I have been working with them since January, 2008 and I wanted to document what an amazing impact this has had on my life. 

The layout is 12x12.

I made this postcard into a pocket and it holds 

two tags which document my journaling for the layout.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Birthday Chic

*Unity Stamp Co. Just My Type

*Unity Stamp Co. Wish Sticks

*Unity Stamp Co. Bliss & A Birdie

*Unity Stamp Co. Distressed Dots

*MME papers

*Bazzill Kraft

*Martha Stewart border punch & twill ribbon

*Marvy Uchida shaped punches

*tags

*pin, charm, and beads

*white brads (used to form the pocket)

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For my card, I used the Splitcoast sketch for this week (#SC255)

Supplies Used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Birthday Chic

*MME papers

*Bazzill Kraft

*ribbon

*Memories brown inkpad

And now hop on over to 

***Wendy's Blog***

Blog Post #3 from vacation...My travel stamp kit.

I rarely travel without some sort of stamping paraphernalia, but it is rare for me to actually do anything with my stamps when we are traveling so I had decided that I wasn't going to take them on our Spring Break trip. Well, at the very last minute, I changed my mind and thank goodness that I did. I actually got to make several projects while we were gone thanks to several rainy days.

So here is a quick run-down of what I took with us (in case you want to pack a quick travel stamping bag.)

The little red and brown bag on the right was the bulk of my stash. I picked up this bag recently from Michaels. They had them on clearance for less than $10 and I figured it was a really compact easy way to carry all those little items.  

For this trip, this is what it held from the aerial view:

*a cup that holds: scissors, pencil, glue pen, 2 pixie glitter sticks, 6 watercolor pencils, paper piercer, waterbrush, brown and black zig writers, metal ruler

*punches: 3 martha stewart border punch, 1 small scallop circle punch, corner rounder

*tin full of multi-colored brads including silver, copper, and black

*pop dots

*card of MM ribbon

*4 Unity background cassette stamps

*approximately 6-10 mini scrapbook paper pad collections...these are good because they have lots of variety, are compact, and usually have matching cardstocks in them too (this time they were... a 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 K&Company pad, 2- 6x6 basic grey pads, 4x6 SEI pad, 2- 6x6 MM pads, 2- MM 8x8 collections, DCWV green mini pad, and 2 different journaling pads-one was MM and the other was Websters Pages)

*Fabri Tac

*several mini colorbox cat's eye inkpads

*push pad

*watercolor pencils

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The exterior pockets held:

*B-sized Unity handle

*3 more Unity stamp cassettes

*Black StazOn inkpad

*Brown memories inkpad

*Martha Stewart brown twill

*more random brads

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My eco-chic bag carried:

*My fiskars cutter

*ATG glue gun

*4 containers of Unity stamps 

*several sheets of 8 1/2 x11 cardstock white and kraft 

*my 12x12 glass cutter base which is perfect to use as a lap desk anywhere

And of course, I never go anywhere (not even on errands) without a few idea magazines and books....

Vacation Recap...TONS of photos!

The school district that we are in this year is a bit odd in that we didn't get a full week for Spring Break... instead we got a  total of 3 days out of school over the Easter weekend. Since our summer is going to be crazy with Ben deploying at the end of it, we decided to take as much advantage as we could of our very short break. We ended up renting a 3 bedroom log cabin on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

{My photos are going to go backwards because that is the way that I uploaded them and I am too lazy to move them all so that they go the correct direction.}

Our last full day there was Easter. This was the best photo of Kat from her search for Easter eggs with the added bonus that Jacob was actually in the background...

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Our final night there we were finally able to start a fire (it rained almost the entire time we were there) and cook out s'mores. I missed the photo where he had the marshmellow drizzling down his chin... ;o)

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This is one of the plank swinging bridges that I was talking about in my post from earlier today. These were built in the 30's and are still used by cars today. Just walking on it made it swing and there were huge gaps where the wood was rotting so I cannot honestly imagine actually driving across this one... and as you can see, it was pretty darn long...

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There was lots of football throwing throughout the week. It's rare that we see Jacob anywhere without a football attached to him!

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Ball caught in mid-air!

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I had mentioned this house in the post from earlier in the week with the photo of Ben & I. Kelly, I had it wrong...this house is actually not in Lake of the Ozarks state park. It's at a state park called HaHaTonka (about 15-30 minutes away from the lake.) This "castle" was built at the turn of the century and then burned down in the 40's (there is much more to that whole story, but I won't get into it all here.) It reminded me so much of the castle ruins that we would wander through when we lived in England.

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One of the mammoth window frames on the house...

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I just like this photo... :o)

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This photo has the look of them wandering through Greece or Rome with the color of it all, but no they are just in Missouri...

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I love this profile shot that I got of Ben. This is a lookout just below the house.

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The kids on the swing from the porch of our house....

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Everything was just starting to bloom the weekend that we were there...

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Jacob inside the Willmore Lodge...

And finally, a photo of all of us outside the Willmore Lodge...

Whew! If you made it to this point of this post, I salute you...LOL! That is a lot of photos, but I could have posted so many more, but I don't want to bore you!

I do have one more post to make today and that will contain the photos of my travel stamp kit. I didn't want to turn this post into a huge novel by adding that too....