Playing with Unity's Newest Store Kit!

Today on the Unity Stamp Co. blog, the dt is using the newest store kits of the month.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Sexy, Silly, and Sassy

*Crate Paper paper (pink)

*K&Company paper (b&w floral)

*b&w polka dot (?)

*ribbon

*Martha Stewart border punch

*Nestabilities Labels die

*American Crafts black brads

For the inspiration of my card, I used two resources:

*Pantones Color of the year for 2011...

*and this week's Viva La Verve sketch...

Go check out the Unity Blog for all the other dt creations.

Also don't forget to go comment on this post for your chance to win this cake plate and the Unity mystery stamp kits shown below. I will be doing that drawing in the morning.

FFC, FWF, a Tutorial, and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Hello everyone! 

Wow, I have a LOT to cover on the blog here today!

So this is going to be lengthy, but stick with it because I have a giveaway to tell you about at the end.

Us Friday Fun Challenge Gals have decided that this month is simply too crazy to try to fit our Friday challenges into the mix. So this month the challenge is simply to create whatever we need for the Season...anything goes!

Be sure to go visit the other girls today and leave them some love:

Jimmi

 Kim

Kimme 

Sara (sitting out for a little while)

Sherry (will be back soon!) 

So for me, seeing as I hadn't yet designed the final version of my Christmas card, I needed to get right on that. Here it is...

I am sure that you noticed immediately that this is not my normal style, but I really love sending elegant cards for Christmas, so this is my style this holiday season. Plus, the simple style makes it much easier to make 50-75 of them and cheaper to mail them when they are fairly flat.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Sept 10 kit...When I am with You

*Bazzill card stock

*Silver Pearl Embossing powder

*Cuttlebug embossing folder

*silver string

*corner rounder

*KaiserCraft flat back gems

*********

And now, thank you so much for the wonderful response to my cake stands yesterday. I was so excited when I came up with the idea so I am really glad that you all liked them too.

Several of you expressed an interest in further instruction...LOL! Here it is...a tutorial, but honestly, this is simply just a matter of squeezing a glue bottle! ;o)

(above) Here are all the supplies that you need: a candlestick, a plate, any marker/writing utensil, epoxy (I use E-6000 which you can find at WalMart.)

*****Now as we go through these instructions, keep in mind that I totally made this up this week. Epoxy should hold longterm, but I certainly cannot guarantee that it won't fall apart next week. I would recommend that you NOT wash these in a dishwasher or subject them to extreme heat. For mine, I plan to keep them out of the water as much as possible...just working on cleaning the plate side when needed. They may be super sturdy for the next 20 years, but I just don't know right now because I have never done these before.*****

(above) For using the epoxy and to ensure that I have everything centered, I turn my plate over and center the candlestick on it and then gently add marks around it so that I can see where to place the epoxy.

(above and below) E-6000 instructs to place the glue on both surfaces that you are joining. You will notice above that I placed the epoxy in a bit from my marks...that's because that is where the surfaces actually touch.

Note: it is really tough to use glue (which is constantly flowing out of it's tube) with your right hand and take photos with your left using a huge SLR so forgive the quality of these photos...LOL!

(above) E6000 instructs to leave the epoxy sitting on the surfaces 2-10 minutes before joining them.

(above) And then you simply push them together and let them sit for 12-72 hours to set up. Easy right? If you can squeeze a glue tube, you can do this project!!!

NOW for the GIVEAWAY!!!

Above you see my completed cake stand and a mystery package. 

That mystery package contains 2 Unity stamp kits....one original kit and one of the new co-brand kits, but I am not going to tell you which ones. ;o) Gifts should always be a surprise and this is a gift for one of you. 

One of the commenters on this post will receive both the cake stand and the mystery Unity kits. 

Just leave a comment on this post for your chance to win!!!

 And just because, I had to share Kat with her craft project from yesterday that she made. After a bazillion trips to hobby lobby this week, I finally broke down and bought her some of her own craft supplies and she wanted to make a stocking to hang on her bedroom door.

I supervised, but it was mainly her creation, and in true crafter style, you will notice the Glimmer Mist remains on her right hand...lol!

Don't forget to leave a comment to be eligible for the drawing!!!

 I will draw a winner and post their name on Sunday!

Gifting for Hip Hop!

Today for Hip Hop we are talking about last minute gifts. 

We are also having a fabulous time playing with all the new IOD stamps so I tried combining the two.

Ironically enough, I am through with all my gift-giving/shopping so all of my projects are simply for me. ;o)

Luckily, I am all about Paris and that just happens to be the IOD kit, Provencial Collection- Paris, that I received. Here are some super quick and easy gifts that you can easily whip up in an hour.

Let me preface this by saying that I have been shopping the 50% off sales at Hobby Lobby this week. This first project is an art piece that I created using one of those (very ornate) frames. ;o)

You all know that I love to make home decor pieces so this easily falls in that line. And it is so easy to make...only about an hour.

Supplies used: 

*Unity Stamp Co IOD Provencial Collection- Paris

*MME paper and die cut

*watercolor pencils

*StazOn jet black ink pad

*corner rounder

*Hobby Lobby frame

And now the part that I love. I love pedestal cake stands and decided that I could make my own using decorative plates, candle sticks, and epoxy. This one uses a wrought iron candle holder and plate (both 50% off this week at Hobby Lobby.)

And just real quick, here is a shot of my supplies that I used to make these 6 pedestal cake stands.

For Christmas, here is a trio of cake stands, using glass candle holders in three levels. The red plates are from Target. The joy plate is from WalMart. The candlesticks are from Hobby Lobby. 

Note: not a single pedestal cake stand shown here cost more than $10 to make.

The great thing about one of these is that you could make your Christmas goodies and wrap them up onto one of these cake plates and you would have a great gift for a neighbor or friend.

I also used my IOD Provencial Collection- Paris to create this matching Christmas card, although the sentiment is from Jillibean Soup kit,  Snowflakes Fall From Heaven.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co IOD Provencial Collection- Paris

*Unity Stamp Co. Snowflakes fall from Heaven

*ribbon

*Nestabilities Labels die cut

*Martha Stewart chunky glitter

*glue pen

*stick pins

*Fancy Pants paper (red)

*Basic Grey paper (white)

*watercolor pencils

*StazOn jet black ink pad 

 And just because I love them, I had to show you another couple of my pedestal cake plates that I made with the others. This black one will be used on my kitchen table for everyday use after the holidays (the trio above will have that place of honor throughout Dec.) Then the birdsnest one will sit beside my bathtub with some candles or soaps...just for pretties and because I like it. (plus, I need something to offset the forest green and burgundy mallard ducks that the room currently features...someday it will be redecorated...LOL!)

And now you need to hop on over to *Emily's Incredible Blog*

Paper Makeup Stamps...The December HOP!

Whooohooo! Welcome to the Paper Makeup Stamps Customer/Design Team blog hop for December. 

There is a full 25 blogs on today's hop full of Paper Makeup Stamps inspiration!!!

If you haven't come to here from Anita's blog, then you need to get this hop done right by starting out at the Paper Makeup Stamps blog (besides that's where you find out all the juicy details about prizes, discounts, etc....)

Today I made a Christmas card that I really adore....I think that it has something to do with my love for hot drinks in the winter months....

I used one of the new Paper Makeup Stamps releases from November, Christmas Cheer, and colored it with my watercolor pencils. I love the cappuccino effect of the shades of brown inside the cup.

supplies used:

*Paper Makeup Stamps Christmas Cheer

*Echo Park paper collection

*watercolor pencils

*Basic Grey paper (snowflake paper)

*StazOn jet black ink pad

*velvet ribbon

*corner rounder

*Nestabilities Lacey circles die

*KaiserCraft flat back gems

*ZapDots

Now you need to hop on over to

  ***Danni's beautiful blog***, 

and if you get lost along the way, here is the list of the complete blog hop:

1.	PMS Blog - Start Here!	14.	Christi Thorsen
2.	Katie Cotton	15.	Carole Chesser
3.	Carma Shawger	16.	Shaela Odd
4.	Tina Hale	17.	Simonne Clay
5.	Tangii Crain	18.	Angie Sprouse
6.	Jami Bova	19.	Stephanie Zito
7.	Dawn Mercedes	20.	Lisa Kind
8.	Maria Gurnsey	21.	Lindsy Harness
9.	Kristie Wilson	22.	Michelle Van Patten
10.	Anita Hovey	23.	Lisa McKinney
11.	Christi Snow	24.	Michelle McDaniel
12.	Danni Bindel	25.	Andrea Vernagus
13.	Randee Elsing

Christmas Hopping with Helmar!

Some of the Unity Design Co. team are hopping with Helmar today.

If you didn't know, Helmar is a great line of crafting adhesives. If you have a crafty adhesive need, chances are, Helmar has an adhesive specifically for that need.

For the hop today, the Unity Stamp Co. blog is the blog that is officially part of the hop and all of the design team projects are posted there. To do the hop, you need to start over at the Helmar blog.

I thought that I would provide further photos and details about my projects on here today if anyone is interested. 

We went to a neighborhood Christmas party and I wanted to make a quick hostess gift. This is what I took to the party. (ooh, I just realized that I could enter this into this month Verve Triple Play challenge...fun!)

It's a large candle, card, and gift bag. The candle is simply an inexpensive $5 one from WalMart so it was a very inexpensive gift also.

Below, I show the three projects with the Helmar adhesives that I used:

 Adhesive Runner,  Zap Dots foam squares and circles, Premium Craft Glue,  Gemstone glue

Here is a close-up (below) of the gift bag. I was into circles for this one....LOL

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Bella Doilies

*Unity Stamp Co. Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather Flourishes

*Martha Stewart chunky glitter

*love my Tapes fabric tape

*K&Company paper collection

*doily

*Nestabilities Labels 5 & Lacey Circle

*KaiserCraft Flat back gems

*Helmar adhesives (linked above)

*kraft gift bag

**************

The candle was very simple. The key to getting it all to adhere was to stick it all with the Helmar 450 adhesive and then tie string around all of it so that it would stick until it was dry.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co Websters Merry Christmas Home

*K&Company paper collection

*Fiskars border punch

*Creative Imaginations ribbon

*prisma glitter

*Nestabilities Labels die

*flat-backed gem

*Helmar adhesives (linked above)

***************

And then of course, I had to include a card. Here is the outside of the card....

And here is the inside of the card....

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Websters Christmas Delivery (outside)

*Unity Stamp Co. Jillibean Snowflakes fall from Heaven (inside)

*Nestabilities Labels Die

*corner rounder

*K&Company paper collection

*Creative Imaginations ribbon

*Fiskars border punch

*flat back gems

*prisma glitter

*Helmar adhesives (linked above)

*********

And then below are a couple of the close-up shots of the gift bag and the card front.

Be sure to go check out the entire Hop. I can assure you that it will be VERY inspirational!!!

***Helmar blog***

Wrapping it Up!

Good morning!

I love today's Friday Fun Challenge because this is one of those things that I tend to put off until the last minute. Here is the challenge that Jimmi issued to us:

December 3:

We are all getting ready for CHRISTMAS and wrapping gifts so make a box or gift packaging.

I was hopping around the blogs yesterday and saw this idea on the WIP blog to use leftover scrapbooking paper on your packages...BRILLIANT! I love Christmas papers and buy way more than I'll ever use so I went digging through my stash and found a super-old Christmas slab that I bought at Hobby Lobby eons ago.

These are some of Kat's packages. All the paper, besides the kraft shipping paper came from the slab. The slab also included several alphabet stickers so I simply added a "K" to each tag so that I would know that these were Kat's presents.

I used a shipping tag on each stamped with the new Unity Stamp Co. Websters Stamps. Some Martha Stewart punched snowflakes and a doily on each attached by that fabulous Love My Tapes fabric tape and I think that these are a fun way to spice up my holiday packages.

Super, super-simple and a great use for supplies that are perfectly fine except for the fact that I am not super-excited about them to craft with because they aren't the latest and greatest....makes them perfect for a project like this!

Be sure to go check out what the rest of the FFC girls created for the challenge:

Jimmi

 Kim

Kimme 

Sara (sitting out for a little while)

Sherry (will be back soon!) 

It's HiP-HoP Time!!!!

Good morning Unity Stamp Co. Peeps!

Did you start hopping today at the Unity Stamp Co. blog?

If not, then you need to head over there so that you know all the 4-1-1 for today's happenings!

Have you sent out your Christmas cards yet? 

No?!?!?! 

Neither have I...LOL! 

Maybe someday *like REALLY soon* I will settle on a design that I love and get all 50-75 of them made!?!?

In the meantime, I keep playing with designs. This one is definitely in the running. I could do a whole bunch of different versions so that I wouldn't get bored. It's a versatile enough design, I like it, and it's fairly flat for mailing. It may be time to start the assembly-line! ;o)

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Websters Pages Handmade Holidays

*Unity Stamp Co. Websters Pages Christmas Delivery

*K&Company paper collection

*Nestabilities Labels die

*kraft card stock

*burlap string

*StazOn jet black inkpad

*corner rounder

Lookie! Lookie! Lookie!!

It's time for a new kit of the month...DROOL! LOVE!

And did you hear?

We have a super-talented new guest design team member for Dec/Jan!

I adore her style and you are going to fall in love with her.

Go check her out now.... *Emily Leiphart*

Naughty or Nice??

Good Morning!! 

So have you decided? 

What are you going to be this year...

naughty or nice? 

I LOVE this new image, Ooh La La for Santa, from Paper Makeup Stamps! 

I am thinking that naughty may just be the way to go this year! ;o)

Supplies used:

*Paper Makeup Stamps Ooh La La for Santa

*PTI dotty paper

*Paper Studio black paper

*nestabilities labels die

*MM buckle

*Fiskars border punch

*StazOn jet black ink pad

*watercolor pencils

*glue pen

*prisma glitter

*ribbon

Did you Hear???

Paper Makeup Stamps is having a Sale!!!

December is here! It's the time of giving, and Paper Makeup Stamps has lots of good deals to give! So if you were bummed out that PMS didnt have any black friday or cyber monday deals... well thats because we have something big ALL DECEMBER LONG!

For the first time ever, PMS is having a grab bag sale! Whats a grab bag? Well a grab bag is filled with goodies... you just don't know whats going to be in it!

There are lots of different types of grab bags available!

The Fairy Grab Bag - $10

For only $10, you'll get 3 fairy stamps! That makes them each only $3.33!!

The Moody Grab Bag - $10

For only $10, you'll get 3 stamps from the Moody Girls collection! That makes them each only $3.33!!

The Monster Grab Bag - $7.50

For only $7.50 you'll get 3 of our beloved monster stamps! That makes them only $2.50 each!

Sentiments and Wordart Grab Bag - $10

For only $10, you will get a mixture of wordart and simple sentiments at a minimum value of $20!!!!!

The Cutie Critter Grab Bag - $8.50

For only $8.50, you will get 3 stamps from our Cutie Critter collection, making them $2.83 each!

The PMS lover & newbie Grab Bag - $40

This grab bag was designed for someone who either loves PMS and wants to beef up their collection OR want to share their love of PMS with someone who might not yet have much in their stamp collection. This grab bag will include a mixture of stamps and/or sets from the entire PMS inventory. This grab bag is sure to please having goodies retailing over $80!!!!!

Oh wait, and we're not done! We are also GIVING AWAY SHIPPING this month! Thats right, free shipping to anyone in the US and a reduction of $3 to shipping outside of the US. Please use USDECEMBER as your voucher if you are in the US or 3OFF for those outside of the US.

And the even better bonus, this voucher will work with all other vouchers!!!!

Quantities of grab bags may be limited to stock on hand.

 Free Shipping will last the entire month. 

No requests on the grab bags, please.