Growing in Unity Day 5

Being creative is such a wonderful release from the every day work and worries. I find inspiration from Pinterest, Facebook groups and then from some inspiring figures such as Jennifer McGuire and Gina K. This card is all Jennifer’s fault! Here is the link to her video so you can blame her afterwards as well!
https://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2019/03/pop-up-shadow-box-cards.html

My final card is my favorite creation this week. Things I hold dear to my heart include my home and all that live and visit there, my self worth and knowing that I am someone important to a few people even when the devil wants you to believe different. Lastly, I can choose where I want my life to go. Every day. I hope you enjoy this one! You have all been so gracious this week, I appreciate every one of you!

Stamped and heat embossed Clara Girl on some Neenah 110lb cardstock.
Fussy cut, color her and set aside. I used Copics.

Use Yupo paper and play around with some alcohol inks. This pink mess was a left over from another project and thought that this would look awesome as a background. I have no idea what I’m doing when working with these inks but somehow it never looks awful.

Score both left and right and fold accordian style.

Place a frame die in the center and cut on the front panel.
Make sure you leave enough room on the bottom (or top) to place a sentiment.

Stamp and heat set your sentiment.

Glue your background on the inside.

…and decorate to your heart’s content. All these pieces are from Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or AC Moore.

I used this very sturdy acetate to make your floating elements.

I glued the wooden heart onto a strip of acetate and glued it on the outside flap of the bottom panel. Once the two panels are adhered,  it hides the acetate attachment.

Adhere the two panels with strong adhesive. Position your girl on the front.
I added some acetate to the back of her head to make her more sturdy. Can you see the floating white flower and butterfly on the bottom?

I hope you love her as much as I do. Thank you so much for all your support and comments. Make sure to leave comments on my projects to win some Unity goodies.

Much love,

Charmaine

Thanks for following me at Facebook.com/charcards2017

Growing in Unity Day 4

There is always hope.

It doesn’t matter what you are facing, life will eventually get better. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but eventually. Know that there are better things ahead.

My favorite colors are orange and teal/turquoise and of course I’m making a card using a beautiful Angie Girl on day 4!

Brandi is one of my favorite Angiegirls. She looks like she is going places
but still stopping to smell the roses.

My trusty favorites back again. After clear heat embossing her, I fussy cut her and left off the flowers on the bottom. I used Copics to color her.

Instead of smooshing distress oxides, I used distress spray and spray stains. I randomly sprayed the colors and left it to dry overnight.
I like the natural drying effect instead of using a heat gun.

Finally, I bought this awesome background stamp from Unity
in collaboration with Brutus Monroe.

 

Rusty hinge is the perfect “brassy” and copper color to stamp the bricks.

Add these to her dress.

Aren’t these dots adorable?? Make sure to attach her first before applying the dots.

This is the perfect sentiment for this card.

I needed a yellow, and this is the first time I used this powder. I am so glad that it gave the same result as Wow powder.

I used a Micron pen to add back all the little details around her.

 

I hope you have a great Thursday and I hope you leave a comment here or on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/charcards2017) .

Growing in Unity Day 3

Since I grew up on the southern hemisphere, our seasons were opposite from where I live now. Where we would usually prepare for Winter about this time of the year, I now get to plant flowers and spend sunny days outside. I have a massive backyard that I am fencing in this year and that requires a whole revamp of the yard. Naturally, right? Any excuse to make fairy gardens or make the bees happy! Here is my little card!

I repeated this technique I used from the card below.

I made this card a few months back and I had a request for instructions.

All the stamps that were used can be found in this kit.
Click on the link for the Unity Stamp website.

Clear embossing powder and Nocturne VersaFine Claire.

Using a 4/14 x 5 1/2 cardstock, clear stamp these stamps, all found in the kit, in any order.

Heat emboss in between different stamps. I was afraid if I stamped all the images, that it would be too dry and the embossing powder wouldn’t be wet enough to cling to.

Used these distress oxides for the background.

Apply in a circular motion on a glass or reusable mat. Spray with water.

The look after smooshing it twice.

For this border look on both the cardstock and the girl, use any die that has two rows of embossing or detail with a cut line in the middle.

Use the same die to cut the background. I used a slightly brighter green card stock as backing before mounting it on the actual card. Trim the green 1/8 on top and side. Trim the background even smaller.

I only have one tag die. I stamped the sentiment, punched a hole and attached it to the same green card stock. Free cut the pattern as the tag.
Punch a hole and thread some twine through it. Use some foam tape to raise the sentiment.

And there she is. I didn’t want to completely color her as the image is already busy.

“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds”

Dinos Christianopoulous

Happy Wednesday Unies ! Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite plant or tree or gadget to work with when outside in the garden!

Growing in Unity Day 2

May your days be happy, your future bright! I will be 40 this year! Wow!! What an incredible journey it has been! Immigrating to the States in 1999 has offered me some great opportunities, but unfortunately it separated me from my siblings. They are all over the world; one in South Africa, one in Australia, one in the UK and my brother here in Florida. Both my parents are back in South Africa. My birthdays are not as I wish they could be. When I was little, my mom would bake the cake, my siblings helped decorate and would sing to me when it was time to cut the cake. These are the memories I wish I had throughout all my life.
BUT, this year, I will have 3 of the 4 attending my party in April. I cannot wait!! Hence my early happy birthday card!

Few of my favorite elements in the card: shaker, embossed and gel pen coloring.
This a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card.

Click on the image to take you to Unity Stamp Co.

Cut two sets of frames. This pink will go on the inside with sentiment and the white border will serve as a backing for the green border below.

Here is the green outer border and the white will serve as a “sandwich” to keep the ribbon in place.
The green border should be 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.
Make sure to die cut in the middle of the green paper.

I bought this from Amazon. It doesn’t warp terribly as long as you keep
the heat moving around.
Cut a 4″ by 5 1/4″ piece, slightly smaller than the green frame.

Position the cake on the acetate for stamping.

Make sure to use an antistatic bag to avoid getting white powder EVERYWHERE.

Adhere the acetate to the back of the green frame. I used some thin double sided paper tape purchased from Michael’s.

To color the cake, I used a variety of Sakura Gelly, Glaze and Metallic pens. You can find them anywhere. A.C Moore usually stocks them, remember to take a coupon along.
I chose these pens because they create the illusion of stained glass.

This Altenew stamp was a freebie with a purchase. I wanted to repeat stamp a “Happy Birthday” as a background but liked this more since I could make it shine.

To add some interest, I took a white 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 piece of paper (this is the very base of the card) and sandwiched the ribbon between the white frame and paper. Strong double sided tape ensures stability. Make sure to align the frame to the paper or just cut off the extra paper on the sides.

Place the white framed paper to the base above.
This hides the ribbon.
Adhere some foam tape all around the edges of the base.

My “shakers” will be flowers instead of sequins or glitter. Found these at Hobby Lobby. Make sure that they aren’t too thick for the inside space.

Glue some flowers to the top, middle or sides. When you shake it, you will still have some flowers in these positions.

This is the inside sentiment; came with the cake stamp.

Adhere the green frame to the base, tie and ribbon, and you are DONE!

Have a great Tuesday! If you like all types of cards, follow me on http://www.Facebook.com/CharCards2017.

Remember to leave a comment to win some Unity goodies!