Faith, Hope & Crafts

Hello my lovely friends :)  Welcome to another Unity hop whoop whoop!  There are lots of lovely new stamps out today and you will LOVE them!!! Here is one them :)  How Cute is this bunny??? Do you not just love him/her??? You can find this one right here it is called  Lil Wee Bunny ! My other favourite this month is the NEW sentiment kit!!! This one is called  Girl Truly . I just adore this one!!!  Those big flowers are so amazing to colour.  I hope you get some lovely inspiration from all of our blogs.  Remember to comment on them to be in with a chance of winning a prize :)  Happy hopping :)  Mandi xox

Hello Friends Welcome to day 3 of GIU. Wow is it flying by fast! I hope you are enjoying my creations. I have really enjoyed making them. I went for some home decor for today's project some butterfly branches.   I wanted to make my butterfly branches using my favourite Unity butterfly stamp called A Friend Loveth . If you look through my blog I have used this stamp many many times it is my favourite butterfly stamp. I just love it the butterflies are just a perfect size and shape for so many projects. I asked my husband to go out to the garden and bring me in a small branch. Where we live backs out on to a little wooded area so there are lots of branches laying around.  He walked in the door a few minutes later with half a tree ha!  So I broke off a few branches and sent him back outside with the rest :) Making this is pretty easy all I did was take an empty bottle and pour some white paint inside and let it run o

Hello Friends Welcome to my day 2 of GIU. This wee girl is where my love of Unity all began. I saw her on a random post on Facebook and I absolutely loved with her. I had never seen stamps this adorable. I found the Unity page then discovered they were stamps designed by Phyllis Harris and she had a whole collection of them.  Phyllis captures the essence of childhood perfectly in her designs they are so amazing. I had only planned on buying one stamp set. Yes just one!! But when it arrived it was so nicely packaged and it stamped beautifully.  So from that moment on I was hooked. I went from 1 stamp to 3 baskets full in less than a year! This stamp will always hold a special place in my heart, It is called Your Wings Exist . I used my watercolour paints on my projects. I am no expert by any means at painting but I find them much easier to work with than alcohol markers. I am not great at colouring and the paints give a much softer finish. I find I can be too heavy handed

Hello Friends Welcome to my first day of my first ever GIU week yay!! I am super excited to be showing you my creations this week with the wonderful Unity stamps :)  I only found out last week I would be the GIU girl this week. I had to switch out my Dec date as I will be in Scotland another yay :) I have two cards for you today with this new stamp set from Unity. I absolutely LOVE dandelions. So when I saw this set I just had to have it. It is called Wish With Your Heart and it is on sale right now for $12 a bargain. I think today is the last day of the sale so if you like it go and grab it quick!! So for my first card I wanted to do another black and white card. I also wanted to use my black distress ink which I bought months ago and have never used. It is called Black Soot and funnily enough it gets everywhere just like the real black soot. I love getting messy with my distress inks and kind of expect a bit of a mess. But the black mixed with water gets EVE

Hello Friends I made this quick card today for Friends With Flair . I used one of my favourite stamp sets called A Friend Loveth. I just love those butterflies this is my go to butterfly stamp and I never tire of it. I kept this card pretty simple. I just used an embossing folder to create the background. I stamped the sentiment straight on to the card. Then stamped my butterflies, cut them out and glued them to the card. Super easy :) Thanks so much for stopping by have a great weekend Mandi xox Challenges Simon Says Stamp Wed

Happy Friday Friends I hope you are all well :)  I made this quick card for  Friends With Flair today.  Don't you love those butterflies?? As you know I am addicted to butterflies. This is one of my newest stamps to add to that collection. I used my watercolour paints to colour them shades of pink and purple. The stamp set is from Unity of course it is called Everything Resides In Hope . I kept the card really simple as I think those butterflies speak for themselves. Have a great weekend! Thanks for visiting :)  Mandi xox Challenges Sister Act Card Challenge Artistic Inspirations Word Art Wednesday Love to Scrap Crafting From The Heart Pumpkin Spice

Hello Friends Happy Monday :) It is so hot here in upstate NY. This Scottish girl still cannot get used to the hot and humid summers of America. I much prefer the cold to the heat. Yes I did just say that ha.  So I spent today inside beside my air conditioner crafting.  I made this card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The challenge is to use hearts in summery colours.  So I got out my Martha Stewart heart punch and punched lots of hearts in pink, green and purple glitter paper. I made a row of hearts and sprinkled some sequins and rhinestones in between them. I used a stamp from Unity Stamp Co called Fall Together .  I stamped the sentiment just above my row of bling using VersaFine Onyx black Ink. I hope you like my card, thanks so much for stopping by. Mandi xox Challenges   Friday Mashup - Sequins The Pink Elephant - Anything goes Sentimental Sundays

Happy Friday Friends :) I have been super busy this week and not had much time to craft. I started making this card last week. I painted the flowers with my watercolours. So I  just had to finish it off with the sentiment, ribbon and rhinestones today. The sentiment is from a grab bag and the flower is from the lovely Angie Blom Kit called  Bloom & Simplify.   I am really loving that blue and green colour combination it is so fresh and summery  :)  Thanks for stopping by xox Challenges Friends With Flair Simon Says Stamp Wed - Anything goes

Hello Friends I hope you are all doing well. It's nearly Friday yay!!!   I have been super busy this week. I got a huge last minute order for 60 graduation cards!! I just got finished with them last night so I wanted to make something fun to celebrate :) I made this card for the  Be Inspired Challenge over at the Unity blog. These are the colours I had to work with this month. You know I always like to do the colour challenge so these were good colours for me. I love Turquoise! I used one of my newer stamps for this card. This stamp is called YOU it is part of the Brave Girls Club collection by Melody Ross. I just love her work she is so inspiring, she speaks from her soul. I love this stamp it says it all really.  ~ JUST BE YOU ~ So I used my watercolour paints and paint washed 3 sections of colour. Then I got out some vellum and stamped 2 of the same image with versamark ink. I sprinkled some white embossing powder and

Happy Friday Friends :) Here is my card for this weeks Friends with flair over at the Unity blog. I have had this stamp for a while and not got around to using it. I really love all of the Phyllis Harris stamps that is what started my whole Unity stamp collection. This stamp is called Too beautiful for earth . I used my watercolour paints to colour her in and also to create the background. I kept the card pretty simple. I printed the sentiment on my computer. I do have an actual stamp with this saying on it but it was too big for my card. I added some clear glitter to her wings and some ribbon to finish off the card. Thanks for stopping by xox Challenges Fussy & Fancy Challenge - Things with Wings

Hello Friends I played along with this month's  Be Inspired Challenge  over at the Unity blog. These are the colours for this month they are so pretty!  So I got out my new  Kennedy Girl stamp and painted her with watercolours. Next added lots of gems to her wings and two tiny punched butterflies in opposite corners. I heat embossed the sentiment with turquoise embossing powder. Finally I layered the card on to some yellow card before adhering to the blue card base.  Thanks for visiting :)  Challenges Simon Says Stamp Monday - Paint Butterfly Challenge   Gems/Butterflies/Punches

Hello Friends It's Friday yay!! Time for Friends with Flair over at the Unity blog. This is my card for this week more butterflies ha! I bought this stamp last week and just had to ink it up. How pretty is this butterfly it is called Bold Butterfly designed by Donna Downey. It is so so pretty!  The sentiment is from the new  Kennedy Girl stamp she is next on my list to  ink up. I used my Peacock Feathers distress ink on the butterfly it is such a lovely colour. I cut out the butterfly and glued just the body on to the card. Then stamped my sentiment and sprinkled a trail of rhinestones. Have a wonderful weekend thanks for visiting xox

Hello Friends  I made this quick card for Friends With Flair today.  I used my watercolors using shades of blue. I painted the card standing up and then let it run down the card. Once it was dry added some black sequins. I then tilted it to the other side and stamped the sentiment. The Thank You sentiment is from a grab bag I got at Unity. Thanks for visiting Have a great weekend xox

Hello Friends I  made this card for the challenge over at the Craft Stamper blog. This month the challenge is to use a potato. Yes that's right a potato! We have to cut a shape out of a potato and stamp with it. I was not sure how that was going to work. It was much easier than I thought. So I made a flower and leaf shape as best I could. I need to work on my carving skills :)    I used Faber - Castell Gel Sticks   and just rubbed the stick right on to the potato and stamped. I was pretty happy with the overall design that I had made. I used my Martha Stewart  Hydrangea Punch to add additional flowers around the card. I also added some gemstones on some of the flowers.    I chose a sentiment from a stamp set from Unity called Imagine It .  I really like this set I find myself using it a lot. Once the card was complete I attached it to a Kraft card base. I left some space at the bottom and added 3 tiny little flowers. I really like the way this turned

Hello Friends I hope you all had a great week. I sure did I was in Maine for a few days. I just love that place it was sooo relaxing. I started off making a card for this weeks  Friends with Flair but it was not coming together. So I ditched the card and started work on my new art journal.  I wanted  a new  journal since the one I have now is just too small. I have lots of  composition books laying around so I decided to use one of those and just decorate the cover. I used 3 layers of Gesso on the front cover. Then painted it in a lovely turquoise colour. The butterfly was painted using watercolour paints on watercolour paper.  I cut it out and glued  it on to the cover. I stamped the sentiment straight on the painted surface and used white embossing powder and heat set it. The stamp is from Unity called  Becoming A Butterfly . I punched some white butterflies and sprinkled them around the page to finish. I hope you like my journal :) Thanks for stopping by xox

Hello Friends  I hope you all had a good week. It is getting hot here in upstate New York. I think we went from winter to summer in the space of a week. It was 82 yesterday yikes!! Anyway I have some really good news that I want to share with you but I will do that in a bit. Let's get to my card first. I bought this stamp last week in the Unity Birthday sale another butterfly to add to my collection :) I really love the sentiment GROW YOUR WINGS. I kept this card pretty simple I used Kraft card and white embossing powder 2 of my favourite combinations. I heat embossed  the butterfly on the card then cut out a separate one and glued it on top to give it a 3 dimensional look. I stamped a swirl flourish on opposite corners. One set I made white with the embossing powder the other side I left plain with just the Versamark ink.  I mounted it on to a white card base then added some tiny pearls and the card was complete. Now on to my Happy news I am super excited about this :

Hello Friends I hope you all had a good week :) I sure did  :) I made this card for this weeks Friends With Flair over at the Unity blog. I have been busy experimenting with paint this week but I went back to my first love of EMBOSSING for this card :) If you know my style you know I just love embossing powder. I actually bought a lovely new turquoise embossing powder this week :) But I was in a red and black mood so I went with it for this card. It is super easy to make.  I just stamped the flowers (which is from the  Strength & Dignity kit of the month) with Versamark Ink and covered them with black embossing powder and heat set it. I used black glossy accents in the middle of each flower and also to highlight the tiny dots in the flowers. I tied a satin ribbon around the red card then glued it to my black card base. Next I stamped the sentiment ( from the  Forever Friends kit) using Versafine Ink. I attached it to some black card to give it a border and glued it down

Hello Friends I made this tag for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge .  I made my own tag from some scrap card stock.  I used the emboss resist technique. Stamping the flowers and heat embossing them with white embossing powder. I used Ranger Distress Inks and sponged them over the tag. The ink naturally resists the stamped image. I let it dry then stamped the old letter stamp across the tag with the same inks. Then sprayed a little water to create some water marks.  I used the same technique with the sentiment then cut it up and glued it on to the tag. I dyed the ribbon with the same inks. I added some gemstones that were in the same colour scheme to finish off the tag. Challenges Simon Says Challenge Monday Friends with Flair Avenue613 4kraftygirlzchallenges Through the craft room door Love to Scrap Crafty Card Makers Hiding in my craft room Thanks for visiting :) xox Supplies  Unity Stamp Company - Insightful Meadows & Your Wings Exist. Hero Arts - Ol

Happy Friday Friends Here is a quick card I made for for Friends with Flair. I paper pieced the flower with the matching background paper. It is a really deep shade of pink almost close to red in colour. I used 3 different unity stamps on this one. God's Timing , Feel the Joy & Wishing You Joy .  I could not decide what flower to use so I just stamped them both :) Challenges Crafty Catz #221 Eureka Stamps - Anything goes #79 Thanks for stopping by have a great weekend  xox

 Hello Friends!  I was in the mood to craft last night but did not want to make a card. So, I got out my journal. I love writing and making a mess in my book. It really is my therapy :) I was listening to a song earlier that day on the radio by the David Crowder Band called How He Loves . It is one of my favourite songs. I heard it in church years ago and I have always loved it. Here it is if you would like to listen to it. So on to my journal. I wanted some of the lyrics on my page. I typed them out and cut them up to later paste on. I used Peacock Feathers and Concord Distress ink to create the background.  I did not have a tree stamp, so I had to improvise and used an embossing folder instead. I stamped the raised side of the folder with ink and it made a perfect impression.  I went over it again with VersaMark ink and covered it with white glitter embossing powder. I used a lot of stamps on this one I will list them below.  I stamped the flowers around the