The Friends of Unity Blog Hop ~ June 2023

Hi Friends! Welcome to The Friends of Unity Blog Hop – June 2023. This month’s theme is all about “Masculine” cards. I dug around my Unity stamp stash and picked out some images I thought would be fun to ink up. They are a bit of vintage, grunge, mixed media, silly and outdoor vibes.

Card #1 – Olive You!

This card came together using three Itty Bitty stamps from Unity. I just adore the olive guy and especially the shapely mustache I gave him!

First I stamped the sentiment on a white card front. The gears, I stamped in metallic ink. I blended distress black around the edges. I stamped the olive on watercolor paper, painted him, stamped the mustache on his already cute face, and then fussy cut him out.

I stamped the olive again exactly where I wanted to place him on the card, careful not to ink up the woman olive. When the man olive is glued to the card, the hand with the heart is already there! I colored the heart. I stamped just the sentiment “olive you”. Then I die cut the card front and glued to a royal blue card base. Silver Nuvo drops smashed around for texture finishes the card.

What a handsome olive! “Olive You” by Angie Blom for Unity Stamp Co. is only half used. See below for the full set!

Card #2 – Call Me

What I love about this card is the background crumpled paper that came from a shopping bag. My daughter saved it because she knew I could reuse the paper. I am always a fan of vintage images! I never had a phone that looked like this but definitely had a dial phone with an extra long cord for those private conversations. One of my friends even had a party line! The party line was where her household shared a phone line with a neighbor.

To create this card, I found a piece of leftover watercolor paper I had made previously. These sure do come in handy! I inked up the telephone with brown ink and the “me” with red. I die cut the image using a fancy stitched circle die and again with a larger die in vellum. I crumpled up the printed paper, adhered it to red leaving a hint of color around the border. Washi tape laid down and red twine tied up with a button!

A close-up

Call me maybe…

Card #3 – A Good Man

So these boots are the coolest, most realistic image! I can actually feel how rugged, worn they are and smell the pitch from pine trees on them. I wanted this card to have a layered, mixed media feel.

This card involves two Unity Kit of the Month sets. I love combining stamps. On a white card front I stamped a background that resembles rain in a medium blue ink. Next I stamped the trees in two shades of green and brown ink at the lowest portion. Using the same darker shade of green, I stamped the sentiment at the top and continued across and down. I double stamped to get a lighter image. I left the lower third unstamped.

The boots were next. I stamped them with Versamark ink and sprinkled a navy embossing powder over the ink and heat embossed. I painted the boots loosely using green, brown and grey. To create the sign, I stamped the sentiment on white and blended distress ink unevenly oner the top. I die cut the woodgrain frame and blended brown ink over it too. I punched holes in the top corners and threaded burlap twine through. I used three copper brads to resemble nails. I adhered the sign at an angle and popped it up. Finally, a few green Nuvo drops embellishes the card.

….most of the time!

Here is the list of friends in the hop. Please comment on each friend and I will randomly choose a person who comments to win a “thank you” prize. The winner will be announced at the July hop.

Crystal

Amber

Kim

Jane

Tammy

Colleen

Bobbie Sue

April

Rachel (me)

Gaylynn

Dawn F.

And the winner from last month is……Pegasong! Congratulations Pegasong, please message me your mailing address and I will get the prize out to you. Thank you for nice comments!

These are the Unity stamps I used.

Cards for this hop at one glance.

That’s it for June. I hope you enjoyed the hop and found some fun ideas to try or techniques that you like. Summer is upon us and I am loving the long days of light and the sunny weather. May you get a chance to do all the things this time of year that brings you great joy!

Rachel

Please follow me on Instagram and TikTok @cardartbyrachel