Friends of Unity Blog Hop ~ March 2024

Hi Everyone! Spring is upon us and I feel renewed energy in the air! The theme for March “Found in Nature” is so fitting as birds begin to sing and flowers are blooming. I can’t wait to share my cards with you.

Card #1 ~ March Beginnings by Sandhya Iyer for Unity

Daffodils are so beautiful, I love the hand-sketched style of this image. I colored it with Prismacolor watercolor pencils and fussy cut it out.. Then I embossed the sentiment in gold and adhered it and the image on copper textured paper.

I sprayed Ranger Distress Mica Stain over the daffodils. Have you tried Mica Stain? I love the gorgeous effects they produce! Two burnt orange jewels finish the card.

Watercolor pencils are a fun medium. When water is applied with a brush the color blends like butter!

Card #2 ~ A lighter approach

I stamped the daffodil image on white cardstock, colored it with watercolor pencils and die cut the cardfront with a Gina Marie slash stitched border die. I stamped the sentiment vertically for interest. I framed the cardfront with a thin black border.

I added a narrow black and white stitched ribbon, then adhered the cardfront to a bright yellow cardbase.

Card #3 ~ Wildflower Critters

This scene is sweet and I love the little creatures tucked in the garden! At first glance I missed the mouse on the stem. I thought it would be fun to give the creatures a wash of color and the rest of the scene a gray scale appearance. To highlight the animals even more, I added Stickles glitter glue in various colors. The heart on the “HI” sentiment also got lucky and received some sparkle!

I sprayed the Ranger Mica Stain over a black card base. I glued the image down and thought the card was complete… After it dried, I noticed it was a bit crooked. I tend to do this more ofter than not. To fix the problem, I added a ribbon on the bottom and distressed the left top corner to make it appear more even on the card. Finally, in keeping with the distressed feel, I frayed the edges to give it a worn look.

Card #4 ~ hello human

Are you kidding me?! The minute I saw this giraffe, I knew I had to have it! So majestic are these animals and oh so cute is this one! I stamped the image on watercolor paper and painted it using Tim Holtz distress inks. At first I planned to keep the background plain, but then thought it might be fun to watercolor splotches of color repeating the pattern of the giraffe’s gorgeous spots.

I die cut the cardfront with a Gina Marie fancy die, wrapped burlap twine around the top and adhered it to a kraft cardbase. I stamped the sentiment on scraps, separated the words and adhered them toward the top. I glued the cardfront to a kraft cardbase.

Card #5 ~ Lily of the Valley (border backgrounds) by Angie Blom for Unity Stamp Company

This lily of the valley border is so lovely and perfect for a birthday or Easter or many occasions. There is something so sweet and innocent when I see these beautiful flowers. I heat embossed the image using Ranger gold embossing powder. I watercolored the flowers with Tim Holtz distress inks. I chose blues(Salty Ocean) but any color would look fabulous! I added a touch of grey at the bases of each bloom to make the white part stand out. Also more intense color surrounding the blossoms makes the white pop even more.

I die cut the sentiment in pale blue and then glued a fine glitter over it for an extra fancy appeance! I love how it turned out.

Inside the card I stamped “wishes” to complete the sentiment.

Card #6 ~ Lily of the Valley, take two

I often stamp an image two times with the intention of having another just in case of a mess up. The previous card turned out, so yay! I decided to color this time with a whole different family of colors–pink, orange and yellow.

Next I die cut the cardfront with a stitched Gina Marie die and adhered it to a buttery cream cardbase. Finally I die cut lower case “h” and “b” letters with gold glitter and solid green paper.

Here is a pic of my cards this month. Which one is your favorite?!

Listed below are the Friends of Unity, please continue along the hop for awesome ideas and inspiration. We appreciate all of your comments.

Crystal

Jane

Amber

Tammy

April

Colleen

Rachel (me)

Kim

Gaylynn

Joyce

Dawn

Thank you for stopping by. Until April, have a wonderful March full of blue skies and blooming creativity!

Rachel

Please follow me on Instagram @cardartbyrachel