Cards on Wednesdays: Unity - Getting Ready for Christmas

Every year I set out to make brilliant, handmade Christmas cards... and every year I complete enough for about half of my list before I run out of time and end up abandoning the project altogether -if I get it started at all... (sorry friends and family I really did mean to send cards last year). So I started to put my mind around developing some super quick, yet handmade, greeting cards. Here's one that you can make very quickly. Actually, it's so simple that those of you with little elves (children) could probably have them help!

This very simple card is made with the following products:


• Unity Stamps "MERRY MERRY MERRY" UK-469A
• VersaFine Sepia Ink
• Copic Markers: Two shades of blue, one green, one red or pink, and one clear Spica
• Kraft Cardstock



Quick Flowers

Since I'm out of "Cards on Wednesdays" at the moment, I thought I'd share one of my favorite flower making techniques with you. It's quick, it's easy, and you can make coordinating flowers for your cards or projects in just a few minutes.

Here's a picture of this super-fabulous flower technique in action...

And, here are the instructions for how to make them...

• Cut or punch a circle out of paper.
• Then use your scissors to cut it in a spiral shape leaving a wider piece (about the size of a pencil eraser) at the end to serve as the flower base later. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Cutting it unevenly makes for a more interesting flower.
• Starting from the outside end, roll the paper until you get to the wider piece. Allow the paper to unroll to the size of flower you want, put glue on the base and then tuck it under the rolled part. Hold it together until the glue dries (I recommend using zip dry or hot glue).

If you're not wanting to freehand it, here's a template you can use instead...

Unity Challenges - Swing Card

Before participating in this challenge I had never ever heard of a swing card, let alone tried to make one! It took me three tries to get the inner panel cut right, but in the end, I think it was worth it!

If you want to learn how to make a swing card of your very own (or see a video to better understand how the motion works go here).

Cards on Wednesdays: Unity WCMD - Paint

I am always on the lookout for new things to do and try and I really like to find alternatives to paper. One alternative that I like to play with is clear acetate, but it always poses a problem.... How to adhere decorative elements without the glue showing?

This Unity challenge was to play with paint. I have on occassion stamped images with paint. It's not easy to do, but possible and requires immediate washing of the stamp. This time around I thought I'd try to use it as my background on a clear card. With a bottle of Making Memories paint and a super cheap hardware store paint brush I set out to create some texture for a background on my card (no glue needed). I don't know that I'm completely in love with this card (it was created when my mojo went missing), but it was at least another opportunity to learn new things and to play with new mediums.