Growing in Unity Day #1

Hey everybody! How's everyone doing this fine morning? Ok, I'm not exactly sure how fine the morning is outside, but right now, for me, I have two of my kids snuggled up next to me while we watch "Super Why" and "Dinosaur Train" and I get to share fun stuff with you guys.

How many of you have ever heard of Unity Stamps? Raise your hands and let me count, wow, looks like we're pretty much tied with yeas and nays. I found this company about 6 months ago when I decided to foray into the world of stamping and scrapbooking. I had found Crafty Steals and through them Unity Stamps. I instantly loved the idea of these stamps, they don't take up a whole lot of room, they are very versatile and easy to organize and they have a Kit of the Month Program, which is just awesome.

Recently they have started to have some challenges that I thought would be good ones to get me into a creative state of mind. I try to do a little something crafty every day and a simple card can fulfill that very well. Also they decided to try out "Growing in Unity", where every week one of their fans gets the chance to show off some of their work. Well, when the call went out, I was a day late and got put on the waiting list. I thought it would never actually happen that someone would drop out of such a great opportunity and I would get a chance, so I put my thoughts on the back burner and was just going to wait for next year. Two weeks ago I got an email saying that I was the very first person on the waitlist, and was May 16 all right with me? What do you think I said? Well, we're here together, so of course I said yes.

Here's my first day of "Growing in Unity", which they all uniquely enough qualify for three of the Unity challenges going on right now. The monthly challenge this month (they just released it yesterday) is "Tooty Fruity". Amazingly, my three cards today have berries, ok they are really cherries, but they are a fruit! Then there is the KOM Sketch Challenge, where you have to follow their sketch for your layout or card. And then last night, as I was winding down for the night last night, I noticed that All Things Unity had posted a new challenge, called "Stamps never used", which for me is that almost every time I ink up a stamp it is for the very first time, so it works too.

So, where are these cards you ask? They are coming up, I just wanted to say a little bit about them. If I'm going to make one card, I might as well make several in one go, especially if I'm using 12x12 cardstock and have several pieces I'm working with and they are also double sided.

The pages are from My Mind's Eye Magnolia collection and the stamps are from Unity's KOM called "Perfect in Every Way."

Oh, I almost forgot! I also get to give away one set of Unity Stamps to one of you awesome people. All you have to do is comment on this post to be entered. My little 3 year old is very subtly giving me hints that I need to finish and give attention to him now by nudging my arm so I can't type very well right now. So I'll see all of you back here tomorrow.

Bird Challenge

This is one of the cards I came up with for the UNITY Monthly challenge to use a bird stamp. I also made an envelope to match, playing with the different patterns can be fun, this way I don't have to remember the seam allowances.

Notebooks

Do you know those black and white composition notebooks? I've always loved them, but especially when I found some that had graph paper inside. I love to have a notebook or a journal on hand to write down random thoughts or to draw a design or just doodle a quilt block or two. I found, back at Christmas, some instructions for ideas on customizing them and then covering them with Mod Podge or contact paper. I prefer the contact paper and had some books on hand and decided to experiment.


This one is for my sister because of the main stamp, it says "Life is to short to mate socks." The other stamps are inspirational and encouragement. My picture did come out a bit blurry, but also the socks somehow became a double image in the stamp. The paper had a bit of varnish (some shiny spots) on it. Did you know that varnish (or whatever it was) doesn't like ink? It smeared a little bit and did not want to dry for 2 days. But all together, I liked how it looked.



This one was a notebook with graph paper on it, but I wanted to do the cover, just because I've been using it for years and wanted to try something for me. I had just gotten the stamp set "She said" from Unity and was itching to do something. I decided on something simple and colored in the main stamp with markers. I don't have any fancy markers, I love the look of Copics, but no way am I paying 5 bucks for 1 marker. Instead, because I do embroidery, I have a great stash of Sharpies in different colors and used those.

Side note: for embroidery, if your bobbin thread shows up on the top, you can color it in with a sharpie and it usually blends in and lasts for a while.


The back was where I placed the big stamp from the set and then found in another Unity set the dress form and colored it too.


Then I covered it with contact paper and got to use my "new" notebook. Yes, there is a slight bubble in the contact paper on the back, this was my very first one that I did and I hadn't played with contact paper for years.


If I can find some more notebooks for a good price, I'll try to walk you through how I make them. For me, for a notebook, I like a simple look, not to busy or fluffy.

Recent Projects

These last few weeks have been filled with adventures, both big and small. Over spring break, my 6 1/2 year old son got his first sewing lesson and he made a quilt for his teacher. He picked out the fabric, decided on the placement, and sat in my lap to sew the squares together. He was so excited to finish that I had to remind him constantly that it was a secret and that we weren't going to tell his teacher about it just yet-every day he has come home and had to reassure me that he hadn't told anyone about it.

My P-I-T (princess in training) also got her first sewing lesson and we covered picking the pattern and how to lay it out and how to pin it down and then watch while mommy cuts it out. We then covered the parts of the sewing machine and sewed the facing and the collar on her shirt. She then informed me that I was allowed to finish it for her and that she would need a skirt to match it. She has also asked for another sewing lesson, this time we will be working with Tinkerbell fabric (the last time it was princess fabrics).

We are gathering fabrics and patterns for a school wardrobe for my P-I-T. The color scheme is browns, pinks and greens. I've got most of the fabrics and ideas of the patterns and just have to gather notions, but we have several months before that has to be done.

I have also started doing some other crafty things besides sewing and quilting. Okay, it's more of an I'm trying out some other things that I haven't really had time or the resources to work on. I have always wanted to work on a scrapbook, but I was concerned about my monsters trying to copy mommy and tearing (or cutting) up all the paper in sight. I have started making cards and notebooks and some altered tins and things.

I'm going to be posting some pictures soon of some of those projects, and maybe even some of the kids during their sewing lessons. I hope that everyone has a great day today (or tomorrow since it's so late right now) and that you do at least one thing today that will make you smile!

The Best laid plans went awry

So my goal a few months ago, was to finish all those projects up before Christmas. Well, most of them were done and some I decided just weren't necessary to be done in that timeline and that spending more time with my kids having fun was way more important. They did get their pillowcases on Christmas Eve and they loved getting to do special things with Daddy on Christmas day. Since then, I've undertaken several other sewing projects for birthdays and other things. That turtle quilt is still undone, just needs a few more squares quilted and then the binding goes on. My princess in training has been getting some sewing lessons and having some more input on what we're making for her. My oldest prince has also gotten some sewing lessons and let me help him make a quilt for his teacher. We've been busy as can be, but still have fun doing something crafty every now and then and will be posting some pictures (that is if I can find them on this computer that doesn't let me view thumbnails). There's another big project in the making coming up that I will posting about-hint: my P-I-T starts school in 4 months.


This was a set I made for one of our maids who is expecting a girl sometime this month:




Here's my #1 prince during his first sewing lesson, his 1st grade teacher is expecting and she loves Dr. Seuss. He decided where the squares went and in what order and pinned them together and pushed the buttons and helped lay it out and chose the backing and the yarn and everything!