hopping with the Unity team today - check out the new {be inspired} challenge!

oh, folks, can i just tell you how utterly thrilled i am to be joining in the Unity blog hop today?  my "blessings" card was chosen as last month's {be inspired} winner, and not only did i get to choose a bunch of AMAZING stamps as my prize, but i am part of the fun hop today where YOU could win some amazing stamps, too!

welcome!  so glad you've made it to The Chronicles, and i hope you're enjoying the hop so far (you should have started at the Unity blog) - the creativity along this hop is FABULOUS and i am sure you'll be inspired to use your stamps in different ways and maybe to try some new techniques!  are you hopping?  it's a party over here, and i'm so excited to be a guest!  :)  leave some love along all the hop stops, and you could be one of the lucky winners!

SO!  there's a brand new challenge...

and to say that i was inspired would be an understatement!  here's what i made to join in the fun...

this one, using the "Matching Socks" Itty Bitty - it

follows the card sketch and the colors (plus a few extras!):

and this one, that actually follows the scrapbook sketch and the color challenge - this one uses "Where You Should Be" which was one of my choices for my prize... i LOVE this set (the sentiment and the green flower silhouettes on that panel come from it):

and there you have it.  i AM inspired by the Unity {be inspired} challenge!  happy hopping, and don't forget to comment along the way - you could win something seriously awesome, and hey, we ALL want to be winners, right?  :)  have a great day, chickens! 

***linked up at Paper Issues for "The World is a Circle" - new issue sponsored by Ruby Rock-it - love the wood button and quirky circles i used on my sock card!***

can't go wrong with a cute elephant

hey there, chickens!  back again on a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning because i can't sleep.  i've been sorting and organizing and purging and when i went through one of my stamp drawers, Unity called to me.  this "written in the clouds" stamp leapt out of the drawer and begged to be used.  on something.  anything.  i HAD to have it, and i love it, but i've never inked the thing up...  until tonight!

card #2 for this month's Unity challenge!  i did the card sketch already, so now i'm using the color combo...

the first thing i did was layer up a piece of vellum and a square of washi over a piece of an upcycled envelope (from a bill!) and stamped the clouds in StazOn (Hydrangea Blue).  i stamped the elephant and sentiment from "could i be any cuter?" on some LilyKate paper from BasicGrey using Memento (London Fog), then doodled a cloud and outlined the elephant with a black Sharpie.  cut them out, cut a couple of green mounds and snipped 'em into grass, pop dotted them up and assembled everything, adding enamel dots and hearts:

usually i struggle with colour challenges that use more than, say, 3 different colours (i can do it on my own, i just have a really hard time when the colours are pre-determined), but i found this one much easier (despite the periwinkle!)...  there were scraps of everything lying on my table, and they were perfect!  here's the colour palette (one of the three challenge options!):

and that's gonna do it for tonight!  trying NOT to stay up too late tonight, since tomorrow i'm at Barre-Fusion in the morning, then i have to shower and get ready for a day on the road with hubbin.  i see some WaWa coffee in my near future!  :D

sketchy goodness at Unity!

happy MONDAY, chickens!  yep, i'm a little excited to have a 3-day weekend, so last night i was up VERY late and totally got my craft on.  lemme tell ya - it felt GOOD and i'm inspired to keep going today!

i decided to join in the fun at Unity for their challenge this month...  there are THREE to choose from - a colour challenge, a card sketch and a scrapbook page sketch.  i may actually dig through some papers to try the colour challenge, too, since i have all this fab natural light to enjoy today and no place to go until dinner time!

i used my favourite tree from the Eco Chic set (an oldie but a goodie!), and paired it up with a sentiment and the bird from Birdie Inspiration:

picked out some earthy looking patterned paper and sprayed with Heidi Swapp's Color Shine in Navy using a dotty little stencil/mask...  coloured the image with my Prismacolor pencils, added a tag for my sentiment, a smidge of twine and popped up the birds...  LOVE this tree.  LOVE this birdie set.  i have used the simple greetings for SO many cards.  wish you could see the fun shimmer on this card - Heidi does good work!  ;)

here's the sketch on which my card is based:

annnnnnnd with that, OFF TO THE CRAFT CAVE!  :)  hope you're all having a fabulous day.  the sun is shining here, there's a kitty snoozing behind me, and Sondre Lerche music playing to inspire me.  life is good!

(added to the Paper Issues link party for the Mix Tape issue - mixed media is fun and i need to do it more!)