Unity Blog Hop

awe Unity Stamp Company, you have a piece of my heart!

I have other stamps but I don't reach for them often

I'm always looking thru my Unity Stamps for everything

E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

anyway, back to the BLOG HOP!

I am highlighting Christmas because I am sooooo very far behind on sending out cards!

I am a complete slacker

To create both Christmas cards, I used Kit of the Month

Conspiracy of Love (which is one of my very favorite KOMs every) 

Today, I got the spend hours with a girlfriend!

Just cooking, laughing, chatting, and we each made a card

using {Planner Girl} Stay Cozy

Here is our blog hop order: 

Denise Sayers https://thecraftyledger.blog/

Lori Simonson http://mncrafting.blogspot.com/?m=1

Sharon Edwards https://lingeringhappinessco.blogspot.com/

Amber Sheaves https://allamberallthetime.blogspot.com/

Kim Chong https://mycutecrafts.com/

Angela Bode https://stampingbowd.blogspot.com/.../growing-in-unity...

MariLynn DeGroot https://mississippi-mcgyver.blogspot.com/?m=1

Amanda Rhodes https://salnclts76.blogspot.com/

 >>> You Are Here>>> Paula McClane https://scrapaddictsattic.blogspot.com/ <<< Me Me Me, That's Me<<<

>>>Go Here Next>>> Amanda Garrett https://amandascreativecorner.blogspot.com/?m=1 &lt;<

Amanda Garrett https://amandascreativecorner.blogspot.com/?m=1

Crystal O. Minkler https://crystalominkler.blogspot.com/

GIU Winner Time

Thanks so much for those who came & saw my Growing In Unity creations last week!

My two random winners of 25 stamps from Unity Stamp Company are

Joyce Verdon & Katherine Herbert

Please send me your mailing address within the next two weeks to claim your prizes.

Email me at: ScrapAddictsAttic at gmail dot com

Fun Fun Fun

I recently discovered stamps by Brutus Monroe,

thanks to a facebook group ;-)

They are clear stamps on a 4x6 sheet. I only purchased two sets my first time out but the quality is very nice. They stamp very clear, even the fine lettered sentiments.

The images to the left are all from Home Sweet Home which I colored in with colored pencils

(rarely use them) and a heart from another collection.

These images are all from Birthday Bear. This set has four cute bears, two birds and a bunny... did I mention cute? They are SO cute! Instead of coloring them in, I used Tim Holtz Distress Paint daubers and just kinda splatted the paint on. Added a touch of sparkly Nuvo to finish off the balloons and I have a great Birthday tag!

Growing in Unity 2017 - Day 5

TGIF

and a Happy New Year to you too!

Whao, did we really just blow thru all those  holidays?

I think we did!

Thank you so much for putting up with me this week

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have

New Years! What do you do to celebrate?Me, no a thing!

Oh I'll have a drink or three,

watch a show or two,

craft until 12:01 or

just go to bed. 

I'm not an exciting party person

For these, I used Copic markers to color with and paired this super fun set with these equally fun papers and a super sparkly ribbon that just keeps giving!

I know it's hard to tell in these pics but I used clear Nuvo over the liquid in the glass so it's shiney.

Stamp Set: Bright Spirits

 You can purchase this one HERE

Just a little bonus KISS card

 I don't know if it's snowing where you're at and some years we don't get snow at all but this guy makes me wish the white fluffy stuff was everywhere! And I don't even like the cold

Stamp Set: Mittens in Winter

You can purchase this one HERE

Last day to get yourself entered to maybe win some free stamps from Unity Stamp Company!

Growing in Unity 2017 - Day 4

Happy Thursday! 

Are you getting in the holiday spirit yet? 

I kept this first one simple on the coloring, just green Copics for the tree & sky.

But I got out my old circle punches for that pop of something.

I think it's festive!

 When I was in High School, I owned a red bug. It's a good thing cars can't talk ;-)

You'll notice I used different shade of red to color this bug, well that's how mine was.

I left spots white thinking it looks a bit like snow.

To mix things up a bit, I skipped the sentiment stamp & chose to use stickers from the paper pack, I'm not a sticker person and know I would not use these in a scrapbook so this is the perfect use for these.

 

Stamp Set featured:

Oh, Christmas Joy

You can purchase it HERE

Don't forget to leave a comment on each day's post to be entered in the drawing!

Growing in Unity 2017 - Day 3

Welcome to Wednesday!

I'm jumping to Christmas or perhaps, preparing for Christmas.

For my family, we use an artificial tree and we use the same one for YEARS!

We had the same tree for 12 years, then it started falling apart so it had to go.

For the next three years, we each made a homemade tree and used those

until the cats, dog, and packing got the better of them.

Last year, we broke down and bought a new artificial tree.

We will put it up the day after Thanksgiving, or as some people call it

Black Friday. I'm more of a Cyber Monday type of person

Today I'm doing a photo tutorial of how I made this card

Step One: Stamped using Memento in Tuxedo Black

Step Two: Stamped using Tim Holtz in Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Squeezed Lemonade, and Gathered Twigs. Fussy cut them out and fringed the edges of a couple of trees.

Step Three: Colored the image using Copic markers. Fussy cut along the top edge of ground, truck & trees but not all the way to the edges of the card.

Step Four: Inserted trees behind the truck and glued into place

Step Five: Finish it off by topping the Star in Sparkly Nuvo, adding a bit of White Puffy Paint for snow, and Tattered Angles Glimmer Glaze in Waterfall on the truck windows.

The back: The new Unity Company Stamp! AWESOME!!!

Stamp Set used for this one is the October Kit of the Month

You can sign up for it HERE

It is a monthly subscription and a super fun to be a part of!

And a bonus card: It's one layer using a multiple stamp technique so you get shades of the color

Don't forget to leave a comment on each day's post to be entered in the drawing!

Growing in Unity 2017 - Day 2

Welcome back for Thanksgiving!

I completely love Thanksgiving because we have an open door policy

at our house... friends, family, whoever... potluck!

We deep fry a Turkey, make Black Bottom Pie, bake a Sweet Potato & Pecan Casserole

and this year we're going to add another pie but it's going to be a surpise

to all so I'm not sayin'

Everyone else brings breads, cookies, veggies, drinks, etc.

On to the card! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this old truck stamp! I just had to make the old girl sparkle, and vintage green is my favorite truck color

I used colored pencils for this one, which I rarely do but then topped that with some Wink of Stella on the truck so it has that pop! The finishing touch is that little Copper dot of Nuvo on the sentiment banner 

Stamp Set Used: Great Blessings

you can get it HERE

Don't forget to leave a comment on each day's post to be entered in the drawing!

Growing In Unity 2017 - Day 1

It is ridiculous how excited I get when it is my turn to be a

Growing In Unity Gal! Unity Stamp Company is crazy awesome

for how the include their customers in their business,

as for our feedback and let us do a little card designing for them

one whole week each year! They also have sales

All.The.Time.

With all that said, let's get started with my DAY ONE!

So many holiday coming up, I decided to hit them all!

Here we go with HALLOWEEN:

Oh how I love this witch! I started with simply stamping Esmerelda Girl then making a mask & temporarily gluing the mask down. I made a circle mask, colored it with Tim Holtz Oxide Inks. I used the branch from the Trust Your Soul, SMAK 11/14. Next, using a swiping pattern, colored the sky & ground with various Oxide Inks, pulled of Esmerelda's mask, misted on a bit of water & heat set. Topped off the moon with quite a bit of Wink of Stella. Using a black fine tip pin, I touched up the kitty so he really stood out. Colored pencil around the kitty and broom give them a little depth. Distressed the edges in Black Soot Distress Ink. Sentiment is the top part of Ghosts, Goblins, Witches (wit & wisdom) which is a little crooked but I kinda like it!

You can get Esmerelda Girl: HERE
Ghosts, Goblines, Witches (wit & wisdom): HERE
Trust Your Soul SMAK: HERE (or sign up for monthly kit to save and get great stamps)

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

This one isn't really Halloween but since Purple is one of my favorite colors, I thought I'd share

I created this background after doing acrylic pour painting, when I moved my canvas off the rack, I looked in the tray and boom this was there! So I grabbed a 6x6 canvas and dipped it into the run-off paint. After letting it dry for a couple of weeks, I finally decided this is the perfect stamp for it!

You can get What others Say: HERE

Don't forget to leave a comment on each day's post to be entered in the drawing!

Kansas Scrap & Quilt Retreat

The week school started this year, my girlfriends from all over the U.S. got together for some scrappy and not so scrappy fun! I have missed these girls (along with all my other friends from all over the globe) and the fun just didn't stop rolling. So here's my brief review of:

KANSAS SCRAP & QUILT RETREAT

Our location: Valley Center, Kansas which is just outside of Wichita

(borrowed from their website)

There is loads of parking spaces, we had this driveway pretty full but still room for more cars! Let's see if I remember correctly, there were three cars from Kansas, one from California, two from Colorado, and one from Arkansas. My one and only negative about this location is the entrance has a couple of large steps. I would like to see them add a ramp for rolling carts full of scrappy & quilting supplies in easier.

Kitchen (aka The Hub):

(borrowed from their website)

The Kitchen (aka The Hub of all activities) was very nice, large, easy to have multiple people in. All the normal appliances which all worked ;-) Lots of pans & dishes for us to use. After we jammed this refrigerator full, there was another downstairs. Perfect!

Supplies

(borrowed from their website)

This sweet area is where there are limited supplies you can buy and also you can dig thru a stack of things if you need just that right piece of paper or whatever. I left several things and took a few. I love a free trade area!

Relaxing & Getting away from the action

If you need some down time from your frantic crafting, you can go down to the basement where there are comfy sofa & chairs, plus tables & games, tv, etc. We didn't' really utilize this space except for that extra fridge

Sleeping

 Master Bedroom & Bath, located on main floor. There are 4 single beds. Also on the main floor is another full bathroom.

The back bedroom, located next to the full downstairs bath/laundry, 4 single beds.

The front bedroom, located next to the downstairs family room, 4 single beds.

And the single room. For us, this ended up being the non-snoring room... actually our other non-snoring person left the room while we were going full-steam.

When the action is going:

 

 (The view from my spot)

The owner of the house even stopped by to make sure everything was going good. I think she was checking up on Jeanne & Pam who are known instigators of all kinds of shenanigans.

Basically I loved this place! It's a five hour drive from my house, which isn't terrible. The house is laid-out nicely and it is roomy (if you don't pack an SUV full like I did). I HIGHLY recommend giving this location a try!

Time to get my crafty on ;-)

Cloud Creative Retreat at Valley Rental Center

This weekend I went on a much needed mini vacation to a craft retreat!

The location was in Concordia, Kansas at a place called

Cloud Creative Retreat which is located at the

Valley Rental Center... a circa 1958 school building!

My GPS took me right to the building with no problem or confusion.

 (Photos from Valley Rental Center Website)

The current owners purchased the building at silent auction 3 year ago,

applied for and received a grant for its re-birth.

Many things happen at this wonderful re-purposed building!

{my friends know me & my recycling}

There is a daycare "Little Monkeys", Cross Fit in the old gym,

counseling office, wedding reception hall, massage room, and yoga room.

Of course I was there for a Cloud Creative Retreat which just happened

to be hosted by one of the owners, Becky.

Cloud Creative Retreat Entrance is locate on the backside of the building

where there is plenty of paved parking.

When you enter the retreat there is a little sitting area

with a book all about how the retreat came to be. 

Nope I didn't take time to read it, but Becky gave us the highlights.

There is a Welcome Area as well... pretty

In the Welcome Area there are also two private shower rooms.

The main hallway has had the paint updated along with Exit Signs

and other required safety features.

Also some non-standard items that are just plain old cute

The Kitchen/Dining is a very large room.

(yes, I failed to get a picture of the actual working area of the kitchen)

As you can see there is plenty of seating for all!

The kitchen area (located to the left & back of the islands you see)

is very basic but has what you need to cook a meal... refrigerator, electric

range/oven, standard kitchen sink, dishwasher, microwave.

Lots of pots,pans, dishes, crockpots, blenders, etc.

There are two craft rooms. The first (not pictured, darn that photographer) is setup for scrapbookers. There are machines to use, lots of room to spread out and a half bath.

The second craft room (where I spend most of my time, pictured below) is mainly setup

for those who do fabric crafting. Although clearly from my area

I was doing paper crafts.

 Both rooms have original sinks, which are stained up and I totally love.

For Sleepy Time there are lots of bed choices, all twins

and each room has a cute color scheme going on.

 Each doorway is labeled with its use and a brief description.

The air conditioning would not work properly Friday and a small portion of Saturday

but Becky was on top of things. She had repairmen out both days as

soon as she knew about the issues. We got a little warm (ok it was Kansas in June, it was hot)

but opened the windows on both sides of the building for a good cross breeze and

 had ceiling fans on high to stay cool enough to get our crafty on.

#1 Best Thing... NO STAIRS!

This happy crafter definitely recommends going to a Cloud Creative Retreat!