Winners of my GIU Week and a Card

Hello & Welcome

Today's post is the announcement of the Winners from my GIU, (Growing In Unity) week. - Before I get to the names of the winners I want to say a HUGE, Thank You to everyone who left such wonderful comments on my cards last week.  

Now without further ado the winners are: Kelly Kramer Sikes and Kim Jones.  Congratulations ladies!

Since I didn't just want to post the winners I'm including a card.  It was an extra one I made for my Day 3 Post which featured these 2 cards:

I made another card because I wasn't sure that these 2 card showed enough of a difference in styles. - In the end I posted them anyway but you should see the other card I made so it's a (Bonus) card just for today.

This one used the Mushroom again from the (July 2025 KOM - Feelin' Fall the Things).  Again it was colored with pencils and blended with Gamsol.  I used the same paper pack, (Spore the Love) but chose the red dotted piece so that it would have a more, Love/Valentine/Anniversary feeling to it.  Added Very Vanilla card stock, Crumb Cake - Which was ran through an large dot embossing folder but turned over so that it was, (debossed) instead.  Added a couple of hearts made from dies and punches.  The Red heart has Wink of Stella on it.  Added some tiny gold gems to the center of the flowers and some cream colored enamel dots to complete the card.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting!

Day 3 - GIU Week (June 29-July 3 2026)

Hello and Welcome.  We are midway through my week as the GIU featured stamper. - By now you realize I'm featuring 2 cards each day using the same stamped image.  I'm using the July 2025 KOM - Took me an entire year to get this set out and actually use it!  It has some great images/sentiments so I don't know why it took me so long to use it.

Card #1:

I fell in love with the adorable mushroom image in this set.  Then I realized I had forgotten to purchase the Designer Paper that coordinates with that image so beautifully.  Guess what?  I just had to buy it.  

Details on this card:  Card Base: Cajun Craze. Also used: More Mustard cs* retired.  I so miss a lot of the old SU colors but thankfully still have some of them in my card stock stash.  The patterned paper is from Unity (Spore the Love). My image was stamped with Versa Fine Clair Nocturne ink and colored with various Copic markers.  I did not write down which ones I used.  I've had Copics for several years but struggle to use them.  I'm trying to improve my skills so hopefully this isn't too bad. The mustard piece of card stock was embossed with a Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I rounded the corners with a corner punch. (KW-triO 3-Way) which was gifted to me by a good friend. The sentiment and focal image were mounted with foam tape and some sequins were added to complete the card.  Showing some of the details below:

Card #2:  The first card has a more (Fall) feel to it. - This one I tried to give a more summer like feel by changing up the colors.

Card Base: Real Red cs (SU) Then I cut out a rectangle of the patterned paper (Spore the Love) that had some brighter tones to it.

The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with pencils (Prisma Color) and blended with Gamsol/Blending Stumps.  I added some shimmer to the mushroom dots with a Wink of Stella pen. Hearts were left over from the first day's "Bear" card. I Stapled them onto another piece of the patterned paper.  Added some enamel dots and mounted the image with foam tape.  A couple of little gold gems add some extra sparkle.

Again you can see that I did one card in Landscape and one card in Portrait.  - Click to enlarge photos for better detail.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be eligible for a $20 store credit with Unity at the end of my week.  If commenting anonymously please leave your name in your comment so you can be identified if your comment is chosen. 

See you again tomorrow for image #4 from this Kit. 

PP698 - Card 2

 Welcome & thanks for stopping by.

Since I loved the Paper Players Color Challenge this week PP698 I decided to make a second card for the challenge.  I had some elements left over from yesterday's card that didn't work for my card idea and thought why not put them to good use.

This card is very different from the sweet little mouse card from yesterday's post.  I hope you like it just as much.

For this card I used the mushroom image from Unity's  KOM (Love and Good Vibes)   I just loved those mushrooms and the fact that they have little hearts on them makes them even cuter.  I was able to get this kit for my participation as a featured Unity GIU in June.

For this card I changed up my colors instead of Real Red I decided to use Poppy Parade card Stock for the background.  Next I layered that with a piece of textured paper from my stash.  It's hard to see the texture in the first photo so I'll include a picture at the end of the post showing the texture the black piece has.

The focal image was colored again with Prisma Premier Color Pencils and blended with Gamsol.  I then cut the image out with a new to me die from Unity (Scallops and Circles) I edged the circle with some Smoky Slate ink and a blending stump.

I already had the Smoky Slate fishtail die cut and the sentiment which is from the (Lil'Bloomer) stamp set used on yesterday's card.

I had another set of hearts punched and stapled but since I changed the red color I ended up punching new ones for this card.

That's it for the details on this card.  It's also going on NBUS#64 since I used a new die and a new stamp.

Have a great day & happy Stamping!