Unity Card and my Stamp Expo adventures

Wow wow wow! So Friday i went to Eleanor's to pick up my curlz font i preordered for my Just Rite stamper. Of course i can NEVER walk out of there with just 1 thing. I got a fabulous stamps that reads "made by a mad crafter at midnight" How perfect, huh? I also found the perfect sentiment stamp by Verses Rubber Stamps. I have a couple of their stamps now and i've decided i really like their quality and their price isnt bad for their size. They are also very nicely mounted. Using a 40% coupon on them doesnt hurt either. :) Anyhoo - i found the perfect sentiment for a card i wanted to make for a friend who has been having a rough time lately.

I used my Unity stamps that also came in the mail on Friday. I decided to try a new technique and while i've definitely not good at it yet, the friend I made it for will appreciate it. I also tried unity's challenge of using the unity website colors (plus 1 color of our choice).
Here is my card...


What i did: First i took some glossy cardstock and stamped my butterfly image (from Unity Stamp Co) in versamark ink. I then sprinkled some clear embossing powder and heat set it with my heat gun. I used the swirl from Unity's Growing In Unity set and also used the embossing powder. Then i took a small sponge dauber and sponged Ocean ink (Close to My Heart) all around the butterfly's edge. I then used Breeze Ink (Close to My Heart) on the rest of the background and then went back with the Ocean to make sure it was blended a little better and also used the Ocean around the cardstock edge. I used the same sponging technique for the inside of the butterfly and used Blush and Baby Pink ink (Close to My Heart). I took a paper towel to wipe off any excess ink on the white to make the butterfly and swirl really pop. I used Chestnut Roan ink (Cat's Eye Chalk Ink) around the entire edge.
The sentiment as previously mentioned is by Verses Rubber Stamps. After adhering my glossy cardstock to my card (over Papertrey Ink twill ribbon in dark chocolate), i stamped the sentiment in versamark and then sprinkled brown embossing powder by Clear Tops over and heat set it. Last but not least, i used my Creative Memories precision point adhesive to draw out some lines on my butterfly and sprinkled some chunky clear glitter i picked up the other day at Hobby Lobby. I just wanted a little extra something when it was all said and done.
Flowers are by Prima Marketing and the brown brads are by Spare Parts.



And onto my day yesterday at the stamp expo! Oh how fun it was! I was planning on just driving until the jackster fell asleep in the car and then just cram as much as i could in while he catnapped in the stroller but my hubby said he'd come home from working so i could go solo! I guess he's just trying to be sweet since he knows soon i wont get to do much of these types of things! I saw a couple of new fun techniques and learned that you can emboss with the distress inks. Lovely. I have 6 of them already, but now i'm going to have to start buying them more and more. I bought some of their reinkers and a cut n dry felt pad to try out their technique. Maybe i'll try that out this week if i dont go into labor. hehe.

Other than that my purchases were pretty random. Lots of unmounted stuff everywhere! I got 3 or 4 good quotes that i think will be great to have (that were only 2.75 a piece!!!!) I also got some simple sentiments (Best Wishes, Thank You, etc) that were already mounted on easy mount for a buck a piece. I also picked up some fab colors of embossing powder from a company called Sparkle N Sprinkle. I cant wait to try them out! They had so many colors! It was hard to only pick a few! I got 2 stamp sets from a company called Movable Parts. Both sets are to make "fluffy dogs". OMG - they are so stinkin' cute! I need to practice with them a bit first before i create anything for the blog world to see, but they will be lots and lots of fun! Oh - i picked up some savvy stamps as well! I really like their quality and the booth had them 40% off! They are typically very small, so i think of them as overpriced for their size, but at 40% off, i picked myself up a few.

Now of course i dont have a clue when i plan to find time to use my new goodies. Especially the ones that will take a little learning and know-how. But it was lots of fun to walk and shop! :) If i had a dollar for every person who asked me when i was due, i would have shopped for free though! :)

And then today was my baby shower! I got lots of cute cards from my crafty friends. I'm too pooped today, but i will take a pic of them all tomorrow and put them in a post. For now, i think i'm just going to collapse in bed after my very busy weekend! :)