Unity Opportunity Blog

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sunday Faves!

Good morning {ippity} peeps! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. Mine is ending on a great note, because I am here sharing some of my favorite finds by all of you. Pretty soon, we'll be seeing lots of new {ippity} inspiration BECAUSE the new release is sneaking up on us! AUG. 12 is the day, make sure you mark your calenders.

First up is a card that caught my eye right away-it's a circle card, LOVE those and it uses some of my favorite dp, Fly a Kite, AND it's a CASE of one of our former DT members, Michelle Woerner. Christy's (lone pine designs) card is soooo, so cute. Great use of Just Wanted to Say, a set I still reach for over and over.

Oh, wow! your gonna love this one. Julie (JR Murray)created this fun, colorful, and HAPPY card. I'm planning on casing this one. Nice work with A Litttle Buggy. I just love how simple this is, but yet it is so eye-catching.

Love the yellow on this card, it just spoke to me. Then I saw the adorable Now& Always flower mounted on that stick with a bow-just darling! Love this card by Stampin Fanatic.

Oh, and then there's this one by Sherrie Thompson. There was a great trio of cards using the Fall For You stamp set and the My Mind's Eye dp, I picked this one to share here on the blog. I just adore these easel cards.

and I'll leave you with one last beauty, by elisabeth64! I think the blue dp on this one is gorgeous, the super fabby layout and the great combo of {ippity} stamps-Now & Always and Delightful Little Things! What a great quote!

Thanks for stopping by today. If you get some time, stop by the {ippity} gallery. It really is chuck full of beautiful creations. Have a beautiful day. We'll see you back here tomorrow for the Monday, H{ippity} Hop!
Hugs,

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Flatter-day Saturday

Happy Saturday it's Stephanie here and I am so excited today because I get to Flatter the One and Only Michelle Bertuzzi. Michelle is super talented she if founder of CardPatterns a fabulous Sketch Challenge Blog and not only that She is an amazing Illustrator!!! So let's get right to it and find out a little more about this fabulous Lady!!!!!

General Questions

· Tell us a little about yourself{family,location,background,job,kids,etc}

I’m a SAHM, Filipino-Japanese living with my 2 boys (soon to be 4 and 6) and my shy husband in Calgary, Alberta Canada. By trade, I’m a Psychology graduate and also Computer Programmer but I’m more than happy to be a boo boo kisser by chosen profession.

Stamping Questions

How did you first get involved in stamping?
It was 2008 when I first bought Stampin Up from a garage sale. I didn’t really get into stamping until early 2009. And that’s also the year when I first purchased my Unity February 2009 KOM. There’s no going back.

· What Is Your Stamping Style

I like to do a lot of paper piercing and like to create borders or pattern from stamps. I love CAS style but I’m leaning towards vintage lately.

· Tell Us About Your Creative Process

Creating the layout, combining colors and patterns are always the slowest for me but once I know what I want, I just roll. I’m a visual person and I try to bring out all the papers and embellishments I want to use then start creating. I like to use a lot of chalk, coloring pencils, distress or ink every possible edge of the paper.

· What Is Your favorite Ippity Stamp Set and Why?

There are so many beautiful ippity stamps. I don’t even know where to begin!

· How Often Do You Stamp?

I’d take any chance I can. However, I do make something at least once in a week or every couple weeks. But again, I try to make as much as I can.

· How Long does it take you to make a project you are happy with?

Depends. If I know what I want to do and the patterns I need to use, it usually takes me 15-20mins per card. Some cards could take me an hour just because I can’t decide. However, I leave it overnight & look at it the next day to see if I need to do some touch ups or add embellishments. It’s always good to start with less because you can always add to it, but it will usually destroy your project if you take less embellishments or paper. The adhesive will always create a stain on the project and your project will look horrible.

· What does you craft room look like?{messy,clean}

Always always messy! We have a bonus/family room where I share my craft room with my husband’s home theater/game room. I have a 6’ table that’s always piled with craft or sewing supplies. My craft storage/cupboards though are always clean and organized. It’s just my work table that’s always messy.

· What is your biggest crafting challenge?

Starting/deciding on a project is what’s always challenging for me and finding the time to do it. I’d take any chance I could but we have a busy household so I try use my time wisely.

· How are you involved in the making of Ippity Stamps?

– I illustrate for Unity Stamps (sister company of Ippity) and sometimes, my drawing could be chosen for Ippity release.

· How long have you worked there?

– I started illustrating for Unity of August last year (I think). :P

· Are You a crafter?Do you use Unity/ippity stamps outside of work?

- Yes I do use Unity and Ippity outside of work. .

· Can you tell us a funny story about your boss?{sorry Angela}

- Unfortunately, I haven’t met Angela in person. How a delight that would be! We’re both positive that it will happen someday. I’m sure it’d be a riot. We keep our communication line open. Angela is not only a great boss but she’s also a great friend. She’ll tell you what’s on her mind, encourage you and she will always make time for you -no matter how busy she is.

Thank you so Much Michelle for letting us Flatter you today it was such a honor!!!

Here is a fabulous card Michelle made using some of the fabulous Ippity stamps that she illustrated!!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Fresh idea Friday

Happy Friday to you all! Hope you had a great week and I am sure most of you are READY for the weekend. So, today I am going to share a few things with you. As I pondered what idea I could pass on to you today, someone commented on my blog asking to share how I take my pictures and what I use to adjust them and such. So today, I will talk about that.

If you have been to my blog lately I have talked about how much I miss my photo box for taking pictures, as currently I am between two places and the airlines just will not let me bring my huge photo box...hehehe..I know the nerve of them..hehehe. So, I thought it would be fun to tell you how to make one so you can take great pictures as well. Now, having a good camera is half the battle I tell you that, as this week I did bring my Nikon D60, so I am able to get semi decent photos of my projects with much editing.

But let's talk about the box. What is the box made of? Well, it's made of foam boards actually, and you need tape, shop lights from Home Depot or a store like that and daylight light bulbs, and a willing person to put it together..hehehe. For me I volunteered Michael and he was willing, but I could have made it easy, too. I even have pictures of him while working on it, but I am sure he would not be happy about me posting his photo here, so I won't. So, what is this box looks like? I snagged this picture from www.studiolighting.net and the tutorial is from there, as well, which I will link up under the photo of the box, so you can just click on it and follow the instructions to make one.

Homemade Light Box Tutorial

Now, once I take my photo, I can tell you two things you can edit your photos with. I do have Photoshop CS3 and I do my first adjustments there. I am sure if you use a different software the steps are quite similar, so this is what I do:

1. Pull in my image

2. Click on Image tab, Adjustments, than levels and adjust the picture by moving the arrows, until I like it.

3. Click on Image tab again, Adjustments and Brightness/Contrast and again by moving the arrows until I get the picture where I like it.

4. Click on Filter tab and Sharpen the image

5. Resize photo to 800 pixel width and add my watermark.

That is one way of doing it, however, if you don't have a fancy software, you can use a free one on the web. I was turned on to www.Picasaweb.google.com, and I have to tell you, that software is quite awesome, too. You can upload your image, you can do your basic editing, such as crop, straightening (which is one of my favorite tools there), then move into tuning, where you can work on highlights and shadows, they are kind of the same as the step 2 & 3 on Photoshop, and finally you can use their sharpen feature in the Effects section. It's really a fabulous free picture editor, I highly recommend it.

So, that is it for today. Hope this helps you a little bit, shoot me an e-mail or a message here, if you have any more questions, I will be more than happy to answer them. Happy picture taking..wonder how many of you are going to make a light box this weekend..hehehe.

Have a wonderful day!

Hugs,

Thursday, July 15, 2010

That's How Thursday Pleated Ribbon Tutorial

HIP HOP!!!!

Welcome everyone to this week's {ippity} tutorial. I had a completely different tutorial in mind but after SO MANY people asked how I did my ribbon and bow for Monday's H{ippity} Hop card I thought I would take the time to show you. Here is Monday's card:

I made it for this weeks challenge to case any {ippity} card from the SCS gallery. There is still time to play and all the details can be found {HERE}.

Now on to the tutorial....

here is what you will need:

cardstock or decorative paper

ribbon

double sided tape

regular tape

glue dots

1. Start by placing a strip of tape on your project where you want the ribbon to go. Make sure you get the tape end to end. I like to wrap my tape around the sides to help hold the ribbon on in back.

2. Start by determining where you want the bow to go and leave that part straight {it helps keep the bow from bunching}. Then begin folding the ribbon and tacking it down into place. Changing the directions of the folds give you different pleats. The peaks of the ribbon will stick up but we will fix that later :)
{NOTE: I like to leave the ribbon on the spool so I don't cut of too much or too little}

3. When you get to the end cut the ribbon from the spool and leave a little tail to wrap around behind the project. If you wrapped your double sided tape around back you can tack the ribbon down to it. I prefer to use some regular tape to make sure that it stays in place.

4. Now, to keep those peaks in place you can use glue dots to hold the ribbon down. Most of it will stick to the tape but the ribbon that overlaps will need some adhesive. I pick up a glue dot with the tip of my paper piercer and place it in the folds. Another FUN alternative is to stitch right over the top of the ribbon :)

5. Here comes the bow!! Start by making a loop in the ribbon in your left hand.

{NOTE: Again I like to leave mine on the spool to keep from wasting any}

6. Wrap the tail around the back side of the ribbon with your right hand.

7. Thread the tail through behind the loop.

8. The bow will be really "loose" right now. Slip your thumbs into the loops and grip the tails with the your first three fingers and the palm of your hands.

9. Once you get everything even and the way you want it pull tightly on ALL four ends at once. The bow will stay puffy and in place. Then just cut the ribbon ends as you want and glue it down to your project where you left some space.

That's all there is to it...can't wait to see what everyone does with this tutorial. If you didn't start this weeks HIP HOP on the {Unity blog} you can click on the button below to start at the beginning.

One MORE thing....how about ONE lucky winner of the {ippity} set

Where You Should Be
Just leave a comment on this blog post and a random winner will be drawn :)
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. A sunset, a mountain bathed in moonlight, the ocean in calm and in storm – we see these, love their beauty, hold the vision in our hearts. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us”.

-Helen Keller-

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ippity Matters Wednesday!!! EXCITING NEWS!!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

FOR JULY 20th!!!

If you are enrolled with IPPITY you will be able to VIEW and PREORDER the NEW SUMMER 2010 IPPITY releases and bundle pack on the private IPPITY site!

New kits, new paper, new ink! YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!

The kits just keep getting better and better...I am SO EXCITED!!!

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

It's time for some IPPITY INSPIRATION

Ippity Chick Carisa Zglobicki

created these ADORABLE cards using stamps from IPPITY Kits:

IPK-112 Moon Beams and Heart Strings and IPK-119 Season of Joy

GREAT JOB CARISA!

http://ippitychickcarisa.blogspot.com/

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

Ippity Chick Emily Candy created these SUPER CUTE notebooks and small albums

using stamps from Ippity Kits: IPK-117 Now and Always, IPK-120 Fall for You,

and IPK-110 Where You Should Be

LOVE THEM ALL!! YAHOO Emily!!

http://ippityinspiration.blogspot.com/

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

Please WELCOME our NEWEST IPPITY CHICK:

Amy Amer from Coatesville, PA

CONGRATS AND WELCOME AMY!!!

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

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND GET READY FOR SOME EXCITEMENT,

NEXT TUESDAY JULY 20th!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

t{ippity} tuesday...craft show inspiration!

have you...or are you

thinking about having a booth at a craft show sometime soon?

craft shows are wonderful for...

*selling your {ippity} stamps and creations

*face to face interation with your customers...

along with them actually bing able to see your product in real life!!!

*EXPOSURE to so many NEW people

*instant sales

*meet new people

*make lots of wonderful new friends

*get email addresses for marketing purposes

{have your customer's enter a giveaway by leaving their name & email with you}

*networking

...........................................

I was searching online lastnight for some good craft show TIPS and ran across these posts...

check them out...there is some really VALUABLE information within these posts!!

craft fair tips from etsy

...........................................

We all now how important your booth display is, right?

it's got to be CRAFTY & CUTE

{in my little opinion!!}

flickr has a group called

SHOW ME YOUR BOOTHS

{tons of inspiration!}

here are some that caught my eye...

picture via flikr by acoate

how cute would your {ippity} cards &

kits look in these wooden boxes...

and a wooden drawer, how cute!!

picture via flikr by planettreasures

LOVE that pendant banner on top,

I can just envision creating one with the

{ippity} paper lines & stamps...

GREAT way to grab passerby's attention, don't ya think?

{actually, i think they'll be RUNNING to your booth!!}

here's more from etsy....

craft show display tips from etsy

Thanks for stopping by...

we'll see ya back here tomorrow!

Monday, July 12, 2010

H{ippity} Hop

Happy H{ippity} Hop!!

I have to say I'm super EXCITED to see what everyone does for today's challenge. I think I came up with a good one :)

This week's challenge is:

CASE ANY IPPITY CARD FROM THE SCS GALLERY

Fun huh?!?!

You can {CLICK HERE} to see the Splitcoast {ippity} gallery.

All you have to do is find a card that inspires you on the {SCS Gallery} and remake it.....make it your own but let the card inspire your design. Then when you link up your card on the {ippity} forum make sure you link up the card that inspired you that way we can all see the inspirational card.

Don't forget to leave a little love in the gallery while you are there :)

This week's prize:

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART

Upload it to the SCS Gallery using the keywords

IHHC32 and Ippity
by Sunday night July 18th at midnight
and a
random winner will be drawn next Monday!!

Here is the card I decided to case...I have to admit...the gingham caught my eye!