Smile and Sparkle......Hop with Unity Link Up

Hi, Friends......

I am here with a temporary departure from winter to share a couple of flowery cards.  Am I done with winter?  No.  Am I done with snow?  Definitely not.  I took Little Peach out today with her snow disk to slide down "her" gravel pile.  As I have mentioned before, this pile is the gravel leftover from filling in a plumbing trench.  She has had so much fun playing on this pile of gravel with the cats and the dog that it would have been worth just buying the crushed rock for her...even if we hadn't needed any!  Now that it is covered with a thick blanket of snow, it is even more fun.  :)  

I love winter here in Idaho.  It was a crisp 18 degrees, but the sun was shining so it seemed a lot warmer.  The very low humidity has dried the snow out to a nice crunchy texture, so it was a lovely day to play.  She slid and entertained her kitty and our dog while I took care of my chickens.....who have started laying again because of the brightness of the sunshine on the dazzling snow.  

Now, on to my card.....
I am so glad that Unity kept their link-up open until Sunday this week because I have gotten completely confused as to when the hops and link-ups are!!  lol.... 

I recently won the wonderful July 2015 Sentiment Kit Unity - Smile, It's Your Day. LOVE!!!! (Thanks, Unity!!!) I had so much fun with it, that I ended up making two cards. Yay!! I made one large card-sized background by doing some arty layered stamping with the solid and outline flowers and one of the leaf stamps with Distress Ink (Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, and Shabby Shutters) on white cardstock. I cut it in half and used a piece for each of my cards.

The sentiments for each of the cards are stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with some fun sparkly pink powder.  The green checkered patterned paper and the pink cardstock are DCWV scraps.  The sequins photographed pinker than they actually are....they are more of an opalescent white with a pink sheen.  I colored in some parts of the flower with my clear Wink of Stella pen for more shine and sparkle.

On my second card, I layered another DCWV scrap and some vellum behind my sentiment panel.  I love how layering uses up scraps, but don't like how it obscures the pretty patterns.....esp the one I had stamped with this set!  The ribbon looks like it has a bit of a gray tinge, but it is actually just a shimmery sheer with white polka-dots.

One other thing I want to share is this incredibly useful new Distress Ink color chart that I made the other day.  I downloaded this blank chart from..... from...... from......  ARRRRRGH!!!  I can't believe I don't remember where I found this most up-to-date chart!!!  Unbelievable....  Anyway....I do have the PDF and I can email it to you if you are interested (jwoolbright at gmail dot com).  I don't have all the DI colors, but I have most of them.  It was simple to make with this free printable.  I never before thought I would really need something like this, but I used it the very first day I made it. I relied on it again today for choosing the ink colors for these cards, too!  I am so glad I made it!!!

Well, that's all for tonight.....I see that it isn't really tonight anymore!  lol....  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope your New Year has gotten started with time to craft and relax.

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering these cards in the following challenges:
1.  Unity Hop and Link Up
2.  Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 210
Who knows....maybe I will get a few more added on here.....