Growing in Unity 2025 – Day 5

For our last GIU day this week, we’re going big. I have a 5 x 7 card for you today using Unity’s “Love that Lasts” stamp set. When I saw the Unity Design Team’s inspiration cards when this set first came out, I knew I wanted to try to recreate at least one of them. So here we go!

Knowing I was going to need masks, I stamped both images from the set on Gina K Masking Magic and let them dry while I was gone to work. I fussy cut them out when I got home.

I cut down two white panels to 4 1/8 x 6 1/8, using a layering guide from Maymay Made It. I stamped the older couple from the set on one of the panels using VersaFine Claire pigment ink in Morning Mist. I then masked off that image and stamped the younger couple in Catherine Pooler dye ink in Twilight.

Now for ink blending. I first blended Simon Hurley dye ink in Cookie Dough over the entire panel. Next I blended Distress Ink in Old Paper and then Fossilized Amber, which came in brighter than I wanted, so I added more Old Paper to tone it down. The final ink blending is a little Distress Ink in Vintage Photo around the edge.

It was now time to remove the mask and start coloring our focal image. . . the love that lasts. I really love watching an image come to life as I color it. I should have taken pictures of each coloring layer so you can see it come to life, but unfortunately I didn’t. So, you get to read for a bit and then see the colored image.

I used my Prismacolor Pencils again for coloring. I just can’t help it . . . they are my “go to” coloring medium. I colored the grass first with a combination of Marine Green, Moss Green, Green Ochre, and Limepeel. Next I filled in some sky through the slats of the bench with Sky Blue Light. The hearts, which are part of the old couple stamp, are colored in Crimson Red. Next came the bench in Dark Umber, Light Umber, and Sienna Brown.

For our lovely couple, I started with their skin. I used Kit and Clowder’s color combination starting with Burnt Orche rather than Sienna Brown since the skin areas are so small on this image. I then continued on with Clay Rose, Light Peach, Eggshell, and White. Their hair came next. Her hair is a combination of Sand, 20% Cool Grey, 10% Cool Grey, and White. His hair is a combination of 10% Cool Grey and White. He is dressed in 70% Cool Grey slacks, shoes in 90% Warm Grey and 30% Warm Grey, with a white shirt. For his shirt, I used 10% Cool Grey to simply highlight the stamp details in the shirt. Surprisingly enough, a little light grey makes the white paper appear brighter. (Just another little coloring trick learned in classes I’ve taken from Kit and Clowder.) Our lovely lady is dressed in Dark Purple slacks, a top that is a combination of Lavender and Greyed Lavender, with shoes in 30% Warm Grey.

To turn this panel into a card, I cut a 5 x 7 kraft card base and several layers from an American Crafts 6 x 8 paper pad from my paper closet. I chose two pieces from the pad knowing they would coordinate perfectly. I cut the first panel at 4 5/8 x 6 5/8 and the second panel at 4 3/8 x 6 3/8. I glued each layer down directly.

I really love how this card came together. I’ve also loved spending this week with you and sharing some Unity Stamp Company love.

Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win one of two gifts from Unity that I have to give away this week. Each gift is $20 in store credit on the Unity Stamp Company website. I will be drawing two names using a random picker at the end of the week from those who comment.

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