Growing in Unity (Day 3) - Rockin' It! :)

 

I'm a child of the 70's and 80's. The 80's had good music but I really don't remember much about the 70's - except shaggy hair, polyester clothing, and... pet rocks.  You can read more about pet rocks here - and it says they were back on the market in 2012. But hey, we're crafty peeps, we can make our own pet rocks, as well as "inspiration rocks". Right?

I used Empowered Words, but to be honest, a better choice might have been Art & Possibility, just because the sentiments are smaller. Yes, folks, it takes a bit of practice and skill to beautifully stamp imperfectly round objects! You have been warned! In hindsight, it might have been smarter to seal the rocks before stamping, to make it easier to rectify any mistakes (acetone and sanding only go so far), but - I think the effort was well worth it. :)

Here's a closeup of one of my favorite sentiments in this collection. You can buy (river) rocks at stores like Michaels. It seems silly to buy rocks (when you think about it), but their surfaces tend to be polished for better stamping. I'm going to keep them in a glass container (see below) on my work table for decor and inspiration.

Now, I've said making layouts are my favorite thing to do, but I'm still getting used to stamping on layouts - I find it challenging and I'm a very slow incubator of ideas.  To save some time, I used Unity's layout inspiration sketch (ETA: Agh! I missed the linking up deadline myself! It's still a great sketch, though!).

My newly turned nine-year old LOVES soccer. She has always wanted to be on the local club soccer team, so after coaching her at the AYSO level for two years, we thought she was ready. She joined the team at the ripe old age of seven (almost eight) and has been having a blast, even though she's the smallest on the team - by far. But, she's very stubborn and determined! Something happened this past spring, probably after her personal evaluation when her coach told her, "You've been a 'Steady Eddie' but I'd like to see you start taking risks to become a better player." Holy cow, look out, world! She's doing gut balls and headers, trying to settle the ball before it bounces, and diving for saves (as a goalkeeper). I'm so proud of her hustling 110% every game and grateful we have a new camera so I can get some great action shots. Here she is, jumping up to stop the ball with her stomach. DaddyDude took one look at the picture and exclaimed, "Holy cow, she got some air!!!" Hence, the title.

I really like working with Kraft paper, because you can make pictures and patterned papers *pop*. I wanted to showcase the action photo, though, and thought it would be interesting to create a "one-layer" layout (never having tried that before). But something felt missing...

And then I remembered Christy Tomlinson's SheArt Doodles, which I have always loved but hadn't used yet.Voila! Framing the layout pulled everything together (at least, in my opinion). And in case you're wondering what other kits I used... I stamped the title using Alphabetically Adorable (love how whimsical it is, and there is plenty of space for coloring), the sentiment below the picture is from Good Times Vintage Banner, the floral lace border (and the embossed butterfly and "noted") is from Wildflowers & Wings, and finally, I stamped Go Hard or Go Home directly on the picture with StazOn.

Well, thank you for joining me today! I hope to see you tomorrow, when I get to talk about one of my great loves... :)

Don't forget to leave a comment on my posts for a chance to win two itty-bitties and don't forget that Unity has extended their amazing Birthday Sale until Friday! Hope you have a crafty day! :)