Papercrafters Unite Against Racism Blog Hop!

Hello!

I’m sure you’ve seen all the drama happening in the world today – pandemic, injustice, riots and so much more. It breaks my heart to see how much hate there is in the world. Growing up I was always taught that people are equal no matter the colour of their skin, the God they pray to (even if they don’t pray at all), or who they choose to love. No one should be singled out for any reason, but yet the world is still filled with so much anger and hate.

I know people struggle sometimes with racism, especially when it’s not something that they’ve ever experienced themselves. I unfortunately have experienced racism many times in my life and it’s a very painful experience. You try to shake it off, but it does sting every single time. One of the most amazing things I’ve seen in the past few weeks is the willingness to speak out against racism. Some people will never fully understand what it feels like to be discriminated against, but I appreciate the willingness to learn and the eagerness to speak out against injustice. 

The lovely Justine Hovey has put together the “Papercrafter Unite Against Racism Hop”. This hop will be featured on Instagram, Blogs and Youtube and will be filled with amazing crafters sharing their inspirational designs to help speak out against racism. I am lucky enough to be a participant in the blog and instagram hops and as an unknown black artist I truly appreciate the love I feel in the card making community!

I hope my card helps to inspire unity, love, faith…hope. I truly believe this is a start to speaking up and making sure people know that racism is real and it should not be tolerated!

I hope that you’ll hop along with us and visit all the amazing crafters along the way. If you came from Stacy’s blog (right before mine in the hop) – Thank you!

If you’re interested in showing your support, please consider adding a “Papercrafters Unite Against Racism” badge to your blog (badges/graphics are below). The Link to the next crafter is below as well – please hop along with us!

I wanted a card that I felt really represented unity. What better than 3 beautifully strong women? I started off with a few of Picket Fence Studio’s Girls stamps: ‘Kiki Girl’, ‘Marti Girl’, & ‘Eiko Girl’ and stamped the outlines with a combination of Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink and Gina K Amalgam Obsidian Ink as they are alcohol marker safe. Then I used various Altenew Artist Markers to colour them in.

For those of you that are familiar with the stamps may notice that I changed the look of Marti Girl to give her curly hair. I wanted each girl to have a different skin tone and hair to match that tone. I have always struggled to find stamps featuring black people in the crafting industry. And so I’ve created the look I was hoping for myself. Now…this is NOT to knock any stamp company or the industry itself – as it’s full of wonderful people. But I sincerely hope that someone will read this and realize “shoot…we should change that!” and create some more ethnically diverse images. It would be amazing as a crafter with a young kids to show them images of people who may look like them and they can identify with more easily – without the need to modify it extensively. 

 

I cut my ladies out and put them aside while I worked on the rest of my card. In order to fit all three of them on the card, I opted to make a slim line card.

I started with a white card panel measuring approximately 8×3 inches and wanted to have a subtle but meaningful background behind the women. So I opted to use a variety for very empowering sentiments from the Impression Obsession “Words for Art” stamp set, the heart from Simon Says Stamp “Thank You Flowers” stamp set and Simon Says Stamp Dye Ink – Fog Ink. 

First I drew lines across the panel using my T-Ruler and then stamped varying sentiments all over using the heart stamp between each sentiment to help separate them slightly. Then I took the Impression Obsession “Keep Going” stamp set and Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink to stamp “I see you” and “I love you” in between the women for a bold, meaningful statement. 

I made a White card base measuring 8.5 x 3.5 and then trimmed down a panel of Simon Says Stamp Cardstock – Black measuring approximately 8.25×3.25 to allow for a very small border. Then I added my sentiment background panel and popped up my women using some foam tape and adhered them side by side. 

In order to add a bit of bling to my card, I used some Studio Katia Iridescent Hearts as pendants to each woman and some gems from Pink and Main to complete the necklaces.

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Next Stop on the Hop: Mary Ellen Driggs !

 

Supporter Badges:

 

If you’d like to show your support, please consider posting the below badge to your blog. Thank you so much for reading and I hope together we can end racism!

 

Products Used:

Stamps and Dies:

• Picket Fence Studios ‘Kiki Girl’ stamp set
• Picket Fence Studios ‘Marti Girl’ stamp set
• Picket Fence Studios ‘Eiko Girl’ stamp set
• Impression Obsession “Words for Art” stamp set
• Impression Obsession “Keep Going” stamp set
• Simon Says Stamp “Thank You Flowers” stamp set

Inks:

• Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink
• Gina K Amalgam Obsidian Ink
•  Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink
• Simon Says Stamp Dye Ink – Fog
• Altenew Artist Markers

Cardstock/Patterned Paper:

• Neenah Solar White cardstock (SSS)
• Simon Says Stamp Cardstock – Black

Embellishments:

• Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen
• Studio Katia Iridescent Hearts
• Pink and Main Gems (Sorry – can’t find the link)

Other Supplies:

• Ranger’s Glossy Accents (SSS)
• Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue (SSS)
• Ranger’s Multi Media Matte

• 3M Foam Tape (SSS)

Tools:

• – Studio Katia’s Embellishment Wand
• – My Sweet Petunia’s MISTI Stamping Tool (SSS)
• – Tim Holtz Mini Comfort Trimmer (SSS)
• – Simon Says Stamp’s Acrylic Blocks (SSS)
• – Simon Says Stamp’s Grid Transparency (SSS)
• –Spellbinders Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine
• –Tom Holtz Tonic Glass Media Mat
• – Therm-O-Web Purple Tape

 

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