Wednesday, 23 April 2025

Introducing... Stencil - Layering Flower Fusion

 Hello & Happy Wednesday.

Welcome to day 2 of the April 2025 product introductions. If you missed the sneak peeks or day 1 introduction, you can catch up HERE and HERE.

I've been on a layering stencil kick recently and totally in floral mode too. I dug through some of my archives and came across some florals I had yet to use, so came up with two floral layering stencils. 

Todays Layering Flower Fusion is a fun 4 layer stencil, which I think you can have a lot of inky fun with. Let's have a look at it in action...


 Anita
















I love all the cheerful colours the Brand Ambassadors have used and the various techniques. Although to me this stencil instantly screams spring and summer, I think it will work all year round. Again, be sure to hop along to see the inspiration from the team and leave some comment love.

This stencil, along with all the products being introduced this week are available at 9am BST Sunday 27th April on the website. I will also have them with me at Crafterama Lincoln. 

Happy Hopping & Crafty Hugs




Tuesday, 22 April 2025

Introducing... Butterfly Serenade

Hello & Happy Tuesday.

Welcome to day 1 of the April Release product introductions. I hope you have had a wonderful holiday weekend celebrating Easter. Hopefully you saw the five sneak peeks yesterday HERE and you are ready for the first product introduction.

If you've been around these parts for a while, you will know of the Serenade collection. Currently there is Snowflake Serenade, Falling Hearts Serenade and Autumn Serenade

Today myself and the Brand Ambassadors get to introduce you to the newest addition, Butterfly Serenade. The set was inspired by the first card Izzy made on this blog post HERE. You might also recognise the style of the butterfly from the CraftStash Papercraft Society Box I did. 

Let's have a look at this set in action...


   Anita


Bev















I do love a butterfly, I saw my first couple in the garden this past weekend. I know I've been a bit butterfly obsessed recently, but it has been a while since I did anything butterfly themed! I hope you will hop along with the team and leave some comment love, they are very much appreciated. 

This clear stamp set, along with all the products being introduced this week are available at 9am BST Sunday 27th April on the website. I will also have them with me at Crafterama Lincoln. 

Happy Hopping & Crafty Hugs


Monday, 21 April 2025

April 2025 Release Sneak Peeks

Hello & Happy Monday! 


I'm starting the week the best way with five sneak peeks, as we begin the countdown to the April Release. I've had these under wraps for so long I'm SO ready to share them with you! 

So let's take a look...





First up a new addition to the Serenade series, this one is thanks to Izzy, who made a card HERE during the February Release and I just had to get designing. If you loved the Uniko Papercraft Society Box, I think you'll love this. 




Next up, how about another layering stencil and this time a fabulous floral that will be wonderful all year round. 

Next up I have another stencil and a fabulous new spin on a FLIPPIN' awesome style! 





Next up is another clear stamp set and you might recognise my signature organic drawing style.



And lastly for this release I have another beautiful layering stencil.




That wraps up the peeks and I am sure there will be something for everyone. I do hope you will find time to join myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors from tomorrow as we start the introductions.

All these products will be available at 9am BST Sunday 27th April 2025 and at Crafterama Lincoln! 

Crafty Hugs



Sunday, 13 April 2025

BA inspiration: Featuring Spring Botanicals Primrose

 Hello everyone!

Happy Sunday!


Vinita is here today to feature Uniko's new and gorgeous Spring Botanical Primrose stamp set. Let's get started with the details.



For the background, I ink-blended the picked raspberry distress oxide ink from top to bottom in an ombre pattern. I heat embossed the floral pattern on both edges using Carousel Wow EP and mounted the panel to my hot pink card base. 




Then I heat embossed the floral image on a scalloped vellum panel. I heat embossed the sentiment using Opaque Bright White EP from the Bright Butterflies set. I mounted it to the card front using transparent adhesive tape to add dimension to the floral pattern.

It's fun to come up with a completely different technique featuring an intense pink as the main color with metallic accents and a pop of sparkle!

Thanks much for stopping by today!

Happy crafting!

Wednesday, 9 April 2025

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Watercolour Wednesday

Morning all, 

Steph here today with my Uniko Brand Ambassador inspiration and this month I wanted to practice my watercolour. I decided that Uniko Organically Zesty stamp set was a good one to use watercolours on and also needed a bit of a sunny lift! 

So for my first attempt I decided to do some ink blending onto the blank card first before stamping the lemon image and then adding more definition with watercolour pencils. 

For my second card I decided to use just the watercolour pencils but this time blend them using a water brush. This resulted in a much paler version of the previous card, not quite as 'zesty'!


Finally I switched to watercolour paints which was a scary prospect for me as I'm most definitely not a natural but I need the practice! I like the result other than the flowers which didn't turn out so well. I also think the green is a bit too bold and needed to be more yellow green like the other two cards. 


So, which version do you like best and what method do you prefer to use yourself? 

Much love
Steph x

Friday, 4 April 2025

Rainbow Waves & Paw Print Hearts

Happy FriYAY!

It's been another day of show prep in the studio today, but I managed to find some inspiration and time to finish add something to this background I stamped a few days ago. 





I've been on a little watercolour kick this past week, working on some cards coming for the April Release at the end of the month. 

But I had this idea to do some watercolour waves using the Background Blocks Waves. I started with a panel of watercolour card that I washed with water before putting inside my stamping platform. I then inked the Background Blocks Waves in Poppy, Marmalade, Buttercup, Parsley, Oceanside and Blueberry. Stamping it down onto the card and letting the colours smoosh and bleed into the paper.




I then couldn't decide what to put on the background, but then today I thought of Paw Print Hearts. So I simply used my stamping platform to stamp the heart and sentiment in black ink before adhering the panel to a piece of Honeysuckle card. 

Like all sympathy cards they are difficult to make, but good to have on hand for when they are sadly needed. 

Right, time to do a bit more prep.

Crafty Hugs

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Watch it Wednesday

Happy Wednesday.

Let’s Get Inky! 

The sunshine ☀️ is out & I felt like inking up the Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms 🌸

This stencil has a wonderful retro Scandinavian feel to it and is drawn in my organic style, making it perfect to pair with the Organic Blooms clear stamps and others from the Organic Collection. 

As you will see in the warp speed video over HERE on the Uniko YouTube Channel, the stencil contains 4 layers. They are easy to line up & ink through with blending brushes. 

Tip - apply a little removable adhesive to the reverse of the first layer, the leaf tendrils are quite flimsy to get this beautiful flowing leaf design. 

I chose Concord & 9th inks in Parsley, Pink Lemonade, Carnation, Buttercup & Marmalade. Don’t do what I did & be sure to make sure your flower stencil is clean before using a light pink 🥴😂

And here is how I used the stencilled panel...





One thing I'm trying to do this year is use my stash, such as stand alone dies I've had for ages and of which rarely see card action. I chose this old MFT (I think) stitched curvy border die as I felt it matched the flow of the leaves on this stencil design.




I adhered the die cut panel using foam adhesive and then chose the Smile sentiment from Organic Blooms, which I fussy cut and adhered using foam tape. To finish I added some Cobblestone enamel dots.

That's all from me today, I hope the sun has been out for you today.

Crafty Hugs