DT Inspiration - a rainbow of colour

Happy Tuesday to you ......

I hope your week has got off to a good start.
It's Linda here, with a little inspiration for you using a rainbow of colour and the Uniko Party Confetti stencil

I'm loving rainbow colours at the moment, they make such happy looking cards. And they work so well with stencil designs.
Perfect for birthday cards .... great for kids, both young and old.   But, what about party invites, Christmas (dare I say it!) and even New Year celebrations too.
But hey! ...... let's not get too far ahead shall we.  I've got a holiday to go on before I start my festive preparations ...... lets just stick with birthdays for now shall we!

The Party Confetti stencil looks so pretty in rainbow colours.  I simply laid it over a piece of white cardstock and then used Distress Oxide inks - Picked Rapsberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean.

Have you spotted my little happy accident?
Who forgot to cover the bottom of her card?  Ooops!

I got a little carried away brushing my rainbow stripes.  The top was OK there was stencil tape there but, I did manage to get ink over the bottom of the stencil.
No time to start again so, I decided to make it look part of the design, by adding more of the colours over the bottom edge ..... what do think? I really like it!

I  used the Uniko BIG & BOLD Happy Designer Die to add my sentiment ....

Cut from black and white cardstock.  The white I coloured using the same Distress Oxides as I used through the stencil, and then I added a touch of sparkle with a Shimmer Embossing Powder from WOW! over the top

I then layered this onto the black one, slightly offsetting it to give a shadow effect.

I finished off the sentiment using one of the stamps from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set, simply stamped onto a snippet of white card, and cut into a little banner.  And I also added a few dots of glitter glue here and there for a little more sparkle

When I'd finished I noticed there was quite a lot of ink left on the stencil.  Now I don't like to waste my inks so, I spritzed over with some water, grabbed a piece of white card and laid it on the top. I applied a little pressure over the whole of the stencil and then ...... this was the result

A pretty monoprint that I can use on another card ...... I do like a twofer!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to finish tidying my craft room.  Over the weekend I decided I wanted to change things around a little in there ..... not one of my better ideas!  It turned into a bigger job than I thought!!

Cheerio until next time .......

DT Inspiration - Use a Stencil with watercolour pencils

Hello and happy weekend to everybody!

It's time for another DT-Inspiration!

As always I made cards with a stencil for you.
This time I used the Uniko Stencil "Scattered Polka Dots".

Let's get started!
I traced the stencil edges with my watercolour pencils on a mix media paper (it's a great paper for different kind of techniques qith many different colours or mediums).
To activate the watercolours I added droplets of clear water on every little circle with a pipette, waited a while and then moved the water very carefully with a small brush to mix every droplet with the solved pigments.

Cause these added waterdrops were so beautiful, I took some photos before and after I mixed the colours.
See it here:

Different shades of blue with waterdrops on top.

The whole blue-dotted paper with waterdrops.

The unsolved and the solved colours with waterdrops on top.

My plan was, to wait until the droplets were dry and then use the paper.
It took a long while (was an over-night-process!) but then all the water was gone and I had little watercoloured dots... They were beautiful, but in my mind were still the pictures of the little "water-hills"... and these flat colour-dots wer not really spectacular!
So I decided to change my plan, added Glossy Accents on the one and clear Nuvo Drops on the other paper and let it dry again.
The result was almost as amazing as the water-version!

I combined both backgrounds with the "Big & Bold Happy Stamps and coordinating Dies" and the second one also with the "Wonderful Day Stamps".
The stamped parts of the sentiments were heat embossed both times.

* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For the first card I coloured the front of the happy DieCut word with the same two blue watercolour pencils and added water like I did for the background. To speed the process a bit I used my heat tool to dry the water this time.
I cut and adhered my polka dot background on the cardbase.
Then I adhered the blue "happy" layer on the shadow DieCut of the word and glued it with little dimensional pads on the card front.
To finish the bold word I covered it with glossy accents (like the background dots).
While this layer was drying I stamped and heat embossed the Everything anf adhered it also with dimensional pads on the front of the card.
(The dimensional pads were necessary cause of the dimensional drops of the background.)

 

Finished blue "Happy Everything" card.

Finished blue "Happy Everything" card.

Detail of the blue "Happy Everything" card - DieCut with glossy coating.

* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For the second card I coloured the stencil edges in rainbow colours, spread over the page.

I mixed the water and the pigments as I did on the other card, but during the drying process there developed darker rings on the outside. I like this optic, cause it reminds me more on the look of the waterdrops. So I just added the clear Nuvo Drops.

Rainbows always makes me happy, So I included this feeling in my sentiment and heat embossed "Oh happy day!" on a banner-strip of Vellum.

The watercolourd drops were mounted on a bit bigger piece of light green cardstock and then on the card base.

Colourful "Oh happy day!" card

Detail of the different elements.

* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I think this technique works great with a stencil with small open areas, but maybe a bigger  pattern will give also great results?! Let's give it a try!
I hope I inspired you to stretch your creative muscles and try (or re-use) a not-so-popular-technique with your stencils! - Would love to read in the comments, what you tried out and which results you got!


Have a great and creative day!

Greetings from Wiebke

August 2019 Non Release Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the August 2019 Non-Release Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

For those of you who are new around these parts I will explain what this post is all about...

Here at Uniko HQ it is just myself behind the screen, blogging, designing, packaging stamps & orders through the Uniko online shop, customer service and all the things in between. I *usually* release new product every other month for a number of reasons, but mainly so I can keep up with everything!

On non - release months like this month I like to set myself and the Design Team a challenge to look back at a previously released product and give it some more love. 

This month I set the challenge of revisiting BIG & BOLD Wish clear stamp set and the coordinating  Designer Dies BIG & BOLD Wish.

As usual we have our GIVEAWAY, so be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win both the BIG  & BOLD Wish clear stamp set and the coordinating Designer Dies BIG & BOLD Wish. An alternative prize will be offered if the winner already owns these.

You have until midnight BST Saturday 24th August 2019 to comment along the hop.

{Coming Soon!}

Bev

Carol 

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie

Linda

Lindsey

 

Wiebke

What an inspirational hop, so many new ideas, I hope you all enjoyed it too :)

Thanks for joining in on the fun.

Hugs

DT Inspiration - embossing paste

Hello!

Lindsey here with a little DT inspiration using the recently released Fleur de Lis stencil and embossing paste.
I have to confess to being a little shy when it comes to stencils.  When card-making I invariably turn to my stamps and get inky.  But!  I had a rare day off work the other week and was determined to get out of my comfort zone, so I reached for my stencils and (rather under-utilised) embossing paste.

For my first card, I sprinkled the paste with some iridescent glitter whilst it was still damp.
I love a bit of bling!
I then paired this with the lovely bold bloom from the aptly-named "Beautiful Blooms I" set.

Then a complete change for my second card with some bold masculine colours.

I waited for the embossing paste to dry, then sprinkled over some green and yellow Brushos.
The subtle sprinkled effect was quite nice but not bold enough for my taste so I spritzed the card with some water to get the colours to run and blend into each other.
Fabulously fun and vibrant!

Why not have a go at a technique you don't usually use?
You may be pleasantly surprised.
Hope you have fun!

DT Inspiration...Zoo Fun Cards for Kids

Hello,

Carol here. Welcome to my Uniko Studio DT showcase, where I bring out a few Uniko favourites for a play date.

Today's trio of cards was inspired by my brother's family's recent visit. I had a blast spending 24/7 with my niece and nephew for a few days...and part of our wonderful time together included a trip to the Calgary Zoo.

Zoo + kiddos = incentive to create cards *for* said kiddos! I'll include a few photos of the zoo/our place with the cards; hopefully, they'll know that Aunty c is WILD about them! As for Mr. Zebra...he'll be my card for my brother, whose birthday is coming up quickly.

I brought Doodlebug stickers into the scenes because a) they're adorable and b) they pair wonderfully with Uniko's animal prints/tropical line. Lots more of those in my collection, so you may see more of this combination down the road.

Card 1:

WILD Clear Stamp Set

Giraffe Print Stencil

Large Background: Tropical Paradise

Card 2:

WILD Clear Stamp Set

Tiger Print Stencil

Large Background: Tropical Paradise

Card 3:

Simply Said

Zebra Print Stencil

Large Background: Tropical Paradise

Hope these brought a smile!

July 2019 Release WINNERS!

Hey & Happy Friday!

I'm here today to announce the WINNER of the July 2019 Release Day Blog Hop, thank you to everyone who took the time to hop along with us and leave such lovely comments. I know that I speak on behalf of the Uniko Design Team and our Guest Designer Keren, that we appreciate all the lovely comments we receive. 

Okay, so how about a winner?! 

I used google random number generator, it selected lucky comment 17 out of 240 and the lucky winner of comment 17 is...

Craftychris3 August 2019 at 19:37

Awesome release! Love it all! Another triumph Bev. A wonderful hop too - such amazing g inspiration, what a talented team! xxx

Congratulations Chris! 

You have won the ENTRIE July 2019 Release! Please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk with your postal address, no later than 31st August 2019 and I will get your prize in the post to you.

ALSO....

During the countdown to the release on Day 2 of the Sneak Peeks I had a small comment giveaway to win the 3 Animal Print Stencils. The randomly selected winner from the correct comments is...

Momma_sedds24 July 2019 at 08:13

Ooo these look fab 😍 giraffe, tiger and zebra right? Xx

Congratulations!

You have won the 3 stencils. Please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk with your postal address, no later than 31st August 2019 and I will get your prize in the post to you.

Thank you again for joining in on the Uniko Release fun, have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs

DT inspiration - Look around to get inspired

Bonjour !

Izzy here ! I hope you enjoyed the last July release. As far as I'm concerned I love it. I do not get tired of playing with the beautiful Large Background Tropical Paradise set.

I'm going to show you today how I get inspired by the the clothes and decoration that surround me. Beginning of July I went to the beach and the big waves overcomed my old swimming suit, so I had to buy a new one.

When I saw it, I immediately thought of the Uniko tropical stamps and when I came back I made this card...

I stamped the Tropical Paradise background set on a white panel of paper with a very light green ink. Then I coloured the leaves and the red background with Promarkers. Around this panel I tied a red twine on which I added white pearls (like on the bathing suit). On a double white card I stamped again the background Tropical Paradise set in soft green and I foam mounted the coloured panel.

To finish the card I stamped two flowers. An hibiscus flower from the Paradise set and one from the Beautiful set. I fussy cut them and adhered them to the card. 

For my second card, I've been inspired by one of my son's T-shirt...

... and here is my card

Once again, in the T-shirt pattern, I saw the Large Background Tropical Paradise set. So I stamped it on a white panel and again, I coloured it with Promarkers. I flat adhered this panel on a double white card. I die cut a white frame on which I stamped the sentiment. Then I foam mounted the frame on the card. 

To finish I adhered a fussy cut flower, previously done for the first card, and I adhered it on the frame.

Finally for my third card, I get inspired by a tapestry we have in our stairs...

... and here is my card

For this card I used 8 stamp sets. From left to right : Paradise Leaves, Some Bunny (tiny flowers), Background builders :vines, Flower Power #6, Originally Organic Additions, Big & Bold - Hello (purple flowers), English Country Garden - Butterflies and Simply Said Blocks.

I first stamped the flowers on post-it notes to make masks of them. I also made masks of the Paradise leaves. Then I stamped the flowers on the double white card with a very soft pink ink. I coloured them with my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

Once coloured, I masked them and I stamped the Paradise Leaves on top. I also coloured them with Faber-Castell pencils, except the one on the right that I directly stamped with a Kaleidacolor green ink pad. The butterfly is stamped in black and also coloured with colour pencils.

To finish I stamped the sentiment on a strip of white paper and I foam mounted it on the card.

As you can see, you can get inspired by a lot of things around you. Look carefully at your stamps and I'm sure you will find an object (clothes, dishes, decoration, paper ....) to inspire you.

Thanks so much for popping by and have a fabulous day !