Festive Friday - Get more from your sentiments, some BA Inspiration

 Good morning, hope you are well and keeping safe and sane! Julie here with a little bit of Festive BA Fun this Friday. 

I have made a resolution to make Christmas cards all through the year, so that I'm not rushing around at the end of November making them like I was last year! Hopefully I won't have as much time on my hands this year, meeting up with friends and relatives will be at the top of my agenda, so I need to use this 'free' time to get ahead. So far I've made four!

So for my first Festive Friday post, I am concentrating on SENTIMENTS. Yup those little stamps that come with the more interesting stamp sets or the fab sentiments sets such as Festive Sentiments and Most Wonderful. 

Another resolution I made towards the end of last year was to use up my scraps and backgrounds that I have accumulated and it was after rummaging through these, that I got the idea for my theme for this post.

My first card uses a LOT of sentiments that I got together from my Uniko sets, some old and some new, some current, others sadly retired. I made them way back in 2019 but didn't use them all and in the spirit of waste not want not, here is my card design.

To make the panels, I started by laying an A5 panel of card in my MISTI, then arranged the stamps to cover the whole area. When satisfied with the arrangement I closed the MISTI door and inked up the stamps with Versamark and then stamped on to the card panel, added clear EP and heat embossed. I didn't remove the stamps and used a selection of different coloured card in festive colours to create multiple backgrounds which I can use later. A selection of little stamps were used to fill in any gaps too small for a sentiment.

For this card I took a bright red stamped panel and added it to an A6 card base, trimming off any overhang. The snowy landscape was cut twice using a Marianne die and added to the bottom of the card and excess trimmed away. A little Wink of Stella adds a bit of sparkle. No need for a sentiment as they are there in the background!

Here are a couple more ideas using the same technique that I made with the first of my panels, you may recognise them. 

   

Just click the image if you want to find out more.

Of course sentiments aren't just for Christmas, you can use any of your sentiments to create a background!

Keeping up the theme of making sentiments center stage, here is my second card. 

This uses a few sentiments in different fonts and sizes that I stamped onto card, heat embossed with fine white EP and trimmed down. The colour of the strips were chosen to match my backing which I stamped using Background Blocks Falling Snowflakes and the separate snowflake stamps from Snowflake Serenade in non traditional colours. I used a die cut funky Christmas tree as a template to create the centerpiece, adding each trimmed down strip starting from the bottom. A star punched from holographic card and a holographic gem on the red pot complete. The completed panel was then added to a red A6 note card. 

Here is the same idea from 2019 using a more traditional colourway.

So that's about it from me for today. I hope I've given you a few ideas for using those very useful sentiment stamps.

Stay safe and keep crafting!

WIN it Wednesday!

 Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far, mines been as crazy as ever, but that just seems to be lockdown life at the moment! 

Today I thought it would be nice to have another WIN it Wednesday. I did a couple of these during the countdown to Christmas for some added cheer during these crazy days. So as the crazy continues I thought I would have it as a regular feature once a month.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I thought a LOVE themed prize would be good. So let's have a look and see what this months prize is...

To be in the chance of winning this prize package* of Always & Forever, BIG & BOLD Love AND You Are Sentiments Outlined simply leave a comment on this post no later than Midnight GMT Sunday 31st January 2021. 

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on the blog during the first week of February. Please just one comment per person and I do have comment moderation on! 

* If the randomly selected winner owns any or all of the prize an alternative prize will be offered. 

And as it's always nice to see the stamps in action, here are a couple of cards from the Uniko Brand Ambassadors from when the stamps were reintroduced and released in 2020.

AND before I go, don't forget that we have the January 2021 Non Release Blog Hop and Giveaway HERE. Commenting for opportunity to win closes Midnight GMT Saturday 23rd January, so be quick! 

Have a wonderful remainder of your Wednesday and thanks for stopping by today :)

Crafty Hugs 

Bev x

Blue Monday...? More like a Mid Century Modern Monday Here!

 Happy Monday! 

So today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year and along with being Martin Luther King Day, it is also known as Blue Monday. 

TBH I've been too busy juggling 'lockdown life' to even think about Blue Monday! BUT I did manage to squeeze in a couple of cards in between home learning (priorities...right?) and I am here today to hopefully add some cheer to you day with some Mid Century Modern Florals inspiration. 

I may have taken a little bit of inspiration from it being Blue Monday with my chosen colours and they aren't 'traditional' Mid Century Modern colours. But I was also inspired by the current Just Us Girls challenge seen HERE.

I recently treated myself to a new Mid Century Modern book for inspiration and because I just love looking at and learning about surface pattern design! But I have been looking at the patterns created with the geometrics during this style period and recreated my own version using elements from the Mid Century Modern Florals clear stamp set.

I used Altenew colours Iceberg, Eastern Sky and Ultramarine for my trio of blues, stamping the detail in black ink for it to stand out. The sentiment is from Birthday Sentiments and I have raised it slightly using 1mm thick foam adhesive.

This lead on to my second card for today...

I had to make at least one of my cards floral! For this card I started out by stamping the Background Block Mid Century Modern II onto a piece of card in the Ultramarine ink twice to create a long strip to fit across my card. Almost representing the ground. 

I then stamped a selection of  the elements in the same shades of blue as the first card to build my own Mid Century Modern flower. There are so many mix and match possibilities in this set. 

Again, I used the same sentiment and just added a few Nuvo Drops to the flower centre and to accentuate the sentiment. 

That's all from me today. I hope that 

January 2021 Non-Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

 Hey & Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the January 2021 Non-Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! With a New Year in full swing I thought it would be a good time to bring back some of the fun and inspiration that has slipped away in recent months.

So I am pleased to bring back the Non- Release month blog hops. 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 Brand Ambassadors a challenge to look back at a previously released product and give it some more love. 

With Valentine's Day not too far away, I thought I would choose something 'lovely' to challenge the team! So I have picked one of my FAVES, Hello Lovely. 

Hello Lovely

As usual we have our GIVEAWAY, so be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win the Hello Lovely Clear Stamp Set. An alternative prize to the same value will be offered if you already own the set.  You have until midnight GMT Saturday 23rd January 2021 to comment along the hop.

Bev

Carol 

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie

Rahmat

 

 Sarah P

 

Wiebke

 

 

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

Thanks for joining in on the fun.

Crafty Hugs Bev x

Uniko Challenge #63 - Anything Goes + Optional Twist Use A Stencil

 Hey!

Welcome to the January/February 2021 Uniko Challenge.

We're kicking off the year with a simple main theme of Anything Goes and have added in a popular twist of Use A Stencil(s).

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors have been busy creating cards to inspire you to play along. And it looks like the twist of stencils appealed to all of them.

Bev

Carol

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie

Are you ready to play?

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

Due to the current chaos around the world and here in the UK, I have temporarily reduced the value of the prizes. This is so that I can keep my small business afloat during these uncertain times. I hope you understand and will still join in on the fun.

Thank you for your continued support & joining in with the fun at Uniko.

  

THE PRIZES

• Main Winner Chosen By the DT - £15 eGift Certificate
• Random Twist Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Top 3 Chosen By DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

There is plenty of time to join and play along with this challenge. 

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 19th February 2021.

Crafty Hugs,

BA Inspiration - Two for Tuesday

 Bonjour !

Izzy here. I hope you started the new year in good health and that you are ready to craft with us all year long. Today I decided to make two cards with one product (two in fact if we take into account the sentiment). 

I used the Background Blocks Scattered Hearts and the You Are...Sentiments Outlined sets. These two stamps sets are just ideal for making Valentine's cards that is approaching fast...

My first card really seems to be for Valentine's Day because of the hearts but also my choice of colours. I simply stamped the background hearts stamp in grey on a white card stock and I cut it with a heart shape die. I also die cut a heart in red foam and I flattened it with my hand so that it makes a red outline under the white heart.

I also die cut a heart in red foam and I flattened it with my hand so that it makes a red outline under the white heart.

I die cut a dotted white square panel on which I stamped the sentiment and I adhered it on a red double card. To finish I coloured one of the tiny hearts in red as well as one word of the sentiment.

I wanted my second card a little bit more colourful so on a double white card stock I stamped and white heat embossed the Background Blocks Scattered Hearts and I randomly coloured some tiny hearts in different bright colours.

To emphasize even more the sentiment I fussy cut part of a heart shape in a white card stock and I stamped the sentiment in black. To finish I foam mounted it on the white double card.

You can also see HERE another design with this stamp made by my teamie Rahmat.

That's all from me today. Thank you for stopping by. Keep safe and sane and enjoy your week.

Uniko Challenge #62 Winners

Hey!

I'm here today to announce the WINNERS of Challenge #62 'Tis The Season, optional twist Sparkle

A huge thank you to everyone who played along with this challenge.

First we have our overall WINNER chosen by the Design Team. 

#35 Stephanie L

Congratulations Stephanie!

Here's your winner's badge

You have won a £15 eGift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by 22nd January 2021

We would also love to have you join us as our Guest Designer for our next challenge. If you are interested please contact Jane at jane.taylor52@btinternet.com asap.

 Next up is the random winner who twisted with us....

#14 Anke

Congratulations Anke !

You have won a £5 Egift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by the 22nd January 2021.

Here is your winners badge:

Then we have our randomly selected winner who used Uniko products on their creation...

#1 Elaine

Congratulations Elaine!

You have won an £5 Egift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by 22nd January 2021 to claim your prize.

Here is your winners badge:

Now for our Top 3 chosen by the DT and in entry order:

#22 Nancy

#27 Ishani

#50 The Creative Twins

Congratulations to you all & here is your Top 3 badge:

You have all won 150 loyalty reward points.

Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk

Congratulations to ALL the winners & EVERYONE who joined in with the challenge!

The next Uniko Challenge starts on Friday 15th January.

Hope to see you come back and join in with the fun :)