Christmas Inspiration

Hi everyone it’s Natalie here with my first card for the Uniko blog. 

 

I love the Season of Beauty stamp set it’s so pretty. It’s such a versatile stamp, you can either block stamp the image or I decided to colour mine up using COPIC markers. 

I wanted to keep the background quite clean but have some texture using a white on white background die. 

Then I used the circle from the die cut to create the shape of my wreath. Building up layers with the foliage around the poinsettia. 

I finished it up by adding my sentiment in the middle and adding a cute red bow. 

I hope you have liked my card for today and I look forward to seeing all of your creations! 

Fabulous Friday - Welcome Natalie Seddons 🎉

Happy Fabulous Friday.

I'm absolutely delighted to be kicking off the weekend with a welcome to the Uniko Brand Ambassadors post. 

I know you will, but please give a warm welcome to Natalie Seddons.

I've know Natalie for quite a few years now and always been in awe of her colouring skills. Natalie has worked colouring and creative magic with Uniko products. 

Here are some of my favourites...

Spring Botanicals Daffodil

Organically Zesty

Mid Century Modern Baubles

Now, I will hand you over to Natalie for a little introduction and a new card...

Hi I’m Natalie aka momma sedds and I’m very excited to be joining the Uniko team. I’m currently on maternity leave and trying to craft away whilst the little one naps! 

I started card-making back in 2011 but I’ve always been colouring and creating away. As soon as I found Copics and Distress inks I really found my style and they are my absolute favourite medium to work. 

I hope you like my creations and I can’t wait to share them with you!

Just look at that beautiful poinsettia. One day I'll be able to have the patience and colour like this. Now, it wouldn't be a Fabulous Friday Welcome without a website discount. 

From 9am today, Friday 24th October - 23:59 Sunday 26th October I have an automatic 15% off all orders on the website 🎉 

No code necessary, discount will show during the checkout process. 

Thank you for stopping by the blog today & happy shopping!

Crafty Hugs

Mid Century Modern Masculine Card

 Hello & Happy Thursday.

I had 15 minutes spare this afternoon while the light was still good to make a quick card. 

I’ve had this idea in my head of pairing the new Background Block MOD Circle Builder with Mid Century Modern Frames. 

I used my MISTI to stamp everything apart from the sentiment from Anniversaire Arts Decoratifs, as I couldn’t get it straight. So went old school with an acrylic block! 

I added some colour using Stampin’ Blends and just popped the frame up with foam adhesive after fussy cutting.

This card took just over 11 minutes to make and I have a short over on YouTube if you want to watch me make it. 

Crafty Hugs

Autumn Wishes using Nature's Treasure Stencil

Good morning all, Julie here with some BA autumnal inspiration. 

Over at Cardz4Guyz their latest challenge is to make a card using some or all of these colours in a masculine card, Orange, Purple and Black. I know many of you find masculine cards difficult so here is what I came up with.

CAS is a great way to make a masculine card and as flowers are a bit of a no no for them too, I turned to leaves. In this case I used Nature's Treasures stencil, some DIs,Wilted Violet, Black Soot, Ripe Persimmon, Carved Pumpkin, Dried Marigold, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade and a sentiment from Organic Wishes.

I mostly used the smaller of the two stencils moving it around to create the look of an autumnal tree inking onto an A6 top fold white card. I wasn't sure how the purple element would work out but I quite like it. Where it overlays the orange it gives a shade of brown but the purpley hues suggest depth and the black stencilling, shadows. The sentiment is quite ambiguous and could be used for a variety of occasions, including sympathy.

On a side note it was loveley to see and interact with so many Uniko stampers at Port Sunlight last Saturday. If you wonder which one was me, I was the one with zero till skills and glasses!!

Just a quick reminder that over on FB, the Uniko FB VIP challenge is Autumn Vibes with the option of Halloween and you have until Novemeber 10th to add your Uniko makes. 

Happy crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Retro Autumn

Good morning from Steph! 

Retro Autumn?! What do I mean by that? Well simply that I have combined the Uniko Layering Retro Lines stencil with a few Uniko autumnal sets. 

I stencilled three panels with the same green shades using part of the Uniko Layering Retro Lines stencil. To all three I added a sentiment from the Uniko Butterfly Serenade stamp set. 

 

For this first card I used a grey ink and added a floral outline from the Uniko Originally Organic stamp set.

Next I added some colour using the Uniko Autumn Serenade stamp set, both the large stamp and some of the smaller elements in the set also. 

Finally I went super simple with just one leaf stem stamped in green from the Uniko Originally Organic Flower Garden stamp set, and added a few dots of colour with Nuvo drops. 

The change in weather in the UK is definitely influencing my crafting this year. I can't remember it doing so in previous years other than I do like to switch over to festive crafting in autumn because they are my favourite cards to make! Do the seasons influence your crafting style?

Much love

Steph x

Marvellous Monday Winners 🎉

Hello & Happy Monday.

It's a gorgeous, sunny autumn day here in the north east, which is lovely after the stormy weekend. Though, saying that Crafterama Lincoln was a lovely day too. So nice to catch up with so many of you there, enjoy your new goodies

Thank you too for all the lovely orders on the website too 😃

Anyway, before I get to announcing lots of winners, I have a card to share.

The other day I shared a card HERE on Instagram using the Background Block MOD Circle Builder and I still had a piece of the the stamped panel left, so used it today.

This time I trimmed it on a different angle and ink blended over the top with some shades of green. I added the Congrats sentiment from Simply Said Blocks and embellished with a couple of the smaller stamps from the set. Lastly, I added a trio of enamel dots.

Ok, now onto the winners.

First up, the winner of the September Non Release Blog Hop as I'm a little late announcing this winner. I used Random.org to pick a lucky comment and the winner is...

Congratulations Greta! Please email me at bev@uniko.co.uk to claim your prize.

Next up I have the 3 winners of the World Card Making Day 2025 Card Making Competition. Thank you for all that took the time to create with your Uniko goodies, tag me on socials and upload to the gallery. 

I went old school picking the winners by putting all the names in a hat... 

Congrats Ladies! 

I have sent you all a message to claim your Uniko prize 😃

Crafty Hugs

World Card Making Day 2025 with Uniko

Happy World Card Making Day.

What a wonderful day to celebrate and indulge in the joy of making cards. To help celebrate the day I thought it would be fun to run a little competition.

Make A Card Competition!

Simply make a card that uses a Uniko product. You could use a stamp, stencil, designer die or even a digital product. There are some free downloads HERE. 

Next, share it on social media (Instagram, Facebook or even Pinterest) and be sure to tag @unikoltd so I see it! You can even link up your card below this post to the gallery. If you don't do social media or have trouble linking up, email me your entry to bev@uniko.co.uk

You have today and tomorrow (Sunday 5th) to get your entries in.

3 winners will be randomly selected from those entered across all platforms to win a Uniko prize bundle. Winners will be contacted and announced here on Monday 6th October 2025. 

How about a little inspiration to get your card making mojo going...

Bev

Julie

Steph

Have a wonderful card making day.

Crafty Hugs

Technique Two For Tuesday - Background Blocks Christmas Scramble

Happy Tuesday.

I finally feel like I am settling into routine and found a little bit of creative mojo. Anyone else struggle when they've had a holiday? 

Anyway, let's have a look at what I created for today...

Since seeing the Brand Ambassadors use the paper piecing technique with this stamp, Background Blocks Christmas Scramble, I've been wanting to do it too! 

I decided to dive into my pattern paper bit box, something I rarely do and came across scraps of this Swiss dot paper from Papertrey Ink. I've had these scraps for years. 

As I was fussy cutting and adhering the letters, it got me to thinking how I could use the Background Block Swiss Dots, to create a similar look. 

So that's what I did for my second card.

For this I heat embossed the Swiss Dots background onto white card using VersaMark and Clear Gloss EP. I then inked over with Dragonfruit, Sweet Pea, Buttercup, Parsley, Oceanside & Midnight. Again fussy cutting and adhering using foam tape.

I could have achieved the same look by doing solid colours on more stamped and embossed Background Blocks Swiss Dots backgrounds, but I quite like this ink blended look. 

Although I love both, I can't decide which I prefer. Which do you prefer? 

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration: Delicate butterflies in Swiss dots!

  Hello to all!

Happy Friday!

I wanted to create a card with a vintage, old-style look using a Swiss dots stamp.

To start the card, I stamped the tiny Swiss dots on a grey CS panel using chipped sapphire DI.  I layered my butterflies from the English Country Garden Butterflies die set and stamped them in Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink using the Swiss Dots stamp. The sentiment is from the same set.

I layered my panel on a pink panel, and before adhering it to my blue card base, I tied my panel with a pink ribbon. Then finished off the card with a few rhinestones.

I'm thrilled with the way it turned out!

I hope you enjoyed the card I shared with you today. I love what I do, working on designs, new ideas and much more!

Happy crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, Uniko's VIP FB Challenge Reminder

Good morning, Julie here with a little bit of BA inspiration and a reminder of Uniko's VIP FB challenge.

This month it's a colour themed one.

These colours suggest an autumnal theme perhaps, but I've gone down the Christmas route with this design using Season Of Beauty stamp set.

My starting point was a card made by a blogging friend from Color Hues, Bonnie. She used a background stamp and watercolouring with inks to make the base for a card for the latest challenge and it got me thinking I could do something similar using the Season of Beauty set. Here's my design.

I started by embossing the poinsettia and foliage with white EP on an A6 panel of Mixed Media paper. I smooshed some of Altenew's Desert Night ink onto a kraft mat then wet the whole panel with water and added the ink with a brush. The water makes the ink lighter than the original, literally diluting the colour. To achieve the patchy look, I removed some of the ink with a piece of kitchen roll before it dried. I haven't used Altenew's ink like this before and it is not as forgiving as Distress Inks, which I usually use but the colour was a better match to the swatch.

On some scrap white card, I stamped the poinsettia with Carved Pumpkin and Ripe Persimmon DI for the 2 top layers. I filled in some of the white around the sepals with more Carved Pumpkin. The foliage and green sepals I inked with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint DI, adding water to blend out the lines.

My yellow flowers we originally stamped with Wild Honey DI but they got a bit lost, so I added some dots of white gel pen over and a touch of a yellow Copic marker.

On a circle of white card, I used the Desert Night ink to stamp the sentiment and on a slightyly larger one, I added some of the same ink to create a matte. The elements were then fussy cut and added to my sentiment panel. Meanwhile, I added my inky background to a 5 x 7inch white base card and then placed the layered focal point on to that.

That's it from me for today but please consider jopining in over on Facebook for a chance to win an e-voucher worth £10 to spend in the Uniko store. You've got until October 10th to play.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Sympathy Cards

 Bonjour !

Izzy here with some sympathy cards.

Recently I've unfortunately had to send a sympathy card. This kind of card is may be for me the most difficult ones to make. Not just for the reason why you're doing it, but also how, within your design, to spread the message of support, courage, and hope for better days. That's why I think the simplest, the better.

Here is the card I send to my friend. I used the beautiful blooms of the Hello Lovely set that I stamped in black and fussy cut.

On a double white card, I blended some Distress oxide inks to make like a dawn sky. I stamped the sentiment and I foam mounted the florals.

I thought it would be useful to have some cards like this in stock. So I made another one using the Ink & Flip - Geometric Hexagon layering stencil together with the English Country Garden Butterflies set and die.

To make the background, I softly brushed Distress ink on one of the layers of the stencil and I did not flip it.  

On the same blue/grey card stock, I stamped the big butterfly of the set and I coloured it with coloured pencils. With the matching die, I cut it and I fixed it on the card with glue dots.

For the sentiment, I used one of the Flower Power #1 set.

For my last card, I die cut a circle that I coloured with brushed blue Distress Ink. Then I stamped in green the Just Because set. To make the background, I masked the flower and I stamped the Large Background French Scrip set. Once again, I used a sentiment from the Flower Power #1 set.

Well, that's all from me today. Thanks for joining me and hopefully I've given you some more inspiration with those "difficult" cards to make.

Have a lovely Week and thank you for stopping by.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Christmas Blossom

Good morning, 

Steph here today looking at how to use non Christmas stencils to create Christmas cards. 

As with our revisit of the 2025 Uniko release products earlier this month, I have focussed my Brand Ambassador inspiration on Christmas and a 2025 release product, namely Uniko Layering Spring Blossom stencil.

I have used one inking of the Spring Blossom stencil to create all three cards and added elements to the last card using Uniko Layering Bauhaus Christmas Blocks stencil. 

Once I had inked the panel in Christmas colours, I placed a stitched die so that half of it contained the florals and half did not. I then stamped the 'Peace, Love &' part of the sentiment onto the blank half. On another piece of card I stamped 'joy' from the Uniko Big & Bold Joy stamp set, fussy cut, adhered to vellum and fussy cut leaving a border. 

From the remaining inked panel I die cut a circle and mat it to a larger die cut circle of dark green card. I stamped the sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set and adhered this using foam pads.

This left me with just a small amount of the inked panel remaining so I die cut an oval and used the Uniko Mid Century Modern Baubles stamp set to add a bauble hanger. I inked up two circles using elements from the Uniko Bauhaus Christmas Blocks stencil and added bauble hangers. I threaded all three 'baubles' with twine and adhered to a rectangle of card which I then adhered to the card blank using foam pads. Finally I added a sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set.

Hopefully I've given you some inspiration today and shown you how you can create Christmas cards without necessarily using Christmas stencils or stamps. 

Much love

Steph x

Celebrate With Background Blocks Bauhaus

Hello & Happy Tuesday. 

Today I have a quick card using the Background Blocks Bauhaus stamp which was released back in August. 

This stamp, like all the Background Blocks, is great for quick cards and adding fun patterns. 

I stamped the block twice across the top of my white card panel (9.5 x 13cm) in VersaFine Clair Morning Mist ink. 

I then used a trio of Stampin' Up! Markers in Pretty Peacock, Not Quite Navy and Grapefruit Grove to colour some of the semi circles. 

I finished by adhering the panel to a Concord & 9th Sorbet card base and added a fussy cut celebrate from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments. Plus a trio of Midnight enamel dots.

A restock of this stamp, all of the July, August and the popular Mid Century Modern collection is due in the studio week beginning 22rd August, so not long to wait now. 

Plus I will have sorted the new USA shipping following the tariffs by then too.

Crafty Hugs

Seasonal Stencil Sunday

 

Happy Sunday.

Today I have another Seasonal Stencil Sunday card and YouTube Video to share with you. In my last video using this stencil Layering Bauhaus Christmas Blocks, HERE, I talked about some other ideas and this was one of them.

This time I wanted to use some of the images on single inchies. I used a Stampin' Up! Stitched Shapes Die, the set comes with squares, circles and ovals I believe. And I have had them for years. 

The smallest square die is just the right size, though the border adds a little technical difficulties that slowed down the process a little during the video! 

It turned out pretty good in the end and I finished with a sentiment from Christmas Sentiments and a few enamel dots as well. 

I've another fun idea up my sleeve using this stencil and or the original Layering Bauhaus Blocks, but I'm saving to share that one when I am back from my vacation.

Just a little reminder...

Not long now till I am back! 

Crafty Hugs