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 

Countdown to Christmas Day 7 - Merry Monday!

 Happy Monday!

Welcome to day 7 of the Uniko Countdown to Christmas. Today I am in a Merry mood as I feel like I am almost caught up on various things in the studio & with Christmas! So I am following suit with my Merry mood and sharing some BIG & BOLD Merry Christmas cards with you...

My first card is super CAS and is really easy to make when you have a stamping platform, so even though it looks time consuming, it isn't. It is a design easy to mass produce and with the Altenew layering ink collections, the colour varieties are easy and effortless too!

For this card I used Rouge, Crimson & Velvet from the Red Sunset ink collection and I also stamped and embossed the last Velvet layer with my favourite Stardust embossing powder. The layers of coloured card are what I had in my scrap box and they match the ink colours really well.

For my next card I again went CAS and this time with a non-traditional colour scheme. The BIG & BOLD Merry is stamped in Aqualicious ink from the Altenew Sweet Dreams collection. The coloured card stock layer is Concord & 9th Aqua Sky.

I drew two pencil lines to be able to stamp the little string of lights from the set and then used Nuvo Drops in pastel shades to colour the baubles.

That's all from me today, but I hope you're having a Merry Monday! I will be back again tomorrow with more to share.

Crafty Hugs Bev x

Watercoloring on Photo Paper - DT Rahmat

Hello friends, Rahmat here.

I am up with an inspiration, which was actually an experiment for me, but it was a great success, so thought of sharing with you guys here. I have another card and a video on this technique on my blog, so feel free to hop over there to see it.

Below are the inks I had used for stamping and watercoloring the rose and the leaves.  The colors are quite permanent. From my experiment you don't need to seal the paper.

The photo paper I have used is of high quality and bit pricey from Canon. I am not sure how well the technique will be on other photo papers.

The colors dry up in minutes, and if there is any excess water on the paper it floats on the top as clear water, you can wipe it with a dry tissue, the colors wont come off at all.

Do watch my full video on this technique to see everything I am saying to see in action.

Here is the link  to the YouTube video for this technique :
 https://youtu.be/_-wG5Mlm8Yw

I had finished the card with the sentiment from the recently released set - birthday wishes. I also added a few leaf like jewels.

These pictures below shows the beautiful gloss from the photo paper.

I hope you like my inspiration, do let me know in the comments, if you are going to plan the technique.

         Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!
                                                                     

February Release Showcase by Rahmat

Hi everyone Rahmat here.

I was away during the Feb release, so I am showcasing the release today.

I have 5 cards where I have combined all the stamps, die cuts and stencil.

I stamped the flowers and leaves in pink and grey and used the coordinating diecuts. Arranged the flowers and stamped the sentiment above to finish off.

I have used printed card base here, used the diecuts from the previous card, and used the stamps from the big happy set to stamp around in random

I used CrafTangles liquid watercolors to crest the Bg and then used green ink to stamp the Graffiti, used inlaid die cut technique to add the black die cut sentiment.

I used the stripes stamp and the freebie together here for this card. Since I saw this image on the DT blog, I was looking forward to convert it to a butterfly and I am very happy that I did. I used CrafTangles liquid watercolors to watercolor the flower and leaves.

I used the distress oxides hickory smoke and worn lipstick to ink the stencil, edged the panel with a glitter strip and added the flower and sentiment in Altenew ink.

        Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!
                                                                     

Uniko August stamps Release in review

Hello everyone Rahmat here.
I am up with a few cards using the August release stamps, I was away and I didn't had the chance to be part of the release hop.
I am using the Big and Bold Hello, Framed Florals and Beautiful stamp sets.
I have stick to the same color schemes for my projects.

For the first card, I first stamped the Framed florals in Versafine watermark ink and then I used the versafine onyx black ink for the bold hello.
Then I used the markers to color the florals.
I then trimmed the framed part, and mounted it on a patterned pre-cut base. To finish off, I added a few black jewels.

For the second one, I have used another pre-cut base.
I stamped the flowers on a white card stock and watercolored using zig clean color markers and Staedtler Marsgraphic markers, fussy cut only the top, and added using foam adhesive.
I added a black strip at the bottom of the card. The sentiment is stamped on the base, a few black jewels to finish off.

     Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!
                                                                     

a BIG Thank You & Farewell...

Hey!

It's another of those posts that I find hard to write and put all my feelings into. It is with sadness that  we at Uniko are saying farewell to another of our FABulous Design Team members Sarah Gray from Funky Fossil Designs.

Sarah has been a member of the Uniko DT since March 2015. For over 2 years I have had the honour and pleasure of having Sarah as part of the Uniko family. It seems longer than 2 years as before Sarah was a member of the DT, she was a regular customer too! Seeing the inspiration and creativity flow when Sarah works her magic with Uniko products is simply amazing.  

A BIG thank you will never be enough to resonate my gratitude for all that Sarah has done for me and Uniko, she has truly been an inspiration to me and I am sure to all the Uniko customers old and new alike.

I thought it would be nice to share a few of my favourite Sarah creations (choosing just a selection was SO hard)...

What an amazing snippet of Sarah's talent and inspiration using Uniko, don't you think?

So, we couldn't let Sarah leave without giving her a little farewell send off, so the Design Team & I each made a card to share....

CLICK HERE to see more from Beverley

CLICK HERE to see more from Jane

CLICK HERE to see more from Lindsey

CLICK HERE to see more from Rahmat

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P

THANK YOU Sarah for everything! You had been a blessing to Uniko and you WILL be truly missed by us all.

Hugs

Uniko & Simply Cards & Papercrafts!

* This is my 2nd post today, if you've come for the Uniko Release Product Intro CLICK HERE*

Hey again!

I'm super duper excited to share my latest digital stamp collection and feature in Simply Cards & Papercrafts...

Yep, I've been busy again behind the scenes here at Uniko and designed this collection of 4 digital stamps. See them featured in Simply Cards & Papercrafts issue 160. The issue is out and available to buy today from most leading supermarkets and shops who sell magazines.

The digital collection is available to download HERE.

Here are a couple of cards I made using the digital stamps...

I hope to share a few more projects using this collection soon, but in the mean time I'd LOVE to see what you create if you download and use the collection. Please email photos of your projects to bev@uniko.co.uk and say if you are happy for me to share them here on the blog too! Or #unikoltd on Instagram or Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the freebie!

A Look Back At 2016!

Hey!

Welcome back to another 'Look Back At 2016! This year has been an amazing year for myself personally, but it has been a fantastic year for Uniko. We have had 5 fabulous releases, with 16 new clear stamps sets lining the Uniko HQ shelves. 

I don't know about you, but to me this year has almost passed by in a blur! With that in mind I thought it would be nice now the main seasonal festivities are over and as 2016 draws to a close, to take a look back at Uniko's 2016.

Today, I am taking a look back at the June 2016 Release and giving some fresh inky love to Paradise  and Paradise Leaves clear stamp sets.

First up a card using Paradise...

A super quick and CAS card! I started by stamping the sentiment from the set and used my favourite of the Hibiscus flowers, stamped in Pink Grapefruit. The solid leaves from the set are stamped in Key Lime and the tiny trio of flowers in Persimmon. Hopefully in this next photo you can see the sparkle of the Clear Wink Of Stella I added to the flowers :)

For my Paradise Leaves card I used the same trio of colours, but also added in Turquoise Gem, Aquatic Splash and Sea Breeze.

The sentiment is from Originally Organic and another quick CAS card! It was lovely to play and think of warmer places, it has been SO cold here today and the frost we had overnight hardly lifted.

So, that's a quick look back at the June 2016 Release, I hope I have given you a little inspiration to dust off these sets if you have them ;) 

I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I will be taking a look back at the 2016 September/October Release. Until then, thank you for stopping by.

Hugs

A Look Back At 2016!

Hey & Happy Boxing Day!

I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day, I think this year has to of been one of the best for us as a family of four :) Seeing the beans faces as they walked into the front room with all the new toys and train set laid out was a picture. Plus, I just loved every minute watching them play together learning their new toys and then pulling daddy down to the floor to help and play. It truly melted my heart.

Here are a couple of photos from Christmas morning, apologies for my bed head!

Me and Ben the bookworm, checking out the new Peppa Pig books!

Josh admiring the train set

Josh getting stuck in with all the toys! 

Anyway, back to the title of this blog post... A Look Back At 2016! This year has been an amazing year for myself personally, but it has been a fantastic year for Uniko. We have had 5 fabulous releases, with 16 new clear stamps sets lining the Uniko HQ shelves. 

I don't know about you, but to me this year has almost passed by in a blur! With that in mind I thought it would be nice now the main seasonal festivities are over and as 2016 draws to a close, to take a look back at Uniko's 2016.

Today, I am looking back at the 2016 February Release. This was Uniko's 4th Birthday celebration and I launched 4 clear stamp sets, Beautiful Blooms III, I Love Tea, Some Bunny and Simply Said. So, I dusted the sets off and got to work with the help of my Christmas present from Santa, the MISTI and made a few new cards to share with you...

First up is a card using Beautiful Blooms III, the perfect set to get my MISTI into action! This set features a lovely modern 4 step layering bloom. I decided to only use 3 of the layers, but with the help of the MISTI it was a breeze and such a quicker process.

I've not had the time to sit and 'play' with my stamps or join in with challenges, so I was inspired to join in on the current CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch for the layout of my card seen HERE and below.

I also got my new and neglected Altenew inks out for this card. The sentiment is from Originally Organic, a clear stamp set I will be looking at later in the week, but the sentiments work perfectly with florals, so I couldn't resit using it and showing you how Uniko clear stamp sets can work together for even more possibilities.

Next I was inspired by THIS photo on Pinterest to use I LOVE Tea clear stamp set and replicate some blue and white fine bone china.

The teacups are stamped in Encore Gold ink and again I used my MISTI for this simple stamped image. I don't know if this happens to you, but when I stamp using metallic inks onto smooth card the image can slide slightly. So using the MISTI prevented this from happening :)

The teacups were decorated using the small Beautiful Blooms III image from the I LOVE Tea clear stamp set and the larger bloom from Beautiful Blooms III. As you can see I love to coordinate clear stamp sets when I am designing them! The sentiment is from Simply Said and as I need a few thank you cards post Christmas that was the reasoning behind my choice.

Lastly, but no means least I inked up Some Bunny clear stamp set. Though this set is oriented towards Spring and Easter, it is also a perfect set for New Baby cards, Children's Birthdays and more.

I used the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch seen HERE and below for the layout of my card and I opted to make a New Baby Congratulations card. No harm in having one of these on hand for 2017, I know a few people expecting next year.

The bunny is such a fun and cute image, perfect for those who like to colour. But it also suits some paper piecing, for when you are short on time! The congratulations sentiment is another from Simply Said.

So, that's a quick look back at the February 2016 Release, I hope I have given you a little inspiration to dust off these sets if you have them ;) There is a small amount of 3 of the sets in stock on the website and I have planned some restocks to arrive in January.

I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I will be taking a look back at the 2016 April Release. Until then, thank you for stopping by.

Hugs

SaveSave