The 2017 Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Hey & Happy Friday!

YAY! It's time for another Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, I'm super happy to be a little organised this time and have a project made to enter on day 1!

Uniko is honoured to have been invited again by the lovely Amy from Tsuruta Designs to sponsoring another fun blog hop and challenge, you can check out all the details over on the Uniko Website Blog HERE, I have blog candy there too ;) AND more details HERE over at the hop!

Anyway, onto my card...

At the moment Summer to me = Tropical! Hence my decision to pair I LOVE Coffee with Paradise clear stamp set.

I was inspired by a couple of challenges for the ink blended panel and layout of my card. Firstly the challenge over at AAA Cards HERE is the resist technique. 

I stamped the outline Hibiscus flower and solid leaves using VersaMark and heat embossed them with clear EP. I then blended two of my favourite distress inks over the top. 

The second challenge I was inspired by was the new CAS(E) this Sketch! layout seen HERE and below.

I continued the Hibiscus flower theme onto the Coffee cup, keeping it simple by stamping it in Lawn Fawn Merman ink and adding a touch of Stampin' Up! glitter for some Summer sparkle! 

The sentiment is a combination from Simply Said and I LOVE Coffee. I added a trio of Stampin' Up! Glitter Enamel Dots to finish the design off.

Ok, that's all I have to share with you today, but be sure to check out my post HERE with the Uniko Sponsor details, more inspiration and BLOG CANDY! 

Make a Wish...

Hey & Happy Sunday!

I do hope you are all having a lovely weekend and have found some time to craft. I had a little bit of unexpected 'bean free' time yesterday afternoon, so I took advantage and after a little power nap (it has to be done) I set to making a card just for fun.

I came across THIS card on Pinterest by Maile Belles. I love the layout of the card, the stamped roses from behind the angled panel. It reminded me of the rose image from Flower Power #6. 

I saw the new challenge over at "Less is More" HERE too, which this week is a colour week and they have chosen ombre. I was looking through my supplies and decided I would give my Copic markers a dust off to create my ombre background.

I chose a trio of pinks, RV10, RV13 and RV14. I used the chisel edge of the pen and worked from light to dark and then back to the lightest. It was a reasonably quick process. The roses are stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with detail white EP. The mini rose and leaves are from Background Builders: Vines and the sentiment from Pure Florals: Cosmos. The complete supplies can be found at the end of the post.

Did you see the return of a past feature HERE on the blog yesterday? Design Team Inspiration is back and Rahmat started things off again for us. Other members of the Design Team will be popping in through the month with various projects to inspire you too. I hope you are pleased to see the return of this feature! I have plans to reintroduce others from way back yonder too ;)

Ok, that is all from me today. I hope to find some crafty time tonight to unwind as I am on my own with the beans today as daddy is doing some extra work to pay for Christmas! Lol! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Supplies:

Uniko Clear Stamps: Background Builders: Vines, Flower Power #6 and Pure Florals: Cosmos

Ink: VersaMark

Card: Stampin' Up! Whisper White

Accessories: Copic Markers RV10, RV13 and RV14. MISTI. Detail White Embossing Powder. Foam Adhesive.

CAS Colours & Sketches #202

Hey & Happy December!

WhooHoo, the countdown to Christmas has begun! Thanks to my bestie Kerry, we have started a new tradition, like many households with kiddies... Elf on the Shelf! I'm not sure if the beans will enjoy it as much as me ;) but this is Buddy the elf waiting to greet the beans after breakfast. Buddy is sat on the TV stand, as I usually let them watch Peppa Pig so I can eat my breakfast in peace - LOL!

Talking of peace, lets get to todays card! This month over at CAS Colours & Sketches we are looking back at all the challenges of 2016, choosing one and making it FESTIVE. THIS week we would like you to look at the 2016 Colour Challenge Archive and choose a colour combo and use it to make a festive card.

I decided upon Challenge #196 from October...

You can check HERE to see how I used them last time, this is what I came up with this time...

With the recent Uniko Release all the stamps are still currently on my desk, so I reached for Rustic Wreath and paired it with a Stampin' Up! die cut sentiment, which is heat embossed with Copper EP. As are the pine cones and then I finished the sentiment off with a partial sentiment from Pure Florals: Poinsettia. 

For the layout of my card I used the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch seen HERE and below. Such a fun and versatile sketch and one that worked perfectly for using Rustic Wreath ;)

Ok, that's all from me for now, I hope I have inspired you to give these colours a go and join in on the challenge this week. Be sure to stop on over HERE and check out what the rest of the CAS Colours & Sketches DT have done using the colours and I hope to see you in the gallery.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Rustic Wreath and Uniko Pure Florals: Poinsettia

Ink: SU! Real Red, Garden Green. VersaFine Onyx Black. VersaMark.

Card Stock: SU! Whisper White

Accessories: Personal Impressions Kettle Copper EP. SU! Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies

CAS Colours & Sketches #176

Hey!

I'm excited to say that for this month over at CAS Colours & Sketches I am the hostess, which means I have picked the colour combos and drawn the sketches to *hopefully* inspire you all. I do hope you like them and I really look forward to seeing you join in :)

Ok, so it's the first of the month which means it's a colour challenge. I think I have started things off with a pretty fun and simple combination...

With Summer just around the corner (for some of us & supposedly us in the UK!) I thought florally inspired combination would be fun.

Though I decided to go with butterflies for my card...

This set English Country Garden Butterflies is due back in stock over the weekend (available for pre order now along with other clear stamp sets) and so I thought I would dust my set off and give it some love.

I was also inspired by the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch seen HERE and below for the layout of my card. 

Iv'e been wanting to get some more ink blending practice in and so I masked a rectangle off and started blending the Rose Red to Blushing Bride and then to So Saffron, going back & forth between the colours blending until I was happy with the result! I still need a little more practice I think but I am enjoying the results.

The butterfly is stamped in VersaMark onto vellum and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder. After I fussy cut the butterfly out I decided to add some Wink of Stella to it for a little subtle sparkle. The sentiment also from the set is stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I do apologise for being absent on the blogs recently, just when I think I am getting back into the swing of things I come down with a hacking cough and snuffles :( It's half term too which means all the playgroups we go to are closed and it's been a tough week keeping the beans entertained! 

Ok, that's all from me today, I do hope you will pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE to check out the rest of the Design Team & Guest Designer Fiona's inspiration. I look forward to seeing you in the gallery & have fun!

Gold Explosion!

Hey!

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the weekend, it's been a lovely day here in the NE of the UK, with the sun shining and reasonably warm outside too - YAY! 

We've had a fairly usual Saturday with the boys, but I have to say the highlight of my day was seeing the Red Arrows (RAF Jets) fly over our house a few times and I could see them doing various parts of their display at Durham Tees Valley Airport just a few miles from our house. I remember seeing them many times as a child and it brought back many memories. 

The beans got up off their nap just in time but after seeing them fly past the once, they were not that bothered the second and third plus times! This is a photo hubby and I snapped of the beans before we had to wake them up...

It still amazes me when they sleep in the same positions! Anyway, enough waffle, how about a card...

This is one of the clear stamp sets being restocked next week, Explosion! So when I saw the new sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below, I couldn't resist using it! 

I also decided to use the new ColourQ challenge colours seen HERE and below...

This close up photo below shows off the shimmer of the gold embossing on the explosion. I stamped the explosion sparks in Calypso Coral and added a few trio of dots using the holly berry stamp from the retired Label Love: Christmas! 

Ok, thats about all from me today, I've spent a couple of hours this evening (once the beans went to bed) in the garden too, so it's now time to relax a little ;) 

I hope to be back tomorrow with more to share, until then, thanks for stopping by today.

CAS Colours & Sketches #166

Hey!

It's new challenge day over at CAS Colours & Sketches :) Our hostess this month is Jane and she has come up with yet another FABulous sketch HERE and seen below for you to try this week...

This is what I came up with...

I decided to combine the sketch with the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop HERE which Uniko is proudly sponsoring. You can read more about the hop HERE and I have a giveaway too ;)

I started by stamping and embossing in white the coffee cup from Uniko's I LOVE Coffee clear stamp set. This set along with a couple of other is NOW back in stock HERE. 

I then trimmed some white CS to create the panels which are 4.5 x 2cm, which are stamped with the mini Uniko flower logo in my favourite Spring colours. The sentiment panel is a combination of a sentiment from the I LOVE Coffee set and Simply Said. I adhered the panels to the card using foam adhesive.

Ok, that's all from me just now, it's a busy one here at Uniko HQ with the restocks in and pre orders to pack! Plus I have the mini April Release goodies in my hands ;)

I hope to see you in the CC&S gallery HERE and be sure to check out what the DT have come up with using the sketch this week.

CAS Colours & Sketches #161

Hey!

Welcome back to another fun week & challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month our hostess is Stef and this week she has inspired us with another fun colour challenge HERE and seen below.

Shades of purple are not my go to colours and adding in metallic silver had me thrown for a little bit. After I had made my card using the nearest colours I have to those above, I realised I have used the same flowers as the last colour challenge...

Beautiful Blooms II is a lovely flower to stamp in two shades of the same colour :) I used VersaMagic Purple Hydrangea for the outline and Spring Pansy for the centre detail. The sentiment is from Pure Florals: Cosmos and embossed in Silver Dollar. 

As you can see in the close up the Silver Dollar EP adds a lovely shine to the sentiment and I finished the card of by adding a few tiny white crystal sequins. So, I'll be adding my card to the current challenge HERE over at AAA Cards, which is to use sequins :)

That's all from me just now, I hope to see you over in the CC&S gallery and be sure to check out the rest of the CC&S Design Team creations HERE.

WINNER & a card!

Hey!

Happy Monday :) I do hope your week has got off to a lovely start. It's been a lovely day here in the NE of England with the sun out. I've had a lovely day with the beans with a visit from my university friends, food including cake! Topped off tonight with an hour or so to craft whilst Daddy is out playing football and the beans sleep (well, almost!)

Anyway, I'm here first with the winner of the April DT Blog hop. What a wonderful inspirational hop the team put together. 

So without further ado Random.org picked number...

And in order of the hop the lucky comment is...

Pam12 April 2015 at 01:30

These cards are absolutely stunning! I love your inky madness.

Congratulations Pam! 

Send me an email to beverley@unikostudio.com along with your choice of stamp set from the 3 revisited and postal address (if you choose English Country Garden - Butterflies there is a tiny wait until this set is back in stock). 

How about a card...

This was one of the cards we made on Saturday at my class at The Paperlane. We revisited heat embossing with a bit of multi-coloured embossing thrown in, it was good fun! 

I had some age old Moon Glow embossing powders in lovely soft pastel colours. I used the single pink for the rose from Flower Power #6 and green for leaves.

Ok, that's all from me today, I am going to make use of my time and get a little inky with the May Release! I will be back later in the week with more to share. Until then, thank you for stopping by today.

TIME OUT Challenges #19 Embossing & Optional Twist Sparkle

* This is my 1st post of the day, be sure to pop back at 9am for the FULL reveal of the Uniko Studio Christmas Release *

Hey!

It's time for the next challenge over at TIME OUT Challenges! This fortnight is a theme challenge, the theme being...

 Embossing with the optional twist of Sparkle

We have a FABulous sponsor for this challenge... Avocado Arts. For those who use the optional twist with your entry you will be in the chance of winning a prize from the sponsor.

Here is my take on the theme...

How about some sparkly snowflake decorations?! For this card I use a trio of snowflakes from Stunning Snowflakes, the bows are from Label Love: Birthday and the sentiment from Pure Florals: Poinsettia.

I heat embossed the snowflakes with stardust embossing powder and added rhinestones to add the sparkle.

This fortnight we have a lovely guest designer joining us, Lesley, be sure to stop by Lesley's blog Always Playing With Paper to see how she was inspired by the photo and of course the FABulous TIME OUT Challenges Design Team...

Sandie

Nonni

Lynn

Sherry

Lisa

Gerrina

Dawn

Sarah

Shona

Elizabeta

Anita

For all the info and to link up your challenge be sure to stop by the TIME OUT Challenges blog. I look forward to seeing your creations :) I'll be back soon with more to share, until then, thank you for stopping by today.

Supplies

Card Stock: White (Boyes) SU! Real Red

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black. Encore Silver

Stamps: Uniko Studio Stunning Snowflakes, Label Love: Birthday & Pure Florals: Poinsettia

Accessories: Stardust EP. Rhinestones

Introducing ... BIG & BOLD - Wish

Hey!

I'm so happy that you've stopped by the blog today as today I get to introduce the first new clear stamp set being released HERE at Uniko Studio on Monday 11th August 9am GMT. This is the little peek you got the other day in case you missed it...

How about a couple of projects showcasing this new little set...

For my first card I paired the largest sentiment in the set with one of the smaller ones and accented it with sparkly heat embossing & multicoloured stars from Label Love: Christmas.

For my second card I'm sharing today I thought I had better catch up on some Stretch Your Stamps 2 homework! I was inspired by Kristina for my card & the stamps in todays set along with Background Builders: Lattice worked perfectly...

I've never been good with watercolours, as I like to 'control' the medium I work with like you can with markers and pencils, but the technique Kristina showed in the class video lends itself to those who are not masters with watercolours!

Above is a close up of the wish, which I stamped & embossed in clear embossing powder, I kept adding clear embossing powder after each heat setting about 3 - 4 times to add a dome effect. I then fussy cut the word out!

Ok, that's all I have for you today, but how about some inspiration from the FABulous Design Team and our Guest Designers this month Sarah from Sazzle Dazzle Crafts & Sandie from London Days:

Amber

Erika

Gillian

N@ Ali

Nicki

Ren-Yi (Summer Break)

Taheerah (Not Participating Today)

Sarah 

Sandie

Sneak Peeks HERE & Yesterday - These little teasers give you hints at what is in store!

Introducing... 7th - 10th August Here you'll get to see the soon to be released products in action here on the blog.

Release Day! Monday 11th August you will get to see all the products in their entirety and purchase them HERE on the website! As tradition holds there will be  a Design Team Blog Hop with a chance for a lucky person to win the ENTIRE release!

Now, you won't want to miss out on any of the fun from the 5th - 10th August as I will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes. I'm not giving any hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join in on the fun!

Places to join in on the fun & possibly win a prize are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Studio Blog, DT & Guest Design Team Blogs, liking the Uniko Studio Facebook Page, following on Twitter and Pinterest! 

Phew! That's all from me today, I sure hope you will pop back tomorrow for the next product introduction, it's a good one! Until then, thank you for stopping by today :)