My Five Faves From Year 2 of Uniko

Hey!

I'm back today with my five favourites from year 2 of Uniko, which is mainly 2013. This year I increased the amount of releases and found it even HARDER to choose five favourites. 

So many awesome clear stamp sets and Designer Dies were released this year, including the popular Background Builders: Round In Circles, Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum and Beautiful Blooms I. Series such as the All Occasion Sentiments and Flower Power clear stamp sets were also launched this year.

Anyway, here's what I chose and why...

Looking through the cards I made during this year, I used this lime green, black and white colour combination quite a few times. This card stood out to me because of this, but also because of the angle of the stamped background and overall layout of the card. The simple combination of two clear stamp sets, Background Builders: Round In Circles and All Occasion Sentiments #1 a few strips of card in different widths and a circle die makes for a fab masculine card! The sentiment could easily be switched to suit any occasion too. 

Those who know me well, know that I would choose a Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum card and one using my 'go to' trio of colours, well that is just too hard to resist! 

You can read all about this card and the meaning behind the Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum clear stamp set HERE.

Next I chose another 'happy' card...

This card uses my favourite trio of graphic flowers from the now retired Time clear stamp set. I think these flowers may just have to make a reappearance in some form ;) I've combined the graphic flowers with All Occasion Sentiments #2 a fabulous 'go to' sentiment set for large focal point birthday sentiments :)

My next two cards again will be no surprise to those who have followed me and Uniko for some time ;) Yep, snowflakes, I LOVE snowflakes!

This partial view of this first card uses Background Builders: Christmas (now retired) for the turquoise snowflake BG and the main sentiment and (favourite) trio of snowflakes is from Stunning Snowflakes.

Lastly I have another Christmas/Winter themed card. Again, I have chosen a partial close up view of the card as I want to focus on the snowflake designer die I have used. These dies debuted in 2013 and I am pleased to report they WILL be making a reappearance in the store again this year :) 

The green stamped snowflake is again from Stunning Snowflakes and is stamped inside a partial stamped label/frame from Label Love: Thank you. The sentiment from Label Love: Christmas and the strip of polka dots from Background Builders: Round In Circles.

All the cards I have showcased today along with many more, can be found on their Pinterest pages via the links below...

Background Builders: Round In Circles

Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum

Time

All Occasion Sentiments

Stunning Snowflakes

Designer Dies Snowflakes

Label Love: Thank you

Label Love: Christmas

That's all I have to share with you today, be sure to pop back tomorrow, as we have a BUMPER filled day with a LOVELY Freebie too ;) Until then, thank you for stopping by today :)

YAY....CHRISTMAS!

Hey!

So.... it's been a crazy week or so here at Uniko HQ, with all the normal Christmas preparations, it took me longer than expected to recover from the bugs that hit our household :( 

However, I can say now that I am feeling at least 95% better, I think I will feel 100% when I've finished all the little finishing touches for Christmas, like make the neighbour cards & close family cards! Yep, I STILL have cards to make! 

I did find a little energy at the weekend to create a few Christmas cards that will most likely arrive late as I missed the 'official' last posting dates...doh! Anyway, this is one of the CAS designs I came up with...

I decided to use the recently released Jingle Bells clear stamp set as the main focus and added a sentiment from the retiring Label Love: Christmas clear stamp set. 

Even though it was time consuming I decided to stamp all 4 layers of the poinsettia, fussy cutting one and also stamping, embossing and fussy cutting the bell. I added some clear Wink Of Stella to the bell for a little subtle shimmer and some gold pearls finished the design off. I am quite pleased with the design & hope the recipients do too (when they get them)! 

Before I go & make some MORE Christmas cards I have a winner to announce for the recent Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop HERE. I added an extra prize for one lucky comment and random.org has chosen lucky comment #10 who is....

Becca Cruger11 December 2015 at 17:24

You sure know how to impress with CAS!! So merry and bright. Thanks for being such a generous sponsor of the hop!

Congratulations Becca! Please send me an email to bev@uniko.co.uk by 31st December 2015 along with your postal address and I will get your winning goodies on their way to you. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the hop and took the time to comment on the Uniko post, I didn't quite manage to comment on all the entries, but the few I did and what I have seen in the gallery is AMAZING! 

Anyway, best dash, these cards are not going to make themselves and I hope to share them here too with you all. If I don't make it back to wish you all a Merry Christmas I will now! 

Merry Christmas Everyone! 

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hey & Happy World Card Making Day!

I do hope you are all having a lovely weekend & finding time this day of the year where we can celebrate as a creative community & enjoy our passion for making cards. I found a spare 30 minutes again today, thanks to hubby being home to make a card. I did tell him it was #WCMD2015 and it was essential! Lol! 

This is what I came up with...

I'm excited to have Label Love: Thank you back in stock over on the website next week (available for pre-order from today & will ship Wednesday 7th Oct) that I had to show it some inky love. I'm still  on a roll making thank you cards and today I am thankful of quite a few things.

Today I am thankful for all of you who take the time to stop by the blog to see my creativity, for those who leave such thoughtful comments too, for those who purchase my products and those who follow me on social media. I could go on, but you get the picture, without ALL of you my dream job wouldn't be what it is and I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I do. So, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

A small token to show my thanks to all of you I am doing a little stamp set giveaway over on Facebook & Instagram. Simply comment on either or both of the posts for your chance to win one of two Label Love: Thank you clear stamp sets. 

As usual I had a play along with a challenge, it really does help spark my creativity when I only have limited time to create. This time I joined in with the Fusion Card Challenge seen HERE and below. I decided to use both the inspiration photo and the sketch. I combined 3 Uniko clear stamp sets on my card along with some Mama Elephant dies. All the products I've used are listed at the end of the post.

One last thing... as it is #WCMD2015 how about a 15% discount code?! The code #WCMD2015 is valid until midday (BST)  tomorrow Sunday 4th October 2015. Simply apply the code to the coupon box during checkout.

That's all I have for today, but as the beans are now tucked up in their cots asleep AND hubby is watching England in the rugby I will now sneak off to the studio and make a couple more cards!! It is #WCMD2015 after all! 

Until the next time, thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies

Stamps: Uniko Label Love: Thank You, Paradise Hummingbird & Natures Treasures II

Ink: Memento Luxe Morocco, VersaMagic Mango Madness, Tea Leaves & Sahara Sand

Card Stock: White & PTI Vintage Cream

Accessories: Mama Elephant Landscape Trio Dies & Foam Adhesive

Uniko classes, re-stocks AND a card!

Hey!

How did we get to Wednesday already?? My days are zooming by like nobodies business - LOL!  The beans are FULL on during their awake time, luckily they nap and sleep well, but I am struggling to keep on going during these times!! 

Anyway, today I have a mixed bag of a post with some news on the Uniko Classes some restocks coming next week and to make it a little sweeter I've made a card to share with you all too!

Uniko Classes 

I have updated the CLASSES page HERE which is located below the logo banner at the top of the blog. More dates will be added soon, including the date & info for the FULL Day crafting retreat in 2016.

I have 2 classes in October, the 2nd class being at the NEW venue close to the market town of Yarm - YAY! You can book your place on the NEW Class HERE on the website. 

Stamp Restocks

I have 4 stamp restocks due in next week (approx 6th October) which are...

Now, how about a card...

I had an unexpected 30 minutes this evening to myself whilst the beans went to the swings with Grandad. After seeing the new Freshly Made Sketch pop up on my Instagram earlier I reached for two of the restock sets to create my card, English Country Garden - Butterflies & Label Love - Thank you. I still have a TON of thank you cards to make & send!

Below is the FMS and you can find it HERE too...

With only having 30 minutes I kept it super CAS! I started out by stamping the large butterfly directly onto my white CS base & selectively coloured it with my Prisma Color pencils & used gamsol to blend the colouring. The smaller outline butterflies are stamped in Turquoise Gem & Pink Grapefruit VersaMagic and adhered to the card with DST just down the centres. The sentiment is from Label Love - Thank you & one I reach for often.

To finish it off I smothered the butterflies in Wink Of Stella, which you can just about see in the photo above! 

Ok, that's all from me today, I will be back this week with more to share! Until then, thank you for stopping by.

YAY for Friday!

Hey & Happy Friday!

How on earth did we get to Friday?! Two days without blogging & creating a card, I'm in withdrawal! It's been one CrAzY busy but exciting week here at the Brown house. With my last post I mentioned the new windows and French doors & a trip to the hospital for another scan. 

Well, the windows and doors have been fitted and look FAB without any hiccups, just A LOT of dust!  I left for my scan on the morning & left via my MIL house as she comes with me to keep me company. I got there and needed the loo so turned the car off and went inside. Came back out and the car decided it wouldn't start - great! Luckily MIL has a car so off we went to the hospital. 

The beans were playing silly billies and laying awkwardly which made life hard for the sonographer to determine which was which and get all her measurements. From that one had put on weight but not as much as the other, so I am back again next week just to make sure all is OK. Hopefully they'll be good so they can get a better look at things. 

We came back after the appointment and my FIL looked at the car and it wasn't going anywhere, the starter motor has gone, luckily hubby had been out at the weekend to test drive cars and had decided on one and bought it & my FIL was picking it up yesterday, so I've only been without a car for a day.

As you can imagine yesterday was full of excitement as the new car AKA 'beanmobile' arrived! Off I went to run a few errands that had accumulated in one day and test the new beauty out and I am very impressed with hubby's choice...

One of my errands was to pick up a box of inky goodness that had been waiting at the parcel depot. I treated myself to the whole WPlus9 Dye Ink Collection and I've had a little play this morning in-between orders to create this super CAS card...

I've used 3 of the 15 colours, Ocean Drive, Sweet Gelato & Wild Mango. I also used the current CAS(E) this Sketch! HERE and seen below for the layout of my card. 

I did add a little glitter to jazz it up a bit...

That's all from me today, I've a few more orders to pack :) It's 50% Friday here at Uniko Studio which means you only have to spend £25 to get FREE Worldwide Shipping! It's only valid for today. 

I'm determined to be back tomorrow with another card, so until then, thank you for stopping by today & sorry for the longwinded talk! 

Monday Blues...?

Hey!

I'm still hanging in here and getting bigger by the day! I will share a 'bump' photo tomorrow, hopefully the weather will be a little brighter and less gloomy so I can get a decent picture. I'm back at the hospital tomorrow for another scan and they're going to be every two weeks, so I'll be practically living there! Plus, time is flying by at the moment with SO much to do, think of and fit in, can't it slow down just a little?!

Anyway, I found some time this evening to squeeze in a little crafting and make a card...

I decided to 'play' along with a couple of challenges. First I decided to use the current 'Less is More' challenge HERE and seen below which is a sketch challenge.

I then saw Taheerah's new Cure For The Monday Blues challenge HERE and seen below and was inspired by a few of the bright colours.

As you can see I kept it really simple. I used the solid bloom from Flower Power #2 and combined it with a label from Label Love: Thank you and two sentiments from A Gift For You. I was pleased to discover that the 'Just For You' sentiment fit perfectly inside the label. I love making discoveries like that :)

Don't forget there is still time to hop along & comment HERE to be in the chance of winning a prize! That's all from me today, I hope to stop by again tomorrow with another card. Until then, thank you for stopping by today & I hope you are all well :)

Supplies

Card Stock: White (Boyes)

Ink: Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores & Smokey Shadow

Stamps: Uniko Studio Flower Power #2, Label Love: Thank you & A Gift For You

Accessories: Papertrey Ink Doily Die, Foam Adhesive & SU! Candy Dots.

Throwback Thursday

Hey!

I'm back today after a few days off from blogging with this weeks Throwback Thursday post. Did you enjoy the Uniko Studio Challenge Guest Designer reminder post HERE? I thought Barb did a wonderful  job using the challenge colours & optional theme. Then yesterday we had Ren-Yi on the blog HERE showcasing the new Explosion! set. 

Anyway, let me get back to Throwback Thursday. I chose this card seen HERE and below to revisit...

The original card was made to highlight Uniko Studio Classics Summer digital download paper collection. This is my new version of the card above...

I've chosen a lovely Spring yellow and green palette, perfect for the current "Less is More" challenge seen HERE. 

I kept the design & layout similar to the original but I am liking the freshness of this new card more - might just be the happy spring colours?! 

Before I go I thought I would share a little sneak peek at a couple of the cards we will be making on Saturday in the Uniko Studio classes at The Paperlane...

All the details on how to book your place in a class can be found HERE. Still a couple of places left in the afternoon class. For those of you too far away to attend, I promise to share the full cards & details with you! 

Ok, that's all from me today, I had best be getting the class kits together! I'll be back tomorrow with more to share, until then, thank you for stopping by today. 

Supplies

Card Stock: White (Boyes) PTI Lemon Tart

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMagic Tea Leaves

Stamps: Uniko Studio Label Love: Birthday & Label Love: Thank you

Accessories: PTI Doily Details Die, SU! Lucky Limeade Bakers Twine & 1 3/4" Circle Punch.

Heart of Gold

Hey & Happy Friday!

Whoohoo! It's the weekend & there is LOTS going on here at Uniko Studio HQ this weekend, firstly I am at The Paperlane tomorrow from 10 am doing a demo and from 2 pm I will be running the class. Secondly, it's the first Design Team Blog Hop of 2014 tomorrow. It's a non release month here at Uniko Studio, so we will be revisiting a previously released set & of course there is a prize up for grabs too!

Anyway, I made a little card this morning to share with you all...

A little card with a whole lot of LOVE! I 'loosely' based my card on the current CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge sketch seen HERE and below. I wanted to be a bit more 'artistic' with my approach to the sketch rather than just copying the images used in the sketch.

What do you think? Can you see the sketch layout in my card? I hope you can. I couldn't resist a good dose of gold glitter to fill in the heart and add some sparkle!

That's all from me today, short & sweet as I've the class kits to pack and sketch out some card ideas for the demo. One last bit of info before I go, it's 50% Friday over on the WEBSITE. For today only FREE SHIPPING is half price, which means that you only need to spend £25 instead of £50 to qualify for free shipping. Plus there are a few offers & 10% off a selection of products to make room for the February Release! 

Thanks for stopping by today :) hope to see you tomorrow! 

Supplies

Card Stock: SU! Real Red & Basic Black. White from stash

Ink: VersaMagic Red Magic & VersaFine Onyx Black

Stamps: Uniko Studio All Occasion Sentiments #5, Accent Essentials: Arrows & Label Love: Thank you
Accessories: Masking Paper & Gold Glitter

Countdown to Christmas Day 10

Hey!

Welcome back again to my second post for the day. If you missed the first which is an introduction to a new clear stamp set being released tomorrow, you can catch up on it HERE. There is also a mini blog hop as a few of the Uniko Studio Design Team and Guest Designer for December Gillian are helping me introduce this little set too.

Anyway, I am here now with Day 10 of my Countdown to Christmas and today I have a little boxed gift ensemble to share with you...

It is essentially a box of cards for a variety of occasions, mainly birthdays which I've packaged in a nice simply decorated acetate box. Which you can see in the photos above and below. 

This is a Christmas gift for a friend of mine who loves my handmade cards. I thought it would be a nice gift to make for her to then use for friends and family whom she sends cards to. It is also another creative & thoughtful gift for any card maker / paper crafter to make which doesn't have a huge cost impact and like most people on a budget when it comes to gift giving. 

I decided on three of my favourite card designs I have made this year using one of my favourite sets Flower Power #2 and I created two colour versions of each of the cards apart from this first card design...

Again, like my Christmas cards I shared HERE the other day, I have finished the inside of the cards  and the envelopes by reflecting a small portion of the design & colours to add interest.

Design number two...

With matching envelope...

The second colour way and inside detail...

Design number 3 shown in both colour ways and envelope detail...

I also added my details Uniko Studio & website address, so that the recipient knows who created them and gives a professional finish. I got these stamps made some time ago when I was at University and the company I used no longer exists, but there are other small companies on eBay who create custom 'Handmade By' stamps.

I hope this has inspired you to put all those handmade cards to good use with a reasonably priced packaging idea. I have listed all the supplies below. 

That's all from me today, I will be back tomorrow at 9am with the Release & Reveal Day Blog Hop and again at 2pm with my next Countdown to Christmas project. Until then, thank you for stopping by today :)

Supplies:

Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Smokey Slate, Pool Party. White from stash. Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin' Up! Lucky Limeade, Regal Rose, Going Grey & Blushing Bride. Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores & Raspberry Fizz. VersaMagic Sea Breeze. VersaFine Onyx Black.

Stamps: Uniko Studio All Occasion Sentiments #2, Flower Power #2, Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum, Label Love: Thank you, Label Love: Birthday & Natures Treasures 1.

Accessories: Papertrey Ink Acetate Boxes & Envelopes. Hero Arts Prisma Glitter. Stampin' Up! Candy Dots