Brand Ambassador Inspiration - English Country Garden Butterfly II Stencil

Morning everyone,

Steph here with a Brand Ambassador Inspiration post and today I’m using the newly released Uniko English Country Garden Butterfly II stencil. I loved all the butterfly stencils when I received them and had lots of ideas of how I’d like to use them so here they are:

I have used Distress Oxide inks to sponge through the stencil one at a time from lightest to darkest. Each time I repositioned the stencil further to the right before inking. After the inks had dried I stamped the sentiments from Uniko You Are, Yes You stamp set in white ink over the butterflies. As it’s a flat make, I mounted the panel onto a card blank with foam tape for some dimension.

My next card uses the inner part of the stencil as a mask. For this card I have simply sprayed some solution made up from Peacock Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powder and water. I also tapped the powder over the card and sprayed again to get some more concentrated areas. I stamped the sentiment from Uniko Pure Florals: Cosmos stamp set and layered the finished panel onto green card stock and then a card blank.

My final card uses the outer stencil again but this time I have stamped the Uniko Background Blocks Party Confetti with the stencil in place. I removed the stencil to stamp the sentiment from the Uniko Birthday Sentiments set and added a butterfly stamped using Uniko English Country Garden - Butterflies set. I then mounted the panel onto a black card base. 

I hope these have given you a few ideas of your own to have a go with the gorgeous stencils. I’d love to see what you create.

Much love

Steph x

See Ya 2020!

 Happy New Years Eve!

My apologies for my disappearance just before & over Christmas. I simply took on too much and got totally overwhelmed before Christmas with how much I needed to get done and then Christmas Day came & went! I have since been enjoying some much needed downtime with The Beans & my husband.

This is a little snapshot of our Christmas Day!

I hope you all had a lovely day even though it may have looked different this year under the circumstances. 

As 2020 draws to a close, one of the strangest and another of the hardest years in my 41 years of life, I am looking not to what was bad or hard, but to all that I am grateful for. 

I am grateful for...

 good health

my family

 to have a roof over my head

for my business 

FOR YOU ALL HERE 

Thank you for your continued support & custom at Uniko and sticking with me during one of the toughest years. This card is for YOU ALL.

Today after clearing a walk way and an area on my desk, I made time for me in the studio to create this simple one layer thank you card. Apart from the smaller thank you stamps and one which is on the retired shelf, I think I *need* to design some larger thank you sentiment stamps ;)

Though having Alphabet Outlined is proving to be very useful to spell out larger words, which is what I did for todays card. I paired it with the flower from You Are, Yes You and simply coloured with Copic Markers.

That's all my creativity I have to share with you today, but before I go and maybe pour myself a large glass of gin, I have a little discount code for you to use on the Uniko website.

THANK YOU once again for all your support & custom. Cheers to a New Year with LOTS more exciting Uniko products to come your way. Nothing, not even Covid 19 is going to stop me from bringing you more FUN and inspiration.

Crafty Hugs 

Bev x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - English Country Garden

Good morning friends, Julie here with a little bit of Uniko summer inspiration.

I needed to make a card for my daughter's birthday, so decided to use the English Country Garden stamps and matching dies to create a floating frame design. I also ended up with an extra card from the left overs, definitely a win win!

So grab yourself a cuppa and settle down to a photo heavy post!

To start I die cut a stack of blanks of both the large and small butterflies before stamping them and colouring with Copics.

I find the best way to batch stamp is to use my MISTI and the waste from the first die cut to create a jig, so that I can place the blanks back in and then stamp away, replacing the blank after each stamping. I saved my jig from a previous project.

Once I had enough butterflies, I arranged them over a panel of copy paper trimmed to 41/2" by 61/2", not worrying if they hung over the edges. 

Using some Press n Seal, I overlaid the butterflies and pressed down especially between gaps. The Press n Seal allows you to lift the project up and then trim away the over hanging elements. 

This is how it looks part way.

This is it fully trimmed.

Without removing the Press n Seal, I cut a rectangle from the center with a die, it will cut through all layers if you take it steady!

Put the center to one side and flip the frame over and carefully remove the white copy paper, adding foam tape to the different elements.

After removing the backing from the tape, place on a 5 x 7 base card and press firmly once in position. Then very carefully remove the Press n Seal. You can stamp a sentiment directly into the center of the card but I chose to add a layered one to add some extra interest and bling. The sentiment is made up of bits from three different sets, You Are, Yes You, Birthday Sentiments and Festive Sentiments and heat embossed with platinum EP. A few holographic gems were added to complete.

Now back to the middle we put to one side. To frame the central panel, I decided to cut a thin frame using a rectangle of matching card and a slightly smaller rectangle die. I found that its easier that way than cutting the center out and trying trim down to size. If you do need to trim then I found replacing the die cut center works well in keeping the frame from distorting too much.

Instead of popping these butterflies up on foam, I simply glued them down flat onto a 5 x 7 card base, adding the frame and a simple sentiment strip from Simply Said. 

Here are the two finished cards together.

I do apologise for the photo heavy post but I hope it has inspired you to have a go yourself, its such an effective technique and you don't need to use butterflies, any die cut images will work.

So that's all from me, keep safe and sane 'til next time.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Pure Florals Cosmos

Good morning crafters, Julie here with a little bit of BA inspiration.

During these very difficult times we need to keep ourselves busy the only way we can, so why not indulge in learning a new technique? I found the following technique whilst seeking inspiration for this post, courtesy of the girls over at CAS Mix-up, acrylic paint backgrounds.

Many years ago I tried using acrylics for painting but didn't get on with them and the tubes lay abandoned in their box, unused and unloved. However, after deciding I would have a go, I ferreted them out from the back of the cupboard all ready to try and create a background as per the video. Sad to say that they had mostly dried out, only a Crimson Alizerin one that was usable.

I did come across some DoCrafts acrylics I bought to paint an Advent calendar for my Grandson a few years ago but the colours were too dark, except for the white. Not willing to give up, I eventually came up with this card.

Having a limited palette made me think hard about how to get a colourful but cohesive background.

The blue is straight out of the bottle, the teal is a conifer green mixed with white and the lime is white added to Altenew's Bamboo ink!

The stripes were made by placing small dots of colour at the top of the panel, then dragging an old credit card down in a smooth motion. There must have been less of the lime paint to create the patchy effect but I didn't really mind, I think it adds to the arty effect.

When dry, the sentiment and flowers were stamped in black and heat embossed with clear EP. Love the fresh look of these colours.

My second card used some of the crimson acrylic and some Mustard Seed Distress Paint, which is also classed as an acrylic. The DP is rather chalky compared to the other acrylics I used so tends to dull the overall brightness of the finished panel.

This time I tried to blend the three stripes together to create my background panel and used white heat embossing for the stamping. The finished panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of card, edged with a YG18 Copic marker to match the orange of the background. A few sequins add a little bling to the proceedings.

So that's it from me for this month. Hope I've encouraged you to have a go, you could even enter the stripes in our latest challenge if you add a few spots or dots!

Keep smiling.

DT Inspiration - Stencils and patterned papers

Hello, Wiebke here with a brand new stencil-project for you!

 

Like most of us, I have kind of a "comfort zone" when I create my cards. I use similar materials - most of the time I'm crafting with stamps and stencils, inks and markers and some embellishments.
And sometimes I almost forget there are also other ways to craft...!

A while ago, I recieved a card, made with a mix of patterned papers combined with punched elements, embossing paste, stamping and sewing! Not my own usual style of crafting - but so beautiful! 

So this other card inspired me for my current card!
I tried this new-to-me technique mix and show you the result!

 

I grabbed some patterned papers, cut them in pieces, adhered them onto a thin paper and went to my sewing machine to sew them all together with two different stitching-lines.
The next step was to add three different embossing pastes on the paper. One is an opaque white glossy paste, one a less opaque matte white paste and one a mix of a golden colour and the matte paste. 

I moved both stencils - the Party Confetti Stencil and the Bright Butterflies Stencil - around to get exact the shapes I planned on the different areas. I wanted many of the small hearts! 💕
So it was important to let one paste dry before moving the stencil and start adding the next one to avoid smearing them around!

In the center I kept a free area to add the sentiment "You are Amazing" of the new You are, yes you Stamp Set with white embossing powder (fitting to the glossy white paste).

After everything was finished, I cut the layer down to my card size and adhered it with a strong adhesive tape.
Cause there are so many different materials which give enough interest, I think it's not necessary to add some extra embellishments to a card like this one.

The full list of all supplies you can see on my Blog.

Hope you can give some "new-to-you" techniques a try one day too.
Thanks for stopping by today, have a great day and lots of fun with all your art supplies!

Kind greetings from Wiebke

Introducing... Background Blocks Pinstripe & You Are, Yes You

Hey!

Welcome to the LAST day of our 7th Birthday & February 2019 Release product introductions. The last four days have been so fun and colourful. If you have missed any of them you can catch up HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

I'm back again today with my guest designer and the design team to show you LOTS of inspiration! This time we are introducing a new Background Blocks Pinstripe & Yes, You  clear stamps...

Background Blocks Pinstripe needs no explaining really as it is what is says, a block of yummy pinstripes! 

Do you recognise this little doodle sketch I shared on Instagram back in August last year...? This has turned into a mini clear stamp set called 'You Are, Yes You'. 

Now, 'You Are, Yes You' is a clear stamp set that I didn't sneak peek at all as I wanted to keep it as a little surprise until today ;) This little gem of a mini clear stamp set is a Release Day FREEBIE.

This clear stamp set will be automatically added to release day orders of £25 or more up until Sunday 17th Feb 9pm GMT or while stock lasts. After 9pm GMT Sunday 17th February, if there is stock remaining it will be made available for purchase at £5.

Now, it wouldn't be a release without a daily blog hop full of inspiration! As usual my AWESOME Design Team have worked their magic with todays products, so be sure to hop along & see them...

Bev

Ruth

Carol 

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie

Linda

Lindsey

Sarah G

Sarah P

Wiebke 

WOW! That was a phenomenal inspirational hop, so many new ideas of how to use this new stencil & clear stamp set. I hope you enjoyed the hop & will come back tomorrow for the next product introductions.

Also, don't forget the enter the HUGE giveaway HERE to WIN Stamps For A Year! If you need help entering the giveaway as you don't have a blog or social media to link, send me an email and I will assist you :)

Hugs