Merry Monday, BA Inspiration featuring Season of Beauty

 Morning all, Julie here with a couple of cards using the Season of Beauty stamp set.

The other day I was browsing You Tube when I came across a set of cards made using a poinsettia stamp by Jennifer McGuire and it got me to thinking that I could use her layout to create a card using the poinsettia and foliage from the Season of Beauty set. So here are a couple I made, more or less the same but slightly different because of the technique used, as well as using different sentiments.

In the video here, Jennifer uses a faux watercolour technique and a homemade ink pad and reinkers but I don't have any reinkers so I chose to use DIs and Zig watercolour markers.

To make the poinsettias, I chose the solid image from the set and placed it in my MISTI, along with a panel of white card. The card was positioned so that by turning the panel I could stamp two images, waste not want not! For my first card I used Zig watercolour markers to ink the stamp and spritzed with a fine mist of water before stamping. I repeated this until I was happy with the finished flower, using about 3 different reds. The center, the actual flowers, were stamped with a mix of 2 yellow markers. 

On another panel of white card, slightly narrower than a standard A6 panel, I arranged some of the foliage stamps along with some of the leaves and repeated the process, this time using a mix of 3 greens. When my poinsettia was dry, I fussy cut it and glued the center of the image over the foliage. 

My sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold EP. 

To complete, I glued the panel to an A6 top fold card and added a thin strip of gold linen effect card to the edge and some punched circles from the same card to the center of the poinsettia.

The second card was done in much the same way but this time I used Altenew inks for the reds and DIs for the greens. For the foliage I added DI onto an acrylic block and used this to add colour to the stamps as well as adding it straight to the stamp from the pad. I also added some red to the front of the card and a different sentiment from the set.

I do like the faux watercolour effect you get by spritzing the stamp before stamping but as you can see on the first card too much water will let the ink bleed. The layout is one I think I will use again, not just for Christmas cards, it would work just as well for any Floral image and not necessarily the faux watercolour technique.

That's all from me today but I hope I've given you some inspiration for your Christmas makes.

Keep crafting and I'll be back soon!

Jolly Bauhaus

Hello & Happy Weekend.

It's a little grey, wet and windy here today, perfect weather for staying in and crafting. Which is what I plan on doing. Well, alongside the usual weekend chores! 

Hopefully the card I have to share today brightens up your day...

I was inspired to create a background with one of the square designs from Bauhaus Blocks and knowing that I wanted to add sone colour, I decided to heat emboss the squares. I used VersaMark ink and clear gloss embossing powder to do this.

I then went over the embossing with Concord & 9th Poppy, Marmalade and Honeysuckle inks to create this vibrant ink blended background. I felt it needed a little more detail, so decided to die cut a circle window to stamp my sentiment inside. I had debated a square window, but thought a circle would bring more contrast to all the squares. I then adhered the panel to my base card using foam adhesive.

My sentiment choice is from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder for the Jolly Wishes. Which in hindsight I wished I stamped slightly higher up in the circle aperture. The sending part is a partial sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. Finally my usual enamel dots to add the finishing touch.

That's all I have to share today, thank you for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Technique Thursday with Uniko Designer Dies!

Hello & Happy Thursday! 

Gosh, it's a warm one here today. Though I am sure when the sun starts to go down it will cool off, I can feel Autumn in the air. 

Anyway, today I have a fun technique and a video to share. YES, I have been brave and recorded a video. I am still learning and still have a few things to learn to make them pretty. But this card I made yesterday was easier to explain and demonstrate in a video. 

I used BIG & BOLD Snow Clear stamps and BIG & BOLD Snow Designer Dies. Plus there is a bundle option HERE!

My thinking behind this card and technique was that I wanted more of the stamped snowflake design to be seen and not hidden by a large die cut word. 

It's a little fiddly, time consuming and this first card took two attempts! But, I think the results are fun. You can check out my video HERE on You Tube and below is the finished card of the one I made during the video.

I hope you enjoy the video and I'd love you to subscribe, I will be sharing more in the coming days and weeks.

Crafty Hugs 

Sweet Saturday

Hello & Happy Weekend!

WOW! What a scorcher here in the UK. I love the sunshine and I do miss it when it's not here for sure. But today I have pretty much stayed out of it this afternoon and tried to keep cool in the studio.

I was inspired to dust off Organically Zesty for my cards today and decided to pair it with Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks. Which I am delighted to say is available on backorder HERE and I will be landing in the studio on Monday 25th September.

I started by using the stencil as a focal point on my 9 x 12.5cm card panel using Sprout, Buttercup and Marmalade to ink each of the layers. I then positioned my card in my MISTI to stamp the lemon image and used the fun spotlighting technique for the image to fall onto my base card. 

I used foam tape to raise the stencilled panel and a sentiment from the set with some Marmalade enamel dots finished the card.

I didn't want to favour one fruity image over the other, so went on to make a second card. This time I filled my card base with the Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks. I kept the same vibrant and juicy colours for ease and save cleaning the stencils! 

As you can see I stamped the orange image onto white card and fussy cut along the top edge. I then adhered this to my card base using foam tape. This time I added ,a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks III and again used the Marmalade enamel dots.

Here are both cards side by side. I can't decide which one I like the best can you?

Thanks for stopping by & crafty hugs.

Happy September & a Winner!

Hello & Happy September!

I am finally back in the studio after a busy start to the month. September is always a little chaotic with the Beans birthday and back to school, which was today.

So apologies for my absence these past couple weeks here on the blog and social media. It was lovely to take some 'downtime' with these two and my husband and enjoy the end of summer. 

But now I am back it is full steam ahead for some new products and a busy month of October with two Crafterama/Stamperama shows, Lincoln 1st October and Bedford 22nd October. PLUS there is the Uniko Stamping Retreat on Sunday 8th October! 

Anyway, before I get to the awaited winner for the July/August Release, how about another card using some of these products...

I've had this card finished for a while, I just needed to take photos of it, which I did this morning with the glorious sunshine coming through the windows. 

As you may remember the newest Background Block Art Decoratifs Christmas pairs beautifully with the previously released Background Block Art Decoratifs. Which I have done here.

I didn't actually use a lot of the new block, just the tree fussy cut out! But I had this idea to create a shaker card and add the tree as an embellishment focal point. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

My shaker choice was some Stampin' Up! Silver Glass as that was the only Christmassy one I could find at the time.

Ok, so enough talk. Let's get to the winner. I enlisted the help of the Uniko Brand Ambassadors to each select a commentor from across social media whose comment stood out to them. I then put the 6 names into a random generator and the lucky comment is...

Nicole G

Please drop me an email at bev@uniko.co.uk with your postal address and I will get your goodies in the post to you.

Thank you to everyone that commented and made this release one to remember. Now I had better knuckle down and get a bit more done before it's time to collect the Beans from school! 

Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Fantastic Foliage

Good morning, crafters

Anita here, and today I have two cards for you, both using different Uniko foliage sets.  I've had these sets in my stash for a while but this is the first outing for both of these!  Two very different stamps and two very different cards.

First up, I've used a beautiful stamp set which is part of the Framed series, Framed - Floral Vines...

I chose to use a pale grey cardstock for my main panel.  I began by stamping the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink.  This is the ink colour that I always use for this technique, where I want to colour the image and then re-stamp and emboss after, as it is pale enough to disappear under the final embossed lines.  So after stamping I coloured the leaves and flowers with Copic markers.  Then, with the stamp still in the same position in my Misti, I re-stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed in white.  I added the sentiment in black, which is from the Birthday Wishes clear stamp set, before trimming down the grey panel and also the card base to fit the ratio of the framed image.

For my second card I've used the Large Background Sketched Foliage stamp...

This is a technique I've not used in a while - layered emboss resist.  A little time consuming but you can create some great effects with it.  I just used one layer on this example but you can use multiple layers if you choose inks with varying depths of colour, starting with the lightest.  I began with a white cardstock panel and roughly ink blended using Distress Oxide in Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn.  I then left it to dry before stamping the image in VersaMark and heat embossing in clear.  The clear embossing powder ensures that the ink shades you've applied on the first blend are trapped under the embossing.  I then ink blended with the darker shade, Rustic Wilderness, over the entire panel.  The embossed areas then just need a buff with a soft cloth to wipe off any ink being resisted.  For a little interest I added some water droplets and blotted these away to remove some of the colour.  The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle and I added a strip using a sentiment from the Simply Said clear stamp set.

I can't believe it will be September tomorrow, it doesn't feel like we've had summer yet here in the UK.  I'm not quite ready to start with the autumnal projects yet so let's hope September will bring summer back, at least for a little while!

Thanks for popping by today.  I have a little time off work next week so I may be back sooner with more inspiration for you.

 

BA Inspiration - Technique Tuesday, Using Sentiment Stamps For Backgrounds

 Good morning Uniko fans, Julie here with another BA post using sentiment stamps in a background. I love using sentiments for a background and have shared many ideas over the years such as here, here and here but this time I've been inspired by Jennifer McGuire to use a turnabout jig to create one.

Here's my first idea, using English Country Garden stamps and dies and some birthday themed sentiments.

I started with an A6 panel of white card and using a freehand cut shape to match my jig middle, I glued it temporarily onto the center of my panel and secured my jig into my MISTI. To get a feel for my layout, I started with the largest sentiment stamp and set off, turning the panel after each time I stamped. Once I could see where the gaps were, I used smaller sentiments to infill and repeated the stamping and turning. 

I stamped my butterfly on one of 3 white butterfly die cuts and coloured it with Copics. From the remaining die cuts, I removed the antennae and lower half of the body and folded them in half down the middle. These were then glued to each wing, meeting at the center and the other flaps were glued over the turnabout panel.  My panel was trimmed and added to an A6 white note card.

I rather liked the effect of the dancing butterfly over the sentiments, so tried another idea out, this time using the Sparkling Snowflake die and some appropriate sentiments.

This time I used Altenew Iceberg ink for the stamping, some of which I double and even triple stamped to increase the saturation of colour. Instead of using all 8 points of my stamping jig, I just used every alternate one, it gives a slightly different effect and I was able to use more sentiments.

The main snowflake was cut from holographic silver card and two others from matching white card folded down the middle and attached the same as the butterfly. One of Bev's sentiments describes the effect perfectly, Snowflakes are winter's butterflies!

So that's all from me for the moment, hope I've given you some inspiration for you to give it a go

Stay safe and keep crafting!