Introducing...Background Blocks Cogs, Background Blocks Splatters and Everyday Sentiments

 Hello & Happy Hump Day!

Welcome to Day 1 of the 10th Birthday February 2022 Release product introductions. Myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors are here to cheer up your mid week with some fabulous creative inspiration. Today we are introducing three new stamp sets that I am sure you will want to add to your Uniko collection, Background Blocks Cogs, Background Blocks Splatters and Everyday Sentiments.

I am delighted to be adding to this growing series of Background Blocks and especially ones that lend themselves to masculine makes. The addition of these sentiments open up so many options too. The ways the Brand Ambassadors have used these are genius and inspiring, so be sure to hop along with us.

All the products will be available for purchase at 10am GMT Sunday 27th February 2022.

Okay, lets get to the good stuff...

Anita

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Steph

Wiebke

 

WOW! 

What a way to kick off the first of the product introductions. I love seeing the creativity and pairings the Brand Ambassadors come up with. 

Be sure to pop back tomorrow for the next of the product introductions.

Crafty Hugs

 

Uniko 10th Birthday Celebrations - February 2022 Release Sneak Peeks AND a Warm Welcome!

 

Hello & Happy Tuesday! 

Woohoo! The 10th Birthday Celebrations continue. It is finally time to share the sneak peeks for the 2022 February Release AND we have a warm welcome to the Uniko Brand Ambassadors.

I hope you have been enjoying the celebrations so far, there is still time to join in on the 10 Quests for your chance to win 😊

Before we get to the sneak peeks I would firstly like to give a warm welcome to Anita Bowden (Neets) to the Uniko Brand Ambassadors.

Hi, I’m Anita (aka Neets) and I live in Torquay, a seaside town on the South West coast of England.  Since childhood I’ve always been creative and would always be making something or doing cross-stitch.  I bought my first home and needed a hobby so I bought some card making kits but found them quite limiting so, after finding some blogs in a craft magazine I was hooked.  Card making is the perfect escapism from my full-time job as an Audio Secretary.  ‘Neet & Crafty’ was born in early 2013 and I’m so glad I became part of the online craft community (although my bank balance would disagree!)  But what a wonderful find it was.  After a few years of experimenting with different styles, I can certainly say the style I feel most at home with is clean and simple.  I’ve had Uniko products in my stash since I started blogging so I’m excited to be joining the Uniko family and can’t wait to get creative with Bev’s fantastic products!

Welcome Anita, I am delighted to have you join Uniko and I am sure I am not the only one who can't wait to see your creativity using the new release. 

How about some sneaky peeks to brighten this day up even more?

This month we have 5 new clear stamp sets and 3 new stencil/mask designs. All the new products will be available to purchase on Sunday 27th February 10am GMT. 

These first two peeks are of new additions to the Background Block series and I am sure they are going to be very versatile and super useful for those masculine makes. 

Next we have a new addition to the BIG & BOLD series and one I am sure will be just as fun as the others. 

How about some useful everyday sentiments? You know I am crushing on this font, so I couldn't resist adding some more useful sentiments which I am sure you'll love just as much as me! 

Lastly for the clear stamps I have a new addition to the Framed series. I am so excited about this one and it is very apt for the birthday release! 

This month we are also re-releasing a previously released and retired clear stamp set. Hands up, who remembers Fun Flowers.

Now there is a reason for this little beauty to return from retirement and this leads me onto sharing a little about the first Uniko Stencil sneak....

This first Stencil & Mask coordinates beautifully with Fun Flowers and will not only provide fresh creative inspiration to the clear stamps, but also with the previously released Stencil - Fun Flowers. 

Next I have the next addition to the Flower Power Stencils, #7. This again is both a stencil and a mask providing so many fun possibilities.

Lastly for this release, but by no means least I have another beautiful Stencil / Mask. This is just stunning on its own, but again will coordinate with Fun Flowers! 

What do you think? 

Are you excited for the first of the introductions tomorrow? I know I am!

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Uniko 10th Birthday Celebrations - Featuring Alumni Ren-Yi

 

Happy Monday!

What an exciting week we have in store. But before we get to the release countdown fun tomorrow, we have our last Alumni joining us today. I am absolutely delighted to have Ren-Yi as our featured Alumni.

Ren-Yi joined Uniko in October 2012, when Uniko expanded the team and ventured more into the digital stamp world and was an integral part of the team along with launching Uniko's Challenges. 

Let's have a look at the original card Ren-Yi chose as inspiration, which uses the solid flower from Flower Power #4.

I love this bokeh style of stamping to create an eye catching background. This of which Ren-Yi has created on her stunning new card below.

Ren-Yi created a beautiful watercolour background and used the Background Blocks Scattered Hearts to create the soft bokeh effect along the edge. The focal image is the silhouette from Just Because, stamped and then outlined by hand with a gold marker. Isn't this a beauty. 

Thank you so much Ren-Yi for joining us and hopefully it won't be as long till next time! 

So, that was our last Alumni CASE Yourself feature this month. I do hope you have enjoyed the feature reminiscing with me and all the old and new inspiration. 

I do hope you will stop by tomorrow for a little surprise and our release sneak peeks! Until then, Crafty Hugs 

Uniko 10th Birthday Celebrations - Featuring Alumni Carol Mayne

Happy Sunday!

Today we're featuring Alumni Carol Mayne and her amazing cards. And I also remember her for all the supportive and positive comments she always left everyone.

She has CASEd this card from May 2018  using Flower Power #8 for her first share:

And here's her new card using Flower Power #8 again, but this time the stencil version takes centre stage on her slimline card.

Carol has kept the red-to-pink ombre palette in the stencilled flowers and the green of the leaves from her first card appears in the delicate frame around the sentiment.

Inspired and excited by Uniko's 10th birthday Carol has a second card to share. This one was made not so long ago in March 2020 and used Background Builders: Classic for the clipboard stripes, Flower Power #1, Flower Power #2 and Flower Power #6 stamps and the matching dies.

Carol drew inspiration from the pink in the stripes, the kraft of the clipboard holder and the stripes along the sides, which she translated into a pink flower using the Flower Power #1 stencil onto a kraft base and a woodgrain backing panel.

Thank you Carol for your brilliant cards, both old and new.

Coming soon - on Tuesday 22nd we begin the peeks and introductions for the new February birthday release.

So exciting!

Uniko 10th birthday Celebrations - Quest 10 Close Ups

 Hey!

The final quest is here for you today. 

If you've completed some of the earlier quests you'll be good at recognising Uniko products. So today's close up quest should be a breeze! 

When you've identified all the products email your answers putting Close Ups in the subject line to bev@uniko.co.uk

All correct answers will go into a draw to win a £16 stamp set of winner's choice.

If you've taken part in all ten quests let us know in your Close Ups answers email and you will put into a draw to win a £100 spend in the Uniko store.

If you've missed some of the quests here's links to them all:

Quest 1

Quest 2

Quest 3

Quest 4

Quest 5

Quest 6

Quest 7

Quest 8

Quest 9

You have until midnight UK time on 27th February to complete all the quests and email your answers to me.

Uniko 10th Birthday Celebrations - Quest 9 Missing Vowels

Welcome to Quest 9. 

Today we have some Uniko stamp set names with the vowels missing. Can you puzzle them out. 

 You can find all the stamps listed in the Uniko shop - HERE.

1. LWYS & FRVR

2. NK STYL

3.BLCK PRTY SMMR

4. HPPY SCCLNTS

5. MRVLLS MHND

6. CRCKNG CHRSTMS

7. KNDNSS BLMS

8. DDL FLWRS

9. JST BCS

10. BCKGRND BLCKS LYRD MDRN FLRL

Email your answers with Missing Vowels in the subject line to bev@uniko.co.uk

All correct answers will be put into a random draw to win three £6 clear stamps of the winners choosing. 

Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - CASE Myself

This is a second special Birthday-surprise for Bev!

Today it's on me to join into the fun of the CASE myself event on the Uniko Blog!
There's a difference to the other participating crafters - they are all Alumni Team Members who just came back to celebrate the 10th Birthday of Uniko with Bev, the team and all customers...
But I am still an active member! During the next days you will see what I'm talking about... the February Release is coming closer - just a few days left until the Sneak Peek and Introducing Days will start! 😀

Beverley released her very first stencil designs in autumn 2017.
I was so honoured when Bev asked me to join a small team with a focus on stencils! Sure I wanted!
During the years I had some Guest Designer postings, but wasn't a permanent member of any team before!
On February, 17th 2018 Bev introduced our new Stencil Design Team on the Uniko Blog
- Sarah Gray, Julie Beech, Linda Walmsley and me.

But first let's return to the CASE myself event!
Is there anything closer than using my very first contribution I made as fresh team member of the Stencil Design Team and CASE it?
Definitly not!

This is the card I used as CASE inspiration:

K1-907 - fly by balloons

I made three new cards.

For the first one I used the Equalizer block Stencil, The English Country Garden Butterflies Stamps and Dies and a sentiment of the Anniversaire Arts Décoratives set.
Here I've used the layout and the colours of the balloon card. I also took the three different colours of the balloons to the butterflies. The background isn't embossed here, but the front of the butterflies and the sentiment are. The butterflies are adhered one side flat, the other one with a mix of 1 mm and 2 mm dimensional pads.

K1-1561 - Birthday Butterflies

The second one is made with the Honeycomb Pattern Stencil and the Bee happy and Simply Said Blocks II.
Here I've used the layout, but different colours. Again I intensified the colours from top to bottom. The three bees are identical, but (like balloons in the wind) they fly in different directions. The sentiment isn't on a banner this time, but it has a black background like in the original card.

K1-1560 - Bee Wishes

And the third one is in the background like the one before, but I changed the sentiment to one of Floral Vines and the bees to "the one" of Mid Century Modern Florals.
Maybe you can remember, where you have seen these bees before?
If not, hop here or here and you will find my funny special own bee-creations - it's like a second act of CASEing myself.
The little rings and dots give an optical kind of black background for the sentiment, but with a lighter, less bold look.

K1-1559 - Happy BeeDay

To see the full lists of supplies and some more pictures, please follow the added links to my blog.

Stay inspired and be excited, what the Uniko BA-team will show you soon!

 

Greetings from Wiebke