Hello April 🌸

Hello April & Happy Tuesday. 

A shiny new month ahead and lots of inspiration in store. It's a jam packed month here at Uniko HQ with lots planned for the month. 

This weekend I have another show, here in the North East of the UK with Crafterama in Gateshead. I'm excited to be back on almost home ground & I'm looking forward to chatting & demoing on the Uniko stand. 

Next is the Uniko Stamping Retreat & I've a fun filled day of crafting in store and the attendees are super lucky, they get to see & craft with the new products coming at the end of the month. 

I'll be taking a little 'break' over the Easter weekend, I say 'break' more like getting out of the studio to help my husband install a new fence along the side of our house. Whilst I might add The Beans go off on their jollies with Grandma & Grandad! I often wonder what I agree to 😂

Then the final full week of April we will begin the countdown to the April 2025 Release which will be available on the website and at the Crafterama show in Lincoln. 

Anyway, enough chat, lets start the month as I mean to go on with inspiration...

My card today was totally inspired by THIS card by Kristina Werner. I've been a fan of Kristina's for many many years and I was delighted when she launched her own collection with Concord & 9th. I've treated myself to a few things, including this skinny frame die. You can purchase it HERE at Seven Hills Crafts.

Anyway, I saw this card, loved the layout and thought it would work wonderfully with the flowers from Organic Blooms.

I often forget about stamping on coloured card. So often I reach for white and a way of adding colour, which I am not always great at doing. But this is a fun and quick way of bringing all the colour.

The colours used are Wildberry, Honeysuckle, Sweet Pea & Pink Lemonade. I chose to use black for my frame and stamping instead of gold that Kristina has used, but I still managed to squeeze in a little white! 

Are you a fan of stamping on coloured card or patterned paper?

Crafty Hugs

March Meet The Maker - Product Story

 Hello & Happy Monday.

Today is the final day of March Meet The Maker and the final theme is product story. So far I've talked about the Originally Organic Collection, Ink & Flip Stencils & the popular Mid Century Modern Collection. 

There are lots of products that have stories, but I thought for this final day I would highlight the Stencil - MOD Background Builder. 

This stencil was the start of my 'builder' style stencils. The idea being that you can have an instant focal pattern, but that you can also move it around easily to fill a larger space.

I happened upon this 'builder' style from my surface pattern days and learning Adobe Illustrator in that this is a similar format to use to create and seamless pattern. And this was one I had created in my portfolio of designs. 

This shows the stencil used as an instant backdrop/focal point for the flower from Flower Power #3, accented with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

This next sample shows how the stencil can be used as an all over pattern. I've accented with elements from the corners of the stencil and a sentiment from Everyday Sentiments.

Lastly for today I thought I would make a new card to share with you. 

I went for a little tone on tone ink blending for this card. First ink blended some Oceanside onto the white card panel, but faded it out towards the top. 

I then used Peacock from the bottom, through the stencil and then Oceanside towards the top. For my sentiment I used Birthday Sentiments as I still had it out on my desk. 

I love this stencil format and it was the spark that gave me the inspiration to go on to design the Stencil - MOD Background Builder Circles and then I expanded the format to design the Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks. I can confirm there will be new designs coming in this format this year!

And that wraps up March Meet The Maker. I hope you have enjoyed the blog series as much as I have and it's given you a little more insight behind the scenes. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Mothering Sunday

Hello & Happy Sunday.

Today in the UK is Mothering Sunday. One of the most bittersweet days of the year for me. Where I am blessed beyond measure to be a mum to two amazing boys. I am so proud of them and they bring me joy and love every day.

But then another year adds to the 15 already passed that I don't get to spend it with my mum, loved and missed so much. Sad that she never got to see me get married, have The Beans or get to dote on them like my parents in law do.

Still, I got to make a card for my mother in law who over the years has been a blessing and taken me under her wing like a daughter of her own. 

Of course it had to be flowers and I fancied inking up the Stencil - Layering Picked Posies as I thought she would appreciate this one.

I kept it simple and added a sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments and Everyday Spring Sentiments, along with a few enamel dots.

It's been a nice family day, although a little tiring as the clocks sprung forward this morning and I woke early, baked and cooked a Sunday roast. 

Time to chill before a fun filled week prepping for Crafterama Gateshead tomorrow. 

Crafty Hugs

 

March Meet The Maker - Making

Hello & Happy FriYAY! 

Today on March Meet The Maker it is all about making. So I made a card and created a little YouTube short of me making it, you can watch it HERE 😀

I chose Beautiful Blooms II to ink up today and here is my finished card...

I used my 'go to' colours, Buttercup, Honeysuckle, Oceanside & Parsley. My sentiment is a mix of the happy from Happy Succulents and the birthday from Birthday Sentiments.

AND before I go I am so late in randomly selecting and announcing the winner of the March Brand Ambassador Blog Hop (my apologies). 

Random.org selected lucky no. 

And the winner is Lucy E

Lucy E.11 March 2025 at 23:13

Fabulous cards! What creative ways to use the stamps!

Congratulations Lucy, please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk to claim your eGift Code prize. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and hop along with us.

Crafty Hugs

March Meet The Maker - Favourite Collection

Happy Wonderful Wednesday.

Today on March Meet The Maker it's all about Favourite Collection. Now this is a little tricky, my favourites constantly change and well, I love everything I design! 

So far during March Meet The Maker I have given love to the products in the Organic series and I have also given a little love to the one of a kind Ink & Flip Stencils. So, it was only right that I let the Uniko Mid Century Modern Collection take the limelight today.

Whilst technically the Bauhaus design movement (1919-1933) was before Mid Century Modern (1945-1970), I've included them in the Uniko collection because, well they do work lovely together.

This collection is also a firm favourite with Uniko customers and often sells out quickly, I've had a recent rush on what *was* in stock, such as Mid Century Modern Florals which has had a flurry and sold out last week. 

With that, it is a collection I restock fairly quickly, more on that later though. Let's have a look at some of this collection in action, I've created a couple of cards using some of the products that are currently still in stock! 

I feel I've neglected the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Circle & Stars so chose that for some fresh inky love. As you know I love pink & orange together and so I chose to section off a little of the background to ink with Honeysuckle and then I placed the stencil and inked through with Marmalade to create this striking background inside the circle die.

I chose the Smile sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments as this really does make me smile. And I finished with a few Marmalade enamel dots.

I had fun with circle die cuts that I created another fun card using more of a spotlight technique. I ink blended the stencil all over my base card using Blueberry, Fig and Grapefruit inks..

I then die cut circles from another layer before adhering using foam tape and finishing with another of the sentiments from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments.

Along with making these new creations, I've been busy in the studio designing new products to expand this collection later this year and if you already love the collection, I think you'll love these new additions too 😜

Are you a fan of Mid Century Modern?

Before I go today I have some restock news, the following highly popular and requested clear stamps and stencils are now available...

Background Blocks Arts Decoratifs

Background Blocks Mid Century Modern

Background Blocks MOD Builder

Background Blocks Splatter

Background Blocks Wonky Stripes

Background Builders Diamonds

Bauhaus Blocks

Flower Power #2

Flower Power #3

Flower Power #7

Flower Power #8

Organic Blooms

Paw Print Hearts

Stencil - Geometric Happy Birthday 

Apologies for such a long post! 

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Background Blocks Waves

 Bonjour !

Izzy here with some more inspiration for the Background Blocks Waves stamp released last month.

While I was tidying up my desk, I found some colour test sheets for this stamp. Not wanting to throw them away, I used them to make the following cards. 

I also wanted to show you how versatile is this stamp, like all other Uniko products, by the way.

As a die-hard fan of the colour blue, I absolutely had to try this stamp with pretty shades of blue.

Being a sea fan too, I immediately thought of these porthole and swimsuit die cuts. But since they aren't Uniko products, I thought I needed something else for the release day. But I kept the card up my sleeve.

For this second card, I used scraps from the card I made for the introduction to this stamp. These pretty colours remind me of designs from the 1960s.

I die cut squares and I glued them onto a double white card. And to add a little hippie look, I used the flowers from the Doodle Flowers set. I created the sentiment with different sets and some masking.

I also tried this colour combination for the card of the introduction day, but I found it a little bit too pale for what I had in mind. But on the contrary, these are the perfect colours to illustrate Easter.

So I die cut an egg shape from this combo of colours and I glued it on a yellow double card. On a piece of white card stock I stamped the bunny from the Hoppy Easter set. I fussy cut it and I foam mounted it on the card. I heat embossed the sentiment from this set.

I was about to finish my post with the 3 previous cards, but I realised that one season was missing. So I tried to find an idea for a Christmas card. 

Once again I played with the Background Blocks Waves set, I first stamped it with green ink, then I turned the panel I stamped it again with the same ink. It finally made a lovely kind of plaid, just perfect for the Christmas theme.

I glued this panel on a double green card and I used the Flower Power #1 set and the matching die as embellishment. 

To finish I stamped and I gold heat embossed the sentiment from the Christmas Wishes set. I fussy cut it and I foam mounted it on the card.

Et voilà ! As you can see, this set is very versatile and you can use it for any occasion and combine it with a lot of different other products.

Thanks for joining me today and hopefully I've given you some more inspiration to use with your recent (or future) order !

Have a lovely day and thank you for stopping by.

  

March Meet The Maker - Where

Hello & Happy Monday.

Today on March Meet The Maker it is all about WHERE. 

So where can you find Uniko?

Well, the obvious place is the Uniko website...

You won't find Uniko products available on any other website, unless they are an exclusive like I did a while ago with CraftStash for example. I don't wholesale Uniko products out to any other craft shops. 

Every now and then you will find Uniko at paper craft shows such as Stamperama & Crafterama. My next show is in Gateshead on April 6th 2025.

Even though this year I aim to venture further a field with Uniko, there are some shows that have been out of my reach and when I can't be there, Dies to Die For have a small selection of Uniko products on their stand. 

I'd love to know if there is a show you would like to see me at?

Inspiration wise you will find Uniko here on the blog of course, plus Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

Talking of inspiration, today I thought I would share this week's Card Of The Week with you...

The fresh sunshine this morning inspired me today to choose this card using Organically Zesty. Plus Julie's recent inspiration HERE inspired me too. You never know, I *might* get round to inking this set up again if my plans this week go to plan! 

That's all from me today. I will be back later this week with more to share including restocks and a new video over on YouTube.

Crafty Hugs