Brand Ambassador Inspiration, Spinning Snowflake

 Good morning folks, Julie here with a bit of brand Ambassador inspiration. Today I'm embracing my inner Jennifer McGuire with a take on a spinning card I saw her make on You Tube. The snowflake on this fun card spins! So grab a cuppa and settle down, there are lots of photos and instructions to follow plus a very short video, if it works!

To start, I took the Sparkling Snowflake Designer Die and cut out one snowflake from holographic card, then, using a small circle die, cut an aperture in the middle.

 

The size of the aperture needs to be just slightly larger than a flat sided button. It has to be flat and not domed to allow the spinning action.

On a panel of blue card, slightly smaller than an A6 card base, I inked through the Let It Snow stencil with Chipped Sapphire DOx. This gives a subtle background for the star of the show! This was then glued onto an A6 white base card, leaving a white edge showing.

The greeting in the center of the snowflake is made up from sentiments from Doodle Flowers and a new Christmas sentiment set coming soon! Using some of the same blue cardstock, I die cut a slightly larger circle than the opening and heat embossed the sentiment with white EP. This was then mounted onto a circle of white card, I found in my stash!

To attach the snowflake to the spinning mechanism is so easy. Place the snowflake onto the inked panel, a little bit of low tack tape keeps the die cut in place, and carefully glue the button of your choice into the center, careful not to get glue on the snowflake. 

Once the glue on the button is completely dry add some to the top, again keeping it away from the snowflake, and add the sentiment.

Once the glue is dry the snowflake can spin to it's heart content!

Take a look.

So that's that, hope it encourages you to have a go, it's really simple but looks fab and it's fun!

Keep safe and keep crafting, 'til next time.

Uniko Challenge #67 - Anything Goes + optional twist Autumn Colours

 Hello & Happy Friday!

Welcome to the September/October 2021 Uniko Challenge.

We have the super simple theme of Anything Goes, with an Optional Twist of using Autumn Colours.

For this challenge we are delighted to welcome Nonni as our Guest Designer.  

How beautiful do the Uniko butterflies look in their glorious autumnal colours! I know you'll want to pop over to Nonni's blog to let her what an awesome design she's created - HERE.

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors have also been busy creating cards to inspire you to play along. Let's see how they've interpreted the theme.

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane 

Julie

Steph

Are you ready to play?

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

Due to the current chaos around the world and here in the UK, I have temporarily reduced the value of the prizes. This is so that I can keep my small business afloat during these uncertain times. I hope you understand and will still join in on the fun.

Thank you for your continued support & joining in with the fun at Uniko.

  

THE PRIZES

• Main Winner Chosen By the DT - £15 eGift Certificate
• Random Twist Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Top 3 Chosen By DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

There is plenty of time to join and play along with this challenge. 

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 22nd October 2021.

Crafty Hugs,

 

Throwback Thursday and Last Chance!

 Hello & Happy Thursday! 

Today I am doing a little reminiscing with a throwback Thursday. 

Unfortunately, the time has come to say farewell to a couple of clear stamp sets. I never find this easy and it really does take me a while to let them go. BUT, as much as I do love these sets, trends change, just like the seasons AND there is always so much newness around the corner.

So what are we saying farewell to? 

Decorative Doilies - The Hands Of Time

Firstly it is with a heavy heart we are saying farewell to Decorative Doilies - The Hands Of Time. This stamp set holds a special place in my heart. I originally designed elements of this set at college while studying for my degree in Textiles and Surface Design. 

This set is closely connected to the two clear stamps I launched Uniko with back in February 2012, Today, Tomorrow and Always Time and Today, Tomorrow and Always Extra Time. These sets were designed for my final major project and I poured hours of research, drawing and designing into them as I learned Adobe Illustrator. 

Here are a couple of my favourite cards made using this set. You can see more on Pinterest HERE.

And for old times sake, I have a fresh card to share with you using this set...

Yep, I am still on that slimline card band wagon! However, I was inspired by the new sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below for the layout of my card. They have also requested it to be slimline.

The sketch was perfect for using lots of the doilies from the set. The hardest part was selecting which largest doily to showcase as the main feature. 

I knew I wanted this card to be super colourful, so I opted for this one as I love colouring it in rainbow! I love how it turned out. I used a selection of Stampin' Up! markers to colour the doily and then I used some of the coordinating inks to stamp the backdrop of doilies. I used all but two doilies for this card. 

The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks III and I added some enamel gems to add the final touches. I know this won't be the last time I ink up these stamps. They will forever remain a firm favourite. Especially when it comes to quick sparkling Christmas cards. However, it will probably be the last card I make and share here on the blog using it.

The next stamp set we are bidding farewell to is...

Background Builders - Vines 

This is another stamp set from the early years of Uniko, April 2014 to be exact! Here are a few of my favourites using this set. And you can see more HERE on Pinterest.

And a close up of a different card 

And again, for old times sake, a new one...

It's funny how you don't use a stamp set or product for a long time, but when you finally ink it up and start creating a whole host of ideas come to mind! 

For this card I selected one of the long leafy stamps to create this garland across my card. I then stamped a variety of the tiny flowers in a selection of inks. I tried to choose colours with an autumn feel, but it came out pretty summery.

You might recognise some of the flower designs from the Flower Power series. Don't worry those aren't retiring just yet, they'll be about for a while longer. The sentiment I have used is from Floral Vines.

So that's it, my Throwback Thursday and a farewell to these two stamp sets. It's been lovely looking back and I know for sure these early stamp sets will always have a special place in my heart and crafting stash. 

There are still some available on the website HERE at bargain prices, waiting for a loving inky home.  Once they are gone the product will be removed from the website 😢 

That's all from me today.

Crafty Hugs

 

Autumn is in the air 🍂

Hello & Happy Wednesday.

Another evening blog post for me today, the days just seem to be running away from me. Those six hours the boys are at school just fly by and before I know it, it's time to walk back and get them! 

Autumn 🍂 is in the air.

Although the first day of autumn in the UK us next week, the signs have been slowly creeping in the past couple of weeks. Slightly darker mornings, the light fading earlier and that crispness in the air that accompanies both. The leaves are already starting to change colour and fall too.

I don't have a favourite season. There are things I love about them all. Today I was inspired by the changing of the season and embracing the rustic feel of autumn.

I think I achieved this with my chosen colours. The Nature's Wonders collection from Altenew. Like many of the Brand Ambassadors, I was inspired to ink up the recently restocked, Season Of Beauty clear stamp set! 

As you can see I decided to pair the larger foliage sprig with the Stencil - Wonky Stripes. I am loving the movement this combination creates. Especially with stamping the foliage so it falls off the edge of the panel. 

What is your favourite thing about autumn? 

Until tomorrow. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Season of Beauty

Hi Everyone, 

Thanks for joining me, Steph, today where I am focusing on the Uniko Season of Beauty stamp set. 

This is a ‘new to me’ stamp set but I have been a big fan of it since it was released. As it was my first use of the set I had a good play about and stumbled upon a technique that I have completely fallen in love with - faux water colouring.

For my first card I inked up the poinsettia outline and before I stamped it, I spritzed the stamp with water. I then stamped onto watercolour card and the effect is beautiful. I followed up with inking the inner leaf part of the poinsettia using the same colour ink and various leaves and stems using differing colours of green, spritzing each with water before stamping.

To finish my card I layered it onto a Kraft card blank, heat embossed the sentiment from Uniko Most Wonderful stamp set in gold on black and added some gold embellishments to the gaps.

I was enjoying this technique so I carried on and changed the colour scheme to purple for my second card.

For my third sample I decided to spritz the watercolour card with water instead of the stamp and the effect is quite different.

Initially I wasn’t as pleased with the result because of the more ‘blocky’ look but after I adhered it to the black card it seemed to really come alive. For this card I used a heat embossed sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set.

Us Uniko Brand Ambassadors all seem to be on a roll with Christmas inspiration. See recent inspiration from Weikbe here, Jane here and Issy here.

Much love

Steph x

Marvellous Mehndi Monday!

 Hello & Happy Monday!

I hope your week has started off marvellous. Today I was inspired to create a card using Marvellous Mehndi clear stamp set. I shared this graphic seen below which I created a while back using an image from a card I had made using the stamp set combined with the coordinating Stencil - Mehndi Mandala. It's been so long since I used this stamp set, that it sparked some creative mojo.

I'm getting better at stepping outside of my regular 10.5 x 14 cm size cards and opting for slimline. I think this large mandala in the set lends itself well to these larger card canvases. 

For my colour choice I was inspired by the colours over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below. I've had these Stampin' Up! In Colours on my desk for ages, they were just waiting for the right project!

My sentiment is a mix from Doodle Flowers and Simply Said Blocks III. I think these combine really well and who doesn't want to receive a card saying this?

I'm a busy bee in the studio this week, so much fun in the pipeline and I can't wait to share it with you!. But for now you will just have to trust me on that  - haha! Okay, I best get on an get these Beans to bed, so I can have a bit of chill time too 😉 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Festive Friday - Winter Foliage

 Happy FriYAY! 

I think I am more ready for the weekend than The Beans - haha! It's been a long week getting used to an early start routine again and I didn't think them starting 10 mins earlier would make much of a difference. How wrong I was on that front! 

I shouldn't complain too much as I get a peaceful night off as they go to swimming lessons and then stay over with the grandparents till tomorrow. That means more crafty time for me - woohoo! 

I did however find some time earlier to make a little teeny tiny dent in my Christmas cards crafting and made a couple using my favourite Winter Foliage and sentiments from Christmas Wishes.

First up is this simple holly wreath I have created using the holly leaves from Winter Foliage. This clear stamp set does have Designer Dies to match, that hopefully will be back in stock soon. But today I quite enjoyed sitting and fussy cutting them out. 

I drew round a circle die so I could stamp and place the leaves in a fairly nice circle. I then stamped the sentiment from Christmas Wishes which is quite apt for this design.

My second card today I used all of the stamps from Winter Foliage to create another CAS design. Which had less fussy cutting and was a fairly quick card to put together. 

I rarely make the same card twice, but just in case I run out of time making different Christmas cards or loose the mojo, I have a design or two I can turn to and whip up a few. What about you, do you create batches of all the same designs or are all your Christmas cards different?

It's been a muggy, thundery, rainy day here in the North East, so not quite the Christmas card making weather, but I still had fun anyway!

Crafty Hugs