Uniko Sponsors Crafthazelnut's Christmas Challenge!

Hey!

Apologies for it being so quiet around here this week, it's been a busy one here at Uniko HQ with restocks arriving, new packaging, lovely orders ;) busy mummy duties and lastly a leaky emergency in the house which took up most of my bean free afternoon on Thursday :( 

Anyway, enough chit chat! I'm here today to let you know that Uniko is proudly sponsoring Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge HERE.

This week it's an easy 'Anything Goes' Challenge but don't forget it needs to be Christmas!

As a prize for one lucky winner for joining in on the challenge Uniko is offering an unstuck stamp set of the winners choice from the Uniko website HERE. We have our February Release just around the corner too ;)

As I haven't been very creative this week, I made some time to sit and create. Oh and play with the February Release which has been waiting patiently for me. No spoilers here today I'm afraid, but if you keep an eye out on Instagram and Facebook this weekend you might spot a couple ;)

This is what I came up with for the challenge...

With hardly any creative time this week I had challenge withdrawal symptoms, so when I saw the new CAS(E) this Sketch! layout seen HERE and below, I knew I had to find the 'right' stamps to work with it. 

First I chose the sentiment from Simply Said Christmas, then the 4 step stamp poinsettia and the fern from Jingle Bells.

I started by stamping one of the poinsettias directly onto my card base and then stamped 2 more onto scraps of card to fussy cut out. I stamped the sentiment and then decided on the placement of the fussy cut poinsettias before stamping the ferns. Apart from the gold pearls it's a mail friendly Christmas card to start off 2016's Christmas card stash! 

Ok, that's all from me today, I hope you find some creative time this weekend and I look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery over HERE at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge. Until the next time, thanks for stopping by today.

CAS Colours & Sketches #158

Hey!

Welcome back to another fun challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week is sketch week and our host Patricia has a fun and easy sketch for you...

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I thought I'd make a card suitable to give the hubby ;) and this is what I came up with second time round...

The first card I made which I will share further down was fun to make, but once I had finished it, it wasn't CAS enough. So this is how this card came about! 

I decided to ink up All Occasion Sentiments #5 as it is now back in stock HERE on the website along with 7 other clear stamp sets. I paired it with a tiny heart from Flower Power #3 and a 'you' die cut from SU! I added some subtle clear Wink of Stella to the die cut and hearts along with a trio of tiny rhinestones.

Here is the first card I made which uses the sketch but isn't quite CAS enough for the challenge...

I used the same supplies, but added in a larger open heart stamp from Always & Forever. Again I added the die cut 'you' and subtle Wink of Stella to the hearts and die cut.

Be sure to stop on by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE to see what the DT have come up with and to link up your projects. Hope to see you in the gallery :)

That's all from me today, I'll be back again with more to share soon, until then, thank you for stopping by.

Uniko Challenge - have you joined us yet?

Good morning!

We're back to remind you that there's still plenty of time to join in with our ANYTHING GOES challenge here at Uniko.  You can make any type of card, but if you want there's the option of going with a LOVE theme.

You can use any stamps or products on your card but, of course, we love to see Uniko goodies on your projects.  Now, here's some more inspiration from the team:

Click here to see more from Sarah

Click here to see more from Jane

Click here to see more from Lindsey

Click here to see more from Deborah

Click Here to see more from Beverley

Aren't these just super!  Now, if you need more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

THE PRIZES

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £20 gift voucher.
• The DT choose a Top 3 who will each get 50 Loyalty Rewards Points added to their customer account.
• We will do a random draw for all those who use A UNIKO stamp, and this winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account
• We will do a random draw for those who go with the option of LOVE, and this winner will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge.  The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 12th February (7.00pm EDT).

An InLinkz Link-up

CAS Colours & Sketches #157

Hey!

Welcome back to another fun week & challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week Patricia our hostess has inspired us with another fun colour challenge HERE and seen below.

At first I found this colour combo to be a little tricky, mainly the Soft Suede. If it had been a green, no problem, but a brown I had to put my thinking cap on ;)

Anyhow, this is what I came up with...

I reached for the recently released & popular I LOVE Coffee set, as the brown was perfect for the cup and sentiment. I added a Rose Red heart duo to the cup and a strip of So Saffron CS to the bottom of my white CS layer. 

After adhering the coffee cup to the card with foam adhesive, I decided the hearts (from Flower Power #3) needed a little sparkle. So I added some Wink Of Stella, which made the ink run and a lighter shade of Rose Red in-between the hearts happened! 

I've made another card HERE over on the Uniko website blog too using this weeks Stamp Of The Week - Flower Power #2. I'd love you to pop on over and have a look :)

Anyway, be sure to check out all the FABulous CC&S Design Team inspiration HERE and join in on the fun too. Hope to see you in the gallery :)

Thanks for stopping by.

WINNER!

Hey!

I'm back this evening to announce the WINNER of the Always & Forever clear stamp set AND £10 eGift Certificate from the January 2016 Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway post HERE. 

So without further ado, random.org selected the following number...

Lucky comment #29 in order of the hop is...

Call me Naki said...

This card is soooo pretty! I'll be honest with you, I didn't know about uniko until very recent, they sure do have pretty stamp sets tho!

Congratulations Naki! Please send me an email to bev@uniko.co.uk no later than February 1st 2016 with your postal address and I will send you your prize and email you your eGift Certificate code!

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the revisited blog hop fun & commented along the way. The Uniko Design Team and I appreciate you stopping by our blogs & your lovely comments.

That's all from me here today, but for some card inspiration please pop on over HERE for this weeks Stamp Of The Week :)

Uniko Challenge #28

Hi!  Welcome to the first Uniko challenge of the year.  We have a super simple challenge this month with an ANYTHING GOES theme with the option of LOVE if you wish.

You can use any products/stamps to enter the challenge, but we do LOVE to see you use your Uniko products.  And, if you do use Uniko, there's an extra chance to win a prize.  Now, here's some inspiration from the team:

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P

CLICK HERE to see more from Jane

CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah

CLICK HERE to see more from Lindsey

CLICK HERE to see more from Beverley

 CLICK HERE to see more from Nicki

Aren't these just super!  Now, if you need more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

THE PRIZES

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £20 gift voucher.
• The DT choose a Top 3 who will each get 50 Loyalty Rewards Points added to their customer account.
• We will do a random draw for all those who use A UNIKO stamp, and this winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account
• We will do a random draw for those who go with the option of LOVE, and this winner will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge.  The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 12th February (7.00pm EDT).

****************************************************

An InLinkz Link-up

CAS Colours & Sketches #156

Hey!

I'm back this afternoon with my card & post for CAS Colours & Sketches, this week is sketch week & this super CAS sketch had me stumped for a while as can you believe it, I dot actually own anything that punches or die cuts an oval?!

I then had an 'Ah Ha' moment, I remembered getting some speech bubble wood veneers and I have used that on my card...

You can see this weeks sketch & challenge HERE and below...

Using the wood veneer speech bubble kinda determined my colour choice for my card, kraft, red and white, a classic colour combination. 

The sentiment I have chosen is from All Occasion Sentiments #6, the flower is Flower Power #2 and the leaves are from Flower Power #6. After stamping and fussy cutting my flower and leaves, which incidentally hides the speech bubble tail I was able to stamp the sentiment. After adhering it all to my card, I added a trio of white enamel dots from SU! to finish it all off. 

Ok, that's all from me just now, but be sure to head on over to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE to see the Design Team's fabulous samples & I hope to see you in the gallery! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

January 2016 Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey!

I'm SO happy you've stopped by the blog today as today is the January 2016 Design Team Blog Hop. Along with the hop we have a GIVEAWAY! So be sure to grab a drink, get comfy, relax and enjoy.

As we've quite a few new followers here, ("Hello & Thank you") I will explain what's going on! Here at Uniko I *USUALLY* only release new products every other month. This is for a number of reasons, firstly, being an avid paper crafter myself and knowing the current economic climate I know 'some' are on a limited budget when it comes to buying new stash, so this way you're not tempted to splurge too much every month.

The second reason is that it is just me here at Uniko HQ. I currently run this little business single handedly, designing, blogging, demoing, classes, packing. Alongside that I am a full time mum to 16  month old twin boys. So releasing every other month gives me chance to keep my head above water, well...just about!

So, on the in-between release months the Design Team & I take a look back at a previously released product, dust it off and give it some love.

This month I decided to take a look back at the previously released Always & Forever clear stamp set...

As you can see this set has a love theme & with Valentine's Day just around the corner I thought it would be nice to give you some' lovely' inspiration. Even though the sentimhents are geared towards Valentine's Day I hope to show you that the set is also good for Anniversaries, Weddings & general occasion cards too. 

As usual I like to show a couple of my old favourite creations & more can be found HERE on the Always & Forever Pinterest page.

This first card shows how the set coordinates with the flower from Beautiful Blooms I and I have also paired them with a sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments #1.

This second old favourite pairs the set with Background Builders: Round In Circles and the card was left sentiment free so it could be used for any occasion. 

Ok, how about some new inspiration using this set...

My card today uses the 'Love You' heart which instead of stamping I printed it using my new laser printer so that I could foil it through my new Heidi Swapp Minc Machine that I got from Santa! I'm sure you will be seeing LOTS of foiling over the next few weeks as you know I am addicted already ;) 

I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed for some new Minc mediums being released at CHA this weekend, which will be good for stamping & card making. But I will also be exploring some ideas I've seen on You Tube too and sharing the results with you.

Anyway, for my card I die cut my tag from some left over SU! CS and stamped my sentiment from the set in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I adhered my foiled heart using DST and after adding some ribbon and bakers twine mounted it onto my card base using foam adhesive. I added some tiny black heart die cuts also from SU! and gave them a splash of Wink Of Stella too.

Before we get to the traditional blog hop I would firstly like to introduce you to a new member of the Uniko Design Team. Please give a warm welcome to...

Lindsey Bowe from Doodlings

Welcome to the Uniko DT Lindsey & we all look forward to seeing your creations & inspirations using Uniko products :)

How about some more inspiration using this set from the FABulous DT...

CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah

CLICK HERE to see more from Jane

CLICK HERE to see more from Lindsey

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P

It wouldn't be a blog hop without a GIVEAWAY right? 

Simply comment along the hop to be in the chance of winning this featured set along with an eGift certificate for £10 to spend in store. Or if you win and already own the set an eGift certificate for £15 will be awarded. You have until midnight Sunday 17th Jan 2016 to comment and the winner will be announced on Monday 18th Jan 2016.

Thank you for stopping & hopping along with us today :)

CAS - Colours & Sketches #155

Hey & YAY!

I can finally share my exciting news...

I am super duper pleased to say I am again part of a challenge Design Team & this time for another of my favourite challenges, CAS - Colours & Sketches. 

As you know I am a huge fan of challenges & they really help me to spark my creativity and I have missed being on a challenge DT since I stepped down from the TIME OUT Challenges DT.

Just a little FIY too, Uniko is sponsoring the TIME OUT Challenge HERE and you can see my post about it HERE. I've used the challenge colours below too, so more inspiration for you ;)

Anyway, back to my excitement! Along with me joining the team at CAS - Colours & Sketches they are also welcoming Caroline, Karen & Liz to the current team of Patricia, Stef, Jane & Louise. I'm excited to join this challenge & the fun begins today with a colour challenge...

What a lovely colour combo, don't you think? Suitable for so many occasions as you will see from the CC&S DT HERE. 

This is what I came up with...

One of my 'mummy' friends who has a little girl 2 months younger than the beans had a little baby boy just days before Christmas and this is the card I made to congratulate them. 

I have used Uniko's Sweet Baby clear stamp set along with a Papertrey Ink die that I have adapted to create a window. I added some clear Wink Of Stella to the die cut and some sparkly stars to add a little sparkle to the design. The teddy bear is adhered to the card using foam adhesive for added interest & dimension.

Ok, that's all from me today, I will be back tomorrow with more to share. Until then, thank you for stopping by and hope to see you joining in on the challenge :)

Uniko Sponsors TIME OUT Challenges!

Hey!

Uniko are super excited to announce that we are sponsoring the first challenge of 2016 over at TIME OUT Challenges - YAY!

As usual there are PRIZES up for grabs! 

First for entering the challenge at TIME OUT Challenges, you have the chance to win a £15 eGift Certificate. This will be chosen randomly over at TIME OUT Challenges from those who do the challenge 'twist'.

Second, simply comment on this post to win an in stock stamp set of choice from the Uniko website HERE. The winner will be chosen randomly from all the comments & you have until the end of TIME OUT Challenge to comment.

Now for the challenge, this fortnight it is a super easy challenge...

BIRTHDAYS

with an optional twist of sponging

How about some inspiration...

I decided to use Uniko's Stamp Of The Week (more details HERE about SOTW), which this week is All Occasion Sentiments #2. I started by stamping the large 'HAPPY from the set in SU! Marina Mist ink fairly central on my white CS layer. I then added the small 'BIRTHDAY' from Simply Said Birthday in SU! Going Grey ink.

The balloons from Balloon Bash (back in stock this month) are stamped in VersaMagic Aquatic Splash and I sponged a tiny bit of Turquoise Gem ink to one side of the balloon stamp before stamping. I then fussy cut these out and temporarily adhered them to be able to draw in my balloon strings to create a floating 'HAPPY'. 

Once I was happy with the layout the balloons were given a slight shimmer using clear Wink Of Stella and adhered using foam adhesive. 

Want some more inspiration? The DT at TIME OUT Challenges have some for you here.

Before you go....don't forget to leave a comment on this post then take some TIME OUT and join in at TIME OUT Challenges.