Tuesday 26 September 2017

CAS Colours & Sketches #242 - Sketch

Hey!

It's time for this weeks challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month Fiona is our hostess and this week Fiona has a fun sketch HERE to inspire your creativity...




Here is what I came up with...




When I design Uniko clear stamps, I always 'try' to think about how they will work with other previously released Uniko clear stamps to maximise their potential. 

When I designed the recently released Reach For The Stars set I had Sweet Baby set in mind to pair it with and todays sketch gave me the inspiration and opportunity to do this :)

I was also inspired by the current challenge over at The Card Concept seen HERE and below, which was to use pastel shades. 




I also drew inspiration from the pattern on the cushion and incorporated the use of Background Builders: Triangulate on my card too. 




That's all from me today using the sketch, but if you need some more inspiration using the sketch be sure to pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE and see how the DT and Guest Designer have used it.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Hugs

Friday 22 September 2017

Uniko Challenge #43 - Autumn/Fall with Optional Twist of Halloween

Hey! And welcome to this month's Uniko challenge.


Don't you just love the glorious Autumn/Fall colours? What could be more inspiring than their beauty? So we would love to see all your wonderful autumnal creations popping up in our gallery. And if you'd like to twist with us and add Halloween into your creativity that would be fabulous too!

Challenge Guidelines:
* You can use any products/stamps to enter the challenge, but we do LOVE to see you use your Uniko products. Plus, there is an extra chance to win a prize if you do ;)
* Email entries welcome, just email a photo of your card to bev@uniko.co.uk and I will add it to the Uniko Flickr gallery and link up!
* Share the challenge graphic in your post and link back to the challenge if possible ;)

This month we have the winner of Challenge #43 the superbly talented Vijaylaxmi joining us as our Guest Designer.

Here's her amazing card:


Brilliant isn't it? Be sure to pop on over to her blog HERE and leave her some love.

The Uniko Design team also have some autumnal inspiration to share, be sure to follow the links to their blogs to find out more and I am sure they'd love a nice comment too ;)



 CLICK HERE to see more from Beverley




CLICK HERE to see more from Carol


Simple Things - photo by Deborah Frings - Deborah's Gems

CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah




CLICK HERE to see more from Izzy 




CLICK HERE to see more from Jane






CLICK HERE to see more from Lindsey 




CLICK HERE to see more from Rahmat






CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P


So are you all fired up and ready to get crafting? 

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.  I have changed the length and frequency of the challenge. The challenges are FIVE weeks long, giving us a total of SIX challenges this year.
THE PRIZES
  • Main Winner Chosen By the DT - £25 eGift Certificate
  • Random Twist Winner - £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Top 3 Chosen By DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points
You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 27th October 2017 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs, 

Tuesday 19 September 2017

CAS Colours & Sketches #241 - Colours

Hey!

It's time for this weeks challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month Fiona is our hostess and this week Fiona has a fun colour combo HERE to inspire your creativity...




Here is what I came up with...




I thought these colours were quite masculine and so I reached for the recently released and restocked Background Builders: Seeing Stars. However, instead of making a masculine birthday card I decided to make a 'Thanks' card as my stash is really low and I always have people to thank! The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks.




Hopefully you can see the shimmer of the Wink Of Stella I added to the stars? I simply stamped them in black and coloured them with Stampin' Up! markers.

That's all from me today using the sketch, but if you need some more inspiration using the sketch be sure to pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE and see how the DT and Guest Designer have used it.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Hugs

Monday 18 September 2017

A Warm Welcome!

Hello & Happy Monday!

Today I am delighted to be introducing you to the newest member of the Design Team. I am sure that this person will not be a stranger to the majority of Uniko followers and to those who join in on the Uniko and many of the challenges around blog land! 

So without further ado I would like you all to give Carol from justme: c a warm welcome :)




Hello, I’m Carol from *justme: c*.  I’m incredibly honoured and delighted to be joining Bev and her talented designers as a new member of the design team. Indeed, my feet haven’t touched the ground since receiving her invitation; still on Cloud 9 at this dream-come true opportunity to showcase, even more, my love for Uniko products. 

My card-making journey began when I decided to make and send Happy *Month Old* cards to my niece, who was 2 ½ at the time. She’s now 7, my nephew is 5 - and yes, the monthly card ‘tradition’ continues. The ‘epic messes’ of my first attempts sent me searching the internet for ideas and WOW! Did I find them! The discoveries revealed sparked a passion, and here I am, thoroughly immersed in playing with paper, stamps, dies and ink. Of course, the friendships made through this warm, encouraging community are treasured immensely; the inspiration from the many artists I’ve come to know, appreciated deeply. 

My style is predominately CAS (although eclectic is more apt) and oh, how I love my stamps and dies. I’ve recently embarked on coloured pencil online classes; hopefully, what I learn in these lessons will translate into breathing colourful, vibrant life into my Uniko stamps.

When I’m not crafting, you’re most likely to find me at our province’s road bike and cyclo-cross races - clipboard and stop watch in hand – in my role as a racing official.  Even though I don’t race (no way!), I love the thrill of the competitions and being part of the cycling community.

Thank you, Bev and the team, for your warm welcome and for embracing my creativity. I’m looking forward to creating and designing alongside you.


If you are unfamiliar with Carol's style, here are a selection of cards Carol has made to inspire you using a variety of Uniko clear stamps...






These two beauties feature Beautiful Blooms I and matching dies, All Occasion Sentiments #6 and the top card Background Blocks: Halftone.




This card features Originally Organic and matching dies and I am just digging the watercolour brush background on this card. 

How about a fabulous masculine creation to inspire you?! This card uses Explosion! Explosion Additions and Background Blocks: Halftone.




Lastly and by no means least, how about Carol's cute side...




How fabulous are these? I am sure you'll be as excited as myself to have Carol part of the team and are looking forward to seeing the inspiration she has to offer. For more details on these creations and to see more of Carol's work be sure to head on over HERE.

Thank you & welcome Carol!

Hugs

WINNER of the September 2017 Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Hey!

I am popping in tonight to announce the WINNER of the September 2017 Design Team Blog Hop HERE.  Random.org helped me pick the lucky comment...



In order of the hop the lucky commenter is...

I like your colorful cards.


Congratulations Sue! Please send me an email to bev@uniko.co.uk by Monday 2nd October 2017 along with your postal address. I can then get your goodies on the way to you. If you ordered any of the September Release, please remind me and I will send you an eGift Certificate to the value of the items you ordered.


THANK YOU to everyone who left such lovely comments along the hop.

Hugs to you all.


Thursday 14 September 2017

DT Inspiration - Scrapbooking with Uniko

Hi all! I'm here today to share a couple of scrapbook pages I've created using Uniko stamps as decoration.

After all you want to get as much use out of your stamps as possible don't you? And I'm going to hopefully inspire you to put them to good use in a completely different way.

Are you a collector of pretty paper? Me too, but somehow no matter how much I have there are times when I can't find the exact colours or pattern or layout I want. So here's a solution - use Uniko stamps and place them where you want and in the colours you want. That's what I did with this page:


I started with a plain 12x12 paper and stamped a border, picking up on colours from the photo, round two sides. I matted my photo and then added some stamped and die cut flower sprays on the corners.


 And there was even a sentiment stamp that was just perfect for my title.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Originally Organis & Originally Organic Additions
Inks: SU, soft suede, daffodil delight, old olive, pear pizzazz, calypso coral, peekaboo peach
Dies: Uniko, Originally Organic
Embellishments: MME, enamel dots

My next page uses Uniko stamps in a much more mixed media way - in fact I've put to use the card I created for Uniko's feature in the Craft Stamper magazine. It was after all inspired by this photo!


I heat embossed a couple of extra butterflies and hand cut them before making that magic triangle of elements round the photo which is supposed to draw the eye in. I also added a row of polka dots at the top and bottom of the photo using the newly released September Background Blocks Scattered Polka Dots.


Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, English Country Garden Butterflies, Background Builders Halftone & Scattered Polka Dots, Background Builder Round In Circles
Inks: Ranger distress, blueprint sketch, mermaid lagoon, cracked pistachio, peacock feathers
Embossing: Indigo Blu flitter glue & Winter Dawn gliding flakes; Ranger, silver embossing powder; Versamark, clear
Embellishments: Nailheads, Wink of Stella & Papermanis adhesive stones

Thanks so much for looking today and I hope I've given you food for thought and another example of how versatile and great value for money Uniko stamps are.

And keep crafting!

post signature
 

Tuesday 12 September 2017

CAS Colours & Sketches #240 - Sketch

Hey!

It's time for this weeks challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month Fiona is our hostess and this week Fiona has this wonderful sketch HERE to inspire your creativity...




Here is what I came up with...




I still had all the Uniko September Release clear stamps on my desk and the Simply Said Blocks clear stamp set was the perfect match to the sketch. I also want to give this MFT word window die an outing and it too was a perfect fit for my choice of sentiment and the sketch combined.




Super CAS and maybe not so inspiring :( and it's pretty straight forward, my apologies! There is still time to join in on the Uniko September Release Blog Hop HERE ;)

That's all from me today using the sketch, but if you need some more inspiration using the sketch be sure to pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE and see how the DT and Guest Designer have used it.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Hugs

Saturday 9 September 2017

September 2017 Reveal, Release, Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

WhooHoo!

Happy Weekend & Happy September 2017 Release Day!

The day is finally here and I can now show you the FIVE clear stamp sets in their entirety and they are NOW available to purchase HERE on the website.

For this months release I am trialling a NEW Limited Time Only* Release Bundle Offer HERE. You will save 5% if you purchase all FIVE of the new clear stamp sets. Depending on popularity I will offer this on all future releases with an increase of saving too! *Offer will end Midnight (BST) Monday 11th September 2017 or until stocks last.

Plus we have our usual inspirational Blog Hop with the Design Team and GIVEAWAY! Simply comment along each stop on the hop for your chance to win the ENTIRE September 2017 Release.

So lets have a look at the five new clear stamp sets lining the shelves over on the website...


Background Blocks Scattered Polka Dots £4 / £4.95
Copyright Uniko Ltd 2017



Simply Said Blocks £4 / £4.95
Copyright Uniko Ltd 2017



Reach For The Stars £9 / £9.95
Copyright Uniko Ltd 2017



Background Blocks Stars £4 / £4.95
Copyright Uniko Ltd 2017



Background Builders: Seeing Stars £9 / £9.95
Copyright Uniko Ltd 2017

That's all from me here, but be sure to hop along all the Design Team blogs and leave a comment along the way, as you never know you might just win a random prize! I know for sure that you won't be disappointed the Design Team have created a bountiful wealth of inspiration :)




CLICK HERE to see more from Beverley



CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah



CLICK HERE to see more from Izzy



CLICK HERE to see more from Jane



CLICK HERE to see more from Lindsey



CLICK HERE to see more from Rahmat



CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P


I do hope you have enjoyed the release countdown, blog hop and seeing the possibilities these clear stamp sets have? Don't forget to comment along the hop for your chance to win. You have until midnight Saturday 16th September 2017 and the winner will be announced Sunday 17th September 2017.

Hugs