Uniko Guest Designer for May 2018!

Hey & Happy Monday!

Today I am super excited to be introducing Uniko's Guest Designer for the month of May. I am also really happy to be opening the Uniko Guest Designer door again, and I am hoping it to be a regular occurrence, especially during release months!

I am truly honoured to have Anna Uhras from URAscrap. I am sure many of you are familiar with Anna's work, she is a Design Team Member for CASology, a card challenge blog Uniko frequently sponsors, Design in Papers and Citrus Twist. 

Over to Anna now to introduce herself...

Hi!

I am Anna Uhras ,43 years old, from Sweden. My profession is Hairdresser and I am happily married to my husband Henrik, who is a farmer soon to be for 24 years. We live at our farm and together we have five lovely kids aged 22, 20,18, 6 and 4. I work part-time and then I am a stay at home mom. My family is my heart and joy!

Scrapbooking is my "Me time" and I have to admit that it is also sort of an addiction if you ask my family, LOL! I love all those pretty papers and embellishments and I love to be creative with them. Actually ! can't live without scrapping!

My first contact with scrappy things was in 2007 by making cards. But it wasn't until 2012 I discovered layouts and then I never looked back. I think my scrappy style has evolved a lot since I first started. I love to try new things and techniques all the time.

Right now I love to use stencils and mist's for my layout backgrounds. Colours make my heart sing so I use a lot of colours on my projects. However I feel I have a pretty clean style. My favourite crafting supplies are patterned papers, colour mist's, stamps cotton thread and my sewing machine, in fact it's hard to find any of my projects without any stitches. Also I love to use digital cut files with my Silhouette Cameo.

My creations are mostly layouts (both 12x12 and 8.5x11), cards and TN-spreads as well.


I'm so excited, happy and very proud to be your guest here at Uniko Studio, thank you so much Bev!

Take care! Anna xo

Welcome Anna! It was lovely to find out more about you, your family and what you LOVE most about paper crafting. 

Anna will be joining us throughout May here on the blog as our Guest Designer AND joining in on some of the May 2018 Release :) Until you get to see Anna's projects in full, here are a few peeks at what Anna has created to share...

Stunning peeks, don't you think? I sure am excited to see the full projects and read about how they were created. 

Until then, thank you for stopping by today. I hope you will pop back tomorrow, as countdown to the Uniko May 2018 Release starts! 

Hugs

Uniko Challenge #46 Winners

Hey!

I'm here today to announce the WINNERS of Challenge #46 Colour Palette with the optional twist of EASTER. Well it seems you enjoyed using our pretty Spring colours and our gallery was full of absolutely delightful and beautiful cards. Thank you so much to everyone that took part!

First we have our overall WINNER chosen by the Design Team...

#17 Sue

 Congratulations Sue!

Here is your winner's badge:

You have won a £25 eGift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by the 11th May 2018.

We would also love to have you join us as our Guest Designer for a future challenge. If you are interested please contact Jane at jane.taylor52@btinternet.com by the 4th May 2018.

Next up is the random winner who twisted with us....

#10 Zeljka

Congratulations Zeljka!

You have won an in stock £4 clear stamp set from the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by 11th May 2018, with your choice of stamp set and your postal address.

Here is your winner's badge:

Next we have our randomly selected winner who used Uniko products on their creation...

#49 The Crafty Den

Please follow the link to instagram to view the card.

Congratulations The Crafty Den!

You have won an in stock £4 clear stamp set from the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by the 11th May 2018, with your choice of stamp set and your postal address.

Here is your winners badge:

Now for our Top 3 chosen by the DT and in entry order:

#24 Milka

#41 Ishani

#44 Trina P

Congratulations to you all & here is your Top 3 badge:

You have all won 150 loyalty reward points.

Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk

Congratulations to ALL the winners & EVERYONE who joined in on the fun!

The next Uniko Challenge starts on Friday 18th May 2018

Hope to see you come back and join in on the fun :)

March Design Team Blog Hop Winners and a Card!

Hey!

Thanks for stopping by today. I've a long over due winner of the March Design Team Blog Hop to announce today. AND as it's taken me SO long to do so, I decided to draw an extra winner too! 

First up is the winner of the £15 eGift Certificate...

Preeti D. (aka Dutt Preety)24 March 2018 at 11:53

Beautiful cards :)

And secondly, the extra winner who will receive the Fun Flowers clear stamp set & Fun Flowers Stencil...

Karen @ Misplaced Mojo4 April 2018 at 04:43

So bright and cheerful! Love it!!!

Congratulations Preeti and Karen! Please email me at bev@uniko.co.uk no later than 7th May 2018 to claim your prizes. 

Before I go, how about a card...

It has been a while since I created just for fun and joined in on a few of my favourite challenges. I saw the new Freshly Made Sketches challenge seen HERE and below and was inspired to join in. 

I also turned to Color Throwdown HERE and seen below for some colour inspiration! I decided to dust off All Occasion Sentiments #6 and paired it with one of the stamps from Fun Flowers. 

A little bit of simple colouring with my Prismacolor Pencils, a little dimension and some Altenew enamel dots finished my CAS design. 

This is for you guys, A BIG THANKS to you all for joining in on the March Design Team Blog Hop, we all appreciate your lovely comments and support.  

Hugs

CAS Colours & Sketches #269 - Sketch

Hey!

I can't believe that this is the last challenge for April! This month our hostess is Karen and she has already inspired us with 3 fab challenges. This week is sketch week and Karen has come up with this FAB one to inspire you HERE and seen below... 

And here is how I decided to use this weeks sketch...

I've enjoyed dusting off some 'older' Uniko clear stamps these past few weeks and I happened to have Background Blocks: Scattered Polka Dots and Originally Organic Additions on my desk for other projects and thought they would pair nicely using the sketch.

The polka dot background is stamped in white ink onto a SU! Berry Burst panel, which I then trimmed and die cut a small circle. I then layered it with some white card slightly bigger to stamp the leaf sprig and flower from Originally Organic Additions. I added a little bit of bakers twine and foam mounted the panel to a white card base.

That's all from me today, I hope thatI have inspired you to join in on the challenge?! If you need a little more inspiration, pop on over HERE to see what the CC&S Design Team have created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs

Using Stencils for Home Decor

Hello!

Sarah G on the Uniko blog today :)  I wanted to share some ways that I have been using my Uniko stencils on items around the house.  I do love these designs and it is fun to think of different ways of using them.

Firstly I used the gorgeous chrysanthemum stencil which I am sure is a favourite with many of you:

I bought a cheap plant pot and simply dabbed through the stencil with some bronze/copper acrylic paint.  I tend to find it easier to use repositionable adhesive spray on the back of stencils when I am using them like this as there is less tendency for the paint to bleed under the aperture and it stays put.

I also used the wonky stripes stencil on a vase:

I dabbed through the stencil with white acrylic paint.  I masked above and below the stencil to keep the stencilling crisp and was really pleased with how the stripes lined up around the vase to create a continuous design.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how you might use your Uniko stencils in unexpected ways :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

DT Inspiration Rahmat - No line coloring on One layer

Hello everyone Rahmat here.

I am up with a one layer card with no line water coloring today!

 I have used the Snowdrop set here.
I used Vaersamark watermark ink to stamp the image and used Staedtler Marsgraphic 3000 duo brush pens to water color. I could have finished it in one day, but I had taken time to color this one, and finished it over 2 days(approximately 2 hours in total).
Once I was happy with the coloring, I used the Natures treasures set to stamp the grass using Stampin' Up - Wild Wasabi ink. I then added some glossy accents to the flowers.
Once it was dry, I added the green splatters.
Finally stamped the sentiment to finish off.

Day 1

Finished coloring

A close up at the glossy accents on the snowdrops

 



Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!
                  

DT Inspiration: Chrysanthemum stencil

Happy Wednesday ....

It's Linda here, and I've got some really easy, fun ideas using the gorgeous Uniko Chrysanthemum stencil.

I do love this big, bold bloom ....... perfect  size to be center stage on all your large cards but, that doesn't mean  you can't use it to make a statement on smaller designs too.
See what I mean ...... I've used the full stencil design on my card but, only used part of it on a matching gift tag.

I've gone for a pretty in pink monochromatic look, using various shades of the same ink colour .... one of my current favourites, Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide

I applied some of the ink directly onto a piece of watercolour card and then used a damp baby wipe to spread the colour all over the card.
Then using the same colour of ink, with a stencil brush this time, I added the bloom over the top

To create my sentiment I used a leftover die cut piece from a previous project (I never throw anything away!) and added a piece of the pink card behind it to make the letters stand out.  I then stamped the rest using stamps from the Birthday Sentiments set with the Picked Raspberry ink again.

The tag was simply a cut off piece of card, stenciled across the bottom and a small sentiment banner added

How striking does the same stencil look in black ......

Again using the whole stencil .... sort of.  For the topper I used the stencil with black ink over a Distress Oxide background .... I love the matte finish

Now I love my Onyx Black Versafine but this was done using the new Versafine Clair ink ...... the Nocturne colour.  The Clair are a new range of pigment inks from the makers of the Versafine range and I think I may have a new favourite!  I must get some other colours.

Anyway ... back to the card.  I took a piece of black card and cut it about two inches larger than my coloured topper.  Using the stencil again, and lining it up so that it would sit perfectly in line with the topper, I inked through the design with the black Clair ink and then sprinkled clear embossing powder over the top and heat set to give a nice shiny finish and create a frame for my topper.
I used the whole stencil again .... just in two pieces

A little bit of matting and layering and a simple sentiment to finish off.

Why not use your stencils on the inside of your cards too ......

Here's a couple more designs for you ..... told you I love this stencil, I got a bit carried away!
Something a little more spring like ......

With a little hidden sentiment in there too .....

And last but not least ..... another hidden word, or Eclipse card as they are also know as

These are so popular at the moment, and so easy to do ...... simply do your stenciling, or rubber stamping, then die cut your word

Die cut the word a couple of times again, this time from plain cardstock, and layer them up, making sure that your stenciled, or stamped, layer is on the top.

Thanks for popping by .... I hope I've inspired you to get those stencils out.

Cheerio until next time .....

CAS Colours & Sketches #268 - Colours

Hey!

I can't believe we are half way through April already! This month our hostess is Karen and she has already inspired us with 2 fab challenges. This week is colour week and Karen has come up with this colour combo to inspire you HERE and seen below... 

This colour combo has all my favourite colours in pastel tones, which threw me a little but here's how I used them...

I've been enjoying using some of the previously released Uniko Background Blocks again and reached for a fave coming back in stock later this week, Background Blocks Doodle Flower. 

I've stamped the block in Altenew ink and used a close match Prismacolor Pencil to colour the petals. I've then stamped the block onto some Pool Party CS and fussy cut one of the flowers and added a Daffodil Delight sparkly enamel dot. Again, another sentiment from Simply Said Blocks, I just can't resist reaching for this sentiment set! 

That's all from me today, I hope thatI have inspired you to join in on the challenge?! If you need a little more inspiration, pop on over HERE to see what the CC&S Design Team have created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs