DT Inspiration ....... Mehndi Mandala

Happy Friday folks,

It's Linda here.  I hope everyone's had a great week, and that you've had time to enjoy some of this amazing weather we've been having ...... it's been so HOT!!! 

I've got a little bit of inspiration for you today using the gorgeous, brand new, Mehndi Mandala stencil.  I love this stencil .... can you tell!

One of my favourite 'go to' combinations is white embossing onto Kraft cardstock. 
When I'm having trouble deciding on a colour combo I have two fail safes .... black and white with a hint of a colour, always a classic, and white on Kraft ..... works every time!

Using the stencil I applied white ink through the design onto the Kraft card, and then sprinkled white embossing powder over the top and heat set.

With my stencils, I like to build up the ink slowly ..... less is definitely more.  It's always easier to add more ink, than it is too take it away.   Also, this way if you only use a little ink, it won't bleed underneath your stencil, and spoil your finished design.

You can see I repeated the design over the whole piece of Kraft card, taking the mandala off the edge to give a more random look.

My sentiment was stamped using a black ink, onto a strip of vellum and heat embossed with a clear powder.  I then wrapped it around the Kraft card securing it on the back so that the adhesive would be hidden.

A few sequins add a touch of sparkle, along with some random dots of glitter glue here and there for the finishing touch.
I love how the vellum gives a softer, more delicate look to the Kraft card and the stenciling behind but it doesn't hide any of the design.

I used the stencil on the inside of the card too .....

using a neutral coloured ink this time, to co-ordinate with the Kraft card .......

I hope you like it. 

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day, and have a lovely weekend.

Cheerio until next time ....

CAS Colours & Sketches #278 - Sketch

Hey!

How did we get to the last week of June?! This month at CAS Colours & Sketches and Wei is our hostess.  This week HERE Wei has a fun sketch to inspire your card making...

Here's how I used it...

I've been struggling with lack of creative mojo / energy and general 'get up & go' this past week, beyond the day to day stuff of being a mummy, housewife and keeping Uniko ticking over :( 

Anyway, I managed (albeit late) to pull this card together using a piece I had stencilled a few weeks ago, but not used on anything! I used the recently released Uniko Mehndi Mandala Stencil and Stampin' Up! embossing paste (white sparkle), through the stencil design onto black card stock.

As you can see I rotated the sketch to create a landscape card, as I wanted to use a horizontal sentiment for the rectangular piece of the sketch. The stencilled mandala piece was trimmed on the diagonal and adhered to my base card using double sided tape. The sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II is stamped and die cut out with a MFT die and adhered using 1mm thick foam adhesive. 

I just LOVE the sparkle of this embossing paste :)

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

Surprise Stencil Release!

Hello!

Today at Uniko we have a surprise stencil release!

Earlier this month Uniko was at Stamp Magic in Doncaster and I had 3 NEW stencil designs available to purchase at the show and I am super pleased they are NOW available HERE on the website.

Let's have a look at the 3 new designs...

Uniko Stencil Bright Butterflies £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

Uniko Stencil Scattered Polka Hexagons £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

Uniko Stencil Mehndi Mandala £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

Like with any new release here at Uniko we have a blog hop to celebrate and show you beautiful inspiration using the new products. I am super duper pleased to have a wonderful, talented and all round lovely crafter joining me and the Uniko Stencil DT us as our Guest Designer.... Ruth from Crafting While The Baby Naps. 

Ruth

Bev

 
Julie

Linda

Sarah G

Wiebke 

And as with all the Uniko Blog Hops we have a GIVEAWAY too! Simply comment along the hop for your chance to win one of the three stencil designs being released and as there are 3 new designs, I will randomly pick 3 lucky winners!!

Enjoy!

Hugs

June 2018 Design Team Blog Hop WINNER!

Hey!

Thanks for stopping by today, I'm here to announce winner of the June Design Team Blog Hop. Random.org helped me select a lucky comment from all those left along the hop and chose...

Ksenija @Sweet Kobylkin11 June 2018 at 17:14

Jane, that was a surprise as I've been scrolling down watching your CAS cards... Boom! An explosion. The 3rd card is so unusual for your style, and I really like it  - Sweet Kobylkin

Congratulations Ksenija! Please email me at bev@uniko.co.uk no later than 1st July 2018 to claim your prize.

Before I go, how about a card...

I am super duper excited to have a debut feature in the NEW issue of Practical Publishing Die Cutting Essentials magazine, with this little number along with a few others.

The feature is all about creating cards for men and focuses on the recently released and popular Designer Dies Explosion! Collection, along with the coordinating clear stamp sets, Explosion! and Explosion! Additions.

Here is a look at the first page of the feature in the magazine and another of the cards...

I can't wait to receive my copy in the mail! The magazine is available for purchase now and I hope that you enjoy the feature if you get a copy ;)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs

CAS Colours & Sketches #277 - Colours

Hey!

Welcome back to week 3 of June. This month at CAS Colours & Sketches and Wei is our hostess.  This week HERE Wei has a fun colour combo to inspire your card making...

Here's how I used them...

As usual I am running late, it seems to be the story of my life at the moment! I made my card using the CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch seen HERE and below, as I was inspired by all the stars on the sketch! 

It seemed the perfect match of sketch, colours and stamps, as the card came together surprisingly quick! I used Background Builders: Seeing Stars and a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II.

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

CAS Colours & Sketches #276 - Sketch

Hey!

Welcome back to week 2 of June. This month at CAS Colours & Sketches and Wei is our hostess.  This week HERE Wei has a fun clean and simple sketch to spark your card making...

So many ideas for this sketch, but limited time meant that I went for the super quick option of creating a window for my sentiment and some simple stencilling. 

I used a MFT die to create the window and used the 'Sending Hugs' sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. I then used my Uniko Scattered Polka Dot stencil to create a fun trio of coloured polka dots, moving the stencil slightly for each colour. 

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

June 2018 Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey!

It's time for another Uniko Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY - Whoohoo!! For those of you who are new around these parts I will explain what this post is all about...

Here at Uniko HQ it is just myself behind the screen, blogging, designing, packaging stamps & orders through the Uniko online shop, customer service and all the things in between. I *usually* release new product every other month for a number of reasons, but mainly so I can keep up with everything!

On non - release months like this month I like to set myself and the Design Team a challenge to look back at a previously released product and give it some more love. 

Usually I choose just one product that was released the previous year or a once favourite that hasn't seen much air time. However, this time I couldn't choose between the clear stamps in the Beautiful Blooms range, so I challenged the Uniko DT to use all 3 OR their favourite!

Beautiful Blooms I Clear Stamp Set

Beautiful Blooms I Designer Dies

Beautiful Blooms I can be bought as a clear stamp set and designer die bundle HERE.

Beautiful Blooms II

Beautiful Blooms III

My thinking / reasoning of designing the Beautiful Blooms series was to have some modern blooms that didn't necessarily reflect a particular flower. They are open for interpretation as to what YOU the stamper believes the flower to represent. I feel this allows for more creativity and individuality to stampers projects.

Anyway, lets see how the design team have been inspired to use the products and be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win your choice from the 3 clear stamp sets being featured. You have until Midnight (GMT) Monday 18th June 2018 to comment.

Happy Hopping!

Bev

Carol 

Deborah 

Izzy 

Jane 

Lindsey

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P

Hugs

DT Inspiration - One Layout Three Cards

Hi! I'm here today to share three cards I've created using the same layout and lots of Uniko goodies.

First up is this card:

One of my favourite ways to create is to CASE the work of other crafters. There are so many talented crafters around it's almost impossible not to be influenced by their creations, but to actually CASE another person's card always seems a much more literal copy of their work and as such needs to be acknowledged. So here's a link to the card I've used as inspiration for this post - Leigh Penner.

I used Uniko's Equaliser stencil to produce the same colour pattern and spacing. The inks are distress oxide which give a lovely creamy effect. I added a large sentiment to finish off. Quick, easy and just how I like it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Birthday Sentiments
Stencil: Uniko, Equaliser
Inks: Ranger distress, black soot, peacock feathers, fossilized amber, worn lipstick, fired brick, antique linen; Versafine, onyx black

I completely changed up the colours for my second card, but kept the large sentiment and a similar layout of strips of stamping.

Of the three cards this is actually my favourite and really shows the versatility of Uniko stamps. I'm thinking this card is fairly unisex, but with a switch of colours could easily be made more masculine or feminine.

Supplies:
Stamps: uniko, Simply Said Blocks, Birthday Sentiments, All Occasion Sentiments #2
Inks: Mememnto, tuxedo black, rose bud, bahama blue

So having covered a celebration and a birthday it seemed only fair to break out some Uniko Christmas stamps.

This is another quick and easy card to create and as I used my misti tool could easily be mass produced on a production line colour by colour basis.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Background Builders Seeing Stars, Fesctive Sentiments, Simply Said Christmas, Rustic christmas
Inks: SU, real red, old olive; Mememnto, tuxedo black

Thanks you for your time today. I hope I've given you some food for thought. And keep crafting!