Uniko Challenge #60 Reminder - In My Garden + optional twist Hot Summer Colours

Hey!

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors and our Guest Designer are here today to remind you about the July/August 2020 Uniko challenge.

We have a super easy theme of In My garden with the optional twist of Hot Summer Colours

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 ;)

We're super delighted to welcome back Anushree as our Guest Designer and she has created another incredibly beautiful card to inspire you to play along. 

Guest Designer - Anushree

Isn't that just the most amazing and beautiful card ever!

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors have also been super busy creating awesome cards to give you ideas and spark your creativity. 

Hannelie

Jane 

Rahmat

Sarah

Wiebke 

Now, if you need more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.  

THE PRIZES

• Main Winner Chosen By The Brand Ambassadors - £15 eGift Certificate
• Random Twist Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £5 eGift Certificate
• Top 3 Chosen By The Brand Ambassadors - 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 21st August 2020 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration: Inspired by Twofer Challenge Card #29~Butterflies...English Country Garden Note and Birthday

Hello,

Carol here, welcoming you to my Uniko Brand Ambassador post, where I'm defaulting to what I do in missing-mojo situations: drawing inspiration from other designers or, in this case, from challenges.  Today, my muse is none other than Twofer Card Challenge #29, where this month's theme is Butterflies!  A perfect opportunity to use the lovely English Country Garden stamps & dies to create two cards, with two different designs, for two different occasions.  

Here they are....

My first card features an alcohol inked background, with some gold alloy added for extra shimmer, as a canvas for a gold-embossed three-layer vellum butterfly. The sentiment, also gold embossed, is from Simply Said.

I am completely (as in totally, full-on) smitten with slimline cards, so I *had* to make one! Here, I prisma pencil coloured three butterflies, die cut and positioned them inside the circles, then added a birthday sentiment from Simply Said.

Here they are again...the shimmer of the alloy and pearlized inks is soooo pretty.

Hopefully, I've inspired you to use your Uniko butterflies in different ways, for different challenges/occasions! They really are wonderfully versatile!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, English Country Garden stamps and dies

Morning all, Julie here with another Brand Ambassador inspiration post.

Last month I used the English Country Garden stamps and matching dies to create a couple of cards, this month I'm back with a couple more.

I've used the large butterfly die from the set to first to cut out a vellum butterfly which I then stamped and embossed and secondly created a mask and inked and stamped through it.

Here's the first inspired by this card I saved ages ago.

I loved the movement that the die cut sweep created. Using an Avery Elle curved die to create the sweep out of linen effect card, an inset panel was added, made by inking a panel of white card with Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserve DOx, splashes of water and over stamping with the large butterfly in the same colours of DI. The sentiment from Pure Florals - Peony, was stamped in the same two colours for the large 'sending' and black for the small one. I heat embossed the lighter pink with clear EP before moving slightly to create the shadow by stamping again with the darker pink ink, it creates a subtle 3D effect. A few PP sequins complete.

Wild flowers were the inspiration for my second card.

The technique used here has been around for ages, all I did was cut a piece of copy paper the same size as my base card, then cut out the butterfly using the same large die. The resultant mask was then taped over the card and the background inking added using Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn.

I used the small elements from Organic Wishes to stamp the silhouettes in black before removing the mask and stamping the sentiment from English Country Garden.

That's about it from me today, hope I've inspired you to look at your stamps ad dies in different ways and have a go yourself, this month's challenge is all about the garden, so why not join in!?

See you back here again soon.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Peony bouquet

Hello friends Rahmat here with another Inspiration using the Hello Lovely stamp set.

I used the dusty concord distress ink to stamp the image and then I inked up the panel and added some splatters to the inking.

The image was colored using Prismacolor pencils, mostly I have left it as white to stand out against the inked background.

I used the sentiment from the same set and added these using foam adhesive. I also added 2 think strips at the top and bottom to create some interest. A few jewels to finish off the card.

I hope you like the inspiration.

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

                                                       

Happy Graffiti Explosion - Uniko Guest Ambassador Tara Cardwell

Happy Weekend! 

I’m thrilled to be guesting for Uniko today and couldn’t wait to get one of my favourite of their stamps all inky – the Background Blocks Graffiti Texture is such a great way to add maximum impact for minimum effort!

For my first card I started with a white base card and stamped the graffiti background twice underneath each other with the card in portrait orientation in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink rotating the stamp for the second imprint so the swirls form an S shape in the middle.

Next, I turned the stamp and inked it up again this time in Peacock Feathers Oxide and over stamped the speckled egg in the top right corner.  This fills 75% of the card but to cover it completely I masked off the edges and stamped the image another 3 times until the whole area was complete.   Lovely textured background complete.

For the focal image I used the Explosion! and Explosions Additions sets stamping onto teal card and embossing with copper powder (hero arts) before fussy cutting the explosion.   Fun and funky way to tell a guy he’s awesome!

For the second card I wanted to take the background one step further and to make it more masculine by going for a camo feel.  I did this by starting with a sand base card and stamped in Versafine Clair Shady Lane and Verdant greens following the same pattern as the blue version.   

Once that was full dry (I cheated it with a heat gun)  I masked off the edges and then stamped across the two corners with the same stamp in versamark  and added gold embossing powder.  To get a rough feel I rubbed off the straight edges in the middle of the card so the embossing looked more rustic before heating it.   

The focal point this time came from the Big and Bold Happy stamp and die bundle with the die cut happy and a stamped and embossed birthday sentiment.   I do find it awkward to find non-twee images for boy cards and these graphic styles from Uniko really hit the mark!

Thanks for reading – happy crafting

Tara

Uniko Challenge #60 - In My Garden + optional twist Hot Summer Colours

Hey!

Welcome to the July/August 2020 Uniko Challenge.

We are delighted to welcome Anushree as our Guest Designer for this challenge. Her card is an absolutely magical mix of Uniko products and is an total stunner!

Guest Designer - Anushree

Thank you so much Anushree for being such an amazing Guest Designer!

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors have also been busy creating inspirational projects to fire up your imagination. Check them out!

Bev

Carol 

Hannelie

Jane 

Julie

Rahmat

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 on 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

You've got plenty of time to play along with this challenge. 

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 21st August 2020.

Crafty Hugs,

Brand Ambassador Inspiration Post : Hello Lovely Clear Stamp Set

Hi there!

Hannelie here sharing detail about a card I made with one my favorite stamp sets... the Hello Lovely Clear stamp set.


So happy that UNIKO is open for business again!

So many possibilities with one large floral stamp.

To see more cards I made with this amazing flower stamp set click here & here . It also looks amazing uncolored (black & white)  or in any color of the rainbow!



For today's card I water colored it with my Zig markers :

I used :

• Hello-lovely-clear-stamp-set
• Mid-century-modern-squares stencil
• Simply-said-blocks - sentiment
• Zig and Koi markers
• Peeled paint distress ink for the BG
• Versafine black ink
• Rhinestones
• Pinpoint rectangle die from Memory box
• Craft foam for dimension

To create the BG, I applied distress ink directly to the stencil, laid the stencil on watercolor paper and spritzed it with water. The first try gave a really bold result... too bold to use with an already bold focal point. I repeated the process two more times before I was satisfied with the subtle pattern.

Thanks for visiting ! I hope you leave inspired!

Hannelie

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stamping and Pencil coloring on pattern paper

Hello friends, Rahmat here with some floral inspiration using the Pure florals Lily stamp.

I have used a marbled pattern paper here, I stamped the images using distress inks. I used the Prismacolor pencils to color.

A layered  black and gold diecut sentiment and another small sentiment stamped to finish the card off.

I hope you like today's inspiration.

Products Used:

Beautiful

Pure Florals Lily

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

                                                            

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Keeping It Simple

Hello! It's Jane here today with a little bit of inspiration using two Uniko stamps sets.

Today I'm using BIG & BOLD Hello and You Are, Yes You

Both of these sets are currently in the SALE at the newly re-opened Uniko store. Just click on the links to take you there.

   

I chose to use just two stamp sets as I can remember when I first started making cards and would look for inspiration and then discover a long list of supplies that I didn't have. So disheartening! Today I want to show you that it's easy to create cards with limited supplies by keeping it simple.

In fact my first card only uses one stamp set!

And aren't we all wanting to check in with people at the moment to let them know they're in our thoughts? For this card I simply stamped the greeting and then a trio of the little stamps in the corner. I used three colours of ink, but you could make it even simpler by just using one colour. 

And here's another tip if you're just starting out, buy the small versions of ink pads to increase the colours in your stash. Then once you're sure you like the colour you can invest in the larger size or like me continue with the small pads.

My second card uses both stamp sets.

I've kept to the same card design and just switched up the sentiment and flower image. I actually stamped the flower and leaves onto snippets of left over card and then cut them out by hand.

The flower has some delicate fronds that would be tricky to cut round so I stamped the flower onto the card first and then just cut round the main flower, adhered it on top and it looks like I'm a genius at fussy cutting!

My last card again uses both sets.

The card design is once again the same, but this time I added a trio of flowers and leaves to frame the big hello. I often repeat a card design just changing small elements to give a slightly different look. I'm thinking these three cards would make a lovely set to gift to a friend.

Thanks so much for your time today. I hope I may have given you a little insight into my thinking about keeping it simple. We would love to see any of your creations using Uniko. Just use @Unikoltd when you share on social media.

Stay safe and keep crafting!

Jane

x

Website Open For Orders - Uniko Style!

Hello.

Happy July & HAPPY re-opening for orders day! 

I've been waiting for this day for months and finally, it is here and I am a bag of nerves waiting to see if the orders will roll in. It certainly has been and still is strange times, but it feels good to be getting back to some kind of normality. 

The website is open to accepting orders and I have decided to start with a twice week Post Office run to post your lovely orders. The days for posting orders will be Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

All orders will continue to be sent via First Class Mail in the UK and standard Airmail for Europe & International orders. Orders are not sent with tracking unless they are of £50 value or more. Please allow extra time for your order to reach you and you will receive an order complete email once your order has left the studio.

Please be assured that I am and have been taking the Covid 19 pandemic seriously here at Uniko HQ which is also our home. My work area is kept clean and regularly wiped down and I have been undertaking regular hand washing. We have adhered to all the lockdown regulations and have remained symptom free and have had no contact with anyone who has had symptoms of the virus.

To celebrate the reopening I made a card to share with you and it seemed apt to use my much loved Uniko Style clear stamp set. 

Along with finding inspiration and joining back in on the fun this week at one of my go to challenges, CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below, I also sought inspiration from the Uniko branding colours for my card.

I started by using the Uniko Stencil Scattered Polka Dots and lightly applied Altenew Aqualicious ink through a small section to the left. 

I've then stamped and fussy cut the Uniko Style layered blooms using the Altenew Sweet Dreams and Cherry Blossom ink collections. The sentiment is a current favourite from Hello Lovely and I finished the card off with some Nuvo Stone Drops in Lady Liberty. 

It's lovely to be back in business and I am looking forward to sharing more creativity with you soon! Be sure to hop on over to the WEBSITE and check out the SALE page for awesome all the awesome bargains I had on prior to lockdown!

Crafty Hugs