No Tricks, Just Treats - Happy Halloween!

 Happy Weekend 

&

 Happy Halloween!

I know not everyone celebrates the occasion, but with the way 2020 has panned out so far, I think we all deserve some treats ;) So in celebration I have a couple of offers on the Uniko website...

FREE Worldwide Shipping is usually only on orders of £50 or more, so I've reduced the minimum spend by half. Also, if you spend over £30 you can choose an in stock Uniko Stencil for FREE! 

What's not to love about these treats?! 

Be quick as they end tomorrow Sunday 1st November 2020 at Midday GMT.

I managed to squeeze in a little creative time too and made this Autumnal card using Natures Treasures II and my all time favourite Happy Birthday from Simply Said Blocks.

I'm still crushing on these Concord & 9th inks and used a couple more colours I'd not tried yet. The layout of my card is also inspired by the current CAS Colours & Sketches challenge seen HERE and below.

I did mark out the centre of my card & a line at the top to leave a border and then just stamped the leaves in various Autumnal colours. I decided to add a few berries in Cranberry ink using the trio of berries from Rustic Wreath.

A quick & simple card, that I am rather pleased with. Plus, it was nice to get inky and creative too ;) I hope you all have a lovely fun, chocolate, sweet filled day! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty Hugs Bev x

Uniko Challenge #61 Winners

Hey!

I'm here today to announce the WINNERS of Challenge #61 Anything Goes, optional twist Thanks

A huge thank you to everyone who played along with this challenge.

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

#7 SathyaKala

Congratulations SathyaKala!

Here's your winner's badge

You have won a £15 eGift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by 13th November 2020

We would also love to have you join us as our Guest Designer for our next challenge. If you are interested please contact Jane at jane.taylor52@btinternet.com by 6th November 2020.

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

#92 Fonda R

Congratulations Fonda!

You have won a £5 Egift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by the 13th November 2020 to claim your prize.

Here is your winners badge:

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

#90 Anne S

Congratulations Anne!

You have won an £5 Egift Certificate to spend in the Uniko store. Please contact me at bev@uniko.co.uk by 13th November 2020 to claim your prize.

Here is your winners badge:

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

#19 Jasleen

#42 Elaine

#63 Stephanie L

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 with the challenge!

The next Uniko Challenge starts on Friday 20th November.

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

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - More than one foliage

Bonjour !

It's Izzy here with three inspiration cards that I'm combining with the current challenge over at Less is More. It's our Recipe week and the theme is More than One Foliage.

 Uniko being our sponsor I wanted to give even more love to my Uniko stamps. Christmas being in only two months, I thought it was the perfect occasion to go on with my Christmas cards.

I first die cut a bauble shape and with a pencil I softly drew its outlines on a double white card. Then, inside the outlines, I stamped the foliage of different sets : Background Builders: Vines Winter Additions and Rustic Wreath.

To finish, I stamped the sentiment which comes from the set Most Wonderful. Then I erased the pencil line around the bauble and with metallic gel pens I coloured the bauble ring and the twine.

For my second card I get inspired by a Birthday card I received recently (see here). On the original one, the leaves are doodled ones, but I'm not that good in this art. On a watercolour paper, I first made three square with a brush and Distress inks (Tumbled glass, Faded jeans, Shaded lilac). 

Once dry, I stamped the different foliage in black and for a more festive look I coloured the images with some gold paint. Here I used the Season of Beauty and Rustic Christmas sets. To finish I stamped the sentiment.

For my last card, I combined three different colours of embossing powder : copper, gold and silver. Together with black card stock I find this combo very elegant. So I cut a square in a black card stock and I stamped and copper heat embossed the Large Background Sketched Foliage set.

Then on a Vellum paper I stamped and heat embossed in gold and silver the foliage of the Winter Botanicals : Sweet Broom.

I foam mounted the black panel on the double white card. I fussy cut the two brooms, I coloured the berries in red with a metallic gel pen. To finish, I stamped in red the sentiment from Simply Said Block Christmas and I foam mounted it on the card.

Now here is a sneak peek of the card I made for the Less is More challenge, still using Uniko foliage stamps...

I hope that my cards inspired you to prepare your Christmas cards stash and/or to come and play along at Less is More.

Thanks so much for visiting today. Have a fabulous weekend and stay safe and get crafty !

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Focus on Happy!

Hello there! 

Sarah here with a Brand Ambassador Inspiration post for you. 

I've been MIA for the last few months due to a complete lack of crafting mojo ... I'd love to know how you fellow crafters cope with these situations. For me it's been a long spell of short bursts in my craft room and a bin full of rejects!

In the end I treated myself to a couple of new goodies and that seems to have spurred me on a little, especially in the Christmas card department but more of that in a few weeks!

Anyway on to my cards for today and I suppose I inspired myself using the card I created for our current Anything Goes challenge, which can find it HERE It was a really quick card to create (which we all love) and the cheery colours always make me smile.

 

Instead of using the Background Block: Equaliser, which I used for the challenge card I inked up the Background Builders Classics set. I've hardly used this one but it's full of interesting patterned and plain stripes so I need to ink this up again soon.

I used Altenew Inks throughout and simply kept the stamp in place in the Misti whilst moving my cardstock slightly upwards / downwards before stamping. The same technique with the BIG 'Happy' sentiment, from the 'All Occasion Sentiments' range and is sadly now retired. The white-embossed 'birthday' is from the Art Decoratifs Anniversaire set and to finish I popped the die-cut sentiment panel up on fun foam then added some coordinating enamel dots.

Below are a few more examples ... exactly the same stamps and process but different colour-ways. They were quick and easy to make and always good to have in stock. 

 

 

Thanks for calling by and I hope you've enjoyed this little inspiration post and fingers crossed I'll be back soon.

Have a fun day!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration using Spring Botanicals - Tulip

Morning all, Julie here with a little bit of Brand Ambassador inspiration. Today I'm using a restricted palette to create floral card with an artsy feel using Spring Botanicals -Tulip.

There's a new challenge over at Color Hues where the palette is restricted to just shades of two colours. This time it is Blue and Orange. It sounds quite restrictive until you start to think outside the box.

Oranges come in all kinds of shades, from yellowy ones through to almost red, blues range from greeny to almost purple, so you see there is a lot to play with really. You get even more if you add water into the mix, so to speak! Add a lot of water say to Dried Marigold DI you get an orange that is almost yellow. Use Ripe Persimmon neat and its virtually red.

To start I stamped the tulips twice with Altenew Obsidian to give me three blooms and used some clear EP and heat embossed to give me some barriers to the colour used. Using lots of water, I painted around the tulips and then went in again with Chipped Sapphire and Blueprint sketch until I had a really dark background and added more water to the righthand side, allowing the water to bleed into the solid colour. When left to it's own devises the water splits the ink and you get some interesting effects.

When dry, I started to work on the flowers, stems and leaves, using Dried Marigold and Ripe Persimmon. When that was dry, I added some watery Blueprint Sketch over the pale Dried Marigold to create a subtle green for the foliage.

I wanted to add even more interest so using the Lattice stencil, I went in and tried to bleach out the colour with a damp paint brush but it was too subtle, so I used some white pigment ink through it instead! To finish, I trimmed my panel down, added the sentiment from Pure Florals -Peony, fussy cutting the 'Sending' and popping it up on pads over an A6 base card.

So that's all from me for the moment, but keep safe, sane and crafting!

Swipe and Stamp - Brand Ambassador Inspiration.

Hello friends, Rahmat here with my inspiration today.

I have a simple one layer card with a fun technique.

Do watch the video for this quick card.

I have used 3 different sets from Uniko for this card, it's a very simple technique where you just swipe the ink pad on the stamp and stamp it. I haven't used Misti her, I have used a ruler to stamp, but yes you can use any stamping tool for this technique.

Supplies used:

Background Builders - Classic

Natures Treasures stamp

All Occasions(retired)

      

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

                                                       

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Baby Cards

Hi!

It's Jane here today with a trio of baby cards to share with you.

As I'm waiting for the arrival of a new grandchild imminently it seemed like a good excuse to give some love to the Uniko Sweet Baby stamps set that on sale at £4.00 in the shop at the moment.

Although they know the sex of the baby they've decided not to share it with anyone so I've hedged my bets. As we have so many boys in my family I'm kicking off with a blue card.

I created a plaid background using two of the stamps from Background Builders Classics. I then stamped the bear and greeting from Sweet Baby and layered them up with some die cuts.

In the unlikely event that it may be a girl I created a pink version. Once again I made a background plaid pattern using Background Builders Classics, but this time I stamped it straight using the measuring lines on my misti to keep it spaced equally. I stamped the sweet little onesie and added the tiny bear to its front before stacking it up with some frilly die cuts.

And lastly because I like to make thing in threes I went for the very modern and trendy colour for babies - grey.

This time I created my background by repeatedly stamping the alphabet strip from Sweet Baby. I used the large and small duck stamps once again stacked up onto die cuts.

Thanks so much for looking today. I hope I may have inspired you a little and why not go grab a bargain with that Sweet Baby stamp set before it's gone - HERE.

Stay safe and keep crafting!

Jane x

Celebrate World Card Making Day 2020!

 Happy Weekend

& 

Happy World Card Making Day 2020!

I hope everyone is having a lovely day & those in the UK are staying warm and dry. It's a very wet day here in the North East and the perfect kind of day to stay in and create! Which is exactly what I have been up to today ;)

I've been inspired by the changing colours from Summer to Autumn on my morning walk to school with The Beans and like the card I shared for the Uniko Challenge Reminder HERE, I decided to use Altenew Warm & Cozy ink collection for my card today.

It's been a while since I used the Uniko Stencil - Wonky Stripes. Here I have used the masking technique to ink the individual stripes in each of the four ink colours.

I've then embellished my card with a floral bouquet and sentiment from Wonderful Day. Brand Ambassador Jane has been using this clear stamp set recently and totally inspired me to dust mine off! I'm so glad I did, as I really like how this Autumnal card turned out.

As it is a celebration today and I am feeling a little sad with not being at Happy Stampers Festival today, I have a BIG Giveaway to add some cheer to the day!

The Prize valued at over £85* contains a few of my favourite Uniko products:-

Alphabet Outlined

BIG & BOLD Happy Clear Stamps & Designer Dies

BIG & BOLD Wish Clear Stamps & Designer Dies

Hello Lovely Clear Stamp Set

Stunning Snowflakes Clear Stamp Set

Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake

Stencil - Let it Snow 

*If the randomly selected winner already owns any or all of the prize contents 

a suitable replacement will be offered.

HOW TO WIN!

There are a few ways to enter the giveaway...

1. Leave a comment on this blog post.

2. Comment on the Facebook post. An extra entry if you share the giveaway post on FB.

3. Instagram - Be a GENUINE Follower of Uniko, Like, Comment, Tag a Friend/s to tell them about the giveaway, Share on your IG stories for an extra entry. 

You CAN enter on all 3 social media platforms. 

The giveaway will close at Midnight GMT Sunday 4th October 2020.

The winner will be randomly selected from all the social media platforms combined and announced early next week. Any comments left after the close of the giveaway will not be included.

Crafty Hugs Bev x

Uniko Challenge #61 Reminder - Anything Goes + optional twist Thanks

 Hey!

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

We have a super easy theme of Anything Goes with the optional twist of Thanks

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 Ishani as our Guest Designer and she has created another incredibly beautiful card to inspire you to play along. 

Guest Designer - Ishani

Isn't that just the most incredible use of Uniko goodies?

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

Bev

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 23rd October 2020 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs