Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stencil Techniques Trio

Hi there

Happy Sunday!  Anita here with some stencil inspiration for you.  I love getting creative with stencils and, not only are they an inexpensive addition to your craft stash, they can be used in so many ways, in addition to the traditional ink blending method.

So I've got three different techniques for you using three different stencils from the Uniko range.

Using Pigment Powders and Water

For this technique I always use watercolour paper.  Lay the stencil flat to the paper, I used Flower Power #5 here.  There's no need to use tape, in fact it's best if you don't as the stencil will need to be lifted away easily.  Gently sprinkle pigment powders over the design.  I used Brusho here and just gently tapped the pot and used it very sparingly as there is so much pigment.  Then use a fine mist water sprayer to cover the design and to activate all the pigment.  Do not over-saturate or the water will start to migrate under the stencil.  Just lift it away and leave it to dry.

I finished off by stamping a sentiment from the So Much Clear Stamp Set.

Using the Ghosting/Watercolour Lifting Technique

I ink blended a background using Distress Oxide inks.  For this technique I used the Stylised Floral Stencil.  The stencil was placed over the ink blended panel and then spritzed with water.  Carefully lift the stencil away and leave for a few moments before blotting with a paper towel.  The water will activate the ink and allow the colour to be lifted away.  This generally works best with Distress and Distress Oxide inks as they react with water.

I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle and heat embossed a sentiment from the Simply Said Clear Stamp Set onto a strip of vellum which was wrapped around and secured on the reverse.

Reverse Stencilling

For this card I've used the Flower Power #1 Stencil.  This technique involves inking up the stencil directly with ink pads and then spritzing well with water before placing it onto the cardstock.  I chose Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock for this as it takes water well.  I inked it up with Distress Inks in three shades.  Once placed onto the surface I left it for a short while to let the ink settle into the cardstock.

I trimmed it down and matted it onto a panel of co-ordinating cardstock, leaving a slim border, before adding the sentiment which is from the Simply Said Blocks Clear Stamp Set.  I then added some clear gems to finish.

Thanks for taking a look, hopefully these have given you some creative inspiration.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Crafty hugs

More BA Inspiration using some of the June release

 Hi, Julie here with a few more ideas using the fab new Sunshine and Rainbows stamp set and the Raindrops stencil. I had so many ideas about the new Sunshine and Rainbows set, that I just had to make a few more cards to share with you all. I've teamed it up with the new Raindrops stencil as well as including the older Rainbow and Cloud stencil, which pairs up rather nicely with both.

Here's my first card using Sunshine and Rainbows stamp set. I've used the rainbow stamps but the reverse of them to give a different look.

To begin, I taped off a section of an A6 panel of white card and stamped a couple of the rainbows, then moved the tape and stamped below them and above them.

Having a MISTI makes it easy to get good coverage, overlapping each arc also gives a more blended look to the finished rainbow. Here's the finished panel. The only problem with using the wrong side of the stamps is the smallest arc which is solid, so I cut a mask to create the white center. The inks were a selection of Altenew and DI.

My sentiment panel was stamped on vellum with Altenew Obsidian and heat embossed with clear EP. My first attempt smudged as the Obsidian ink is very slow drying and just sat on the top of the vellum, by heat embossing I eliminated that problem. I used a slim rectangle frame cut using an Altenew die from white card which allows the vellum to be attached to the finished panel without the glue being visible.

My second card combines the stamps with both stencils.

On a panel of pale blue card, I inked through the raindrops stencil with Versamark and embossed with clear EP. I wasn't completely happy, so added a layer of Salty Ocean DI over the top, buffing away any excess ink. Using the clouds on the second stencil, I added white texture paste roughly to give the clouds some added texture. I had to do this in two parts as the stencil doesn't allow you to use more than a couple at one time. Using the right side of the rainbow stamps, I created my rainbow, then cut it out and added it to a strip of matching white card to which I had stamped the greeting. I trimmed the stenciled panel down, and added the rainbow and sentiment on pads.

My final card was made for my daughter's birthday, which was yesterday, using the correct side of the stamps. Each rainbow was stamped randomly over an A6 panel of white card, adding the heart from the same set in the arc.

The gaps between the rainbows looked a tad empty, so using both sets of small dots from the Floral Vines set, I randomly stamped using a pale grey ink. I picked up on the grey for the mount and sentiment panel, stamped using Doodle Flower and heat embossed with white. The white frame was made using two stacked square dies. The finished card is a 5 x 7inch.

So that's all from me for the moment, hope I've given you some more ideas about how to use the stamps and stencils. Stay safe and keep crafting!

Blog Hop Winner, Restocks & a Card!

Happy Wednesday! 

Apologies for being late with announcing the winner of the June Release Blog Hop, but without further ado, the winner is...

Dee Earnshaw said...

OMG what amazing looking cards - the first one with the butterfly is stunning - thanks for sharing

Congratulations Dee, please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk no later than 30th June 2022 to claim your £20 eGift code. 

In other news...

A fabulous and highly requested bunch of restocks have arrived in the studio, these include Background Blocks Mid Century Modern, Background Builders Round In Circles, Mid Century Modern Florals and Sentiments Outlined. 

The Stencil, Layering Zesty will arrive by the end of the week too. All backorders awaiting this stencil will be posted this week too.

Lastly for today I have a card using the new Background Builders Hearts paired with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks III.

I'm still on my rainbow colour kick. I've had these hearts stamped and cut for a while, it's just taken me longer to decide on an arrangement! Do you find that the layout is often the trickiest part of creating? 

 

That's all for today, now time to enjoy this sunshine as we never know how long its going to stay around for! 

Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Pure Florals: Lily

Good morning all, 

Steph here today with my Brand Ambassador inspiration for this month. I decided to focus on the beautiful Pure Florals: Lily because I haven't worked much with the Pure Florals range yet. 

My preferred method of colouring is alcohol markers so that's where I started. Initially I was going to use a white card base but I felt the Kraft base really lifted the florals. I added a simple embossed border before heat embossing the sentiment and adhering the florals with foam pads.

I wanted to push myself and try out colouring with coloured pencils too, and see how different the result was.

As you can see the result is much more subtle. Now, I don't have the best set of colouring pencils. I've always resisted investing in the very expensive ones as I just don't think I'll get the use out of them like I do with my alcohol markers. 

Which version do you prefer and what is your preferred method of colouring? I'd love to be better with water colours too...maybe I'll try that soon and share with you too.

Much love

Steph x

Fresh Monday Feels!

 Happy Monday!

Firstly I want to thank the Uniko Brand Ambassadors for all their amazing inspiration last week. I think you will agree with me in that they provided an amazing array of creative inspiration for us all to enjoy. And secondly a BIG thank you to all of YOU. For your support of Uniko throughout the week and across social media. AND for all your lovely orders 😊

I thought I would start the week off with some more fresh and zesty inspiration using Organically Zesty. I made these two cards last week, inspired by Anita from a while back HERE. I knew I had to give this colouring technique a try.

I started by creating a mask of the orange bloom. I am using Eclipse paper available from Stamp Addicts. I cut a piece as big as my card base, 10.5 x 14cm and I made sure to cut the mask out in one piece so that I could use both the positive and the negative for two cards. 

For this first card I stamped the orange onto my mat card layer. I then used the negative mask and applied it around the stamped image before blending inks over the top. I used Altenew Tropical and Warm & Cozy. I trimmed and adhered the panel to my card base for a subtle effect. The sentiment is from our popular Simply Said Blocks and I added some clear gloss Nuvo Drops to finish.

For my second card I used the positive mask. Again I stamped the orange and used the mask to cover the image before using the same colours to colour the background around the image. 

This time I used a sentiment from Organically Zesty and stamped it inside the orange. I trimmed the panel slightly and adhered it to my white card base. 

This is such a fun technique and I can't definitely see me using it for more images! That's all from me today, I will be back again with more inspiration using the new release. 

Until then, Crafty Hugs 

June 2022 Release Day, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY

Happy FriYAY and Happy Release Day!

The day is finally here 🎉 Myself and the Brand Ambassadors get to introduce you to the NEW products you've been getting a look at all week and they will shortly be available HERE to purchase at 9pm BST.

This month we have 3 new clear stamp sets, a 4 part layering stencil and 1 individual stencil design. Let's have a look at them.

Background Builders: Hearts £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Organically Zesty £16

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Sunshine & Rainbows £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Stencil - Raindrops £4

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Layering Stencil - Zesty £13.75

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Now all of the formal introductions are done, how about we hop along with the Brand Ambassadors to be wowed some more and see how they have used their favourites from the release.

Anita

  Bev

 

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Steph

WOW! What a way to end a fabulous and inspirational week. I hope you have enjoyed the fun as much as we have. Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win a £20 eGift Code to spend in store. The winner will be selected randomly from all comments left along the hop before 9pm BST Sunday 19th June 2022. The winner will be announced on Monday 20th June 2022.

Crafty Hugs

 

For 24 hours I have reduced the FREE Worldwide Shipping to be applicable on all orders of £40 or more.

In regard to EU orders since Brexit. I have decided to reopen shipping to the EU, but for now it will be on a DDU BASIS ONLY All taxes and duties are payable by the customer in their local country.  All orders are final at the point of payment and no refunds* will be given if you decide not to pay duties incurred on arrival in your country. Please note that like before orders will not be sent tracked unless they are over £50 of value. *Refunds will only be issued for items that are faulty or damaged and photographic evidence will be required. 

Introducing... Sunshine & Rainbows and Stencil Raindrops

Happy Thursday!

Welcome back to day 4 and the final introduction day of the June 2022 Release. I don't know why I have been holding off bringing Uniko's version to this trend for so long, but finally it's time to add my 'stamp' to the rainbow trend! 

Introducing, Sunshine & Rainbows and Stencil Raindrops. I just know this is going to be a Brand Ambassador hop full of hope and colour...

Anita

  Bev

 

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Steph

That was beautiful, rainbows make my heart happy! 

These are the last two product introductions, which means just one thing. Tomorrow IS Release Day 🙌🏻 I am super excited for tomorrow already! 

All the new products will be available at 9pm BST and we will have our traditional Release Day Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY going live just before around 8:30pm. I do hope you have enjoyed the fun this week and will pop back tomorrow.

Crafty Hugs

 

Introducing... Background Builders Hearts

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome back to day 3 of the June 2022 Release product introductions. There is no mid week hump day as today we are bringing you all the love with the next addition to the Background Builders series, Background Builders Hearts ♥️ 

Like the previously released geometric background builders, this set contains both single image stamps and building strip stamps. This is perfect for all those love occasions from Valentine's to anniversaries, to weddings and those times when you just want to tell someone you are sending them love. 

I know you're going to love this Brand Ambassador hop, so let's get to it...

Anita

  Bev 

 

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Steph

So much LOVE and so many inspirational colour combos. I hope you enjoyed the hop as much as I did?That's all from us today, be sure to stop by tomorrow for the next product introduction.

Crafty Hugs