Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Sarah Platt


Hello & Happy Tuesday!

It's a terrific Tuesday as I am absolutely thrilled to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the lovely Sarah Platt..

Sarah joined the Uniko family in August 2014 having been a regular participant in Uniko challenges and valued customer. 

What drew my attention to Sarah was her use of bright colours and clean style. Just like she has used today in her trio of birthday cards made especially for Uniko's 13th Birthday.





On this first card Sarah has used Background Blocks Wonky Stripes with die cut balloons decorated with elements from Balloon Bash. The sentiment is from Anniversaries Arts Decoratifs

I love how Sarah has continued the theme and colours, simply switching up the background block and balloon placement for a slightly different look. Here Sarah has used the Background Block Arts Decoratifs.




And for this last card Sarah has used Background Blocks Party Confetti.




A big thank you to Sarah for joining us today and taking part in the Uniko 13th Birthday Celebrations. Be sure to leave some comment love here on the Uniko blog and across social media platforms if you use them. I will be randomly selecting comments through the month to win some prizes.


Crafty Hugs


Monday, 17 February 2025

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stamp & Stencil Combo



Good morning.  Anita here with some Brand Ambassador inspiration for you.  How are you enjoying the birthday month celebrations so far?  We're just past the halfway point and there is so much more to come so don't forget to keep checking back here for more.

For this card I decided to use a technique I love to use when stamping with detailed images.  I've used the gorgeous Pure Florals: Peony stamp set for the image and sentiment, and used the Quilted stencil...


This technique is great if you are short of time or if you're less experienced with colouring...just colour the background instead and it's surprising how this makes the image pop.  So I began by stamping the peony in black ink and I also stamped a mask at the same time which I cut out and then placed over the image.  I then gently ink blended the background starting from the top right corner using two shades of blue ink and fading it out.  I then placed the stencil over the top and used the darkest shade of blue to ink through.


I then removed the mask, stamped the sentiment and added a few flat iridescent sprinkles for some sparkle. 



This card came together pretty fast, the most time consuming part is cutting out the mask but you also then have it for a couple more projects.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope this month of Uniko celebrations is giving you lots of crafty inspiration.  There is so much more to come too!

That's all from me today, I hope you enjoy your week.

 

Sunday, 16 February 2025

Celebrating 13 Years - Another Grand Prize Giveaway 🎉



Happy Sunday. 

Welcome back to more of Uniko's 13th Birthday Celebrations. 

Today I am back with another post you've all been waiting for. The one where you can be in the chance of winning another HUGE prize package...




Who wouldn't LOVE to win this?? 

This is a BIG deal for myself & Uniko to offer another prize package like this to another one lucky winner, the last few years haven't been easy, BUT without YOU I wouldn't be celebrating 13 years of being in business. 

So THANK YOU!

Thank you for supporting me, for supporting Uniko, for cheering me on, for purchasing the products I design, for sharing your purchases, wins & makes on social media and for simply being wonderful loyal customers.


Anyway, to be in the chance of winning this HUGE prize, simply add your name to the linky below. The link up will close at 23:59 Friday 28th February 2025.  

The winner will be announced on Saturday 8th March 2025, along with all the other 13th Birthday Celebration Winners 🎉



A reminder before I go, this discount will end Sunday, be sure to use it before it expires! 



Crafty Hugs

Rules etc...
* One entry per person 
* You don't have to link just from a blog, you can use any of your social media http links. 
* If you don't have a social media or place to link, you are more than welcome to link to your favourite Uniko product on the website ;) Please make sure you use your name and email address so I can contact you if you win! 
* This giveaway/prize package is sponsored purely by myself/Uniko and it is open internationally.
* I'd LOVE you to share this amazing prize far & wide!

Good Luck!

Saturday, 15 February 2025

Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Lindsey Bowe


Hello & Happy Saturday!

It's a super Saturday as I am absolutely to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the lovely Lindsey Bowe.

Lindsey joined the Uniko family in January 2016 having been a valued customer and regular participant in Uniko challenges and events. I was drawn to Lindsey's clean style of card making, but that she could also add a spin of mix media without over powering the design.

I'm delighted Lindsey was able to join us this month to help celebrate our birthday. Let's have a look at the two birthday cards Lindsey has created to inspire us today.





On this first card Lindsey has used the Fabulous sentiment from the now retired, but once much loved All Occasion Sentiments #3. Heat embossed in gold to make it even more fabulous. 

Lindsey has decorated round the sentiment with the balloons from Balloon Bash and accented the sentiment with Birthday Wishes from Birthday Sentiments.

Next up Lindsey inked up Background Builders Seeing Stars and paired them with another older sentiment from Simply Said Birthday.




I think that you will agree with me that these cards are simply awesome and wonderfully inspiring. It's a delight for me to see how the Uniko Alumni are inspired and what products they reach for.

A big thank you to Lindsey for joining us today and taking part in the Uniko 13th Birthday Celebrations. Be sure to leave some comment love here on the Uniko blog and across social media platforms if you use them. I will be randomly selecting comments through the month to win some prizes.


Crafty Hugs


Friday, 14 February 2025

Uniko Birthday Mash-Up With Seven Hills Crafts - Part 2


Happy Friday & Happy Valentine's Day 💖

Welcome to part 2 of the Uniko Birthday Mash-Up with Seven Hills Crafts. If you missed yesterdays post   with the lovely Tara, owner of Seven Hills Crafts, you can catch up HERE

Today is my turn to bring the inspiration using some products from the Seven Hills Crafts website paired with something from Uniko. Here's what I chose...





If you know me, you know I love pattern. I couldn't resist these fun Geo Mod Stencils by Kristina Werner with Concord & 9th. All these fun elements just called my name. 




These elements scream 1980's to me and having grown up in the 80's they appeal to my inner child! I went for some bright colours for this first card using Sweet Pea, Fig and Oceanside. I then decided to add the striped elements in black.

To make it a mash-up I needed to use Uniko for the sentiment. I reached for the HAPPY from Everyday Love Sentiments and the Birthday from Birthday Sentiments.

I couldn't stop at just one card, so I made a second.




For this card I chose Pink Lemonade, Lilac and Sea Glass for my colours. I also decided not to layer the stencils exactly, like I did for the card above. 

These stencils really do give so many options as to how you layer the elements they contain. I wanted a few more flowers and some of the other elements that didn't fit on my card above.




Again I chose to ink the striped elements in black and this time I used the large birthday from Uniko's Mid Century Modern Birthday and the smaller happy from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder.

That's not all from me today, be sure to check the Uniko Website Blog this afternoon for a card and I might just have a giveaway filled with LOVE 💖

Crafty Hugs

Thursday, 13 February 2025

Uniko Birthday Mash-Up With Seven Hills Crafts - Part 1



Happy Thursday.

Today I am delighted to have a special guest join Uniko for our birthday celebrations, Tara Cardwell. Tara is the owner of Seven Hills Crafts, my 'go to' online store for all things paper craft that aren't Uniko of course. I am also part of Tara's Design Team, which means I get to use and play with all my favourite American brand products! 

Anyway, Tara and I are sharing a SHC-Uniko mash-up on the blog for a couple of days to celebrate this birthday milestone. I will now hand you over to Tara.



I've made a masculine birthday card using one of my all-time favourite Uniko Stamps - Bauhaus Blocks which is brilliant for anyone who is a fan of mid-century graphic design.




To give my card a masculine feel, I decided to stamp the blocks onto black mixed media card which is robust enough to take water but smooth enough for embossing.  I embossed the stamp in white and then used my LuminArte shimmer watercolour paints to fill in the blocks.  Shimmer paints give such different colours on black than on white - the purple is actually a light blue!  I love the results you get on black.




To create the card I trimmed the blocks, added 4 directly to the card and popped one up in the middle on foam tape for added dimension. The sentiment is where the SHC mash-up comes in, as that set is a Kristina Werner one packed full of useful birthday sentiments.



Thank you so much Tara for inspiring us with this vibrant Bauhaus Birthday card and for joining in on the fun here at Uniko.

I'll be here tomorrow with a fun Uniko / SHC mash-up card to share with you and hopefully inspire you. 

Crafty Hugs




Wednesday, 12 February 2025

CAS Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Jane Taylor


Happy Wednesday

It's a wonderful Wednesday as I am absolutely to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the one and only Jane Taylor.

Jane joined the Uniko family June 2015 having been a valued customer and regular participant in Uniko challenges and events. I was drawn to Jane's clean & graphic style of card making. 

I'm delighted Jane agreed to make a card to help celebrate Uniko's birthday this month, let's have a look.






Just look at this colourful card. 

Jane has used the Designer Dies Big & Bold Happy layered over a colourful stencilled background. The stencils Jane has used are Explosion! and Mid Century Modern Shapes. Such a fun combination. The accent birthday is from Everyday Sentiments.

A big thank you to Jane for joining us today and taking part in the Uniko 13th Birthday Celebrations. Be sure to leave some comment love here on the Uniko blog and across social media platforms if you use them. I will be randomly selecting comments through the month to win some prizes.


Crafty Hugs

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Uniko Birthday Inspiration Through The Years - Part 4



Happy Tuesday 

Welcome to day 11 of the Uniko 13th Birthday Celebrations and part 4 of my Inspiration Through The Years. If you missed part 1,  part 2 and part 3 you can catch up HERE,  HERE and HERE

Today I am sharing three cards using a product from 2021 and 2022. I've then made a new card inspired by the original. 

Let's have a look.




First up is this card using Background Blocks Wonky Stripes paired with Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes and Background Builders Delightful Diamonds, the later two were released in February 2021.

Here's my new version.





I opted for similar colours, but this time I decided to use some coloured card to stamp the Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes onto. Got to love a bit of tone on tone stamping. 




I stamped the diamonds in Peacock, Oceanside and Aqua Sky and fussy cut them out. I then arranged them onto the background and adhered using foam tape. My sentiment choice this time is from Simply Said Blocks III which released in July 2021.


Lastly for today is a card from February 2022 using Framed Balloons.




And here is my remake.




I kept things pretty similar, but changed up my colours and I also added dimension by colouring, fussy cutting and using foam tape to adhere a selection of the balloons. This was instead of raising up the whole frame like last time.




I also switched out my sentiment to one from Everyday Sentiments which was released at the same time as the Framed Balloons. 


Did you know that Uniko has a VIP Group on Facebook for Uniko customers and fans? 

The group is a private and safe space to share your Uniko creations. Today I have launched a monthly challenge over there to inspire your makes and there is a little incentive to join in too. A chance to win £10 to spend in store to one randomly selected entry.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2723159841326437/

Use the link above to find the group and answer the questions, an admin of the group will approve and then you'll able to join in on the fun. I hope to see you there. 

Crafty Hugs

Monday, 10 February 2025

Birthday Celebration at Uniko : Brand Ambassador Inspiration

 Hello everyone!

Happy Monday!


Uniko is celebrationg it's 13 Birthday!



Vinita here! I hope you all are enjoying the celebrations with Uniko!

Here is my take on the card!



I started by stamping the Background Blocks Grid on a white CS. I watercolored a few of the grid blocks.

I inked up the big butterfly using the English Country Garden Butterflies stamp &die set and watercolored it with my ZIG markers.




The leaf flourishes are die-cut from some green scraps using the Nature's Treasure II stamp and die set.  I created a clear window using an acetate sheet and added that sweet butterfly and green foliage.

If you want a chance to win, link your card to the Uniko blog. Then, check out all the other posts to comment and win!

Don't forget to visit every day for more giveaways and the chance to win more surprises by Bev!

Happy crafting!

Sunday, 9 February 2025

Brighter Days Are Coming & A Little Peek

 


Hello & Happy Sunday! 

I'm a lot later than planned, and not with what I intend to share with you all today. But Boy! All the prep and excitement for yesterdays Uniko 13th Birthday Stamping Retreat took it out of me! 

Here's a little look at the room set up from yesterday. 






As usual I was too distracted and forgot to take any photos during the workshop. But from the feedback, everyone had a lovely and creative time.

Today, I actually had to be a responsible adult and mum, and catch up on some things around the house in preparation for the week ahead. I'm sure I only did a food shop the other day, but these ever growing Beans have eaten us out of house and home.

Anyway, as I didn't quite finish my original cards I thought I would share one that I shared a peek of on social media yesterday and a little peek at another of something coming soon.




The cards in the kit were a mix of the January Release and the upcoming February Release. I chose Flower Power #11 from January going for some cheerful rainbow colours and a little brighter days sentiment. 




This little stamp set is in demand and I can confirm that it'll be back in stock along with the new release at the end of the month.




Talking of restocks, I have a BIG restock of stencils coming this week, including the NEW Layering Picked Posies and Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars from the January Release. Along with others that have been requested. 

I will update the website as soon as I have a definite confirmation and I will share here on the blog and via newsletter, along with another fun offer. 

Talking of offers, this awesome offer ends tonight. Be sure to take advantage before it expires!




Lastly, before I go, a little peek at something coming soon....




Crafty Hugs