Monday, 20 April 2026

Roses & Birthday Wishes

Hello & Happy Monday.

Today I thought I would share one of the cards that we made at yesterday's Uniko Stamping Retreat at a new venue in Hartlepool.

This card was a hit with the ladies and like me they love this supersize rose.




Along with having the pleasure of inking up this Stencil - Pure Florals Rose again, I dusted off this old 'ghosting' technique. It's such a fun one and give this lovely shadow look. 




I'll be sure to share a video soon of this fun technique, I have another stencil I'd like to try this technique on.

Crafty Hugs



Thursday, 16 April 2026

BA Inspiration Pure Florals - Peony

 Good afternoon, Julie here with a little bit of floral watercolour inspiration. Over at Color Hues the colours for the latest challenge are Coral and Green, so I thought I would ink up my large Pure Florals Peony and do some watercolouring with inks. Here is the result.


I used Altenew's Limestone ink stamped onto Mixed Media paper, to create a no line look, then I smooshed some of their other inks onto an acrylic sheet to use for the technique. I used Coral Berry, Grapevine and Coral Bliss for the petals and Olive, Moss and Evergreen for the stem and leaves.

Each petal was painted separately, first with plain water then with the paler Coral Bliss and darker Coral Berry, allowing the water to blend the colours. It's best to paint sections that don't touch one another to reduce the risk of colour bleeding until each section has dried. Some of the lightest areas had virtually no colour and the off white paper showed through to suggest hilights. I repeated the technique for the leaves, using first Olive then Moss.

To create an even greater sense of depth, I went back into the bloom, first with a damp brush, I wet the areas that needed to be in shadow before going in with the Grapevine ink. For the green shading I used the Evergreen ink. Once dry, I fussy cut it out and concentrated on my background. 

I used a Mama Elephant die to cut Eyelet panel from white card, then removed the center with a rectangle die to create a frame. Using the magnets in my Misti, I held the frame and bloom down whilst I placed the greeting from Originally Organic. Once happy with the placement, I removed the frame and bloom and stamped it in Memento London Fog. The frame and bloom were then glued to my A6 white base card.

That's all from me for today, but why not take a moment to try the technique. You don't need watercolour paints, just some dye inks and a paintbrush! You can get really lost in the process, well I know I do!

Keep crafting! 

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Technique Tuesday & a Winner!

Happy Tuesday. 

I've just about caught up after Crafterama Gateshead on Sunday and I found time to create a card inspired by my daily walk to the Post Office this week. 

I read or heard some where recently how getting outside can get the creative juices flowing, and that is certainly true this week. The blossom on the trees is in full bloom, beautiful pinks and white. And it got me to thinking how I could translate this onto a card. 





Of course I had to ink up the Stencil Layering Spring Blossom and I am currently obsessed with inking on kraft card stock. 

You can check out the process over on the Uniko YouTube channel HERE.

And now, how about the winner of the March Non Release Hop. I counted up all the comments left across all the Brand Ambassador blogs and social media. The winner was then randomly selected and I am delighted to say the winner is...

Jacqueline @a_word_foryou 

Congratulations! I have sent you a message.

Crafty Hugs




Tuesday, 7 April 2026

B A inspiration: My Favorite Color Is Rainbow!

  Hello everyone!

Happy Tuesday!

Vinita here today! 

A cute lil' spring pattern came to life using a mix and match of some stamps!

I am obsessed with small rainbow image from the My Favorite Color Is Rainbow Stamp set!

Bring cheer and vibrance to any card with this gorgeous rainbow background! If you are looking for a burst of positivity, colors and happiness, this rainbow-patterned background with blooms will give you just that!




On a textured white panel CS, I stamped the rainbow images in rows along with Florals using Mid Century Modern Florals stamp set,  Then I turned the rainbow image into tortoise, how fun. I used my ZIG clear brushes and stamped the sentiment. 
I hope you enjoyed the outcome!

Happy crafting!

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Spring Window

Happy Wednesday. 

Hold onto your Easter bonnets, I'm sharing a card where I dusted off the colouring pencils! Yep, I told you to hold onto them. 

I've actually had this card idea in my head for a while and I just needed to step out of my comfort zone and dust off those pencils. 





I've been following Kit & Clowder for a while and I've been taking a few of their light source tips on board. So I used those to colour this Spring Botanicals Daffodil.




It's far from perfect, but I am pleased how it turned out. Most of all I actually had fun and found it relaxing colouring.

Happy April.

Crafty Hugs