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

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Masculine Birthday Cards

Good morning everyone, 

Steph here and this month I'm using Uniko Big & Bold - Happy stamp and co-ordinating die set to make masculine birthday cards.

My first card teams the Uniko Big & Bold - Happy bundle with Uniko Bee Happy stamp set. I stamped the gorgeous little bees, the honeycomb hearts and the ‘bee day’ sentiment using the Bee Happy stamp set and fussy cut each one before adhering to the base panel which I had die cut using a generic honeycomb die. I then used blue ink to stamp the ‘happy’ sentiment and die cut using the coordinating die. 

My next card uses the ‘happy’ die cut as an aperture with coloured strips of card adhered behind. This is a great way to use up card scraps. The stamped elements are all from the Big & Bold - Happy stamp set. 

Taking inspiration from my previous card, I created a striped background and added a die cut ‘happy’ using both the inner more detailed die and the outer edging die. Again the sentiments are from Uniko Big & Bold - Happy stamp set and I finished the card with a die cut frame. 

Hopefully I’ve given you some new inspiration and you are digging out the Big & Bold - Happy stamp and / or die set for a play soon. 

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration using Fun Flowers Spray mask and stencil

Good morning, Julie here with a little bit of BA Inspiration on this Coronation weekend, hope the British weather hasn't put too big a dampener on your celebrations.

We had a bit of a disaster at home over the May Day Bank Holiday, our newly installed fibre optic broadband stuttered and finally failed. According to BT we had a signal to the unit but we needed a technician to visit, they should have it fixed by May 5th!!! Panic ensued as I thought about all my DT posts in the pipeline, a new month is a busy time for me and then, what do I do with all the free time?

So on Sunday, after doing as much housework as I wanted to do on a BH, I went to my room to have a play and ended up with this card.

I created some masks from Post It paper and got inky! I used a range of Altenew inks, Bamboo and Olive for the foliage, Eastern Sky and Azurite for the blue flower, Puffy Heart and Purple Wine for the pink and Fresh Lemon and Honey Drizzle for the yellow one. Each section was inked with the main stencil before the mask was placed in the stencil and the darker colour added. Masks, made by stencilling onto Post its and fussy cutting each element allowed for a neater finish.

The center of each flower was added freehand with a brown Copic marker, E49 and white gel pen. I also added some detail to the leaf spray with Copic marker YG17. Each spray was then fussy cut and added to an A6 panel of white card. I was unsure whether to add this panel to a white 5 x 7 base card but decided in the end to go for a bright turquoisey blue, trimming off the over hang.

The sentiment was stamped in black on white then the happy was die cut and mounted onto a gold mirror card happy shadow before I added it to the card.

Anyway as you can tell from this post, the man from Open Reach came, removed DUST from the optical connection, drank a cuppa and left, 30 mins max! Full high speed broadband resumed but the new phones are still pants! Apparently our hub is too far away from the phones for them to work on the WiFi, our old phone line was cut when they installed the fibre cable, not that they were great when it rained, damp in the line apparently. It certainly showed us how reliant we are on the internet these days, even watching TV was curtailed, no Prime or Netflix or iPlayer for us until service was resumed. When I turned on my computer, my inbox was full of rubbish that had accumulated whilst we were offline, stuff I usually delete when I turn it on in a morning!

So have a good rest of the Bank Holiday and get crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Masculine Birthday Cards

 Bonjour !

Izzy here, I hope that you are enjoying all the great Grand Prize Giveaways and the fabulous discount that Bev is offering to celebrate the 11 years of Uniko.

To go on with the celebration, I made two masculine birthday cards. If you are like me, I always struggle when it comes to make a masculine card but fortunately some colour combos help a lot.

For my first card, I used two stencils, Balloon Bash & Party Confetti that I combined together,  as well as the Big & Bold Happy bundle.

On a white card stock I first blended the blue/green inks through the Balloon Bash stencil to make the balloons shapes, then I placed it back and I layered the Party Confetti stencil and I blended the same inks on top.

For the sentiment, I die cut the Happy word in a metallic paper and I stamped in black the birthday word. I also added the black thread with a fine black liner.

To finish my card, I stamped this image on a teal card stock and I stamped the little circles that come from the Big & Bold Happy stamp set.

For my second card, I used two stamp set from the last release, Background Blocks Linear and Mid Century Modern Frames.

I kept this one very simple and I get inspired here by the colours of the last challenge at Color Hues. 

So I simply stamped the lines on a white piece of card stock and I coloured some parts with lime and cyan markers.

Then on another piece of card stock I stamped one of the frames together with a sentiment and I also coloured it with the same markers.

To finish this card, I flat adhered this panel on a double white card and I fussy cut the frame and I foam mounted it on the card.

That's all for me today. And don't forget you still have time to join in either the Grand Prize giveaways (HERE and HERE) and/or the Linky Party.  

Have a lovely day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Birthday Celebrations

Birthday celebrations you say?! 

Why yes! You may have noticed that it’s Uniko’s 11th Birthday this month so my Brand Ambassador Inspiration post is all about birthdays and Uniko (I have used the Uniko colours as well as products). 

So firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNIKO! 

Make sure you haven’t missed the Birthday Linky Party from the 1st of the month. And check back here on the Uniko blog for the next two Saturdays to be in with a chance of winning some Uniko goodies! 

So for my first card today I used Uniko Balloon Bash and Uniko Background Blocks Party Confetti stamp sets.

Secondly I have used Uniko Big and Bold Happy stamp and die set, stamping and die cutting the large ‘happy’ sentiment. 

Finally I have used Uniko Balloon Bash stencil teamed with Uniko Big & Bold Happy stamp and die set. This time just die cutting the sentiment without stamping it.

Hopefully these have put you in a party mood! There have been already been lots of birthday celebrations on the Uniko blog but make sure you keep checking back as Bev and the Brand Ambassadors have lots more lovely birthday celebrations to come. 

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Happy Valentine's Day

 Bonjour !

Izzy here with two cards for this Valentine's Day.

For my first card I combined the following products ...

 

I got inspired by the colours of the Colour Throwdown challenge and by the Time Out challenge photo inspiration.

First I stamped the background stripes block in black ink on a white card stock. I cut it and I foam mounted it on a white double card.

 Then I decided to make a gradient from pink to red when stamping the hearts. I fussy cut them and I glued them on the striped background. 

I finished by stamping the sentiment the same way, I fussy cut it and I glued it. 

For my second card I used :

 

For this card I got inspired by the sketch of A Place to Start challenge. I started with the background, using the stencil over a white card stock and blending distress inks. I flat adhered it to the fuchsia card base.

For the heart, I used a leftover of an alcohol ink panel that was still on my desk from a previous card. I stamped the heart with Versamark and I heat embossed it with Silver Pearl powder. I love how it lets see through the alcohol ink mouvement.

I die cut a label that I glued onto the stencilled background. Then I fussy cut the heart and I foam mounted it.

To finish, I stamped the sentiment in black and I glued some tiny hearts die cuts coming from the same Alcohol ink panel.

And since it's Uniko's birthday too, I couldn't finish this post without a birthday card ! For that I had fun using on the same card the products of the February releases of the last three years.

 

 

I kept the same shades of colour for this card. I placed the stencil on a double white card and I coloured with Distress inks. 

Then I stamped the flowers silhouette in black and I heat embossed with glitter powder. I also stamped the sentiment the same way and I cut it with the matching die. I used the sentiment die background on Vellum paper.

On this picture it is easier to see the shimmery of the black silhouette and sentiment.

To finish I glued the sentiment on the card and I added three sequins. 

That's all from me today. I wish you all a lovely day ! 

Thank you for stopping by.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - happy & colourful

Hello

Wiebke here with a happy and colourful post to brighten your day!

It's also a happy bithday surprise for Beverley!
 
I'm so 

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY
to have you in my life! 😘

I made this bunch of clean and simple cards in a really short time! How I did it? By using all the "left overs" to create second cards!

The materials for all four cards are similar:

• a self made rainbow-colour paper
  made of multimedia paper (it doesn't warp as much as normal cardstock when it get's wet) & Ranger Distress Oxide Inks (and a blending brush or tool) & a clear iridescent embossing paste (just added a thin layer with a palette knife)
  To create this paper you'll need a bit of time, but below I have some alternative ideas!
• the Big & Bold Happy Dies
• fitting stamps - I used Big & Bold Happy, Happy Days and bee Happy (guess why! 😉)

 

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To avoid lots of glue-time for the thin areas I used adhesive sheets, but needed a bit of glue here and there anyway!

For the first two cards I cut out the bigger "shadow" word of my sparkling paper first, then placed the smaller die on this hello and cut again to create the thin edge of the word. - This was the difficult part - to line it up exactly for an even edge!
But with the help of some low-tack painters tape (I used the pink one from Tesa) it wasn't a real problem! 

The rest was easy!
To adhere the thin layer in the original shape and without wonky lines I used the other one as guide before I adhered it on a second cardbase.
All sentiments were stamped in black ink. I love to use my stamping tool for these jobs - You can position all the stamps perfectly with the gridlines on the lid and you can stamp twice for a perfect black impression without any problems of missplacing!

The black lines of the box are drawn with a thin black marker and and a T-ruler.
The small butterflies I punched out of the scraps of the sparkling paper and placed them as a fluttering crowd above the word die cut.

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Here on the next picture you can see in the reflection, how much this selfmade paper is sparkling! (It's always hard for me to catch this with a camera.)
 

For the second two cards I directly cut out the smaller die of the sparkling paper. 
On the cardbase I brushed the same colours I used before to create the sparkling paper, but with a lighter hand for a softer, less intense shadeing.
The more intense happy on a white shadow paper I placed there, added the two sentiment-parts and the card was finished!

The last card is made of the leftover again. I cut out the "frame" with a knife and a metallic ruler, rounded the corners by hand and adhered it on the cardbase.
This time I used the cute bee insted of a sentiment - just as a "be(e) happy".

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Hope you like this idea of making quick'n'easy cards!


Some more ideas to stretch this technique:  

You needn't use a selfmade sparkling rainbow-paper.  
You can also use 

• a patterned paper or 
• a monochromatic shading
• a paper with or without sparkling
• ...

When you havn't a iridescent embossing paste, use

• a sparkling embossing powder
• a sparkling spray (maybe selfmade with some mica powder)
• a thin layer of glitter glue or glossy accents (maybe with some glitter?)
• ...

When you hon't want to make "happy" cards, use one of the other Uniko Big & Bold die sets!
"wish" or "snow".

 
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Thanks for looking by today!   💓💛💚💙💜
Have a great and creative time and be happy!
 
Hugs Wiebke

Brand ambassador inspiration : Seeing stars - Background Builders

Hi there!

Hannelie here today sharing three cards I made using the Background-builders : Seeing Stars set!

It works for so many occasions, depending on the sentiment you decide to add and of course the colours you use !

Today I decided to go for a more masculine look :

Card #1

For this card I combined the set with a two layer die cut sentiment from Designer-dies : Big and Bold collection. The "birthday" sentiment is from Simply-said-blocks stamp set.

The background was randomly stamped with one of the stars in distress oxide inks as shown in the photo above. I popped up the sentiment with foam dots and finally added the small sentiment strip.


Card #2

For this card I used the smaller stars to stamp the background on the card base. I added a second popped up panel, stamped with three of the larger stars from the set and once again a sentiment from Simply-said-blocks stamp set.


Card #3

Last but not least... a clean and simple birthday card. Larger stars cut out and popped up over a background strip. Another sentiment from Simply-said-blocks stamp set. Finished off with some of the smaller solid and outline stars.

I hope you found some inspiration today!

Hannelie

Festive Featured In Friday!

Happy Friday!

It's been a strange week here at Uniko HQ, it feels as though Friday has come round quick, but at the same time it has been a long week!

Today I am sharing about another Uniko feature, this time in the NEW issue of Die Cutting Essentials magazine which hit the stores yesterday.

For this feature Kirstie the editor of the magazine wanted something festive, but as I didn't have my newest Designer Die release to hand, I set to using the super popular BIG & BOLD Happy Designer Dies which I released back in February this year.

With this die collection being released when Uniko was celebrating their 7th Birthday and the majority of projects shown using this product have been birthday related, it was the perfect opportunity to show how they can be used for other occasions, including Christmas!

Here are a couple of the cards from the feature in the magazine...

For this first card I used the die which cuts out the word happy and I have paired it with the holly from Winter Foliage and the Christmas sentiment from Most Wonderful. As I didn't have any glimmer or foil card to die cut the word from the match the heat embossed Christmas sentiment, I used VersaMark ink to smother the die cut and heat emboss with the same powder. I repeated until I achieved a lovely smooth coverage.

Next, I couldn't resist making a shaker card! 

For this card I used the coordinating BIG & BOLD Happy clear stamp set for the stamped background and sentiment.

I'm HAPPY to report that the BIG & BOLD Happy Designer Dies are back in stock and available on the website :)

That's all from me today, but I do hope you will pop back tomorrow at 9am to join myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors for the October Post Release Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Until then, thanks for stopping by today!

Crafty Hugs 

DT Inspiration - a rainbow of colour

Happy Tuesday to you ......

I hope your week has got off to a good start.
It's Linda here, with a little inspiration for you using a rainbow of colour and the Uniko Party Confetti stencil

I'm loving rainbow colours at the moment, they make such happy looking cards. And they work so well with stencil designs.
Perfect for birthday cards .... great for kids, both young and old.   But, what about party invites, Christmas (dare I say it!) and even New Year celebrations too.
But hey! ...... let's not get too far ahead shall we.  I've got a holiday to go on before I start my festive preparations ...... lets just stick with birthdays for now shall we!

The Party Confetti stencil looks so pretty in rainbow colours.  I simply laid it over a piece of white cardstock and then used Distress Oxide inks - Picked Rapsberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean.

Have you spotted my little happy accident?
Who forgot to cover the bottom of her card?  Ooops!

I got a little carried away brushing my rainbow stripes.  The top was OK there was stencil tape there but, I did manage to get ink over the bottom of the stencil.
No time to start again so, I decided to make it look part of the design, by adding more of the colours over the bottom edge ..... what do think? I really like it!

I  used the Uniko BIG & BOLD Happy Designer Die to add my sentiment ....

Cut from black and white cardstock.  The white I coloured using the same Distress Oxides as I used through the stencil, and then I added a touch of sparkle with a Shimmer Embossing Powder from WOW! over the top

I then layered this onto the black one, slightly offsetting it to give a shadow effect.

I finished off the sentiment using one of the stamps from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set, simply stamped onto a snippet of white card, and cut into a little banner.  And I also added a few dots of glitter glue here and there for a little more sparkle

When I'd finished I noticed there was quite a lot of ink left on the stencil.  Now I don't like to waste my inks so, I spritzed over with some water, grabbed a piece of white card and laid it on the top. I applied a little pressure over the whole of the stencil and then ...... this was the result

A pretty monoprint that I can use on another card ...... I do like a twofer!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to finish tidying my craft room.  Over the weekend I decided I wanted to change things around a little in there ..... not one of my better ideas!  It turned into a bigger job than I thought!!

Cheerio until next time .......