Introducing... Background Builders Winter Garlands

Happy FriYAY!

Welcome to the forth and final day of the Christmas *almost* in July Release product introductions. Today's product is another clear stamp set and one I actually designed last year and couldn't decide on. But this year I loved it and decided it was time to release! 

Introducing... Background Builders Winter Garlands

Bev

Denise

Julie

Natalie

I hope you love this clear stamp set as much as I do, I think you'll find it a useful addition to your stamping stash and not just for Christmas! 

Thank you for joining us today and I hope you come back tomorrow for the traditional release day hop and giveaway! All the items will be available at 9am BST.

Crafty Hugs

November Facebook VIP Challenge.

Hello & Happy Tuesday. 

Today is the start of a new challenge over in the Uniko VIP Facebook Group HERE. This month we are full steam ahead on Christmas, there isn't long now till the big day. So the challenge this month I thought I would make the challenge Anything Goes Christmas. 

Literally you can make anything Christmas, a tag, a card, a scrapbook page, or even gift wrapping. As long as you use Uniko products. I do accept entries that feature other brands, as long as the main focus is Uniko.

I know some of you don't do Facebook as social media, however, if you are happy for your makes to be added to the VIP group by me, please email me your entry. 

As usual there is a £10 e-gift code up for grabs. Be sure to get your projects uploaded by 11th December 2025.

Of course I have some inspiration to share with you...

If you know me, I love to stretch my stash and I know that we all love to get our moneys worth out of products we purchase. So I had this idea to use some of the Uniko Background Builder stamps to create a colourful Christmas tree. 

I actually recorded a video, so you can join me over on YouTube and craft along with me if you want to!

I used Background Builders Round In Circles, Background Builders Seeing Stars, Background Builders Triangulate, Christmas Sentiments and Pattern Building Christmas Tree. Along with a colourful selection of Concord & 9th inks.

If you watch the video you will see that I mentioned another version of this card, which I went along and made after I stopped recording. 

Here it is...

This time I trimmed my card to a triangle, instead of masking that I did in the first card. I repeated the same pattern and popped the stamped tree on my card with foam tape. 

That's all I have to share today, but I will be back with more Christmas inspiration soon. 

Crafty Hugs

Brilliant Bank Holiday Bargains!

Hello & Happy Monday.

It's a holiday Monday here in the UK and I thought I would have add some bargains to the SALE page on the website.

I've a few items that are overstocked and taking up space thats needed for restocks and the next release in the autumn. Be quick as they'll return to normal price on Tuesday morning! 

And here is a couple of cards using a couple of the Bank Holiday Bargains...

Background Builders: Seeing Stars is one of the Bank Holiday Bargains and it is such a fun set for all occasions. I decided to create this simple Congratulations card.

I chose my favourite trio of Honeysuckle, Buttercup, Oceanside and added in Midnight. I then popped the stamped panel onto my card base using foam tape. 

I created a little reel making this card, which I have shared over on the Uniko Instagram page HERE. 

I enjoyed this layout and colour scheme so much I decided to keep it the same for my second card using Organic Blooms.

Again I have another video making this card which I have shared as a YouTube Short over HERE. 

I love both cards, but I think the Seeing Stars card is the one I prefer, I think it's the straight lines of the geometrics that appeal to me. 

Which card do you prefer?

Before I go, a little friendly reminder.

Crafty Hugs

Introducing... Background Builders Mid Century Modern

Happy Tuesday. 

Welcome to day 1 of the Uniko August 2025 Release product introductions. I have been so excited about these new products being added to the Mid Century Modern Collection. It's a collection I love and I've put a lot of thought and effort into, so to be able to bring more creative possibilities brings me so much joy. 

Enough chat, let's have a look at this stamp set in action. 

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita 

Such a fun stamp set and wonderful Mid Century makes from the Brand Ambassadors. I'm excited to use this stamp set more and see more from the Brand Ambassadors over the coming days and weeks. It's always difficult to show a products full potential in one blog post!

See you tomorrow for day 2.

Crafty Hugs

A Quick, Colourful Masculine Card & YouTube Video

Hello & Happy Tuesday. 

Today I have a A Quick, Colourful Masculine Card & YouTube Video, HERE if you would like to watch and make along with me 😃

I've used Background Blocks Splatter, Background Builders Seeing Stars and Everyday Sentiments on my card here, but really any Background Block, Background Builder and sentiment would work for this layout.

That's all from me today.

Crafty Hugs

Saturday Spotlight - Background Builders Round In Circles

Hello & Happy Saturday Spotlight. 

The other day on social media, I asked what crafters would like to see in the spotlight today. One suggestion was Background Builders. So I got to thinking how I could give a Background Builder stamp set the festive treatment and I thought of a card I made many years ago using Background Builders: Round In Circles.

So I decided to do something similar, but up level it with some different techniques, colours and a couple of different sentiment and accent pairings. This is how it turned out...

I started out by die cutting a few circle masks from printer paper. I then adhered them temporarily onto a white card stock base (10 x 14cm) before ink blending with Aqua Sky, Oceanside, Harbour and Blueberry. 

Before moving the masks I splattered some Gansi Tambi Starry Watercolours, I'm on a splattering kick at the moment for some added sparkle! 

I then stamped the circles with the various individual circle stamps in black ink. I added fine liner drawn strings and bows from Mid Century Modern Baubles that were adhered using foam tape. My sentiment choice is from Most Wonderful and a few silver enamel dots finished the card.

The result a fun, festive card that can be done in so many different colour combinations. I know I am biased, but Background Builders: Round in Circles is such a versatile clear stamp set. For more ideas on how to use it, check out the Uniko Pinterest page HERE.

Before I go, I thought I would share a few things from the Uniko newsletter incase you haven't subscribed.  First I have a few Black Friday Bargains HERE on the website.

There are also a few clear stamps available on backorder that are due in the studio on Wednesday 27th November. These include... The two sellouts from the Uniko November Release, Christmas Pop and Framed Fairy Lights. Anniversarie Arts Decoratifs, Background Blocks Pinstripe, Christmas Sentiments, Christmas Wishes and Simply Said Blocks Christmas. 

A couple of stencil restocks arrived yesterday, these include Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Christmas Tree and Mid Century Modern. 

Any orders containing a backorder clear stamp set will be posted on 28th November 2024. That's all from me today.

Crafty Hugs

Two Ways With Background Builders Round In Circles

Happy Weekend.

And Happy Bank Holiday weekend to those in the UK, I hope some of you are enjoying some sunshine, it's been rather grey, wet and dismal here in the North East 😒 Though, at least I feel like I've not missed it with being poorly (again). Seriously, my immune system is rubbish and even more so when the boys bring the bugs home from school, hence my quietness this week.

Anyway, I'm slowly getting better after lots of rest and sleep. I actually found some energy to finish these two cards I started a few days ago.

I've said it so many times, but restocks always inspire me to create, especially when they've been out of stock for a while like Background Builders: Round In Circles. 

Do you ever have moments where you think your creativity might run out? That you'll be unable to think of something 'new' to create using a much loved stamp set, stencil or die? I do, quite often, but then I end up surprising myself like I did with this duo! 

I started by using the open dot builder strip to stamp the background. I then crazily spent ages colouring the dots in a rainbow of colours! It was super time consuming, but I think the end result was worth it. 

I then die cut the 3 circles before adhering to my Pebble base card, stamping the circle designs inside and adding the sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments. 

With the background taking so long, I couldn't let the die cut circles go to waste, so I created a second card using them.

I placed the die cuts exactly onto my card base as they were die cut from my first card by using the above panel as a template before I adhered it onto my first card. 

I love many things about clear stamps, one of those things is the ability to shape the longer stamps. Just like I did with this one. Again I added a sentiment from the Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments. 

I'm delighted this clear stamp set, along with a whole host of others are back in stock. Though a few of Uniko's newer and most popular designs have sold out already at the shows! Restocks shouldn't be too long. 

Anyway, that's all I have today. 

Crafty Hugs 

Bev  

Birthday Banner & Watercolour Splatter!

Hello & Happy Thursday.

Today I am sharing a card using Background Builders Triangulate. I realised this past weekend I haven't shown much inky love to it. I can't even remember when I last made a card using it. I had an idea in mind to create a birthday banner and this is how it turned out...

I started by stamping the smaller triangles from the set in a rainbow of colours & fussy cut them out, they are pretty easy being straight edges. 

I then stamped the the linear background builder in a wavy line to create the 'string'. It wasn't until after I had adhered the triangles using foam adhesive, that I decided I wanted to add watercolour splats. So I then had to create masks to mask off the pennants! 

To finish my card I stamped the sentiment from Birthday Sentiments in gold pigment ink. I then adhered the panel to my card base.

It was fun to use a stamp set I hadn't used for a long time, it's definitely inspired some more ideas, so I am sure you'll be seeing more soon! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Snowflake Serenade

Good morning

It's Anita here and today I'm sharing some cards using a great Christmas set, Snowflake Serenade Clear Stamp Set.  The main image has so much movement and you also get some extra snowflakes and some fab mixed-font sentiments.

Ok, here's my first card, and my favourite of three I'm sharing today...

I started with a piece of green cardstock, very unusual for me not to reach for white!  I then stamped and embossed the main large image in gold, before then filling in some gaps to create a full background.  I then ink blended in from the edges of the green panel and faded it out toward the centre.  I then grabbed a green marker and coloured in all the holly images, just to add some tone on tone detail.  I then finished with a gold embossed sentiment from the Rustic Christmas Clear Stamp set, on a black die cut.

My second card...

Directly on the card base I stamped the main focal image in blue dye ink.  I then ink blended in from the edges using a few shades of Distress Oxide ink.  Next I 'painted' the holly leaves with water and blotted with a paper towel to remove some colour, this works well with blended Distress and Distress Oxide inks as they react with water.  I also used a wet paint brush to add the 'snow' dots which were also blotted away.  The sentiment, also from the set, was stamped in black ink and I finished with some smooth gems in the centres of the snowflakes.

And my final make...

I kept this one fairly simple, just ink and glitter.  I used an angled panel die cut with a stitched border and stamped the main image in black ink.  I adhered this to my card base and then used a glue pen to add glue, first to the holly leaves, which I sprinkled with super fine green glitter, and then added some touches to the snowflakes and sprinkled with pale blue glitter.  I then finished the card by stamping the sentiment, from the Background Builders: Winter Wonderland set, along the edge of the panel.

So there you have it, three very different cards using the same focal image.  I'm still way behind with my Christmas cards this year so I hope this has provided you with some inspiration if you are too!

Thanks for taking a look, I hope you have a wonderful week! 

 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Holiday Memories

 Bonjour !

Izzy here. In order to make the holiday longer, in my mind at least, I made three cards representing what they looked like.

I'm not wrong if I say that for everybody, this summer has been very hot and sunny. And we were lucky enough to spend our holidays far from all the fires that occured. We were on a little island where the bicycle is a principle. So we parked our car when arriving and we used only our bicycles for the rest of the week...

For this card I used the Background Blocks Rays from the last release for the sun rays. Then I used the Background Builders Arts Décoratifs to represent the blue sea and the grass.

We cycled between the vineyards and the salt marshes and we visited the small villages full of flowers, and among other things with magnificent passion flowers...

For this second card I used the beautiful set Passiflora. I stamped the leaves and the different parts of the flower on white card stock and I cut them with the matching dies.

Paddle, walks and ice creams were also part of our daily life...

I used some of the images of the Block Party Summer to make this last card. I stamped and white embossed them on white card stock and I coloured them with colour pencils. I also used the Background Blocks Nautical Stripes that I stamped in blue shades. I foam mounted it on a white card. To finish I fussy cut the images and I adhered them on top.

I hope that you too enjoyed your summer break as well as these inspirational cards.

Thanks so much for visiting Uniko !