Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Christmas in July

Good morning, 

As it’s July, I’ve chosen to go with the Christmas in July theme for my Uniko Brand Ambassador inspiration. Uniko has lots of wonderful Christmas stamps and stencils (matching die sets available too!). 

For my cards I have focussed on the Uniko Let It Snow stencil. 

For my first card I have used Versamark ink through the stencil and heat embossed in white embossing powder, directly onto the Kraft card base. I then die cut a smaller rectangular piece of white card and used the inner word die from the Uniko Big & Bold Snow die set to cut the word snow towards the bottom of the panel. I used a separate piece of white card to stamp and heat emboss the snowflakes and 'let it' sentiment all from the Uniko Big & Bold Snow stamp set. 

For this card, I started with a panel of white card and used glitter paste to create a fabulous background (so sparkly!). On a smaller piece of white card I heat embossed the sentiment and snow swirls from the Uniko Big & Bold Snow stamp set. 

My final card uses a 'smooshed' background created using Picked Raspberry and Broken China Distress Oxide inks. Once dry I used Versamark ink through the stencil and heat embossed in white. On a spare piece of smooshed card I die cut the inner word die from the Uniko Big & Bold Snow die set and white heat embossed the smallest snowflakes from the Uniko Big & Bold Snow stamp set. I die cut the inner word from white card two more times and adhered them behind the smooshed one to create dimension. I adhered this to the outer word die cut from white pearl card, before adhering directly to the card front. Finally I added the rest of the sentiment from the Uniko Big & Bold stamp set, stamping this in Pickled Raspberry ink. 

Which one catches your eye?

Much love

Steph x

Technique Thursday with Uniko Designer Dies!

Hello & Happy Thursday! 

Gosh, it's a warm one here today. Though I am sure when the sun starts to go down it will cool off, I can feel Autumn in the air. 

Anyway, today I have a fun technique and a video to share. YES, I have been brave and recorded a video. I am still learning and still have a few things to learn to make them pretty. But this card I made yesterday was easier to explain and demonstrate in a video. 

I used BIG & BOLD Snow Clear stamps and BIG & BOLD Snow Designer Dies. Plus there is a bundle option HERE!

My thinking behind this card and technique was that I wanted more of the stamped snowflake design to be seen and not hidden by a large die cut word. 

It's a little fiddly, time consuming and this first card took two attempts! But, I think the results are fun. You can check out my video HERE on You Tube and below is the finished card of the one I made during the video.

I hope you enjoy the video and I'd love you to subscribe, I will be sharing more in the coming days and weeks.

Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Rustic Christmas

Hello friends, today I am up with 2 lookalike projects using the Rustic Christmas stamp set  from Uniko.

I have used the DI tumbled glass to stamp the snowflakes from the BIG & BOLD Snow stamp set
I stamped the tree using the DI pine needles. I have used the same ink to dab on the base card to create an edge. I added a few die cuts from my stash to put together the snow scene, the sentiment is from Peace on Earth stamp set.

Both these cards were made in bulk for an acquaintance of mine, and are winging to the US with her for her family and friends for Christmas.

I hope you like the inspiration.

         Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!

                                                                     

More Ideas using Sentiments as a Background - Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Good afternoon folks.
It's Julie here with a few more ideas using sentiments as a background.

On Saturday I shared a card using a panel created with lots of sentiment stamps. As it takes awhile to lay all the sentiments out, it made sense to stamp a load on different coloured card for use later. I even had another go at creating a slightly different one whilst I listened to the footy on a wet Saturday afternoon!

My first card uses one of my first layouts. As you can see there are lots of different fonts and sentiments which I laid out on my MISTI before stamping with Versafine and embossing with clear EP. This example was done on white card and inked over with Salty Ocean DOx in a resist technique.

I used the idea of a bauble, cutting out a circle from the inked panel and the slipped the large Sparkling Snowflake, die cut from holographic card, behind. A little bit of thin silver ribbon and a bow completes. The finished panel was popped up on foam over a white base card.

My second card uses a different layout, this time it has a more horizontal design to accommodate a landscape design.

I used the trapped colour technique to create this background, stamping and embossing as before but this time on a panel of watercolour paper previously inked with Salty Ocean DI that was left to dry well before stamping. After heat embossing, I spritzed the blue panel and then wiped off the ink leaving behind the colour trapped behind the embossing. The top panel was cut with a scalloped edge die and some snowflakes from Stunning Snowflakes were stamped in Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch DI. Finally, I popped up the white panel on pads over the inked one on a white base card.

Finally I went all silvery for a change!

This panel was stamped and embossed with clear EP before cutting out the central NOEL with an alphabet die set. After cutting, I added Weathered Wood to the base but left the letters clear. I glued my panel onto a base card then added some grey foam letters and then the white ones on top. To complete I added a small die cut snowflake from the new Big n Bold Snow dies and a few diamante gems.

Three different looks, all from the same starting point. Hope I've given you a few more ideas for your Christmas card making, I've still got a load more to make but I still have plenty of backgrounds to use!

Design Team Inspiration - Water Colours

Hello, it's Deborah here with you this morning, in another of our Design Team Inspiration series. I decided to have a play with my Brusho water colour crystals and try out different techniques with them. This is not a new technique as Sarah used them recently, but it's fun, so I thought it was worth another look. Here's a look at the final set of six cards:

 

I used water colour card for all the snowflake panels. I wiped over all the pieces of card with an anti static buddy.

I wanted to repeatedly stamp the same snowflakes on several water colour panels, so I used my MISIT, so easy! I heat embossed the snowflakes with white powder and then came the fun part. I sprinkled small amounts of Brusho crystals on the card and spritzed on some water.

The top row shows how the crystals react to one spray and then a couple more sprays of water. The bottom row shows how the green crystals actually contain so many other colours.

I used a couple of different methods to activate the crystals. On some of the card I simply spritzed water and allowed the crystals to activate. As you can see from the image above on the right hand side, you end up with patches of dark colour and swirling patterns. The two images on the left were created by wetting the card, adding crystals and using a broad brush to blend the colours. After the panels were dry I ran a wet paint brush across the top and allowed the paint to run down and create drip patterns.

To make the set I created two cards using the full panels, adding some detail to the sides with dies and stamped the bold sentiments at the bottom. For the next two cards I die cut shapes, stamped some more snowflakes on the cards and added greetings on the die cut panels. I finished off the set with some square cards, die cut panels and added the greetings to the card. As yet, I've not done the insides. I was inspired to create the snowflake cards by this week's challenge at Jingle Belles. Here's a close up of the corners of four of the cards:

Do drop back again soon. Hugs