Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Pretty Primroses

Good morning, 

Steph here today with my Brand Ambassador Inspiration and for this one I was inspired by one of my fellow Brand Ambassadors, Julie. I loved her use of the Uniko Spring Botanicals Primrose stamp on her March FB challenge card here so I reached for the stamp set and had a go at creating three very different cards.

For my first card I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the image four times. I wanted this card to look like a planted bed of Primroses.

I really love to see white on Kraft so I stamped and heat embossed the image onto Kraft card and coloured with watercolour pencils. The image hasn't picked up the colours that well as they are a bit stronger than this on the card itself with more gradient of colours. 

Finally I tried my hand at a pocket shaker. I stamped the primrose onto a piece of card before colouring with alcohol markers. I took a piece of acetate which was larger than the card and scored the edges to fold around the back of the card and create a pocket. I added some heart shaped sequins and glitter before fully sealing the acetate on the back of the panel. I adhered this to a blank card base. Using the primrose stamp in the same location I stamped it again onto another piece of card and used a craft knife to cut around the image before stamping the sentiment and adhering over the shaker panel. 

Three completely different styles using the same stamp to hopefully get the creative juices flowing! 

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Technique Tuesday

Good morning, 

Steph here today. I recently saw a great technique on @ardythpr1 Instagram page and decided to recreate it using Uniko products. 

First I selected three background or larger stamps and smaller stamp sets with matching details to the larger sets. I then inked three separate panels by directly rubbing the ink from Distress Oxide pads onto white card. The idea is to then ink the background (or larger) stamp onto the card with a muted ink, followed by white heat embossing the stamp from the smaller matching set over the top. Finishing off with a white die cut shape and a white and black die cut sentiment. 

Here I have used Uniko Large Background Tropical Paradise stamp for the background, inked up with Memento Espresso Truffle. The smaller stamp which has been white heat embossed is the Uniko Paradise Leaves stamp set. For the inked panel I have used Pine Needles and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks.

Thinking I needed a lighter background panel, I used Shabby Shutters and Speckled Egg Distress Oxide inks for this panel. I then used the Craftstash exclusive Uniko Picked Posies Fresh Cut Foliage stamp for the background, again using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. The white heat embossed stamp is from the Uniko Season of Beauty stamp set.

My final card is slightly different mainly because I had a 'moment' when inking up the larger Uniko Hello Lovely stamp set and inked it with embossing ink in error. Once I realised my error I decided to go with it and heat emboss in copper. I continued to heat emboss in white using the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony stamp set. The background for this inked panel uses three distress oxides which are Antique Linen, Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet.

I've not had much time in the craft room lately and I'm finding a little frazzled for craft inspiration at present so seeing this video of Ardyth's was a great way to kick start me back into crafting. I hope you like my creations and also encourage you to head over to Ardyth's Instagram page to see the original inspiration.

Much love

Steph x

Snowflake Serenade - 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways Day 12

 

Happy Thursday.

Welcome to the final day, day 12 of the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways. I hope you have enjoyed the inspiration and there is still time to comment across social media to be in the chance to win. 

When I was thinking about what to use for my post and product today, I realised I haven't used any snowflakes. And for me Christmas involves snowflakes. So it was time to dust off Snowflake Serenade and give it some fresh inky love.

Here's what I came up with.

I fancied ombre blues today, selecting Powder, Harbor, Blueberry and Midnight. I then ink blended them onto a piece of white card. 

I then placed this into my stamping platform and positioned the snowflake serenade, sentiment and a trio of accent snowflakes before inking with Encore Silver ink and heat embossed with Stardust EP.

A pretty simple, pretty quick, super sparkly snowflake card to add to the Christmas card stash. If you fancy watching me make this card, I have a YouTube short HERE. 

Before I go, the giveaway. Be sure to leave a comment by 31st July 2025 for your chance to win the Snowflake Serenade I've used on this card. If you are the lucky winner picked randomly from comments left across Uniko’s social media and already own the products, an alternative will be offered. 

Winners will be announced first week of August 2025.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Christmas Tree Tuesday

Good morning, 

Steph here with my Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration post. We are focusing on Christmas in July this month and I have specifically chosen Uniko stamps which include Christmas trees. 

To start off I heat embossed the Uniko Background Blocks Arts Decoratifs Christmas stamp. I then used a craft knife to cut some apertures behind which I laid different colours of tissue paper. The idea being that the light could shine through the tissue paper like a stained glass window. 

For my next card I used Uniko Rustic Christmas stamp set and created a 'forest' using different colour inks before decorating my main tree with fussy cut small elements from the stamp set.

And finally a super quick card made using the outline tree from the Uniko Christmas Pop stamp set and coloured using alcohol markers. I then teamed this with a sentiment from the Uniko Christmas Wishes set.

It's never too early to start your Christmas cards! And hopefully there is a style here to suit most tastes. 

Much love

Steph x

BA inspiration: Featuring Spring Botanicals Primrose

 Hello everyone!

Happy Sunday!

Vinita is here today to feature Uniko's new and gorgeous Spring Botanical Primrose stamp set. Let's get started with the details.

For the background, I ink-blended the picked raspberry distress oxide ink from top to bottom in an ombre pattern. I heat embossed the floral pattern on both edges using Carousel Wow EP and mounted the panel to my hot pink card base. 

Then I heat embossed the floral image on a scalloped vellum panel. I heat embossed the sentiment using Opaque Bright White EP from the Bright Butterflies set. I mounted it to the card front using transparent adhesive tape to add dimension to the floral pattern.

It's fun to come up with a completely different technique featuring an intense pink as the main color with metallic accents and a pop of sparkle!

Thanks much for stopping by today!

Happy crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration: Snow

 Hello everyone!

Happy Saturday!

Vinita here, Are you ready for a beautiful winter card with snowflakes............ Snow love is here!

  I stamped my snowflakes from the framed snowflakes stamp set on a white card panel using the Unchanted Mariner DI. Then I ink-blended my background using picked raspberry and lumber plaid DI.

Once again I heat embossed in opaque bright white EP for more snowflake elements from the same set and added some splatters using silver perfect pearl. I love the wholesome look!

I used the bold snow die with outline coverage in a white scrap piece, which was left after blending the background with a glitter silver CS. To finish it off, I added the Let It sentiment.

I hope you enjoyed this card!

Happy crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration: Christmas Pop!

Hello everyone!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you all are having fun and having the most wonderful time of the year!

Vinita here with a Christmas card in soft colors.

I started by white heat embossing one of the sentiments from the Season of Beauty stamp set. I added a few elements, like stars and tiny trees from the Christmas Pop stamp set. Then, I blended shaded lilac, cracked pistachio, and saltwater taffy DI over the heat-embossed images. 

I added two stamped trees from the Most Wonderful stamp set using Villainous Potion and Evergreen bough DI using double-adhesive foam tape. Some jewels were added for more fun as an ornament on the trees.

Hope I inspired you to create yours!

Happy crafting! 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Quick Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas! 

Hopefully everyone is in full Christmas mode now but don't panic if not. I have used Uniko's Background Builders Christmas 2018 stamps to create some fairly quick cards (the heat embossing makes these a take a little longer but you could reduce time by simply stamping with ink instead).

Here I lined up four of the stamp strips and carefully inked and stamped them one at a time. The sentiment is from the Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set. 

This card took only slightly longer to make than the last as the striped stamp was used twice so it had to be cleaned and repositioned between colours.

On this card I have used clear embossing powder over the red and green ink and gold embossing powder for the centre strip but of course you could just use the ink and leave out the heat embossing. The sentiment this time is from the rereleased Uniko Pure Florals Poinsettia stamp set. 

Following on from making my last card I discovered that I had red and green embossing powder in my stash (doh!) so I made the card again using these rather than ink and clear embossing powder, changing the rotation of the background builder strips. 

Hopefully these have helped if you are a little pushed for time or behind in your Christmas card making.

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Fairy Lights

Good morning, 

Following on from the lovely new release from Uniko at the end of Oct, one stamp really called out to me and that was Uniko Framed - Fairy Lights. I have used this stamp for my Brand Ambassador inspiration post this month and found that it teams very nicely with Uniko Mid Century Modern Baubles. 

Here I have heat embossed the fairy lights using red glitter embossing powder and coloured the lights in using a green alcohol marker and silver and gold gel pens. The bauble and sentiment are also heat embossed. 

This card is similar to the last one but I have used green glitter embossing powder instead and also used the embossing powders for the bauble and sentiment. 

Switching to gold embossing powder and colouring the background in meant I could leave the bauble white to let it stand out. 

Finally I used the fairy lights stamp in a landscape setting and stamped using dye ink. I coloured the lights using alcohol markers and added some shimmer with a Wink of Stella brush pen. 

I hope you loved the new Uniko release as much as I did. Look back on the Uniko blog to see lots and lots of brilliant inspiration from the Brand Ambassadors during the release introductions.

Much love

Steph x

Festive Friday & Fabulous FREE Shipping Weekend!

Happy FriYAY! 

I'm a little later than I expected today, but I have a fun Festive Friday card duo to share with you today using Block Party Christmas. 

Just yesterday I was reminiscing on social media how it was 7 years ago this month that this clear stamp was released. So it inspired me to dust mine off and give it some fresh inky love. 

And here is what I was inspired to make...

For these two cards I combined a love of heat embossing and one of my favourite techniques for large backgrounds, the spotlight technique. 

You can join me over on YouTube as I talk about this fun stamp and make this first card and how I cover up an embossed boo boo!  

I'm using Concord & 9th Poppy card for my bases. VersaFine ink and a Funky Fossil WOW embossing powder called Verdant. It is part of this trio HERE. 

It was at the end of the video it occurred to me (head in the pre show shed today) that I could make this second card by stamping one more panel of the red card and use the negative die cut panel. Two for the price of one idea! 

Such a simple idea for a fun background, but packs a festive punch. Don't you think? 

AND before I go... I know many of you are unable to come see Uniko at the Stamperama show in Bedford, due to distance and living in a different part of the world. 

So for this weekend I have a Fabulous FREE Shipping offer. 

No code necessary, minimum spend is £10. UK orders will be shipped via 48hr Tracked and International Orders will be shipped standard international shipping unless they are above £50 in value.

That's all from me today. I'll do my best to share photos and things over the weekend on social media. 

Crafty Hugs

 

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

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Watercolour Emboss Resist

Morning all, 

Steph here today with some watercolour emboss resist which I was inspired to do following this lovely example by Anita. I started off with the Uniko Background Builders Arts Decoratifs stamp set and repeatedly heat emboss one line of the set in white. I then used metallic watercolours to create a wash across the card in various colours.

For my next card I heat embossed the Uniko Large Background: Scattered Polka Hearts stamp in white and did an ombre wash using four different blue inks. I white heat embossed one of the hearts from Uniko Always & Forever set, ink washed and fussy cut before adhering to the background with foam pads.

Finally, I remembered this fantastic card from Jules and was inspired to try the resist embossing with the Uniko Remembrance stamp set. 

I definitely need to work on my watercolour skills so that's on the list for this year! 

Much love

Steph x