Stencil Sunday - Instagram Vote Result

 Happy Sunday 😃

So yesterday on Instagram I put a vote in my stories asking what I should use for today's Stencil Sunday feature. 

The options were, Ink & Flip, Pure Florals, Flower Power or Geometric. I was keeping an eye on the votes and at one point it was a 3 way tie 😬 I did prepare myself for that, but in the end Ink & Flip won by one vote! 

So here is what I made...

As you can tell I opted for the newest Ink & Flip Geometric Hexagon Layering Stencil, though I opted to use just the detail hexagon layer. 

I've actually had this layout idea in my head for a while to add a smaller hexagon detail with the tiny bee from Flower Power #9 and I chose the Just Because sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. 

Even though summer has decided to return again this weekend, I opted for some more autumnal yellow and orange tones, Spiced Cider, Cayenne, Sunflower and Stardust. 

That's all I had time for today, but I will share the other cards I made today using 2 of the other options during the week. 

If you haven't seen how this Ink & Flip works, be sure to checkout the video over on the Uniko YouTube Channel HERE. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Mid Century Inspiration from Guest Brand Ambassador Amy Tsuruta

 Happy Monday! 

I'm absolutely delighted to be starting a new week with a wonderful Guest Brand Ambassador, the one and only, super lovely and super talented Amy Tsuruta. 

Hello! 

My name is Amy Tsuruta and I live in the United States in beautiful Washington state. I’m married to a great guy who is a hobby pilot.  I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember but things turned serious in 2001 when I volunteered to be my youngest's Preschool Scrapbook Coordinator.  Truthfully, I had never scrapbooked at that point.  Scrapbooking quickly turned into stamping  and cardmaking.  The Papercrafting Community is amazing and I’m so happy to be a part of it. 

I'm happy to be guesting for Uniko and can't wait to share a couple projects with you!

Hello Friend.

I'm smitten with Uniko's Mid Century Modern Collection!

For my Hello Friend card I teamed up a Mid Century Modern color palette. The Background Blocks Linear have been heat embossed in gold on the pale pink panel. I layered a smaller spiced sider panel with an oval die cut. The sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments has been heat embossed in gold on a dark brown strip.

Just Because.

I used the Ink & Flip Geometric Hexagon Layering Stencil on this project.  What an amazing stencil that is easy to line up with gorgeous results. 

I used distress oxides on 100 lb cardstock with blending brushes. The sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments has been heat embossed in white on a green cardstock strip.

 

Thank you Amy for these stunning cards. 

I think you will agree with me how inspiring they both are and for me it delights me to see how other crafters use the products I design. 

I know that Amy has another card coming up on the 22nd August on the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Blog, so be sure to pop on over there on that day. I will also share the make across social media.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Monochrome Silhouettes

Good morning

Anita here and today I have three same but different cards, all using silhouette stamps and paired with the Pinstripe Background Blocks.

These were pretty quick to make and are one layer, apart from the sentiment strips and gems.  And for the first time I used Distress Oxide inks to stamp with.  They aren't the easiest to work with as they can be quite juicy but I chose them as I thought they would create better coverage of the silhouettes over the stripes, but what do I know...it didn't actually work!  The lighter colours ended up showing through but I do actually like that effect even though it wasn't what I was going for!  Hey, every day is a school day in the crafting world! 

So, here's the first one, using coral shades...

I began by stamping the Background Blocks Pinstripe II image in Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide ink and, once dry, I stamped the foliage silhouette from the Just Because set in Abandoned Coral.  This took a few re-stamps using my Misti, lots of light layers is key with these inks.  I then added a sentiment from the Simply Said Blocks II set and some co-ordinating jewels finished the design.

You can see below how the lighter shade of ink showed through the darker shade, I think it gives a kind of 'looking through some blinds' effect!

My second card is in teal tones...

For this one I used the vertical stripes, the Background Blocks Pinstripe image, as my backdrop which was stamped in Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide.  The foliage silhouette this time is from the Season of Beauty stamp set, and I used Peacock Feathers.  The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks and, once again, I finished with some co-ordinating jewels.

And finally, in shades of blue...

This time, the Background Blocks Pinstripe II image was stamped in Salty Ocean Distress Ink, and the foliage, from the Happy Days set was stamped in Prize Ribbon.  The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II and again, the blue jewels were added as a finishing touch.

So there you have it, three quick and easy, clean and simple cards with no complicated techniques.  Thanks for taking a look, have a lovely Tuesday.

 

Slimline Thank you!

Happy Saturday.

Autumn is here, I love the change in season. The cozy nights, the crisp air & change in colours. But I am still all for the bright rainbow colours!

With The Beans out for the day with their grandparents, I've been in the studio preparing for the Autumn & Winter season, but I also had some creative time. It's been a while since I used this set, so decided to ink up the Just Because clear stamps to create a rainbow slimline card. 

I enjoyed inking, stamping & fussy cutting to build this card. But dies are definitely on the mind for this set! 

I used Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper, Honeysuckle, Buttercup, Aqua Sky and Oceanside. I then added a the Thank You sentiment from Everyday Sentiments and finished off with some sparkly clear Nuvo Drops. 

What's coming up?

October sees a fresh batch of show prep with the Stamping Together show in Port Sunlight first on October 8th, just 2 weeks away! 

This is one of my favourite shows and I can't wait to get back & see some of you there. AND I am excited to have a little giveaway for one of you to win.

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO ENTER THE SHOW

AND 

£10 spend at the Uniko* stand! 

Simply comment on this post here on the blog, Instagram or Facebook. I will choose a lucky random winner from those left across the platforms next Saturday 1st October 2022. 

* The £10 spend is gifted by myself as a little extra. Please only comment to win if you are able to attend the show. The winners name will be given to the show organisers to enter for free.

You can purchase tickets HERE too.

THEN...

Sunday 9th October 2022 Uniko will be 'almost' on home turf at Newcastle again for Stamperama! All the details and ticket purchase can be found HERE. 

On Sunday 16th October I will be demoing on the Dies to Die For stand at Stamp Magic in Doncaster. There will be a small selection of Uniko products available to purchase on their stand. 

A busy, but exciting month ahead! So watch this space for a bunch of restocks arriving next week.

I think that is all I have to share. Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Techniques with Embossing Glaze

 Hi there,

 do you love Embossing Powders as I do?
Have you ever heard of the special one called Embossing Glaze?
If not - it's a translucent but colourful Embossing Powder with some more special effects.

In the first card I made for you I created amore or less translucent rainbow with the "Rainbows & Clouds" Stencil over a very soft pastell blue background.
But first I had stamped and heat embossed the "Large Background - French Script" in white.
After the melting process of the powder I used the Stencil again and added some fluffy clouds with white Embossing paste.
The sentiment "Time to celebrate the good times" is one of the "Birthday Sentiments", heat embossed in a fitting light blue.
For some more interest I added some clear little rhinestone drops as raindrops.

The second card has a very similar layout, but I stamped the script background in gray (without embossing), just added the rainbow with the same Embossing Glaze colours as before.
I planned to add embellishments in the same colours, so I took twelve white sequins, added sticky ink to them, dipped always two of them into one of the powders and heathed them up. Then I put a drop of clear glitter glue to them.
The sentiment of the "All Occasions Set #3" is stamped with the same Ink I used for the background on Vellum and then I added the same colour of Embossing Glaze to it (hickory smoke).
I glued the edges of the Vellum on the backside of my layer and embellished it with my "special gems".

For the next card I created a blended Sunset scene and added plants and shadows with different stampsets - "Just because", "Happy Days" and "Natures Treasures I".
The lighter shadows of the black embossed plants are made with the Glazes.

For this glazed "Pure Florals - Peony" I added several times Embossing Ink with a Dabber and then thin layers of Glaze.
I was able to mix and match the colours with every layer and then melted every one on top of the black stamped flower.
With every layer it went darker and more intense! So beautiful! Love this kind of "watercolour look".

 

 

The last card is a bit different to the peony. I used the "Pure Florals - Gerbera Stencil" and one of the Peony sentiment stamps.
This time I didn't add the embossing Ink with a dabber (I tried, but it was too much ink for a stencil and turned out in a mess!), instead I used a pen and "coloured" the areas very quick and in a distressed way. I added and mixed the red and orange Glaze powder for the petals and the yellow for the center.
Melted every layer and as a last step I added black Embossing Powder to get some wild and dramatic lines to the flower.
Love this big and bold flower!

Hope I brought you some ideas to use the Glazes in different ways... there are many more to try!
For those of us who love Embossing Powders they are a very "nice-to-have" and "test and try" medium to play with.

Greetings from Wiebke

Uniko 10th Birthday Celebrations - Featuring Alumni Ren-Yi

 

Happy Monday!

What an exciting week we have in store. But before we get to the release countdown fun tomorrow, we have our last Alumni joining us today. I am absolutely delighted to have Ren-Yi as our featured Alumni.

Ren-Yi joined Uniko in October 2012, when Uniko expanded the team and ventured more into the digital stamp world and was an integral part of the team along with launching Uniko's Challenges. 

Let's have a look at the original card Ren-Yi chose as inspiration, which uses the solid flower from Flower Power #4.

I love this bokeh style of stamping to create an eye catching background. This of which Ren-Yi has created on her stunning new card below.

Ren-Yi created a beautiful watercolour background and used the Background Blocks Scattered Hearts to create the soft bokeh effect along the edge. The focal image is the silhouette from Just Because, stamped and then outlined by hand with a gold marker. Isn't this a beauty. 

Thank you so much Ren-Yi for joining us and hopefully it won't be as long till next time! 

So, that was our last Alumni CASE Yourself feature this month. I do hope you have enjoyed the feature reminiscing with me and all the old and new inspiration. 

I do hope you will stop by tomorrow for a little surprise and our release sneak peeks! Until then, Crafty Hugs 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Creative Christmas

Good Morning all, 

Steph here today. For my Uniko Brand Ambassador post I thought it would be quite nice to showcase a different way to use some Uniko non Christmas stamps mixed with the traditional Christmas sets for creative Christmas projects. 

My first card uses Uniko Background Blocks Doodle Flower stamp teamed with the more recently released Uniko Doodle Flowers stamp set. I have used red and green for the petals to resemble a Poinsettia. The sentiment is from Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set. 

My second card uses the foliage silhouette from the Uniko Just Because stamp set and I have teamed it with some white berries to create a hanging stem of mistletoe. I have used chalk ink over the black card in order for it to show up. The sentiment is a mixture of Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set, Uniko Most Wonderful stamp set and Uniko Big & Bold Hugs stamp set.

My final card for today uses Uniko Flower Power #3 stamp set. I have stamped the solid floral in two shades of green before fussy cutting and turning upside down to build my Christmas tree. The decorative elements have all come from the recently released Uniko Pattern Building Christmas Tree stamp set teamed with a sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set.

I hope you like my three cards today and that I have got you thinking about different ways in which to use your stamps. 

Much love

Steph x

DT Inspiration - Inky Foliage Silhouettes and Resist

Hello there, it's Sarah P here with my June DT Inspiration post.

I've spotted some gorgeous inky backgrounds with silhouettes on Instagram recently and I couldn't resist having a go myself, especially as those Distress Oxides blend so beautifully and they are always my Go-To product if I'm stuck with Mojo!

The first 2 feature a Heat Resist technique where I've stamped the images with Versamark ink then heat-embossed with Hero Arts White powder before inky blending over the top.

The Uniko sets are: Just Because, Natures Treasures I and Pure Florals: Cosmos for the 'May all your birthday wishes come true' sentiment. The Celebrate die is from Sugar Pea Designs

These next 2 use the same colour combos and same 'Just Because' set but adding 'Home Sweet Home' for the sentiments. 

I hope you like my cards and thank you for stopping by the blog today.

Back In Stock!

Hey!

I thought I would pop by & let you know that a bunch of clear stamp restocks arrived in the studio  today - yay!

I know a lot of you have been anxiously awaiting the Mid Century Modern collection of stamps to arrive & thank you to everyone who has placed a lovely backorder. I am busy packing all the orders ready to ship! 

So, here is the line up of what is back in stock over on the website...

*LIMITED stock left of this clear stamp - be quick!*

That's a whole lot of stamps! I can't wait to get inky with these sets again, restocks always inspire me to dust them off and ink them up again ;)

Happy Shopping! 

Hugs