More Birthday BA Inspiration

Good morning.

Julie here with some more Birthday themed inspiration for Uniko's 13th Birthday celebrations.

My friend's birthday is later this month so I thought I would combine it with a BA post using her favourite colour of red. 

So what red flowers could I use, I thought roses, then the fab Gerbera stamp but finally decided on the gorgeous poppies in the Remembrance stamp set. The sentiments were not suitable for a birthday but poppies are always a cheery bloom, evoking open fields, blue skies and summer! Here's what I made.

I used my watercolour wash with masking fluid technique for this card, fuller details on this technique can be found here.

After stamping on Mixed Media paper with a pale ink, I used Altenew's Limestone, I added masking fluid and left to dry. A trick I saw recently says to run your brush through a bar of soap before dipping in the masking fluid and I think it does stop your brush from clagging.

When completely dry, I added water to my panel and flooded in 3 shades of green water colour. I also added a few areas of red to suggest poppies in the background. Try to keep the darkest greens to the area around the flowers, it will dry lighter, then I added my sheet of crumpled snappy wrap and left to dry fully. Only when it was COMPLETELY dry did I remove the snappy wrap and then the masking fluid.

Now it was just a case of colouring in the outlines with watercolour paint. Once dry, I trimmed my panel and added it to a panel of red card and then onto a 5 x 7 base card. The sentiment from Bauhaus Blocks was stamped on a scrap of matching paper completes.

That's all from me for the moment but please pop back tomorrow for more birthday inspired makes.

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

Technique Tuesday, BA Inspiration using Remembrance

Good morning and welcome, Julie here with a little bit of watercolour inspiration using the newly released Remembrance stamp set.

I was so happy when Bev said that she was launching a poppy stamp as it's one of my favourite flowers and they are also my best buddy's too. So when it came to making her a birthday card for the other Sunday, I had to use them to create this card.

Do you remember my card from the introductions a month ago here? Well, this is how that one was supposed to work out but for some reason the watercolour gods were not behaving, so I ended up just using a portion of the finished panel. I was happy with the flowers but the leaves and stems not so much. I made it using the masking fluid technique, I've used this particular method a few times now so wont bore you with another full blown explanation, check here and here for a detailed photo explanation. 

Here's a quick run down on my method. First I stamped one of the poppies with Altenew Misty Moss and then carefully added masking fluid over the image. When dry I repeated the technique with a further 2 poppy outlines. To fill the lower part of my panel, I drew some poppy heads in free hand and then again towards the top, adding masking fluid to these too. 

When fully dry, I added some water over the whole panel and dropped in a mix of greens, along with some red watercolour. I tried to keep the center of the panel as dark as I could but it doesn't matter you can always go back afterwards. Before it was dry, I placed a piece of cling film over the wet panel and left it over night to dry. 

The cling film was removed to reveal the textured background and then the masking was removed carefully so as not to rip the paper. Using watercolour, I then painted each petal individually with a wet into wet technique. Don't do two adjacent petals at a time as the paint may run together. The foliage was done the same way and any white areas where the masking was not accurate, I coloured with matching paint to neat it up. I used some neat Payne's Grey for the flower centers or you could use a fine liner if you don't feel up to the fine detail!

Finally when my panel was completely dry, I trimmed it down and added it to an A5 base card to which I'd stamped the sentiment from Spring Botanicals - Crocus in black.

Go on, have a go, just let the watercolour do it's thing and don't worry about the end result, you'll be surprised when you come back to it after a night's sleep!! You can always cut it down like I did if things go a bit pear shaped and it's only paper at the end of the day!

So thanks for visiting and happy crafting!

October 2023 Release in Review, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway

Happy Weekend!

Welcome to our October 2023 Release in Review, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway. As the Brand Ambassadors didn't receive their goodies in time to join me for the October Release introductions, I thought it would be nice to have another blog hop to celebrate the release.

If you missed the original release day blog hop & formal introductions, you can catch up HERE. The giveaway is closed on that post, but to keep tradition I have another giveaway listed at the end of this post. 

Enough talk, lets get to the inspiration...

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

Now for the giveaway. Simply comment along the hop for your chance to win a £20 eGift Code to spend in store. Commenting will close for the giveaway midnight GMT Sunday 5th Nov 2023 and I will randomly select a winner and announce Monday 6th Nov.

I hope you have enjoyed this revisit hop 😊 

Before you go I have one more treat in store...

Click to Read!

Crafty Hugs 

October 2023 NEW Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hello, Happy Saturday, Happy World Card Making Day AND Happy New Release Day!

Wow! Could the weekend be any better? 

I hope you have enjoyed my introductions this week and I'm super excited to share these new products with you. They will be available to purchase at 9pm BST tonight HERE on the website.

But, let me first formally introduce them. 

First we have the next addition to the BIG & BOLD series with BIG & BOLD thank/s/ful. This set is super versatile, making two large sentiments. But you can make a third when you pair it with BIG & BOLD You.

The set also features a two step leaf in both solid and outline form along with a variety of accent sentiments. 

BIG & BOLD thank/s/ful  £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Next we have Autumn Serenade. 

Autumn Serenade £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

The large swirling stamp has been calling for this autumnal look for a while now and linking it to BIG & BOLD thank/s/ful with the same leaf image makes it even more versatile. Like other clear stamp sets in the Serenade series, it features mix and match sentiments, along with lots of fun accent stamps. 

Keeping with an autumnal seasonal feel and upcoming Armistice Day I am delighted to add Uniko's version of poppies to the floral line up. Though it has lots more creative potential.

Remembrance £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Lastly, but by no means least we have the next addition to the Framed Series with Framed - Snowflakes. It was time to add more snowflakes to the Uniko line up and I think this makes the perfect addition. 

Framed - Snowflakes £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

And now we have the formal introductions done, let's get to more inspiration using them. Be sure to leave some comments love either on their blogs or social media. You have until midnight Saturday 14th October 2023 to comment and then I will be randomly selecting a winner to win the entire release.

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie 

Steph

I hope you have enjoyed this release 😊

Crafty Hugs 

Introducing... Remembrance

Welcome to Day 3 of the product introductions for our October Release. 

Today I am introducing a new floral and one I have had a few requests for. I'm please how this turned out and I am hoping you will love it as much as I do. So I am now super pleased to introduce you to Remembrance.

This clear stamp set features two individual poppy flowers and two sentiment options, perfect for Armistice Day in November as well as sympathy cards. But really I think poppies can be used all year round and for all occasions.

I kept my first card clean & simple stamping one of the poppies on a white panel and colouring simply with Stampin' Blends. I then adhered the panel with foam adhesive. I used one of the sentiments along the edge of the raised panels. 

My second card today is another that the lucky people who attended my make & take made at Crafterama Lincoln on Sunday. 

I was inspired by a technique Alumni Brand Ambassador Hannelie used HERE. It's a fab idea when you want to add colour, but don't have the patience to colour! 

I used the Stencil - Scattered Polka Hearts and a trio of Altenew inks to create this Bokeh effect. I could have been a little softer with the inking, so that the poppy stood out a little more. But still I am pleased with how it turned out.

That's all I have today using this set, but I know you'll be seeing more of it soon! If you missed Day 1 and Day 2 product introductions, you can catch up HERE and HERE. I will be back tomorrow with one more  introduction. This clear stamp set, along with all the products being introduced this week will be available 9pm GMT Saturday 7th October 2023. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Remembering...

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

From Lawrence Binyon's Poem For the Fallen, 1914.