12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 11

 

           Hello & Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 11

Every Friday, I will have a new Christmas themed card or project to share with you, along with a video showing how I made it. Plus, if you watch the video you will find out what the giveaway is and how to enter for your chance to win 😊 All the videos are HERE on the Uniko YouTube Channel.

This week I have aligned myself with the weather here in the North East of the UK with two snow inspired cards. We had a dusting of snow yesterday and more overnight to satisfy a snow loving girl for a bit! I dusted off my Stunning Snowflakes and Stencil - Let it Snow for my cards today, which I had actually planned on using anyway! 

For this first card I used the Stencil - Let it Snow as the main focus, using texture paste through it and adding colour.

Join me in this weeks video as I talk about texture paste, its uses and how I added the colour. I used Concord & 9th Aqua Sky, Oceanside & Peacock, such a lovely turquoise collection. Perfect for snowflakes. My sentiment and accent snowflakes are from Stunning Snowflakes.

This led me to create this next card during the video.

This card is totally inspired by this weeks Freshly Made Sketches layout seen HERE and below. I often turn to challenges for a creative spark when I am needing that little extra creative mojo. 

The layout this week was calling snowflakes to me! So I used Stunning Snowflakes and the same colours to create this card. I used the same sentiment treatment and show in the video how I created the detailed edge.

You'll have to watch this weeks video HERE to find out what this weeks giveaway is and how to enter. I can't quite believe there is only one week left of this series!

Thanks for joining me today. Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Holly

Morning! 

Steph here and I welcome you to my Nov Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration post. This month I wanted to focus on Holly.

My first card uses Uniko Framed Holly stamp set and Uniko Most Wonderful stamp set for the sentiment.

I stamped the large frame stamp using very light ink and drew over the lines with an alcohol marker, colouring in the leaves as I went. I have coloured the background in light grey and added Wink of Stella all over for sparkle. I used the extra stamps in the set to stamp individual holly leaves, fussy cut and adhered these to the card front using foam pads. 

My second card uses Uniko Snowflake Serenade stamp set and inked it in light blue. I then used alcohol markers to draw in the holly and berries. The sentiment for this card is from Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set. Again I added some Wink of Stella to the holly leaves for sparkle. 

Finally I have used the holly stamps from the Uniko Winter Foliage stamp set and Uniko Festive Sentiments stamp set for the lovely large sentiment. I have added snowflakes from the Uniko Stunning Snowflakes stamp set and used the Wink of Stella on these. 

How are you all getting along with your Christmas crafting? The final card here today is very quick and easy to make if you need to get a few cards done in a short amount of time. 

Much love

Steph x

BA Inspiration - Snowflakes Framed Two Ways

 Good afternoon, Julie here with a little bit of festive inspiration using the newly released Framed Snowflakes stamp set. If you saw the release in review post on Saturday, you'll recognise this new stamp set. I had to make a card for the new challenge at Color Hues so thought I would share that card together with another made from a panel I had leftover from the release day blog hop that I didn't use. Here are both cards, same stamp for the main panel but two different looks.

This first card uses the leftover panel but I chopped it in half and turned each half around! To make the panel I simply stamped the stamp onto a white card panel and heat embossed with fine white EP. When cool, I inked in some bright DIs with a blending brush, Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron, randomly over the top. All excess ink was removed with a soft cloth before biting the bullet and cutting it in half.

Each half was then rotated and glued to my base card, leaving a gap in the center. This I covered with my sentiment banner, from Christmas Wishes. I stamped a few matching snowflakes from Snowflake Serenade. before adding it across the center. A couple of strips of glitter paper just neatened up the central panel.

Finally this is the card I made for the Color Hues challenge, a simple almost one layer card. The stamp stamped as before but this time straight onto a base card. A mix of Wilted Violet and Salty Ocean DI blended over the top and a fussy cut sentiment from Stunning Snowflakes added on pads.

A few PPP sequins to add sparkle complete the design. I think it would be a great idea for batch making, simply stamp your sentiment directly onto the card to make it perfect for posting!

That's it from me for today, hope I've given you some inspiration for your Christmas makes. 

Don't forget the GIVEAWAY for the release in review, a chance to win a £20 eGift code to spend in store. Commenting will close for the giveaway at midnight GMT Sunday 5th November 2023 and Bev will randomly select a winner and announce on Monday 6th November.

Happy stamping!

Introducing... Framed - Snowflakes

Welcome to Day 4 and the final day of the product introductions for our October Release. 

Today I am introducing a new addition to our Framed Series and hopefully a clear stamp set that fills a snowflake gap in the Uniko clear stamp line up! 

Just like the other sets in the Framed Series, this clear stamp set features a main frame stamp filled with new pretty snowflakes with a gap left for your chosen sentiment. There are also 4 individual snowflake stamps perfect for adding details and creating your own beautiful backgrounds.

For my first card today I started with an Aqua Sky card panel. I then used Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers and Wilted Violet to create a spotlight effect for my sentiment. After my ink blending was dry, I left it overnight, but you could heat set. I then went to stamping the frame in VersaMark ink and heat embossing in white.

 

I then stamped my sentiment from Most Wonderful before fussy cutting the frame out before adhering to my white card base with double sided tape. I also stamped a trio of individual snowflakes, heat embossed and fussy cut them to adhering with foam adhesive.

For my second card today I wanted to feature the individual snowflakes for a clean & simple design. I started by masking off a section on my base card and then ink blended Peacock Feathers and Wilted Violet.

I then stamped the snowflakes and my chosen sentiment from Stunning Snowflakes in Nocturne ink & heat embossed with Stardust embossing powder. Simple, but with lots of sparkle!

That's all I have to share just now, but I will be back this afternoon with more to share & this weeks instalment of our 12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways! I do hope you will pop back then to see what I am making and watch my video to find out about this weeks prize.

If you missed Day 1, Day 2 and day 3 product introductions, you can catch up HERE, HERE and HERE. So that's all the introductions, which means tomorrow is release day. They will be available 9pm BST and we will have our usual Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway at 9am BST here on the blog.

Crafty Hugs

Christmas in July - Wintery Wednesday

Hello & Happy Wednesday! 

I'm continuing with Christmas in July and today I have a colourful winter card to share with you. Stunning Snowflakes still to this day remains a firm favourite of mine, even after 10 years. This is another Uniko clear stamp set that remains timeless and ever popular. Though it is a clear stamp set I feel I have neglected, so it was time to give it some fresh inky love!

And because I couldn't decide on a colour, I opted for rainbow! Not quite the full rainbow, but some cheerful colour choices. The day started off sunny here in the North East, but it is now back to raining and quite a dark afternoon. So this certainly adds some colourful cheer.

Only one more day before school is out for summer, so I am making the most of my 'quiet' time in the studio! Lots of festive creativity in progress and I am getting so excited to share the NEW release with you, luckily not long to wait! 

Crafty Hugs

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways - Day 3

 

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome back to day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas, Giveaways. 

If you missed day 1 and you're wondering what this is all about, be sure to check out all the details HERE and you're welcome to catch up and comment on Day 2 HERE. 

So let's get to my card today...

You didn't think I'd miss the opportunity to share a snowflake themed card and prize?! I'm still hoping for a white Christmas, but I'll be so surprised if it did as the weather is quite mild at the moment here.

Today I paired my all time favourite Stunning Snowflakes with Background Blocks Scattered Polka Dots. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks Christmas. 

Apologies for my post being a bit wonky today, it's been one of those days! 

So today's giveaway* is...

To be in the chance of winning simply leave a comment on this post and or any of the social media platforms I will be sharing the giveaway!

Crafty Hugs 

* As it is a giveaway the prize is open to participants worldwide. The item will be marked as a gift from me personally to avoid customs charges. An alternative prize will be offered if the winner already owns any of the prize offered on the day they win. You have until midnight Thursday 30th December 2021 to comment. Winners will be announced on the blog on Friday 31st December 2021.

Countdown to Christmas - Wednesday WINNER!

 Happy Wednesday!

I'm here today to announce the WINNER of the Cracking Christmas Prize from THIS blog post here! If you snooze you loose so they say ;) The odds were really good for these lucky entrants.

Anyway, without further ado, random number generator on Google selected No.10 as the winning entry. 

Congratulations too Dee Earnshaw!

Dee, please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk along with your postal address so that I can get your goodies on their way to you.

Thank you to all who entered the giveaway, your continued support, comments & love here at Uniko are much appreciated. There is another chance to WIN Uniko goodies on Saturday with our 2020 Christmas Party, so be sure to stop by & join in on the fun.

Before I go today I do have a quick wintery Christmas card to share with you...

I'm still dreaming of that white Christmas! I was organising some of my non Uniko stencils and came across the MFT Square Extraordinaire stencil and decided to have a play with it. I used Distress Oxide Speckled Egg to ink through the stencil and then before removing the stencil I stamped the Background Block Falling Snowflakes over the top with the same colour.

The large snowflakes and sentiment are from Stunning Snowflakes and I stamped them in Altenew Dark Night ink. I finished the snowflakes off with a little White Blizzard Nuvo Drops to the centres. 

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday! 

Crafty Hugs Bev x

Countdown to Christmas Day 5 - Sparkling Snowflakes

 Happy Weekend!

I know we are only on day 5 of the Christmas Countdown (and I have just realised I got ahead of myself yesterday HERE and have now edited my post), but since advent started the days just seem to be going quicker for me and I keep thinking of all the Christmassy things that I still want and need to do - LOL! Anyone else feel the same?

Today I am sharing a snowflake anniversary card. One of my new fitness friends saw that I made cards & commissioned me to make a card for her 8th Anniversary with her fiancé. They are both HUGE Disney lovers, so she requested something with a little inspiration from the film Frozen. This is what I came up with and I am super happy to report that her fiancé loved it! 

If you don't know by now, I'll tell you again... I LOVE SNOWFLAKES! So I was in my element making this special card. 

Of course I used all Uniko products ;) The large snowflake is the Designer Die - Sparkling Snowflake and I paired it with the coordinating stamp from Stunning Snowflakes. I used Altenew inks in Dusk and Sea Glass to stamp the snowflakes and added some of my favourite White Blizzard Glitter Nuvo Drops.

The centrepiece snowflake is inked and embossed with Stardust embossing powder for a little extra impact. I also lightly ink blended the edges of the snowflake. The sentiment is from Simply Said II and embossed in white onto a strip of Pacific Point card from Stampin' Up! 

I have no doubt that you will be seeing some more snowflakes in the coming days as we continue the Countdown to Christmas ;) But for today, this is all I have to share!

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs Bev x

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!

CAS Colours & Sketches #291 - Sketch

Hello!

I'm back from my family vacation and almost back on UK time! I'm here today with my CAS Colours & Sketches DT card. This month Samantha is our hostess and has hosted some fabulous challenges this month, along with this weeks sketch HERE and seen below...

I was sitting at my desk wondering what stamps to use and then it came to me that Christmas is fast approaching and I've hardly given it a thought! So, I reached for my Stunning Snowflakes clear stamp set and put it to good use! 

I've used a trio of Altenew inks to stamp the snowflake trio, which I have then fussy cut and adhered to a white mat layer using 1mm thick foam adhesive. This layer is also adhered using foam adhesive to a Coastal Cabana card stock base. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set and I added some little sparkly rhinestones to finish the design off.

That's all from me today, I hope thatI have inspired you to join in on the challenge?! If you need a little more inspiration, pop on over HERE to see what the CC&S Design Team have created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs

CAS Colours & Sketches #253 - Seasonal Sketch

*CLICK HERE for the Uniko Introduction*

Hey!

Ack! Where is the time going? Please slow down I have too much still to do before Santa arrives! Lol! Anyone else feel like this? 

Anyway, THIS week at CAS Colours & Sketches we want you to choose a sketch from all the ones in 2017 and make it seasonal! 

I decided to revisit the first sketch of 2017, #205

This is how I have used them to create a Christmas card...

Today is the start of the Uniko December Release product introductions and one of the products the Design Team and I are introducing today HERE, is Large Background: Scattered Polka Dots. When I saw this sketch I immediately knew the background would be perfect! 

I have partially stamped the Large Background: Scattered Polka Dots on to a Pool Party mat layer using VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white EP. The sentiment and snowflake are from Stunning Snowflakes and I embellished the finished card with some Altenew enamel dots.

That's all I have to share with you today, but be sure to head on over to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog post HERE to enter the challenge and to see more inspiration from the Design Team.

I look forward to seeing you in the gallery! 

Hugs

CAS Colours & Sketches #244 - Sketch

Hey!

I'm not as organised this week as there is SO much going on here at Uniko HQ! We are currently in countdown mode to our October Release and my energy levels are recovering post Happy Stampers Festival in time for Stamp Magic in Doncaster this weekend!

Not only do I have 5 new clear stamp sets being released, which the Design Team and I will start introducing tomorrow, we have a NEW product and TWO Designer Die collections - whoop!

Anyway, enough of that how about a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month Emily is our hostess and this week has this fun sketch HERE to inspire your creativity...

Here is what I came up with...

I've had so much fun using Stunning Snowflakes recently, that when I saw the sketch they seemed perfect to use and create a trio of hanging snowflake decorations :)

I used a trio of recently purchased Distress Oxide inks to stamp the snowflakes and fussy cut them out. The bow is from Christmas Sparkle and the sentiment from one of the October Release clear stamp sets. 

That's all from me today using the sketch, but if you need some more inspiration using the sketch be sure to pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE and see how the DT and Guest Designer have used it.

I will be back again shortly with another post! 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

My Five Faves From Year 2 of Uniko

Hey!

I'm back today with my five favourites from year 2 of Uniko, which is mainly 2013. This year I increased the amount of releases and found it even HARDER to choose five favourites. 

So many awesome clear stamp sets and Designer Dies were released this year, including the popular Background Builders: Round In Circles, Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum and Beautiful Blooms I. Series such as the All Occasion Sentiments and Flower Power clear stamp sets were also launched this year.

Anyway, here's what I chose and why...

Looking through the cards I made during this year, I used this lime green, black and white colour combination quite a few times. This card stood out to me because of this, but also because of the angle of the stamped background and overall layout of the card. The simple combination of two clear stamp sets, Background Builders: Round In Circles and All Occasion Sentiments #1 a few strips of card in different widths and a circle die makes for a fab masculine card! The sentiment could easily be switched to suit any occasion too. 

Those who know me well, know that I would choose a Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum card and one using my 'go to' trio of colours, well that is just too hard to resist! 

You can read all about this card and the meaning behind the Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum clear stamp set HERE.

Next I chose another 'happy' card...

This card uses my favourite trio of graphic flowers from the now retired Time clear stamp set. I think these flowers may just have to make a reappearance in some form ;) I've combined the graphic flowers with All Occasion Sentiments #2 a fabulous 'go to' sentiment set for large focal point birthday sentiments :)

My next two cards again will be no surprise to those who have followed me and Uniko for some time ;) Yep, snowflakes, I LOVE snowflakes!

This partial view of this first card uses Background Builders: Christmas (now retired) for the turquoise snowflake BG and the main sentiment and (favourite) trio of snowflakes is from Stunning Snowflakes.

Lastly I have another Christmas/Winter themed card. Again, I have chosen a partial close up view of the card as I want to focus on the snowflake designer die I have used. These dies debuted in 2013 and I am pleased to report they WILL be making a reappearance in the store again this year :) 

The green stamped snowflake is again from Stunning Snowflakes and is stamped inside a partial stamped label/frame from Label Love: Thank you. The sentiment from Label Love: Christmas and the strip of polka dots from Background Builders: Round In Circles.

All the cards I have showcased today along with many more, can be found on their Pinterest pages via the links below...

Background Builders: Round In Circles

Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum

Time

All Occasion Sentiments

Stunning Snowflakes

Designer Dies Snowflakes

Label Love: Thank you

Label Love: Christmas

That's all I have to share with you today, be sure to pop back tomorrow, as we have a BUMPER filled day with a LOVELY Freebie too ;) Until then, thank you for stopping by today :)