Hello July!

Hello July and welcome to...

This month myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors will be getting into the Christmas spirit and sharing inspiration using Uniko's current Christmas products in preparation for a NEW release, with countdown to release celebrations and inspiration starting 31st July. New products will be available Sunday 6th August.

Don't worry, if you're not quite ready for getting in the Christmas spirit, we will still be sharing other inspiration too! 

However, I'm kicking things off with a couple of cards using Framed - Holly as the main feature of may cards. 

As you can see, I am still on this vellum technique. It's fun trying out different stamps with this technique and this framed was calling for it.

I've stamped the frame in VersaMark and heat embossed in white. I then used just a trio of Stampin' Up! Stampin' Blends to colour on the reverse. I then adhered this to my card base using a fine tip glue and embellished the card with a sentiment from Christmas Wishes and a cluster of Winter Foliage. I finished off with a few red Nuvo drops.

The creative inspiration was flowing, so I went on to make a second card using Framed - Holly. 

This time I decided to stamp the frame in black ink and colouring with the same trio of markers. I then added the same sentiment stamped and embossed in gold. 

I decided the card needed a bit of dimension. So I stamped the image again and selectively coloured a few of the holly leaves, before fussy cutting them out and adhering them using foam tape. This creates a subtle raised spotlighting effect. 

I trimmed the frame and adhered it with double sided tape to a piece of Concord & 9th Poppy card before adhering to my card base using foam tape.

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs 

Sending Sunshine

Happy Thursday! 

How did we even get to Thursday? This week has totally flown by, quite literally. Along with being super productive in the studio with LOTS more designs coming soon 😉 We also welcomed some feathered friends to our garden this week.

I can't remember how long The Beans have wanted pet chickens, it's probably nearing 2+ years. This week their wish came true and a friend of grandad gifted them four, two each. We welcomed Bonk, Zonk, Cluck & Daphne on Tuesday evening.

Of course Jelly is curious and wants to play with his new sisters 😂  and at lunchtime today a new chicken run arrived, so they can have a little bit more supervision, Under the watchful eye of our back garden camera! 

Four happy chickens and no doubt two happy Beans when they get home from school! 

Anyway, enough of chicken fun, how about some creative fun and a cheerful card...

I've been wanting to play with the Stencil - MOD Background Builder and specifically the smaller elements around the edge of the stencil. Here I used the trio of lager leaves to create this fun colourful card.

I stencilled the trio and as you can see, I used a little bit of masking to add in a 4th petal to some of the MOD 'flowers'. I then fussy cut them out and arranged on my card base.

The sentiment is from Everyday Spring Sentiments and I finished off with some Nuvo Ebony Black Crystal Drops. 

Now for some news...

I have found a venue to run an all day (10am-4pm) Uniko crafty retreat. 

Location is Worsall, Yarm.

Date availability is Sunday 8th October 2023

Approx Price - £45 (includes a crafty pack to make between 5-6 cards, instructions & free product) 

I’d like to get a rough ideas on numbers before I confirm booking, so if you are interested in joining the fun, please either leave a comment here on the blog or drop me an email bev@uniko.co.uk 😃 

That's all for today, I'll be back tomorrow with more to share.

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.

 

Floral Friday

Hello & Happy Friday.

I'm back today with two floral cards. I've been wanting to recreate a card I made HERE back in 2018 using the Kindness Blooms clear stamps, but with some different florals. 

First I need to restock my stash with vellum and then I just needed to get round to making the new versions. Which I set to doing today when I finally cleared off my desk! 

I couldn't decided between the geranium flowers in Beautiful and the modern floral of Beautiful Blooms II. So I ended up making two cards.

First up is the card using Beautiful Blooms II. 

For both cards I used the same technique of stamping the flowers in VersaFine clear ink and heat embossing with WOW Opaque White embossing powder. I then fussy cut the flowers out along the top and bottom of my panel, so the middle is still joined by vellum.

Once cut I then coloured the flowers on the reverse using alcohol markers. I chose to colour on the reverse for a couple of reasons. One so the alcohol marker doesn't stain the embossed white lines and secondly, it gives a softer muted feel to the colours. 

I finished the card off with the Happy Birthday from Floral Vines, adhered using foam tape and some Pebble enamel dots.

Here is the same card using Beautiful.

The only difference with this card is I switched out the blue for purple and added a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks III. Also I used Sunflower enamel dots.

I'd love to know which is your favourite card. Beautiful Blooms II or Beautiful?

Such a fun technique and I am already thinking of stamps I could use to give this a masculine twist! Hope you are having a lovely day.

Crafty Hugs

 

Pastel Clouds

Happy Thursday & Hello Summer! 

It's officially Summer here in the Northern Hemisphere and if you missed the announcement yesterday in the newsletter, I have put lots in the SALE section on the website until Saturday morning PLUS I have lowered FREE Worldwide Shipping to £35 or more! 

I'm finally back with a card to share and this one has been waiting since Sunday to be finished! But I think it was worth the wait.

I've been having a play with my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling machine and as I am a crafter by heart and love more than just the products I design, I couldn't wait to pair the Lawn Fawn Cloud Hot Foil Plate with our Stencil - Cloud 9.

As you can see I opted for pastel shades to ink the cloud background. I've then used an iridescent foil for the foiled clouds over the top. I thought it might be a bit busy, but I think they pair well together.

I finished the card off with a hot air balloon from Up & Away that I have heat embossed in silver. I tried a silver heat embossed sentiment from Floral Vines, but felt it got a little lost. So I opted for black instead. 

That's all from me today. If you've checked my stories on social media this evening, you will see how messy my desk is. So I had better make a start on tidying it a bit. 

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Originally Organic

Morning all, 

Steph here today and for this month’s Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration post I wanted to use something with a matching die so I chose Uniko Originally Organic stamp and die bundle. 

The main stamp in the set is so beautifully intricate and I thought it would be nice to team it with contrasting backgrounds using Uniko Background Blocks Diagonal Stripes, Horizontal Stripe and Rays. 

For each card I stamped, coloured and die cut the Originally Organic image and on a different piece of card I stamped the background block. I die cut the Originally Organic flourish from the background block and inlaid the coloured image before adding a sentiment. 

All three work really well with the background blocks. I think the last one is my favourite. 

While I was clearing up my desk I then realised that the ‘waste’ pieces cut from the backgrounds above looked really cool so I stamped them with the Originally Organic flourish. I didn’t feel the need to colour them as the had the colour from the BB stamp. I kept these cards very CAS, and happily made another three very quick cards.

A very productive craft session and I’m pleased I was able to make three more ‘bonus’ cards and not waste any papercraft bits!

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - I just want to squeeze you!

  Hello everyone!

Happy Wednesday!

Vinita here featuring a lemonade card with a foliage background and  Organically Zesty stamp set to brighten your day!

First I created a foliage background inking with Versafine Onyx black color and heat embossed quickly before drying it using Clear EP. Then slightly blend the crushed olive DO and for the leaves rustic wilderness DO. And added some water splatters and soak the water with a baby wipe.

I stamped a lemon image on a white sheet and colored it with Distress oxides. Fussy cut the image. Before adhering the background panel I distressed the edges all around using DO and the card base too. 

Added some splatters on the lemon image slightly. Then added the sentiment from the same set and popped up the image using double foam tape. 

Hope you are inspired by it!

Happy crafting!