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.

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways - Day 2

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome back to day 2 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. 

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

As you can see, it's not all about Christmas over the next 12 days. Today is all about the florals. So much time has passed since I inked up this beauty, Pure Florals Rose. 

This set is perfect for Valentines, Anniversary, Weddings and more. Today I went for a general love themed card. I used a heart mask and stamped the Background Block Horizontal Stripes to stamp inside. I wanted the heart to be a little more defined, so I drew round the inside of the mask with a fine liner.

The Pure Florals Rose clear stamp set has a two step stamp option which I have used on my card today. I used the smaller full bloom. It's hard to see in the photos, but I have applied some darker red shading to the middle of the rose.

So today's giveaway* is...

Pure Florals Rose

Background Blocks Horizontal Stripe

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.

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways - Day 1

 

Happy Merry Monday!

I hope you're all safe & well. Today I am kicking off with some fun as we countdown to Christmas Day with 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways. 

We've had another year of uncertainty, much sadness, loneliness and more. There is an air of uncertainty with Covid restrictions as we approach Christmas Day and I thought it would be nice to share some crafty kindness with you all and spread some much needed Christmas Cheer.

Each day I will share some inspiration using something from the prize for the day before I share what the giveaway is. Simply leave a comment on any or all of the places I share that days giveaway on social media.

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

As you can see I have used the popular Pattern Building Christmas Tree clear stamps for my card today. I stamped the building strips in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed with my favourite Stardust embossing powder.

After adhering my stamped and embossed panel to my kraft card stock base I went in and added some colourful Nuvo drops. 

That's one more card to add to my pile to write & send out this week. Yes, I'm still sending them, running late as usual!

So today's giveaway* is...

Pattern Building Christmas Tree

Background Builders Winter Wonderland 

Christmas Sentiments

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.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, One Stamp Set, Two Techniques

 Good morning, Julie here with a couple of festive makes. I've used the gorgeous Season of Beauty stamp set and two different techniques to get two completely different looks.

The first is simply a stamped all over design using the large solid and smaller detail poinsettia stamps and the smallest leaf stamp to create a crisp result.

After stamping the poinsettias, including the detail layer, I added some green bracts using Altenew's Moss ink with the smallest of the leaf stamps. I went in again to stamp the paler colour with the wrong side of the stamp and Altenew's Olive ink. The tiny flowers in the centers were stamped with Altenew's Maple Yellow.

My sentiment panel was cut from vellum and stamped with the large, bold, Christmas from Christmas Sentiments and the smaller banners with elements from Christmas Wishes, in matching red ink. I used the back of these banners and the solid sections of embossing to add my vellum with liquid glue.

My second card uses the exact same stamped elements, except the detail layer for the poinsettia, but using the water colour marker on stamps, to give a softer feel.

The technique is quite easy, especially if you have a MISTI. On a panel of hot pressed watercolour card, I inked up the main image and then stamped the first image. I then painted over the stamped image with clean water, reinked the stamp with a darker marker and stamped again. The water makes the ink blend with the lower layer but in a random way. It's not a technique for you if you like to be in full control of the outcome!! The process was repeated over the panel and then with the green bracts, using the same stamps as the card above but adding the solid stamp first and water to blend the colour before adding the detail.

 When dry, the flower centers were added with yellow ink and some yellow ochre shadows added with the tip of a Zig Marker. I then used a dark, red, fine liner to add veins to the the red bracts freehand.

This time I used the same sentiment stamps but was a little braver with the smaller ones, adding them with gold EP. Some gold, twinkling thread was added behind the vellum panel which I glued down using the sentiment to hide the glue.

It just goes to show that you can get such a different look just by changing the technique used. I hope you agree, this stamp set is so versatile!

That's all from me until the New Year, so I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and we can look forward to a happy and healthy 2022.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Birthday Wishes

 Hi all!

It's Jane here today with a trio of easy make birthday cards. I thought it would be good to give the Christmas makes a bit of a break and remember that there are birthdays in December!

All three cards follow the same design with the stencil place off the top of the card. The sentiments are all from Birthday Wishes.

The first card uses Flower Power #1 stencil and worn lipstick and dried marigold distress oxide inks.

I used the Flower Power #8 stencil and seedless preserves and picked raspberry distress oxide ink for the second card.

And for my final card I switched up the florals to a more masculine stencil Seeing Stars - I needed this card for one of my sons who has a late almost bumping into Christmas birthday. The inks are distress oxide peacock feathers and cracked pistachio.

Thanks so much for looking today, I hope you like this idea for birthday cards in a hurry.

Stay safe, have a lovely Christmas and keep crafting!

Jane

x

Uniko Challenge Reminder #68 - Celebrate + optional twist Reds & Greens

  Hey!

The Uniko Brand Ambassadors are here today to remind you about the November/December Uniko Challenge 2021 Uniko challenge. 

Challenge Guidelines:

* You can use any products/stamps to enter the challenge, but we do LOVE to see you use your Uniko products. Plus, there is an extra chance to win a prize if you do ;)

* Email entries welcome, just email a photo of your card to bev@uniko.co.uk and I will add it to the Uniko Flickr gallery and link up!

* Share the challenge graphic in your post and link back to the challenge if possible ;)

We're delighted to welcome back Vicky as our Guest Designer and she has cleverly remembered that New Year is also an upcoming celebration.

How beautiful is her card featuring Floral Vines! I really hope you have time to pop over to her blog and leave her a lovely comment - HERE.

Now let's take a look at how the Uniko Brand Ambassadors have been inspired by this challenge.

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Rahmat

Steph

Wiebke

Now, if you need more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

THE PRIZES

Main Winner Chosen By The Brand Ambassadors - £15 eGift Certificate

Random Twist Winner - £5 eGift Certificate

Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £5 eGift Certificate

Top 3 Chosen By The Brand Ambassadors - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

There is plenty of time to join and play along with this challenge.

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 31st December 2021.

Crafty Hugs

Hello December & A Winner!

How did we get to the final month of the year? 

I really don't know where November went, but one thing I am determined to see 2021 out with some festive fun, so you're really going to want to stick around and check in 😉 regularly! 

So I am starting the day off with some festive creativity and a belated winner as I simply forgot to announce it, so my apologies 🙈

First up I have two cards to share using the prize going to one lucky person at the end of the post...

My first card I wanted to pair the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Shapes with Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake. I think they have paired together pretty well, especially with this icy aqua colour combo.

I used three shades of Altenew Sweet Dreams ink collection , Dew Drops, Aqualicious and Teal Cave. I added some sparkle to the snowflake and a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

As we've officially begun the countdown to Christmas I decided to put a festive spin on the Flower Power #5 stencil...

My idea is it represents a modern interpretation of a white Christmas rose. I used white pigment ink through the stencil and once dried I added yellow ink to the centre. 

I then decided to add a sheen with embossing through the stencil with VersaMark & WOW Glossy Clear embossing powder. I then added a simple sentiment from Christmas Sentiments.

Okay, so that's my creativity for today. How about we get to that winner...? 

With the help of Random.org the lucky comment left on the post HERE is...

D.L. Walls4 November 2021 at 18:57

Wow, these are gorgeous stencils and very unique!

Congratulations 🎉 please send me an email with your postal address no later than Friday 17th December 2021 to claim your prize. 

Thank you to all those who left comments and joined in on the fun. Don't worry, there is SO much more fun to be had this month :)😊

Crafty Hugs