A Rainbow of Stars

Good morning and welcome to a post for the new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This time our theme is:-

STARS

Christmas or otherwise this is quite a broad theme. I had lots of ideas but I kept coming back to a card I remember by my old Uniko buddie Sarah, (Sazzle Dazzle). It also appealed to me because I knew a certain grandson would love it too!

I chose a rainbow of inks from my Altenew selection and went ahead to stamp the large stars onto a panel of A6 white card, infilling the gaps with a few smaller stars in black, all the stars are from Uniko's Background Builder Seeing Stars stamp set.  Once I had covered enough of the panel, I stamped a Wplus9 happy and fussy cut it out. I do have the die cut but it isn't the same as the stamp and anyway I wanted a white border around the text. The birthday from the same Wplus9 set was stamped on a scrap of red and embossed with white EP. All the elements of the sentiment were then added to my panel with foam tape.

So where will you go with this new theme? Just keep it suitable for a male and you've cracked it but if you need more inspiration check out the rest of the team here.

Joining in over at:-

Wk 746 Masculine

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Morning all. 

I'm up over at Uniko with a little bit of Christmas card inspiration using the Season Of Beauty stamp set.

All the details are on the Uniko blog here.

Color Hues #72 - Lindsey's Legacy Hop

Hi and welcome a day early for the new challenge from Color Hues.

Today, we have a very special challenge, in conjunction with our normal colour duo, the Color Hues design team along with a few guests, from our sister challenge Seize the Birthday, are participating in a blog hop! 

Collectively as a team, we are hopping in memory of our dear friend, fellow card maker, and design team member, Lindsey Martin-Penny, who sadly passed away last year from a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer. 

 

The purpose of this hop will be to honor Lindsey, celebrate her life and all that she loved, as well as spread the word to raise funds for Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer Research.  

How can you help? You can find all the details and the start of the hop at Emily's blog here!

In honor of Lindsey, the team has created a variety of cards using her favorite color combo of Purple and Red.

Here's my card.

This image is another blast from the past that I'd forgotten all about until I went looking for something completely different the other day! It's a Lili of the Valley stamp called Millie Just for you. 

After colouring with Copics and fussy cutting, I created a frame using a die from MFT and added some embossed white to the background. Originally I was going to use some flowery DP that matched the flower for the background but decided I needed something a little plainer so opted for this panel of purple card from my stash and a Uniko sentiment embossed in white EP.

The next stop on the hop is Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.  Please be sure to leave a comment at each of the stops where you can learn more about Lindsey’s life, her loves and her legacy.

If you get lost along the way, please return to Emily Leiphart’s blog for the hop list and details. 

So where will you go with these new colours? We'd love it if you joined us here but equally we'd really love it if you joined in Lindsey's Legacy Hop.

Can't be late!

Good morning all.

I'm here to share my card for the last of my GD stint at Sparkles. This month our theme is:-

ALICE in WONDERLAND

Here's my card featuring the White Rabbit.

I've had this image from a colouring book in my stash for a few years, he was perfect for this challenge.

Coloured him with Copics, using a Googled image as a guide and fussy cut him out. I knew I had a sentiment in my stash that would be just right and stamped it onto a tag I'd cut from some scrap card that matched my base card, it came free with a mag a few years ago. 

The layout was down to a You Tube watch from Penny Black, always happy to find some good sketches, think this will be quite a useful one. Using an A6 panel of card I used for the base, I die cut the circle using a MFT die and glued the frame part of it back into the opening and secured with tape. On another scrap of card, I embossed some watches using a Tri Boss EF and glued it to my base card. Some jute twine was wrapped around the edge and the sentiment tag added along with a matching bow. The front panel was then added on pads,then the White Rabbit.

So how will you interpret the theme, we'd love to see your takes in the gallery. 

For more inspiration, check out the rest of the DT here.

Prim Poppy

Morning all.

The weeks are steaming by and it's time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Guyz where our theme this week is:-

POPPIES and/or REMEMBERENCE

I love poppies and this year the wild ones have run amuck in my flower beds at the back of the house, but I don't care!! They did strangle a few of the plants early on, but I was firm and yanked them out after flowering but despite this they are still showing red in and amongst the summer blooms. They've even managed to bloom through the long grass at the edge of the plot and much to my OH's dismay are making in roads on the hayfield! So here is my take.

I wanted to capture the full exuberance of the mass blooms of earlier in the year so I used a mix of coloured die cuts and die cut stamping for my panel. 

Using my neglected MB Prim Poppy die, I cut a few from MM paper and coloured them with Zig water colour markers. To create the softer background ones, I spritzed a panel of the same MM paper and laid the inked poppies onto it and pressed down. Carefully removing the die cuts, I placed them to one side as I was going to use them again. The background was soft and runny where there was more water and dry and patchy where it was dryer, so I went ink with my watercolour brush to wet these areas and the colour did it's thing! 

When dry, I cut a panel the same size as my frame from it and placed the now dry die cuts over the top. I did add some more colour to some of the die cuts to give a little bit of shadow and depth. Once firmly attached, I added my MFT stitched frame and then the whole panel was added to a matching base card with foam pads. The sentiment was left off as it was rather a busy panel and didn't want to detract from the image.

So where will you go with this theme? We'd love to see your masculine takes in our gallery and if you need more inspiration, why not check out the rest of the DT here.

Joining in over at:-

No stencil option for me

Happy Birthday To You

Evening all. As it's the start of a new month it's a busy time her on the blog and today sees the start of a new challenge from HLS Birthday where our theme is always:-

ANYTHING GOES

After a couple of kids birthday cards for my DT inspiration, I 've gone for a more feminine card that I made for the wonderful Loll, Stamping with Loll, for her birthday back in June.

This card uses a stencil from Altenew called Greenwood Flowers, no idea why as they remind me of anemones. A few of the stencils from Altenew have matching EFs but as far as I know this doesn't so I decided to make my own . I traced the outline of the blooms and leaves and cut them out three times from scrap card. I then layered them up and adhered them to a piece of copy paper before running it through my Big Shot with a piece of white card. The flowers and leaves were then stencilled over the raised areas, finally cutting the panel with a stitched rectangle die and stamped the Uniko sentiment.

Rather than put it square on my base card, I angled it and to ensure the embossed areas didn't collapse in the post, used foam tape behind those areas. A few PPP sequins complete.

So why not join us this month with your birthday creations, but if you need more inspiration be sure to check out the rest of the DT here.

Joining in over at:-

#268

Color Hues #71

Afternoon and as it's the 1st of the month we have a new colour combo at Color Hues. Here's my take on this new duo.

When I first saw this duo I had to reach for this cute LOTV image, Halloween.

After stamping and colouring with Copics, I fussy cut it and put it to one side while I got the background done. This took a little time, for over a week the image was sat on my desk with inspiration missing! Eventually I found some NitWits DP and printed off a sheet. My printer is not behaving and the end result was paler that it should have been, so I took my Wilted Violet DI and inked over the top. Where there were white dots on the DP, they went darker for some reason, the DI must have reacted with the printer ink., but I do like the effect. 

So I printed off a sentiment from my computer and die cut it to make a background panel for my image to sit on, adding some lines to ground the image. The image was added with pads and the panel to the DP with them too. My DP was then added to an A6 side fold note card.

It all came together in the end. For more colour inspiration, check out what the rest of the DT have come up with here, they why not add your creation to the gallery?

Joining in over at:-

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Morning all, did you have a fab BH weekend? We had a rather busy one, the whole family came for a visit, 3 grandkids plus parents! We just about got everyone around the table. The two smallest played well together, despite their 4 year age gap and even the teen got involved with running after the toddler!

Anyway, after they'd all gone home I was able to get in my craft room aka spare room, toys can wait to be tidied up or the OH might take pity on me, and came up with a couple of cards. Here is the first, which is my homage to a Jennifer McGuire technique I saw on You Tube. She had lots of ideas using a turnabout jig and the ones using sentiments sparked an idea. Here is my take using some Uniko goodies.

I don't have the Gina K jig but I made mine from some stiff cardboard and a large square die. I think I found a clip on You Tube many moons ago! Usually you use a square panel but in the You Tube post, Jennifer showed how to use the jig with rectangular panels. All the details are here.

For my background I used a selection of birthday themed stamps stamped with Salvaged Patina DOx and the English Country Garden butterfly and die from Uniko. The butterfly was stamped on one die cut and coloured with Copics, then two further die cuts from matching white card were folded in half and glued behind each wing, the crease going down the middle of the butterfly. These die cuts were then glued to my sentiment panel and allows the butterfly to pop up from the card but lay flat for posting!

Check out the Uniko blog for another idea using the same theme.

 Joining in over at:-

Butterflies

Beach Scene

Good morning. I can't believe a whole fortnight has gone by but as it's time for another challenge at Cardz4Guyz it must have! This time our theme is:-

GOING TO THE BEACH

Now as I said above this sort of caught me on the hop and in order to get something out on time I had a root through my coloured but not used box and came across a beach scene. I must have coloured it many years ago as it was on the wrong side of some glossy photo paper, so well before I found the fab local Alexander paper supplies for their premium white card, perfect for using with Copic markers. It looked just the thing for a masculine beach card and made this card from a section.

 

Not sure where the image came from as its so long ago, looks a little like a Micheal Powell image from Do Craft but not sure as I don't have that stamp, must have stamped it whilst at a get together with friends before we moved down here over 10 years ago. I'd left the sky un coloured and the sea was a little flat, so a little bit of colouring and a bit of white gel pen for the water and there you have it.

After trimming the panel down I added a simple Uniko greeting and made a frame with small strips of the same blue card. It was only a scrap of card, so I had to cut thin strips and glued them around my image, mitering the corners. A great idea when you've found the right colour but you've not got enough of it for matting!

For more masculine card ideas, please check out the rest of the DT here and then why not join us in the gallery.

Color Hues #70

Good afternoon, as we are mid way through the month of August, it's time for a new colour combo at Color Hues. Stef has chosen a fab sunny combination for you, here's my take.

Over at The Flower Challenge their theme this month is spots and or stripes, so I went with stripes, creating this floating panel. Sad to hear that Aileen and Viv are stepping down but pleased that Karren J

has stepped in to keep the challenge running. Thanks for all your hard work.

 I chose a few scraps of red and yellow card from my stash that gave me a gradient of colour tone and cut some strips from them. Each of the 4 strips for each colour is slightly different but the photo doesn't really show it! They were arranged into a sunrise pattern and attached to some acetate before cutting with a circle die.

From a scrap of white card, I die cut Memory Box's Wildflower corner and glued it over the acetate panel. A simple white heat embossed sentiment on black was added, Uniko and the whole panel added to a white base card on pads.

So how will these new colours inspire you? We'd love to see your takes in our gallery. For more inspiration check out the rest of the team and our GD here.

Joining in over at:-

Guesting at Sparkles

Morning, I'm guesting over at the Sparkles challenge today where their theme is:-

TROPICAL and/or BEACH

Here's my take, more beach but with a hint of tropical!

I used this Stampingbella Uptown girl Sandy has a Sombrero and a Uniko sentiment.

I was going to use her for one of my Color Hues posts but went with another image altogether! So she's been languishing my coloured but not used box on my desk and I thought she fit perfectly with the theme and after seeing the photo montage at Stamping Sensations the sombrero matched with the floppy hat of the dog not to mention the beach scene!!

The background was coloured using Copic markers after following a YouTube video by Elaineabella here and placed the already fussy cut Sandy over the top. It looks like the sand is rather hot as she's walking on her tiptoes, a bit like Margot Robbie in the Barbie Movie!

My background was added to a base card then two panels of white were added on top, followed by Sandy with her sombrero. The sentiment was stamped and that was it!

So for more info and inspiration, please check out the rest of the team here, then why not join in?

Joining in over at:-

Holidays

When Words Fail Music Speaks

Good morning. 

Have you grown web feet yet? With all the rain that's been coming down here this past week I wouldn't be at all surprised! Anyway today sees the start of a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz and we have the theme of:-

MUSIC

I had a good old root through my stamps and found a Visible Image set from my first ever trip to Port Sunlight a good few years ago now and I still hadn't used it! So here is the first outing for Music Speaks, which is actually not the same set that is currently available, you get an extra stamp and sentiment now! 

On a panel of white card, I stamped the guitar and combined sentiment with Memento Black Onyx and heat embossed with clear EP. It's much better than black EP I've found, you don't get the little specs of stray EP that even though you blast it with anti static powder, still find their way onto your work!!

Using some Memento Gray Flannel ink, I stamped the acoustic waves and then a rainbow of DI splotches, using an old STAMPlorations stamp, rotating and over lapping with each colour I used.

Simples, but if this isn't your bag, why not check out the rest of the team here for more masculine, music themed inspiration.

Joining in over at:-

 

AG

Masculine

no option

Uniko Release Day, Blog Hop and Giveaway

Good morning and welcome to release day at Uniko. Grab a coffee and join us for our blog hop. We're all really excited to share these new products with you and they are now officially available to purchase over HERE on the website. 

First up we have 3 new clear stamp sets to add to the popular Mid Century Modern collection. 

This first set is a large A5 clear stamp, Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder, features a fun wreath in both solid and outline, a mix of sentiments and a variety of bows, berries and holly leaf accents.

Here's an idea using this set.

This design uses the solid wreath stamped 3 times with a variety of greens, rotated to give a fuller look. A few red crystal gems and some glittery gold ribbon and gold embossed sentiment complete.

Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder £16

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Next is a mini clear stamp set featuring a larger version of the 'Merry Christmas' from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder, along with a fun geometric Christmas tree and accents.

Black cats seem to feature large in some MCM images I've seen, so I decided to pair the set with the MCM Purrfect Day.

The tree and presents were stamped with a pale ink and coloured with pencil crayon before adding gold trim to the parcels and red lights to the tree with sparkly gel pens. The star was simply stamped in yellow and the cat sports a jaunty freehand festive bow, fussy cut from a scrap.

Mid Century Modern Christmas £6

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Finally in the Mid Century Modern line up is Mid Century Modern Baubles. This clear stamp set features 3 bauble shapes and a variety of building accents to create beautiful festive hanging baubles, plus a variety of mix and match sentiments in the same font as sentiments from Mid Century Modern Frames.

Mid Century Modern Wreath Baubles £16

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

For this slimline card, I've used a soft palette to colour the baubles and WOW Platinum Sparkle EP for the decoration. I wanted the look of an old card, such as one's I remember. The outlines were stamped with a pale ink before I coloured using Copics. The round bauble is in fact the  large oval stamp that I formed into a circle on my Misti and a freehand neck! Once I'd coloured the shapes, I added detail with an embossing pen and added the WOW EP. The hangers were added, minus the loop and more Platinum Sparkle EP. Once fussy cut, I arranged them onto a slimline base made from off-white card, adding the strings and some background detail with more EP. Finally the sentiment was stamped at an angle and embossed with plain WOW Platinum EP.

All these new Mid Century Modern clear stamp sets are designed to give a wealth of creative options on their own but also pair beautifully with any of the previously released Mid Century Modern products for even more, such as the cat on the first card . 

Next is an Art Deco inspired product and a new Background Block, Arts Decoratifs Christmas. Again, so much creative potential using it on it's own, it also pairs beautifully with our previously released products in this range.

Background Blocks - Arts Decoratifs Christmas £6

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

This Background Block reminded me of a stained glass window, so I made this. I apologise for the poor picture quality but the light kept reflecting off the glossy surface!

I stamped the block with black ink then embossed with clear EP. I repeated the process a few times using Versamark and more clear EP to build up the cell walls before I added some colour with Zig watercolour markers and then Glossy Accents. I think I need a new bottle as it's getting a bit claggy, but you get the overall effect.

My sentiment banner is a mix of the new Everyday Family and Christmas Sentiments stamped in black.

Check out the rest of the team to see what ideas they've come up with, see you back tomorrow for the final intro before release day on Sunday.

Last, but by no means least for the clear stamps is a new addition to the Everyday Sentiment series. 

These pair beautifully with Everyday Sentiments, Everyday Love Sentiments, Everyday Spring Sentiments, Christmas Sentiments, and the sentiments from Floral Vines. Bev has tried to cover as many spelling variations from around the world and personal preferences that she could fit into an A6 clear stamp set! 

Everyday Family £11

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

And finally the last product is a new stencil with a fun new feature, Ink & Flip! This design when inked and flipped creates a fun geometric Christmas star, but as some of the other Brand Ambassadors have shown, it has more creative options. 

Ink & Flip Stencil - Christmas Star £4.25 

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Who says a stencil is just for Christmas?! 

Here I've used a rainbow of colours to make the star and made my sentiment up using a variety of sets, including Sunshine and Rainbows and Birthday Sentiments. I trimmed down my inked panel and mounted it on an A6 black note card, I think the colours stand out better against the black background.

Now we have the formal introductions done, let's see what Bev and the rest of the BAs have made with them. Be sure to leave some comment love either on their blogs or social media as Bev will be randomly selecting a winner from comments to win the entire release announcing the winner on Saturday 19th August 2023.

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

We hope you have enjoyed this release, happy shopping and we hope to see you over on Facebook at 7pm this evening where Bev will be taking a look at the new products, along with making a couple of cards in the live. Don't worry if you can't make it or you don't do Facebook, she'll be saving and uploading the video to YouTube. 

Introducing… Mid Century Modern Baubles

Good morning and welcome to the final day of introductions for the Uniko August release.

Today we are focusing on another Mid Century themed set - MCM Baubles. 

Being old enough to remember the fifties for real, these bauble stamps that Bev has designed really evoke the thrill of getting the tree out of the loft and unwrapping the fragile glass ornaments from their protective tissue paper wrappings!

Here's one idea for using them.

The baubles were always shiny and covered with glitter that went absolutely everywhere!! I've not gone crazy with this take, just a little bit of silver EP and a sparkly marker pen!

The baubles were stamped onto MM paper with black ink then embossed with clear EP before water colouring them. A few marks from a white gel pen adds a bit of shine and the detail on the baubles was added with a sparkly gel pen, except the larger bauble's center which I drew with a WOW embossing pen and heat embossed with silver EP. I fussy cut them and added them to a panel of off white card that I'd previously stamped the branch from Winter Foliage a few times with a couple of green DIs and allowed to bleed into a damp background.

Here are some vintage baubles that inspired me.

They are just as I remember them!

Check out the rest of the BAs to see what they've been doing with this new set and come back here tomorrow for the big release day and a chance to win the whole release.

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Introducing… Background Block Art Deco Christmas and Everyday Family

Morning and welcome to another introduction for the latest release at Uniko. Today we are focusing on the Art Deco inspired Christmas block and the add on stamp set of sentiments that will enable you where ever you live in the world to personalise your sentiments.

The Art Deco Christmas Block reminds me of stained glass windows, so here I've tried the cheats version of a stained glass panel.

The block was stamped onto card, then coloured with Zig Markers. The whole panel was then covered in Versamark and clear EP added and heated. This was repeated a couple of times to get the coverage before I went in again and stamped the block in black and heat embossed with clear EP.

Once dry, I trimmed it down and finished the edges with a blue black Copic marker and mounted it onto a black base card. The sentiment from Christmas Sentiments was added on a matching strip of black, after embossing with silver EP.

This next card is based on a card I made many years ago when I first started card making.

I stamped a scrap of dark red card with a selection of stamps including the new Everyday Family, the ones referring particularly to Dad and embossed with gold EP. 

On some scrap white card, I stamped a pattern using the tree from MCM Christmas in red and green. After cutting out an isosceles triangle from the stamped card, I then cut across it to make 6 panels.

To assemble, I added the sentiments to a white base card and added a strip of gold linen textured card, then the cut up tree on pads. A fussy cut pot and punched star from some ancient green holographic card in my stash, were added to complete.

So what do you think? Why not check out the other BAs for even more inspiration. See you back same time tomorrow for the final into.

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Introducing… Ink & Flip Stencil Christmas Star

Morning all, time for a look at the stencil in this weeks introductions over at Uniko.

Here's an idea I came up with.

When you first open it up the stencil is nothing special BUT flip and turn it and you can create this fab star focal point.

This panel was inked once with Salty Ocean DI and then the stencil wiped and flipped over and inked again to reveal the white star in the center! I jazzed the outline up using some of the stamps from Stunning Snowflakes set with more DI and added another circular sentiment made from Doodle Flower and Christmas Sentiments. Think I went a little mad with the snowflake/star confetti!

Check out what the rest of the team have be up to here and I'll see you back here tomorrow for another introduction!

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Another card for a Grandson

Evening folks, it's been a busy beginning to the month of August here in the craftroom and now it's time for a new challenge at HLS Birthday where its always -

ANYTHING GOES

Last month I had one card for a Grandson and here is another!

I used a layout I'd seen online but this cute image, Computer Fun from LOTV. Image stamped and coloured with Copics before being fussy cut out, but I cut out an advert for Fortnight and placed it over the original image to personalize the card a bit more. The DP is from a NitWits/LOTV pad I have had for years and have tried to eek out, sentiments are LOTV also.

For more inspiration check out the team here and then why not join in?

Joining in over at:-

Down the middle, green/die cuts and masculine