Introducing Bauhaus Blocks Stamp set

Morning, it's day 2 of the intros for the May release from Uniko. 

Today I've gone all Piet Mondrian using the new Bauhaus Blocks stamp set for my first card.

There are 5 blocks and 4 sentiments in the set but I only used one of the blocks for this as well as the square stamp from Background Builders Squared. I played around with the one stamp, rotating and stamping in black on white before adding the squares in primary colours. To get a rectangle or smaller square, I just masked off an area with tape before stamping. The sentiment was already in my sentiment jar and fit the space perfectly.

Each square was cut out and mounted onto a panel of black card to create a thin border, then the whole was added to a base card on pads.

This is a quick make using another of the square blocks.

This time, I stamped the block onto some card with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP, then

using 3 Zig watercolour markers, I filled in the shapes. When dry the finished panel was die cut, attached to an A6 textured off white base card and the sentiment from Simply Said stamped with Altenew's Ultra Violet, then heat embossed with clear EP.

Bev and the rest of the BAs have more fab ideas over on the blog here if you've missed them.

See you back here tomorrow for the final introduction.

A layered birthday card

Good morning folks, back again, this time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Guyz! 

Our new theme is:-

LOTS OF LAYERS (more than 3)

Now as many of you will know, I'm not one who slathers on the layers but for this I've tried really hard!

This is what I finally made, after a little hiccup.

The layout is one I used years ago at a card class, different dies and EF but essentially the same. My first attempt was fine but when I counted up the layers I wasn't sure there were enough, so after a rethink, here's my second attempt. This time I think I've definitely got more than 3! DP, embossed sentiment panel, shaped white panel, yellow frame, grass and finally the little chap.

I'm still determined to use up some of my bits n bobs. The printer is still playing up, so I decided to use some of my myriad of scraps of DP and I have a box full of stamped and printed images in another. This image is one from Molly Bloom, no longer trading I believe, which has been in the box for far too long and the DP is an equally old scrap!

To assemble, I made a 5" square base card from some white card, cut a panel of NitWits DP from the scrap to leave a slight border. A panel of the same white card was embossed with the Cuttlebug EF and glued onto the DP. The die I used for the white panel is one of the first I bought, no idea of make, cut out from white card then cut out a circle from the center. The yellow frame was made from white card and two circle dies, coloured with Copic marker and glued around the aperture. Using the same die as the white panel, I cut a scrap of white card and then used an old MS punch to create some grass which I coloured with a selection of green Copic markers and glued down. Finally the little chap was coloured with more Copics, fussy cut and added to the bottom of the white panel. The finished panel was then added over the 2 base layers on pads.

So what will you make, we'd love to see your masculine creations in our gallery this time. For more masculine inspiration, check out the rest of the team here.

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Make it Square

Introducing Flower Power #4 Stencil

Good morning, I'm here with the first of the introductions for the May Uniko release. Today we are showcasing the new Flower Power #5 stencil.

It's another in Bev's large flower series that coordinates with the Flower Power #5 stamp set. 

Here's what I made with this fab new stencil.

To begin, I took a Post it note and traced one of the heart shapes that make up the stencil with a fine tip marker and cut away the middle to make a mask. Then I placed my white panel under the stencil and placed the mask over the section I wanted to ink through. for this card I used a rainbow of DI colours, Seedless Preserve, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers and Wilted Violet. The mask allowed me to ink just one section at a time, moving it to the next section after each inking. As the areas overlap, I ended up with a blended rainbow. 

When I'd finished the first layer there was still quite a lot of white showing, so I repeated the inking and masking but placed the masked area of the stencil further from the center of the initial pattern and repeated for each panel. Once completed, I trimmed it down to leave a small border on an A6 base card and die cut the middle out with a circle die. This central disc, I then cut again using a slightly smaller die. My cut down panel was added to a black A6 card base and the now smaller circle replaced in the center leaving a thin black border of base card showing through. I decided to mount my sentiment, Doodled Flowers, on another black circle and a few sequins from the stash complete.

I'll be back tomorrow with another introduction, see you then! Don't forget to check out what the rest of the team have come up with here.

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wk 730 - Use a stencil

Uniko May June Release Sneak Peeks

Good morning, hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday here in the UK. For once the weather is behaving, but I could do with a little rain for the garden!

This week there is a new release coming from Uniko, here are a few sneak peeks to whet your appetites!

  

There's definitely a retro vibe with this collection, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out more in the first of the reveals!

All the products will be available 9am Friday 2nd June 2023. 

See you back here tomorrow at 9 am BST!

Teenie Townie

 Afternoon all. Just popping by to share a card made for a few challenges out there and using up my scraps! It's a special challenge at Passion for Markers, they're celebrating 14 years, there's a fab colour combo at Color Throwdown and CAS on Friday are into embossing! Here's what I came up with.

I'm not sure which Stampingbella Teenie Townie this is as it was stamped a long time ago and has been unloved in my bits box waiting to be coloured, hasn't been much call for little girl cards of late but as my Grandson's diary is full of birthday parties, his mum requested a few girly ones to add to the boy themed one's I usually make.

I am determined to use up my scraps, so the Nit Wits DP is left over from another girly card here, and as the colours at Color Throwdown include pink I hope it fits the bill, The kraft was left after a DT make for that didn't make the cut, the square panel was in the bits box, as was the card for the frame, embossed center panel and sentiment banner. The only new thing was the 5 x 5 white base card that you can't see!

The little girl was coloured with Copics to match the DP, fussy cut and mounted onto my square panel. The frame was coloured with one of the Copic markers used to colour her and the cut out circle was embossed with a basket weave EF. I did colour the leaves on the DP with a grey Copic to bring out the grey of the parcel before I layered it all up.

That's it then. It looks very like we will have a warm, sunny Bank Holiday here in the UK, not too hot but dry, most unusual! Enjoy your break if you've got one.

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                 #691 Special Anniversary AG                        Embossing                                   

Color Hues #64

Good afternoon peeps. 

We are halfway through the month so we have a new colour combo at Color Hues. Here's my take on the new colour combo.

It was my turn to choose the colours and I wanted to choose a pair that we hadn't had before, quite the task! Anyway I plumped for this pair.

I had in mind to make a card using another of the Uptown girls from Stampingbella but as I'd used one for the last challenge, I decided to use my NEBUS set from MFT, I Knead You.

I thought about the colours and realised that they reminded me of ginger toms, mice and goldfish, so this is what I ended up using here!

On a piece of Copic friendly card, I stamped the cat, mouse and fish, coloured with Copic markers and fussy cut out. The sentiment strip, the same as last month's but so appropriate, was stamped on slate grey and white heat embossed. 

To make the card, I added some dark grey, Lawn Fawn DP from the stash onto an A6 base card then added a panel of white to which I'd inked some Spiced Marmalade DI. The cat and his goodies, did you know all true ginger's are tom cats, were added to the strip before laying it across the panel to complete.

I hope you're inspired by my colours and hope to see your takes in the gallery at Color Hues. For more inspiration, please check out our GD and the rest of the DT on the Color Hues blog.

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Stripes

4 legged friends

#50

Peddling Along

Morning all.

We've got a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz and this month as it's National Bike month the theme is:-

Bi Peddle Wheels

I knew straight away which stamp I was going to use, one of my first LOTV stamps I ever bought, Harrogate Stamp fayre I think.

About the time I made this card, we had Fibre Broadband installed chez Beech, so the OH had been getting things ready, moving his office around, so the printer had been off limits. Still, his laser printer is not printing colour very well at the moment anyway, the end results are not true, washed out looking in fact. When he moved the old ink jet printer out in his clean up, I decided to put it in my craftroom and try that but I didn't have a driver for it. It's a good job I had a scrap of NitWits DP in my bits box that fit the bill without having to resort to printing some off!! 

As usual, I matched my colouring to match the DP, using Copic markers, fussy cutting the finished image and popping him up on pads over a die cut panel of linen effect white card. The sentiment from Uniko was stamped in black on the DP which I'd previously glued to my base card. A few of the lines I'd lost by fussy cutting were added and that was a wrap!

So where will you go with this theme, we'd love to see your masculine cards in our gallery.

For more inspiration why not check out the rest of the DT here.

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Add a sentiment

Monochrome Wedding Card

 Good afternoon. 

Just popping by to share a card for a couple of challenges.

JUGS theme this week is wedding and ATCAS is monochrome.

This card might not be quite as CAS as I would normally make, so hope it's acceptable.

It's a very simple card, a piece of textured off white card, stamped with Altenew's Beautiful Day outline flower and the solid leaves, masked as I went along to create this spray. My go to Congrats die cut in matching grey and an HLS sentiment on a banner were added and a few sequins added to complete. Simples!

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Stencil Sunday, Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Morning, I'm up over at Uniko with this card using Fun Flower Spray stencil and mask combined with Big n Bold happy stamp and die.

We had a bit of a disaster at home over the May Day Bank Holiday, our newly installed fibre optic broadband stuttered and finally failed. According to BT we had a signal to the unit but we needed a technician to visit, they should have it fixed by May 5th!!! Panic ensued as I thought about all my DT posts in the pipeline, a new month is a busy time for me and then, what do I do with all the free time?

So on Sunday, after doing as much housework as I wanted to do on a BH, I went to my room to have a play and ended up with this card.

Pop over to the Uniko blog for all the details.

Anyway as you can tell from this post, the man from Open Reach came, removed DUST from the optical connection, drank a cuppa and left, 30 mins max! Full high speed broadband resumed but the new phones are still pants! Apparently our hub is too far away from the phones for them to work on the WiFi, our old phone line was cut when they installed the fibre cable, not that they were great when it rained, damp in the line apparently. It certainly showed us how reliant we are on the internet these days, even watching TV was curtailed, no Prime or Netflix or iPlayer for us until service was resumed. When I turned on my computer, my inbox was full of rubbish that had accumulated whilst we were offline, stuff I usually delete when I turn it on in a morning!

So have a good rest of the Bank Holiday and get crafting!

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Anything Flowers Goes with Optional Mood Board #4

Happy Birthday Alex

Good evening.

Time for a brand new challenge at HLS Birthday where it's always Anything Goes!

A new month and the craftroom has been a busy place, however this card was made awhile ago for my Son's fiance, the lovely Alex but is perfect for this month's challenge inspiration.

I used Stampingbella's Ava loves to celebrate, colouring with Copics and fussy cutting out.

The DP is some NitWits my bestie gave me in one of her clear out moments, such a pretty feminine paper, perfect for this card.

As always, I took the colours from the DP to colour my image, the pink and dark turquoise work well together, the embossed panel was made using one of the first Cuttlebug EFs I bought when I first started card making. It's still one of my favourites, so feminine. To bring in more of the dark turquoise colour I used one of the Copic markers to colour some strips of card which I laid over the DP on a 5 x 7 base card, against the embossed panel. Ava was added on pads, a couple of die cut numbers and an old Uniko sentiment plus a few sequins complete.

For more birthday inspiration check out the rest of the team here.

Join in, why don't you, we'd love to see your birthday cards in our gallery.

Getting Messy with Brushos and a Stencil

Good morning, time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme is:-

GET MESSY

This theme was chosen by Sue and she would like us to use all those messy products such as inks, sprays, paints etc. Now how can a CAS loving gal cope with that? Well I decided to take inspiration from my blog buddy Loll who combines messy and CAS so well in her card making, with this take.

This is part of a panel I made awhile ago and didn't use, it was just sitting in my bits box for the right moment, made using a panel of MM paper, black Brusho and a TCW birches stencil. 

I know I said BLACK Brusho but that's the fun of using these inky crystals as they are made up of lots of different colours which are freed when water is added.

So to start I took my panel of MM paper, placed the stencil over the top and sprinkled some of the Brusho over before spritzing with water. You need to whip away the stencil pretty quickly before the excess water bleeds under the edges.

The top panel had a circle die cut from it and the stag, IO, was cut from matching scrap and another scrap of white card was torn to create the drift of snow. The sentiment, Uniko, was stamped in black onto a tiny strip of card. I trimmed my Brusho panel down to size and added it to my base card, added the snowdrift to my inky panel and the stag to the top panel before adding it on pads over the background. The sentiment strip was simply glued flat.

That's about it from me but there's lots more inspiration from the rest of the DT over on the Cardz4Guyz blog.

Why not take the opportunity to get messy with us this time, we'd love to see your takes in our gallery.

 

Color Hues #63

Good afternoon. The year is passing at pace and already we are in the month of May! That means there must be a new colour combination at Color Hues. This time Hannelie has chosen a really vibrant palette for you, here's my take.

For this card I used Stampingbella, Posh has a present, coloured with Copic markers and fussy cut. The colours are so vibrant I just kept the rest of the card simple with a scalloped frame popped up on some fun foam, on a white base card.

The Copics I used for the hot pink were ones I don't normally use, RV02,04,06 and RV17, the cyan ones are BG02, 04 and 09, again not used so often but I do like how they go together in this combination.

The sentiment, Uniko Pure Floral Cosmos, was in my bits pot and the blue of the card matches perfectly with the colours!

So where will these bold colours take you, so far you haven't disappointed with your interpretations over the last couple of years! If you are in need of some inspiration check out the rest of the girls and our GD over on the Color Hues page, then join in!

edit 3/5 Sorry I haven't been around in blogland but our newly installed fibre broadband stopped working at the weekend and so I couldn't finish my blog posts or visit anyone else's' either! well the tech man came this morning and found dust, yes dust on the optical cable!!!!!! Now we are up and running I'm playing catch up.

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Option - for the girls

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