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

Introducing… Mid Century Modern Christmas

Good morning and welcome to the second of the introduction days at Uniko. Today we focus on another Christmas one with a retro vibe.

My first card uses MCM Christmas to create this CAS design.

In keeping with the theme of a MCM, I kept to a retro colour scheme, stamping the tree with a pale ink and colouring with a selection of Copics. The trunk and star were added and the panel placed onto an A6 base card. The sentiment from Christmas Sentiments added with gold EP.

Check out what the rest of the team have made with the set and I'll be back tomorrow with another introduction.

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Color Hues #69

Good afternoon folks and Happy Yorkshire Day!!

As it's the first of the month there's also a new colour combo at Color Hues.

Here's my card for your inspiration using the new colours.

I found the perfect piece of DP in my stash, I've had it for simply ages, it combines both orange and teal, although it looks a tad green in the photo.

Orange is my best friend from Grammar School's favourite colour, so I think this will find it's way there before too long. It uses the Ai Live Laugh, Love set. I've used the other stamp from the set before but this is the first outing for this lady! She was coloured with Copics and fussy cut before adding to an embossed circle with pads. I found a small piece of Teal textured card in the stash too, just enough to frame the DP and sentiment

So where will you go with these new colours, we'd love to see your interpretations in our gallery.

For more inspiration check out the rest of the DT and our GD here.

Joining in over at:-

Introducing… Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder

Morning Uniko fans, happy Yorkshire Day and welcome to the first introduction of the new August release. It's all about Christmas with this release so time to get ahead with your Christmas makes with this new stash!

Today we are starting the ball rolling with the fab MCM Wreath Builder stamp set. Here is my first take on the new set.

I've combined the outline and solid wreath stamps for a funky take on a wreath along with a sprig of holly and a circular sentiment.

I stamped the outline wreath with Versamark on an A6 white base card and embossed with gold EP, then stamped the solid wreath to fill in the gaps, more or less. The sentiment was one of my go to ones made up from Doodle Flower and Christmas Sentiments elements. Die cut with a small circle die and mounted on a slightly larger gold mirror card one. A couple of the small holly leaves were stamped and fussy cut along with the small berry cluster and placed alongside the sentiment.

Here's another idea just using the solid wreath stamp.

This is my second go with this card but a couple of splodges sent the first spinning into the waste basket but I did learn from the experience! The second time I started, I stamped the berries first! I know it sounds counter intuitive but my red EP was semi transparent and the green inking showed through! This time I stamped out 5 sets of the small berries from the set in red and again in Versamark before heat embossing with clear. I repeated this step to ensure full coverage.

Then I took the solid wreath stamp and stamped with a mid green, Altenew's Bamboo, carefully removing the ink on the berries with a piece of kitchen paper. The stamp was repositioned and stamped again with Altenew's Moss ink, repeating with the kitchen towel. Finally I rotated the image again and stamped with Altenew's Bamboo and removing the excess ink.

The solid bow from the set was stamped with Versafine and embossed with gold EP and fussy cut. A little bit of shaping and then it was added to my wreath. The completed panel was cut using a die and added to square matching base card.

See what the rest of the team have done with this set and I'll see you back here tomorrow for more introductions. 

 Anita

Bev

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita