Under the Bonnet

 Good morning and happy St Patrick's Day to those who celebrate it.

We have a new challenge for you from Cardz4Guyz where our theme this month is :-

LIGHT BLUE and BROWN

Here's my take after a bit of head scratching!!

I've known about the challenge for quite sometime and had lots of ideas buzzing in my head but I couldn't quite settle on just one, so this card was made a bit last minute! It nearly didn't get made at all as when I started to colour my LOTV digi image, my E57 Copic marker decided not to play. Perhaps I had neglected it and it had dried but all it did was leave a blotchy mark. So I abandoned it and went to watch the new Scarpeta on Amazon Prime. It's base on the books by Patricia Cornwell that I've read, about an ME in the USA, a bit gory and the stream played up, but overall I quite enjoyed it. Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis were great as Kay and sister Dorothy but Lucy, not what I had pictured in my mind's eye. Benton wasn't quite as suarve as I imagined but Marino is OK. Anyway, back to my card!

Coming back to the image the next day, I thought I could rescue it, waste not want not, and I think I have, adding some white gel pen to create a tweed cap which I then coloured over with a blue marker.

After finishing the rest of the colouring, I fussy cut it out, printed off some matching DP from NitWits and got ready to assemble.

Textured shaped panel on foam pads over DP onto a card base and a stamped Uniko sentiment, the image was also added on pads. 

There are a couple of other challenges around that are featuring blue and brown, so I will join in there too.

If you need more inspiration please check out the rest of the Cardz4Guyz team here. Looking forward to seeing your makes in our gallery.

Color Hues #129

Good afternoon. 

As we whizz through the month of March its time to start a new colour challenge at Color Hues.

This time Marcia has chosen a fun and cheery colour combination, here's my take.

First of all I thought of crocus with purple petals and rich yellow anthers as they were dancing in the longer grass in the garden but I couldn't use green for the leaves, so abandoned that choice and went for this Gorjuss image that was another from my to stamped but not colouired box. It's an old one I stamp sometime ago when an old friend was visiting for some crafty time. 

The girl was coloured with Copics and fussy cut. I usually have the light coming from one side or the other when colouring but this image had shadows already quite prominent to suggest front on light and so I went with that, not as much option for shadows that way though, but the hair was quite a large part of the image!

My background DP is from an old magazine and the white panel was an equally ancient EF that matched. Another elderly item was the purple ribbon on which I perched my girl. A couple of sentiment banners were stamped and added under the edge of the embossed panel, the layout an other oldie from Sketch Saturday (on pause).

That's about all from me but please check out the rest of the team and our GD here for more colourful  inspiration.

The first signs of spring in our fields, who doesn't love a cute lamb?! The mum's started coming home from the lambing sheds last week with their little ones.

Joining in over at:-

Uniko VIP FB Challenge - Spring

Good morning.

As it's the 11th March, there's a new challenge over on Uniko's VIP Facebook page.

This time our theme is:-

SPRING

So anything associated with that season, just use Uniko products as your main focus. Here's my take using approprately, Spring Botanicals -Primrose.

 

 

Over at the Paper Players their theme is Rainbow Colours and at AAA Colourful the pic reminds me of a rainbow too, so I thought I would use that as my starting point. I know it's not quite April yet, so we can't have April showers but there's always a chance of one with hopefully a rainbow afterwards! 

Using the newly released Layering Rainbow stencil, I created a blended one for my vellum polyanths to sit over. They come in so many different colours, they really do look like a rainbow when spread out on the garden center benches. The ones in my garden have been in bloom for a few weeks now, mainly the bluey purple and white ones as the birds like to pinch the more colourful petals from the pinks and reds!

I stamped Spring Botanicals- Primrose in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed with white EP before fussy cutting them out. On the reverse of the image I added some colour to the leaves and the flower centers with coloured pencils, arranging them over the rainbow, using the embossed lines to hide the glue. My sentiment is from Sping Botanicals - Tulip which I stamped in black.

That's all from me, but looking forward to seeing your makes in the gallery.

Joining in over at:-

 

Color Hues #128

Afternoon folks.

Where did February go? Well it's the first of the month so it's time for a new challenge from Color Hues. Here's my take on the new colour pairing.

 

I still had my Uniko layering rainbow stencil out on my desk when I sat down to make a card, so decided to use it in combination with this cheeky leprechaun that was lurking in the bottom of my finished colouring but 'what do I do with it now' box. I think, I had thought to use it for a card some time ago and then used something else. He's from a magazine, must be over 15 years ago now with a photocopiable page of 'magical' creatures. So I printed him off and coloured him with Copics and fussy cut him out. Getting the gold for his buttons and buckles was tricky, but there is a Copic called Lionet Gold, Y28, so used that and some paler ones from the sames group. 

The rainbow was inked using a selection of Altenew greens and the gold 'coins' are some very old Craftwork Cards card confetti, the sentiment is also from Uniko. Our Irish friend was then added on foam pads after I'd run a ball tool over him from the wrongside to give him some shape.

So that's it from me but please check out the rest of the team and our GDs Darnell and Donna here. Looking forward to seeing your makes in the gallery.

Joining in at:-

Birthday Release Day at Uniko

It's here, the February 2026 Birthday Release is finally available on the Uniko website HERE! 

Before you dash off to get your hands on the new stash, we're having a bit of reprise of all the release along with a Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!

But first, here are the details of all the items in the Birthday release and some more inspiration!

First up is Background Blocks Birthday Scramble,  a fun, instant, sentiment block, a partner to the Christmas themed one from last year. 

Background Blocks Birthday Scramble £6.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Here is a card using the new Layering Stencil, Retro Rainbow and Background Blocks My Favourite Colour is Rainbow.

Stencil - Layering Retro Rainbow £14.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Background Blocks My Favourite Colour Is Rainbow £6.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

For this card I used the stencil to create the rainbow, moving it slightly between layers to get the overlapping colours. The overlap isn't perfect but you get the idea of a more blended rainbow. Another fussy cut Cloud 9 stencil cloud hides any misalignments. The sentiment from the stamp set was simply stamped in black and the rainbow coloured appropriately with Copic markers.

Bev is very proud of her innovative Ink & Flip Stencils and this one going to be a firm favourite I'm sure. Retro Flowers is a two layer stencil. One for the flowers and one for the flower centers. They can be used together or individually for even more creative options.

 For this card I used some leftover fussy cut blooms from yesterdays card and a few scraps of card and a Gelli plate print made at Art group that went wrong. 

 

I just love the way the lime green Gelli pull shimmers, the acrylic paint I used must have had been pearlescent! I also used an new to me die set from The Greetery which cuts the pattern, mount AND base card. I'd seen Aryth Percy-Robb use this technique in one of her You Tube videos and as I only had a few blooms decided to try. I used 4 blooms in total, 2 cut up into halves and 1 into quarters and arranged them onto my green panel along with a fussy cut thanks from Simply Said Blocks. This was mounted onto one of my die cut white panels and then onto a slightly larger one, edged with some matching Picked Raspberry DI, finally adding the whole onto my die cut base card.

Stencil - Ink & Flip Layering Retro Flowers £8.00

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

So that wraps up this little Birthday release. We hope you love the products as much as we do, just to prove it, there's even more inspiration from the Brand Ambassadors on their own blogs and Insta accounts, just follow the links below

Be sure to comment along the way for your chance to win a £20 eGift Certificate to spend in store. Winner will be announced Monday 9th of February 2026.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie that's me

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

Happy Hopping!

Introducing - Ink n Flip Retro Flowers Stencil

Morning all.

It's the final day of introductions for the Birthday release from Uniko.

Today we are focusing on Ink n Flip Retro Flowers. As you know Bev has devised this fab stencil series and this one is from the all over pattern section. This is a two part stencil, one for the blooms and one for the centers.

Here are a couple of ideas I came up with.

This card uses the stencil to create an all over pattern on an A6 white card panel, by inking one side then flipping to complete each item. I used a couple of DIs, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry for the petals and Black Soot DI for the centers, just a lighter touch for the grey. 

A Doodle Flower sentiment, white on grey, matted on white and black completes.

This second cards starts with a similar panel but this time I fussy cut the blooms out. I first did it without a white border but prefered to have a white border this time.

I used the stem stamp from Flower Power #4 to stamp the leaves and stalk in Altenew's Bamboo ink. Before adding the fussy cut blooms, I die cut the stamped panel to create a curve, as well as a similar panel of black card.

The black panel was glued under the stamped panel to create a border and then added to an A6 white base card. The sentiment was added using Birthday Sentiments in black and Seedless Preserve DI to match the stencilling. 

So that's all from me for today but please check the rest of the team's blogs and Insta accounts to see what they've made!

Anita

Bev

Izzy

                    Julie -you're here

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

See you back here tomorrow for the full reveal and to take part in the Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!

Joining in over at:-

Introducing My favourite Colour is Rainbow Stamp set

Good morning.

It's day 3 of our intros for the new Uniko release. Today we are introducing a stamp set that goes oh so well with yesterday's Rainbow stencil, My Favourite Colour is Rainbow!

My first card is oh so simple, a panel of white card with half of the stencilled rainbow, without the extra layer and the sentiment from the stamp set simply stamped in black over the top.

No need to even colour in the sentiment, just let the colours of the rainbow show through! Love seeing a rainbow after the rain, so joyous! We very often see them across the fields at the back of our place, usually disappearing into a neighbours field!

Secondly is this card which I created with the small rainbow stamp in the set.

After stamping an A6 panel of white card, I coloured the rainbows with Copics in an assortment of colours, roughly matching the colours in the rainbow. I varied the colours to give a rainbow effect without slavishly colouring in the correct order. They look just like one of the rainbows in the Inkspirational visual promt so I'll be adding it over there.

On a panel of white card, I stamped the sentiment from Sunshine and Rainbows and then used Cloud 9 stencil to draw a fluffy cloud around it, then fussy cut it out. A little bit of Black Soot DI that was already on my brush was used to soften the edges. I used an ancient Sizzix daisy die, an old fashioned red one, to cut a medium daisy from white card, trimmed off the tips and coloured with Copic marker. This was then placed behind the cloud and any extra rays were removed before adding to the stamped and coloured rainbow panel.

So that's all from me but please check out the rest of the team's blogs and Instagram accounts, to see what they have been upto.

Anita

Bev

Izzy

                    Julie -you're here

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

I'm back tomorrow with the final intro of the week, see ya!

Joining in over at:-

 

 

Introducing Layering Rainbow Stencil

Morning all.

Day 2 of the intros for Uniko's new release. Today we focus on a layering stencil - Rainbow!

This is a set of 5 stencils that enables you to create a rainbow. 

Here's what I came up with.

I know I said 5 layers and there are 6 in this rainbow but let me explain. I merrily went about stencilling my brand new stencils and then realised I didn't have enough layers to create a full rainbow. I was going to leave it at that but it kept nigling me so a little bit of fussy cutting and a Post it note enabled me to add an extra layer to my rainbow. You can't see the slightly wobbly bottom because it's hidden behind the clouds!

I created those by sketching the outline using the Cloud 9 stencil and fussy cut them out. My sentiment from Birthday Sentiments was stamped in black Memento ink.

Next is another of my extra layer additions. I'd got better by the time I did this one so you can see the whole extra layer. 

More of the Cloud 9 stencil, this time as intended with Salty Ocean DI over a die cut panel. The initial rainbow was chopped in half and then fussy cut and popped behind the circular aperture with the long section escaping from the opening. Some more Salty Ocean was added to the base card and the top panel added with foam pads. A simple sentiment completes.

That's all from me but please check out the rest of the team to see what they've made.

Anita

Bev

Izzy

                    Julie -you're here

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

See you back here same time tomorrow for another new intro post.

Joining in over at:-

Introducing - Background Blocks Birthday Scramble

Good morning. It's the first of the intros for Uniko's 14th Birthday release today. 

Our first focus is on Background Blocks Birthday Scramble. Do you remember the one that Bev designed for Christmas last year? Well this is along the same lines, perfect for a quick and easy card or if you fancy a bit of fussy cutting and paper piecing, this idea!

For this I started by stamping the block in black ink onto white card then again onto an assortment of DP scraps from my stash. I chose DP that was in the colours of Uniko, turquoise and pink, to celebrate Bev's 14th birthday. 

After fussy cutting all the little bits, I glued them over the outlines on the white background, then added it to a panel of holographic silver card. My backround reminds me of my Gelli plate pulls but this is nore DP from the stash, glued to an A6 note card and the panel added on top with foam pads.

Quite a simple design, once you've done the paper piecing, the stamp does all the heavy lifting!

Anyway why not check out what the rest of the team have been up to by clicking the links below.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

                    Julie -you're here

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

See you back here tomorrow at the same time for another intro.

 

Uniko's 14th Birthday Release, Sneak Peeks

Good morning. 

I don't think there's a better way to to start a new week, and end a month, than with a countdown to a new release at Uniko.

So let's have a sneak peek at what is coming up.

First up is a new Background Block, and one that we at Uniko think will be just as popular as the Background Blocks Christmas Scramble! 

As you may know, Bev loves a bit of retro design,  so it seems fitting to expand the collection with a new addition. 

This next peek is perfect to accompany it, and is a result of a customer suggestion too. 

Finally but my no means least a two layer Ink & Flip.

This is another nod to Bev's love of retro and MCM design.

That about wraps up the peeks, I'm sure there will be something for everyone in this new release. I hope you will find time to join me, Bev and the other Uniko Brand Ambassadors from tomorrow, as we start the introductions.

All these products will be available at 9am GMT Saturday 28th February 2026.

Cardz4Guyz Challenge #383

Morning, time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme for the month is to use:-

A MONOCHROMATIC COLOUR SCHEME

Here's what I came up with.

This card uses an old LOTV grey rubber stamp along with some equally ancient NitWits DP from LOTV. Not sure of the collection but it matched the kraft cards I bought sometime ago from Home Bargains. I don't paricularly like the kraft card they are made from but the DP goes quite well with the yellowish card.

The image was stamped with Memento Toffee Crunch and coloured with matching Copic markers, E50, 51,53, 55, 57 and 59 together with W1 and 5. I embossed the kraft card with an Avery Elle square die to create a frame and stamped a freebie sentiment in more Toffee Crunch before adding it to my DP and base card.

For more inspiration, please check out the reat of the team over on the Cardz4Guyz blog.

I'm jopining in over at:-

#825 Shop your stash

Color Hues #127

 Afternoon folks. As we are over halfway through the month of February, it's time for a brand new colour combo from Color Hues. Here's my take using a digi from the new to me, All Dressed Up, that I won before Christmas!

According to Google, Peach is a soft warm pastel colour, ranging from pale pinkish orange to light yellow orange and Teal is a rich blue green colour, neither of which are especially suited to the Copic colour range I have. So after more googling, I went with a mix of E93 95, YR21 02 for my peach tones and BG45 and 49 for the teal elements. Luckily the elements I'd decided to colour in Teal were small so it didn't need the full shading.

After printing and colouring in Copics, I fussy cut her out and concentrated on my background panel. Luckily I found a perfect sized and coloured snippet of some DP from an earlier project and placed it behind my apperture cut into some linen effect white card. A few flowers were punched, yes you read correctly PUNCHED from some white card, coloured with the same Copic markers and shaped with a ball tool. They echoed the flowers in her hair and on her necklace. The cute girl was added on top and a Uniko sentiment in black finishes it off.

For more peach/teal inspiration please check the Color Hues blog where as always the rest of the team and GD Gundi have done a stellar job of inspiration.

Joining in over at:-

Hearts and or Flowers - I chose flowers

February Challenge - AG

Celebrating Uniko's 14th Birthday

 Today is officially Uniko's 14th Birthday. 

Here's my card to celebrate.

This day 14 years ago Bev opened the website with the launch of two clear stamp sets. And the rest they say, is history. 

Today we celebrate with a birthday linky party!

Simply create a birthday card using any Uniko products (current, retired or digital) and link up in the linky HERE, Uniko VIP FB page or on the Uniko blog. More details are at the end of the post including the prize.

Here's one I made earlier, as they say!

I seem to be on an 5 x 7 roll at the moment, perhaps the larger card base allows the design to breathe.

I started by creating the coloured panel using the silhouette stamp from Happy Days, stamped in a range of pastel shades of Altenew inks, I filled in the open spaces with black dots after seeing a card on Pinterest. Using a couple of stacked circle dies, I cut out the center of the panel and mounted it onto a slightly larger black piece of card, The large central die cut was added back in and the sentiment panel mounted on black added on top. The completed panel was popped up on the 5 x7" card base on foam pads. A few Copic coloured die cut dots complete. 

OK, that's my card so why not have a look at the inspiration from Bev and the other BAs?

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

                    Julie -you're here

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

There is plenty of time to join in on the fun.

The deadline for submission is 23:59 (GMT) on Sunday 8th March 2026.

 Prize - £25 eGift Certificate 

Open Worldwide

Party Rules

Use Uniko Products Only*.

No back linking. Linked cards/projects must be new.

Maximum Entries 3 Per Person.

*If you don't own any physical Uniko products you are welcome to use THESE FREE Uniko Digital images to create your card. 

Don't use social media or have a blog to upload your card & link from? 

No worries. Just drop Bev an email bev@uniko.co.uk titled Uniko 14th Birthday with a photo and she will upload for you.

Winners will be chosen by Brand Ambassador votes and will be announced on Wednesday 11th March 2026, along with all the winners. 

Happy crafting!

Uniko BA Inspiration Post Featuring Spring Botanicals - Tulip

Good morning, how was your weekend? Mine was not what I had anticipated as a workshop I was helping at got cancelled at the last minute, so I had some time to play in my own craftroom! 

I still have onion sets and shallots to get in the veg beds but it has been SO wet these last weeks, that they are best left until it dries up or if not I will have to put them into individual cells until this deluge is over! 

Anyway, I hunkered down in my craft room for some watercolour painting to make a card for an old friend, here is the end result.

I was inspired by a card that popped up on my Pinterest feed and one that Bev made before Christmas and decided to mix my Uniko stash with Waffle Flower's Postage stamp die set.

On a panel of Mixed Media paper, I used the stencil from the die set to plan my placement of the tulips, sketching in the open areas lightly with a pencil. Next, I stamped using some masking, a bunch of Uniko's Spring Botanicals- Tulips with Memento Toffee Crunch.

I used some watercolours to paint the blooms and was about to cut the Postage Stamp panel when I realised I'd had the stencil the wrong way around and my planned design wouldn't work!

So with a little bit of thought, I decided to cut the panel anyway and see what I got. Instead of placing my panel face down, I placed the wrong side face down into the die panel. I had initially intended to cut out each of the panels along the stitched lines and place them on a new die cut panel, but now couldn't do that but with the help of an old fashioned embossing tool and a foam mat, I sort of rescued it with some manual embossing!

To cover where the masking hadn't worked I inked through the stencil with some Mustard Deed DI, then stamped a few bits in Toffee Crunch at strategic places.

I'd purposefully left the small rectangle in the bottom right clear so that I could stamp my sentiment, Doodle Flowers in more Toffee Crunch.

The die cut panel was mounted on some black card and then onto a trimmed down 5 x 7inch white card base. The black seves to hi-light the die cut as well as masking the different white of the MM paper.

Well the rain has stopped for the moment but for how long is anyone's guess. So that's all for the moment, see you soon.

Joining in over at:-