Here's one I made earlier!

I was cleaning up the front end of my computer yesterday and came across this card I made a few months back using Uniko's Pure Floral Rose and it's perfect for a few challenges that are just coming to an end so I thought I would share now!

It's on the same lines as one I made using Uniko's Peony set here. The ladies at my Wednesday art group loved it and so I did a class to show them how to watercolour a stamped bloom but in the end I used the Lily set as it was simpler for them to paint. Perhaps now we have done a simple flower we may go back and try this bloom.

I used watercolours instead of inks to paint my rose which I stamped with a pale ink on mixed media paper so that the outline didn't show. The finished bloom was then fussy cut and attached to my die cut panel on which I'd stamped the greeting, a mix of Doodle Flowers and an older set, You Are, Yes You, with Memento London Fog.

The diecut panel was then added to a white top folding note card.

On another note, the garden is finally looking a little more green after the deluges of the last couple of days. However the water tank isn't as full as we thought it would be. Reason? The heavy rain washed grot off the tractor shed and blocked the newly cleaned gutters and blocked the filter so it was going straight down the overflow! Anyway the OH found out before the next set of thunderstorms arrived yesterday, so hopefully it will get topped up now all the grot has been washed away!

Joining in over at:-

 

Summer Blooms

Color Hues #131

Afternoon all.

We are over halfway through April so it's time for a brand new colour pairing from Color Hues. 

This time I've gone with a floral themed card using the colours and Uniko's Pure Florals Peony. What do you think?

To start, I used Altenew's Limestone ink stamped onto Mixed Media paper, to create a no line look, then I smooshed some of their other inks onto an acrylic sheet to use for a watercolour technique. I used Coral Berry, Grapevine and Coral Bliss for the petals and Olive, Moss and Evergreen for the stem and leaves.

Each petal was painted separately, first with plain water then with the paler Coral Bliss and darker Coral Berry, allowing the water to blend the colours. It's best to paint sections that don't touch one another to reduce the risk of colour bleeding until each section has dried. Some of the lightest areas had virtually no colour and the off white paper showed through to suggest hilights. I repeated the technique for the leaves, using first Olive then Moss.

To create an even greater sense of depth, I went back into the bloom, first with a damp brush, I wet the areas that needed to be in shadow before going in with the Grapevine ink. For the green shading I used the Evergreen ink. Once dry, I fussy cut it out and concentrated on my background. 

A Mama Elephant die was used to cut an eyelet panel from white card, then I removed the center with a rectangle die to create a frame. Using the magnets in my Misti, I held the frame and bloom down whilst I placed the greeting from Uniko's Originally Organic. Once happy with the placement, I removed the frame and bloom and stamped it in Memento London Fog. The frame and bloom were then glued to my A6 white base card.

That's all from me but please check out the rest of the team and our GD over on the Color Hues blog for more fab inspiration. As usual you have up until the 29th April to link up your green and coral makes, have fun.

I'm joining in over at:-

In the Garden or AG

Simple or Fussy 

I've never been happy throwing on the fripperies and embellishments, so this is as fancy as I go. I'm a simple girl at heart!!

Uniko Product Revisit

Morning, there's no March release from Uniko, so Bev and the other Uniko Brand Ambassadors are revisiting the two releases from earlier in the year.

I've chosen the fabulous Bauhaus Blocks Spring Layering Stencil for my focus, here are couple of ideas.

I started by covering an A6 panel of white card with the various elements of the stencils, using Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxides. When I had covered the white  panel, I realised that I had made an error in one of the flowers, so it stood out like a sore thumb, so not wanting to waste the panel I cut it up and made two cards!

This first card uses a part of the panel.

Another error was that my A6 panel wasn't, about 5mm too narrow! I had to make a decision and decided to use it, trimming it down so that it fit an A6 topfold note card, with a white border showing. To emphasise the gap, I added a panel of paper inked on my Gelli plate. I used the Squeezed Lemonade and Cracked Pistachio to give a kind of speckled effect. The Oxide inks blend so well like this, I prefer it to straight inking. The combination of yellow and the soft green gives a lovely spring feel to the card. A stamped and embossed sentiment completes.

Remember that error on my original panel, well here is what I made with that.

The error was front and central, so I just covered it with the sentiment! More of my Gelli plate paper and some Greetery dies complete.

I wonder what the rest of the team have been inspired to create? Why not pop along and check their blogs and Instagram accounts out to find out?

Don't forget to comment as you go for a chance to win some Uniko goodies.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie - that's me

Natalie

Steph

Vinita

 Hope you left some comment love along the way, Bev will randomly select a comment to win the £20 eGift certificate to spend in store.  The winner will be announced on Monday 13th April 2026. 

Happy crafting!

Uniko BA Inspiration

Evening all. Have you got all your Christmas cards made and posted? I hope I have but I do have a few spare just in case.

So today I'm up on the Uniko blog with an idea for a New Year card that was inspired by a couple of challenges. What do you think? 

On an A6 top fold, white note card, I stamped the Background Blocks- Party Confetti in Versamark and embossed with jewelled gold EP. On a separate panel of white, I used the numerals from the Alphabet Solid set to create the 2026 in more of the jewelled gold EP. This was mounted on a slightly larger black one then added over my confetti with foam pads. A simple sentiment from Simply Said Blocks Christmas in black completes.

The layout of this card is also a nod to the CAS Colours and Sketches as it users the square layout of this former 2025 sketch made seasonal.

This layout is a square one and mine is rectangular but the 4 squares are represented on mine by the numerals of the year! The gold EP always says celebration but it also reflects the saris in the photo inspiration over at Time Out!

Joining in over at:-

I chose the sketch #560

Introducing MCM Baubles stencil and masks

Good morning. 

Earlier this week Bev introduced a brand new stencil to Uniko's stable, MCM Baubles. It comes as a stencil but also contains the masks, always useful I think. Yesterday Bev and Anita showed you what inspirational ideas they had, today Izzy and I are giving you some more inspiration using the new release and of course the MCM Bauble stamp set.

Here is my first idea, very much along the lines of this card I made for the Uniko VIP FB challenge but it was also inspired by the moodboard at JUGS.

For my earlier make I used masking tape to mask off a simple tree shap but this shape would be very fiddly to mask without the stencil!

I stated by placing a piece of white card under the largest bauble in the stencil, securing with masking tape before adding it to my MISTI. The openings for the rest of the baubles were filled with the masks and a piece of scrap paper added across the bottom of the card to avoid any unwanted ink!

Then I stamped away using Seasons of Beauty and Winter Foliage to fill the opening. Removing the stencil and masks relevealed the floral center in the shape of the bauble. The hanger and string from the MCM Bauble set were then stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold EP. The sentiment was simply added with black ink.

My second card was made using just the stencil to create a soft background of baubles inking a white panel with Altenew's Coral Bliss ink, moving the stencil as I went. Once the background was completely covered, I stamped a few strings with the stamp from the stamp set.  

The focal point was created by inking the ornament from the stencil with Altenew's Heart Beat then adding the hanger and string by stamping. It looked a bit sad just plain so thought about using the other stamps from the set but instead just doodled some patterns with a sparkly red gel pen and a bit of dark grey too. The hanger looked a bit lost so I inked over that too with the red pen. I still wasn't satisfied, so created a fine frame using some red glitter paper and Altenew's Fine Frames die. A simple sentiment stamped on some inked card and mounted on a scrap of glitter paper completes.

So that's all from me for the moment but there'll be more inspiration from more of the team tomorrow and Friday before our release day blog and giveaway on Saturday.

Joining in over at:-

 

Orange Purple Black use 1 or more

 Morning all, time for a new challenge from Cardz4Guyz which I'm also sharing over at Uniko.

This time we have a colour challenge for you:-

USE one or more of ORANGE, BLACK or PURPLE

Here's what I made using Uniko's Nature's Treasures Stencil and all of the colours.

CAS is a great way to make a masculine card and as flowers are a bit of a no no for them too, I turned to leaves. In this case I used Nature's Treasures II stencil, some DIs,Wilted Violet, Black Soot, Ripe Persimmon, Carved Pumpkin, Dried Marigold, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade and a sentiment from Organic Wishes.

I mostly used the smaller of the two stencils moving it around to create the look of an autumnal tree, inking onto an A6 top fold white card. I wasn't sure how the purple element would work out but I quite like it. Where it overlays the orange it gives a shade of brown but the purpley hues suggest depth and the black stencilling, shadows. The sentiment is quite ambiguous and could be used for a variety of occasions, including sympathy.

You don't have to use all of the colours like me but at least one has to feature prominantly. You could go down the Halloween route or perhaps like me autumn is more your vibe, the choice is yours, just make it masculine. The team have a few ideas should you need them here.

As I've use orange and purple in my design so I can share it over at Color Hues, The Paper Players are all for foliage and the mood board at JUGS has an autumnal feel too!

Joining in over at:-

Uniko BA Inspiration and a Challenge reminder

 Good morning and welcome to a post to remind you all about the ongoing Uniko FB VIP Challenge. Here's my take on the colour challenge.

My starting point was this card made by my Color Hues teamie Bonnie. She used a background stamp but as I don't have that exact stamp, I thought I could use Season's of Beauty to create a similar feel.

I started by embossing the poinsettia and foliage with white EP on an A6 panel of Mixed Media paper. I smooshed some of Altenew's Desert Night ink onto a kraft mat then wet the whole MM panel with water and added the ink with a brush and some smooshing. The water makes the ink lighter than the original, literally diluting the colour. To achieve the patchy look, I removed some of the ink with a piece of kitchen roll before it dried. I haven't used Altenew's ink like this before and it is not as forgiving as Distress Inks, which I usually use but the colour was a better match to the swatch.

On some scrap white card, I stamped the poinsettia with Carved Pumpkin and Ripe Persimmon DI for the 2 top layers. I filled in some of the white around the sepals with more Carved Pumpkin. The foliage and green sepals I inked with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint DI, adding water to blend out the lines.

My yellow flowers we originally stamped with Wild Honey DI but they got a bit lost, so I added some dots of white gel pen over and a touch of a yellow Copic marker.

On a circle of white card, I used the Desert Night ink to stamp the sentiment and on a slightyly larger one, I added some of the same ink to create a matte. The elements were then fussy cut and added to my sentiment panel. Meanwhile, I added my inky background to a 5 x 7inch white base card and then placed the layered focal point on to that.

That's it from me for today but please consider joining in over on Facebook for a chance to win an e-voucher worth £10 to spend in the Uniko store. You've got until October 10th to play.

Joining in over at:-

Final Week of Guesting at JUGS

 Afternoon, I'm here with a card made for my final week of guesting with the girls at JUGS. This week is stencil week and so I couldn't help myself and reached for the fab Christmas Layering Bauhaus Blocks stencil from Uniko. Then I thought why not combine it with the regular Layering Bauhaus Blocks set, win win in my view!

I've gone large for this card, a full A5 white base card with an A6 panel for the stencilling. 

To start I inked through the Christmas set onto the middle of my white A6 panel using Mowed Lawn, Candied Apple and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks, before filling in and around with a mix of the regular Bauhaus Stencil and Christmas one, keeping to the same colours. Just using these colours makes the standard stencil feel festive!

Once complete, the panel was trimmed to neaten up and double mounted onto some red and green card. A sentiment from one of my first ever Uniko purchases, not even sure of the name now but it's well used, was stamped with more Candied Apple and then embossed with clear super fine EP from WOW. I've learnt the hard way that stamping in a colour then adding clear EP is so much cleaner than using coloured EPs and easier on your pocket too!

So that's it, thanks to the girls at JUGS who've made me feel so welcome these past few weeks, as usual they have some fabulous ideas to inspire.

Looking forward to seeing you in the JUGS gallery.

Color Hues #113

Afternoon all. A new month has begun, so it's time for a new challenge at Color Hues but it's also Christmas in July over at Uniko! What says Christmas more than a Christmas sweater?

The Color Hues pairing chosen by Tracey had me reaching for the Background Builders Christmas 2018 set to create a fun sweater!

I simply stamped and embossed in white, 3 of the Scandinavian star strips and bookended them with the diagonal stripe one. I cut away the neck opening with a circle die and cut a welt with two more circle dies from the leftovers, trimming the panel down to reveal a white border when added to my white base card. I finished it off with a simple sentiment from Uniko's Christmas Sentiments.

So what will the new colours inspire you to create? Looking forward to seeing your makes in the Color Hues gallery. For more red and white inspiration why not check out the rest of the team and our GD here?

Flippin' Fabulous Ink & Flip Masculine Inspiration Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway @ Uniko

Good morning. Today at Uniko we are focusing on Masculine cards featuring Ink n Flip and other stencils. Over on the Uniko blog there are plenty of ideas from Bev and the other BAs and whilst you're checking them out why not leave a comment for a chance to win! Here are a couple of cards I made using the Ink n Flip Delightful Diamonds stencil which was recently released.

To start, I inked a panel of A5 white card with the stencil and a selection of green and blue DIs, moving the stencil around until the panel was completely covered. On my first pass I used Twisted Citron and added a hint of Peacock Feathers at the edges. After wiping the ink off, I flipped and went with Salty Ocean and a hint of Blueprint Sketch.

Now how to use the panel? This first card is very simple, a panel attached to an A6 base card followed by a die cut speech bubble stamped with the sentiment and a few punched stars and dots from black card added.

This second one came about after I die cut a circle from the trimmed down panel to place my sentiment but it didn't look quite right, so I popped the circle back in and noticed that if I rotated it 90' most of the white lines matched up to create a fun pattern over which I could add the sentiment stamped on a white circle die cut. Think I will play around with this idea further, a series of circle die cuts perhaps.

The end result has a sort of Pop Art vibe which I think is great for a masculine card, but change the colours and it would work equally for a female recipient!

So that's all from me but why not check out the rest of the team here:-

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie - that's me

Steph

Vinita

Don't forget to leave a comment and you could win an Ink n Flip stencil of your choice.

Joining in over at:-

Spring/ Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop with Uniko

Good afternoon!

Uniko are proud to be sponsoring a prize on the Spring /Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop this year. Here is my contribution to the hop.

On a panel of Mixed Media paper, I stamped the coffee cup from I love Coffee, in rainbow shades before using the same shades to watercolour them. I used DIs in Candied Apple, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, and Wilted Violet. Once dry, I stamped the Uniko emblem from the set in matching ink. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP, popped up on pads.

So what have some of the other members of the team been up to? Why not pop along and check them out, leaving some love along the way for a chance to win a £25 eGift code to spend on some Uniko goodies!

You have until Friday 30th May 2025 to comment.

 Bev

Izzy

Julie - me

Steph 

Vinita

All details of the hop can be found on the Uniko blog.

Happy Hopping!

Uniko BA Non Release Blog Hop & Giveaway plus Facebook VIP Challenge

Morning all. Hope you are making the most of this sunny weather. Lovely as it is, we are in sore need of some rain to replenish the water butts, ponds and to give the garden a good soak. We should have been heading over the tops to visit our granddaughter, and her mum and dad of course, but the OH and I have been struck with a lousy cold and were not up to the travelling, nor would it have been fair to inflict it onto them. Hopefully we can get over to visit them soon. 

As there isn't a release this month from Uniko, the BAs and Bev are sharing their favourites from the 2025 releases so far. This is quite a daunting task choosing from the array of fabulous stamps and stencils but I eventually plumped for Spring Botanicals Primrose. 

I'd seen a few images online over the years of strips of coloured card under outlined stamped images and when I saw that this month's challenge over at The Flower Challenge was to feature spots or stripes it was the perfect opportunity to try my hand.

On an A6 panel of white card, I glued a few strips of yellow and green cardstock at an angle. Then using a really old Go Create die, must be nearly 20yrs old, I die cut a central section. The same die was used to cut another frilly panel from fun foam and both die cuts were then glued together. The original panel was glued to an A6 white note card and the die cuts added into the opening. 

I stamped the primroses onto vellum with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP before fussy cutting the image. Using the flower centers and leaf ribs, I added glue to secure the posy onto the raised panel, adding a sentiment from Originally Organic Flower Garden. A couple of Glossy Accent dots complete the design. 

That's all from me but why not pop along to see what the rest of the team have chosen to showcase from the 2025 releases. Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a £25 eGift certificate.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie - me

Steph 

Vinita

Over on FB Uniko is encouraging you to share your birthday themed makes with our VIP challenge with another chance to win. So why not pop along there and link up your makes.

Joining in over at:-

Uniko Brand Ambassador Revisit- Sunshine and Rainbows and a Uniko FB Challenge

Good morning. 

Today at Uniko we are revisiting the Sunshine and Rainbows set AND announcing the start of a new Facebook VIP challenge.

So without further ado here are a couple of cards using the set.

This card uses the rainbow builder BUT with a twist!

I created the rainbows by stamping the REVERSE of the image. Normally there is a gap between each arc but this way you can blend the arcs of the rainbow together. You do need a little bit of masking for the smallest purple arc but I think it's worth it. After covering the A6 panel with rainbows, I added some stamped hearts, then added one of my square sentiments made from Doodle Flowers. I'm almost out of these so must make some time to make some more. It takes awhile to line up the elements in my MISTI, so it's well worth getting some stamped on neutral colours that I can dip into when required. I framed the sentiment with a thin white square border die cut using stacking squares. 

Frustratingly as I removed the two squares I wanted one of the set slipped out, bounced on the bookcase and slipped between that and the fitted cupboards in my craft room. Now if the bookcase was small no problem but this is a monster made from solid oak and FULL, I mean VERY full of books, so until I need said die it will remain there until I have time to empty the bookcase and have a couple of strong helpers to move it!!

Anyway here is another make using the set, who says rainbows have to be bold!

The other day a post from Concord and 9th fell into my feed and one of the cards used a new stencil and as soon as I saw it I knew I could used the rainbow arcs to create something similar. As The Paper Players are asking for pastel colours, I thought I would play along and came up with this.

All the rainbow arcs were lined up in my MISTI then I stamped them around in pastel shades all over the edges of my A6 panel, overlapping as I went. Another of my Doodle Flower sentiments added on pads complete, very simple.

So why not check out what the rest of the team have made and if you are into rainbows join our FB group and link up a card in the album for a chance to win a £10 egift voucher. Just make sure that you use Uniko products as your main focus.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie - me

Steph

Vinita

Joining in over at:-

Introducing Spring Botanicals - Primrose

Good morning.

It's the final of my introduction posts for Uniko's February release. I think we have kept the best to last with this fab addition to Bev's Spring Botanicals series.

When I saw the stamp I couldn't wait to get my paints out and get all arty!

The main focus of the set is this primrose image with assorted sentiments. 

As always when doing a botanical card, I look for photos to aid the painting process. I suppose for this I could have gone outside to see the real thing but it is rather cold out there in the wind swept garden!! Anyway, I noticed that over at The Flower Challenge , damn missed it!, they would like pink to feature, so I turned these primroses into polyanthus! I love this type of bloom and often make up an arrangement with some bulbs to bring indoors and then I can plant everything in the garden afterwards.

As you may be able to tell, I used my favourite masking fluid resist and clingfilm technique with watercolours. If you are interested in the technique here is a link to the process. 

Normally I keep the background to green but for this I added some Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue to the right to suggest soil. Once the masking was removed, I used a Zig watercolour marker to colour the petals and three shades of green watercolour for the leaves. The leaves of primroses and polyanths are quite crinkly, so I layered up the greens using a swirly action and my rigger brush. The rigger has long thin bristles that can form a point but you can be quite loose with the mark making as the tip is flexible and difficult to be tight with the addition of the paint. I used a photo to show me where to put the colour on the flowers, especially around the center.

When dry I framed it with an MFT rectangle frame and added a sentiment on a banner glued down the side.

That's all from me for today but why not check out the rest of the team to see how they've used the new set.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -me

Steph

Vinita

See you back here tomorrow for the big release day blog hop and GIVEAWAY!

Introducing Layering Organic Bloom Stencil and Organic Bloom Stamp set

Good morning.

Today we are introducing a stencil AND a stamp set. The layering stencil echoes the stamp set as you can see from the card below.

I used all 4 layers of the stencil to create an all over pattern on A5 panel of white card with Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves DI for the blossom and Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn DI for the leaves and stems. I cut an A6 panel from the larger one and put to one side for later use ;)!

Using the stamps, I stamped a one of each of the blossom flowers and coloured with matching Copic markers before fussy cutting out. I added a few dots of white gel pen to the centers of all the flowers as well as some around the anthers of the stamped ones.

I had a panel of linen effect card that had managed to get some ink on it and as I can no longer get it from my supplier I wanted to use it up, so cut away the marked section and created two strips. On the reverse of the marked strip, I inked with a mix of the pinks to create a couple of strips which I stuck along the edge of the textured white panels. 

To put the card together, I glued the textured panels over the stencil one, adding the Copic coloured blooms to cover any open areas. A simple sentiment strip using the stamp set completes. 

Here is a card I made using my masking fluid resist and snappy wrap technique.

Bev has designed these blooms to be used with stems but for this I just used the two flower heads.

I saw a video on You Tube one wet Sunday afternoon and now I can't stop making cards this way, this time I've turned the flowers into crab apple blossom! I stamped and masked the two blooms, then added a couple of buds and sketched in some branches. Watercolour was used to create the background and the detail in the blossom but you could use Brusho for the background and DI for the detail or even a mix of all three! 

My panel was mounted behind a die cut woodgrain frame, a pressie from Santa and it's first outing, and then onto a matching textured off white card base.

For more inspiration why not check out what the rest of the BAs have been up to.

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -me

Steph

Vinita

Back again tomorrow for the final day of intros, hope to see you then.

Joining in over at:-

                                             #71