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!

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing - Layering Picked Posies Stencil

Good morning. 

As promised today sees the introduction of the first of Uniko's January 2025 release.

This new stencil is based on the Craft Stash release of a year ago but in stencil format.

Here's my first card idea channeling an idea I saw on Pinterest here.

I used the 4 part stencil to create a panel on a piece of A5 white card, before cutting out part of the panel with a rectangle die. I'll use the leftovers for another card. Using the blending brushes I'd used for the inking part, I carefully added a soft layer of the same colour over each element.

Next I stamped Happy from Christmas Sentiment in black followed by birthday from the Birthday Sentiments set. Using a white gel pen, I traced around the letters with a steady hand to make the black letters pop against the soft background. My completed panel was then popped up on pads onto an A6 top fold card base.

This next card used the Black Magic technique of white pigment ink on black followed by colour.

To start I used the four stencils to create a white on black image and left it to dry completely overnight. I then repeated the process using coloured inks. I trimmed the panel to leave a border on my A6 white base card and added a sentiment panel from my stash made using Doodle Flowers. I always make a batch of these whilst the stamps are in my MISTI, saves a lot of time. The hi lights on the flower centers didn't show up too well so used a gel pen over the top.

So two different looks using the same stencil but why not check out what ideas the rest of the team have come up with.  

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

See you back here same time tomorrow for another introduction!

Joining in over at:-

Introducing the new Ink n Flip Layering Cobweb stencil set

Morning all.

I'm so excited to reveal the first of the new Ink n Flip stencil sets, Cobweb.

Here are a couple of ideas using bits n bobs from my stash as well.

This is my first idea using the web part of the stencil.

I took an A5 panel of black card and went mad adding cobwebs all over it with Hero Arts Unicorn White ink! Then I filled in the gaps with a light covering of the white ink. Spiders are a real problem here in the countryside and I am forever evicting them and removing their webs from windows and doorways. This year seems the worst ever, so webs are very common, in fact the other day I opened the blind in the kitchen window to reveal a huge web complete with giant spider, across the outside of the glass shimmering with dew. They are beautiful and I'm OK with them if they would only stay OUTSIDE!

Anyway as I was looking at the finished panel I thought I would extend the threads from each web and add some extra bits of web with a black fine liner.  I cut an A6 sized panel from the larger one and attached it to an A6 base card. Then, I stamped a large black dot, form MCM Floral on some scrap white card and added some legs before fussy cutting it and adding googly eyes. The BOO was cut from white card using an alphabet die set. 

I had plenty of 'web' back ground left over, so added a narrow panel to some purple card to create a background for this LOTV image coloured with Copics and fussy cut.

This time my sentiment was made by stamping FABULOUS from You Are, Yes You and cutting away the BU section, replacing it with die cut BOO. The rest of the sentiment was made up various Uniko sets, Christmas and Birthday Sentiments.

So what do you think?

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

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -me

Steph

Vinita

See you back here same time tomorrow for another stencil intro.

Introducing... Mid Century Modern Birthday

Good morning and welcome to day 2 of the new Uniko release introductions. 

Today we are focusing on Mid Century Modern Birthday. Here's my take.

The set comprises of a large sentiment, smaller MCM additions and a few of present stamps along with ribbon and bows. The pressies on the release logo are how Bev imagined them, but I went slightly off piste with my watercolour take.

Using my Misti, I stamped the solid pressies first with plain water then again with DI onto MM paper. The ink spreads into the water to give a watercolour look without the hassle! To make the top middle pressie, I used the solid square from BB Squares. When the ink was dry, I added some pattern with a white gel pen and some doodled strings with a black fine liner. I liked the clean look so did not add any sentiment.

Here's a second card using the parcels again but this time simply stamped using DI and the ribbons similarly before fussy cutting each element out.

Just to show how well it combines with other sets I've used the sentiment from Birthday sentiments instead of the one from the set. A few embossed stars and a few sequins complete.

So that's it from me, but why not check out the rest of the team for their takes.

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -me

Steph

Vinita

I'll be back tomorrow with anther introduction from the new 12th Birthday Release from Uniko.

 

Happy Birthday Uniko, 12 Today and a Party!

Good morning folks.

Today we are celebrating Uniko's 12th Birthday with a birthday blog hop and giveaway!

Bev and the BAs are sharing birthday cards for your inspiration.

Here's mine.

When the MOD Background Builder stencil was released last year I had lots of ideas buzzing around in my head and this was one of them, to use the small additional stencil elements to create an all over background style card. I wasn't too sure of of the accuracy of my stencil placement, so went with a fussy cut design using just the two triple corner elements.

The trio of petal shapes were used to create both the green leaves as well as the flowers, using just two for the leaves and adding an extra for the flowers. The stamens were added in the same way using Seedless Preserve over Kitsch Flamingo DI. The leaflets were initially inked in Twisted Citron DI, then again with Mowed Lawn DI towards the bottom. After fussy cutting the elements, I arranged them onto an A6 panel of white card, adding flower centers with a yellow dot stamped from Wonderful Day and die cut with the small circle die in Big n Bold Happy!

I fussy cut the stamped sentiment made from Birthday Sentiments and You Are Sentiments Outlined, placing them flat over the background panel..

So all you have to do now, is link up your own birthday card to the Uniko blog for a chance to win a fabulous prize of a 25£ e gift voucher to spend in store!

Here are the links to the rest of the team, should you need more birthday inspiration!

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -me

Steph

Vinita

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

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Thursday 29th February 2024.

 Prize - £25 eGift Certificate 

Party Rules

Use Uniko Products Only*.

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

Maximum Enteries 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 12th Birthday with a photo and she will upload it for you.

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

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. 

Happy Birthday Uniko!

 Good morning peeps! A new month dawns and also it's the 11th birthday of the wonderful Bev starting the Uniko brand! Today the Brand Ambassadors are celebrating with birthday cards in a Linky party.

Here's my contribution using the Balloon Bash stencil and BB Nautical Stripes, along with a sentiment made up of elements from Wild and Birthday Sentiments.

I've use a rainbow of DIs to stencil in the balloons and a white gel pen for the hi light. The BB Nautical Stripes was stamped a couple of times along a scrap of card using Memento Tuxedo Black, I really must get a reinker or a new pad as it's looking rather faded here.

The stencilled panel was trimmed down and the HAPPY from Birthday Sentiments added with white EP. The birthday part was stamped on a piece of black card and embossed with the same EP. It was trimmed down and added under the HAPPY, the black and white strip added to the bottom of my base card and the stencilled panel added on top to complete.

Want to take part in the Birthday Card Link Party? Simply create a birthday card using Uniko products and share it using the linky at the bottom of the main Uniko post. 

Need some more inspiration then check out the rest of the team.

Anita

Bev

Hannelie 

Izzy

Julie - that's me

Steph

Vinita

Wiebke

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

The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Tuesday 28th February 2023.

 Prize - £25 eGift Certificate 

Party Rules

Use Uniko Products Only*.

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

Maximum Enteries 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  at bev@uniko.co.uk titled Uniko 11th Birthday with a photo and I will upload for you.

Joining in over at:-

Introducing ..Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear

Good morning, I'm back with day 1 of the Uniko January release. Today we are focusing on another fab addition to the Background Blocks stable- Mid Century Linear. As with the other Background Blocks, it's extremely versatile, use it on it's own or in the background like I have in my first card.

On a panel of midnight blue card, I stamped the BB three times down the center of the panel with Versamark and then embossed with a mix of WOW Oceanic EP and WOW Changers Glisten.

On a separate piece of Copic friendly card, I stamped the large spray from Hello Lovely and coloured it with Copics. After fussy cutting it out, I laid it across the top 2/3rds of the blue panel on pads. The sentiment from Birthday wishes was stamped on a white panel and added flat. The completed panel was then glued flat onto a DL card base.

This second card was the result of an experiment, but I turned it into a masculine card with the simple addition of a fussy cut sentiment.

I started by stamping three of the stamp in a row on white card with Versamark, then embossed with Primary red EP, then added another set of the stamp just slightly off to one side and embossed with clear EP. Finally I inked over the top with Black Soot DOx.  The result was a bit patchy, I really needed to add more clear EP but that wasn't possible as the patchiness only showed up after the ink was added! 

I found a frame in my stash and moved it over the stamped panel until I found the best look and mounted the panel behind it and trimmed off the overhang. A simple red embossed sentiment from Birthday Sentiments, fussy cut and added on pads completes. 

The result a masculine card, perfect for a Man U or Sheff U fan!

The rest of the team have been playing with the new stamps too, why not check them out for some more fab inspiration. I'll be back again tomorrow with another new release.

Release Day at Uniko and a BA Blog Hop and Giveaway

Good morning. 

Well the day has finally come when you will be able to get your hands on the 10th Birthday release  from 10am GMT over on the website HERE.

Here are a few more ideas for you, using the new stamps and stencils.

My first card uses BB Splatter and Cogs, with quite a masculine result.

  

On a panel of black card, I stamped the splatter stamp with Versamark and added platinum EP. Before heat embossing, I brushed away some of the thicker areas, as I only wanted a suggestion of the pattern in the background, before I heat embossed. The BB Cogs was then stamped over the top and embossed using Brass WOW EP. The trimmed down panel was added to an A6 black note card and the Everyday Sentiment added with the same brass EP.

Just to prove that grunge isn't just for masculine cards, here is the same BB Splatter used in the background of this very feminine card.

I used the colours at Color Throwdown, a mix of Altenew Forest Glades and Frayed Leaf ink and matching Copic markers for the leaves and a couple of pinky tones of Copic marker for the rose. The sentiment is from the very useful Everyday Sentiments.

After stamping the BB Splatter image a few times to create my background, I took a scrap die cut circle and inked it with Forest Glades ink, popping it up over the splatter with pads. The fussy cut Pure Florals Rose bloom and leaves were added along with the sentiment banner.

This next card uses the Flower Power#7 stencil and a range of pink DIs. The Everyday Sentiment was stamped on a panel of matching card and embossed with white EP. The colours and pattern remind me of a bedspread that was sold in M&S when I worked there in my holidays in the early 70's!

The finished panel was trimmed and mounted on a scalloped die cut square and inked with Kitch Flamingo DI and added to a white square base card.

My next card is very similar to the introducing post but this time the image is flipped and the panel trimmed to fit a square format, double mounted and added to a base card.

 

This next card was inspired some retro fabric I saw on Pinterest and another using the Fun Flower stencil and masks and Flower Power#7 stencil and masks.

I arranged the masks over a panel of white card and inked over with Mowed Lawn DI. I then used the masks and stencils to fill in the blooms. Some of the larger bloom masks moved a little but I quite like the white showing through in places. I used a mixture of blue and green DIs for the blooms.

The You from Big n Bold You sentiment set, was stamped and heat embossed with white EP on black and fussy cut, adding the large phrase with white EP on a black banner.

My final card uses the Balloon Frame set for this fun interactive birthday card.

I made one of these surprise pop up cards for a BA post a couple of years ago here and thought I would revisit it and CASE it! The original video by Jennifer McGuire, showing the process for the mechanism can be seen here.

To begin I stamped the panel and infilled the empty space with the small confetti stamp with a light grey ink and coloured using Copic markers.

On the large balloon, I stamped Time To from Birthday Sentiments and Celebrate form the new Everyday Sentiments in Versamark and heat embossed with white EP. The smaller inside balloon uses the same combination of sets to create a different sentiment.

Here's what it looks like in close up when you pull the tab!

So what do you think of the new release?

To celebrate we are having the regular BA blog hop and giveaway to finish of the month in style. 

Bev has one last GIVEAWAY today, simply leave a comment on all of the stops along the hop for your chance to win £10 eGift Code* to spend in store. You have until Midnight Sunday 6th March 2022 to leave your comments.

Due to an unprecedented amount of entries during the month long celebrations and quests, it will take us a little longer to check all of them and randomly select the winners. ALL winners including this GIVEAWAY will be announced here on the blog Monday 7th March 2022.

All the details of all the challenges are on the Uniko blog but here are the links to the other BA's posts for this hop, so you can check out how they have used the new release. So don't forget to leave a comment before you hop along to the other BAs for your chance to win.

Anita

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

 Julie -  you're here

Steph

Wiebke

 

Joining in over at:-