Faux Batik

Evening all, time for a new challenge at Perfectly CAS.

Here's my take on the new cue word, inspired by the challenge at CAS Mix Up.

There are obviously two ways to emboss, dry and heat, I chose the heat route and a new to me technique called faux batik. My friend Loll introduced me to the technique, thank you it was fun to do!

To start, I added DI ink in Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed to some MM paper, not paying much attention to the blending. I used the stamp I wanted to use as a guide as to where to place the colours, then stamped the flower stamp of the Uniko BB Doodle Flower set with Versamark and heat embossed using clear EP. Before I added the leaf stamp, I added some Salty Ocean DI where the leaves would be and repeated the embossing with the leaf stamp. Once I had completed that part, I started to distress the panel by folding the paper. This cracks the embossing as well as the paper to leave lines in the design which when coloured with more ink show up. For this layer I chose to use Chipped Sapphire. All excess ink was rubbed off with a soft cloth before I trimmed the panel down and mounting it on a panel of gold card. The sentiment from Uniko's Pure Florals-Cosmos, was stamped on a scrap of blue card to match the base card and heat embossed with white EP.

The finished panel was attached to the blue base card with foam pads. I had firstly added it to an A6 note card but on second looks, I decided it was not CAS enough, so simply upped the size to a 5 x 7inch and the CASness was just right!

So how will you interpret the cue card, we'd love to see your takes in the gallery this month.

As always there is plenty of inspiration from the rest of the team over at Perfectly CAS!

Joining in over at:-

I used sponging and folding as my extra MM elements

Uniko BA Inspiration meets Color Hues #38

Good afternoon. As it's the 1st of the month there's a new challenge over at Color Hues. This time around we have a lovely spring like combination and here is my inspiration card.

I used a no line effect with Copic colouring for this card, framing my sentiment with a thin frame so that the central tulip is still visible.

All details about the colouring can be found on the Uniko blog, where I've also shared these watercolour interpretations using the same stamp set.

So how will this colour combination inspire you?

As usual we'd love to see your takes in the gallery but if you need a little more inspiration check out the rest of the team and our GDs here.

Joining in over at:-

Uniko challenge, a reminder

Good morning, it's going to be a busy day here on my blog but first I'm just popping by to remind you that there's still time to join in the current Uniko challenge. Here's my card for your inspiration.

The cosmos are still flowering in my garden and will continue to do so until the first frosts, so I decided to use them to create this card, using Uniko's Pure Florals- Cosmos stamp set. I'd seen a card on Pinterest that used the same flowers and colours and I loved how it looked.

Using a pale ink, Altenew's Limestone, I stamped the images onto an A6 panel of white card and coloured them with Copics to give a no line effect. 

The sentiment, from Doodle Flower, was stamped with Versamark onto soft grey card and heat embossed with white EP before being die cut, then matted and layered to give more impact. A few homemade gel dots, Copic marker with added Glossy Accents on an acetate sheet, were added to fill in the gaps.

So that's it for the moment. What will inspire you, we'd love to see your take in our gallery. If you are in need of more inspiration why not check out the rest of the DT and our fab GD Nonni here.

The next post in our September release is up in an hour.

Joining in over at:-

Introducing Background Blocks Grid and and Diagonal Stripes

Good morning.

Two new stamps are revealed today at Uniko, both from the Background Blocks group. When I saw that Bev had released this first design, I was so pleased as I have been looking for some time for such a stamp to enable me to create this pixilated effect.

 

On a panel of MM paper, I stamped the grid in Altenew's Limestone ink, then stamped and masked this bunch of Cosmos flowers. Using my Zig watercolor markers, I painted each little square. It's a painstaking technique but I love the effect. As it's quite a busy panel I decided to just trim it and mount on a white linen effect base card and a simple sentiment strip from Pure Florals Peony, all on pads.

This a CASe of a card I made more than a couple of years ago using the BB Bold Stripes and the Pure Florals - Gerbera. Stamped image coloured with Copics, masked then over stamped in grey with the BB Diagonal Stripes. A few sequins and sentiment added complete.

Why not check out the rest of the team for more ideas?

Bev
Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie -that's me

Rahmat

Steph

Don't forget to leave a comment as you visit the BAs as Bev is choosing random comments on the lead up to release day for the chance to win some Uniko goodies!

I'd like to join in over at:-

edited 22/7 (thanks Loll)

Stargazer Lilies

Morning Uniko fans, it's time for another fun challenge.

This time I'm going bright and happy!

I know a lot of us are spending more time in our gardens than ever before, so I was thinking about what I still had to plant out and what I would like to buy now the garden centers are open and thought about some stargazer lilies. Lilies aren't good if you have cats but we don't, so perhaps these bright and happy blooms will find their way into my basket one day soon.

Using a panel of watercolour paper, I stamped and embossed in white these Pure Florals -Lily images, creating my own masks from Post-its, before colouring with my Zig watercolor pens, great for detail and larger areas!

I chose a purple and deep pink against a pale blue background, washing in some pale colour to the petals first, adding some darker areas whilst still wet, before going back to add the details once the background was dry. I finished by adding my blue background wash of dilute Salty Ocean DI.
My sentiment strip is from the Pure Florals - Cosmos set.
The completed panel was trimmed down to size before adding to an A6 top folding note card.

While I had my lily stamp set on the table, I saw that over at Twofer the theme was Flowers, so I thought I would make another card using the same lily stamp. This time I used just the one bold bloom and coloured it using Copics. Now I have to say that due to the current situation, my stash of Copic friendly card is rather low, so I used some other white card for this to see how it would work. The end result isn't all that bad but not as good as the right card would have been. The surface of this card is more absorbent so the blending is rather patchy. Hopefully I shall be able to trot off to get some more of the good stuff from my normal local supplier very soon.

I went with a bright orange lily for this card and a sentiment from the Pure Florals Rose set.

Here are both cards together.

The Copic coloured one is more graphic compared to the arty looking watercoloured one but I do love this large lily stamp.

That's all from me for the mo, but for more bright and happy Uniko inspiration, please check out our fab GD Viv and the rest of the team here, along with all Ts and Cs.

We'd love to see your efforts, who doesn't want a bit of cheeriness in these dark days. You don't need to use Uniko stamps either but it would be great if you did.

All challenge details can be found on the Uniko blog.

Joining in over at:-

   

 

 
Fabulously Feminine                                             

Say it with Flowers                                         

    

Introducing Anniversaire Arts Decoratif and Background Builders Arts Decoratifs

Hi, and welcome back to the second day of the February Uniko release.

Today as the blog title suggests, we are introducing another Background Builder and a sentiment stamp set with an Art Deco feel.

My first card just uses the largest sentiment as the focus with a frame made with one of the small patterned stamps included with the sentiments.

I kept with the Art Deco feel and made a background to echo the small stamp in black, gold and off white card. 

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed with sparkly black EP before adding the gold embossed pattern top and bottom on a die cut circle. It's such a fab sentiment that I didn't think it needed much else!

My second card uses one of the strips from the Background Builders set and the Outlined Alphabet set, just gold on black this time.

The strip was stamped repeatedly onto a panel of black card before the sentiment from Pure Florals Cosmos was added and the fussy cut letters embossed with the same gold EP were added. The finished panel was simply added to a black base card with pads.

So what do you think of the release so far?

For more release inspiration, check out Bev and the rest of the team below.

Bev
Carol 
Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - That's me
Linda

Rahmat

Sarah P
Wiebke 

Joining in over at:-

Clouds of Cosmos

Good morning folks.

There's a brand new challenge starting over at Uniko and here is my inspiration for you.

You might be able to guess what the theme is this time -

My inspiration is a little bit literal bearing in mind the photo above!
I chose the Pure Florals Cosmos stamp to create my little scene, masking and stamping to get the mass effect. I then coloured them with a mixture of DI and Zig watercolor pens quite loosley, before fussy cutting the arrangement and adding it to my Brusho coloured panel on foam pads. The vibrant turquoise I used for the sky contrasts with the soft pink of the cosmos blooms and the green at the bottom suggests the foliage and grass. I simply sprinkled the crystals onto some MM paper and spritzed with water, then allowed it to dry and cut my panel with a stitched rectangle die.
To finish I added the sentiment from the same set stamped on a strip of matching card.

I love Cosmos and have them growing in the garden, they go on and on producing their dainty blooms amongst the ferny foliage all summer long. Last year they were a bit like Quatermas, as they grew to be over 4ft in places but after checking the seed packet I realised that they were just a tall variety, so ensured that I went for a dwarf version this year!

Check out the rest of the team here for more flowery inspiration.




    
Summer Colours                                       Earth Laughs in Flowers

Uniko mini stencil launch

Morning all.

Hope you've had a good week and are ready for the weekend.

We are super excited here at Uniko to have a mini release of 3 brand new stencils.

Here are a few ideas I came up with whist playing with them!

This one uses the Bright Butterflies stencil and I started off by embossing with it in my BigShot, using ordinary white card and a tan mat. By embossing it I was able to see where to add my Flutter glue for the silver highlights and it gives a subtle texture to the rest of the panel! 

After adding the glue with a fine brush I waited for it to get sticky then added the silver gilding flakes. Rubbing away the excess, I added colour to the rest of the embossed butterflies using my Zig watercolour brushes. The sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks was stamped on black and embossed with silver EP. To put it all together, I first cut a panel from the embossed panel then to give a little extra shadow added a panel of black before adding to a white A6 base card.

My second card also uses the butterfly stencil.

This time I started by adding DOx in Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean to a panel of white card and adding a few spritzes of water to create my background. When dry I went back in with the stencil and using a finger dauber and more DOx in Salty Ocean I inked in some of the smaller butterflies, moving the stencil around to give the effect I wanted.I stamped the sentiment from the Pure Florals -Daffodil set and embossed it with white EP and then die cut a large butterfly from the panel. I was going to just pop it up on some fun foam but decided to add some Blueprint sketch to the edges and some more Salty Ocean DOx and as the gilding flakes were still on the desk, added some to the edges of the wings after I'd inked it. My completed panel was mounted on textured silver card and then onto a 5 x 7 white base card. I have sent this to my daughter as it is her birthday today. She loves turquoise and butterflies!

Uniko Stencil Bright Butterflies £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

My next card uses the fab Mehndi Mandela stencil.

When I first saw this I just had to use some of my gold embossing paste and what better background than this fab purple. When the embossing paste was dry I added a simple sentiment panel stamped with part of the Just Because set embossed with gold EP.

Uniko Stencil Mehndi Mandala £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

The third stencil is Scattered Polka Hexagons, perfect for giving backgrounds a little bit of interest, as in this example.

 The background panel was made by inking white card with Candied Apple, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick DOx. Then, with the stencil attached to the inked panel with some masking tape, I went over with a brand new baby wipe, pressing down through the hexagons. This removes some of the ink to create this soft background, the harder you press the more ink you remove.

I'd seen Jennifer McGuire use a partial die cut technique  on YouTube, but as my Uniko teammate Sarah P found out it isn't as easy as she makes it seem! However, after a bit of faffing around I think I ended up with an acceptable result. The rose die is from The Works and was partially cut from a panel of white card twice, leaving the strip in the middle which I stamped with the sentiment from Pure Florals -Cosmos. I die cut 4 more of the roses from scrap white card, stacked them together and glued them to the under side of the partial die cut panel. This was easier than repeating the difficult process of partial die cutting and a strip of foam tape supports the center strip.

This last card uses a technique I used here. It's quite a simple technique but effective I think.

To start I took a panel of bright pink card then attached the stencil with masking tape, then inked through with Brilliance white ink. After this layer was dry I replaced the stencil but moved it slightly to the SE of the panel and added Seedless Preserve DI. Where the ink hits the white it tones down the intensity so it appears that you have added a third colour!

My sentiment was made by layering 3 different embossing powders over a layered die cut word.

Using off cuts of the pink card I cut 3 words, stacking them together with glue. Then I inked the top with Versafine and added silver EP, then I inked again but this time added WOW Strawberry EP and finally I added Holographic EP. The effect wasn't as pink as I thought it would be but I still liked the overall effect. The birthday wishes, from the Birthday Sentiments set was stamped and embossed in white on black and a few gems complete. My trimmed panel was added to a plain white base card.

Uniko Stencil Scattered Polka Hexagons £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2018

www.uniko.co.uk

So that's about it from me, however, as with any new release at Uniko there's a blog hop to celebrate and show you beautiful inspiration using the new products. We also have a wonderful, talented and all round lovely crafter joining us as our Guest Designer.... Ruth from Crafting While The Baby Naps. 

With all Uniko Blog Hops we have a GIVEAWAY too! Simply comment along the hop for your chance to win one of the three stencil designs being released and as there are 3 new designs, Bev will randomly pick 3 lucky winners!!

So what are you waiting for, get hopping!

Bev

                      Julie - that'll be me
Linda

Sarah G

Wiebke 

GD Ruth

I'm joining in over at:-

Stamping, embossing, stencil and die cuts

   

                                                                                               reds are WARM colours

   
                   Favourite type of embossing - Horses for courses but dry embossing gives texture and allowed me to see where to add colour and gilding flakes