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 Background Blocks Offset Stripes

Welcome to day 3 of the Uniko June release intros.

Today our focus is another in the ever useful Background Blocks series, Offset Stripes.

This was inspired by a poster I found online with a simple Sentiment Block sentiment in black.

Using my Misti, I stamped first with Altenew's Dew Drops, then masked off the first stripe and stamped again. I repeated this using a darker ink each time. Altenew's mini ink cube sets make this super easy.

Once dry, I trimmed the panel down and added to a kraft base card on pads. A simple quite masculine card.

So there you have it, that's all from me today but please check out the rest of the team to see what ideas they've had. I'll see you back here tomorrow for the final introduction.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Uniko October Release in Review and a Blog Hop

Morning Uniko friends. 

As a few of our Brand Ambassadors were late receiving their October stash and were unable to take part in the introductions, Bev has decided to have a  release revisit and of course our usual blog hop and a GIVEAWAY!!

Today, I've got a couple of autumnal makes using the Autumn Serenade and Big n Bold Thankful to share.

These cards use both autumn sets to create a colourful stamped panel of leaves and a Big n Bold sentiment! The trees around here are only JUST turning, many are still quite green but the cherries and Field Maple are showing their colours at last!

I created my panel by stamping the leaves onto white card with a mixture of inks, layering up the colours to give this effect. What did we do before stamping platforms were developed?! If done correctly the colours simply blend together, LOL. 

On another panel I stamped the thanks in 2 phases with WOW brass EP and stamped the Many in Altenew Mangrove Root, a dark ink but not as stark as black would be. My top panel was then die cut at a jaunty angle to reveal the leaf panel below.

My second card uses more of the stamped panel, this time with a nod to the sketch at Colours and Sketches.

The stamped leaf panel was added to a brown, slimline base card and a couple of strips of matching inked card framing it. It is in the middle of the card, I think the photo angle has foreshortened the bottom section! A Simply Said Blocks sentiment in stamped in the same Mangrove Root as before completes. I think this would make a fab masculine card, not too fussy at all. Change the colours and you would have a totally different feel!

That's all from me for now but please check out Bev's and BA blogs for more inspiration.

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie 

Steph

Vinita

 Now for the giveaway, simply comment along the hop for your chance to win a £20 eGift Code to spend in store. 

Happy hopping!

Joining in over at:-

BA Inspiration at Uniko

 Good morning, time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme is:-

FATHER'S DAY

My daughter is always asking for a couple of cards for the boys to give to their dad for Father's Day, so this was the perfect excuse to make one and here is one of them. I used products from Uniko so this post is also combined with a BA post for them here.

 I'd seen Jennifer McGuire use sentiments to create fab cards so thought I would have a go.

Looking through all my Uniko Simply Said Blocks, I took an assortment of suitable phrases and stamped them onto white card in the colours of Liverpool FC, my Son in Laws favourite team! I know they usually play in red but their away kit is this dark teal colour and the emblem is always yellow/gold! The inks used here were from Altenew, Maple Yellow, Galactic Stream and Heart Beat.

Once I'd stamped a variety of sentiments, they were trimmed down and arranged across the corner of an A6 top fold base card in some kind of logical sequence! I tried not to have two colours overlapping so sometimes the logic had to go out of the window! The sentiment blocks glued down, I trimmed back the overhang and added a thin strip of red card to neaten up the top edge, stamped the greeting from Nautical Treasures and added the die cut letters to complete.

For a totally different look, you could change the sentiment blocks used to create a birthday or thank you card. A simple change of colours would also give you a different look, simply choose the recipients favourite colours, they don't have to be for a football team! The possibilities are endless.

For more Father's Day inspiration check out the rest of the team here. 

Mono printing with Stencils at Uniko

Morning all, hope I find you well.

I'm over on the Uniko blog with a few cards using stencils and mono-printing.

I'd never tried this before but after watching the fab Jennifer McGuire I had a go and ended up with two fun panels.

The base panel was inked with Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean DI before being spritzed with water and sandwiched with my stencil and a plain white card panel.

I love the texture you get with this technique. Here are a few cards I made.

This first card uses the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and a strip of the darker of my two panels, slipped behind textured lined panels. A simple stamped, uncoloured small peony bloom from Pure Florals - Peony keeps it simple, uncoloured so that the panel shines, the sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks.

For the second card I used a panel die cut from the paler print and the same bloom, again not coloured so as not to distract from the background. This time the sentiment from the peony set is stamped on matching linen cardstock.

My final card uses a slightly different technique to create the background. Instead of a piece of white card I added a cut down baby wipe over the stencil in the sandwich and ran it through a few times in the die cut machine as before. This time I rang the changes and used the Fun Flower stencil. The damp baby wipe lifts away the ink where it peeks through the stencil to leave this soft effect. The panel was inked with Tumbled Glass DI this time.

I really enjoyed playing around with my stencils and new techniques, further details can be found over on the Uniko blog.

I'd like to join in over at:-

Uniko Challenge

Morning peeps. 

It's been a busy week on my blog and it isn't finished yet!

Today sees the start of a brand new challenge over at Uniko, so here is my inspiration card for you.

Bet you can't guess what the optional theme is this time ;) .

Yup, love is in the air at Uniko!

For my take, I started by sponging ink onto a top fold A6 base card with Worn Lipstick DOx through my Doodle Flower stencil, fading it out towards the edges.

On a scrap of card, I stamped the bud from Pure Florals- Rose and coloured it using Copics before fussy cutting it out.

I wanted a sentiment but couldn't find the exact one so I made one using a couple of the Simply Said Blocks and Blocks II and a little bit of masking.

The Rose bud was placed over the stencilling and the sentiment over the top on pads, simples.

Check out what the rest of the DT have made, then why not join in

Bev

Carol

Izzy 
Jane 

Julie

Linda
Wiebke 

Joining in over at:-

      

Release Day at Uniko

OK, it's going to be a long post, so grab yourself a cuppa and join me as I take you through the whole Christmas release.

I've used all the stencils in the lead up to release day and most of the stamps but here are a few more ideas for you.

This card uses the Christmas Folk Snowflake stencil and Big and Bold: Merry.

The base card was stamped with the large merry and embossed with semi dull clear EP to create a subtle background for the strip of snowflakes. These were made with white embossing paste on Kraft and to complete a white heat embossed Christmas from the same Big and Bold set.

No stencils on this second card, just one of the images from Winter Botanicals: Sweet Broom

To start I inked up a panel of white card with DOx in autumnal shades then stamped the sweet broom spray and embossed with gold EP. I then lifted out the center of each leaflet with water. The contrast wasn't as great as I wanted so went over again using a pale yellow Prismacolour pencil.

The sentiment was cit from vellum and white card and layered up then the so much element from the So Much set was stamped and embossed with white EP. The finished panel was then attached to a white base card.

My final card showcases the Background Builders Christmas 2018 set.

The flower element reminded me of Christmas sweaters, so using my MFT zipper dies, I created this.

I left the sentiment off the first one but decided that it could work as either a birthday or Christmas card by the addition of a sentiment.

Here I used the new Simply Said Blocks Christmas 'Happy Christmas' and for the second I added one from the Simply Said Blocks set, both embossed with white over red.

So here are the five brand new sets of stamps, 2 large and 2 small.

The next 2 clear stamp sets are being released from retirement! 

As well as the stamps there are these 3 stencils!

So that's it from me., but there's tons more inspiration supplied by the rest of the DT.

Hop along and comment for a chance to win. All details are to be found on the Uniko blog.

Bev
Carol 

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie -that'll be me

Linda

Lindsey

Sarah G

Sarah P

I'd like to join in over at:-

Autumn Splendour 

Colours of Autumn

Uniko Blog Hop, revisiting all over stamps and stencils

Over at Uniko on non - release months like this, Bev and the Design Team look back at a previously released product and give it some more love together with a Blog hop and GIVEAWAY!

Usually it's just one product that was released the previous year or a once favourite that hasn't seen much air time. However, this time Bev couldn't decide on the product, so as a team we randomly selected a stamp set and then went a little polka dot crazy and added in some popular sentiment sets too!

I went totally polka dot crazy with this card for my daughter's Brother in Law's forthcoming nuptials in the Big Apple. She's not big on flowers, so requested something that was more suitable for an urban style wedding.

On an A6 panel of white I inked through the stencil in an arc with a Versamark pad, before embossing with silver EP. I then moved the stencil around and repeated, 1st with Silver Pearl EP, then Hologram Sparkle EP and finally with Memento London Fog. The sentiment from Birthday Wishes was also stamped in the grey ink but embossed with a clear EP. 

I wanted to have a hint to the NY event, so added a skyline with 3 strips of a die cut in shades of grey card that matched the confetti effect of the stencilling.

My finished panel was trimmed and then added to another of silver glitter paper, before beiging glued to a 5 x 7 white base card.

My second card uses the two Simply Said Blocks sets for an all over background pattern.

Using Autumnal colours I stamped my brick background using 5 of the blocks, Thanks. Thank You, Hello, Smile and Just a Note. The thanks was then cut from the finished panel with an alphabet die and again from brown fun foam. Before replacing the thanks into the die cuts, I stamped the 'You're Awesome' in Brown and heat embossed it with clear EP. The stamped die cuts were glued onto the foam ones then replaced into the spaces. The whole lot was mounted onto a white basecard, 

You don't have to use the thanks idea, different blocks would work just as well with a different die cut word or phrase.

For more inspiration check out the rest of the team here.

Bev
Carol 

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - that's me
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Wiebke 

Comment on your way around for the chance to win a Uniko £20 eGift Certificate, you have until midnight BST Saturday 22nd Sept 2018 to comment.

I'm joining in over at:-

Went with the orangey colours from the photo

Something beginning with B

Bricks, blocks and brown