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:-

 

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:-

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 reminder

Good morning and welcome to my post to remind you that there is still time to enter the latest challenge over at Uniko. Here is my inspiration for you.

In my first card here I went with the daffodils in the photo as my first signs of spring and are definitely something to lift the spirits but this time I brought out my Spring Botanicals - Tulip. Tulips emerge a little later than the daffs and I have to grow mine in pots because of the soil conditions but in the proper place they look fabulous en masse, in all colours and shades, I can also see them better as they are near the patio doors!

I went with the en masse theme rather than the specimen bloom for my card, masking and stamping with Versamark before heat embossing with white EP on mixed Media paper. I then watercoloured the blooms with a selection of DIs including Twisted Citron for the leaves and stems and Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin for the flower heads. The background is a wash of Salty Ocean. I added a little bit of shadow to the leaves and stems with Mowed Lawn. 

When dry I used an MFT pierced rectangle die to cut my panel. The sentiment from the same set was stamped on a white strip in black and the finished panel added on pads to a faux linen base card.

For more Signs of Spring/ Easter inspiration check out the rest of the team and our GD Stephanie here.

I'm joining in over at:-

Bleaching Brusho

Morning folks.

I'm over at Uniko with some springtime BA inspiration.

As some of us are all spending more time in our gardens because of lockdown, I thought I would take the opportunity to use some flowers in my cards too.

The technique I used was inspired by the challenge over at CAS Mix Up, I'd never tried it before but I love the effect it gives.

Starting with a panel of white card and using the top half of the Tulip stamp, I stamped, heat embossed with white EP and masked as I moved across the bottom of the card panel. 

Once I was happy with the amount of stamping and embossing,  I sprinkled Prussian Blue Brusho across the middle, then Leaf Green across the bottom third. I didn't worry about any overlap, just wanted 2/3 of my panel covered.

I then spritzed the bottom 2/3 with water and put to one side to dry.

Once dry I took a small amount of concentrated bleach in a dish and added some water to dilute. 

After it had dried I added some colour with pink Zig watercolor brush pens, this is the result. I chose pink so that it wouldn't matter if the pale blue left from bleaching showed through. Some green was also added to the stems and leaves.

I loved the finished panel but decided to make it go further by cutting it in two and trimming each panel down to size.

The first just uses the left hand strip glued flat on an A6 white card after adding a sentiment from the Simply Said set on a strip of card. A couple of slivers of silver mirror card down each side complete.

The second uses the cut down right hand panel, close cropped with a die cut frame.
The same sentiment was stamped on the frame and the whole panel was popped up on some funky pink foam.

Two cards from the one panel and two totally different looks.

I'm joining in over at:-


                                                         Brusho, heat embossing and a die cut

                                                             Flowers and/or showers

Uniko's 8th Birthday & February Release

Good morning and welcome to the February & 8th Birthday product reveal, blog hop & giveaway! Today we're excited to share the seven new clear stamp sets to the Uniko line up plus one new coordinating Designer Die collection.

Well here's my first card using the BB Decoratif and the sentiment from Anniversaire Arts Decoratif.

This is made from the larger panel I used in my first card here.

The alcohol ink on Yupo panel was made by adding dark grey and blue and moving it around with a puffer and felt pad. When dry, I added lots of baby powder to the surface to ensure there were no sticky bits then stamped the BB Decoratif with Versamark and heat embossed with gold EP. A quick buff with a microfibre cloth when the embossing was dry got rid of the baby powder!

The panel was trimmed down close to the edge and mounted on a panel of white card to create a narrow trim. I then decided to add a matching gold border by adding the same gold EP to a pre trimmed panel of white card edged with Versamark. 

The sentiment, from Anniversaire Arts Decoratif, was added with Versamark to a black base card and the same gold EP used to heat emboss. The finished panel was popped up on pads above the sentiment.

My second card uses both the Kindness Blooms stamps and the matching dies.

I started by stamping the flowers and leaves with Versamark on a panel of white card and then heat embossed using white EP. 

When cool, I inked up the panel with a mixture of Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber DOx, blending as I went, then buffed up with my microfibre cloth to remove the excess.

My black sentiment banner was stamped with one of the Anniversaire Arts Decoratif set and embossed with white EP. A few sequins complete.

My third card uses the gorgeous Spring Botanicals-Tulip and a strip from the Background Builders Arts Decoratif set.

I stamped and watercoloured the tulips before fussy cutting them and putting to one side.

On a panel of white card, I die cut the aperture with an MFT die, then used it to trace onto the base card to show where I needed to stamp the background. 

You can see the embossed pattern in close up above. I repeat stamped the strip stamp and embossed with Silver Pearl EP. The die cut panel was then popped up on pads and the tulips added. The sentiment from the same set was stamped on black with white EP.

Finally, this card uses the Happy Days set and Background Blocks Pinstripe II.

I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the colours from Color Throwdown. 

To start, I die cut a stitched circle from a panel of linen effect card stock and cut three strips of scrap card, one stamped with the pinstripe block in grey and the others I inked with Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet. The foliage stamp was stamped with Altenew Parrot ink before fussy cutting it.

I flipped the center die cut and placed it back into the aperture before placing the coloured strips and the fussy cut sprig. The sentiment from Happy Days was stamped in black and white EP, a few tiny sequins were added to complete.

So here is the full set of stamps from the release.

*PLEASE NOTE:- To protect Bev's designs and discourage the blatant theft of them, there is a watermark over the top of the product image. This makes the image appear that the lines are not solid. We apologize for the inconvenience and ensure you that this is not part of the design or physical stamps you will receive. To see what the stamp/s look like when stamped, please have a look at the samples in the product gallery. Thank you for your understanding*

The products will be available to purchase at 9pm GMT on the Uniko Website. 

Alphabet Outlined £16

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Anniversaire Arts Décoratifs £5

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Background Blocks Arts Décoratifs £5

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Background Builders Arts Décoratifs £10

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Background Blocks Pinstripe II £5

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Happy Days £5

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Spring Botanicals Tulip £10

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

Designer Dies Kindness Blooms £16.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2020

www.uniko.co.uk

So that's it. You have seen all the new stamps and die sets but be sure to comment on all the Brand Ambassador blogs for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release! You have until Midnight GMT Saturday 29th February 2020 to leave a comment. The winner will be announced Sunday 8th March 2020 along with all the other 8th Birthday Celebration Winners ;)

Bev
Carol 
Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - That's me
Linda

Rahmat

Sarah P
Wiebke 


Joining in over at:-

Introducing Spring Botanicals Tulips

Morning all.

We are rattling through the introductions of the new release from Uniko.

Today we introduce another member of the Spring Botanicals, Tulip.

This is a lovely bold image, perfect for colouring in what ever medium you prefer. I chose to use a no line watercolour technique for my card.

I stamped the large flowers with Altenew Limestone ink onto mixed media paper and then used a mixture of Seedless Preserve and Dusky Concord DI and Altenew's Evergreen, Forest Glade and Frayed Leaf to watercolour the flowers and leaves. I had a snippet of NitWits paper that I wanted to use so that really dictated the colour choice for the blooms.

On an A6 base card, I added the DP down one side then my trimmed down watercoloured panel. 

I made my sentiment from a few stamp sets, one black straight onto the w/c panel the other white heat embossed on black then up on pads. A few sequins complete.

For more BA inspiration check out the links below.

Bev
Carol 
Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - That's me
Linda

Rahmat

Sarah P

Wiebke 

Joining in over at:-