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 April Release Day Blog Hop and Giveaway

Good morning, hope your weekend is going well.

Today marks the full release day for Uniko's April release and as per usual we having a Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!!

Simply leave some love along the way for a chance to win!

So buckle up, grab a cuppa and join me for some more release inspiration, then hop along to visit Bev and the rest of the BAs.

First off I've used the 2 small solid butterflies from Butterfly Serenade to create this.

Butterfly Serenade Clear Stamp Set £11.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

I chose some of my favourite colours and CASed a card of mine from way back. 

To create my opening for the sentiment, I cut a large butterfly mask using English Country Garden dies, then stamped the coloured butterflies around it. Removing the mask I stamped a sentiment. I had planned on using the larger sentiment from the set but couldn't fit it into the opening made by the mask, so used one from Originally Organic, stamped a couple of times in the darkest plum from the butterflies. The finished panel was going to be kept as is but after stamping I put it to one side which happened to be over the envelope from my daughter's Mother's Day card which I'd saved. It looked so pretty I decided to cut the panel down to reveal the thin pink edge!

Next up is a card using the Ink n Flip Delightful Diamonds and the spray using Flower Fusion stencil, which I fussy cut out.

Stencil - Ink & Flip Delightful Diamonds £4.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Stencil - Layering Flower Fusion £13.75

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

I found a card mask in my bits box which had rounded corners but was the correct size to create my central panel on the base card. Using the Delightful Diamonds stencil, I inked through the stencil onto a white A6 base card with Salty Ocean DI. 

The large daisy in the stencil reminded me of a very old daisy punch I had and I wondered if it would fit, so had a play. The punched daisy was coloured using the stencil which left the white collar in the center which I really liked and no fussy cutting involved!! The punch is a yellow Woodware one, 11/2" diameter, if you're interested. Unfortunately the rest of the spray had to be cut freehand. Each element was shaped using a ball tool before adding to my base card which I'd stamped the sentiment from Organic Flower garden.

Speaking of which, here is the second panel I mentioned on Wednesday using Originally Organic Flower Garden.

Originally Organic Flower Garden Clear Stamp Set £11.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

This panel was created the same way, using masking fluid but I spritzed water over the MM stamped panel before sprinkling some Brusho over and adding salt. This technique really does require good masking as Brusho powder gets everywhere!! 

Once the panel was dry I brushed off any loose powder before removing the masking fluid and watercoloured the blooms. A simple frame stamped with a sentiment from the set was added on pads over the trimmed down panel on a linen effect base card.

And finally I have this card using Spring Blossom layering stencil and the outline stamps from Organic Flower Garden.

Stencil - Layering Spring Blossom £10.75

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

The background was created using the stencil and a grey palette and the central panel was created using colours. A bit of fiddling around using a mask to identify the correct area to be used, before cutting it out. I softened the coloured panel by running the blending brushes used over each element and stamped the made up sentiment as before. The panel looked a bit bare so I stamped the blooms in a no line ink and used Copic to colour the large one and the stencil and DI for the smaller. All were fussy cut along with a few stencilled leaf clusters.

So that's all but for some more fab inspiration please check out the rest of the team below, leave some love and you'll be in the running for a £25 e gift card, the winner of which Bev will draw randomly from all comments on Monday 5th May 2025.

  Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie - me

Steph 

Vinita

Happy hopping!!

Joining in over at:-

 

Spring