Garden Picks

Evening folks. 

Hopefully as March has started here like a lion weather wise, it will finish like a lamb, as the saying goes. I do hope so as the land cannot take much more water, I have never seen so many 'lakes' and we have already had two of our smaller trees blow down in the hedgerows. The lambs will be appearing soon and although they can survive the cold, the wet and cold is not good.

As it's the start of the month we have a brand new challenge for you at HLS CAS.

Here is my card for your inspiration based on this month's theme.

I couldn't decide what my favourite technique would be but in the end I went with die cutting and added watercolouring into the mix as well!

This is the first outing of Altenew's Garden Pick set, I have been wanting to try them for sometime as the other set I have is fabulous. My only bug bear with this set is the size of the flowers, the really tiny layers get mixed up with the waste and they are a pig to glue down when you finally find them!

I made this whilst crafting at a friend's last week, it was really good to craft in company for a change. She also cut out some of the flowers and found the same problem, still I think the effect was probably worth it! The smaller blooms should work with my other set.

I decided to use a black base card and contrast it with some Shabby White embossing powder in the background. It gives a good splatter effect, more solid than white paint I think. All I did was add some spots of Versamark with a pen and then added the chunky embossing powder. The Versamark captures some of the granules rather than them all blowing away! Once heated with the gun on slow to stop the powder blowing off, I added the watercoloured flowers and leaves.
A stamped and embossed sentiment banner complete.

For more of the teams favourite techniques, check out the HLS CAS blog here, then why not join in?

Joining in over at:-


Favourite Flower and why
I love roses but the OH hates them with a passion, the first thing he did when we moved to our last house was dig all the roses up! So the only way to enjoy them is on my cards!

    

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Morning all.

As you may know, we're celebrating Uniko's 8th Birthday.  We've had the Birthday Linky Party .....

...and there's the amazing Birthday Giveaway where one lucky winner will receive a fantastic prize.

Today I have a couple of birthday cards over at Uniko to share, one feminine and one more unisex.

Here's my first card using the recently released Hello Lovely and a sentiment made up from elements from both Birthday Sentiments and Festive Sentiments stamp sets. Yes I said Festive, Happy is not just for Christmas!

My second card is interactive and I was inspired to make it after watching this video on You Tube.

For all the instructions on how I made them pop over to the Uniko blog. 

I'm off later this morning for a little crafty fun with a friend I made at the Altenew class I attended in November. Its our second get together after the first had to be postponed from early December to last month due to the 'flu. 

Looking forward to some crafty chat with a fellow Julie!

Ahoy There Mate!

Morning all.

It's time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This time we would like to see your masculine cards using:-

INK and/or PAINT

For my inspiration I used two different inks in two different ways.

The background was made by using ink smooshed onto a panel of mixed media paper and left to dry. 

All I did was add DI in Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers to a craft mat,  then spritzed with water and dunked the panel in the middle!

Whilst waiting for it to dry, I stamped and coloured with Copic alcohol ink markers the island and pirate.

The porthole was created using an Avery Elle double pierced circle die set die and some pearls. Yes I did say pearls, I added some Versamark to some pearls and then sprinkled on some charcoal EP and heated up. The end result is sort of grungy aged effect.

Once the panel was dry, I trimmed it to size and added to a base card and added the elements, job done.

So which direction will you go in? The choice is yours, so long as it's for a bloke then it's fine!
Check out the rest of the DT here and why not join in?

I'm joining in over at:-

I went with the tropical island vibe and the gorgeous colour of the sea!

The 'nuts' on the porthole were embossed with charcoal EP

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 Happy Days and Background Block Pinstripe II

Well it's the final day of introducing the Birthday release at Uniko.

What do you think of it so far? Lots of Art Deco inspired stamp sets but also some floral ones as well.

Today we are looking at two new stamps, Happy Days, a silhouette foliage set and another background block, Pinstripe II.

Here is my card using both stamp sets using both together in a kissing technique.

I don't know what made me try this technique but I'm certainly glad that I did, as I think it adds interest to the foliage spray. 

I used my MISTI for this technique but you don't need to but it certainly makes things a lot easier!

.

 The spray was stamped first with the solid colour then I inked up the Pinstripe Background Block on an Acrylic block in a slightly darker colour and tapped onto the spray whilst it was still in the MISTI. As the card panel was still in the same place as was the leaf spray, the lines only stamped onto the original stamped image. You only have one go at this technique as there is no chance of a second inking. I didn't get 100% coverage but the overal effect works I think.

I decided on a rainbow of colours as I couldn't decide on which colours to use, moving the spray each time and re positioning it before stamping each time.

The space left after all this cried out for a large bold sentiment, so I used the largest one from Birthday Wishes stamped in black.

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

Bev
Carol 
Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - That's me
Linda

Rahmat

Wiebke 


Joining in over at:-

   
                                                           AG