Uniko Challenge #66 Reminder

Morning all

We are back with reminders of the current Uniko challenge #66. 

Following on from the wonderful inspiration provided by the Brand Ambassadors at the start of the challenge, we now have even more fantastic projects to get your creative mind flowing!

Another slimline card from me and it’s so satisfying how the Uniko Background Blocks Arts Decoratifs stamp fits perfectly one on top of the other. I wanted a muted colour tone for this card and I matched this in my flowers from the Uniko You Are, Yes You stamp set but used the lighter blends also. The sentiment is from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks set and is simply stamped onto a piece of card that I coloured with one of the markers. 

Be sure to visit the Uniko blog where you can check out the fantastic inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful guest designer, as well as join in the challenge. 

Thanks for visiting,

Steph x

Uniko July 2021 Reveal, Release Day, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hello everyone,

Yay! I'm so glad you are here today to see the Uniko July 2021 release reveal! 

It's a big release this month and a mixture of stamps and stencils, so sit back, relax and enjoy. 

Firstly the stamps and what I created with them:

Heat embossed Background Blocks Diagonal Stripe in gold. Stamped and fussy cut Paradise Leaves stamp set followed by heat embossing in clear.

Repeat stamped Background Blocks Grid stamp and coloured in black, blue, red and yellow. Die cut ‘happy’ from Big & Bold Happy die set to create an aperture and stamped sentiment and party confetti from corresponding stamp set.

Background Blocks - Layered Modern Floral stamped in blue and green on the top half. Background Blocks Grid stamped and coloured in blue on the bottom half. Ribbon and sentiment across the centre along with fussy cut flowers and leaves.

Stamped Block Party - Summer in Versamark onto grey card. Heat embossed in green, yellow, blue and lilac powder in diagonals. Die cut and layered onto grey card blank using foam pads.

Outline floral and leaf stamped onto grey card in dark grey (or Versamark) ink. Solid floral stamped in orange and outline stamped in grey onto white card and fussy cut. Orange florals attached using foam pads and any overhang trimmed off.

Simply Said Blocks III stamped in matching ink onto red, yellow and green card. Die cut circles, each larger than the one before and cut in half. Adhere to the card front as shown. Stamp more sentiments and fussy cut before adhering one on top of another to create a flower/windmill and add to the card front.

And now for the stencils:

With the Flower Power #8 stencil in place, used various colours of Nuvo drops to infill petal sections. Once dry, added heat embossed sentiments from the Uniko Birthday sentiments stamp set. (Don’t look too closely as there are some errors in my Nuvo drops but not too bad for a first attempt!).

Inked through Rainbow & Clouds stencil with white pigment ink onto dark blue card. Once dry, coloured rainbows with watercolour brush markers. Fussy cut and layered onto dark blue die cut squares and rectangles before arranging onto a dark blue slimline card base.

Inked card stock with Distress Oxide inks before laying the Squared stencil on top and inking through with white ink. Die cut with square nesting dies and added to dark teal card stock alternating flat lay and foam pad for dimension. 

Using various shades of green, ink through Tropical Leaf I stencil and fussy cut right hand edge. On another piece of card use orange ink through Tiger Print stencil followed by black ink, slightly offset. Add the leaf panel over the tiger stripe panel and add the sentiment from the Uniko Wild stamp set to finish. 

What a fabulous release from Uniko! Well done Bev. 

Now for some fun! Hop over to each of the Brand Ambassadors blogs and leave a lovely comment for your chance to win the ENTIRE release. 

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Rahmat

Steph - that's me!

Thanks for visiting today. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing... Doodle Flowers

Hey everyone,

Back again with the last of the Uniko stamps in this July 2021 release, but don’t despair we have the full release run down tomorrow and and blog hop with GIVEAWAY! 

Today we have stamp set Doodle Flowers which you may notice will team very nicely with existing stamp set Background Blocks Doodle Flowers and Doodle Flower stencil. 

I used the solid flower stamp (there is also an outline flower stamp) and heat embossed this in white onto three complimentary colours of card before die cutting them into squares. I lined my squares up before stamping the large sentiments in colours to match the card and then again in Versamark ink so I could clear emboss them. Finally I added the smaller sentiments in black ink.

I hope you have enjoyed this week packed with release introductions and I very much hope you have visited the Uniko blog to see all the other wonderful creations from the Brand Ambassadors. 

Don’t forget to pop back tomorrow for the full release run down, Brand Ambassador blog hop and GIVEAWAY! 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #454

 Afternoon all,

Welcome back for this weeks Color My Heart Color Dare challenge #454. We have a photo inspiration for you from which you must use at least three colours. Black and white can be used in addition to your chosen colours.

I love that gorgeous teal colour near the end of the tail so that stood out to me right away. I also wanted to use the fabulous copper colour from those superb feathers. Lastly I chose the beautiful green and spent some time admiring how nature really is amazing. 

As you can see, I not only took colour inspiration from the photo but theme too! The stamp set I used is from Clearly Besotted and is called Tickle My Fancy. I heat embossed the feathers abs sentiment in copper and green embossing powders onto teal card. And I left it as simple as that because the colour combination does all the work in making this card beautiful.

Please do come join in the challenge by heading over to the blog. There’s more fantastic inspiration from the Design Team over there too. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing... Stencils Flower Power #8, Rainbow & Clouds, Squared & Tropical Leaf I

Hi everyone,

Go grab yourself a cup of tea because we have a fabulous FOUR Uniko stencils being introduced today!

Firstly we have Flower Power #8 which matches the Uniko Flower Power #8 stamp set.  

I must have Christmas in my mind currently because when I saw this stencil I thought of a poinsettia. I wanted the flower to have some texture so I used white texture paste through the stencil and used the spatula to create 'veins' in the leaves. Once dry I was able to colour the paste with a mixture of inks and watercolour pens. The green watercolour pens have added sparkle which is so beautiful so I added some Wink of Stella to the red areas too. The paper I added the texture paste to also has a pearlescent touch so this is a very shimmery card! I fussy cut around the edge of the paste as I wanted to capture the shape of the flower. Finally I added the sentiment from the Uniko Stunning Snowflakes stamp set. 

Next we have the Rainbow & Clouds stencil. 

I like playing around with stencils and I seem to be less rigid in my crafting style when I use a stencil. This card is a good example of that and I have used lots of techniques here although the camera doesn't pick up in them all too well. My first job was to simply colour the rainbows through the stencil. I also used metallic white watercolour paint to colour the clouds. I knew I wanted to give the panel a blue watercolour wash so before I removed the stencil I inked it up with Versamark and used clear embossing powder to seal the rainbows and clouds. I gave the panel a light wash with watered down acrylic paint and was able to remove the paint from the embossed areas easily. Once it had dried, I placed the stencil back over the panel and ran it through the die cutting machine with an embossing mat which gave some subtle definition to the piece. Finally I added the sentiments, stamped in red, from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks stamp set.

Half way through now guys, how is that cup of tea?

The next stencil is called Squared. Now if you joined my for the sneak peeks on Monday you will see that I mentioned that some of the release might not have been my immediate 'go to' but I actually completely fell in love with the product once I got my hands on it. This is that item!

Initially I was having a panic about how to use this stencil but then I had a sudden blast from the past a realised that it was very like some wallpaper my brother had on his wall in the 80's! I can't remember the exact pattern but I remember the colours and the geometrics so I recreated it in this card.

And I love it!! It was so simple to create but the effect is amazing and it's perfect for those 'oh so difficult' masculine cards. I started off with a piece of grey card and drew inside each of the squares with a red gel pen. I then moved the stencil a little up and to the left and did exactly the same but with a black pen. I started off with my black gel pen but it decided to seize up on me within seconds so this is a simple black biro! I moved the stencil again, this time down and to the right, and used a white gel pen to draw the squares. I cut the panel to size and layered onto a red then black piece of card, each slightly larger than the last. I heat embossed the sentiment from the Uniko Anniversaire Arts Decoratifs stamp set and mixed 80's style with 20's elegance! Finally I added some Glossy Accents drops randomly to the panel. 

Now for the last stencil which is called Tropical Leaf I.

Just like the sentiment on my card, this stencil is lovely. I have used the inner part of the stencil only here but you do get the centre 'cut out' part too. Unusually for me this is a 5 x 7 card as I needed the bigger size to make the most of my tropical leaf border. I have inked the leaf up in pink and green before using Versamark and gold embossing powder for the solid gold leaves. For added interest I then used a Versamark pen to draw around the inside edge of the stencil and heat embossed this to give a 'skeleton' leaf effect. I added the gold glitter card frame with foam pads and inside this a panel using a sentiment from the Uniko Hello Lovely stamp set. 

So, how was that for lots of loveliness? And lucky you, because there's even more gorgeous inspiration over on the Uniko blog as the Brand Ambassadors have outdone themselves! Go check it out and come back tomorrow for the final Uniko Introduction before the big reveal, release day and blog hop GIVEAWAY on Sunday! 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing... Block Party Summer

Good morning everyone,

Today we have just one stamp to share but my goodness it's a good one! This stamp is called Block Party Summer and it encapsulates all the good things about summer time. 

I had a great old time making this card! First of all I created my beach scene background by blending various inks onto watercolour card. I initially wanted to heat emboss the stamp in white but I realised it wouldn't show up well towards the sky area so I stamped it in dark blue and heat embossed clear powder over the top (my range of embossing powder colours is limited!). 

The stamped image looked fabulous without anything further but I wanted to highlight some of the larger images such as the surf board and ice cream so I used some metallic gel pens to colour them in. Once I started I couldn't stop and I ended up colouring in everything! 

This is a really fab big stamp (A6 card stock used here) and the Brand Ambassadors have done a great job over on the Uniko blog so hop over and check it out. 

See you back here tomorrow for the introduction of FOUR stencils this month. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing... Background Blocks Layered Floral & Simply Said Blocks III

Welcome back!

Today we have another two Uniko stamp sets to introduce and they are called Background Blocks Layered Floral and Simply Said Blocks III.

This is a lovely set where the floral is on one stamp and the leaves to the right are on a separate stamp so you can layer these up. 

For my card I wanted to keep the colours simple and opted for a Kraft card base. I teamed this with heat embossing of the flowers in white and leaves in gold to create a floral background. I framed my floral ‘picture’ with a black die cut frame. My sentiment is from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks III stamp set (see below).

I very much love the Simply Said Blocks stamps and I was very pleased to see another one added to the range. They make for lovely additions to any card and stamp beautifully. 

I went with a 'love' theme and inked up various sentiments in red and pink. I die cut a heart shape from a piece of white card and adhered this over the top of the stamped sentiments using foam pads for dimension. I added a final addition of one sentiment to stand out on it's own and used a pink die cut frame to complete the card. 

I hope you are enjoying the Uniko July release so far and urge you to head over to the Uniko blog and check out the wonderful creations of the Brand Ambassadors. And of course, come back tomorrow for more!!

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing... Background Blocks Grid and Background Blocks Diagonal Stripe

Good morning,

Welcome back to day one of the Uniko introductions. Today we are introducing two stamp sets called Background Blocks Grid and Background Blocks Diagonal Stripe.

When I first saw this Background Blocks Grid stamp it made me think of a trellis in the garden so I stamped the Grid twice onto an A6 sized panel. It fits beautifully within the A6 parameters. 

I coloured up some small flowers from the Uniko Framed Floral Vines stamp set and some bees from the Uniko Bee Happy stamp set to place around the trellis background. I die cut the 'happy' sentiment from the Uniko Big & Bold Happy die set and stamped the rest of the sentiment from the Bee Happy stamp set. I love how the background helps the die cut sentiment to stand out despite it being white. 

The Background Blocks Diagonal Stripe stamp made me think of candy canes! So I stamped it up in a nice bold red and heat embossed in clear over the top. I wanted it to be nice and shiny like a candy cane. 

I framed the background block with a green cardstock border to add a festive feel. I then stamped the Uniko Background Blocks Pinstripe stamp in green ink onto white card and cut out two candy canes before also heat embossing them in clear. I topped the candy canes with a holly die cut and added the sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set. I think it's the perfect style of sentiment for this card. 

Thanks so much for joining us today and I hope you will head over to the Uniko Blog to check out more fabulous inspiration from the Brand Ambassadors. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see the next batch of the Uniko release. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko July 2021 Release Sneak Peeks

Morning all,

I hope you are all keeping well? You might remember that we had a mini stencil release for Uniko last month. Well today we are back with even more sneak peeks of the Uniko July 2021 release which consists of a mixture of stamps and stencils. They are all fabulous designs and what really surprised me was that the ones I perhaps wouldn’t have immediately reached for were the ones I now love the most! 

So, here are the stamp sneak peeks:

And here are the stencil sneak peeks:

Now that you’ve seen the sneak peeks, head back each day this week to check out the full view of the stamps and stencils and see what wonderful designs the Brand Ambassadors have come up with to tempt you! 

Much love

Steph x