Color My Heart Color Dare #502

 Afternoon all, 

We have a great challenge for you this week at Color My Heart Color Dare:

Can you restrict yourself to just two colours?! We reference Close to My Heart colour names but you can use any brand as long as you make a VERY close match. 

After much deliberation, I dug out the patterned papers and noticed this lovely yellow one which I thought would look great on a black card base. I used a fancy edged die to add interest. The pattern in the paper reminded me of my very cute die from concord & 9th so I cut that from blue and black card before piecing together. Finally I die cut and added the Lawn Fawn sentiment also in blue.

Now head on over to the Color My Heart blog to get even more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team and start to plan out your entry. 😊

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Pure Florals: Lily

Good morning all, 

Welcome to this month's Uniko Brand Ambassador inspiration. This month I decided to focus on the beautiful Pure Florals: Lily. 

My preferred method of colouring is alcohol markers so that's where I started. Initially I was going to use a white card base but I felt the Kraft base really lifted the florals. I added a simple embossed border before heat embossing the sentiment and adhering the florals with foam pads.

I wanted to push myself and try out colouring with coloured pencils too, and see how different the result was.

As you can see the result is much more subtle. Now, I don't have the best set of colouring pencils. I've always resisted investing in the very expensive ones as I just don't think I'll get the use out of them like I do with my alcohol markers. 

Which version do you prefer and what is your preferred method of colouring? I'd love to be better with water colours too...maybe I'll try that soon and share with you too.

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Reveal, Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Morning all, 

The day has arrived where we get to show you the new Uniko release products in full as well as share some more inspiration with you. I love this day, it's such fun!! 

So here we go:

This stamp set is huge! So it’s a bargain priced at £16.

When I first saw the lemon stamp I knew I wanted to heat emboss it onto vellum. I then coloured it on the reverse side with alcohol markers. It didn’t show up well enough on the green panel so I backed it with white card stock before fussy cutting out. 

Now, not only a Zesty stencil but a layering one too. Priced at £13.75 there are four layers to this set but you don’t have to use them all to get fantastic results. Check out my earlier card here which only used three of the layers. 

I love how fresh this panel looks using the Zesty layering stencils. To make the details stand out I heat embossed the smallest elements first before ink blending the light and dark yellows. 

An addition to the Background Builders sets in the form of hearts next.

So much fantastic inspiration shared earlier in the week for this £11 stamp set. 

Here I took design inspiration from the Background Builders Hearts stamp set itself and added the cascading hearts over the cascading hearts strip stamp. 

Just a single stencil next but probably my favourite item on this release for its impact and the ease with which a quick and fantastic card can be created. This one is priced at £4 and a must buy in my opinion!

Simple ink blending with Distress Oxides and a sentiment from the Sunshine & Rainbows stamp set (also on this release) and this card was done! 

And now for the final stamp set (it’s a good one too!) also priced at £11.

I moved away from the traditional rainbow for this card and used every other arch stamp leaving slightly larger gaps between. I love the result!

Wasn't that just the best?! As you can tell, I am loving this release and can't wait to play some more with the sets. 

As always, there is absolutely loads of amazing inspiration for you over on the Uniko and Brand Ambassadors blogs. If you visit each one be sure to leave a lovely comment along the way and you could win yourself a £20 eGift voucher.

Anita

Bev

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane

Julie

Steph - that's me

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare #500

Hi everyone, 

Hoping you are all well this Friday afternoon? This week's Color My Heart Color Dare challenge is a Tic, Tac, Toe board. Simply choose a row, column or diagonal to use in your creation. 

We reference Close to My Heart colours but you may use any brand as long as you make a VERY close match. You may use the other colours in the grid as well as the free colours of black, white and gold.

I chose to use the far right column of Evergreen, Sundance and Mocha. I've used a 'new to me' stamp set from Uniko called Originally Organic Additions with a sentiment from Uniko Everyday Sentiments set. I stamped the foliage heart and added in the florals in between. I coloured them in using alcohol markers in shades of my three chosen colours. I die cut the panel using a stitched border square die,  layered it onto a larger stitched border piece of Mocha card and then a 5" white card blank.

Hop over to the Color My Heart blog, leave some love for the rest of the brilliant Design Team and join in the fun. Which row, column or diagonal will you choose?

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release Introducing - Sunshine & Rainbows and Stencil Raindrops

Good morning to you all, 

We have a very cute stamp set to share with you today called Uniko Sunshine & Rainbows. Also today is an equally cute stencil called Uniko Stencil Raindrops. 

This stamp set has been a particular joy to work with as each 'layer' of the rainbow is a separate stamp making it so easy to work with. 

I kept to a very traditional rainbow for today's card but you will see a different way to use it if you come back for the reveal and release day. I just love the clouds too! Here I simply took each rainbow arc in turn, inked and stamped. I found it easier to start with the smaller arc and stamp outwards. 

I didn’t however stay traditional with my raindrops! 

I have also used the Uniko Sunshine & Rainbows stamp set and was very pleased to see that the small cluster of three raindrops stamp fits exactly over the stencil so I was able to stamp a few drops for a darker effect.

I never thought I needed a raindrop stencil in my life but oh my gosh I was so wrong! I absolutely love this stencil!

Head over to the Uniko Blog and see how the rest of the Brand Ambassadors used these fabulous products. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release Introducing - Background Builders Hearts

Good morning, 

I hope everyone is keeping well? We are here today to introduce Uniko Background Builders Hearts stamp set. These background builder sets are always so versatile. 

I have created a 'floating' panel for my card and heat embossed the heart stamp strips onto coloured card before die cutting them into a heart. I added the two further hearts for interest. I absolutely love the criss-cross effect of these heart stamps. 

Once again pop over to the Uniko blog to check out the other fantastic inspiration from the rest of the Brand Ambassadors and leave some love on the Uniko blog.

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release Introducing - Layering Stencil Zesty

Hi and welcome, 

Here we have the introduction of a marvellous set of stencils called Uniko Layering Stencils Zesty and I have had a ball with these! 

With my fondness for green I chose to create lime slices but of course there are other fruits you could use these stencils for. There are four stencils in all with this set but I have only used three of them here. Come back for the reveal and release day and you will see all four in action!

Firstly I inked the circles and semi circles stencil in green chalk ink. Next I added the ‘segment’ detail by dabbing white acrylic paint through the second stencil. Finally I added the ‘juicy’ squirts by inking a third stencil from the set.

Now. get yourself over to the Uniko blog and see more zesty creations from the rest of the Brand Ambassadors! Don’t forget to leave everyone a very lovely comment, it really does mean the world to us.

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release Introducing - Organically Zesty

Hi everyone, 

Welcome to the Uniko introduction of Organically Zesty stamp set. The size of this set is one of the larger ones provided by Uniko and it's really impressive and impactful on a card. You will of course see the full set on the release day post but here is a taster for you:

Here I have stamped the orange on white card before colouring with alcohol markers and fussy cutting. I have then repeat stamped the lemon in Versamark on Kraft card to give an effective but subtle background. 

Loving it already?! Pop over to the Uniko blog to check out the other fantastic inspiration from the rest of the Brand Ambassadors. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release Sneak Peeks Part 2

 Hi All

Welcome to the Uniko June 2022 release sneak peeks part 2. If you missed part 1 you can find it here.

In total this month we have three new stamp sets and two stencils. Yesterday we peeked at one of the stamp sets and a super layering stencil set so today we are peeking at the remaining stencil and two fabulous stamp sets.

Don't forget to head back tomorrow for the first of the product introductions. It’s going to be so fun!

Much love

Steph x

Uniko June 2022 Release - Sneak Peeks Part 1

Hi All

Welcome to the Uniko June 2022 release sneak peeks part 1. I have to tell you now that you are going to be so excited about this release. I have had such a nice time playing with the products!

Today’s sneak peeks are of one stamp set (which is huge!) and a fabulously fun layering stencil.

Don't forget to head back tomorrow for the next lot of sneak peeks which will not disappoint!

Much love

Steph x

The Male Room Craft Challenge #163

Welcome back! 

This month at The Male Room we are looking for a 'Tag'. 

As June is Father's Day in the UK I used that as my inspiration for my tag.

As my Dad is a super star I used my star dies to cut out some teal card that I have foiled with white foil. This type of foil does not require heat and simply sticks to adhesive so I used strips of double sided tape. I also foiled teal card with teal foil and die cut the smaller tag shape before adhering this onto a larger tag shape using foam pads. The larger tag die and the sentiment are both from Clearly Besotted. 

So where will you draw your inspiration from for your tag? Head over to The Male Room blog to see what themes the rest of the awesome Design Team used and to join in with us! 

Much love

Steph x