Uniko Introducing Stencil Flower Power #6

Welcome back! 

This is the second Introduction in the Uniko Nov 2022 stencil release. If you missed day one you can catch up here. Today it is the turn of the Flower Power #6 stencil, which of course matches with the Uniko Flower Power #6 stamp set. 

The Flower Power #6 stencil inspired me to create a 'tile' effect to my card so I used white stencil paste with the detailed flower part of the stencil onto blue card. I added the leaves using the Flower Power #6 stamp set and the sentiment from the Uniko Floral Vines stamp set.

Pop over to the Uniko blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the Brand Ambassadors and as always, leave some lovely comments too. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Introducing Stencil MOD Background Builder

Morning everyone, 

Today we are Introducing the Uniko MOD Background Builder stencil. This stencil is right up my street as I love this style. I used autumnal colours as it's looking very much like this in the UK at the moment and the colours are just so inspiring, also a perfect match to this stencil I thought. 

Don't forget to hop over the the Uniko blog to check out the beautiful creations by the rest of the Brand Ambassadors and leave some love! 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Nov 2022 Stencil Release Sneak Peeks

Morning All, 

Welcome to the exciting sneak peeks for the Uniko Nov 2022 stencil release. There is a lovely mix of Christmas and none Christmas stencils for you to feast your eye on. Just the sneak peeks today but come back tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday for the Introductions. Thursday sees the full release, Brand Ambassador blog hop and GIVEAWAY!

So here we go:

Hope that's got you excited to see more.

Much love

Steph x 

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Christmas Stencils

Hello everyone, 

I hope October finds you well. I am here today with my Uniko Brand Ambassador post and I am still very much on the Christmas crafting wagon! I do think Christmas craft might be my favourite.

This month I have focussed on stencils because I think you can make cards pretty quickly with stencils (if you exclude the paste drying time!), you can usually get two cards out of one run of the stencil (A6 size cards) and they add interest without adding bulk for lower postage costs.

For my first two cards today I used the Uniko Christmas Folk Snowflake stencil and white stencil paste. 

Once the stencil paste had dried I cut down the panel to make two and adhered to the card bases. I started off with the Kraft card but I definitely prefer the one mounted onto a red card base. To this, I added a heat embossed sentiment from the Uniko Festive Sentiments stamp set which I fussy cut, mounted onto velum and fussy cut again.

My next cards use the Uniko In The Forest stencil, one with white stencil paste and one with glitter stencil paste.

As the stencils are detailed and the focal point on the card I didn’t want to add anything more than a simple sentiment, again from the Uniko Festive Sentiments stamp set and also heat embossed, fussy cut and layered onto velum.

I hope these designs have given you some ideas for quick Christmas cards and ignite your passion for stencils! 

Much love

Steph x

The Male Room Challenge #167

Good morning all, 

I hope this morning finds you well? This month at The Male Room challenge we have a theme of CAS or Clean and Simple:

Now then, this is right up my street!! I really enjoy CAS crafting so the challenge for me was about what images to use. As I was looking around the craft paraphernalia (great word!), I noticed some images I had stamped but not yet coloured or fussy cut. So, those were the ones that ended up on my card.

These lovely trolls are from a stamp set by Clearly Besotted called Good To Be Bad. I already had them stamped so I set about colouring them with alcohol markers and then fussy cut them out. To keep the card simple I added a small amount of ink blending to the bottom left corner followed by a sentiment from the same set stamped over to the right. To this I adhered the image and the card was done. Perfect for a young boy's birthday I thought. 

Hopefully you have been inspired to join in and take up the CAS challenge. Maybe you could use some of your ready created stash for inspiration as I did? Or pop over to The Male Room blog and check out the oodles of wonderful talent on display by our Design Team. 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #516

Hey everyone, 

Today we have Color My Heart Color Dare challenge #516 and it is a triple play (use all three colours):

We reference Close To My Heart colour names but you can use any brand as long as it is a very good match. 

I have had this die for a while but this is the first time I've had chance to use it and I'm really pleased with the results. I like the shadow effect from the three challenge colours. 

I'm sad to say this will be my final challenge with the Color My Heart Color Dare team...for now! Life has become hectic and sometimes we have to make hard decisions to keep our sanity, and for me I've had to reduce the time spent crafting. Hopefully this won't be forever and the team may allow me to come back! 

Do head over to the Color My Heart blog and check out the amazing work by the rest of the Design Team and join in the fun! 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #514

Hi all, 

Thanks for joining me today for Color My Heart Color Dare challenge #514. Today we have a really lovely inspiration photo for you.

Don't forget to choose at least three colours visible in the photo, not including the free colours of black, white and gold. 

I selected a couple of shades of blue from the lovely water in the photo. I also had to pick a couple of the gorgeous greens. Finally I added a little yellow from those fabulously autumnal leaves. I have used a layering stencil here and I had so much fun. I will definitely be trying this out in every colour combination I can think of! 😂

I decided to die cut the finished panel to fit a slimline card base and I added my sentiment in black and white to stand out.

Please hop over to the Color My Heart Color Dare blog for more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team and join in with the challenge. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Peace on Earth

Hi all, 

Thanks for joining me today for my Uniko Brand Ambassador inspiration post. I seem to be on a roll with Christmas cards at the moment so I have chosen to use the Uniko Peace on Earth stamp set. I have however, made one card that isn't a Christmas card with this set...read on! 

Here I have kept to a very traditional layout, stamping one of the doves and fussy cutting. I stamped the olive branch twice and fussy cut also before layering them and the dove onto a navy blue die cut circle. The sentiment is also from the Peace on Earth set and is heat embossed using white embossing powder. 

For my next card I have white heat embossed the edges with snowfall from the Uniko Background Builders: Winter Wonderland stamp set. I then heat embossed the two doves onto navy card and fussy cut. The olive branch is stamped directly onto the card using green ink as is the sentiment using navy ink. 

For my final card I wanted to show how this stamp set could also be used for a congratulations (or wedding) card. I stamped and heat embossed the doves using black ink and fussy cut. I then used the outline heart from the Uniko Background Builders: Hearts stamp set and heat embossed in clear before infilling with glossy accents. (I think it looks a bit like the middle of a jammy dodger!!). I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from the Uniko Flower Power #3 stamp set before adhering all the elements to a green die cut stitched rectangle and then onto the card front. 

Hoping I have given you some useful inspiration today and that you are where you want to be in terms of your Christmas crafting!!

Much love

Steph  

The Male Room Challenge #166

 Good morning all, 

Thanks for joining me today as we announce this month's challenge at The Male Room. The theme is 'Song Title'. 

Oh my, what a wide open theme! What springs to mind for you? 

My card sort of evolved naturally without me having to think too much because I was using up some of my patterned paper stash plus some elements I had already stamped an coloured. When I had finished I realised it would work well for this challenge and the song ‘London’s Calling’ by The Clash sprang to mind.

So my background is a map of central London taken from an old diary I once had. It’s amazing what you can use to make a card! The smaller London elements are from a stamp set by Clearly Besotted and I added a signpost and sentiment from a set I received with a UK magazine. 

Now I challenge you to not only join in with our challenge over at The Male Room but also to search your stash and look for inspiration from it too. Head over to The Male Room blog and check out what inspired the rest of the Design Team and their song title choice. Leave them some love! 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #512

Afternoon Guys, 

Thanks for joining me for today's Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #512. This week we have a Fancy Five, but you only have to use three colours. 

We reference Close To My Heart colour names but you can use any brand as long as you make a VERY close match. 

For my card I chose to make a sea scene using Glacier, Lagoon and Sundance. 

I had these dies from a UK magazine and they make really great cards. I used a wood grain embossing folder for the sea as I don't have a wavy style one. I think it worked out ok! 

For more fantastic inspiration head over to the Color My Heart Color Dare blog and check out how the rest of the Design Team used the colour palette. 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #510

Hi everyone, 

Welcome to this week's Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #510. This week it's a Tic, Tac, Toe board which can be tricky but I like the added challenge! 

We reference Close To My Heart colour names but you can use any brand as long as you make a VERY close match. 

I chose the middle column of Sage, Pine and Shortbread. 

I used Sage and Pine to ink up the Uniko Background Blocks Layered Modern Floral stamp set. I layered this panel onto a Shortbread coloured card and added the sentiment to finish. 

There is some wonderful inspiration over on the Color My Heart blog so pop over there and check it out. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Pattern Building Christmas Tree

Morning All, 

Welcome to my Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration post for August. My apologies for not managing to do a BA Inspiration post in July, time ran away with me as July is the busiest month of the year with birthdays, Carnivals and anniversaries. 

So on to today's post and I decided I wanted to get on board with the wonderful Christmas cards I've been seeing all over the Uniko blog in July. I was going to use one of the Christmas themed background builders sets but then I remembered the more recently released Pattern Building Christmas Tree stamp set and I thought it would be perfect for the cards I had in mind. I've tried to use the set in a different way so that you can really see how versatile this type of set is.

For this first card, I die cut a circle from copier paper and laid this onto my stamping card before selecting various stamps from the set and inking up in different colours. I simply moved the circle mask each time I wanted to create a new bauble. I used the straight line stamp for the 'string' and the tree frond for the top of the bauble. Even the 'Merry Christmas' sentiment is from the set but I did add the 'Happy New Year' from the Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set. 

For my second card I used up some scraps of coloured card and stamped or heat embossed the Pattern Building Christmas Tree stamps across them before die cutting into squares or rectangles. I added thin strips of black card across these to look like ribbon on presents. I stamped the sentiment in the top right hand corner but the card looked a little blank so I stamped the trees from the (now retired) Uniko Christmas Pop stamp set. (If you wanted to try and recreate this card but don't have the Christmas Pop stamp set, you could use the Uniko Christmas Pop Trio stencil instead). 

For my third card I threw all the patterns plus some more created using Uniko Background Blocks Diagonal Stripes, Uniko Background Blocks Pinstripe and Uniko Background Blocks Nautical Stripes. I cut all the patterned pieces to the same size and arranged them onto a large green square before adhering to the card front. Finally I stamped the sentiment from the Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set, die cut into a circle, backed onto a green scalloped circle and adhered to the card front. 

I have kept all the designs flat as I post a lot of my Christmas cards and with the price of everything seeming to be going up, up, up, I wanted to make sure my postage costs weren't ridiculous at Christmas time! 

I'm hoping this has got you all in the mood for some Christmas crafting!

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #508

Afternoon all, 

We are back again with another lovely challenge from Color My Heart Color Dare #508. There's a really pretty combination of colours in this week's palette. 

We reference Close To My Heart colours but any brand is fine as long as you make a VERY close match. Choose at least three colours from the palette, the free colours are extra to this. 

I chose to use Mulberry, Sangria, New England Ivy & Avocado.

I thought the colours would be perfect for this lovely Clearly Besotted bouquet stamp. I die cut it using a lace edge oval die and adhered it to an all white die cut background, finally adding the sentiment banner. Flowers for a get well soon card, perfect! 

Lots more lovely inspiration over on the Color My Heart challenge blog for you to check out and leave some love to the rest of the Design Team. 

Much love

Steph x