.... I know that my blog has been very quiet for the past few months, but I think packing up our house in Michigan and moving back to our home in Wales is a reasonable excuse. However, I'm mostly unpacked now. I still have quite a lot to do to get my craft room into order, but I do think that I'm going to be able to craft in the new year!!! Yea.

I'd like to wish all my friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year.

I hope everyone has a super holiday. I'll be back crafting and posting soon. Take care.

Uniko - Sneak Peeks ....

…. Hello! I am so pleased to be posting today. I'm here with sneak peeks from Uniko's new release - we have lots in store for you. So, here goes.

This first peek might be familiar to some of you. We are bring back a couple of sets that had been retired. This one will be so useful for the coming Holiday season:

Next up is another of the previously retired sets and features my favourite Santa image - he's so cute:

Next is a new addition to the Background Builders series - it's really clean, simple and so very useful:

I think you'll like the next set - it features a bold word with lots of additional sentiments, again perfect for the Holiday season:

Next is a seasonal addition to the very popular Simply Said Block series - can't wait to play with them:

The last of our new stamp sets is an addition to the Botanical series, and it layers too!

As well as the stamp sets being released, we have a few new stencils too.  They are all super and I'm sure you'll all enjoy playing with them.

Bev and the rest of the Design Team will be starting introduction posts from tomorrow, and Release date is Tuesday 30th October. While I have my stamps and stencils, I won't be able to join in the fun as all the rest of my crafting goodies are on a sea container somewhere in the Atlantic!! However, I do hope that you'll pop along and check out all the inspiration projects from the rest of the team.

That's all for now - hope to be back to crafting soon!!!

Back Home ...

… I've finally managed to get my hands on Jonathan's laptop and thought it was time for a quick update.

Jonathan and I came home on 1st October  and it's so nice to be here. We are all now living in our lovely (but cozy) flat in Chester. Our goods will be leaving the States this week and should arrive in Liverpool at the beginning of November. Once our tenants have moved out of our house in Wales, we'll be able to get everything delivered. Then the unpacking starts!!!

Kat is really enjoying her new school and is very happy with the A-level courses she picked.  Of course she really misses her friends from Northville, but social media is the perfect way for her to stay in touch.

That's all for now. I hope to start blogging properly again before Christmas and be back on my design teams at The Male Room and Uniko - so miss getting inky!!

See you soon.

Moving house ....

... Hi all! It's been a while since I've been on my blog, but I've got a good excuse. We're in the middle of moving back to the United Kingdom. Jonathan's company decided they wanted him back and it's been all go since the middle of August.

Kat and I came back at the beginning of the month to get Kat enrolled in 6th form. She was really upset at first, but now that she's picked her school and A-level courses, she's settling in.

Since being back at home, I've found a cute flat to rent in Chester, bought a new car and am now looking at moving our household goods back here.

So, as you can tell I have very little time for crafting - but I did bring my Dylusions dyalogs home and do spend some time doodling. I will share some photos soon.

That's all for now.

Uniko - Framed Florals and Big & Bold Hello ....

.... Good morning! I'm here today with the last of the Uniko introduction posts. Today the Bev and the design team are introducing Framed Florals and BIG & BOLD Hello, the latest addition to the Big and Bold series. Both sets are just fabulous. I'm going to start with my card showcasing Framed Florals:

Stamps: Uniko - Framed Florals, Beautiful, Originally Organic Additions
Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Black Onyx; Stampin' Up! - Pool Party
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Grapefruit Grove, Silver Embossing Powder, Copics; Nuvo - Clear Shimmer Brush

I used my MISTI to stamp the image on white card, coloured it with Copic markers, repositioned it in the MISTI and stamped the image again with Versamark and heat embossed with silver powder. I cut the panel to leave a small white frame and then layered the whole image on dark peach card. I attached the panel towards the top left of the card and then stamped the sentiment. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of peach card and added a greeting to the white panel, along with a few little flowers. I'm submitting this card to Colour Throwdown - CTD#506 as I used their colours for the card.

My next card is much brighter and much bolder and features the large hello stamp:

Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Hello
Inks: Ranger - Alcohol-Lift Ink; Ranger Alcohol Inks - Crimson, Sunshine Yellow, Limeade, Flamingo; Gina K - Black Onyx; SU - Grapefruit Grove
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Dotted Rectangles #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Concord & 9th - Summer Glitter Paper Green; SU Card - Grapefruit Grove; Yupo Paper

At the end of July, I created a number alcohol inked yupo pages. I decided to use one of this card and make use of the new Alcohol-Lift ink pad. I simply die cut a panel from the yupo sheet (you need to run this through the machine several times to make sure you get a good cut). I put the panel into the MISTI, inked up the large hello stamp with the lift ink and stamped. I removed the alcohol inked panel, put in some white card and stamped off the lifted image - check back tomorrow to see cards with the image. I repeated the process to make sure the alcohol ink was sufficiently removed to reveal the word. I layered the panel on some green glitter paper and adhered it to the front of the card. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of peach card and on the white panel added a message and little flower. I'm submitting this card to Time Out Challenge - TOC#116 and to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAGD#08.

That's the end of our introduction posts. Tomorrow is release day and we'll be showcasing all the new stamp sets. You will also be able to purchase the stamps from Bev's shop. That's all for now. See you again soon.

Uniko - Beautiful and BB Happy Hexagons ...

... Morning! Welcome back, today we're introducing two more new sets from the upcoming Uniko release.  I'm going to start with the latest addition to the Background Builders series - Happy Hexagons. I really like these stamps and I made two cards:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Happy Hexagons, Originally Organic Additions, Bee Happy, Simply Said Blocks II
Inks: Gina K - Dusty Rose, Red Hot, Tangerine Twist, Wild Dandelion, Jelly Bean Green, Blue Raspberry, Wild Lilac, Lovely Lavender, Black Onyx, Sweet Corn, Sweet Mango
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Black; Gems; Gina K Wreath Builder Stencil

I started with the one-layer get well card. I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#285, the colours are from The Paper Players - PP#405, and the theme comes from Cardz for Guyz - C4G#201. I used my MISTI to work out where to stamp each image, took a photo and then had fun stamping. I think this is a bright, cheery card and perfect when feeling rough. I've left the inside blank.

Next is the square card. This one is totally different; I used the pretty large outline hexagon image to create a rainbow wreath or flower! I used my Gina K wreath builder stencil to position the card and stamp the flower. Once finished, I added a bold sentiment in the centre. I layered the finished panel on black card and attached it to a square card base. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of black card and on the white panel stamped the hexagon at the corners. I'm submitting this card to AAA Cards - AAA#121 where the theme is friendship.

I'm submitting both cards to Darnell's Twofer Card Challenge - TCC#08 where the theme is Geometric. I've been wanting to play along with this challenge for ages, but this is the first time I've actually managed to get my act together and make some cards!!

The second stamp set that we're introducing today is simply called Beautiful - and it is!! Here's my very clean and simple card:

Stamps: Uniko - Beautiful
Inks: Distress - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry; Gina K - Black Onyx
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Uniko Stencil - Lattice; Nuvo - Clear Shimmer Brush

I used masking tape to create a strip towards the bottom of the card. I stamped the flowers to the left and used masks to create a group of three flowers. Leaving the masks in place I put a stencil over the card and inked the background. Removing the masks makes it look like the stencilled pattern goes behind the flowers. I finished the front by adding a simple sentiment and lots of shimmer to the flowers. I've left in the inside blank for my own message. I'm submitting this card to The Flower Challenge - TFC#23 where they want one-layer cards. I've taken a photo to show all the lovely sparkle on the flowers:

That's all from me today - don't forget to visit Uniko and join in with the blog hop and leave some comments as you go! See you again tomorrow for the last of our introductions.

Uniko - So Much .....

.... Hi! Great to see you again! Today we start the Uniko introductions - it's always my favourite time to see all the projects from the rest of the team. Today we're introducing So Much - a mini clear stamp set that was a limited edition freebie with the December 2017 release.

I made a watercolour thank you card, something I always need in my stash:

Stamps: Uniko - So Much
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Black Onyx; Stampin' Up! - Sahara Sand
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Sahara Sand; Tim Holtz Watercolour Card; Zig Clean Colour Brushes; Nuvo - Clear Shimmerbrush; Clear and White Embossing Powder

I decided to play with watercolours for this card. I cut a panel of Tim Holtz white watercolour card slightly smaller than the card base. I put the card in my MISTI and stamped the floral spray with Versamark ink. I stamped it a couple of times to make sure that I got a good impression (something that is really easy with a MISTI), and heat embossed the images with white powder. I used Zig watercolour brushes to add colour - I scribbled on my craft mat and used a Nuvo shimmer brush to add colour to the flowers and leaves. Once they were dry I added clear water around the images and then touched the blue brush to the paper and let the water do the work of spreading the colour around. Once it was dry I added a touch more blue to the edges of the flowers and leaves to create a bit more definition. I stamped the words in black, heat embossed with clear powder and added a single flower below. I layered the finished panel on a panel of soft sand card and attached it to the base. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of sand card, and on the white panel I stamped the floral spray to the side and finished the sentiment.

I'm submitting this card to Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge - HLSWC#08 and it works with their optional twist of flowers.

It's been really busy here with my mum visiting and my daughter on summer holiday, so I've not had a chance to make many cards - there will be more new ones on release day!! Here are a couple of cards that I made last year with this lovely floral image:

This simple card was made in February last year when Bev had the image a free download on her blog. Details here.

This was made at the time of the December 2017 release. I really like this image - so pretty! Details here.

That's all for now - do come by again tomorrow for a few more introductions! See you soon.

Uniko - Sneak Peaks ....

.... Hello, again!! I'm back again this morning with some sneak peeks from the upcoming Uniko release - there are five new stamps sets.

The first is a lovely framed floral which has endless possibilities:

Next up is another lovely floral stamp set with lovely sentiments in a pretty font:

Next is an addition to the Big and Bold sentiments range - I think you might be able to guess this one:

I really like the background builders series of geometric shapes and designs, this new addition is lots of fun and will coordinate perfectly with some cute bees:

Some of you might recognise this one from last year - it's officially being released:

I do hope that you've enjoyed this quick look at the new stamps being released on Sunday 19th August. Do come back tomorrow when the design team starts introduction posts.

I hope you're all enjoying this summer. The weather has been a bit crazy here and in Europe. Here in the States we've had extreme heat and a silly amount of rain in some places, fortunately here in Michigan it's been really nice. I got to enjoy some of the wonderful summer in the UK and I can't quite believe just how quickly the time is flying by. It only seems a few days since we got back from the UK, in reality, it's been a month and a half and my Mum goes back to the UK in 2½ weeks!!! I've had a wonderful time being with her and my family, but it means I've not spent much time in my craft room!! Still I managed a bit of time to make introduction cards!! See you tomorrow.