Uniko Challenge - It's more friendly with two .....

.... Hi! My second post this week - I'm on something of a roll 😄 I'm here this morning with my card for the new Uniko Challenge - USC#48. We have a super fun quote from A A Milne to inspire you

"It's so much more friendly with two." - A A Milne

How you interpret the quote is up to you, and we have an optional twist to make your card suitable for a child. I skipped the option and concentrated on friends and two. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - I Love Coffee, Birthday Sentiments
Inks: Ranger - Alcohol-Lift Ink; Gina K - Black Onyx; Versamark; Ranger Alcohol Inks - Sunshine Yellow, Crimson, Limeade, Flamingo
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Yupo; Black Card; White Embossing Powder

I created a striped background on Yupo with four shades of alcohol ink. Once dry, I used the new Alcohol-Lift ink pad to randomly stamp some flowers and coffee beans over the background - you can check out the video below to see Tim's demo. I stamped the lift-off images on some scrap white card and stamped the coffee mug label over the coffee bean images, and cut them out. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark on black card, embossed with white powder and adhered to the front of the card with dimensional pads. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of black card and on the white panel added a simple sentiment along with one of the stamped off flower images. I'm submitting this card to House of Cards - HOC#07 as I used their colours.

Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see more projects from the design team and also from our guest designer, Trinia P. Have fun!!

Uniko Challenge - Photo Inspiration ...

.... Good morning! Time is flying by this month, we're already half-way through May. It does mean that it's time for our new challenge at Uniko - USC#47. For the next few weeks, we have a photo inspiration challenge for you, with the option of making your card a birthday card. I decided to skip the option and just use the photo for inspiration, here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Gerbera, I Love Coffee, Originally Organic Additions
Inks: Distress - Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron, Worn Lipstick, Ripe Persimmon; Distress Oxides - Bundled Sage, Twisted Citron; Versmark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Uniko - Gerbera Collection; Honey Bee - Coffee Cup Card
Accessories: Tim Holtz Watercolour Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; White Lustre Card; White & Clear Embossing Powder; Copics

I really like this photo - it's so fresh and bright. I decided to focus on the leaf pattern on the suitcase and the pretty jug of flowers. I used my large coffee cup die to cut the card base (the finished card is 5 3/4" high x 3 3/4" wide) from watercolour card. I randomly stamped the outline leaf in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. I used several shades of green distress ink directly on the card and spritzed with water to allow the inks to blend. I set the card aside to dry naturally. On a smaller piece of watercolour card, I stamped the large outline gerbera daisy, embossed it with white powder and inked it with a couple of shades of pink and orange. Once it was dry, I used the matching die to cut it out. I die cut the cup band from some kraft card, stamped on the sentiment and heat embossed it with clear powder. I added some more leaves to the band with the solid leaf image and used distress oxide inks which work perfectly on the coloured card. I cut the coffee lid from white card and attached the gerbera daisy to the lid. I used the coffee cup die to cut out a white card panel for the inside. I stamped the gerbera daisy in the corner, coloured it with Copic markers, returned it to my MISTI and restamped in black ink to give a crisp outline. I finished the inside by adding a simple sentiment.

In the photo above you can see the front of the card without the coffee cup band. I'm submitting this card to House of Cards - HOC#05 where they want us to make a shaped card, and also to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAGD#05. I hope you can see how my card relates to the inspiration photo.

For more inspiration with our new challenge to visit the Uniko blog to see cards from the rest of the Design Team and also from our guest designer, Sue.

That's all from me for now - see you again soon.

Uniko - Organic Wishes ....

..... Hi! You've reached day five of our Uniko introductions. This stamp set came about from some doodles that our teammate, Lindsey, sent to Bev who worked her magic, and thus Organic Wishes arrived. You'll see that the set works perfectly with the previous Organics sets, but this morning, I thought I'd just let this set have the limelight!

Stamps: Uniko - Organic Wishes
Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Dark Chocolate
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Early Espresso; Gold Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Clear

This set contains some wonderful seedhead images, along with stems, some seeds, and lovely sentiments. I decided to focus on one seedhead. I used my MISTI to stamp the image repeatedly in pale grey ink, coloured it with Copic markers, put it back in the MISTI, stamped with Versmark and then heat embossed with gold powder. I added a simple sentiment and some floating seedheads. I layered the finished panel on dark brown card and adhered it to the card base. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of brown card and on the white panel stamped some more seedheads.

I used the colours from this month's House of Cards Challenge - HOC#10, the layout is based on the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#244, and as there's an odd number of seedheads I'm also playing along with CASology - CAS#270 where they want Odd!

We've come to the end of our introductions and tomorrow you get to see the full release and lots more examples from the rest of the team. Don't forget to come back and check it all out:

RELEASE DAY: Monday 16th October, 9.00am BST. Our Design Team Blog Hop and Giveaway, and all the stamps are available to purchase in the Uniko online shop.

See you soon!

TMR - Technique and DT Call ...

... Hi! I'm here this morning with my card for our new challenge over at The Male Room - TMR#69. We have a fun theme for your masculine projects; for the next couple of weeks - we want use to use MASKING. I've made an autumn themed card:

Stamps: Stampendous - Pattern Leaves; Concord & 9th - Kindhearted
Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Sweet Mango, Tomato Soup, Kraft, Honey Mustard, Warm Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Charcoal Brown, Black Onyx
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Early Espresso; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Gold Embossing Powder

Using my MISTI I stamped the large patterned leaf in the centre of the card. I coloured it with Copic markers then I ran a dust buddy over the image, put the card back in the MISTI and stamped the image again with Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder. I added a touch of sparkle to the leaf with a clear Wink of Stella brush. This method gives a really crisp image. I masked the leaf and used my MISTI to stamp the repeat sentiment in the background. This is a technique that I learnt from Jennifer McGuire. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark brown card and on the white panel I partially stamped the leaf twice and added a greeting.

I'm submitting this card to a few challenges: Less is More - LIM#345 - where it's one layer week with colouring in, Creative with Stamps - CWS#18 where they want leaves, and House of Cards - HOC#09 where they have colour and/or text - I've got both.

Do visit The Male Room to see more inspiration from the rest of the team. You've got plenty of time to play along.

Now the bit in the title where I said DT CALL - The Male Room is looking for some new DT members - full details can be found on the blog.

That's all for today. I'll be back again tomorrow.

Uniko Revisit and Blog Hop ...

.... Morning! This is a scheduled post - I'll be in Florida at the Back to Back Retreat with Dyan Reaveley and Teesha Moore when this goes live! It's time for the Uniko Revisit Blog Hop. Bev tends to release new products every other month and, on the off-month (so to speak), we revisit an older set of stamps. This month we're revisiting Some Bunny - which is appropriate as it's not long until Easter! Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Some Bunny, Background Blocks Halftone, Simply Said
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight; Distress - Squeezed Lemonade; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #1, #2 and #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Garden Green, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight; Copics; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear

I had fun making this card. I used the colours from this month's House of Cards - HOC#03 challenge - I do like the clean, fresh colours. They also want us to create a scene, so I decided to have some Easter bunnies guarding their eggs!!

I started by stamping the Halftone stamp  in blue and yellow on some scrap pieces of card. Then I stamped the bunny on top and heat embossed with clear powder. I stamped the bunny again twice more using Memento ink and coloured the ears and front of the body with copic markers, then I restamped with Versafine and heat embossed. Then I carefully cut out the colour areas and adhered them to the dotty bunnies. I finished the bunnies by adding a bow tie to the blue bunny and a flower necklace to the yellow bunny. I used dies to cut out a number of Easter eggs from design papers. On the card based I used the Halftone block to stamp "grass" along the bottom of the card. I attached the bunnies to the card using dimensional gel. Next I attached the eggs being careful to bring the bunnies ears to the front as they peek around the eggs. I finished the card with a simple Easter greeting and some little flowers. On the inside I cut a mat layer of yellow design paper, added a greeting to the white panel along with another Easter bunny. I'm also submitting this card to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#8 where it's Anything Goes.

This is a Blog Hop and you should have arrived here from Bev's blog, however in case you've arrived directly, here's the list for the Hop:

Bev

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Lindsey

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P

If you leave comments are you go along the Blog Hop, you will be in with a chance to win the Some Bunny clear stamp set and an eGift Certificate for £10 (or a eGift Certificate to the same value if the winner already owns the stamp set). You must comment along the hop by midnight on Friday 25th March.

Before I go - here's a quick look at the Some Bunny set:

That's all for now - have a great weekend. I'll be back soon with some photos from the Back to Back retreat! See you soon.

TMR - Theme ....

..... Good afternoon, I really am running late! I hope that everyone has recovered from their New Year celebrations. A change in my holiday plans meant that I didn't get back to the States until 2nd January and I was so jet-lagged that I couldn't stay awake, never mind make a project for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#51 where the theme is ANYTHING GOES. I did manage to pull myself together late yesterday afternoon and make a card but am only now posting it! This is not the way I meant to start the year!!! Here's the card:

Stamps: My Favourite Things - Stars Above, Essential Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Cherry Cobbler; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies: Die-namics - Stars Above
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey, Smoky Slate; Copics; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#269 but I turned it to make a horizontal card. The challenge over at House of Cards - HOC01 is to add a house and/or be inspired by the colours; well I decided to play with the colours as I think they are great for a masculine style card. I'm also submitting this card to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - SSWC04/01 where they want us to see New Something - mine is new stamps!

I started by cutting two strips of card, light and dark and adhering them to the card. I used a dark burgundy Copic marker to add an extra line on the thick dark grey strip of card. I stamped the simple sentiment in burgundy ink and then stamped the stars falling towards the sentiment. I used Copic markers to colour areas of the stars and added some sparkle with a clear Spectrum Noir brush. The two largest stars were stamped again on scrap card, coloured in and cut out with the matching die. I adhered them both with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale grey card. On the white panel I added a message and some more stars.

I took a close-up photo of the sparkle on the big star - the shimmer in the Spectrum Noir brushes is much more frosty/silver than the Wink of Stella brushes. So it's the perfect excuse to have both sets :)

I'm sending this card to my son Ben - he had a rough time at the end of last year, which is why I went to visit him. He's moved house and it's tough to get going again, particularly as it's been so grey and dull. I know that he loves getting cards from us, so this one is on its way today.

Do visit The Male Room to see more inspirational projects for the men in our lives. That's all for now - but I'm feeling much more awake today so you never know, I might be back later!!

Autumn leaves and seeds ...

.... Morning! I'm here with another of the cards that I made yesterday. It's quite clean and simple and, I think, really pretty.

Stamps: Uniko Digital - Originally Organic, All Occasion Sentiments #1
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Sahara Sand; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I printed off several images from Uniko's October release but didn't use them all in my cards. I found this one on my desk yesterday and thought it would make a lovely card. I used the colours from this month's House of Cards - HOC#10 challenge. These are some of my favourite colours. I added sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush to the seeds. I layered the finished panel on some soft kraft card and attached to the card. On the inside I cut another layer of the soft kraft card and on the white panel added a greeting and some more leaves. As there are leaves on this card, I'm going to submit to Just Us Girls - JUGS#363 where the word is LEAVES!

I've got a busy day planned. I desparately need to tidy up my craft room - I've got stamps and dies all over the place and, as the room isn't very big, I need to get it sorted out so that I can create in a cleaner space. I also need to catalogue some of my new stamps! So that's all for today. See you soon.