Uniko - Background Blocks Halftone ....

.... We're halfway through our introductions and I'm here today with the next one from Uniko's new release. This time it's a solid stamp called Background Blocks Halftone - it's a very on-trend stamp and can be used for all sorts. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Block Halftone, All Occasion Sentiments #4, Winter Foliage, Christmas Sparkle; Waltzingmouse - Woodgrain
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake, Real Red; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; Clear Embossing Powder

I've made a simple Christmas card. My colours are from this week's Just Us Girls - JUGS#281 challenge and I got the idea of a wood background from Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#105. I made the card from kraft card and stamped the wood grain background using the same colour ink for a soft tone-on-tone look. I used black ink to stamp the branch, thread, ribbon and sentiments directly on the card. I used a scrap of white card for the Christmas ornament. I stamped the half-tone background in bright red and then stamped the outline ornament shape. I carefully cut out the ornament, coloured in the little cap and attached it flat to the card. I finished the front by adding the ampersand in bright red. On the inside I cut a panel of white card on which I stamped a Christmas greeting and added another red half-tone ornament.

A quick reminder of the release schedule:

Introductions: 20th - 24th February - the team have some fab inspiration for you

RELEASE DAY! Saturday 25th February - lots more inspiration from the Design Team, your chance to buy the stamps from Uniko's shop and, as always, a Design Team Blog Hop and Giveaway!

That's all for now! See you tomorrow.

Uniko - November Release, Blog Hop and Giveaway ....

.... I do hope that you've enjoyed seeing all the sneak peeks and the introductions to the new Uniko release. Today I'm here to showcase a few more cards using the new sets. Bev designs fabulous images and they all work so well with her previous releases. I'm going to start off with my card featuring Christmas Pop - a tree building set:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Pop, All Occasion Sentiments #4, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Delicata - Golden Glitz
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Tim Holtz Watercolour Card; Gold Vellum; Gold, Clear & White Embossing Powder; Twinkling H₂O - Honey Amber, Solar Gold, Egyptian Gold

I got the idea for this card from this week's City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#339 where the team would like to see lots of golden glitz! I had so much fun. I started by giving a piece of water colour card a light gold wash with Twinkling H₂O and allowing it to dry. I stamped the outline tree in black and embossed with clear powder. On one I added lines to divide the tree into sections and heat embossed them. In the other outline I stamped the geometric blocks in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. I used three different gold paint to colour the trees. Once dry I cut them out. I stamped another outline tree, some stars and a greeting on the watercolour card and heat embossed them with Gold powder. I then adhered the cut trees. On the inside I cut a mat layer of gold vellum and on the white panel added a simple greeting in gold and a tiny tree. I'm submitting this to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#221 where it's ANYTHING GOES.

My next card features the mini-sentiment set - Most Wonderful. This has fast become one of my very favourite sets!

Stamps: Uniko - Most Wonderful, Background Builders Round in Circles
Inks: SU - Peekaboo Peach, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Perfect Plum; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Black

This one is so clean and simple and also so colourful. I got the idea of the rainbow circles from the challenge graphic at AAA Cards - AAA#78 where the team would like us to use CIRCLES. I started by repeatedly stamping one of the full sentiments in black on white card. Then I added circles using rainbow colours. I layered the finished piece on some black card to make the colours pop. The layout of this card is based on the sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC& S#201. On the inside I cut a mat layer of black card and on the white panel added a greeting and some more rainbow circles.

My final card uses Rustic Wreath and is another quick and easy card:

Stamps: Uniko - Rustic Wreath
Inks: SU - Certainly Celery, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SUDP - Moonlight

The colours are from Colour Throwdown - CTD#420 and the layout is from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#264. Going through my stash of design papers I came across this fun piece which I cut to size and adhered to the card. I stamped the wreath in the corner of the card, adding some blue berries and pine cones in the centre. I finished the front with a simple greeting. On the inside is another mat of design paper and on the white panel a greeting and some more wreaths.

So that's my cards showcasing the new releases. We have a fun Blog Hop today - so do visit the rest of the team.

As is tradition with Uniko, we have a Design Team Blog Hop where the rest of the team can share more inspiration with you. We also have a Giveaway and it's really great. You must comment as you make your way along the Blog Hop and you will be in with the chance of winning the ENTIRE Release. You have until midnight (GMT) on Friday 2nd December.

Bev

Deborah - that's me!

Jane

Lindsey

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P

Finally here's a complete look at the sets available today at Uniko:

First up is Christmas Pop - full of fun Christmas Trees - but the geometric design means they can be used throughout the year too!

Most Wonderful is a mini set with two complete sentiments and lots of other words to build your own greetings.

Finally we have Rustic Wreath which coordinates perfectly with Rustic Christmas and pretty well all the other stamp sets too!

That's all for now. It's the last day of our long holiday weekend. We've had a lovely time - all relaxing and enjoying time on our own and also together - perfect family time! See you soon.

Uniko - Christmas Sparkle ....

..... Hello! I'm here with my last introduction card for the new Uniko release. Today I've got a very clean and simple Christmas card:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Sparkle, All Occasion Sentiments #4, Wonderful Washi Christmas, Background Builder Vines Winter Additions, Rustic Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Rose Red, Pink Pirouette; Memento - London Fog; Delicata - Silvery Shimmer
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Vellum; SU Card - Rose Red; Silver Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Silver

I still don't have the actual stamps, but I've been able to play with the digital images. I printed the outline ornament, in three different sizes, on plain white card. To create the pattern I used the tiny stamps from BB Vines Winter Addictions. I used a silver Wink of Stella brush to paint the ornament hanger. I stamped the snowflake washi image on vellum, heat embossed with silver powder, cut it out and adhered it direct to the card. I used my MIST to position and stamp the greeting. I finished by adhering the ornaments. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark pink card and on the white panel I added a greeting and some more snowflakes. I've used light and dark pink, along with silver and grey so I'm playing along with this week's Merry Monday Challenge - MM#215.

Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration from Bev and the rest of the Design Team. We've reached the end of our introductions and tomorrow is RELEASE DAY. We'll be providing more inspiration, show the sets in their entirety, we've got a Blog Hop and there's going to be a Giveaway too! See you tomorrow!

Uniko - Revisit and Blog Hop ...

... Good Morning!  This is the first of several posts today.  It's time for our last Blog Hop of the year.  Bev releases new stamps every other month (the last ones were in November) and in the "off" month we revist some of Bev's older stamp sets.  This month we're continuing the Christmas theme with Background Builders Christmas.  This is a super set with lots of stamps that you can use to build a background, or simply feature!  I decided to make a background:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Christmas, Simply Said Christmas, All Occasion Sentiments #4
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Midnight Muse; Versamark
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU Card - Midnight Muse; Martha Stewart Glitter; Stampendous - Shabby White Embossing Powder

The challenge at The Card Concept - CC#45 uses cream and navy and the challenge graphic features snowflakes - the perfect inspiration!  My style is clean and layered.  Over at The Paper Players - PP#274  their theme this week is "Let it Snow", here's a blizzard.

I made the base from navy card (sadly now discontinued).  I cut a panel of cream card slightly smaller and used my MISTI to stamp the repeat pattern of snowflakes in navy.  I cut a strip of navy card, stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with a new embossing powder - it contains gold glitter and works perfectly with the cream card.  I finished the front with a simple sparkly Christmas tree.  I stamped it in navy ink, cut it out, added glue to the inside and then lots of glitter.  On the inside I cut another panel of cream card.  I stamped a couple more of the border stamps from Background Builders Christmas and finished with a bold Christmas greeting made up from stamps from two different sets.  I love the way Bev's stamps all work together perfectly.

Now, as I mentioned this is a DT Blog Hop and you should now check out what the rest of the team have made this month:

Bev - Uniko

Deborah (that's me)

Jane

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

Before I go, I should mention that we have a GIVEAWAY this month too.  Simply comment as you go along the Hop for your chance to win this fabulous set or an e-certificate to the same value if you already have the set.  Don't forget to stop by again later - I've lots more to share today.

UC - Geometric ....

.... Hello again!  I'm back with our new challenge at Uniko.  We have a really fun theme this time - GEOMETRIC and, as always, we have an optional twist of CIRCLES, TRIANGLES or SQUARES.  If you want some idea of Geometric patterns check out this link.  I've made a really clean and simple Christmas card:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Round in Circles, All Occasion Sentiments #4
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Real Red, Cucumber Crush, Crushed Curry
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Glitter; Glue Pen

This card is an ultra clean and simple, one layer card - great to post!  I've used the colours from this week's Paper Players - PP#266 challenge - they seem just perfect for a Christmas card.  I used my MISTI to stamp the lines of little circles - it's so easy to keep every line perfectly straight using this tool.  I stamped the words in black and used the cursive ampersand in green.  I finished the front by adding some glitter (can't ever have too much glitter) to the circles.  On the inside I stamped a bold Christmas greeting and added some more circles using the rock and roll technique to get all the colours on one stamp.

Do visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have created to inspire you.  We have two fabulous Guest Designer joining us too - you will be familiar with their work.  Please welcome Rahmat and Julia.

That's not all, we have some prizes too!  The DT will pick a winner who will get a £20 gift voucher to use in the shop.  The DT also pick the Top 3 who will each recieve 50 Loyalty Points to their customer accounts.  We also do a random draw for all those who use Uniko stamps on their project - the winner of this draw will get 150 Loyalty Points to their customer account.  And last, but not least, if you've joined in with the twist, we enter all those cards into a random draw and the winner of this draw will get 100 Loyalty Points to their customer account.  You've got plenty of time to join in the fun - the challenge finishes at 8.00am (BST) Friday 30th October.  Have fun!!!

Do you want to hear a secret?

...  You do!  Great!  I've been keeping a secret, and for me that's really hard.  A few weeks ago I got an email from Sandie (she coordinates all the Uniko Studio challenges) inviting me to join the fabulous Uniko Studio Design Team.  I was (and still am) so excited - my husband was really surprised by my sequel of delight!  I love Beverley's stamps and dies and use them quite a lot.  So here I am with my first post as part of the Design Team.

Stamps: Uniko Studio - The Hands of Time, All Occasion Sentiments #4; Winnie & Walter - Happy Christmas
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Bermuda Bay; Wink of Stella - Clear; Promarkers; Gem

I used the colours from this week's Less is More challenge - LIM#201.  These gorgeous cool colours made me think of snowflakes. So I decided to make a Christmas card with my favourite set - The Hands of Time.  I love this set, it really is so versatile and so pretty.  I stamped the large hands image onto white card, coloured it with Promarkers and the fussy cut it out.  Once cut out I used my clear Wink of Stella brush to add sparkle to the hands.  On a panel of white card I stamped a bold sentiment, added a couple more images from the set and then adhered the large image on top.  I finished the front with a little aqua gem.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark aqua.  On the white panel I stamped a border of snowflakes and added a sweet greeting.

 

 

 

It's not just me joining Bev's team today - Sarah of Sazzle Dazzle Cards is also joining the team.  I'm absolutely thrilled to be a member of this team. 

We were out last night at Kathryn's school.  It was the annual Choir Concert.  Kathryn has been in the choir for several years now.  Kathryn has a super voice (yes, I know I'm biased) and I'm sure I could hear her clearly.  She looks so grown up too in her long dress.  It was a good show - the kids did themselves proud.  Anyway, that's all for now!