Uniko - Kindness Blooms and Fun Flowers Stencil ...

.... Good morning! It's the last day of Uniko Introductions, we have one more stamp set and another stencil - I really think you're going to like them both. I'm going to start with the stamp set:

Stamps: Uniko - Kindness Blooms, All Occasion Sentiments # 3 and #6
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Marina Mist, Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Peekaboo Peach; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder; Copics; Nuvo - Aqua Shimmer Brush; Studio Katia - Silver Foil Crystals

I've made a really clean, simple card to showcase the large scribble flower in this stamp set. I used my MISTI to position and stamp the greeting. I stamped the flower on vellum, heat embossed with clear powder, coloured the reverse of the image with Copic markers, and added lots of shimmer to the front of the flower, then I fussy cut it out. I added some shimmer to the open letter of the word 'thanks' and finished the front by adding some silver foil crystals. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of peach card and on the white panel added a message and more flowers. I used the sketch from this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS#260 for the layout and the colours are from last week's CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#260. I've also taken a close-up photo of the flower to show all the lovely shimmer - I find it best to make the image darker than normal so that you can really see the shimmer!

There are a lot more flowers on this next card where I use the Fun Flowers stencil, and matching stamps too:

Stamps: Uniko - Fun Flowers, Simply Said Blocks, Birthday Sentiments
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Blueprint Sketch; Gina K - Jelly Bean Green
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Melon Mambo; Clear Embossing Powder; Nuvo - Aqua Shimmer Brush; Studio Katia - Silver Foil Crystals

The layout of this card is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#325, although it's going live too late to join in!! I taped the stencil to white card and used pink and blue inks. I tried to keep the blue to the scallop edges of the flowers. I cut the panel to size, edged it with a black marker and adhered it to the card. I stamped some leaves in green and the matching flowers from the Fun Flowers set, and added colour to two of the images with the stencil - I went for more depth of colour on these colours. Once finished, I cut them out using my Scan'N'Cut. I attached the plain flower flat to the card and used dimensional pads to attach the coloured flowers. I finished the front with a simple, bold sentiment. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of bright pink card. I used the stencil and inked a pale pink background all over the white card and added a greeting.

Well, that's it! We've finished all the introductions and I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the wonderful projects from the Design Team. Tomorrow is RELEASE DAY at 9.00am GMT (that's 4.00am EDT) and all the products will be available for purchase from the Uniko shop.

Do pop back again tomorrow and join us for our traditional Design Team Blog Hop and Giveaway! See you then!

Uniko -Flowers ....

.... Good morning! I hope you're all well. It's time for our July/August challenge at Uniko. We have a fun theme for you this time. We want to see FLOWERS on your cards. I had so much fun with this challenge that I ended up making two cards. Here's the first:

Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Delicata - Golden Glitz
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Anita's DP - Classic Christmas Red; Zig Clean Color Brushes; Wink of Stella - Clear; Gold Embossing Powder; Tim Holtz Water Colour Card

I've gone with a Christmas flower, well it's almost a flower! I stamped the large poinsettia on water colour card, heat embossed with gold powder and coloured it with Zig Clean Color Brushes. I used my clear Wink of Stella to add sparkle. I then fussy cut it out. I stamped a clean, simple greeting on the front of the card in black. I added some embossed lines at the edges of the card (got the idea from a Jennifer McGuire video) and they really do look great in real-life, sadly you can't see them too well in the photo above! On the inside of the card I cut a mat layer of red and gold design paper and on the white panel I stamped the poinsettia in gold and added a greeting. I'm submitting this card to The Flower Challenge - TFC#10 to use dry/heat embossing, and also to Creative with Stamps - CWS#16 where the theme is CELEBRATE.

I was on a bit of a roll yesterday afternoon, so I made another flower card:

Stamps: Uniko - Beautiful Blooms III, All Occasion Sentiments #6, Happy Succulents
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versamark; Distress Oxides - Broken China, Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans; Distress Inks - Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean
Dies: Little Inkers - Dual Dotted Rectangles #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Tim Holtz Water Colour Card; Papermania DP - Inspirations Cool Tones; Sheer Shimmer Spritz - Frost; White Embossing Powder

I got the idea for this card from the optional twist over at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge - HLSWC07 - they want to see blue! I die cut a panel of water colour card and then played with my Distress Inks and Distress Oxides. I pressed them on my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then dabbed the paper randomly in the inks. I dried between applications to create layers and depth. Then I splashed on some water drops and finished off by spritzing the whole panel with Frost shimmer spray - it's got such a pretty shimmer in real-life! I stamped the word "smile" in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder and then added the words above in black. On some scrap white card I stamped the flowers. I wanted to keep the flowers mostly white, so only used the outline and shade stamps. I cut them out and edged them with a black marker. I adhered the watercolour panel to the card and then added the flowers. The darkest flower is attached flat and I used dimensional pads to attach the other two flowers. The two tone flowers were stamped with (bottom) Faded Jeans Oxide, (middle) Broken China Oxide and (top) Salty Ocean Oxide - the fine shading on all the flowers is Blueprint Sketch. On the inside I cut a mat layer of blue design paper and on the white panel added a simple greeting and another flower. I'm also submitting this one to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#12 where the theme is Anything Goes.

Do visit the Uniko blog to see more cards from the rest of the team. This is such a fun challenge - you don't have to use Uniko products, but we obviously like it if you do - and there are some gorgeous Uniko flowers to use! You've got plenty of time to play along with this challenge, deadline is midnight (BST) on Friday 25th August, that's 7.00pm EDT in the States. And we have prizes too:

• Main winner - chosen by the DT - £25 eGift Certificate
• Random Uniko Stamps winner - £4 in-stock clear stamp set of Winner's choosing
• Top 3 - chosen by DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

That's all for now! See you again soon.

Uniko - Revisit and Blog Hop ....

.... Hello! It's been a while since I posted anything, but I've a good excuse - I've been away on holiday. I'm now trying to get back into my routine and I'm here this morning with my card for the Uniko Revisit and DT Blog Hop. We are revisiting the Marvellous Mehndi which contains a wonderful mandala style image and a selection of super paisley stamps. While we were in Minnesota, Jonathan and I visited Paisley Park, Prince's home and studio. It was truly a fabulous experience. When I got married I walked down the aisle to Prince's song, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (see video at the end of this post), so you can see where I got the inspiration for this card:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, All Occasion Sentiments #6, Originally Organic
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Concord Crush
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Concord Crush; White Embossing Powder; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear; Gems

I made the card base from some of my precious purple textured card (now discontinued). I dusted it with an anti-static buddy, put it in my MISTI and arranged the stamps until I got a layout that I liked. I inked up with Versamark and stamped the images a couple of times to make sure that it covered the textured card properly. I heated embossed the pattern with white powder. I wanted to keep the card really simple, but you have to have glitter, so I used my clear Spectrum Noir brush to add touches of glitter to the paisley patterns. I finished the front by added a few gems. On the inside I cut a panel of white card and stamped the large mandala image off to the side and added a greeting.

I'm submitting this card to Less is More - LIM#336 & 337 where the team want us to use a coloured card background and make a one layer card - done! LIM is teaming up with AAA Cards - AAA#94 this week, so I'm playing along with them too.

While I had these stamps on my MISTI I decided to make another card - this time I went for a monochromatic pink theme - taking my colours from the challenge at The Paper Players - PP#352. Apart from the addition of a mat layer of pink card on the inside, this one is much the same. Using the clear glitter pen on this one caused the ink to move on the paisley patterns - I rather like this soft, sparkly colour.

And here's the inside of the card:

Now, don't forget to visit the rest of the team and follow along the Blog Hop. We have a prize for one lucky winner. To be eligible to win, you must comment along the Blog Hop (we all love to get some comments) by midnight Tuesday 18th July. The prize is the stamp set Marvellous Mehndi or, if you've already got the set, an eGift Certificate to the same value. Winners will be announced on the Uniko blog on Wednesday 19th July. Now here's the Blog Hop list:

Bev

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Lindsey

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P

Let me know which is your favourite card? Thanks so much for stopping by today. I'll be back again soon. Before I go here's that song - The Most Beautiful Girl in the World by Prince:

Uniko - Reminder ...

... Good afternoon! I don't know what's the matter with me at the moment, I'm late again with my reminder card for our challenge at Uniko - USC#41. Our theme this month is to make a MASCULINE CARD WITH THE OPTION OF FATHER'S DAY. As I made a Father's Day card last time, I decided to make a thanks card suitable for a guy:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Round in Circles, All Occasion Sentiments #6, Happy Succulents
Inks: Kaleidacolor - Caribbean Sea; Versfine - Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders - Contemporary Circles (S4-498)
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Basic Black, Bermuda Bay; Clear Embossing Powder

I've used my favourite set for this card - Round in Circles - as I think geometric always works for a masculine card. I had a die cut left over from my The Male Room - TMR#61 challenge on my desk and it works perfectly with the circle stamps. I created my own background paper using the small open circles and an ombre ink pad. I adhered the die cut and then cut away the excess. I attached it flat to the front of a card. I used the distressed circles to create another piece of paper and stamped the word thanks on top and embossed it with clear powder. I then very carefully fussy cut it out and adhered the word to a panel of black card which I shaped to make a banner. I based the layout on this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#290. On the inside I cut a mat layer of aqua card and finished the sentiment on the white panel.

Do visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the Design Team - they are fabulous!! That's all for now.

Uniko - Happy Succulents ...

.... Hi! Did you see those wonderful projects from the rest of the team using the Background Blocks - I am so looking forward to getting the actual stamps - I want to emboss!!!! Anyway, I'm here today to introduce another new set from Uniko - Happy Succulents. This set has a similar style to Originally Organic and Originally Organic Additions - which is great and they work so well together - as you will see! I had such fun with these stamps that I ended up making 5 cards for today!! Yes, five!!

I'm going to start off with a pretty note card for my stash:

Stamps: Uniko - Happy Succulents (Digi), All Occasion Sentiments #1, Originally Organic Additions
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Pink Pirouette, Smoky Slate
Dies: Lil Inkers - Diamond Lace Coverplate
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pink Pirouette; Copic Markers; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear

I'm not exactly sure how big the main image is in this set (and I think I've made it a bit smaller) so I guessed and printed the image on white card. I coloured it with Copic markers, added some sparkle and then fussy cut it out. I wanted to keep the focus on the lovely image, but still add some interest to the card base, so I used a coverplate to die cut an overall pattern on the card. I adhered some pink card to the inside and then attached the coloured image with dimensional gel. I finished the front with a bold sentiment cut into a flag banner and attached it with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pink card and added some flowers to the white panel. I'm submitting this card to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where they want to see a hint of pink! Done!!

One of the things I like about digital images is the ability to change the size and to flip them as necessary. In this stamp set there is a lovely solid succulent image which appears black when you import it on the computer. I use Word for my documents and there's an area under the design tab where you can change the colour theme for your documents, and the good thing about this is that you can then change the colour of the imported image really easily. I set up an arrangement of the succulents, sized them, flipped them and changed the colour a number of times, and created a set of cards:

Here's a more detailed look at each card. I'm starting with the most clean and simple of the set - the green one:

Stamps: Uniko - Happy Succulents (Digi), All Occasion Sentiments #6, Originally Organic
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Lucky Clover, Twisted Citron
Dies: Lil Inkers - Stitched Ovals #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Emerald Envy; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear; Brick Stencil (free with magazine)

I used a stitch edge die to cut out the image and then stamped a bold sentiment on the panel. I used a brick stencil to create a softly stencilled background and then adhered the panel. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark green card and on the white panel added an image from Originally Organic. I'm submitting this card to Paper Players - PP#342 where they have a Tic-Tac-Toe grid and I used the centre line going down - green, die cut, leaf/leaves.

Next is the smallest card of the set. I switched up the colour of the image and used co-ordinating washi tape to decorate the card base:

Stamps: Uniko - Happy Succulents (Digi), Originally Organic, Originally Organic Additions
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Peekaboo Peach
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Dotted Circles #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Peekaboo Peach; Washi Tapes; Enamal Dots

I attached the die cut panel with dimensional tape and added some large enamel dots to the front. On the inside I cut a mat of peach card and added a few flowers to the white panel. Lots of space for my message.

Next is another very quick and easy card:

Stamps: Uniko - Happy Succulents (Digi), Originally Organic
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Sweet Sugarplum
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Dotted Circles #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Be-YOU-tiful

I changed up the colours again and this time cut out the image with a larger circle and added the sentiment at the top. I found some lovely design paper in my stash that works really well with the image and covered the card with it. I used dimensional tape to attach the die cut panel and on the inside I cut another piece of design paper for the mat and added a white panel on which I stamped a flower.

The final card in the set is square. Again, it's relatively quick and easy to make:

Stamps: Uniko - Happy Succulents (Digi), Originally Organic, Originally Organic Additions
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Dotted Squares #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! DP - Print Poetry; SU Vellum - Botanical Gardens

So this time I opted for a blue colour scheme and cut out the image with a square die. I found some pretty design paper in my stash and cut a panel of blue patterned paper for one side of the card. On the other side I added some patterned vellum - which you can just about see. I attached the finished die cut panel directly to the card. On the inside I used another piece of design paper for the mat layer and on the white panel stamped a tiny flower. I'm submitting this card to Time Out Challenges - TOC#82 where they want to see Flowers (with the option of the Kiss technique).

I had such fun with this set. Do visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the team. Finally, a quick reminder of the release schedule:

Introductions: 3rd - 5th May

RELEASE DAY! Saturday 6th May, 9.00am BST. The stamps will be available to purchase from the Uniko Shop and there will be our usual DESIGN TEAM BLOG HOP AND GIVEAWAY!!

See you tomorrow for our final introduction! Bye for now.