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 - 4th Birthday, February Release, Blog Hop & Giveaway ...

....  Morning!  I'm very, very late with this post - I have a good excuse and will tell you as soon as I can!!  In the meantime, I'm here to help Bev celebrate Uniko's 4th Birthday.  I think I found her stamps about a month or two after she opened shop - and I love them still.  And it's such a pleasure to be a member of Bev's Design Team.  Bev is releasing four new stamp sets today and I've used three of them in my cards.

Here's the first card featuring Beautiful Blooms III - a multi-step set:

Stamps: Uniko - Beautiful Blooms III, I Love Tea, Simply Said
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Dies: Die-namics - Happy Hellos
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Calypso Coral; Gold Mirri Card; We Are Memory Keepers EF - Gemstone; Gold Pen

I cased Anita's lovely card from this week's MUSE - MUSE#152 challenge.  The colours are from Colour Q - cQc#328 and as there's a lovely flower on the card, I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#81 where the cue word is BLOOM.

I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller than the base and stamped the flower and leaves.  I used my MISTI which makes perfect positioning so easy.  Once stamped I embossed the panel and edged it with a gold pen.  I adhered the panel flat to the card.  I die cut the word from gold mirri card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of coral design paper and on the white panel added the little flower stamp, from I love Tea, as it matches the main image.  I also added a little greeting from Simply Said - which is full of useful phrases.

My next card is really clean and simple, and very pretty too!

Stamps: Uniko - I Love Tea
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Secret Admirer; Washi Tape (can't remember who made this one); Copic Marker

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#233 for the layout and the colours are from Your Next Stamp - YNS#32 where I've used the colours.

I stamped the teacup on some pretty design paper and fussy cut it out.  I stamped the top of the cup again on some scrap white paper and coloured in some "tea", cut it out and adhered it to the teacup.  I found some pretty Washi tape in my stash and adhered two pieces to the card, attached the teacup and then used my MISTI to position and stamp the greeting.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of the same design paper.  On the white panel I stamped a greeting and the little flower stamp from this set - it's so pretty!

I didn't get chance to make a card with the final set - Some Bunny.  This is a really cute set with a lovely bunny and sentiments in fabulous fonts.  You will see the set soon.

Now, as is traditional, we have a release day Blog Hop with the DT and some Uniko Alumni.  Simply visit and comment along the Hop by midnight (GMT) Thursday 26th February, to be in with a chance of winning the ENTIRE release!!  If you have already purchase any or all of the release a refund will be given.

Bev

Deborah (that's me)

Jane

Lindsey

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

Amy

Taheerah

Now, before I go, here are all the sets available today:

Beautiful Blooms III

I Love Tea

Simply Said

Some Bunny

Thank you for stopping by - do visit Bev's blog.  Bye for now