USC - Things With Wings ...

.... Hi, good morning.  I'm here with a reminder that there's still plenty of time to play along with the  current Uniko Studio Challenge which has the theme of

THINGS WITH WINGS

This card is really clean and simple and features lots of pretty butterflies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Bright Butterflies, Simply Said Birthday
Inks: Kaleidacolour - Blue Breeze
Dies: Uniko Studio - Bright Butterflies
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stickles - Crystal; Wink of Stella - Clear; Stampin' Up! Card - Tempting Turquoise

The idea for this card came from a few challenges:

• Make It Monday - MIM#209 to make white on white die cuts with a pop of colour card
• CASology - CAS#143 where the cue word is OMBRE
• Less is More - LIM#220 where the theme is Up, Up and Away

I die cut several butterflies from white card.  I glued some of the die cuts together to make them thicker.  I kept one of the die cut butterflies as a single layer and stamped the image with ombre ink.  I added sparkle to the white butterflies with a clear Winko of Stella brush and adhered them to the card.  I stamped the sentiment and little flowers with ombre blue inks.  I added a touch of sparkle to the stamped butterfly and flowers with some crystal Stickles.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of turquoise card and decorated the white panel with a sentiment, more butterflies and some flowers.

Here's a close up of the sparkle on the plain white die cut butterflies - when the sun shines, they really shimmer.

Do visit the blog to check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the team.

I forgot to mention in my last post about the challenge that we have prizes for playing along.  The challenge winner will get a £20 Gift Voucher for the Uniko Studio shop and also be invited to join us as Guest Designer.  The Top 3 will each get a £5 gift voucher.  And, if you've used a Uniko Studio stamp you'll go into the random draw and the winner of that gets a £10 gift voucher for the shop.  You've got until Friday 1st May 8.00am BST (3.00am EDT) to join us.  Have fun!!

USC - Things with Wings ....

.... Good morning!  It's time for our new challenge at Uniko Studio and for the next couple of weeks we'd like to see your project with our theme of:

THINGS WITH WINGS

Beverley has some wonderful stamp sets featuring things with wings and I've gone for a light, bright butterfly card:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Bright Butterflies, English Country Garden Butterflies; Background Builders Round in Circles
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Bermuda Bay; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Grey Flannel
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Bermuda Bay; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Markers; Staedtler Ergo Soft Pencils; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used a couple of challenges in the making of this card.  I CASEd Michele's beautiful card at MUSE - MUSE#113 and I used the colours from this week's Colour Q - cQc#287 - my pop of colour teal.  I was going to make this a one-layer card with the butterfly stamped directly on the card, but decided that it would be much better to have a dimensional butterfly.  I stamped the image in Versafine on vellum and heat embossed with clear powder.  I coloured the reverse of the image with Copic markers and pencils.  Once cut out, I added lots of sparkle to the top of the image - in real-life this really shimmers when the sun shines on it.  I used a selection of stamps from the Round in Circles to create the background and added a simple sentiment at the top. 

The image you see above is slightly different to the one on Uniko Studio's blog (see left).  After I loaded my image to Uniko Studio, I thought it wasn't quite finished.  I added a line of linked circles stamped in black, it seemed to balance the card better.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper and stamped some decoration on the white panel, but left space for my message.

Looking at my photos - this card appears to be slightly wonky - it's actually straight!!  Must check out my photography skills :)

You can't see the sparkle on the butterfly's wings, so I've taken an out-of-focus photo as this seems to show the shimmer:

Do drop by the blog and check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the team and also from our Guest Designers - Michelle and Elaine.  You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline for submission is Friday 1st May, 8.00am BST (3.00am EDT).  Have fun!!!

Uniko Studio - Revisit ...

... Hello again!  Today the Uniko Studio Design Team are revisiting a number of Beverley's super stamp sets:

• Paradise - Hummingbird
• English Country Garden - Butterflies
• Bright Butterflies

 Now, I don't have the hummingbird set (yet), so my card features only butterflies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Bright Butterflies, English Country Garden Butterflies
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Garden Green, Gumball Green, Wild Wasabi, Pistachio Pudding, Green Galore, Old Olive; Kaleidacolor - Fresh Greens
Dies: Memeory Box - Cross Stitched Frames #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Lucky Limeade; SU Marker - Basic Black

This card came about because I saw the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#117 and the monochromatic colour scheme at CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#118 - that butterfly graphic is so pretty.  This post is going live too late to play along with either challenge, but as they had such an influence on the design, must give them all the credit.  I'm also playing along with House of Cards - HOCApr, where the challenge is to add a butterfly and/or use their colours, obviously I've added butterflies!!

I die cut the green frame and adhered it directly to the card.  I stamped lots of the outline butterfly in black and added colour by over stamping with the solid butterfly - they are really easy to line up.  I spent a while cutting them all out and edged each one with a black marker.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the card and adhered the butterflies all around it.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and added more butterflies and a sentiment to the white panel.

Now, why don't you hop along and visit the rest of the team to see what they have made for you.  Here's the order of the hop:

Bev/Uniko Studio

Amber

Deborah - that's me!!

Gillian

Nicki

Sandie

Sarah

Sarah G

That's all for now - thanks so much for stopping by, I really do appreciate it.  Have a great day.

Easter card ....

... Good afternoon.  It's very grey here today, which isn't helping me much as I'm feeling really rough.  However, I've managed to make a clean, simple Easter card to share with you and to go into my stash:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Bright Butterflies; Waltzingmouse - Compact Sentiments; Splat That
Inks: Brilliance - Peacock; Stampin' Up! - Marina Mist
Dies: US - Bright Butterflies
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Certainly Celery; Vellum; Gems

I've used several challenges to make this card, they are:

• CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS#71 - sketch
• Uniko Studio Challenge - USC#8 - Colours & Hello Spring
• Time Out Challenge - TOC#2 - Home Sweet Home photo inspiration
• The Card Concept - CC#7 - Butterfly theme

I love the colours in the Uniko Studio graphic, that was the start of this card, butterflies appear are in both Card Concept and the Time Out graphics and when I saw the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch - it all fell into place! I made the card base from pale green card and cut a white panel to go on top.  I stamped a spatter pattern using Brilliance inks (they have a subtle shimmer).  I stamped the sentiment, made the little banner and adhered it to the card.  I stamped the butterflies, using Brilliance ink, on to white card and again on vellum and used the matching dies to cut them out.  I attached one butterfly flat to the card and then used dimensional gel to adhere the vellum overlay.  I finished the front with a few gems.  On the inside, I cut another white panel and stamped some flowers and added a couple more vellum butterflies. 

That's all for today - I'm going to make a nice hot cup of coffee, wrap myself in a blanket and curl up to watch a movie.  See you soon!