C24C - Season's Greetings ....

... Hello! Time really does seem to be flying by - already the middle of March. I'm here today with a card for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#006 where we want to see Christmas trees. I've made a very clean, graphic type of card:

Stamps: Just Rite Stamps - O Christmas Tree; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Snowflake Serenade, Christmas Pop
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Lemon Lime Twist, Gumball Green, Mint Macaron; Gina K - Christmas Pine; Versamark
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Pennants S5-028 # 2
Accessories: White Card; White Embossing Powder; SU Card - Mint Macaron, Lemon Lime Twist, Gumball Green, Emerald Envy

I recently found a new, to me, Christmas challenge, so I'm submitting this card to Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - MLCCB#20, where it's Anything Christmas Goes.

As soon as I saw the prompt for this challenge, I had this idea for a simple card. I found scraps of green card in my stash and stamped the ornate triangles in Versamark, heat embossed with white powder and then cut them out with a triangle Spellbinder die. Using a blending brush, I added a touch of colour at the edges of the trees and wiped the excess of the embossing. I stamped the large word tree directly on the card in dark green ink, and layered the other trees. I used dimensional pads on a couple, but kept it reasonably flat to be easy to mail. I finished the front with a simple greeting to match the dark green tree. On the inside, I stamped a greeting and added another fun tree. This is a tall DL card - it's not a size I use often, but it works well for this card.

Don't forget to visit our blog to check out what the rest of the Design Team have made for the challenge. You have plenty of time to join in the fun! See you soon.

Christmas Cheer ....

... Hi! It's a really dull, damp, grey day here in Northville. Perfect for staying indoors and playing! I've made a very clean, simple and graphic Christmas card to share with you today:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Pop, Festive Sentiments
Inks: Gina K - Black Onyx; Kaleidacolor - Fruitcake
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Gem

This was about as easy as it gets. I used my MIST to position the outline Christmas tree stamp, left the card in the MISTI and then positioned and the sentiment tree. I cut a mask for the tree and stamped a couple more behind the main image. I finished the card with a simple, bold sentiment at the top of the card. I added a tiny gem to the middle tree. I've not done the inside yet but will add something soon.

I'm submitting this card to Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#182 where the team want to see Christmas tree(s), and I'm also playing along with CASology - CAS#275 where the cue word is 'sharp', and these trees are very sharp!

That's all for now. See you soon.

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 Pop & Most Wonderful ....

.... Hello again! Welcome to the first of our Introduction posts for the Uniko mini Christmas release. Today we are introducing you to two sets. This time I've been lucky enough to get the actual stamps in plenty of time to play with them - in fact you may already have seen some of these sets!! So first up is the fun Christmas Tree building stamp set. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Pop, Pure Florals Poinsettia
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Strawberry Slush; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pink Pirouette; Wink of Stella - Clear

I really like the clean, geometric look of this stamp and I had lots of fun playing with different inks. I used the colours from Merry Monday - MM#223 - pink, light blue and dark blue. As this is a nice clean, simple card I'm going to submit it to Paper Players - PP#322 too.  I stamped the tree many times. I used my MISTI to stamp as it makes it so easy to repeat stamp. The simple pink tree was inked twice with Pretty in Pink. For the ombre pink tree I used three shades of pink. I did a simple pale blue and dark blue tree - both stamped twice, and the ombre blue uses both shades of blue. I then stamped the outline tree around each image and cut them all out. It's hard to see in the photo above, but I added some sparkle to the white stripes on all the trees - so pretty in real-life! I adhered all the trees flat to the card for ease of posting. I finished the front with a simple Christmas greeting. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pink card and stamped another of the tree images - this one has words. I used a pale pink and the pale blue.

My next card showcases the sentiments from Most Wonderful - this is a fabulous mini-set that comes with two complete sentiments and words to make even more:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Pop, Most Wonderful
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Dapper Denim, Tempting Tuquoise; Versamark; Delicata - Golden Glitz
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Dapper Denim; Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder

On this card I used a technique that I learnt from Jennifer McGuire to create a sentiment background. I love the font in this set. Once again I used my MISTI to create the card. I started by inking the tree and first sentiment in Versamark and heat embossing with gold tinsel embossing powder. Then I masked the tree and stamped the sentiment repeatedly in two shades of blue. I cut a mat layer of dark blue card, adhered the panel and then attached the lot to the front of my card. On the inside I cut another mat layer of dark blue card and on the white panel I used one of the complete sentiments, added a tiny tree and some stars in gold. I used the colours from a recent Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#384 which I missed! This card could easily be made in lots of different colourways.

Here's a quick reminder of the release schedule:

INTRODUCING: 25th and 26th November - the DT will give you a closer look at the new sets being released with a daily blog hop.

RELEASE DAY: Sunday 27th November 9.00am GMT - you get to see the products in their entirety and purchase them from the Uniko website. As usual there is a Design Team Blog Hop and a Giveaway.

As this is the last release of 2016 - Bev is giving away some random prizes throughout the release countdown. To be in with a chance of winning a random prize, be sure to join in commenting along the Introducing Hops and joining in via social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Winners of the random prizes will be announced on Bev's blog on Sunday 27th November at 8.00am GMT.

That's all for now - don't forget to come back tomorrow and see our next introduction! Bye for now.

52CCT - Colours ...

.... Hi! Time is marching on and I still need to make lots more Christmas cards. This week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT45-16 has helped a lot! Gill has picked super colours for us to play with - LIME GREEN AND REAL RED - I've had a ball!! I ended up with a set of six co-ordinating cards. There are a few sneak peeks in here too - Bev from Uniko has some new stamps coming out soon. Here are my cards:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Pop, Rustic Wreath, Most Wonderful, Simply Said Christmas, Background Builders Vines Winter Additions, Pure Floral Poinsettia
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Lucky Limeade, Real Red, Whisper White; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versamark; Delicata - Shimmery Silver
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card & DP - Lucky Limeade, Real Red; Silver & White Embossing Powders; Wink of Stella - Clear, Green, Gold

I love this colour combination as you can probably guess! I used the sketch from this week's CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#199 for the layout on all the cards, although not all the cards are CAS. I made card bases in white, red and lime and then played with design papers and white card for all the toppers. I've used embossing on some, added sparkle with Wink of Stella to others and gone for fairly clean and simple on a couple more. I've added flowers on a couple of the cards and am submitting them to Jingle Belles - JB:16:23 where they want to see Christmas flowers. And I'm also submitting the Christmas tree cards to the current challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#145. I kept the inside of the cards very simple. I simply stamped a sentiment and some silver snowflakes on the white panels. I co-ordinated the colour of the word joy to the main colour of the card.

This set of six cards gets my total to 66 cards. I still need another forty or so!!! I really will have to get down to it this week. Do visit our blog to see more cards from the rest of the team - as always they have wonderful inspiration projects to share! Have a great weekend!