Uniko - Blog Hop and Revisit ...

... Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by. It's time for our Uniko Blog Hop & Revisit. On months when there is no new release, we revisit a previously released stamp set. This month Bev has picked Fun Flowers and the newly released Fun Flowers Stencil. I had fun with both the stamp set and the stencil and ended up making two cards. Here's the first:

Stamps: Uniko - Birthday Sentiments, Fun Flowers
Inks: Gina K - Lovely Lavender, Wild Lilac; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versamark
Dies: Spellbinders - Classic Scallop Border (E8-001)
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Elegant Eggplant; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder; Cosmic Shimmer EP: Mallow Flame Aurora, Pink Violet Blaze, Tropic Violet Lustre, Tropic Bilberry Blaze

I started by taping the stencil to white card and tapping a Versmark pad all over the panel. I removed the stencil and added several different embossing powders and heat set the powders. You can't see it in the photo, but the embossed images have a lovely lustre to them. I cut a strip of shimmer vellum on which I stamped and embossed the sentiment. I used some Spellbinder dies to cut the scallop border. I attached the sentiment strip and then layered the panel on dark purple card and adhered it to the card base. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of dark purple card and added a simple birthday greeting and some more fun flowers in lilac. I'm submitting this card to The Flower Challenge - TFC#18 where it's Anything Goes.

My second card is smaller, being a 4-bar card:

Stamps: Uniko - Fun Flowers, Simply Said
Inks: Gina K - Blue Lagoon, Jelly Bean Green; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Spun Sugar, Festive Berries
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copic Markers; Dylusions Paint Pen; Uniko Stencil - Fun Flowers; Nuvo - Aqua Shimmer Brush; Gem

I put the stencil on the card and lightly brushed on some pale pink and red inks, concentrating the colour towards the bottom right. I stamped a flower and some leaves, cut them out with my Scan'N'Cut and added colour with Copic markers and a red Dylusion paint pen. I covered them all with a light layer of clear shimmer. I added the flower and leaves with dimensional dots. I finished the card by added a sentiment and a little gem to the centre of the flower. I was going to submit this to Less is More as they want us to use stencils, but I forgot that they also want it to be one layer!!! Oops! I've not done the inside of this card as yet.

Don't forget to visit the Uniko Blog and the rest of the Design Team, comment along the way for your chance to win a £15 eGift Certificate.

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Julie
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P
Wiebke 

You have until midnight (BST) Saturday 7th April to comment. That's all for now - see you again soon.

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 - April Release and Giveaway ....

.... Hello! It's release day at Uniko. You've seen the introductions and today both the new mini sets are available at the shop. Here's some more inspiration:

Stamps: Uniko - Celebrate with Cake, Simply Said Birthday
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Soft Sky
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Sea Breeze

I got the idea for this card from Sarah's flower card which she shared yesterday; it reminded me of the Triple Stamping technique. I cut two panels of white card and two panels of design paper each slightly larger then the white card.  I used temporary adhesive to layer the white card on top of each other and then randomly stamped some cupcakes over the background. I filled in the gaps with the little star confetti stamp in several colours. Next I layered the stamped card on the design paper and attached both to the front of the card. I finished with a bold birthday greeting in the centre of the card. I used the colours from this week's Colour Throwdown - CTD#387 for the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of the design paper and on the white panel I stamped another cupcake and a greeting.

My next card features Fun Flowers (which I was supposed to showcase yesterday, but didn't get chance to make a card). This one is quite clean and simple and uses the colours from this week's Colour Q challenge - cQc#336:

Stamps: Uniko - Fun Flowers, All Occasion Sentiments #6
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SUDP - Pumpkin Pie; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear, Pink, Orange

This is a really fun set where you can build up flowers using different layers. I started by stamping three larger flowers and keeping them mostly white. I stamped the word thanks on white card, coloured it with Copic markers, cut it out and added clear Wink of Stella to each letter for some sparkle. At this point I added the tiny flowers in black and coloured them with orange and pink Wink of Stella brushes. This card really shimmers. On the inside I is a mat layer of pumpkin pie design paper and on the white card I added another flower.

I'm also submitting this card to AAA Cards - AAA#62 where the theme is Anything Goes, but it must be CAS.

As is tradition, we have a Design Team Blog Hop with the chance of one lucky person winning the ENTIRE release AND a £10 eGift Certificate to spend in the store. You simply have to comment along the hop by midnight (BST) Sunday 17th April 2016.

Bev

Deborah (that's me)

Jane

Lindsey

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

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

First up is Celebrate with Cake - such a versatile set with open and solid stamps for the cupcake case and frosting, so easy to line up too.  The little confetti stamps are just fab.

Second is Fun Flowers - another really versatile set - you can build all kinds of flowers with these images. You can colour them, paint them or stamp on design paper - the possibilities are endless.

That's all for now.  Thanks so much for stopping by - I really do appreciate it.  See you soon.