Uniko Challenge Reminder .....

.... Morning! Wow, it's February already and it's also time for a reminder about our challenge over at Uniko - USC#45. We have a fun theme of SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW and there's the option of adding LOVE as the theme. I skipped that last time, but today's card has a love theme:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, Pure Floral Rose
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Black Onyx
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Bermuda Bay; Copics; Clear Embossing Powder; Gems

I've used the gorgeous Mandela from Marvellous Mehndi for the main image on my card - it's such a lovely image to colour! I stamped it on white card, coloured it with Copics, stamped with Versafine, embossed with clear powder, and then cut it out with my new Scan'n'Cut machine (more of that later). I used the sketch and colours from this week's CAS Colours & Sketches challenge - CASC&S#257, and as I've attached the images to this card I'm also submitting it to Inkspirational - INK#153 where the keyword is Attachment. I cut a panel of aqua card, stamped on the greeting, and adhered it flat to the card. I attached the large image flat to the card and used dimensional tape to attach the little flower. I finished the front by adding some small black gems to the centre of each image. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of aqua card and on the white panel finished the greeting and added a couple of little images from the stamp set.

For more inspiring projects from the Design Team, and from our guest designer, Anita, do visit the Uniko blog. There's still plenty of time to join in the fun - deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) Friday 23rd February, that's 7.00pm EDT. We have prizes too:

• Main winner, chosen by the Design Team - £25 eGift Certificate
• Random twist winner - £4 in stock clear stamp set of winner's choosing
• Random Uniko stamps winner - £4 in stock clear stamp set of winner's choosing
• Top 3 chose by the Design Team - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

My mum got me a Scan'n'Cut for Christmas. I opened up the box earlier this week and had a quick play. I cut out the following images:

All the images above are Uniko designs; some are digital and some are stamped. The rose, the large Mandela, the paisley images, and the time doily are all stamped and embossed. The smaller Mandela, the heart, hugs, and the snowflake are digital images that Bev sent me. As you can see the Scan'n'Cut works brilliantly. I did have a small mishap with the snowflake as the grey lines on the digital were so pale that it looked one of the flowers was separate - it should work perfectly when I stamp the image. I'm thrilled with the machine and will be doing lots of stamping this weekend!!

That's all for now - I'm looking forward to checking out your creations - have fun!!

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 - Sponsor AAA Cards ....

.... Good morning! Uniko is sponsoring AAA Cards - AAA#84 where the challenge is to use WATERCOLOUR. At first I wasn't quite sure what to do for this challenge as I've recently used my Brusho crystals a lot. I decided to colour the wonderful mandala from Marvellous Mehndi with my Zig Watercolour brushes:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, All Occasion Sentiments #3, Simply Said
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Certainly Celery, Smoky Slate
Dies: Lil Inkers - Stitched Squares #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card & DP - Certainly Celery; Tim Holtz Water Colour Card; Zig Clean Color Brushes; White Embossing Powder; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear

I die cut a square of water colour card and used my MISTI to position the mandala in the centre of the panel. I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed it with white powder. Then I had lots of fun using my Zig brushes and an aqua brush to colour it. I got the inspiration for the pastel colours from the photo challenge at Inkspirational - INK#128. I'm also submitting to Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge - HLSWC#02.  I finished the panel by adding a simple greeting in black ink. I layered the image on some pale green card and attached it all to a square card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale green design paper and on the white card I added a bold greeting along with a few more images from Marvellous Mehndi.

After I put the card together I decided that it needed a little sparkle. I used my clear Spectrum Noir brush to add some sparkle to the mandala - you can just about see it in the close-up photo below:

Do visit the Uniko blog to see more cards from the rest of the Design Team. And don't forget to pop back later to see a few more sneak peeks from the new Uniko release. See you soon!

Marvellous Mehndhi ...

.... Morning all! I'm taking a bit of a break from Christmas cards today. December and January are full of family and friend birthdays, so I thought I'd make a few for my stash. Here's the first:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, Simply Said; Cas-ual Friday Stamps - Whole Shebang
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies: Memory Box - Contempo Circle Border
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Bazill Card - Lime Green; Vellum; Zig Real Brushes; Spectrum Noir - Sparkle Brush Clear; Clear Embossing Powder; Tim Holtz Water Colour Card

I stamped the mandala image twice - once on the card and once on watercolour card. I embossed the image on water colour card with clear powder and then coloured it with Zig Real Brushes. I also added some sparkle with my clear Spectrum Noir brush. I fussy cut the water colour image, edged it with a black marker and adhered it to the card with the green die cut border beneath it. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white card, attached it to a piece of die cut vellum and then adhered it over the flower. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel added a fun greeting and a paisley pattern.

I used the colour from this week's Colour Throwdown - CTD#421 - love these colours. The layout is based on the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#265.

I've got a busy week coming up - I've got to finish sorting out my Christmas card list, get the labels printed, cards written and then posted. It's a fairly major job. And in between all my crafting fun, I also need to make sure that the house is clean and tidy. Oh yes, must get the Christmas tree up too! That's all for now! Do drop by again soon.

Uniko - colours reminder ....

.... Good morning! Have you played along with our colour challenge over at Uniko - USC#37? If not, there's plenty of time and we have a really fun colour challenge - RAINBOW!!! Bright or pastel - your choice. Here's the card I made to remind you about this month's challenge:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, All Occasion Sentiments #6
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Vellum; Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder; Zig Colouring Pens

I had so much fun making this card. It's absolutely clean and simple and very elegant too. I used vellum to make the front panel of the card. I used my antistatic buddy all over the vellum and then stamped, using my MISTI, the mandala image and sentiment in Versamark ink. I heat embossed them both with gold tinsel powder - it has a really pretty shimmer. On a piece of white I then stamped the mandala again - this is where the MISTI really comes into its own - perfect placement of the image. I used my new Zig pens to rainbow colour the mandala. And that's it - very clean and simple.

You can see just how bright the rainbow colours are on the inside of the card and how the vellum softens them down! As I used my new Zig markers on this card, I'm also going to submit to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#217. And over at Less is More - LIM#299, the team want us to use vellum or acetate! Here's one more photo of the card where you can clearly see that the front panel is just a piece of vellum:

Do visit the blog to see more rainbow inspiration from the rest of the team.  Oh yes, we have prizes too:

THE PRIZES

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £15 gift voucher and opportunity to Guest Design.
• The DT choose a Top 3 who will each get 100 Loyalty Rewards Points added to their Uniko customer account.
• We will do a random draw for all those who use A UNIKO stamp. This winner will get 200 Loyalty Reward Points added to their Uniko customer account.

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 11th November (7.00pm EDT).

That's all for now! See you soon.

Uniko - October Release, Blog Hop and Giveaway ....

Click here for my 52CCT post

.... Hello again! It's World Card Making Day and this is my second post of the day. It's also RELEASE DAY at Uniko - which is kind of fun! You've seen the introductions and now it's time to provide some more inspiration with Bev's wonderful new stamp sets. There are five in total. As you know from my previous posts, I don't actually have the clear stamps - they're currently in Customs at Chicago! Bev kindly let me have the digital images so that I could join in - and it's been great fun.

I'm starting off with a clean, simple card featuring Originally Organic:

Stamps: Uniko - Originally Organic, All Occasion Sentiments #6
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Strawberry Slush; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Lil Inkers Dual Stitched Squares
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Strawberry Slush; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Glossy Accents

I created this in Publisher to combine the leaves and flowers into one image and then add the sentiment. I printed the image on white card and  used a stitch edge die to cut out the panel. I used Copics to colour the image and added some sparkle to the flowers and blue dots. I also added some glossy accents to the blue dots for dimension. I used dimensional tape to adhere the finished panel to the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark pink card and added a simple greeting. I used the colours from this week's Colour Throwdown - CTD#412 for this card.

My next card is bold and bright and was so much fun to colour! It features the large mandala from Marvellous Mehndi:

Stamps: Uniko - Marvellous Mehndi, Simply Said, Background Builders Round in Circles
Inks: Hero Arts Neon - Pink, Green, Orange; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Burlap Paper; SU Card - Smoky Slate; Copics; Kaisercraft Pens; Gem

I printed the mandala on white card and coloured it with a mixture of Copic markers and Kaisercraft pens - glitter and neon! I then fussy cut it out - took a while, but was so worth it. I created the horizontal panel by repeated stamping the circles in bright neon colours. I used my MISTI to make this a very simple process. I finished by adding a simple sentiment. I used the sketch from Fusion - FUSION#58 for the layout and the colours are from Card Concept - CC#58. On the inside I cut a mat layer in pale grey and on the white panel added some more neon colour circles.

My final card is a clean and simple Christmas card using images from both Christmas Sparkle and Winter Foliage:

Stamps: Uniko - Winter Foliage, Christmas Sparkle, All Occasion Sentiments # 4, Rustic Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; SU - Garden Green
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Garden Green; Copics; Glitter

I had so much fun creating the pine cones and ornaments. As before, I used Publisher. I added the various elements and then recoloured them. I scaled them to size, printed them off and added extra colour with my Copic markers. I decided to add glitter to the word sparkle - it wasn't totally successful, but I do like the shimmer! I finished the front with a big, bold greeting. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark green card and on the white panel added another sentiment along with a Christmas tree. I'm submitting this card to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#213 where they want to see holiday cards.

So, that's my cards showcasing the new stamps. 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 (BST) on Sunday 9th October.

Bev

Deborah - that's me!

Jane

Lindsey

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P

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

First up is the mini set Christmas Sparkle - I think the outline is such a lovely shape.

Next is Marvellous Mehndi - that mandala is wonderful and such a joy to colour.

Here's Originally Organic - full of fabulous sentiments and lovely images.

Here's Simply Said II, an addition to the Simply Said range. Lots of very useful sentiments and words.

Finally, another mini set - Festive Foliage. Perfect for Christmas, but can work for masculine cards too.

All the above sets are available today here at the Uniko shop.

I'm planning on spending some time in my craft room today to celebrate World Card Making Day!

Have a fun day and I hope you drop by again soon. Bye for now.