Uniko - Snowflakes Galore ....

... Good morning! I'm here this morning with a quick peak of my Uniko Design Team Inspiration post. I've been playing with my Brusho crystals and have made a set of Christmas cards - full details of the process can be found over at Uniko today.

I'm going to submit this set of cards to the challenge over at Jingle Belles - JB:17:03 - where the team want to see snow - I've got plenty here.

Stamps: Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes, Big & Bold Snow, Rustic Christmas, Peace on Earth, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Lil Inkers - Wonky Rectangles #4, Dual Stitched Rectangles #5, Dual Dotted Ovals #3, Dual Dotted Squares #4, Dual Dotted Circles #5, Dual Dotted Rectangles #5
Accessories: Tim Holtz Water Colour Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Gumball Green, Night of Navy, Perfect Plum, Blackberry Bliss; Brusho - Turquoise, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine, Lime Green, Sea Green, Olive Green, Ost Blue, Gamboge, Rose Red, Violet; Embossing Powder - Silver, Gold and White

Thank you for stopping by today. Do drop by tomorrow for more Uniko news! See you soon.

Happy Thanksgiving ....

... to all my American friends. Even though we've been in the States for 4 years, we still can't quite get used to this holiday! However, it is a huge event and I want to wish all my American crafting buddies the very Happiest of Holidays!

I also want to share with you a card that I made for Kat's voice teacher - Dorothy. Kat gave the card to Dorothy last Sunday at the music recital, so I'm safe to share it now:

Stamps: MFT - Lots of Dots; Uniko - Rustic Christmas; Stampin' Up! - Water Colour Wishes
Inks: SU - Pumpkin Pie. Chocolate Chip
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Old Olive, Hello Honey; Photoplay - Falling Leaves; Wink of Stella - Clear

This is another card made from the sheet of 12" x 12" design paper. I think this is such a fun image of a turkey - he looks sort of bemused!!! I used the sketch from Your Next Stamp - YNS#52 and the colours are from Colour Q Challenge - cQc#368.  I cut a panel of yellow card and stamped these fun dots in orange. There was a scrap of green card on my desk so I used that for the greeting. I used dimensional tape to add the image. I also added a touch of sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush to the words and the turkey's feathers. On the inside I kept it very simple with a mat layer of yellow card and a greeting on the white panel.

That's all for today. We are going to have a quiet morning watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade from Detroit on TV and then later we're going out for lunch.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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.

Uniko - Christmas Sparkle ....

..... Hello! I'm here with my last introduction card for the new Uniko release. Today I've got a very clean and simple Christmas card:

Stamps: Uniko - Christmas Sparkle, All Occasion Sentiments #4, Wonderful Washi Christmas, Background Builder Vines Winter Additions, Rustic Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Rose Red, Pink Pirouette; Memento - London Fog; Delicata - Silvery Shimmer
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Vellum; SU Card - Rose Red; Silver Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Silver

I still don't have the actual stamps, but I've been able to play with the digital images. I printed the outline ornament, in three different sizes, on plain white card. To create the pattern I used the tiny stamps from BB Vines Winter Addictions. I used a silver Wink of Stella brush to paint the ornament hanger. I stamped the snowflake washi image on vellum, heat embossed with silver powder, cut it out and adhered it direct to the card. I used my MIST to position and stamp the greeting. I finished by adhering the ornaments. On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark pink card and on the white panel I added a greeting and some more snowflakes. I've used light and dark pink, along with silver and grey so I'm playing along with this week's Merry Monday Challenge - MM#215.

Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration from Bev and the rest of the Design Team. We've reached the end of our introductions and tomorrow is RELEASE DAY. We'll be providing more inspiration, show the sets in their entirety, we've got a Blog Hop and there's going to be a Giveaway too! See you tomorrow!

UC - Christmas ...

.... Good morning!!!  It's time for our new challenge at Uniko.  Our theme this month is CHRISTMAS with the optional twist of a CAS creation.  I don't want to scare you, but there are only 34 days to Christmas!!!  There's still time to create some handmade cards.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Rustic Christmas, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Memento - London Fog; Stampin' Up! - Not Quite Navy
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Silver Bells; Silver Mirri Card; Silver Tinsel Embossing Powder; White Embossing Powder; Vellum

I don't think this really counts as clean and simple, although it was very quick and easy to make.  I've used the colours from this week's challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#288.  In my huge VAST selection of design paper I found this lovely piece in a Kaisercraft pad.  I love the soft grey musical score with the pretty blue and white Christmas ornaments.  I simply stamped the tree in Versamark and heat embossed it with silver tinsel embossing powder - it sparkles!!   I layered the paper on some silver mirri card and adhered it to the card base.  I added the sentiment by stamping it in Versamark on vellum and heat embossing with white powder.  On the inside I cut another piece of silver mirri card for the mat layer and on the white panel added a Christmas greeting, along with some more Christmas trees.

Our guests for this month's challenges are Shona and Magic Flying Boots - do check out their gorgeous cards.  Don't forget to visit the rest of the team too - they have all made such beautiful cards.

If you need more encouragement to play along - then we have prizes too.  The DT pick an overall winner who will get a £20 gift voucher for the shop.  The DT also pick a Top 3, who will each receive 50 Loyalty Points to their customer account.  If you've used Uniko products on your card, then you'll be entered in the random draw and the winner gets 150 Loyalty Points added to their account.  Finally, if you've twisted with us this month (CAS), then you'll be entered into another random draw, the winner of this draw will get 100 Loyalty Points added to their customer account.  You've plenty of time to join in, deadline for submission is 8.00pm GMT on Friday 4th December (that's 3.00pm EDT for those of us this side of the pond).  Have fun!!

25 Tags of Christmas ....

... Hello!  I'm playing along with Tracey McNeely's 25 Tags of Christmas challenge.  This year is the challenge's 5th Anniversary.  Bev at Uniko is one of the sponsors and several of the DT have made tags to play along!  I don't often make tags, so this was a fun way to get me started and I actually ended up making three tags.  Here's a photo of all three together:

Stamps: Uniko - Peace on Earth, Rustic Christmas, Jolly Christmas; Waltzingmouse - Seasons of Love
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Marina Mist, Old Olive, Real Red
Dies: Uniko - Snowflakes; Waltzingmouse - Stitched Tag
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copic Markers; Glitter; Ribbons; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used my Waltzingmouse Stitched Tag die to cut six white blanks - one for the front and one for the back.

Dove - I stamped the image and sentiment in black.  I used my Copic markers to add a touch of colour to the dove's wings and used a glue pen to colour the bird and added lots of glitter.  Once dry I adhered the front and back together and finished by adding some ribbons.

Santa - I stamped the image directly on the card, coloured it with Copic markers and added glitter to the white parts.  Once dry, I added lots more sparkle by using my clear Wink of Stella Brush on the rest of the image.  I adhered front and back together and finished with more ribbons.

Snowflake - I stamped the sentiment at the base of the tag. Next I used the largest of the snowflake dies to make an impression in the tag.  I ran a glue pen around the impression line and then added blue glitter to add definition to the snowflake.  I glued front and back tags together and finished the tag with ribbons.

On the back of each tag I added some lines on which to write a message as well as a few Christmas stars.

Full details of the challenge can be found here on Tracey's blog - there are lots of opportunites to win prizes by taking part.  And I really must make some more tags too!  That's all for now! 

Merry Christmas ....

.... Good morning all!  Bev at Uniko is sponsoring the new challenge at Time Out Challenges and most of the team have made cards to share with you today.  The theme is CHRISTMAS with the optional twist of using PINK and/or PURPLE.  I always love a Christmas card in non-traditional colours, so this was fun:

Stamps: Uniko - Rustic Christmas, Wonderful Washi Christmas, Pure Florals Poinsettia
Inks: Brilliance Trio - Twilight; Memento - London Fog; Versamark
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Smoky Slate; Vellum; Silver Embossing Powder; Copic Markers

I really like that Bev's stamps can be easily mixed and matched.  I haven't used the Washi set for ages, so thought it was time to play.  I stamped three of the images in Versamark on vellum, heat embossed them with silver and then coloured the reverse with Copic markers and cut them out.  I ran them all through my Xyron to make them self-adhesive.  In my stash I have some fabulous Brilliance inks that have a subtle metallic shimmer and one of the sets matched perfectly, so I stamped the Christmas tree using it.  I cut it out and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape.  Prior to attaching the tree I stamped a Christmas greeting.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale grey card, and on the white panel added another tree and a greeting.

Do check out our blog to see what the rest of the team have created.  And visit Time Out Challenges to play along!  Have fun!