Uniko - September Release and Giveaway ....

...  Hello again!  I'm back to share some cards made using Uniko's latest release.  You've seen our introductions and today all the stamps sets are available for purchase from Uniko.  Here are some more inspiration cards for you:

I started off making a really clean and simple card with Natures Treasures II:

Stamps: Uniko - Natures Treasures II, Pure Floral Chrysanthemum
Inks: Kaleidacolour - Capuccino Delight; Hero Arts Ombre - Pink to Red
Dies: Uniko - Chrysanthemum
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Primrose Petals; Gems

This card might look a little familiar (check out Bev's card from yesterday), but I can honestly say that I made this as soon as I saw the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#142!!  I decided to skip the sentiment.  I stamped the small leaves and the vines from Natures Treasures II directly on the card.  I stamped the chrysanthemum using ombre ink on white card and cut it out with the matching die.  I finished the front with the addition of some little gems.  I'm also submitting this card to AAA Cards - AAA#48 where the theme is autumn colours.  You should see the chrysanthemums in my garden - they look fabulous!!!  On the inside I cut a mat layer of pink card (discontinued colour) and added a few more leaves on the white panel.  I left a large space for my message.

Next I made a very masculine card with Background Builders Triangulate:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Triangulate, Nautical Treasures, Background Builders Squared
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Luckly Limeade

Not as CAS as my first card, but lots of fun to make.  I love these stamps - so on trend with the tribal like patterns.  The colours are from Colour Q - cQc#308 - they are just perfect for a guy card!  I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#204 for the layout.  I stamped the pattern on the central panel by stamping first at the bottom and then the top, building up the patten and finishing with the arrows in the centre.  I used on of the triangle stamp to create the pattern on the green sail.  I stamped the boat on white card, cut it out and added patterned sails.  I finished with a simple sentiment.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and added some pattern to the white panel.

Last, but by no means least, is a birthday card made using All Occasion Sentiments #6:

Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6, Strike A Pose
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Hero Arts Neon - Blue, Green, Orange
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Happy Snaps; Clear Embossing Powder

I made this for our friend David who is celebrating his birthday today.  David's a photographer so I had to use Strike a Pose on his card.  I stamped the word "smile" repeatedly over the background using bright, neon colours from this week's The Male Room - TMR#19-15 challenge.  "Smile" works so well on a card for a photographer.  On the inside I cut a mat layer in green design paper and added some decoration to the white panel.  All being well, David should have received this card.  The photo on the card is one I took at last week's photo shoot with Diane - it was a blast!!

That's it!  We've done the introductions and you've come to the end of my release cards.  As is tradition, we have Design Team Blog Hop, you need to visit all the design team and comment on their blogs for the chance to the entire release - what a fantastic prize!!! You need to submit your comments by midnight (BST) Friday 25th September (7.00pm EDT).

Bev - Uniko

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

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

All Occasion Sentiments#6 - £4.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

Background Builders Triangulate - £9.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

Natures Treasures II - £4.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

Don't forget to visit Bev's blog to see if you are a mystery prize winner.  Thanks so much for stopping by to see these new releases.  That's all for now.  See you soon.

52CCT - Theme ....

.... Hello!  It's time for our theme challenge here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - 52CCT38-15.  Fabiola wants us to make a Christmas (or winter) card for a man.  Yea!  I love making guy cards.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Kaisercraft - Home for Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Canvas Photo Paper; Kaisercraft DP - Home for Christmas; Gem; Clear Embossing Powder

I've gone for texture on my masculine Christmas card.  I stamped the sentiment along the side of the card and then added some canvas photo paper (which I've had in my stash for years).  So, as I've used old stash I'm going to submit this card to Jingle Belles - JB:15:19 and Shopping our Stash - SOS/JB.  I'm also playing along with this week's Cardz 4 Guys - C4G#88 where the team want to see embossing - dry or heat.  I heat embossed the black Christmas tree onto the photo canvas.  I cut out the rest of the Christmas trees from a sheet of design paper, ran them through my Xyron to make them self-adhesive and adhered them to the card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper and added a Christmas greeting to the white panel.

Do visit our 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown blog to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you.  I don't want to scare you, but there are only 13 Saturdays left before Christmas!!!  Still time to join in with our prompts to get your Christmas stash going.  Deadline for submission for this week's challenge is midnight (BST) Friday 25th September (7.00PM EDT).  Have a super weekend!

Uniko - Natures Tresures II ...

.....  Morning - today is the last day of introductions for the new Uniko release.  This set is really organic and works perfectly with Bev's floral stamp sets, but I'm focusing on the set.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Natures Treasures II, Simply Said Birthday
Inks: Distress - Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn; Archival - Monarch Orange, Coffee. Emerald Green
Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 23 (S4-347) #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Bluebelle

I'm submitting this card to several challenges:

• Less is More - LIM#241 - one layer card with the theme wishing
• Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#72 - Leaves
• Inkspirational - INK#91 - Colours - orange and green

Today is also the start of the new Uniko Challenge - USC#25 which this month has the theme Autumn/Fall with the optional twist of "Thanks".  I combined my introduction and challenge card, and opted go with the autumn.

I used a die to cut an opening in a mask and covered the card.  Then I sponged on shades of orange and green.  I added some drops of water to the distress ink to remove some ink and give a nice ghosted image.  After carefully removing the mask I stamped on some leaves tumbling down the page.  I finished the front with a simple greeting.  On the inside I cut a piece of Kaisercraft design paper to fit on the card and as the colour wasn't quite right, I rubbed over the paper with some spiced marmalade ink and then rubbed off the excess.  On the white panel I added a few more leaves.

As well as inspiration from the Design Team, we have two fantastic Guest Designers this month - you will be familiar with them both - check out what Ardyth and Pauline have made to inspire you.

Don't forget that there are prizes when you play along with the challenge.  The DT pick a winner who will get a £20 gift voucher for use in the shop.  The DT also pick the Top 3, who will each get 50 Loyalty Points added to their customer account.  If you've played along and used Uniko stamps on your card, then you'll enter the random draw and the winner of that will get 150 Loyalty Points added to their customer accounts.  Finally, if you've played along with the twist of "Thanks", there's a random draw for that too - the winner of this one will get 100 Loyalty Points added to their customer account.  You've got plenty of time to join in with the challenge - deadline is Friday 2nd October 8.00am BST (that's 3.00am EDT).

Tomorrow, 19th September, is release day.  The day you've been waiting for - the sets will be available for purchase at Uniko.  We will showing the sets in their entirety and, as is tradition, there's will be a Design Team Blog Hop with the chance for one lucky person to win the ENTIRE release.  And there's a little extra too!

You won't want to miss out on any of the fun from the 14th - 19th September, as Bev will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes.  No hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join the fun!

Places to join the fun, and possibly win a prize, are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Blog, Design Team Blogs, liking the Uniko Facebook page, and following on Pinterest and Twitter!  See you soon.

Happy Birthday Kat .....

.... Hello again!  Today our darling daughter Kat (as she has chosen to call herself) turns 14 years old!  I still can't quite believe just how fast the last 14 years have gone by, it really does only seem like yesterday that she was a tiny baby totally dependent on us.  And now, well, she's a wonderful young woman - confident, bright, funny, sometimes grumpy, but always our special girl.  Here's the card that I made for her:

Stamps: Dylusions - Endeavour, Quintessential Quotes, Which Way Up, Bits of This, Dy's Alphabet, Clearly Quotes, Clearly the Right Word, Clearly Alpha
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders - Glass Effects (S4-451)
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Garden Green, Island Indigo, Pacific Point; Copic Markers; SU DP - Pacific Point

 This is a large card - I used a card blank that I brought over from the UK, it's 8" × 8".  Well, it's a special birthday.  I used a few challenges in the making of this card.  I used the sketch from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC#241, although I did adapt it a bit.  The colours are from Colour Me! Card Challenge - CMCC#89.  And, as I've used a die, I'm submitting this card to Left of Centre - LOC#95.

Kat is very specific about her likes and dislikes, and she has a somewhat eclectic taste in music and fashion.  So I was quite pleased to find that she "lurves" my Dylusions stamps - so I had to use them on this card.  I stamped the image on white card.  I used my MISTI to stamp the image, it allowed me to stamp it three times to give a really black outline - love this tool!  I coloured her with Copic markers, cut her out and then edged the image with a black marker.  The MFT sketch gave me the idea to use my Glass Effect die - first time out!  It took a while to create the panel as I had to cut it five times, make sure I didn't lose any pieces and then inlay the individual bits!  I'm glad I made the effort - looks super.  I finished the front with a fun birthday greeting.

On the inside I cut a mat layer of blue design paper. On the white panel I had fun adding lots of Dyan's sentiments.  Dyan's stamps are available in lots of formats - red rubber, photo polymer, wooden - and the same images comes in a variety of sizes.  This is great, as the sentiments in pale grey are the small versions (photo polymer), while the large sentiment in the middle is a red rubber stamp.  I added a few decorative details too.  And to complete the package, I added some decoration to the envelope too.

I also added some decoration to the wrapping on Kat's birthday present.  All in keeping!

Beautiful steampunk style necklace, made by Valerie Brinchick.  

And the parcel - done in style!

Finally, here are a few photos to show my our lovely girl has changed!

Kat - taken at the end of August - our Goth Girl!!  Almost 14 years old.

Our very first visit to the States in Novi.  We came to check out the area and find a place to live!

Kat was 10½ years old in this photo.

Kat at school in Northop Hall, July 2006.

She's 5¾ years old here.

If you've made it this far, thank for reading.  I think you can gather that I'm very proud of our girl. She's given us so much joy and so much more to come!  Bye for now.

Uniko - BB Triangulate ....

... Hi!  It's day 2 of our Uniko introductions.  This set is an addition to Bev's super Background Builder stamps - it's time to showcase Triangulate.  Geometric patterns are very much on trend and I think they make fabulous guy cards, but I've made a card for a girl.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Triangulate, All Occasion Sentiments #2, All Occasion Sentiments #6
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Hero Arts Neon - Green, Orange, Blue, Pink
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Happy Snaps; SU Marker Pen - Basic Black

I have to admit that this did start out to be a guy card, but when I added the pink design paper inside, it turned into a more feminine card.  So you can probably guess that the neon colours are based on this week's colour challenge at The Male Room - TMR#19-15.   I based the design of my card on the sketch at this month's Happy Little Stampers challenge - HLSSepSk.  I was very literal in my take on the sketch.  I drew in the lines with a marker pen and then added some of the triangle images from Triangulate.  I changed the position of the colour blocks on the card to those on the sketch.  On the inside I added that piece of pink paper as a mat layer and on the white panel added a stripe of orange triangles and a fun sentiment.

Here's a quick reminder of the release schedule:

Introductions: 16th - 18th September.  We'll be introducing each set and providing some inspiration for you. One more introduction to go!!

Release: 19th September - the day you've been waiting for - the sets will be available for purchase at Uniko.  We will showing the sets in their entirety and, as is tradition, there's will be a Design Team Blog Hop with the chance for one lucky person to win the ENTIRE release.  And there's a little extra too!

You won't want to miss out on any of the fun from the 14th - 19th September, as Bev will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes.  No hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join the fun!

Places to join the fun, and possibly win a prize, are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Blog, Design Team Blogs, liking the Uniko Facebook page, and following on Pinterest and Twitter!  See you soon.

Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6 & TMR Colours ...

....  well, you've seen the peeks and now it's time to introduce the first of the new Uniko sets.  Today I'm introducing All Occasion Sentiments #6.  It's also the start of a new challenge at The Male Room.  Our challenge for the next couple of weeks is to use NEON colours on your masculine projects.  I think these sentiments make great guys cards, and I really like the open font for "THANKS", so I've coloured it and here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments#6, Background Builders Round in Circles
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Hero Arts Neon - Blue, Green, Orange, Pink
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Happy Snaps; Copic Markers

I stamped the horizontal stripes and the grungy circles first, then added the word "thanks" above in black.  I stamped the word again on scrap paper, used my florescent Copic markers to colour each letter and fussy cut each letter and glued them to the card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of green design paper and on the white panel stamped some more of the circle borders in neon green and blue.  I used the sketch from this week's CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#140 for the layout.

For more inspiration using Neon colours on your masculine projects, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the design team have made for you.  You've got until midnight (BST) Tuesday 29th September (7.00pm EDT) to play along.

Don't forget to check out Bev's Uniko blog to see what the rest of the Uniko DT have made with this new set - I love it.  Here's a quick reminder of the release schedule:

Introductions: 16th - 18th September.  We'll be introducing each set and providing some inspiration for you.

Release: 19th September - the day you've been waiting for - the sets will be available for purchase at Uniko.  We will showing the sets in their entirety and, as is tradition, there's will be a Design Team Blog Hop with the chance for one lucky person to win the ENTIRE release.  And there's a little extra too!

You won't want to miss out on any of the fun from the 14th - 19th September, as Bev will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes.  No hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join the fun!

Places to join the fun, and possibly win a prize, are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Blog, Design Team Blogs, liking the Uniko Facebook page, and following on Pinterest and Twitter!  See you soon.