Uniko Celebrating 13 Years - Introducing...Spring Botanicals Primrose

Hi guys

It's the final introduction for the latest Uniko release.  Tomorrow is release day so be sure to stick around for the full reveal.

The final new stamp set is a new addition to a well loved collection...Spring Botanicals Primrose.

Just the one card for you today and I used a technique I've not done for a very long time...paper piecing!  

I began by stamping the image onto a die cut panel.  I then stamped parts of the image onto some patterned paper...the flowers onto yellow paper featuring tiny ditsy flowers, and the leaves onto green patterned paper which had a flecked design.  I fussy cut them out and adhered them over the main stamped image.  To add some depth, I used Copic markers to add some shading.  I finished by stamping a sentiment from the set and added some metallic yellow jewels.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Spring Botanicals Primrose
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Copic markers
• Patterned papers from stash
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Jewels: Lemon Mix

Bev and the Brand Ambassadors have some beautiful projects to share which you can find over on the main Uniko blog, here. 

The full release will be revealed tomorrow and the new products will be available to purchase from 9am GMT.

Uniko January 2025 Reveal, Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway

Good morning!

It's release day over at Uniko and I'm here to reveal the whole release and share another card.

Here's the final card I made...

I grabbed the new Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars stencil and inked it up using the shifted stencil technique.  So, on any cardstock other than white (I chose a neutral beige), ink up in a colour first, here I used Distress Oxide Dried Marigold.  Then once dry, shift the stencil slightly, and ink through it with white pigment ink.  I shifted it slightly downward and to the right.  I love the dimensional effect you get with this technique, some colours work better than others.  I die cut the panel and adhered it flat to the card base.  I then stamped a sentiment from the new Flower Power #11 on a die cut strip and popped it up on 3D foam.  A few orange enamel dots and the card was finished.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11
• Stencils: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles and Stars
• Ink: Distress Oxide: Dried Marigold; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles
• Cardstock from stash

So, now to reveal the new and reintroduced products in full.

Reintroducing... Background Builders: Flower Power

Now the new stamp sets....Sparkle Sentiments...

And the new addition to the Flower Power series...Flower Power #11

and Simply Said Blocks Occasions...

Two new Ink & Flip stencil sets...Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem...

and Ink & Flip Layering Flower...

a new layering stencil set...Layering Picked Posies...

and finally, another stencil to join the Mid Century Modern collection...Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars...

No doubt there is something amongst the above that grabs your creative attention.  Be sure to leave some comments on the Brand Ambassador blogs or social media.  You can find all the links over at the Uniko blog, here.  By leaving comments along the way you will be in with a chance of winning some goodies.  All the details are on the Uniko blog post.

The products are available from the Uniko store now, here. 

Thanks for visiting today and for your lovely comments here and on my socials this week :)

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing...Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil and Simply Said Blocks Occasions

Good morning

More Uniko introductions for you today.  First is another Ink & Flip stencil, Layering Flower Stencil, which is a smaller version of Flower Power #8 and another set to join the sentiment sets already available, Simply Said Blocks Occasions.

My first card is very clean and simple, just using the central part of the Ink & Flip Layering Flower stencil, and a sentiment from the new Flower Power #11 set which was introduced yesterday...

I inked through both sides of the stencil, blending from pink, to purple and blue in both directions.  I then simply stamped the sentiment in black and added a few silver gloss gems.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #9
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Accents: Gems from stash

Onto my second card, and here I used just the stencil which inks up the outer background effect and creates a great shape in the centre, and I also used a sentiment from the new Simply Said Blocks Occasions set and also the existing Simply Said Blocks set, and the flower is from Flower Power #11...

I inked up a panel through both sides of the stencil using a blush shade and lemon shade of ink and the overlaps produced the orange shade.  I then simply stamped the flower head and stem in black and the sentiment in the same ink colours.  The small dot is also from the Flower Power #11 set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11, Simply Said Blocks, Simply Said Blocks Occasions
• Ink: Altenew - Buttercream, Pink Pearl; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

For my last card I used both ink and paste through the stencil...

On a die cut panel I inked up through the first side of the stencil in Milled Lavender Distress Oxide ink.  I then cleaned the stencil, flipped it, and then spread the paste through the second side which had been mixed with some of the Distress Ink for a similar tone.  The "happy" is from the Simply Said Blocks set and the "Mother's Day" stamps are from the new Simply Said Blocks Occasions set.  I stamped these in a co-ordinating grey shade of ink and fussy cut them out and adhered them on 3D foam.  A small enamel dot in the centre finished off the card.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil
• Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Blocks, Simply Said Blocks Occasions
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Milled Lavendar; Altenew - Silver Stone
• Stencil Paste: Sweet Poppy - Stencil Dimensions Pearl White
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accent: Doodlebug Sprinkles - Lilac assortment

Thanks so much for taking a look today.  You can find more projects from the team using these two new products over at the Uniko blog, here.  There are some great creations, I've seen them already.

All the new products will be available from Sunday 5 January 2025.

I hope you'll pop back tomorrow when I will be introducing the final product of this release which is a re-introduction.

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing...Flower Power #11 and Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars Stencil

Hi there

Ok, so we're now onto day three of the new Uniko introductions.

And yes, Bev has done it - she's designed another stamp set to join the Flower Power collection - Flower Power #11!  And there is also a new stencil to join the Mid Century Modern series - Mid Century Modern Circles and Stars.

I'll start with the stamp set as I love this new flower design.  Here I've paired the set with a backdrop using the Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes stamp...

On a die cut panel I began by stamping the flower head and stem/leaves in a light coloured ink and then coloured them with Copics.  I then made masks to enable me to stamp the background stripes over the top but to appear behind.  I left the flower and stem stamps in my MISTI so I could then re-stamp them, this time in VersaMark and then heat embossed in white.  As I used both stamps together at the same time, there was a small gap where the flower head met the stem so I used an embossing pen to extend the stem and also heat embossed that section.  I finished by stamping the sentiment, also from the new set, and adhered the panel flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11, Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes
• Ink: Altenew - Dew Drops; VersaMark; Versfine Clair - Nocturne
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

And now my second card using the new stencil...

On some mustard cardstock I inked through the stencil, using brown ink for the circles and then masking them off to ink up the blue star sections.  I then used a circle die to cut a section and adhere off the edge of the card base.  For the sentiment, I didn't have any cardstock in the right blue shade so I die cut the strip, ink blended with the same blue ink, left it to thoroughly dry and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, which is from the Mid Century Modern Frames set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars
• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Frames
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Vintage Photo, Uncharted Mariner; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Dies: Hero Arts - Infinity Nested Circles; Altenew - Featured Sentiments

I had some of the stencilled design leftover so I made another card...

I cut a vertical strip of the already inked design and then lined up the stencil on my card base to continue the design, which I inked up in more muted shades to create the design across the whole of the card.  I adhered the vertical strip and then added a die cut panel with a stamped sentiment using stamps from the Mid Century Modern Birthday and Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments sets.  This was popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars
• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Birthday, Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Vintage Photo, Uncharted Mariner, Speckled Egg, Scattered Straw; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Rounded Stitched Rectangle Stax

Take a look at the Uniko blog, here, for more inspiration from the rest of the team, the projects are all so different.

All the new products will be available from Sunday 5 January 2025.

Tomorrow I'll be introducing two more products from this new release, I hope you'll join me.

Uniko 12th Birthday New Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop and Giveaway

Good morning!

It's release day over at Uniko and I'm here to reveal the whole release and share another card.

Here's the final card I made and I decided to use the new Background Blocks MOD Builder and sentiments from the new Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments set...

I began by stamping the MOD builder off the edge of the card in a pale ink and coloured it it with a Copic marker.  I kept my stamp in my MISTI so I could re-stamp in the teal colour afterwards, as the ink I used isn't Copic friendly.  Next I stamped a flower using elements from the Mid Century Modern Florals set in co-ordinating colours.  I stamped two of the greetings from the Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments set in bold black and then finished the card by adding some dot sprinkles to the corner image and the flower.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks MOD Builder, Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments, Mid Century Modern Florals
• Ink: Copic Marker - BG23; Versa Color - Lagoon Blue; Altenew - Volcano Lake; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Sprinkles: Little Dots

So, now to reveal the new products in full.

An addition to the Ink & Flip stencil series...Ink & Flip Geometric Heart Layering set...

a new addition to the Mid Century Modern series...Mid Century Modern Birthday...

and more sentiments to co-ordinate...Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments...

and finally...Background Blocks MOD Builder

I think this is a great little release from Bev to celebrate Uniko's 12th Birthday!  Be sure to leave some comment love either on the Brand Ambassador blogs or social media.  You can find all the links over at the Uniko blog, here.  There are a few giveaways this month and you can find out all the information over at the main Uniko blog.  The Giveaways are open until the end of February and the new products, above, are available to purchase now.

Thanks for visiting today.

Less is More Challenge #452

Good morning

It's Saturday and another new challenge day over at Less is More.  Today it's the turn of our Recipe challenge and here's the cue card...

For my sample card I almost went for a honeycomb theme, then contemplated going for a geometric design, but then I remembered I have a stencil called Chicken Wire, so that was my starting point for this fun card...

I absolutely love a stamp set I have by Gerda Steiner called Chicken Scratch so wanted to combine that with the stencil.  I die cut a panel with a scalloped rectangle die and then added as post-it note to the left side as I wanted to mask off the edge.  I stamped the chicken and coloured her with Copics then, with the mask still in place, I treated the area with anti-static powder before then inking through part of the stencil with VersaMark ink.  I removed the stencil and the mask and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder, brushing away any stray areas of powder which clung to where the mask had been.  To finish I heat embossed the sentiment on a black die cut strip and mounted the panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Gerda Steiner - Chicken Scratch
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Chicken Wire
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copics
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver; Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - September Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - Game #198 - Up to One Third

My Time to Craft - Challenge #466 - Embossing

CAS on Friday - Challenge #214 - Sketch (I've flipped it right to left)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll join in with this challenge.  There's plenty of inspiration over at the main LIM challenge blog from my teamies, go take a look :)

Cocktail Shaker

Hi there

I don't usually write blog posts on a Saturday night but, quite frankly, what else is there to do?!  This pandemic has changed our lives so much hasn't it?  I might open a bottle of wine shortly (actually, there's no 'might' about it) but I'm certainly not going anywhere, just for a change!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a card I made earlier this month for a friend's birthday, so here it is, a fun little shaker card...

In my die cut upper panel I die cut an aperture with a cocktail glass die.  I then stamped the sentiment.  Sentiments are usually the last thing I add but once the foam is added on the reverse of a shaker panel it's more difficult to stamp cleanly.  The die has an inner section too so I cut it again from some silver glitter cardstock.  I then adhered this glitter die cut on the uppermost side, over the acetate.  I made the shaker window in the usual way: acetate, double sided foam barrier surround, filled with fun confetti and then sealed on the reverse before adhering to the card base.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Xcut - Cocktail Glass
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Floral Spray
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Glitter cardstock from stash
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Sprinkles: Let's Polka

Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be back very soon with more to share.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay safe.

Uniko - Super Sunday Guest Designer Spot

Good morning, everyone

Today I'm super excited as I'm being featured in Uniko's Super Sunday Guest Designer Spot.  I was so honoured when I received the invitation from the lovely Bev and I've had great fun creating with lots of my Uniko stamps.

This post is a bit photo heavy as I got a bit carried away and created quite a few cards, once I started I couldn't stop!  I've centred all these cards around Uniko's current themes of love, kindness and friendship, I hope you like them.

Card #1

For this first sweet card I combined stamps from Uniko's Background Builders Classics and Simply Said sets...

I die cut a heart window first in my upper panel and then marked the area on the card base that would show through the aperture, masked it off then stamped the various border designs in varying shades of pink.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white to show through the raised panel.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Classics, Simply Said
• Dies: Xcut - Heart Nesting Dies; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Altenew - Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Grapevine; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Cards #2 and #3

For these two love themed cards I used the Scattered Polka Hearts background stamp and sentiments from the You Are…Sentiments Outlined set...

For this first one I heat embossed the background hearts in white and used emboss resist to blend over the top with Distress Oxides in a diagonal gradient.  I then used a vellum wrap with the sentiment heat embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Scattered Polka Hearts, You Are...Sentiments Outlined
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Festive Berries; VersaMark
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Vellum from stash

And an alternative using the same stamp sets...

This one is a similar design but in reverse.  I used my MISTI to stamp the polka hearts multiple times, creating a gradient of pale to deep pink.  Here I heat embossed the sentiment on a die cut heart from black cardstock and popped it up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Scattered Polka Hearts, You Are...Sentiments Outlined
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Xcut - Heart Nesting Dies
• Ink: Altenew - Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Card #4

My next make used the gorgeous Bee Happy stamp set...

I adhered some honeycomb/hexagon patterned paper to the lower half of my card base and then die cut an angled stitched edge from my upper panel.  This was then stamped in black, grey and honey shades using various stamps all from the same set, with a little Copic colouring on the bee.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Bee Happy
• Ink: Altenew - Sunkissed; Hero Arts - Soft Granite; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Basic Edges
• Patterned Paper - Doodlebug - Kraft in Color (kraft)

Card #5

This selection of Uniko creations wouldn’t be complete without using one of the Flower Power sets, and here I’ve combined blooms from Flower Power #2 with leaves from Natures Treasures II and the sentiment from Hello Lovely...

I used really bright summer colours here, started with the leaves and then stamped and die cut the flowers, using their co-ordinating dies, before adhering them in a cluster on glue dots.  The stamped sentiment and some vertical score lines finished off this one layer card.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #2 (and companion dies), Natures Treasures II, Hello Lovely
• Ink: Altenew - Pinkalicious, Orange Cream, Maple Yellow, Parrot; Versafine - Onyx Black

Card #6

I chose stamps from Just Because, Beautiful and Hello Lovely for this friend card...

On a pale green panel I stamped the same image in different orientations both in green and also heat embossed in white.  The sentiment was heat embossed on a green strip and a further smaller strip adhered on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Just Because, Beautiful, Hello Lovely
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Altenew - Frayed Leaf; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Card #7

It wasn’t until I was making these that I realised how much the flower stem from the You Are, Yes You set resembled the flower in my blog logo!  I combined it here with the Background Builders Pinstripe II stamp and the sentiment from Originally Organic Additions.  I also thought I'd work with my blog colours too...

I stamped the flower in a pale ink before colouring with Copics and then masking it to stamp the pinstripes.  With the stem stamp still in my MISTI, I then restamped it over the original image before heat embossing in white. 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - You Are Yes You, Background Blocks Pinstripe II, Originally Organic Additions
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Memento - London Fog; Altenew - Mountain Mist; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Coloured with Copic markers

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Card #1

Sweet Stampin' - Love

NBUS - Challenge #22 - both stamp sets are new to my stash for this GD spot

Card #2

Alphabet Challenge - V is for Vellum

Card #7

Just Us Girls - Challenge #569 - Masking

Fusion - Flowers (using the inspiration photo)

Thanks so much for taking a look at my cards today and I hope they have given you some crafty inspiration.

And many thanks to Bev for thinking of me and for providing this Guest Designer spot.  I thoroughly enjoyed making all of these.