Mid Century Monday - Custom Age Birthday

Hello!

I'm starting the week off with a Mid Century Modern card, which is also a custom age birthday card. Last week I shared a quick, fun, clean & simple Christmas card idea on YouTube HERE and seen below. 

I used Alphabet Solid to create my own custom sentiment. I love being able to do this for all kinds of occasions. 

For this Christmas card I accented the HO HO HO with the holly and berries from Winter Foliage and sentiment from Christmas Sentiments. 

This got my creative juices flowing and I was in need of a custom age card for my dad, who's birthday it is today. And this is what I came up with...

I was excited that lots of Uniko Stencil restocks arrived in the studio at the end of last week, including the MOD Circle Builder. 

This is such a fun stencil and is also perfect for masculine cards. I inked through 3 times on various angles with Blueberry and Oceanside ink.

I stamped the EIGHTH using Alphabet Solid, fussy cut the letters and adhered using foam tape. I accented this with the happy from Happy Succulents and birthday from Birthday Sentiments, before adhering the panel to an Oceanside card base. 

I'd love to know if you use Alphabet stamps for custom sentiments and age cards. 

That's all from me today. I will be back later in the week with more to share.

Crafty Hugs

Swiss Dots & Bright Spring Blossom Card & Video

 

Happy Monday. 

I thought I would start the week of with another fun Background Blocks Swiss Dots and stencil combination. 

Remember THESE cards I shared pairing the Background Blocks Swiss Dots and Layering Picked Posies. Well, I fancied trying something similar with different colours and a different stencil. 

I chose the Layering Spring Blossom stencil along with a current favourite colour combination of Wildberry, Plumberry and Rainforest. I also used VersaFine Clair Morning Mist to stamp the Swiss Dots. 

You can watch the video HERE where I embark on this creative adventure. 

And here is the end result...

A different result for sure and maybe a little too busy for my usual liking. But it was fun to create and experiment with different colours and combinations. 

That's all from me today, have a wonderful Monday.

Crafty Hugs

A Couple Of Masculine Makes

Hello & Happy Thursday.

I'm just about sorted for my travels down south tomorrow for Crafterama Kent, so I thought I would pop by and share a couple of masculine cards I've made this week. 

This first card I shared the other day as a YouTube Short, HERE. I love Background Blocks Perspective for quick (ish) masculine makes. 

For this one I created a mask to add some shading using Dove ink. I then removed the mask and add some simple colouring using alcohol markers. 

To finish I added a mixed sentiment from Simply Said Blocks and Simply Said Blocks Occasions and adhered them using foam tape. 

Today, over on YouTube HERE I am sharing a video making this card using Balloon Bash and Birthday Sentiments. I also share my tip on using and adhering thin frames, like this one from Kristina Werner A2 Thin Frames Die. 

What do you think of this fun colour combo too? 

I saw it somewhere on Pinterest (I think) and I jotted down colours I thought matched and would work together. 

I hope you'll have a look at my video and I'd love to know if you think my tip about the frame is useful. 

Ok, back to making sure I've everything for tomorrow, it's going to be an early start and a long drive down. I'll be sure to check in and share what I can on social media while I'm there. 

Crafty Hugs

March Meet The Maker - Product Story

 Hello & Happy Monday.

Today is the final day of March Meet The Maker and the final theme is product story. So far I've talked about the Originally Organic Collection, Ink & Flip Stencils & the popular Mid Century Modern Collection. 

There are lots of products that have stories, but I thought for this final day I would highlight the Stencil - MOD Background Builder. 

This stencil was the start of my 'builder' style stencils. The idea being that you can have an instant focal pattern, but that you can also move it around easily to fill a larger space.

I happened upon this 'builder' style from my surface pattern days and learning Adobe Illustrator in that this is a similar format to use to create and seamless pattern. And this was one I had created in my portfolio of designs. 

This shows the stencil used as an instant backdrop/focal point for the flower from Flower Power #3, accented with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

This next sample shows how the stencil can be used as an all over pattern. I've accented with elements from the corners of the stencil and a sentiment from Everyday Sentiments.

Lastly for today I thought I would make a new card to share with you. 

I went for a little tone on tone ink blending for this card. First ink blended some Oceanside onto the white card panel, but faded it out towards the top. 

I then used Peacock from the bottom, through the stencil and then Oceanside towards the top. For my sentiment I used Birthday Sentiments as I still had it out on my desk. 

I love this stencil format and it was the spark that gave me the inspiration to go on to design the Stencil - MOD Background Builder Circles and then I expanded the format to design the Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks. I can confirm there will be new designs coming in this format this year!

And that wraps up March Meet The Maker. I hope you have enjoyed the blog series as much as I have and it's given you a little more insight behind the scenes. 

Crafty Hugs

 

March Meet The Maker - Making

Hello & Happy FriYAY! 

Today on March Meet The Maker it is all about making. So I made a card and created a little YouTube short of me making it, you can watch it HERE 😀

I chose Beautiful Blooms II to ink up today and here is my finished card...

I used my 'go to' colours, Buttercup, Honeysuckle, Oceanside & Parsley. My sentiment is a mix of the happy from Happy Succulents and the birthday from Birthday Sentiments.

AND before I go I am so late in randomly selecting and announcing the winner of the March Brand Ambassador Blog Hop (my apologies). 

Random.org selected lucky no. 

And the winner is Lucy E

Lucy E.11 March 2025 at 23:13

Fabulous cards! What creative ways to use the stamps!

Congratulations Lucy, please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk to claim your eGift Code prize. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and hop along with us.

Crafty Hugs

Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Lindsey Bowe

Hello & Happy Saturday!

It's a super Saturday as I am absolutely to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the lovely Lindsey Bowe.

Lindsey joined the Uniko family in January 2016 having been a valued customer and regular participant in Uniko challenges and events. I was drawn to Lindsey's clean style of card making, but that she could also add a spin of mix media without over powering the design.

I'm delighted Lindsey was able to join us this month to help celebrate our birthday. Let's have a look at the two birthday cards Lindsey has created to inspire us today.

On this first card Lindsey has used the Fabulous sentiment from the now retired, but once much loved All Occasion Sentiments #3. Heat embossed in gold to make it even more fabulous. 

Lindsey has decorated round the sentiment with the balloons from Balloon Bash and accented the sentiment with Birthday Wishes from Birthday Sentiments.

Next up Lindsey inked up Background Builders Seeing Stars and paired them with another older sentiment from Simply Said Birthday.

I think that you will agree with me that these cards are simply awesome and wonderfully inspiring. It's a delight for me to see how the Uniko Alumni are inspired and what products they reach for.

A big thank you to Lindsey for joining us today and taking part in the Uniko 13th Birthday Celebrations. Be sure to leave some comment love here on the Uniko blog and across social media platforms if you use them. I will be randomly selecting comments through the month to win some prizes.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Beautiful Butterflies

Morning all, 

Happy to be here today with some Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration and I am absolutely in love with these combinations of Uniko stencils and gorgeous Uniko stamps.

Here I have used the inner stencil from the Uniko English Country Garden Butterflies stencil bundle. I have ink blended around the outside using Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink. Once dry I stamped the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony and a sentiment from Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set using black ink. Finally I added some Nuvo drops.

My next card uses the outer stencil from the Uniko English Country Garden Butterflies stencil bundle, this time using Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks. Again I have used the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony stamp and the sentiment is from the Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set. Again I have used some Nuvo drops to add interest to the right hand side of the butterfly. 

For my final card I have used the inner stencil from the Uniko Tropical Leaf #2 stencil set and ink blended with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide. To keep the Butterfly theme I used the Uniko English Country Garden - Butterflies stamp set and again the Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set for the sentiment.

I hope this has inspired you to grab the stencils and get inky. 

Much love

Steph x

Uniko 12th Birthday NEW Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY !

Hello, Happy Sunday AND Happy New Release Day!

I hope you have enjoyed all the celebrations and the introductions this week and I'm super excited you have stopped by so I share these new products with you. They are NOW available to purchase HERE on the website.

Need a little more inspiration, then keep on reading. But first here are the 4 new products...

Background Block MOD Builder £6.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

 

 Mid Century Modern Birthday £11.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

 Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments £6.50

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

 Stencil - Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Heart £8

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2012 - To Date

www.uniko.co.uk

Now let's see some more creative inspiration using these new products. Be sure to hop along & comment along the way before 29th February 2024 to win a £30 eGift Voucher to spend in store. 

 

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

(Coming Soon)

Thank you for joining in on all of the Uniko celebrations so far. There is still time to join in on the celebrations, our 12th Birthday Card Linky Party HERE. Enter to Win Stamps For a Year HERE and Win Enter to Win Stencils For a Year HERE.

Along with all the birthday fun and new stamps, there are a few clear stamp restocks available on backorder & due in the studio 21st February. These restocks include Background Blocks Perspective, Bauhaus Blocks and Everyday Sentiments.

Crafty Hugs

Introducing... Background Blocks MOD Builder

 

Happy Weekend 😃

Welcome to Day 4 and the last of the 12th Birthday/February Release product introductions. This release we are adding to Uniko's ever popular Mid Century Modern Collection, along with our unique Ink & Flip Stencil series, which we kicked things off with HERE. 

For the last two days we have introduced the two additions Mid Century Modern Collection, Mid Century Modern Birthday and Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments.

Today we are introducing a new addition to the Background Blocks series and a design you will recognise from a previously released stencil design, MOD Background Builder. 

Let's have a look at this in action...

 

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

(Coming Soon|)

If after that awesome hop, you want or *need* a closer look at this clear stamp set. Why not join me over on YouTube HERE this afternoon for a demo of this newness.

This clear stamp set, along with all the products being introduced this week will be available 9am GMT Sunday 18th January 2024. 

Crafty Hugs

Celebrating 12 Years - Introducing... Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments

Happy FriYAY 😃

Welcome to Day 3 of the 12th Birthday/February Release product introductions. This release we are adding to Uniko's ever popular Mid Century Modern Collection, along with our unique Ink & Flip Stencil series, which we kicked things off with HERE. 

Yesterday we introduced the first Mid Century Modern addition, Mid Century Modern Birthday and today  we are back with more and this time Introducing... Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments.

These sentiments are the same fabulous and funky font, but smaller. The same size as the ones from the previously released Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder. 

Let's have a look at them in action...

 

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

(Coming Soon)

I think these new sentiments breathe new life into not just our Mid Century Modern Collection, but so much previously released products. I think you will agree with me at how beautifully the Brand Ambassadors showcased these new additions.

If after that awesome hop, you want or *need* a closer look at this clear stamp set. Why not join me over on YouTube HERE this afternoon for a demo of this newness.

This clear stamp set, along with all the products being introduced this week will be available 9am GMT Sunday 18th January 2024. 

Crafty Hugs