Introducing... Stencil - Layering Spring Blossom

Happy Weekend.

Welcome to the final product introduction for the April 2025 Release. Today we have another layering stencil, I told you I was obsessed! 

This stencil is a three layer stencil called Layering Spring Blossom and the flower shaper coordinates with yesterday's product, Originally Organic Flower Garden clear stamp set. Though it can be used wonderfully on its own too. 

Let's have a look at the stencil in action...

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

More pretty flowers to make me happy. I love seeing how the Brand Ambassadors are inspired to use the products. They so often think of things I don't! 

Be sure to hop along and leave some comment love along the way, we appreciate them. 

This stencil, along with all the products that have been introduced this week are available tomorrow at 9am BST Sunday 27th April on the website. I will also have them with me at Crafterama Lincoln. Plus, we will have our traditional Release Day Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway.

Happy Hopping & Crafty Hugs

Hello April 🌸

Hello April & Happy Tuesday. 

A shiny new month ahead and lots of inspiration in store. It's a jam packed month here at Uniko HQ with lots planned for the month. 

This weekend I have another show, here in the North East of the UK with Crafterama in Gateshead. I'm excited to be back on almost home ground & I'm looking forward to chatting & demoing on the Uniko stand. 

Next is the Uniko Stamping Retreat & I've a fun filled day of crafting in store and the attendees are super lucky, they get to see & craft with the new products coming at the end of the month. 

I'll be taking a little 'break' over the Easter weekend, I say 'break' more like getting out of the studio to help my husband install a new fence along the side of our house. Whilst I might add The Beans go off on their jollies with Grandma & Grandad! I often wonder what I agree to 😂

Then the final full week of April we will begin the countdown to the April 2025 Release which will be available on the website and at the Crafterama show in Lincoln. 

Anyway, enough chat, lets start the month as I mean to go on with inspiration...

My card today was totally inspired by THIS card by Kristina Werner. I've been a fan of Kristina's for many many years and I was delighted when she launched her own collection with Concord & 9th. I've treated myself to a few things, including this skinny frame die. You can purchase it HERE at Seven Hills Crafts.

Anyway, I saw this card, loved the layout and thought it would work wonderfully with the flowers from Organic Blooms.

I often forget about stamping on coloured card. So often I reach for white and a way of adding colour, which I am not always great at doing. But this is a fun and quick way of bringing all the colour.

The colours used are Wildberry, Honeysuckle, Sweet Pea & Pink Lemonade. I chose to use black for my frame and stamping instead of gold that Kristina has used, but I still managed to squeeze in a little white! 

Are you a fan of stamping on coloured card or patterned paper?

Crafty Hugs

January 2024 Non-Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hello & Happy Thursday.

Welcome to the January 2024 Non-Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! With a New Year in full swing I thought it would be a good time to bring back some of the fun and inspiration that has slipped away over time.

So I am pleased to bring back the Non- Release month blog hops. For those of you who are new around these parts I will explain what this post is all about...

Here at Uniko HQ it is just myself behind the screen, blogging, designing, packaging stamps & orders through the Uniko online shop, customer service and all the things in between. I *usually* release new product every other month for a number of reasons, but mainly so I can keep up with everything!

On non - release months like this month I like to set myself and the Brand Ambassadors a challenge to look back at a previously released product and give it some more love. Plus, I think it's always nice to revisit older sets and provide more inspiration and not just from me.

So without further ado, lets see the products I decided upon for January...

Beautiful Blooms I and Designer Dies Beautiful Blooms I 

Beautiful Blooms I first debuted in June 2013 and the coordinating Designer Dies came a bit later, but the date escapes me.

Anyway, let's get to the inspiration...

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

Wow, what a beautiful array of inspiration, with each of the Brand Ambassadors using different layouts and techniques. I am certainly inspired.

As usual I am offering a prize to one lucky comment left along the hop. Simply leave some comment love before Midnight GMT Thursday 25th January 2024 and I will select a lucky winner to receive a £15 eGift Code to spend in the store!

Happy Hoppin'!

Crafty Hugs

Beautiful Blooms & a Winner!

Hello & Happy Thursday.

I'm finally getting round to announcing the winner of the October 2023 Release in Review, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway we had HERE. I know I am late, I have a terrible memory 🙈 but better late than never, right? 

Anyway, before I get to the winner I have a card to share...

I was inspired to make this card with the recent restocks of Background Blocks Nautical Stripes and Beautiful Blooms II. I can't think that I have combined Beautiful Blooms I flowers with many Background Blocks, but I am almost certain I've not combined it with this one. But I am super pleased how well they go together. 

Background Blocks Nautical Stripes is pretty easy to line up and fill a strip down the front of a card base. I did use my stamping tool to make it a bit easier. I then stamped the blooms and leaves, adding some colour shading using the Rock 'n' Roll technique. The images are die cut using the Designer Dies Beautiful Blooms I. 

I finished with the smile die from Uniko's Exclusive Picked Posies Collection, only available at CraftStash HERE. 

Okay, so now onto the winner of the £20 eGift Code. I used Random name generator to select the lucky comment and the lucky one is...

 Bev Karolak said...

Stunning cards! The Poppy stamp is so beautiful! Love your colouring. 🥰

Congratulations Bev! Please drop me an email at bev@uniko.co.uk and I will send you your code. A big thanks to the Uniko Brand Ambassadors for all their beautiful inspiration. AND a big thanks to everyone who took the time to hop and comment, plus all the lovely comments around social media.

Crafty Hugs 

Wonderful AND Win it Wednesday!

Hello & Happy Wonderful Wednesday!

I feel like I am finally catching up on things (and sleep) after a busy few weeks of shows. It has been lovely to get out of the studio and meet some of you face to face again and some of you for the first time 😊

A few weeks ago I promised a giveaway, so I am here with it today after I share a card of course! So let's have a look what I have created today...

When I think of having a Wonderful Wednesday, I always think of the Wonderful Day clear stamp set! So that is what I reached for. I stamped and fussy cut some colourful blooms and paired them with the Stencil, Wonky Stripes.

I started by placing the stripes on an angle and inking through with black ink. I've then adhered the flowers with foam adhesive, the leaves with glue and embellished with some glittery enamel dots.

This leads me onto the giveaway...

I'm giving away the two Uniko products I have used. Wonderful Day and Stencil - Wonky Stripes to one lucky winner who leaves a comment on this post, on Instagram and Facebook. If you leave a comment on all 3 then you have more chance to win! 

The giveaway is open worldwide and an alternative prize to the same value will be offered if the winner owns any of these products. 

The giveaway will close Midnight Wednesday 26th October 2022 and I will announce the winner at some point on Thursday 27th October 2022.

That's all from me today! 

Crafty Hugs

Introducing... Background Blocks Layered Floral & Simply Said Blocks III

 Hello & Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to Day 2 of the July 2021 Release Product Introductions. We have another inspiring blog hop and we are introducing Background Blocks Layered Floral & Simply Said Blocks III

This Background Block is a little different in that I have separated the design. The flowers are one stamp and the leaves another. There are also some small accent stamps included. There are lots of options in how to use this stamp set, so be sure to hop along and see. Don't forget to  leave comments along the way. I will be randomly selecting comments left in the lead up to Release Day on 25th July to win Uniko goodies! 

Okay, lets get to the good stuff...

Bev

Hannelie

Jane 

Julie

Rahmat

Steph

WOW! 

Have you fallen in love with this stamp set as much as I have? So much beautiful inspiration from the team, it's definitely a new favourite for me. This stamp set and all that we will be introducing over the next few days will be available for purchase HERE on the website Sunday 25th July at 9am BST. 

Be sure to pop back tomorrow for the next of the product introductions. 

Crafty Hugs

 

A Little Bit Of Kindness Blooms

 Hello & Happy FriYAY! 

It's always a good Friday when a bunch of lovely restocks arrive in the studio 😊 I've said it before, but I'll say it again, it always inspires me to dust these sets off and give them some fresh inky love ❤️  Today I managed to tear myself away from the July Release 😉 and was inspired to ink up Kindness Blooms...

I chose some summery colours to try and coax the sunshine back, but unfortunately it just brought rain today 😔 I used Concord & 9th inks in Buttercup and Honeysuckle, trying my hand at a little watercoloring too for the blooms adhered with foam adhesive.

The sentiment is from Floral Vines, I just love this font. Plus I added some white gloss Nuvo Drops to the flower centres to finish them. 

I know a few people are waiting for the Kindness Blooms Designer Dies (and others) to be back in stock. I am hoping to have a small batch ordered at the end of this month 🤞 

That's all the cards I managed to make, but here is a little recap on the restocks that have arrived...

Kindness Blooms

English Country Garden Butterflies

Beautiful Blooms III

Natures Treasures II

Organic Wishes 

Seeing as I have a Bean Free night tonight 👏 I will hopefully be back over the weekend with more creativity to share with you. 

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

 

Hello, Hey, Hi!

Hello!

Oh my, what a strange couple of months it has been! I am so out of the loop with everything as we start to come out of lockdown or hibernation here in the UK. 

The majority of my time these past 2 1/2 months has been spent doing home learning with The Beans, doing the tasks the school set out and then speech practice. Then it has been keeping the home life ticking over, washing, cooking and cleaning. With everyone home 24/7 it has felt like an endless task. Then as bedtime for The Beans rolls around I collapse in a tired heap and no mojo to create :(

BUT.... finally I got the spark back to be creative when my husband finally uttered the words... 'you can open up for orders again on 1st July'. This is what I had been waiting for and it has injected a bit of life back into me! 

Life is still crazy, I am still doing home learning with The Beans as we decided not to send them back to school in this time of uncertainty. BUT I am being a bit better at giving myself some time during the day to do something for myself. 

Like today, I finished the card I started making yesterday....

I thought some cheery flowers would be best to kick start my creativity and I decided to ink up the peony cluster from Hello Lovely. 

I kept things simple and used some Stampin' Up! markers to colour the blooms and leaves. I used just one colour for each of the flowers, but went over areas with the same colour to achieve a darker shade. I did however use two greens for the leaves.

I trimmed through the image and fussy cut around the edge so it would be a border along the edge of my card and I popped it up with foam adhesive for some dimension. The sentiment is one of the mix and match options from the set.

I will be back again in the next few days with more to share, but for now I will just recap...

The website will open for orders Wednesday 1st July 2020. Orders will be posted out once or twice a week. I will confirm what days I will be posting orders once I have done a little research into the less busy times at my local branch. More details coming soon :)

Thank you to my awesome Brand Ambassadors for keeping the inspiration flowing during this time AND thank YOU for hanging in there with Uniko during these uncertain times. Your emails and messages have been much appreciated.

Crafty Hugs 

Bev 

Introducing... Pure Florals Peony Clear Stamp Set

Hey!

Welcome to Day 4 of the December 2018 Release product introductions. 

I am so happy you have decided to pop by again. Today is the last of the December production introductions and I have saved a new favourite till last! 

As December is a super busy time for everyone, it is just me doing the product introductions for this release. Though the Uniko DT will be joining me on Release Day for our traditional blog hop :)

This clear stamp set is similar to Pure Florals Lily, in that it only contains outline images. The first 2 florals in the series, Gerbera and Chrysanthemum contain both solid & outline stamps for a 2 step stamping flower.

My reason for 'changing' things up when I designed the Lily and the Peony is that I wanted to create a flower that can be 'built' together with individual stamps to create a bouquet of flowers or that they could be stamped alone individually. Therefore I didn't have room in the set for solid stamps.

This picture below shows how all of the images in the set can be used to build a complete bouquet.

And here is how I have used Pure Florals Peony...

Here I have stamped just the 2 main peony blooms in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. There is so much lovely detail to these stamps that adding colour to the flowers themselves isn't always necessary. I decided to keep the focal images with no colour and I was inspired to add just the Coral colour to the mat layer and part of the sentiment. 

I was totally inspired by Pantone's colour of 2019 - Living Coral :) 

That's all I have to share with you here today, but I do have one more card HERE on the website blog!

As it is the season of giving, each day of the introductions I will be randomly selecting one lucky comment from either this blog post, the Uniko website blog post, Facebook or Instagram to receive an eGift Certificate code to the value of £10! So be sure to leave a lovely comment ;) Winners will be announced on Tuesday 11th December before the release!

Winners will be announced on Tuesday 11th December before the release at 9pm GMT!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs

CAS Colours & Sketches #212

Hey!

It's time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month we have the lovely Jane as hostess and Jane has one last wonderful sketch challenge HERE for us to spark our creativity...

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch & don't forget to keep your creation CAS too ;)

This is what I came up with using the sketch...

I couldn't resist using my new current favourite from the recent Uniko release, Uniko Style! I am simply in love with these modern blooms ;) 

I've used Altenew inks to stamp the blooms, as I love how the colour families are perfect for layering stamps. I'm really pleased with the Spring fresh look I have achieved with the little cluster of blooms. How I long for some warmer and brighter days...

I'm in need for a few thank you cards, so I selected a sentiment from the retiring Label Love: Thank you clear stamp set. Before adhering my panel I rounded the corners to keep in with the roundedness of the blooms. I also adhered the largest bloom with foam adhesive for a little dimension.

Anyway, be sure to check out all the Design Team inspiration HERE on the CAS Colours & Sketches blog and I hope to see you in the gallery :) Challenge End Time: 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time/11:00 p.m. London U.K. time Monday, March 6, 2017

Hugs

Uniko Clear Stamps Used