Smile, it's Monday!

Happy Monday.

I love a brand new week, and after last week I am ready for a fresh one! And what better way than to start with a Spring card. It was a gorgeous day on Saturday, the sunshine was out, it was warm and a delight to be in the garden, even if it was hard graft. Just one more fence hole to dig out with the jack-hammer! 

Anyway, the sunshine and lighter days inspired my card today... 

I'm quite proud of myself that I chose some colours I wouldn't normally reach for. I started with a Sunflower card base, then I selected Spiced Cider to stamp the diamond detail from Background Builders Delightful Diamonds, plus the tulip from Flower Power #11. 

Of course I used Parsley for the stem & leaves, but in hindsight I should have used Avocado to match the enamel dots. Lastly I used the Smile sentiment from Organic Blooms.

If you fancy watching the process, you can catch it HERE over on the Uniko YouTube channel. 

Before I go today, have you seen the various workshops, aka Uniko Stamping Retreats that are available to book? 

First up I have a new venue here in the North East, The Biz in Hartlepool. This is less than a 5 minute walk from the train station.

Booking is open HERE for Sunday 19th April 2026, 10am-4pm.

Next, I am absolutely delighted to be collaborating with Ruth @ruthgetscrafty for a Uniko and Stampin' Up! Mashup workshop. This fun workshop will combine Uniko and SU! products and you will create a variety of fun and creative projects. 

This workshop is based in Yeadon, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Booking for this workshop is open HERE for Sunday 9th May 10am-3pm

Last up I have another fun collaboration workshop. This time with the lovely Tracy from Dies to Die For. With the success of last years workshop in Warrington, we have another on Sunday 31st May 2026 10am -3pm. 

Please note the new location of Antrobus, Northwich. Spaces are filling fast and there is less than a handful left! 

Booking is open HERE. 

That's all my new for today, have a wonderful Monday.

Crafty Hugs

Celebrate With Background Blocks Bauhaus

Hello & Happy Tuesday. 

Today I have a quick card using the Background Blocks Bauhaus stamp which was released back in August. 

This stamp, like all the Background Blocks, is great for quick cards and adding fun patterns. 

I stamped the block twice across the top of my white card panel (9.5 x 13cm) in VersaFine Clair Morning Mist ink. 

I then used a trio of Stampin' Up! Markers in Pretty Peacock, Not Quite Navy and Grapefruit Grove to colour some of the semi circles. 

I finished by adhering the panel to a Concord & 9th Sorbet card base and added a fussy cut celebrate from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments. Plus a trio of Midnight enamel dots.

A restock of this stamp, all of the July, August and the popular Mid Century Modern collection is due in the studio week beginning 22rd August, so not long to wait now. 

Plus I will have sorted the new USA shipping following the tariffs by then too.

Crafty Hugs

Hello September

Happy September and welcome to a new month of inspiration at Uniko. 

I might be away on a family holiday, but I have planned and scheduled inspiration to share with you while I am. Plus the Uniko Brand Ambassadors will be sharing inspiration throughout the month too. 

As summer draws to a close here in the northern hemisphere we start to think all things cozy. So I thought I would bring those cozy vibes with a autumn inspired card. 

I know officially autumn doesn't start till the 22nd September, but there is already signs that it isn't far away. The nights are drawing in and there are cooler temps once it gets dark too. 

As you can see I decided to dust off Autumn Serenade and used the Spellbinders Essential Arches dies and stamped the serenade in Nutmeg and filled in gaps with the single leaves stamped in Spiced Cider, Artichoke and Evergreen. I then added the Hello Autumn sentiment onto a circle die cut with a fussy cut little leaf. 

I think I captured the autumn vibes and I think after my holiday I will be ready to welcome the coziness of autumn when it arrives.

Are you an autumn lover?

Crafty Hugs

Watch it Wednesday

Happy Wednesday.

Let’s Get Inky! 

The sunshine ☀️ is out & I felt like inking up the Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms 🌸

This stencil has a wonderful retro Scandinavian feel to it and is drawn in my organic style, making it perfect to pair with the Organic Blooms clear stamps and others from the Organic Collection. 

As you will see in the warp speed video over HERE on the Uniko YouTube Channel, the stencil contains 4 layers. They are easy to line up & ink through with blending brushes. 

Tip - apply a little removable adhesive to the reverse of the first layer, the leaf tendrils are quite flimsy to get this beautiful flowing leaf design. 

I chose Concord & 9th inks in Parsley, Pink Lemonade, Carnation, Buttercup & Marmalade. Don’t do what I did & be sure to make sure your flower stencil is clean before using a light pink 🥴😂

And here is how I used the stencilled panel...

One thing I'm trying to do this year is use my stash, such as stand alone dies I've had for ages and of which rarely see card action. I chose this old MFT (I think) stitched curvy border die as I felt it matched the flow of the leaves on this stencil design.

I adhered the die cut panel using foam adhesive and then chose the Smile sentiment from Organic Blooms, which I fussy cut and adhered using foam tape. To finish I added some Cobblestone enamel dots.

That's all from me today, I hope the sun has been out for you today.

Crafty Hugs

Mothering Sunday

Hello & Happy Sunday.

Today in the UK is Mothering Sunday. One of the most bittersweet days of the year for me. Where I am blessed beyond measure to be a mum to two amazing boys. I am so proud of them and they bring me joy and love every day.

But then another year adds to the 15 already passed that I don't get to spend it with my mum, loved and missed so much. Sad that she never got to see me get married, have The Beans or get to dote on them like my parents in law do.

Still, I got to make a card for my mother in law who over the years has been a blessing and taken me under her wing like a daughter of her own. 

Of course it had to be flowers and I fancied inking up the Stencil - Layering Picked Posies as I thought she would appreciate this one.

I kept it simple and added a sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments and Everyday Spring Sentiments, along with a few enamel dots.

It's been a nice family day, although a little tiring as the clocks sprung forward this morning and I woke early, baked and cooked a Sunday roast. 

Time to chill before a fun filled week prepping for Crafterama Gateshead tomorrow. 

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

March Meet The Maker - Tools & Materials

Happy FriYAY! 

Today on March Meet The Maker it's all about tools and materials. Here at Uniko HQ the tools and materials vary depending on what I am doing business wise.

Let's start with a little behind the scenes at the tools I use to design Uniko products. 

Sometimes I dust off my sketchbook and gather my pens and pencils, going back to my design degree roots and draw my designs first.

I then take all my designs onto the computer and digitise them ready to send to my manufacturers to either turn into stamps, stencils and occasionally designer dies.

Most times these days now that I am a little more proficient in Adobe Illustrator I go straight to designing digitally. I use my iPad and Apple Pencil to do this and I use a cool app which shows what I am doing on my large screen at the same time. 

I often have a stack of design books I am using for reference on my windowsill, I do love a browse in a book to find that spark of creative inspiration.

Next comes the tools and materials I use when I am crafting and showing how the products I design can be used. Here are a few of my 'go to' supplies. 

Of course there will be Uniko Clear Stamps and Uniko Stencils on my usually chaotic desk. Yes, I gave it a tidy to take photos 😂

Then there will be inks, my current favourite are Concord & 9th, white card stock from Stampin' Up! then there are ink blending brushes, my trusty MISTI stamping platform and my Tim Holtz Tonic Studios paper trimmer. 

Of course there are LOTS of other things I use, my VERY old Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine, makers, pencils, tapes, glues and embellishments. The list goes on, and on, and on! 

Today I have selected a rainbow of colours to ink up the Uniko Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms, here's how it turned out.

I used just two of the stencil layers from the set, the leaves and the flowers, inking each layer with the rainbow of colours. 

I used Poppy, Marmalade, Buttercup, Parsley, Oceanside, Blueberry, Fig and a little smidge of Honeysuckle. 

Once I'd inked up the layers I decided it needed a little more detail, so I opted to stamp the coordinating flowers from the Organic Blooms clear stamp set in black ink. The sentiment I used is also from the stamp set, which I adhered using foam tape, with a few enamel dots finishing my card.

As you know I can't choose a favourite colour, why choose one when you can have them all, right?! But the other reason is that this month the challenge over in the Uniko VIP Facebook group is all about rainbows.

The group is private over on Facebook, a nice friendly space to share all of your Uniko makes. Follow the link HERE to request to join and also join in on the rainbow fun this month. There is a £10 eGift code up for grabs. 

Crafty Hugs

Clean & Simple Floral Celebration

Happy Wednesday.

Another week is zooming by, but I was determined to squeeze in a little creative time and give some inky love to the Stencil - Ink & Flip Layering Flower. 

It's been ages since I joined in on a card making challenge and today as my creative mojo had taken a wander a couple of challenges came to my rescue! 

Firstly I used CAS Colours & Sketches current sketch for the layout of my card. You can see the sketch HERE and below.

I then decided to use a challenge for my colour choice today and so I went to AAA Colourful for inspiration. Seen HERE and below.

I used Concord & 9th Sweet Pea and Dragonfruit for the stencilling and I added some Cranberry Enamel Dots to add a third colour. My sentiment choice is from Simply Said Blocks. 

Short(ish) and sweet from me today, thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Sending Rainbow Hugs

Happy Thursday 😃

Today I was in the mood for rainbow colours, it literally hasn't stopped raining all day. Coincidently this weeks Card Of The Week products include Sunshine & Rainbows and BIG & BOLD Hugs, which I have used on my card today. 

I started by stamping the rainbow, making sure I had room for the hugs sentiment. And to make sure I had the rainbow nice and centred I started with the inner arch, working my way out to the biggest. I used Concord & 9th Inks in Poppy, Marmalade, Buttercup, Parsley and Oceanside. 

For the clouds I used Dove and a little fussy cutting before adding a tiny little heart enamel to one of the clouds. 

I finished with a combination of sentiments. The Sending and Rainbow from Sunshine & Rainbows and the Hugs from BIG & BOLD Hugs. I masked off the 's' from the end of the rainbows sentiment.

Both of these sets are 15% off this week in The Card Of The Week section on the website. 

I hope you are staying warm and dry where you are. 

Crafty Hugs

Stencil Sunday - Instagram Vote Result

 Happy Sunday 😃

So yesterday on Instagram I put a vote in my stories asking what I should use for today's Stencil Sunday feature. 

The options were, Ink & Flip, Pure Florals, Flower Power or Geometric. I was keeping an eye on the votes and at one point it was a 3 way tie 😬 I did prepare myself for that, but in the end Ink & Flip won by one vote! 

So here is what I made...

As you can tell I opted for the newest Ink & Flip Geometric Hexagon Layering Stencil, though I opted to use just the detail hexagon layer. 

I've actually had this layout idea in my head for a while to add a smaller hexagon detail with the tiny bee from Flower Power #9 and I chose the Just Because sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. 

Even though summer has decided to return again this weekend, I opted for some more autumnal yellow and orange tones, Spiced Cider, Cayenne, Sunflower and Stardust. 

That's all I had time for today, but I will share the other cards I made today using 2 of the other options during the week. 

If you haven't seen how this Ink & Flip works, be sure to checkout the video over on the Uniko YouTube Channel HERE. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Merry Monday with Rustic Christmas

 Happy Merry Monday!

Another late post from me, but I had to share this fun festive card I finished this morning. I managed to photograph it before the good light started to fade this afternoon. 

I've been wanting to use both these products since they came back in stock a while back. For the Kraft card background I used the Stencil - Christmas Folk Snowflake and inked through with Wheat ink. 

I then trimmed a bit off the top and bottom to adhere to a Cranberry card base before adhering my focal Christmas Tree from Rustic Christmas. 

I stamped the tree in Parsley ink and then added the baubles using black for the string & bow and Cranberry for the bauble. I decided to keep the front sentiment free and finished off with a simple star enamel from my stash. 

A simple, yet classic Christmas card. What do you think? 

Crafty Hugs

 

Stencil Restock & NEWS.

Hello & Happy Friday! 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes earlier this week and for all that have kept me busy order wise, taking advantage of the discount code I offered. 

If you've not signed up for Uniko's newsletter, I do recommend it as it's the main way I let you all know about codes, restocks and new releases. I do by best not to send too many emails, 2-3 a month, depending on how busy the month is! You can find the sign up at the bottom of the website homepage. 

Talking of the website. 

I'm super excited to share with you that I have a brand new website launching soon. I'm so excited to have a fresh design and new features.

Unfortunately, I am unable to take your account information over to the new website. So if you would like to save any information for your personal records, such as order history and wish list. I encourage you to do so by Sunday 19th May 2024. 

If for any reason you are unable to do this or you would like some assistance, please drop me an email (bev@uniko.co.uk) with your account email and I can save and forward you the information. 

Stencil Restocks.

I apologise for the HUGE delay on stencil restocks. It's been a bumpy road with manufacturers. My original manufacturer is flying high with their business and was struggling to accommodate my needs. So as good as the manufacturer is of my stamps, their quantity for older designs is a bit too much, so I've been testing out new small business suppliers and I have hopefully found the one who can accommodate me. 

Anyway, I am pleased to say I have a small number of the following restocks, that landed in the studio today...

Quilted

Mid Century Modern Shapes

Cloud 9

Ink & Flip Geometric Heart Layering

Clear Stamp Restocks.

I will be updating the website this weekend with expected clear stamp restocks and make them available for backorder. These are due in the studio 29th May 2024. 

Now, I couldn't let the day go by without making a card, so I dusted off the Quilted stencil as it's been a highly requested and anxiously awaited by a few crafters...

Unusually for me I opted for some softer pastel shades, Nectar and Powder. I love the quilted pattern and white spacing, so kept my card pretty free of colour other than the stencilled design and background mat layer.

Pure Florals Cosmos has been neglected a bit and so I opted to ink it up and pair it with the Thank You sentiment from Everyday Sentiments. 

That's all I have for today. Now back to work on the new website.

Crafty Hugs