March Meet The Maker - Meet Me - Bev Brown AKA Uniko.

Happy Monday 😃

Today is day 1 of March Meet The Maker 2025 and having followed for quite a few years from the side lines, I dipped my toes in once but couldn't keep up! I decided this was the year to commit and join in on the fun. 

Especially as March is looking quieter compared to January and February. Plus, with all the celebrations last month, I gained quite a few new followers. So this is a good opportunity for me to tell you more about Uniko.

Today is Brand Re-Introduction. 

So I've called it, Meet Me.

Hello I’m Bev and I am Uniko 😃

I design all the products and lovingly package and check them for any imperfections. Providing you, my lovely customers with top quality, unique and innovative products is my aim. I am pleased to say it is very rare a faulty stamp passes my eagle eyes! 

And I do a happy dance every time I’m packing a wonderful order and my heart bursts with joy when a customer tags me @unikoltd when they share a card or creation using Uniko products ♥️

If you message, phone or send an email to Uniko, it’s me on the other end of the line. I am always happy to help and do my best to answer as quickly as possible. If it’s technical related and I don’t know the answer, I have to contact my tech support. AKA as husband 😂 He works full time & so I often have to wait until he’s not busy for his help! Other than him, it’s just me here. 

However, I am honoured to have a wonderful team of Brand Ambassadors…

Anita @craftyneet 

Izzy @izzyscrap 

Steph @morticraft 

Julie @sportyjules56 

Vinita @craft_craver 

These beauties help me on the blog and across social with amazing creative inspiration 🥰

AND I can’t forget to mention Claire @earlybirdstamps who has been by my side at all the craft shows I take Uniko too since the very first one ♥️

I know not everyone is on social media to be able to tag/share their makes with me. So why not snap a photo and email me instead. The beauty above is by Ruth @ruthgetscrafty on Instagram.

Before I get to todays card, how about 5 things about me you might not know… 

1. I love colour and I have an ink pad addiction 😂
2. My favourite number is 3 
3. I love cats 🐈‍⬛ 🐈 Jelly (almost 4) and Cali (almost 1) are my fur babies. 
4. Chocolate is my weakness, especially Salted Caramel M&Ms and Brownie M&Ms 😋
5. When I’m not crafting or on mum duties to my twin boys you might find me reading a good book. I like mystery, crime, thriller and psychological thrillers 📚

It wouldn't be a Uniko post without some inspiration, so here's what I made today. 

I've had this stencilled Layering Bright Butterfly fluttering around my desk since I inked it some time last week! So it was calling to be adhered to a card. 

With little time to create before the light of the day faded I put together this really CAS card. I think it took me longer to find the Floral Vines clear stamp set to be able to stamp the sentiment I wanted, than it did to put the card together! 

Thank you again for all the wonderful release day orders on Friday and over the weekend. You are all awesome.

Welcome to Uniko if you are new around here 😃 

Crafty Hugs

Mid Century Inspiration from Guest Brand Ambassador Amy Tsuruta

 Happy Monday! 

I'm absolutely delighted to be starting a new week with a wonderful Guest Brand Ambassador, the one and only, super lovely and super talented Amy Tsuruta. 

Hello! 

My name is Amy Tsuruta and I live in the United States in beautiful Washington state. I’m married to a great guy who is a hobby pilot.  I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember but things turned serious in 2001 when I volunteered to be my youngest's Preschool Scrapbook Coordinator.  Truthfully, I had never scrapbooked at that point.  Scrapbooking quickly turned into stamping  and cardmaking.  The Papercrafting Community is amazing and I’m so happy to be a part of it. 

I'm happy to be guesting for Uniko and can't wait to share a couple projects with you!

Hello Friend.

I'm smitten with Uniko's Mid Century Modern Collection!

For my Hello Friend card I teamed up a Mid Century Modern color palette. The Background Blocks Linear have been heat embossed in gold on the pale pink panel. I layered a smaller spiced sider panel with an oval die cut. The sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments has been heat embossed in gold on a dark brown strip.

Just Because.

I used the Ink & Flip Geometric Hexagon Layering Stencil on this project.  What an amazing stencil that is easy to line up with gorgeous results. 

I used distress oxides on 100 lb cardstock with blending brushes. The sentiment from Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments has been heat embossed in white on a green cardstock strip.

 

Thank you Amy for these stunning cards. 

I think you will agree with me how inspiring they both are and for me it delights me to see how other crafters use the products I design. 

I know that Amy has another card coming up on the 22nd August on the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Blog, so be sure to pop on over there on that day. I will also share the make across social media.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Crafty Hugs

Pastel Clouds

Happy Thursday & Hello Summer! 

It's officially Summer here in the Northern Hemisphere and if you missed the announcement yesterday in the newsletter, I have put lots in the SALE section on the website until Saturday morning PLUS I have lowered FREE Worldwide Shipping to £35 or more! 

I'm finally back with a card to share and this one has been waiting since Sunday to be finished! But I think it was worth the wait.

I've been having a play with my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling machine and as I am a crafter by heart and love more than just the products I design, I couldn't wait to pair the Lawn Fawn Cloud Hot Foil Plate with our Stencil - Cloud 9.

As you can see I opted for pastel shades to ink the cloud background. I've then used an iridescent foil for the foiled clouds over the top. I thought it might be a bit busy, but I think they pair well together.

I finished the card off with a hot air balloon from Up & Away that I have heat embossed in silver. I tried a silver heat embossed sentiment from Floral Vines, but felt it got a little lost. So I opted for black instead. 

That's all from me today. If you've checked my stories on social media this evening, you will see how messy my desk is. So I had better make a start on tidying it a bit. 

Crafty Hugs

Hello Friends & A Winner!

Hello & Happy Weekend!

Apologies for my delay in announcing the winner for the Stencil Release Giveaway HERE, this week hasn't quite gone as planned, but it's turning around now. I was sure to get some creative time in last night and combined a few stamp sets to create this clean & simple card.

I've said it so many times, it really sparks my creativity when restocks arrive in the studio. Background Builders Round In Circles was part of the batch of restocks that arrived the other week and the single line builder I have used here was calling to be inked up. 

I used my MISTI to stamp the background & used my Copic Markers to colour the circle design. I then stamped the sentiment from Floral Vines before die cutting the circle.

I often neglect this small solid butterfly from English Country Garden Butterflies, but I thought it was perfect stamped in Concord & 9th Honeysuckle. I used the coordinating Designer Die from the English Country Garden Butterflies collection and adhered to the circle focal point. 

So now I've shared my little bit of creativity, how about the winner. I used Random.org to select a winner from those left across all the blogs and social media and that lucky comment winner is...

Carol

Bev, how wonderful to see this new stencil release – so pretty and versatile, covering occasions throughout the year. With all the stencil challenges popping up, these would make for some amazing showcases and entries! Given that it’s snowy and cold here, the snowflake stencil has really caught my eye; a festive, frosty delight!
~carol

Congratulations Carol! Please drop me an email to bev@uniko.co.uk with your postal address by Saturday 19th November 2022 to claim your prize.

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the release fun and for all the lovely orders.

Have a lovely creative day.

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

 

Introducing... Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes and Background Builders Delightful Diamonds

 

Hello & Happy Friday!

Welcome to Day 2 of the 9th Birthday February 2021 Release product introductions. If you missed any of the sneak peeks, you can catch up HERE, HERE and HERE. AND yesterday I kicked things off with a highly requested stencil introduction, Uniko Stencil Pure Florals Gerbera. Be sure to catch up HERE.

Today I am introducing two of the new clear stamp sets, Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes and Background Builders Delightful Diamonds. 

So lets have a look at these in action...

First up is Background Builders: Delightful Diamonds. Like all of the previous geometric Background Builder clear stamp sets I have released this set features a selection of long building stamps and a variety of smaller stamps. 

For this first card I was heavily inspired by a recent Mid Century Modern pattern I had seen and that used these vibrant and cheerful colours.

I would have not necessarily of added the lime green & orange into the mix, but I really love this combination. I combined the 'burst' stamp from Mid Century Modern Florals into the mix, along with a sentiment from another new set being introduced tomorrow.

Next, I wanted to use one of the longer building stamps from the set to create this fun border along the edge of my card. I decided to continue with some of the same colours. 

I stamped the solid diamond pattern twice along the edge in lime green and it was easy to do it by eye, so I didn't use my stamping platform. I then used the grunge style diamond in a slightly darker shade of green to add some detail over the top in a couple of places. 

This time I paired Balloon Bash with the diamonds and added the same grunge detail to the fussy cut balloon. Loving this new sentiment and I can see myself using it a lot!

Next, I decided to get inky with Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes. Like with all the previous Background Block stamps, this is a 6.5 x 9.5 cm block of pattern and it is super quick to make cards with! 

I almost always use my stamping tool when using Background Block stamps, especially those with more solid areas. For this first card I selected bright and cheerful colours to stamp the block and it is such a happy result. 

I love getting new stamps to play with and I love even more to look through my stash to see what to use with them. As you can see I have used the large butterfly from English Country Garden Butterflies. It was lovely to give some fresh inky love to this stamp set!

Again, I have snuck in a peek at another of the new sentiments being introduced tomorrow! Another of which I can see getting a lot of inky love. 

For my last card today I decided to create a fresh Spring green card. I used a couple of green inks and varied where I applied the ink when repeatedly stamping it to get a nice coverage on my card. 

I've then added the same sentiment and this time gave some fresh inky love to one of the leaves from Natures Treasures II. 

That's all from me today, I will be sharing more of these sets on Sunday, RELEASE DAY! Until then, I'd love to know what your thoughts are regarding these sets and how you might use them! I might even select a random comment to win a prize.

Don't forget, there is still time to join in on the Birthday Linky Party HERE and also enter to WIN the HUGE Prize HERE!

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Stencil Sunday - Hello Friend

Happy Spring Forward!

It's daylight savings here in the UK. I am looking forward to warmer days & longer & lighter nights, that's for sure. Shame the clocks couldn't fast forward a few weeks instead of just one hour, right?!

Anyway, I thought I would brighten up your weekend with a Stencil Sunday creation and check in over here too! I posted HERE yesterday, so if you missed it, pop by & have a read.

I was totally inspired by the challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below. And I have to say I am really pleased at how it turned out.

It was pretty simple really. I masked off sections of the stencil to replicate the sketch design and used a different Spring colour to ink through the Uniko Stencil - Doodle Flower. The sentiment is from BIG & BOLD Hello.

That's all I have to share with you today, but I am super happy to have found some creativity this weekend and join in on some of my favourite challenges too!

Stay safe & at home. Crafty Hugs