CAS Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Jane Taylor

Happy Wednesday

It's a wonderful Wednesday as I am absolutely to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the one and only Jane Taylor.

Jane joined the Uniko family June 2015 having been a valued customer and regular participant in Uniko challenges and events. I was drawn to Jane's clean & graphic style of card making. 

I'm delighted Jane agreed to make a card to help celebrate Uniko's birthday this month, let's have a look.

Just look at this colourful card. 

Jane has used the Designer Dies Big & Bold Happy layered over a colourful stencilled background. The stencils Jane has used are Explosion! and Mid Century Modern Shapes. Such a fun combination. The accent birthday is from Everyday Sentiments.

A big thank you to Jane 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 - Masculine Monday

Morning all, 

Steph here today. Welcome to my Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration this month where I am focussing on those oh so difficult masculine cards, using Uniko Bauhaus Blocks stamp set.

For this card I started off with Uniko Background Blocks Linear stamp and used green ink on cream card. On another piece of cream card I stamped one of the stamps from the Uniko Bauhaus Blocks stamp set, also in green ink, and after colouring with alcohol markers adhered this with foam pads. The sentiment is also from the Bauhaus Blocks set and stamped in black ink. Finally the whole panel was adhered to a black card base. 

For my next card I chose a different one of the Bauhaus Blocks and stamped it in black, blue and green ink, following which I coloured each with alcohol markers in coordinating colours. On a separate piece of card I stamped a red block and coloured with red alcohol markers. This I adhered to the panel using foam blocks. I then stamped the 'Happy Father's Day' sentiment in red using a mixture of Uniko Everyday sentiment sets. I then stamped the letters DAD from the Uniko Alphabet Outlined stamp set, coloured and adhered these to the panel using foam pads. 

For my final card today I started off with the Uniko Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil and three distress oxide inks. After randomly stencilling the background I stamped the Bauhaus Block in black and coloured random areas with a black alcohol marker. 

I hope this has given you some inspiration for masculine cards, and more ways to use your Uniko stash.

Much love

Steph x

Uniko's Customer Top 10 of 2023 - Number 6

Happy Boxing Day! 

I hope you have all had a wonderful festive period, I've enjoyed a slower day today with less cooking! Plus I squeezed in a little creative time too. 

I am here continuing with Uniko's Customer Top 10 of 2023. Today we have the 6th most purchased clear stamp set and it might be no surprise, it is another Mid Century Modern clear stamp set, Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day.

Being a cat lover, I was pleased to see this beauty make it into the Top 10. It was nice to give it some fresh inky love. I know it is currently out of stock, but rest assured, it will be back in stock early 2024.

Let's have a look at my card today...

It's been a good while since I used the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Shapes, so I decided to pair it with the cat. I used some softer shades of Aqua Sky and Grapefruit to ink the shapes and Cobblestone to stamp the bursts from Mid Century Modern Baubles. 

I used the outline cat and coloured with a dark grey Copic marker, I added some fun green eyes and a sentiment from Bauhaus Blocks. Finally I finished with some Sorbet enamel dots.

Thanks for joining me again today.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stretch Your Stash

Morning All, 

Steph here today. You may remember that last year I used my Uniko non-Christmas stamps to make Christmas cards (see here) and I thought I'd give it a go this year with my Uniko stencils. It's always good to see what other ways we can use our products and stretch our stash with a little 'outside the box' thinking! 

My first card didn't take too much imagination as I thought the fabulous Uniko Layering Stencil - Zesty would fit beautifully as dried orange slices in a Christmas wreath. I teamed this with one of my favourite stamp sets, Uniko Winter Foliage. 

After a look through my Uniko stencils, I spotted that the Uniko Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil had the perfect shapes to 'build' a Christmas tree! A little stickles added some tree lights and a sentiment from Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set completed the card. 

For my final card I used one of my favourite stencils and certainly not one you would class as a Christmas stencil, but it's perfect for an animal print lover at Christmas time! The stencil is Uniko Tiger Print and I have teamed it with Uniko Sparkling Snowflake die.

The good thing about this card method is you get two for one! Here I have used the die cut snowflake to make a second card. 

I hope you have got your Christmas cards well under way but don't panic if not, all these cards are quick to make (but only if you like fussy cutting in the case of the first card!). 

As this may be my last post pre Christmas, I will sign off by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Much love

Steph x

Hello October, World Card Making Day AND a Winner!

Hello October 🎃

Happy Saturday and Happy World Card Making Day.

I couldn't let the day pass without making and sharing a card! I managed to squeeze in this card between dropping The Beans at a birthday party and before I had to pick them up, amongst getting a few house jobs done in that time too! 

I am obsessed with the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Shapes. I just love coming up with new layering options and using different colours. 

For this card I selected the Altenew Natures Wonders Collection, I think the shades are very Autumnal and I decided to pair the largest sprig from Season Of Beauty with the shapes. Plus I selected this sentiment as it really is an all season sentiment and not just for Christmas. I really do think you can find joy in all the seasons. 

Okay, so how about a winner for The Stamping Together Festival tickets and £10 spend at the Uniko stand. I know a lot of followers here and across social media aren't able to attend, so keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway soon! 

Congratulations Angie D you are the lucky winner! 

I will forward your name to the organisers, so your name is on the door for you and your guest. Please come and see me at Uniko to claim your £10 spend 😊 

Hope you have all had a lovely day & have found some crafty time like me! 

Crafty Hugs

Two For Tuesday - You Are, Yes You

Happy Tuesday! 

A few weeks ago when the clear stamp restocks arrived, I had a little creative spell and I made a few cards for the Harrogate Crafterama show, which I forgot to share here on the blog. 

One of the stamp sets I reached for was You Are, Yes, You. Here are two cards I made using it...

First I started out by creating a mask of both the single leaves. I then stamped and masked to create branches. Colouring them with Copic Markers and fussy cutting them out. I then stamped the flower and did the same.

I adhered the branches onto my card base which I had softly ink blended with a light blue. The flower is adhered with foam adhesive. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II and I added a few rhinestones to finish.

For my second card I kept things really simple. I started by using the Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil, inking the 3 circular shapes in lime, orange and aqua.

I then stamped the flower and leaf in black ink, along with one of the mix and match sentiment choices. I felt it needed a little simple embellishment, so stamped the trio of dots from Floral Vines. This panel was then adhered to the card base using foam adhesive.

Such a fun little set that has lots of pairing opportunities, but also has a lot of potential on its own. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs

Inspired by an Instagram Poll!

 Hello & Happy Friday!

The other night I created a series of polls on the Uniko Ltd Instagram stories, as I needed some help sparking some creativity. I've been busy designing new things and finalising the next release coming at the end of May. So my actual creative time has been on a bit of a go slow :(

So I created a series of polls to help inspire me...

First I asked what I should use. Stamps Only, Stencils Only, Clear Stamps & Matching Dies or Combination of All! 

Next I asked who I should create for, Men, Women or Gender Neutral. And then I gave some theme options. Florals, Geometric, Sentiment Only, Combination of All.

Then there were some colour options. Monochrime, Rainbow, Neutrals, Pastels. 

And lastly I gave some card style/size options. Standard C6, Square or Slimline.

If you don't use Instagram, stories stay up for 24 hours and then disappear. Luckily, I can view the results in my insights and could see what had been decided.

A combination of Clear Stamps, Stencils & Dies to create a gender neutral geometric card with a monochromatic colour scheme and a 3 way tie between card size/style!

At first I was a bit, oh no what have I done - haha! But then I got my thinking cap on and had a look through my Uniko goodies and this is what I came up with.

As there was no clear winner for the size and style of card I used the same products, almost the same way to create the same card on each size. 

I started with a standard C6 card.

For my stencil choice I went with the Mid Century Modern Shapes. I used a selection of grey inks from Altenew to ink through various shapes on the stencil, over lapping some to create a cascade effect down the left hand side.

I then selected the Background Block Arts Decoratifs and stamped this in black ink. The hardest part was using a geometric die. I thought about using the Explosion! Designer Dies, but I didn't want to cover up too much of the design.

In the end I decided to use two square dies to create my own frame. This worked well, but the card needed something to finish it off. I decided to use a trio of sentiments from the Simply Said Blocks and Simply Said Blocks II clear stamp sets. A few final Nuvo Drops and I was finished!

I then followed the same process to recreate the design onto a slimline card.

The layout changed slightly to accommodate the elements and for it to flow nicely down the card.

Lastly I created a square card.

It was quite fun to be faced with a challenge. I hadn't really thought of the possible combinations that could occur, but then that was part of the fun! 

So now the question is, which is your favourite of the 3 cards using this combination of products? And did I achieve the brief?

I'd love to know your thoughts. 

Crafty Hugs 

Two For Tuesday - Stencil Mid Century Modern Shapes

 Hello & Happy Tuesday!

Did you see my post yesterday? In case you missed it you can catch up HERE, there is a giveaway 😉 and I've introduced the product I'm using today, Stencil Mid Century Modern Shapes.

So as it is Two For Tuesday I have two more cards to share using this fun stencil, lets have a look at what I made...

First up I went for a Mid Century Modern style card and I actually used the whole stencil as it is. I selected some colours from Catherine Pooler Spa Collection, Paradise Found. Peppermint Scrub, Mandarin Spice, Sauna and Green Tea. 

I simply applied each colour through the stencil and then stamped the Background Block Mid Century Modern in black ink over the top. It needed a sentiment to break up the pattern, so I chose to stamp the word WISH using Alphabet Outlined.

For my second card I went back to using the stencil to create masks of 3 of the shapes. I then temporarily adhered them to my card base and ink blended 4 Concord & 9th ink colours, Buttercup, Marmalade, Honeysuckle and Eggplant. 

Once I removed the masks I stamped the foliage from Season Of Beauty and the trio of dotted pattern from the same set in black ink. The sentiment is from the newest addition Simply Said Blocks III. 

I have SO many more ideas with this stencil, so I am sure it won't be long before I share more! Until then, thank you for stopping by today. 

Crafty Hugs

 

NEW Month, NEW Stencils, Giveaway AND an Offer!

 Hello! 

Happy Monday and happy November 😊 What a lovely end to October at the weekend with the Stamping Together Festival. It was strange, but super lovely to be back at the show after two years. Seeing new and familiar faces and sharing our love and passion for paper crafts and stamping.

On Saturday I shared this peek on Instagram of two NEW stencil designs I took to the show. I was intending on releasing them yesterday on the website, but exhaustion from the weekend caught up with me. AND the Beans were super excited about Halloween 😂

Anyway, I am excited they are now available on the website HERE. So let's have a look at the newness with a formal introduction and some samples...

First up is the next addition to the Flower Power series of stencils and Flower Power #5. I am loving the larger size of these modern florals and they definitely breathe new life into the stamps too. 

Then we have Mid Century Modern Shapes. This stencil is the next product in my love for all things Mid Century Modern. I have more up my sleeve that will be coming soon ;) but for now this is a fun addition to the previously released Mid Century Modern stencils and stamps.

So, now I have done the 'formal' introduction to these two beauties, how about some creative inspiration as to how I have used them...

First up some flower power...

For this first card I kept things really simple. I love offsetting these larger blooms off the edge of a standard size card. I love how it draws focus. 

I used Concord & 9th inks in Buttercup, Marmalade and Honeysuckle to blend through the stencil and added a simple sentiment from Simply Said Blocks and Simply Said Blocks III.

For my second card using this stencil I revisited a technique I've used before. Creating a ghost outline by inking through with white pigment ink first. Then removing the stencil and offsetting before inking with your chosen colours. 

It creates this lovely shadow effect. I used Distress Oxide Inks in Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry. Added a sentiment from Floral Vines (back in stock 22nd November) and some clear Nuvo Drops.

Then I had some fun with the Mid Century Modern Shapes and combined it with a few stamps from the collection, that will be back in stock 22nd November.

For this first card I layered two of the same shape to create a base for my focal point using two shades of pink from Altenew, Pink Diamond and Pinkalicious.

I then created a mask of the smaller shape I had used, rotated the stencil and placed the mask inside the large shape to create a framed image. I accented this with some explosions from Mid Century Modern Florals and a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks. 

Lastly for today I created a super CAS masculine congrats card. Again I used a masking technique with another of the shapes to create this fun design.

I love this starburst / explosion image, which you can also find in Kindness Blooms ;) and again added a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

So what do you think? Which is your favourite?

I do hope you like these two new additions to the Uniko Stencil line up 😊  So how about a GIVEAWAY?! 

Simply leave a comment on this post or HERE on the Uniko Website post (or both) for your chance to win these two new stencils plus 1 of your choice from the store. You have until midnight GMT Sunday 7th November 2021 to comment. 

Now, that's not all for today. I have a Stencil Offer from NOW until 5pm Friday 5th November.

Visit the Stencil section on the website HERE 😊 

Crafty Hugs