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

Brilliant Bank Holiday Bargains!

Hello & Happy Monday.

It's a holiday Monday here in the UK and I thought I would have add some bargains to the SALE page on the website.

I've a few items that are overstocked and taking up space thats needed for restocks and the next release in the autumn. Be quick as they'll return to normal price on Tuesday morning! 

And here is a couple of cards using a couple of the Bank Holiday Bargains...

Background Builders: Seeing Stars is one of the Bank Holiday Bargains and it is such a fun set for all occasions. I decided to create this simple Congratulations card.

I chose my favourite trio of Honeysuckle, Buttercup, Oceanside and added in Midnight. I then popped the stamped panel onto my card base using foam tape. 

I created a little reel making this card, which I have shared over on the Uniko Instagram page HERE. 

I enjoyed this layout and colour scheme so much I decided to keep it the same for my second card using Organic Blooms.

Again I have another video making this card which I have shared as a YouTube Short over HERE. 

I love both cards, but I think the Seeing Stars card is the one I prefer, I think it's the straight lines of the geometrics that appeal to me. 

Which card do you prefer?

Before I go, a little friendly reminder.

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

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

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

March Meet The Maker - My Style

Hello & Happy Wednesday.

The theme today with March Meet The Maker is all about style. So I thought a YouTube video would help me show my style and make it a little more interesting. 

You can watch my video HERE. 

As you will see on the video I feel that the Originally Organic and Originally Organic Additions clear stamp sets are the stamps I feel that represent my style or designing. And here are the finished cards I promised I would share from the video.

I started with this swirly organic foliage, pairing it with the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Shapes. I chose this stencil because I feel that the Mid Century Modern Collection is also one of my recognisable styles. Using stencils like this to add colour to then stamp over an image is one of my favourites too.

Next up is how I decided to use the stem & leaves with the flowers I stamped in the video.

I decided to fussy cut the image out once I had coloured with alcohol markers and adhered it to my card using foam adhesive for some dimension and interest. I chose the sentiment from the new Organic Blooms set.

Next is the heart wreath from Originally Organic Additions.

Again I decided to fussy cut the heart wreath out after I had coloured with alcohol markers and added a sentiment from Everyday Spring Sentiments.

A bit of dimension using foam tape to adhere to my card base and I left my card as that. I felt it didn't need anything else.

And I also have a bonus card.

I talked about in my video how you could possibly combine the smaller bloom from the new Organic Blooms with this stem and leaves. So I gave it a go! 

My colouring of the flowers isn't my best! But otherwise I love how it turned out. I fussy cut the blooms adhering the orange/red flower with double sided tape and the yellow using foam adhesive.

What do you think?

Also, would you have chosen these clear stamps to showcase my style? I'd love to know if there was something else you would have said.

Crafty Hugs

Thank You 🥰 & Last Few Hours!

Hello March & Happy Sunday Evening! 

I wanted to pop by and say Thank you for celebrating with Uniko. 

I am simply blown away by the overwhelming response to the Uniko 13th Birthday February Release this weekend 🥰 Clearly I didn't anticipate so many wonderful orders, that not only did the FREE Stencil - Geometric Happy Birthday get snapped up on Friday, there are a number of sellouts. 

Don't panic, I will be getting a restock of the Free Stencil along with the Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms this week, along with some requested restocks, and I should have them by Friday 7th March. 

*Please Note* Any order placed after 11pm Friday 28th Feb there will be a slight delay in shipping your order, as I don't want you to miss out on the free gift. My sincere apologies for the inconvenience and my oversight on not ordering enough 🥴

Clear stamp set restocks will take a little longer, I will update as soon as I have an expected date. Thank you for those who have signed up for the Notify Me When Back In Stock, I will be ordering items with most requests along with the new release sellouts. 

There is still time to hop and comment along our traditional Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway, so be sure to join in HERE.

AND There Is Still Time To...

Take advantage of FREE Shipping on all orders of £40 or more. Normally this is £60 for UK and £70 for International. This expires at midnight GMT tonight. 

How about a little inspiration I didn't get round to adding to my post on Friday and to end my post a little sweeter. I know that both of this have flown off the shelves and are currently sold out, but I didn't have anything else finished to photograph earlier.

First up is the Layering Organic Blooms panel I stencilled during my YT video HERE. I know I wasn't totally happy with the colour combination, but it has grown on me a little since. 

I decided to trim the panel down to 10 x 13.5 cm and adhered it to a 10.5 x 14cm card base. I added a simple 'Thank You' from Everyday Sentiments and a few C9 Sorbet Enamel Dots.

Next up is the images I stamped from Organic Blooms and coloured using the stencils, which I also demoed during my video. 

For this card I fussy cut the images out, adhering the stems direct to my card panel and the blooms with foam adhesive. I used the same sentiment and a trio of Buttercup Enamel Dots to finish.

Thank you again for all your lovely orders and support, I truly appreciate each and every one of you ♥️

Crafty Hugs

Celebrating 13 Years - Introducing Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms and Organic Bloom Clear Stamps

Hello & Happy Wednesday! 

Welcome to day 4 of the Uniko 13th Birthday February Release introductions. Today myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors are Introducing Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms and Organic Bloom Clear Stamps. 

I've fallen in love with designing layering stencils!! 

This time I couldn't resist adding an option of using a coordinating clear stamp set. Both products can be used on their own or paired together for even more options. 

Along with the designs being drawn in my organic style seen in clear stamps such as Originally Organic and Originally Organic Additions. The products have an element taken from the Papercraft Society Box I designed for CraftStash. Plus they have a lovely Scandinavian look to them.

Let's have a look...

Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie

Steph

Vinita

Be still my Scandinavian loving heart! Such pretty inspiration evoking beautiful spring and summer vibes. 

Until tomorrow, Crafty Hugs