Birthday Inspiration with Uniko Alumni Brand Ambassador Sarah Platt

Hello & Happy Tuesday!

It's a terrific Tuesday as I am absolutely thrilled to have another Brand Ambassador Alumni joining us today, the lovely Sarah Platt..

Sarah joined the Uniko family in August 2014 having been a regular participant in Uniko challenges and valued customer. 

What drew my attention to Sarah was her use of bright colours and clean style. Just like she has used today in her trio of birthday cards made especially for Uniko's 13th Birthday.

On this first card Sarah has used Background Blocks Wonky Stripes with die cut balloons decorated with elements from Balloon Bash. The sentiment is from Anniversaries Arts Decoratifs. 

I love how Sarah has continued the theme and colours, simply switching up the background block and balloon placement for a slightly different look. Here Sarah has used the Background Block Arts Decoratifs.

And for this last card Sarah has used Background Blocks Party Confetti.

A big thank you to Sarah 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 - Flowers and Confetti

Good morning!

Anita here with some BA inspiration for you.  As you will be aware, if you've seen Bev's most recent posts, Uniko is celebrating it's 12th Birthday this month!  So it will be birthday inspiration aplenty this month.  Please do check back over the posts of the last few days to find out all about the Uniko Giveaways, and there's much more to come this month too.

On to my card, and I've mixed a few different products to create this one.

On a panel of white cardstock, slightly smaller than my card base, I began by masking off a "swoosh" and lightly ink blending using Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade and Dried Marigold.  I then laid the Party Confetti Stencil over the top and ink blended using Dried Marigold (over the Squeezed Lemonade) and Abandoned Coral (over the Dried Marigold).  I then removed the masks and stamped the large peonies image from the Hello Lovely Clear Stamp Set.  I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Flower Power #2 Clear Stamp set and heat embossed in white onto a strip of coral cardstock.  The panel was then adhered on 3D foam.

I think the floral image, along with the swoosh of colour and confetti stencilling is a great mix for a feminine birthday card.  And I think you can tell from these sunny colours that I can't wait for Spring to arrive!

There will be lots more inspiration in the coming days and throughout the rest of February so I encourage you to check in and see lots more from the team.

Thanks for taking a look and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Birthday Celebrations

Birthday celebrations you say?! 

Why yes! You may have noticed that it’s Uniko’s 11th Birthday this month so my Brand Ambassador Inspiration post is all about birthdays and Uniko (I have used the Uniko colours as well as products). 

So firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNIKO! 

Make sure you haven’t missed the Birthday Linky Party from the 1st of the month. And check back here on the Uniko blog for the next two Saturdays to be in with a chance of winning some Uniko goodies! 

So for my first card today I used Uniko Balloon Bash and Uniko Background Blocks Party Confetti stamp sets.

Secondly I have used Uniko Big and Bold Happy stamp and die set, stamping and die cutting the large ‘happy’ sentiment. 

Finally I have used Uniko Balloon Bash stencil teamed with Uniko Big & Bold Happy stamp and die set. This time just die cutting the sentiment without stamping it.

Hopefully these have put you in a party mood! There have been already been lots of birthday celebrations on the Uniko blog but make sure you keep checking back as Bev and the Brand Ambassadors have lots more lovely birthday celebrations to come. 

Much love

Steph x

Keep it Simple Saturday

 

Happy Weekend!

Today I am keeping it simple with a birthday card and giving some inky love to Balloon Bash and Stencil - Party Confetti. Plus, giving you a little reminder about the Linky Party 😉

Trying my hand at some soft ink blending today. I am definitely prone to being heavy handed when I am trying to be soft. So today instead of applying fresh ink to my blending brush, I simply used what was left on the brush.

I felt the design needed a little grounding, so reached for Background Builders Classics. I've definitely not given this stamp set much love, so it was nice to ink it up again. My sentiment choice is from Floral Vines.

Absolutely loving the comments and stamp set favourites on my post HERE yesterday. I'm definitely feeling a little guilt towards not choosing some of your faves! 

Hope you find time for some creativity today.

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - English Country Garden Butterfly II Stencil

Morning everyone,

Steph here with a Brand Ambassador Inspiration post and today I’m using the newly released Uniko English Country Garden Butterfly II stencil. I loved all the butterfly stencils when I received them and had lots of ideas of how I’d like to use them so here they are:

I have used Distress Oxide inks to sponge through the stencil one at a time from lightest to darkest. Each time I repositioned the stencil further to the right before inking. After the inks had dried I stamped the sentiments from Uniko You Are, Yes You stamp set in white ink over the butterflies. As it’s a flat make, I mounted the panel onto a card blank with foam tape for some dimension.

My next card uses the inner part of the stencil as a mask. For this card I have simply sprayed some solution made up from Peacock Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powder and water. I also tapped the powder over the card and sprayed again to get some more concentrated areas. I stamped the sentiment from Uniko Pure Florals: Cosmos stamp set and layered the finished panel onto green card stock and then a card blank.

My final card uses the outer stencil again but this time I have stamped the Uniko Background Blocks Party Confetti with the stencil in place. I removed the stencil to stamp the sentiment from the Uniko Birthday Sentiments set and added a butterfly stamped using Uniko English Country Garden - Butterflies set. I then mounted the panel onto a black card base. 

I hope these have given you a few ideas of your own to have a go with the gorgeous stencils. I’d love to see what you create.

Much love

Steph x

Stencil Sunday - Party Confetti

 Happy Sunday!

Before I get to my cards & post today I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to those celebrating today. I wish you all a wonderful day.

It has been a while since I have done a Stencil Sunday post and I think it is partly because I overthink things and especially when it comes to using stencils. As you know from following me at Uniko all this time I am naturally a clean & simple card maker. I find 'mixed media' a challenge. 

Having said this, I have listened and taken note of the polls I do over on Instagram and I will be sharing some of 'my style' mixed media on the blogs.

Anyway, back to my cards I created for today. So instead of over thinking things I selected my Uniko products, Stencil - Party Confetti, Balloon Bash and Simply Said Blocks. I then selected my colours, pinks & aqua and I had also selected a couple of card making challenges to play along with. 

For this first card I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below. Often when I see the elements on a sketch I am drawn to use similar products. However, stopped myself and kept to my birthday card theme.

I used Post-it masking tape to tape off a small square. I then used 3 shade of aqua ink to stencil through the Party Confetti design. I added an ombre pink stamped & fussy cut balloon from Balloon Bash and finished off with the Happy Birthday from Simply Said Blocks.

With my card being so CAS I went on to make a second card. This time I used the challenge over a AAA Cards seen HERE and below. As you can see I chose not to use the optional twist! 

For this card I kept all the colours the same and simply inked through the Party Confetti stencil so it filled the top 3rd of my card. I added another ombre pink balloon and the same sentiment. 

No overthinking and much more creativity! 

That's all I have to share with you today. I will be back later this week with a Two For Tuesday, plus a restock announcement AND a Birthday Special offer, so keep an eye on the blogs & social media ;) 

Have a wonderful day.

Crafty Hugs

 

DT Inspiration - Stencils and patterned papers

Hello, Wiebke here with a brand new stencil-project for you!

 

Like most of us, I have kind of a "comfort zone" when I create my cards. I use similar materials - most of the time I'm crafting with stamps and stencils, inks and markers and some embellishments.
And sometimes I almost forget there are also other ways to craft...!

A while ago, I recieved a card, made with a mix of patterned papers combined with punched elements, embossing paste, stamping and sewing! Not my own usual style of crafting - but so beautiful! 

So this other card inspired me for my current card!
I tried this new-to-me technique mix and show you the result!

 

I grabbed some patterned papers, cut them in pieces, adhered them onto a thin paper and went to my sewing machine to sew them all together with two different stitching-lines.
The next step was to add three different embossing pastes on the paper. One is an opaque white glossy paste, one a less opaque matte white paste and one a mix of a golden colour and the matte paste. 

I moved both stencils - the Party Confetti Stencil and the Bright Butterflies Stencil - around to get exact the shapes I planned on the different areas. I wanted many of the small hearts! 💕
So it was important to let one paste dry before moving the stencil and start adding the next one to avoid smearing them around!

In the center I kept a free area to add the sentiment "You are Amazing" of the new You are, yes you Stamp Set with white embossing powder (fitting to the glossy white paste).

After everything was finished, I cut the layer down to my card size and adhered it with a strong adhesive tape.
Cause there are so many different materials which give enough interest, I think it's not necessary to add some extra embellishments to a card like this one.

The full list of all supplies you can see on my Blog.

Hope you can give some "new-to-you" techniques a try one day too.
Thanks for stopping by today, have a great day and lots of fun with all your art supplies!

Kind greetings from Wiebke