Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stencils and Stripes

Good morning all, 

Steph here today with my Brand Ambassador Inspiration. My coloured card scraps contain a lot of strips of various thickness so I was looking for a good way to used these. I came across a lovely video by Jennifer McGuire so I created my Uniko Brand Ambassador cards using her method as inspiration.

So here I have laid down my strips of coloured card before attaching the Uniko Party Confetti stencil, taping along the top to create a hinge. I then inked each strip with an ink in a darker shade of the card, masking the strips of card above and below so as not to stray into the next strip. You could achieve a similar effect using a watermark ink like Versamark but I don’t think you would get the depth of colour as seen here. I added a die cut frame and sentiments from Uniko Mid Century Modern Birthday and Uniko Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments stamp sets.

I followed a similar technique for my next card but used white ink all over instead, which was obviously quicker to make! 

I think this could work well with a small snowflake stencil or stamp too. Both cards turned out well and surprisingly different despite using very similar techniques. Which is your favourite?

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Masculine Birthday Cards

 Bonjour !

Izzy here, I hope that you are enjoying all the great Grand Prize Giveaways and the fabulous discount that Bev is offering to celebrate the 11 years of Uniko.

To go on with the celebration, I made two masculine birthday cards. If you are like me, I always struggle when it comes to make a masculine card but fortunately some colour combos help a lot.

For my first card, I used two stencils, Balloon Bash & Party Confetti that I combined together,  as well as the Big & Bold Happy bundle.

On a white card stock I first blended the blue/green inks through the Balloon Bash stencil to make the balloons shapes, then I placed it back and I layered the Party Confetti stencil and I blended the same inks on top.

For the sentiment, I die cut the Happy word in a metallic paper and I stamped in black the birthday word. I also added the black thread with a fine black liner.

To finish my card, I stamped this image on a teal card stock and I stamped the little circles that come from the Big & Bold Happy stamp set.

For my second card, I used two stamp set from the last release, Background Blocks Linear and Mid Century Modern Frames.

I kept this one very simple and I get inspired here by the colours of the last challenge at Color Hues. 

So I simply stamped the lines on a white piece of card stock and I coloured some parts with lime and cyan markers.

Then on another piece of card stock I stamped one of the frames together with a sentiment and I also coloured it with the same markers.

To finish this card, I flat adhered this panel on a double white card and I fussy cut the frame and I foam mounted it on the card.

That's all for me today. And don't forget you still have time to join in either the Grand Prize giveaways (HERE and HERE) and/or the Linky Party.  

Have a lovely day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Three Ways with Pure Florals: Lily

Good morning

Anita here with some floral inspiration for your Monday morning.  I recently bought an autumnal bouquet of flowers and within it were some stunning orange lilies.  So that's where the inspiration came from for these cards, using the gorgeous Pure Florals: Lily Clear Stamp Set.

I have used the same image on all three cards but used a different technique on each.  On all three cards I've used sentiments from the Simply Said Blocks II Clear Stamp Set.

First up, I left the image uncoloured and added colour and interest around it...

I stamped the flower directly onto the card base and then stamped and fussy cut a mask to cover it.  I then ink blended the background using three shades of Distress Oxide ink, before then inking through the Party Confetti Stencil using the same inks to add some interest.  Finished with a sentiment stamped in black.

For the second card I used the negative mask which was left over from the same masking sheet...

On a white cardstock panel I stamped the lily and then used the mask to cover up the background.  The lily was then coloured using Distress Oxide inks once again and a little Copic colouring for the stem and stamens.  I die cut the panel using a scalloped rectangle and then stamped the sentiment before adhering the panel flat to the card base.

Finally, a little spotlight colouring...

I stamped the image onto some white cardstock and die cut with a stitched rectangle die.  I then die cut a smaller rectangle from within it and coloured this part with Copic markers.  The sentiment was stamped to look like a tab before adhering the uncoloured panel flat to the card base.  Then the coloured section was popped up on 3D foam.

There are so many techniques to use with stamped images and I love looking for new ways to 'stretch' what I have in my stash.  I hope that has given you some ideas.  My colouring skills aren't the best so ink blending or even leaving images uncoloured can still look effective.

Wishing you all well for the week ahead and sending crafty hugs

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 - a rainbow of colour

Happy Tuesday to you ......

I hope your week has got off to a good start.
It's Linda here, with a little inspiration for you using a rainbow of colour and the Uniko Party Confetti stencil

I'm loving rainbow colours at the moment, they make such happy looking cards. And they work so well with stencil designs.
Perfect for birthday cards .... great for kids, both young and old.   But, what about party invites, Christmas (dare I say it!) and even New Year celebrations too.
But hey! ...... let's not get too far ahead shall we.  I've got a holiday to go on before I start my festive preparations ...... lets just stick with birthdays for now shall we!

The Party Confetti stencil looks so pretty in rainbow colours.  I simply laid it over a piece of white cardstock and then used Distress Oxide inks - Picked Rapsberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean.

Have you spotted my little happy accident?
Who forgot to cover the bottom of her card?  Ooops!

I got a little carried away brushing my rainbow stripes.  The top was OK there was stencil tape there but, I did manage to get ink over the bottom of the stencil.
No time to start again so, I decided to make it look part of the design, by adding more of the colours over the bottom edge ..... what do think? I really like it!

I  used the Uniko BIG & BOLD Happy Designer Die to add my sentiment ....

Cut from black and white cardstock.  The white I coloured using the same Distress Oxides as I used through the stencil, and then I added a touch of sparkle with a Shimmer Embossing Powder from WOW! over the top

I then layered this onto the black one, slightly offsetting it to give a shadow effect.

I finished off the sentiment using one of the stamps from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set, simply stamped onto a snippet of white card, and cut into a little banner.  And I also added a few dots of glitter glue here and there for a little more sparkle

When I'd finished I noticed there was quite a lot of ink left on the stencil.  Now I don't like to waste my inks so, I spritzed over with some water, grabbed a piece of white card and laid it on the top. I applied a little pressure over the whole of the stencil and then ...... this was the result

A pretty monoprint that I can use on another card ...... I do like a twofer!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to finish tidying my craft room.  Over the weekend I decided I wanted to change things around a little in there ..... not one of my better ideas!  It turned into a bigger job than I thought!!

Cheerio until next time .......

DT Inspiration - Alcohol inks, stencils and Bold sentiments

Bonjour !

Izzy here ! This year I wanted to try alcohol inks and I'm just starting to discover all the possibilities they offer. So today I wanted to show you what I've done with my alcohol inks, texture paste, stencils and bold sentiments die cuts.

What I love with the AI is that their colours are very bright and used on Yupo paper (or similar), they give a beautiful bright and shiny look. I had to try a technique I saw on Jennifer McGuire blog to make great backgrounds.

Here are my cards...

For this card I used the Fun Flowers stencil together with the Fun Flowers stamp set. On a Yupo paper I popped texture paste through the stencil and let it dry. Meanwhile I stamped the Background blocks : pinstripe in black over the white card base, I die cut the Big & Bold : Happy sentiment in a black paper and I stamped in black the flowers of the Fun Flowers stamp set then fussy cut them.

Once the texture paste dry, on a felt applicator I put 3 alcohol inks, a bit of blending solution and I blended them onto the textured Yupo paper.

Then I adhered this Yupo paper strip over the white card base as well as the bold sentiment. I glued the flowers with Glue dots. To finish I stamped the other part of the sentiment.

For this card I used the Confetti stencil and the Big & Bold : Wish sentiment. I also used texture paste through the stencil and once dry I used my AI and blending solution together with a paint brush to make this sort of rainbow colours pattern. 

The sentiment is also done with AI on a paper similar to Yupo. Once dry I die cut the AI panel with a scalloped die and glued it on the white card stock. I also die cut an oval shape in a white card stock and I stamped the rest of the sentiment on it. To finish I die cut the bold sentiment and glued it onto the white oval cut.

I really love these bold sentiment dies, and I really hope that Bev will release some more for the other bold sentiments of the collection. 

So for my last card I had to create the die cut of the Big & Bold : Hugs stamp. It is long, tedious and much less beautiful than a real die cut. Here is how I did it...

For this card I again used texture paste through the Stylised Floral stencil, let it dry and then I randomly sponged the AI with a felt applicator. I cut this panel with a heart shape die and I glued it on the white card stock. Then I glued the bold sentiment on top of it.

To finish my card, I die cut an ampersand, I foam mounted it on the card and I stamped the rest of the sentiment from the Big & Bold : Hugs stamp set.

And that's it ! I still have a lot to learn with alcohol inks but in the end I will find a way to use all these trials on cards ! They are a fabulous background for the Big & Bold sentiments !

Thanks so much for popping by and have a great Sunday !