BA Inspiration Pure Florals - Peony

 Good afternoon, Julie here with a little bit of floral watercolour inspiration. Over at Color Hues the colours for the latest challenge are Coral and Green, so I thought I would ink up my large Pure Florals Peony and do some watercolouring with inks. Here is the result.

I used Altenew's Limestone ink stamped onto Mixed Media paper, to create a no line look, then I smooshed some of their other inks onto an acrylic sheet to use for the technique. I used Coral Berry, Grapevine and Coral Bliss for the petals and Olive, Moss and Evergreen for the stem and leaves.

Each petal was painted separately, first with plain water then with the paler Coral Bliss and darker Coral Berry, allowing the water to blend the colours. It's best to paint sections that don't touch one another to reduce the risk of colour bleeding until each section has dried. Some of the lightest areas had virtually no colour and the off white paper showed through to suggest hilights. I repeated the technique for the leaves, using first Olive then Moss.

To create an even greater sense of depth, I went back into the bloom, first with a damp brush, I wet the areas that needed to be in shadow before going in with the Grapevine ink. For the green shading I used the Evergreen ink. Once dry, I fussy cut it out and concentrated on my background. 

I used a Mama Elephant die to cut Eyelet panel from white card, then removed the center with a rectangle die to create a frame. Using the magnets in my Misti, I held the frame and bloom down whilst I placed the greeting from Originally Organic. Once happy with the placement, I removed the frame and bloom and stamped it in Memento London Fog. The frame and bloom were then glued to my A6 white base card.

That's all from me for today, but why not take a moment to try the technique. You don't need watercolour paints, just some dye inks and a paintbrush! You can get really lost in the process, well I know I do!

Keep crafting! 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Technique Tuesday

Good morning, 

Steph here today. I recently saw a great technique on @ardythpr1 Instagram page and decided to recreate it using Uniko products. 

First I selected three background or larger stamps and smaller stamp sets with matching details to the larger sets. I then inked three separate panels by directly rubbing the ink from Distress Oxide pads onto white card. The idea is to then ink the background (or larger) stamp onto the card with a muted ink, followed by white heat embossing the stamp from the smaller matching set over the top. Finishing off with a white die cut shape and a white and black die cut sentiment. 

Here I have used Uniko Large Background Tropical Paradise stamp for the background, inked up with Memento Espresso Truffle. The smaller stamp which has been white heat embossed is the Uniko Paradise Leaves stamp set. For the inked panel I have used Pine Needles and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks.

Thinking I needed a lighter background panel, I used Shabby Shutters and Speckled Egg Distress Oxide inks for this panel. I then used the Craftstash exclusive Uniko Picked Posies Fresh Cut Foliage stamp for the background, again using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. The white heat embossed stamp is from the Uniko Season of Beauty stamp set.

My final card is slightly different mainly because I had a 'moment' when inking up the larger Uniko Hello Lovely stamp set and inked it with embossing ink in error. Once I realised my error I decided to go with it and heat emboss in copper. I continued to heat emboss in white using the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony stamp set. The background for this inked panel uses three distress oxides which are Antique Linen, Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet.

I've not had much time in the craft room lately and I'm finding a little frazzled for craft inspiration at present so seeing this video of Ardyth's was a great way to kick start me back into crafting. I hope you like my creations and also encourage you to head over to Ardyth's Instagram page to see the original inspiration.

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Stamp & Stencil Combo

Good morning.  Anita here with some Brand Ambassador inspiration for you.  How are you enjoying the birthday month celebrations so far?  We're just past the halfway point and there is so much more to come so don't forget to keep checking back here for more.

For this card I decided to use a technique I love to use when stamping with detailed images.  I've used the gorgeous Pure Florals: Peony stamp set for the image and sentiment, and used the Quilted stencil...

This technique is great if you are short of time or if you're less experienced with colouring...just colour the background instead and it's surprising how this makes the image pop.  So I began by stamping the peony in black ink and I also stamped a mask at the same time which I cut out and then placed over the image.  I then gently ink blended the background starting from the top right corner using two shades of blue ink and fading it out.  I then placed the stencil over the top and used the darkest shade of blue to ink through.

I then removed the mask, stamped the sentiment and added a few flat iridescent sprinkles for some sparkle. 

This card came together pretty fast, the most time consuming part is cutting out the mask but you also then have it for a couple more projects.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope this month of Uniko celebrations is giving you lots of crafty inspiration.  There is so much more to come too!

That's all from me today, I hope you enjoy your week.

 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Beautiful Butterflies

Morning all, 

Happy to be here today with some Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration and I am absolutely in love with these combinations of Uniko stencils and gorgeous Uniko stamps.

Here I have used the inner stencil from the Uniko English Country Garden Butterflies stencil bundle. I have ink blended around the outside using Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink. Once dry I stamped the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony and a sentiment from Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set using black ink. Finally I added some Nuvo drops.

My next card uses the outer stencil from the Uniko English Country Garden Butterflies stencil bundle, this time using Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks. Again I have used the Uniko Pure Florals: Peony stamp and the sentiment is from the Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set. Again I have used some Nuvo drops to add interest to the right hand side of the butterfly. 

For my final card I have used the inner stencil from the Uniko Tropical Leaf #2 stencil set and ink blended with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide. To keep the Butterfly theme I used the Uniko English Country Garden - Butterflies stamp set and again the Uniko Birthday Sentiments stamp set for the sentiment.

I hope this has inspired you to grab the stencils and get inky. 

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Techniques with Embossing Glaze

 Hi there,

 do you love Embossing Powders as I do?
Have you ever heard of the special one called Embossing Glaze?
If not - it's a translucent but colourful Embossing Powder with some more special effects.

In the first card I made for you I created amore or less translucent rainbow with the "Rainbows & Clouds" Stencil over a very soft pastell blue background.
But first I had stamped and heat embossed the "Large Background - French Script" in white.
After the melting process of the powder I used the Stencil again and added some fluffy clouds with white Embossing paste.
The sentiment "Time to celebrate the good times" is one of the "Birthday Sentiments", heat embossed in a fitting light blue.
For some more interest I added some clear little rhinestone drops as raindrops.

The second card has a very similar layout, but I stamped the script background in gray (without embossing), just added the rainbow with the same Embossing Glaze colours as before.
I planned to add embellishments in the same colours, so I took twelve white sequins, added sticky ink to them, dipped always two of them into one of the powders and heathed them up. Then I put a drop of clear glitter glue to them.
The sentiment of the "All Occasions Set #3" is stamped with the same Ink I used for the background on Vellum and then I added the same colour of Embossing Glaze to it (hickory smoke).
I glued the edges of the Vellum on the backside of my layer and embellished it with my "special gems".

For the next card I created a blended Sunset scene and added plants and shadows with different stampsets - "Just because", "Happy Days" and "Natures Treasures I".
The lighter shadows of the black embossed plants are made with the Glazes.

For this glazed "Pure Florals - Peony" I added several times Embossing Ink with a Dabber and then thin layers of Glaze.
I was able to mix and match the colours with every layer and then melted every one on top of the black stamped flower.
With every layer it went darker and more intense! So beautiful! Love this kind of "watercolour look".

 

 

The last card is a bit different to the peony. I used the "Pure Florals - Gerbera Stencil" and one of the Peony sentiment stamps.
This time I didn't add the embossing Ink with a dabber (I tried, but it was too much ink for a stencil and turned out in a mess!), instead I used a pen and "coloured" the areas very quick and in a distressed way. I added and mixed the red and orange Glaze powder for the petals and the yellow for the center.
Melted every layer and as a last step I added black Embossing Powder to get some wild and dramatic lines to the flower.
Love this big and bold flower!

Hope I brought you some ideas to use the Glazes in different ways... there are many more to try!
For those of us who love Embossing Powders they are a very "nice-to-have" and "test and try" medium to play with.

Greetings from Wiebke

BA Inspiration - Wonky Stripes Rule!

 Morning all, Julie here with a little bit of Wonky Stripe inspiration! Here are four cards made using the two wonky stripe stamps and the wonky stripe stencil.

My first card was inspired by the challenge at CAS Mix up, where their theme is stencils and rainbow colours and a GD spot over at ATSM where the theme is stencils and die cuts.

I used a selection of DIs to ink my rainbow on an A6 panel of white card through the Wonky Stripe stencil, stamped the die cut Originally Organic Additions elements and coloured them with Copic markers. A couple of strips of linen effect card frame half the stenciled panel. I used scrap pieces of linen effect card and they were just a little too small so added a couple of slivers of gold mirri card to fill the gap. A sentiment from Pure Floral peony was stamped on black and embossed with gold EP, picking up the gold strips.

My second card uses the other half of the inked panel and a fussy cut large peony bloom.

A panel of linen effect card was glued over the stenciled panel and the fussy cut bloom added. I decided to leave the peony uncoloured as I thought it would detract from the rainbow edge. The sentiment is from the same Pure Florals- Peony set.

As with the last card I used a rainbow panel but this time I used the BB Wonky Stripe stamp.

It's difficult to use embossing and Copics without making a mess of your pens, so the trick is to stamp in a pale coloured ink, I used Altenew's Limestone, colour the image and then add the embossing over the top. If you use your Misti, just leave the stamp in place and make sure that you put your stamped panel back exactly where it was before. Don't cut it down until the embossing is complete!

Again as the background was quite lively, I used the simple outline of the small peony bloom from Pure Florals -Peony over my trimmed down panel. The coloured panel and bloom were added to an A6 note card on pads and a sentiment strip stamped with a greeting from the same Peony set completes.

Finally, I just had to use the large gerbera stencil again with the solid BB Solid Wonky Stripes as an accent along the bottom.

After inking the stencil with Mustard Seed and Twisted Citron in the center and Spiced Marmalade DI for the petals, I added detail with a matching Zig watercolour pen and blended the center of the flower with a little more Twisted Citron. The stencil doesn't have a stem, so I added one free hand and coloured it with green Zig pens.  

On a strip of white card, I stamped a couple of times with the BB Solid Wonky Stripes stamp in Altenew's Obsidian ink. My pad is still quite new and juicy so there is a little splatter where it shouldn't be but I think I got away with it! On another A6 note card, I added the stamped panel, then the trimmed down gerbera. 

My sentiment strip is made up from the words from two different sets Beautiful and Bee Happy. Once I got them laid out on my Misti, I stamped a few more to use in other projects, as its quite tricky to get the words lined up. You never know when you'll need a sentiment strip!

And take a deep breath... 

Hope you liked the ideas here, I sort of got carried away with my theme!

Anyway, look after yourselves and keep crafting until next time.

Brand Ambassador inspiration : Diamonds and peonies

 Hi there!

Hannelie popping in today to share two "same but different" designs. 

I remember when we moved to the middle east, one of the first phrases I learned here, was "same same but different". It still makes me smile because it is such a descriptive saying!

I think the two cards I made are a good example because they share the same elements, color and layout, but has quite a different feel to it.

First card :

Second card:

 I used :

• Pure-florals-peony-clear-stamp-set
• Background-builders-delightful-diamonds
• Zig markers
• Versafine black ink
• Misti
• Silhouette cameo
• Gold rhinestones
• Foam squares 

Thank you so much for visiting me here at Uniko today!

Hannelie

Pure Florals Peony - Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Good afternoon folks, Julie here with a little bit of Brand Ambassador inspiration using Pure Florals - Peony.

Over at Color Hues I have a card using the new challenge colours and thought I would also share it here as it uses the gorgeous Peony stamp.

The aim of the challenge is to focus your attention on just two colours and shades thereof, this time it is Kraft and Yellow.

To start, I stamped the largest of the blooms on kraft card using Versamark and then heat embossed with white EP. On another panel of Mixed Media card, I stamped again, embossing with white EP. 

Instead of colouring the whole image I just concentrated on the fab bloom, using a mixture of DI in Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade to watercolour the petals. Shadow was added with a 'kraft' coloured Zig watercolour pen. 

When dry, I fussy cut the bloom and added it flat over the kraft panel. Only when I had glued it firmly in place did I realise that I had trimmed off part of one petal but could I find the tiny section to glue it back, of course not, but I'm happy with the look as if you didn't know it was missing I don't think you could tell!

Beneath the peony, I stamped and embossed the greeting from Birthday Sentiments and die cut my panel with an MFT stitched scalloped rectangle die. The finished panel was then added to an A6 white base card with foam pads.

So that's it, hope it has inspired you to look out your flower stamps and to have a go, think about restricting colours in your designs. 

Keep safe and sane out there until next time.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration using Spring Botanicals - Tulip

Morning all, Julie here with a little bit of Brand Ambassador inspiration. Today I'm using a restricted palette to create floral card with an artsy feel using Spring Botanicals -Tulip.

There's a new challenge over at Color Hues where the palette is restricted to just shades of two colours. This time it is Blue and Orange. It sounds quite restrictive until you start to think outside the box.

Oranges come in all kinds of shades, from yellowy ones through to almost red, blues range from greeny to almost purple, so you see there is a lot to play with really. You get even more if you add water into the mix, so to speak! Add a lot of water say to Dried Marigold DI you get an orange that is almost yellow. Use Ripe Persimmon neat and its virtually red.

To start I stamped the tulips twice with Altenew Obsidian to give me three blooms and used some clear EP and heat embossed to give me some barriers to the colour used. Using lots of water, I painted around the tulips and then went in again with Chipped Sapphire and Blueprint sketch until I had a really dark background and added more water to the righthand side, allowing the water to bleed into the solid colour. When left to it's own devises the water splits the ink and you get some interesting effects.

When dry, I started to work on the flowers, stems and leaves, using Dried Marigold and Ripe Persimmon. When that was dry, I added some watery Blueprint Sketch over the pale Dried Marigold to create a subtle green for the foliage.

I wanted to add even more interest so using the Lattice stencil, I went in and tried to bleach out the colour with a damp paint brush but it was too subtle, so I used some white pigment ink through it instead! To finish, I trimmed my panel down, added the sentiment from Pure Florals -Peony, fussy cutting the 'Sending' and popping it up on pads over an A6 base card.

So that's all from me for the moment, but keep safe, sane and crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Mono-printing with Stencils

Morning all, Julie here with some ideas to inspire you to get more from your stencils.

With so much time on my hands at the moment, I decided to have a play with my stencils to create some panels using a couple of mono-print techniques.

Here are two panels I made using a technique I saw Jennifer McGuire use on You Tube. 

I started by inking an A6 panel of white card with lots of Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean DI. Then I made a hinge with some masking tape and added a plain white A6 panel. Without getting water on the plain panel, I spritzed the inked side then sandwiched the Stylised Floral stencil between and ran it through my die cut machine a few times using the normal die cut set up. Carefully separating the two panels revealed these colourful, fun, textured effects.

Here are a couple of cards I made using each of the panels, I still have a bit left over too for further makes! 

This first card uses a strip of the darker panel slipped behind textured lined panels, a simple stamped, uncoloured small peony bloom from Pure Florals - Peony. I kept it simple and uncoloured so as not to detract from the panel, the sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks.

For the second card I used a panel die cut from the paler print and the same bloom, again not coloured so as not to distract from the background. This time the sentiment from the peony set is stamped on matching linen cardstock.

My final card uses a slightly different technique to create the background. Instead of a piece of white card I added a cut down baby wipe over the stencil in the sandwich and ran it through a few times in the die cut machine as before. This time I rang the changes and used the Fun Flower stencil. The damp baby wipe lifts away the ink where it peeks through the stencil to leave this soft effect. The panel was inked with Tumbled Glass DI this time.

To make the card, I used more sentiments from Pure Floral Peony mounted on deep blue and the small butterfly from English Country Garden, embossed in white on vellum and then die cut. A few clear sparkly sequins complete. The embossed panel was mounted on the same blue card and added to an A6 card base.

That's it from me for this time. I hope I have encouraged you to look at your stencils again, you don't have to use these two, have a play and see what effects you can achieve with what you have.

So until next time, keep safe!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, English Country Garden stamps and dies

Morning all, Julie here with another Brand Ambassador inspiration post.

Last month I used the English Country Garden stamps and matching dies to create a couple of cards, this month I'm back with a couple more.

I've used the large butterfly die from the set to first to cut out a vellum butterfly which I then stamped and embossed and secondly created a mask and inked and stamped through it.

Here's the first inspired by this card I saved ages ago.

I loved the movement that the die cut sweep created. Using an Avery Elle curved die to create the sweep out of linen effect card, an inset panel was added, made by inking a panel of white card with Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserve DOx, splashes of water and over stamping with the large butterfly in the same colours of DI. The sentiment from Pure Florals - Peony, was stamped in the same two colours for the large 'sending' and black for the small one. I heat embossed the lighter pink with clear EP before moving slightly to create the shadow by stamping again with the darker pink ink, it creates a subtle 3D effect. A few PP sequins complete.

Wild flowers were the inspiration for my second card.

The technique used here has been around for ages, all I did was cut a piece of copy paper the same size as my base card, then cut out the butterfly using the same large die. The resultant mask was then taped over the card and the background inking added using Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn.

I used the small elements from Organic Wishes to stamp the silhouettes in black before removing the mask and stamping the sentiment from English Country Garden.

That's about it from me today, hope I've inspired you to look at your stamps ad dies in different ways and have a go yourself, this month's challenge is all about the garden, so why not join in!?

See you back here again soon.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Dramatic Outlines

Hello Sarah here, with my latest Inspiration post ... I was tempted to go festive makes but in the end couldn't resist playing around with the Pure Florals range and showcasing how fantastic these outline images can be without traditional colouring techniques.

Instead I've created multiple backgrounds using a combination of Distress Inks and Oxides which I think sets the floral outlines off a treat! I can't remember the exact colours I used as I just grabbed some of my favourites and started blending away.

These quick and easy makes use sentiments from the Simply Said Blocks range. The floral outlines are stamped using Versafine Onyx Black ink before embossing with clear embossing powder and just off the edge of the card panel so no masking required.

First up using the Pure Florals: Peony

...  a couple using the Pure Florals Lily

 

... and finally Pure Florals Rose

I hope you like these ideas and thanks for stopping by the blog today.