DT Inspiration - A Little More Sweet Baby: Last Chance to Buy before Retiring

Hello there, it's Sarah and I'm here with another DT Inspiration post.

You no doubt spotted fellow DT members, Jane and Izzy showcasing designs, on the blog recently, using sets from the 'Soon to be Retiring' section and here's another one featuring that gorgeous bundle of Sweet Baby stamps. I for one will be sad to see this one retire but Bev has made the tough decision to make room for new sets.

If you fancy grabbing a bargain then please follow this link to the shop where Sweet Baby is on offer at 50% off the regular price.


So first up I've gone with the traditional baby blue and baby pink designs using the cutest little romper with a mini stamp from the set to decorate, before fuzzy cutting and popping up on 3d foam. The sentiments are also from the set and stamped to coordinate.

... and this one uses a little paper piecing idea with some Doodlebug patterned paper in a 'not-so-traditional' colour way but still baby cute I think!

Thanks for calling by the blog today and hope you're enjoying some happy crafting time.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Last chance to buy before retiring Sweet Baby

Bonjour !

Izzy here. Today I'm echoing Jane's post from last Saturday, as she explained, some stamp sets have to be retired to make room for the new ones. For this occasion, they are on sales with 50% off, so I'm here today to give you some inspirations on how to use the Sweet Baby stamp set.

As all the Uniko stamp sets, this one is very versatile, you can not only make Babies'cards but also cards for other occasions and that what I'm showcasing in this post.

The first trio are Babies cards using not only the Sweet Baby set but combining it with other Uniko stamps.

My first card uses the ducks of the Sweet Baby set together with the So Much set. I simply stamped the ducks, masked them and then I stamped the flowers. I coloured them with Kaleidacolor inks and a blender pen. I stamped the sentiment and I die cut a frame (x3) and glued it on the card base around the image.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby & So Much - Die: MFT, Stitched square scallop - Inks: Kaleidacolor, Baby Powder & Altenew, Industrial Diamond

My second card uses the onesie that I stamped in pink on a pattern paper. I made the background with the Scattered Polka Dots stencil and Catherine Pooler inks that have the same shades than the pattern paper. I matted this dotted background onto pink and then onto the card base. I die cut a scallop circle that I embossed with a dotted embossing folder. I then foam mounted the onesie on it. I stamped the sentiment onto a banner and I also foam mounted it.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby - Stencil: Uniko, Scattered Polka Dots - Die: Spellbinders, Classic Scalloped Circles Small & No brand, Tags and Labels - Inks: Catherine Pooler, Party Dress, It's a girl, It's a boy, Daydream & Versafine, Onyx Black.

My third card of this group is very simple and quick to make. I stamped the duck on a white cardstock, I coloured it with colour pencils then I fussy cut it. I glued a white feather on the double white card and I adhered the duck with a glue dot. To finish I stamped the sentiment.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby  & Simply Graphic, Planche Petit Trésor (sentiment) - Colour pencils: Faber-Castell Polychromos, #107, 108, 113.

Now with my second trio of cards, I show you how you can make cards for different occasions with this set. This time I used the teddy bear for the first two ones.

My first card uses the bear of this set and I combined it with the Background Blocks : Party Confetti and the Designer die BIG & BOLD Happy Collection. I stamped the party confetti block on a white cardstock then I die cut a square that I foam mounted on the double white cardstock. I stamped the teddy bear in brown on a scrap of paper and I fussy cut it. I die cut a party hat, I coloured it then I glued it on teddy's head. The teddy is glued on the background and foam mounted on the card. To finish I die cut the Happy word in black cardstock and I adhered it on the background. The rest of the sentiment is stamped.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby  & Birthday Sentiments (stamped sentiment) - Die: Uniko, BIG & BOLD Happy collection & Create a Smile, Cool Cuts Magical Frame - Inks: Kaleidacolor, Desert Heat & Cappuccino Delight - Promarkers: Lipstick red & Cardinal red.

The second card used again the bear but this time for a Christmas card. I combined it with the sets Background Builders: Vines Winter, Rustic Wreath and Simply Said Christmas. This is a One Layer Card. I stamped the bear in brown and I coloured it with colour pencils. Then I stamped the sentiment in black. At the bottom I used stamps from the Background Builders: Vines Winter and from the Rustic Wreath sets.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby ,  Background Builders: Vines Winter, Rustic Wreath & Simply Said Christmas (sentiment) - Colour pencils: Faber-Castell Polychromos, #103, 132, 189, 230, 231 - Inks: Distress, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo.

And finally, for the last card I used the Sweet Baby set together with the Spring Botanicals Snowdrop to make a Spring card. I die cut a rectangle in a friendly watercolour paper, I stamped the duck once with Distress ink, I masked it and I stamped another one that I also masked. Then I stamped the snowdrops also with Distress ink. To colour this scene I used Zig Clean Colour Real Brushes. To finish I stamped the sentiment and I matted the image on a double card.

Stamps: Uniko, Sweet Baby & Spring Botanicals Snowdrop - Zig Clean Colour brushes: #050, 051, 052, 041, 045, 302, 303 - Inks: Distress, Mustard Seed & Shabby Shutters.

As you can see this stamp set is very versatile, useful for baby cards but also nice to be used for other occasions. So if you want to have a chance to get it before it is retired, you can find it HERE.

Thank you very much for stopping by and have a great crafty week !

ABC Duck!

Hey!

I've had so much creative energy these past few weeks, in-between feeling poorly with a cold flu bug that is - urgh! It's an annoying bug for sure, because just as I start to feel well again, the next day my sore throat is back and my glands in my neck are swollen again. 

Anyway, enough of my woes, how about a card using the recently restocked Sweet Baby clear stamp set...

It's been AGES since I inked up any of the stamps from Sweet Baby, so I started out by stamping the duck and teddy from the set and set about colouring them with my Prismacolor pencils. This helped me formulate an ideas as to how to use them. 

The alphabet dies are Stampin' Up! Little Letters and I just chose a few pastel card scraps to die cut them. The scalloped edge is a Pretty Pink Posh die. 

I decided to keep the card sentiment free for now, as it is suitable for a few baby/child occasions and the sentiment can easily be added on the lower section of the card if needed.

That's all from me today, the team will be back tomorrow sharing some more Uniko Challenge #51 inspiration with you.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

DT Inspiration - One year

Bonjour !

Izzy here. Today it's been just a year and a month since I joined the wonderful Uniko team. In fact I wanted to do this post a month ago but it was the day of the new release.

To celebrate this I revisited some products that I particularly love and that were released in this period of time.

I'm starting with my favourite one I think the Kindness Bloom combined with the Birthday Sentiments set.

I played with the smaller stamps of this set, inking them randomly in different colours all over the double card front. I stamped the bold birthday wished on a die cut scalloped white square. This was then foam mounted onto the double card.

On a separate white card stock I stamped the blooms and I fussy cut them. Then I foam mounted them on the scalloped square corner. To finish, I glued some jewels.

My next card uses the marvellous Bee Happy stamp paired with the Beautiful stamp set and the Stylised Floral stencil.

On a square white card stock I used the stencil with Twisted Citron Distress ink that I blended softly to make a gradient. Once done I cut a part of it and I matted the two parts onto a black double card in order to reveal a black stripe. 

I stamped the adorable bees on a separate card stock, I coloured them with colour pencils and I fussy cut them. I assembled the Bee Happy and the Beautiful sentiments together in order to make one single sentiment. Finally I stamped the dotted spiral to give mouvement to the foam mounted bees. 

For my third card I used the Doodle Flower stencil together with the BIG & BOLD Hugs stamp set.

As you know, Distress Oxide spread like butter and blend so beautifully together that it is a pleasure to play with them ! That's what I did with this lovely stencil on top of a square white card. Then I stamped and heat embossed in black the sentiment on a white card stock and I fussy cut it.

I love how the black bold sentiment pops up on top of it with the stitched scalloped frame.

The fourth card is in fact a twofer of the third card...

I've seen in different blogs how to use the Distress oxide inks left on a stencil after blending them through. I wanted to try and I LOVE the result.

They give a much softer look and the negative of the stencil. When I saw the result I immediately knew that I would combined it with the Sweet Baby stamp set.

I also used the Distress Oxide inks to stamp the bold sentiment and the adorable bear. I fussy cut them and foam mounted them on the card.

My final card today uses one of the gorgeous stamp from the Pure Florals collection, the Rose. I love to combine it with the Lattice stencil.

On the card base I used the Lattice stencil in Spun Sugar distress ink. Then on a separate white card stock I stamped the outlines of the rose and of the leaves. I then coloured them with Promarkers and I fussy cut them.

I die cut a stitched border that I matted onto the card base and I adhered the leaves and the rose on top  with glue dots. A lovely sentiment from the Flower Power #1 set is black stamped to finish the card. 

And voilà ! That's all for me today. As you can see, Uniko products all go pretty together, you can combine them in such different ways. There have been many other products during this period of 1 year that deserve your attention as well, so stay tuned, I'll be back soon ...

Thank you for stopping by and have a great crafting day !

Izzy xx

CAS Colours & Sketches #242 - Sketch

Hey!

It's time for this weeks challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This month Fiona is our hostess and this week Fiona has a fun sketch HERE to inspire your creativity...

Here is what I came up with...

When I design Uniko clear stamps, I always 'try' to think about how they will work with other previously released Uniko clear stamps to maximise their potential. 

When I designed the recently released Reach For The Stars set I had Sweet Baby set in mind to pair it with and todays sketch gave me the inspiration and opportunity to do this :)

I was also inspired by the current challenge over at The Card Concept seen HERE and below, which was to use pastel shades. 

I also drew inspiration from the pattern on the cushion and incorporated the use of Background Builders: Triangulate on my card too. 

That's all from me today using the sketch, but if you need some more inspiration using the sketch be sure to pop by the CAS Colours & Sketches blog HERE and see how the DT and Guest Designer have used it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

Sweet Baby...

Hey & Happy Monday!

I do hope that your week has started well?

Mine started EARLY, 5:45am to be exact, all thanks to a little bean that decided it was time to get up and was refusing to go back to sleep even in mummy and daddy's bed. He was shortly joined by his brother and they were demanding breakfast! There is one thing I've learned with these beans and that is when they are hungry, they are HUNGRY! 

Anyway, onto some baby talk (nope, I am not pregnant and nor will I be anytime in the future!) a CCAD college friend of mine Abbie, who also did some work experience with Uniko back in 2013 recently (8 weeks ago) had a baby boy... Rory James Paul. 

Yep, I am a super bad at taking this long to make a card :( but here is what I made in the end...

Of course I had to give Sweet Baby a dust off and ink up AND no surprises really that I made a shaker card too ;) I had planned on sharing this card on Friday and to link up at last weeks Less is More challenge, but I simply ran out of time. Story of my life at the moment!

Short and sweet tonight as I've still a few emails to catch up on and this mummy needs some sleep! Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow for my CAS Colours & Sketches card.

Hugs

WINNER and a card!

Hey!

Apologies for being SO late again announcing the lucky comment WINNER of the July Design Team Blog Hop HERE. 

The Summer days with my beans have been keeping me busy and tired with little creative mojo. I am pleased to report that the creative mojo is returning and I have been busy posting over HERE this week with a new Stamp Of The Week ;)

Anyway, without further ado, random.org has helped me select a lucky winner...

AND lucky comment no.15 is...

Kimberly Rendino12 July 2016 at 18:51

This is such a beautiful set, Beverly! I love your cards....old and new!

Congratulations Kimberly! Please send an email to bev@uniko.co.uk by Thursday August 11th 2016 along with your snail mail address and I will get your prize in the post to you!

How about a card before I go, I have had this one to share for some time now...

I made this shaker card for Daisy, one of the beans' little friends who turned 2 a few weekends ago. Daisy LOVES Peppa Pig, but unfortunately I didn't have any Peppa Pig or pig related stamps, so instead reached for my Sweet Baby clear stamp set and made a shaker card! 

Even though the Sweet Baby clear stamp is is aimed at New Baby cards, the bear is so versatile and can be used for young children too. He is simply coloured with a few Copic markers and fussy cut out.

Ok, that's all from me today, but be sure to pop over HERE for more inspiration ;) Until the next time, thank you for stopping by.

Supplies

Uniko Clear Stamps:- Sweet Baby and Simply Said

Card Stock:- SU! Whisper White and PTI Vintage Cream

Ink:- Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:- SU! Sequins, PTI Limitless Layer Dies, Acetate, Foam Adhesive and Copic Markers

CAS - Colours & Sketches #155

Hey & YAY!

I can finally share my exciting news...

I am super duper pleased to say I am again part of a challenge Design Team & this time for another of my favourite challenges, CAS - Colours & Sketches. 

As you know I am a huge fan of challenges & they really help me to spark my creativity and I have missed being on a challenge DT since I stepped down from the TIME OUT Challenges DT.

Just a little FIY too, Uniko is sponsoring the TIME OUT Challenge HERE and you can see my post about it HERE. I've used the challenge colours below too, so more inspiration for you ;)

Anyway, back to my excitement! Along with me joining the team at CAS - Colours & Sketches they are also welcoming Caroline, Karen & Liz to the current team of Patricia, Stef, Jane & Louise. I'm excited to join this challenge & the fun begins today with a colour challenge...

What a lovely colour combo, don't you think? Suitable for so many occasions as you will see from the CC&S DT HERE. 

This is what I came up with...

One of my 'mummy' friends who has a little girl 2 months younger than the beans had a little baby boy just days before Christmas and this is the card I made to congratulate them. 

I have used Uniko's Sweet Baby clear stamp set along with a Papertrey Ink die that I have adapted to create a window. I added some clear Wink Of Stella to the die cut and some sparkly stars to add a little sparkle to the design. The teddy bear is adhered to the card using foam adhesive for added interest & dimension.

Ok, that's all from me today, I will be back tomorrow with more to share. Until then, thank you for stopping by and hope to see you joining in on the challenge :)

TIME OUT Challenges - Theme

*This is my first post for the day, please pop back at 9am for my July Release Introducing post *

Hey!

It's time for another challenge over at TIME OUT Challenges & this fortnight we have a theme challenge with an optional twist & there is a prize up for grabs too for the winner of this challenge! 

The theme this time is...

Nature with the optional twist of animals (butterflies & insects can be used).

I decided to go with the optional twist and this is what I came up with...

I reached for my Uniko Sweet Baby set and paired the cute little bear with Natures Treasures I and created this non traditional New Baby card. I surprised myself in how much I liked the result, it just goes to show that 'playing' with your stamps and mixing sets cane lead to unexpected but happy results.

This fortnight we have a lovely guest designer joining us, Barb, be sure to stop by Barb's blog HERE to see how she was inspired by the photo and of course the FABulous TIME OUT Challenges Design Team...

Sandie

Nonni

Lynn

Gerrina

Anita
Sarah
Elizabeth
Shona
Lisa

For all the info and to link up your challenge be sure to stop by the TIME OUT Challenges blog. I look forward to seeing your creations :) I'll be back again later in the week with more to share & until then, thank you for stopping by today.

News...!

Hey!

What a gorgeous Spring day it is here in the NE of England :) the sun is shining and it's pretty hot out there! I do love the sun and warm weather, but this afternoon whilst the little beans are napping I've been making a card, so I am back as promised with this to share & some news...

So, I am a little late sharing the news here at Uniko Studio, but our lovely Gillian & husband welcomed their precious baby boy James George Ross into the world on April 1st. Congratulations Gillian he is so cute. Be sure to stop by Gillian's blog HERE and send your best wishes.

It was only right that I inked up Sweet Baby and as always I couldn't resist using the bear ;) I coloured him simply with SU! markers and fussy cut him out before adhering him to some note book die cuts. These are mounted to the card base using foam adhesive.

CASology even said it themselves, but they have a rather fitting challenge on their blog this week, the theme being NEWS! Gillian is a DT member over there too, so they are having a little celebration & it's only right I join in & link my card up over there. Be sure to check out the challenge HERE.

Ok, that's all from me today, I can hear and see movement on the bean monitor! I'll be back again on Saturday with another card to share & a Design Team Blog Hop :) 

Until then, thank you for stopping by today.

First Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hey!

Ok, so I am a little behind on wishing you all a Happy New Year, but here I am & I wish you a very happy, healthy & creative 2015 :)

It's all things back to normal here at Uniko Studio HQ as the hubby has returned to work today after nearly two weeks off with us. I had a mild panic attack thinking 'how will I cope with the beans without him again', so far all is going smoothly! 

With having hubby home and lots of family time I didn't get round to creating much, but I did make the beans a First Christmas card each and so I thought I'd share that with you today...

Nothing like leaving things to the last minute, I sat down on Christmas Eve night to make them! I had them planned out so they came together quite quickly. I used Background Builders: Christmas for the silver snowflakes, Sweet Baby for the bear & added a Hero Arts stamped santa hat and finally a combined SU! and Simply Said Christmas sentiment. 

I used Prismacolor pencils to colour the bear and blended them with gamsol. I then added a good dose of Wink of Stella to the bear and added glitter to the santa hat. To keep things fair I did the two cards exactly the same in the same colours! 

I thought I'd share a few photos from the day, it was CrAzY as both were over excited and over tired at times...

This is the only photo them both in their personalised snowflake tops I bought them especially for Christmas Day. Josh promptly threw up all over his just as I'd got him dressed, so I quickly hand washed it and tumble dried it before we left for Grandma & Grandad's house!

They got lots of First Christmas things and these were the hats Grandma bought them...

Josh flaked out in his bouncy seat & Ben below with Grandad...

Ok, I had better be going as the boys are sure to be waking up soon for their lunch and I have some SAHM duties to do and orders to pack which reminds me, there is a CRAZY January SALE over on the Uniko Studio website HERE. Don't miss out on a bargain & there is limited stock on some items, so be quick, it ends Saturday 10th January! 

Thanks for stopping by today & I'll be back later this week with more to share :)

Supplies:

Card Stock: White (Boyes) SU! Pool Party

Ink: Encore Silver, VersaFine Onyx Black

Stamps: Uniko Studio Sweet Baby, Background Builders: Christmas & Simply Said Christmas

Accessories: Wink Of Stella Clear Pen, SU! Glitter & Pool Party Bakers Twine.