Merry Sparkle!

Hey!

I thought I'd pop in and share another of the cards we made during my last class at The Paperlane on Saturday. If you missed the other two creations I shared Saturday evening, you can catch up HERE. 

This uses another of my current favourite clear stamp sets...

Winter Foliage has SO many possibilities and can be paired with so many winter, holiday and Christmas products. My card coordinates and follows THIS card I shared during the release celebrations. 

This time I have paired the foliage with a sparkly 'merry' which is a Stampin' Up! Christmas Greetings Thinlits die and I've used some sparkly silver Glimmer Paper also from Stampin' Up! 

I think this will be one of the designs I mass produce for my Christmas cards this year, though instead of mounting the stamped panel with foam adhesive I will adhere it with DST and just have the Christmas sentiment mounted with foam adhesive to save a little on the bulk of the card and cheaper mailing! 

That's all I have to share with you here today, but I do have a card HERE using this weeks Stamp Of The Week. 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Hugs

Supplies:

Uniko Studio Clear Stamps: Winter Foliage

Ink: Stampin Up! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Real Red. VersaFine Onyx Black

Card: Hobby Craft White 300gsm

Accessories: Stampin' Up! Christmas Greetings Thinlits dies and Glimmer Paper. Embellishments from Stash and Foam adhesive.

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

Hey!

Eeeeeeek! I am SO happy you have stopped by today or maybe you arrived via the secret door, either way I warmly greet you :)

A few weeks a go my dear friend and former Uniko DT Member Taheerah mentioned a wonderful festive idea for the stamping / paper crafting community to take part in & be a part of during the countdown to Christmas. 

Well, I couldn't say no to such a wonderful idea & so Uniko is super honoured to be a sponsor for this wonderful event.

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with Taheerah are over 60 special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

And that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as well, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises wait behind the door!

A card maker at heart I would normally have a card to share with you, but today I have a little gift box I made a while back during the Uniko November Release...

I had recently purchased the SU! Square Pillow Box die set and immediately put it into use, not like a lot of my NBUS items that sit waiting for love ;) On the box before assembling I have stamped a trio of snowflakes in opposing corners using the snowflake duo from the Uniko November Release Mini Freebie set. They are stamped in VersaMark Dazzle ink which has a subtle sparkle to it. I also added a trio of gold snowflakes to the vellum window which are heat embossed in Crystal EP.

The sentiment is also from the freebie set which is stamped in gold onto a Pretty Pink Posh Mini Tag die cut & embossed with Crystal EP. A few rhinestones, ribbon and gold thread finished it off perfectly, all set for a little gift to be popped inside :) 

That's all from me today, but be sure to join in on the fun as it’s not a party without a prize - and with prizes every day there are several chances to win! Today’s prize is generously supplied by Uniko so you’ll definitely want to get your hands on it! Simply leave a comment on this post to enter - then head back to taheerah-atchia.com and leave a comment there too to double your chances! 

Don’t forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah’s blog and head over to them to leave comments there as well to improve your odds even more! You have until 7am EST on Thursday 31st December to leave all your comments! 

Don’t forget the Advent Calendar Extravaganza runs from 1st-25th December inclusive so make sure you visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for fabulous inspiration and amazing prizes every single time! 

Merry Christmas!

Uniko Sponsors Freshly Made Sketches 200th Sketch Challenge!

Hey & Happy Wednesday!

Today Uniko is celebrating along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, as they have reached an awesome milestone with their 200th sketch! Normally their challenge is sponsor free, but as it is a special occasion they have asked a few companies to sponsor and offer prizes to the winners.

As you know I love playing along with their challenge, so when Jennifer Timko emailed me and asked if Uniko would sponsor I was honoured. Before I get to the prize Uniko is offering how about a look at the sketch & some samples from me & some of the DT...

Such a simple sketch with so many possibilities, this is what I came up with...

I don't normally buy the kits from the SU! catalogue or anywhere really, but in the new one they have a few which come with nice objects like the Tin of Cards kit which has a gorgeous striped tin & filing system to keep your cards in and I couldn't resist the Hello Life Simply Created Kit either as it comes with a wire frame to hang on the wall and clip creations & inspiration to. Anything to make the new studio pretty :) More on these & a look see another day! 

Anyway, the reason I have waffled on is because I have used a few elements from both the kits on my card! From the Tin of Cards I cut into one of the note cards which has a diagonal stripe to it in Bermuda Bay, I then die cut the scalloped edge using my Mama Elephant dies. I then tied some Basic Black Bakers Twine around, securing with a bow also from the kit. This is adhered to the card base using foam adhesive. 

I then stamped the outline bloom & leaves from Beautiful Blooms II & fussy cut them out, adhering them with DST. To finish the card off I added the sentiment from A Gift For You and 3 little die cut hearts from the Hello Life Simply Created Kit.

A few of the DT were able to join in on the fun & created a project using the sketch, be sure to pop by their blogs for a closer look and inspiration...

CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah

CLICK HERE to see more from Jane

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P

So, to be in the chance of winning any of the sponsor prizes & the Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum clear stamp set AND matching Designer Dies that Uniko are offering be sure to create a card & link it up HERE on the Freshly Made Sketches challenge post.

That's all from me today, but I will be back later this evening to announce the August Blog Hop Winner & tomorrow with a TIME OUT Challenge card.

Supplies:
Uniko Clear Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II & A Gift For You
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black
Card: White 
Accessories: SU! Tin of Cards & Hello Life Kits, Foam Adhesive,

Three in One ...

Happy Sunny Tuesday!

Did we all survive Monday?! I did as I had a day off in the sunshine all be it a little windy to spend some TIME with a friend shopping, eating & chatting! It's back to work today though, however the sun is out & it feels like Summer has arrived! 

Anyway, onto todays card ...

For this card I have combined 3 challenges, yep that's right my brain coped in this challenge itself! Haha must be the rest it has had recently! So I started out with the current Retro Sketch HERE & seen below. 

Then I needed some colours to inspire me so I used the current CR84FN Challenge HERE & seen below.

And then into the mix I added the current 'Less is More' challenge HERE of adding sewing to my card. I did this by adding some faux stitching to my mat layer of Kraft CS. Feeble attempt at this challenge but I've got a few ideas so may have another go at this challenge later in the week! 

Well, I had best get going & do some work. Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

Supplies:

Card Stock: SU! Chocolate Chip & Calypso Coral, PTI Kraft.

Stamps: Uniko Studio Time & Extra Time

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa 

Accessories: PTI Tag, Banner & Limitless Layers Dies. PTI Melon Berry Ribbon, SU! Button, Embroidery Floss & Foam Adhesive.

Lets Strip!

Hello!

Don't worry it's not an explicit post, I'm just referring to the current challenge over on CAS-ual Fridays! The challenge is to use strips of colour or pattern on your creation.

This challenge is perfect for using the NEW Eclectic Mix Summer digital papers! I used 3 of the paper designs contained in the collection on my card today. I love the bright colours contained in this collection so used a Tempting Turquoise card base & a Melon Mambo stamped  sentiment to complement the papers. The daisy is a Stampin' Up! Sizzix die paired with a Memory Box die & a SU! brad. I chose the sentiment 'Wish' from FONTiments - Birthday as I'm wishing everyday that Summer would arrive! 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

Uniko Studio July Reveal & Release!

Hey All!

I'm SO glad you stopped by the blog today as today is the day I get to introduce the NEW Uniko Studio products that are all available HERE on the website for purchase.

So, lets introduce the next Uniko Studio clear stamp set ...

Pure Florals - Gerbera £15.95

Copyright Uniko Studio 2012

www.unikostudio.co.uk

Pure Florals - Gerbera is the first in a NEW series of Pure Florals clear stamp sets. I LOVE Gerbera flowers as they come in SO many lovely colours. This set contains 2 views of the flower & also 2 sizes of leaves. It contains a linear image & a solid image so will suit those who like to colour and those who don't. It's also perfect for a bit of 2 step stamping! I've included a few sentiment options too to make this set even more versatile.

Next up is ...

Pure Florals - Gerbera Digital Paper Collection £3.00

Copyright Uniko Studio 2012

www.unikostudio.co.uk

This digital downloadable patterned paper collection contains 2 designs in 8 different colours that coordinate with Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, So Safron, Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Marina Mist, Sahara Sand & Wild Wasabi.

Use this paper collection on it's own or combined with the coordinating stamp set for even more possibilities!

The download contains files for those who use A4 sized paper & those who use US Letter sized paper. Once you have purchased the papers & completed the checkout you will be sent a link to the download, be sure to save them to your computer.

Next is a NEW colour combination of the Classics digital downloadable paper collection ...

Classics Summer Digital Paper Collection £1.75

Copyright Uniko Studio 2012

www.unikostudio.co.uk

Classics Summer is a follow on from the Classics digital paper collection which was released in May. It features classic patterns such as gingham, plaid & argyle in lovely Summery Colours. The papers coordinate with Stampin' Up! Pool Party, So Safron, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, & Certainly Celery and the collection contains the 6 designs shown above.

The final reveal for the July Uniko Studio release is another digital downloadable paper collection ...

Eclectic Mix Summer Digital Paper Collection £2.00

Copyright Uniko Studio 2012

www.unikostudio.co.uk

Eclectic Mix Summer digital downloadable paper collection is what it says, 'a eclectic mix of patterns'. The collection contains polka dots, chevrons, herringbone & striped patterns in a BRIGHT Summery colour combination. They are perfect for all kinds of projects & occasions not just Summer!

The colours contained in this collection coordinate with Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise & Certainly Celery. 

Now I have made all the formal introductions how about a few projects using the NEW products ...

This first card uses the side view linear Gerbera stamp. I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink & coloured it using my Copic markers. The sentiment is also from the Pure Florals: Gerbera set & is just one of the many combinations contained in the set.

For this second card I combined the Pure Florals: Gerbera clear stamp set with the coordinating Pure Florals: Gerbera digital patterned paper collection. I chose one of the multi layered designs and cut a strip to adhere to a Pink Pirouette card base. I then stamped the sentiment from FONTiments - Birthday in Memento Tuxedo Black in the lower right corner. I then used the front view linear Gerbera stamp and stamped it on white CS and cut it out. I adhered it to the card base using foam adhesive and used a small amount of Crystal Stickles to the centre of the flower. 

Below is a close up of the detail ...

For my next CAS card I combined Eclectic Mix Summer digital patterned paper collection with FONTiments - Birthday stamp set.

I selected the chevron paper from the collection and adhered a strip to a White CS base. I then cut a panel the same height as the card base but 3 cm smaller in width and stamped 'happy birthday' in SU! Bashful Blue & Certainly Celery, which are 2 of the colours featured in the paper collection.

For my last card today I have used the Polka Dot patterned paper from the Classics Summer digital patterned paper collection. I paired it with another sentiment combination from Pure Florals: Gerbera which is stamped in SU! Regal Rose. The doily die cut is created using PTI's doily dies and the flower is a Memory Box die Petal Party.

I hope that you have enjoyed the reveal post today. Don't forget to pop by the Design Team blogs to see what they have created using the NEW products. All the products you have seen today are available for purchase HERE on the website.

Aimes

Kerry

Gayatri

Thank you for stopping by & all your lovely comments leading up to today. I will be back tomorrow with more creations to share using the NEW products released today!

Hugs

Colourful Swirls & Flourishes

Hello!

Today I have a colourful one layer card to share with you. I used the current colours over at ColourQ which I really enjoyed using. Here are the colours ...

I don't own Soft Sky so I substituted it for Pool Party which is a very close match. Here is how I used the colours ...

I used Swirls & Flourishes from FONTiment Fancies & paired it with 2 small doilies from Decorative Doilies - The Hands of Time & also a sentiment from FONTiments - Birthday. A few tiny rhinestones added a bit of sparkle! 

I hope your all having a lovely weekend & find some time to get inky! Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

Card Patterns

Happy Friday!

This week has certainly flown by for me as it has been jam packed full of fun days out, with friends, family & good work days! I'm looking forward to the weekend to slow down a little & relax!

Anyway, I have a card to share with you today that uses the current sketch over on Card Patterns. This is the sketch ...

And here is my card ...

There is quite a bit of pattern on this card for me a CAS kinda girl, but there is still some white space in there!! I started out by choosing a patterned paper from Joyful Butterfly digital collection. I then used the colours in the paper collection to build my card. 

I used 3 of the small doilies from Decorative Doilies - The Hands of Time & the Sentiment is from Extra Time. The border punch is SU! and the flowers are die cut using PTI Beautiful Blooms dies. It's certainly a cheery card & I'm pleased with the results! 

Thats all from me today, but I will be back tomorrow with another card to share! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs

To all the Dads ...

Happy Fathers Day!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I'm back today to share a card I made using the current ColourQ #141 challenge colours. The photo below shows the colours & inspiration ...

Though the inspiration photo shows the green as the focus colour I kept it to a minimum on my card ...

I purposely only put 'Dad' on the tag so that the card can be used for other occasions other than Fathers Day. I really like the bold striped panel and will definitely use this LO again. As this card was so quick & simple I made another card using the same colour combo but with a little bit more green!

Again I have used the Time & Extra Time stamp sets on this card. I really must release some more masculine themed products!! Watch this space - no pun intended! Lol!

We're off out today to take my FIL to be out for Sunday dinner, it'll be the first Fathers Day in about 2 years that he is home & not away working. We went to the movies on Wednesday as a pre Fathers Day celebration to see Prometheus, it was a really good film.

I hope you all have a lovely day whatever you may be doing. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs

Perfect Combination ...

Welcome back & happy Friday!

Today I have a card to share with you that in my opinion uses a perfect combination of stamps, digital paper & digital stamps! I am biased as they are my designs but I am really pleased with how this combination turned out!!

So here it is ...

To make this card I started out by printing the dashed dot paper from the Joyful Butterfly digital download collection. I then stamped the medium single lattice image from Background Builders Lattice, cut them out and adhered them to a white CS panel. 

Before I adhered the panel to the card base I stamped a frame image which is from mftstamps.com and the 'Smile' sentiment from FONTiments - Birthday. I had previously printed various sizes of the butterfly from English Country Garden digital stamp collection, so I coloured it in using SU! In Colour markers, added a bit of Hero Arts Prisma glitter and cut it out. I adhered just the middle section so that the wings could be raised slightly, a few rhinestones to the centre of the butterfly and I was done.

Here is a close up ...

I hope you like todays card & combination of stamps, paper & digital stamps, I'd love to hear what you think & what your favourite shapes, colours & images are to combine on projects!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs

A Parade of Doilies

Hello!

How is everyone? Are you all ready for the weekend? I sure am & I hope it's a warm & sunny one here too!

Anyway, you didn't come here for a weather report so I'll get to the point & show you my creation ...

This card is totally inspired by one I recently pinned on Pinterest ...

Source: splitcoaststampers.com via Beverley on Pinterest

As soon as I had pinned it I knew the Decorative Doilies stamp set would be a perfect match! I also used the current colours over on ColourQ for this card HERE and shown below. I used the More Mustard, Pool Party & Crumb Cake colours very sparingly compared to the Poppy Parade! 

That's all from me today, I'll be back tomorrow though with another project to share. Thanks for stopping by! 

Feeling Casual ...

Hello!

Happy half way through the working week! I have a card to share with you today using a technique I've been wanting to have a go at for ages as I keep seeing it pop up here and there in blogland. It just so happens the technique fits into the current challenge over on CAS-ual Fridays HERE.

The challenge is to use punches or dies on your CAS card. Here is what I came up with ...

I don't know what the name of this technique is (so if you know be sure to tell me in the comments section below), but I like the look of it and it's also a good way to use up some scraps of patterned paper! It's good for flat cards too which makes mailing them out cheaper! 

For this card I used some PTI Rustic White CS for the base and main panel. I then used my PTI flower dies to die cut the flowers in the lower left corner. I then used the same dies to die cut some Joyful Butterfly digital download patterned paper. I stamped the sentiment from FONTiments - Birthday using Basic Grey ink. I then matted the panel to a Basic Grey panel before adhering to the card base.

I then glued and fitted the die cut flowers into the die cut spaces on the panel added some sparkly dew drops and ta dah! I'm looking forward to playing around with this technique a bit more! I've only the one card to show you today as it was sunny here in the UK yesterday and so I made the most of it outside enjoying it, we never know here how long it's going to last!

I'll be back tomorrow though with another project to share with you. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs