Love

Celebrating 12 Years – Introducing… Ink & Flip Geometric Heart Layering Stencil

Happy Wednesday & Happy Valentine’s Day šŸ’–
Welcome to Day 1 of the 12th Birthday/February Release product introductions. This release we are adding to Uniko’s ever popular Mid Century Modern Collection, along with our unique Ink & Flip Stencil series.

With it being Happy Heart Day, I couldn’t resist kicking the introductions off with this fun two layer Ink & Flip Stencil. 

Introducing… Ink & Flip Geometric Heart Layering Stencil. So let’s have a look at the stencil in action…

I started off with one of my current favourite things, a full shaker card! They are just so fun, so much easier and quicker that the window style shakers.

Now this new Ink & Flip stencil comes in two layers, to understand this stencil visually I recommend watching my video introduction HERE.

I started with the background layer of the stencils, using Honeysuckle and then Marmalade ink.

I then added the geometric heart image using the second stencil layer. This time using Poppy and Cranberry inks. Once all the stencilling was done I created my shaker, finishing off with a sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments and some heart dew drop embellishments.

For my second card I chose a clean & simple design using just the heart layer of the stencil.

Again I used Poppy and Cranberry inks to create the geometric heart. I then fussy cut this out, which is pretty easy with it being straight lines.

Once I’d cut the heart out I adhered it to my card using foam tape. To finish I added another sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments and some tiny heart embellishments I’ve had for ages in my stash.

I really have had fun with this stencil and went with a striking dark grey background for my next card, this makes the heart really POP.

I used Cloudy Sky and Charcoal Soot from Altenew Gentlemen’s Grey ink collection along with Poppy and Honeysuckle, my current favourite colour combo. Red and pink together brings me cheer!

To me hearts are not just for Valentine’s. They can be Wedding, Anniversary, Engagement and more. I used Congratulations for this card from Everyday Sentiments (back in stock 20th February).

Next up I used the geometric heart layer again for an all over design on coloured card.

It’s rare I choose to use a coloured card layer to ink on, but I loved how this turned out and how it paired with a Kraft card base too.

Lastly, for today! I went for a traditional window shaker card.

To create this card I used the background layer of the stencil on its own. Inking in Honeysuckle, cleaning & then flipping to ink with Poppy.

I then used a craft knife to cut out my window to create the shaker. Again this was easy with the straight edges.

What a mammoth blog post, but hopefully it has given you a taster of the creative possibilities this two layer stencil has.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Officially Introducing… Falling Hearts Serenade, Everyday Love Sentiments and Stencil – Bokeh Layering Hearts

Welcome to the final day of product introductions for our 11th Birthday Release. 

Today myself and Brand Ambassador Steph are ‘officially’ introducing three products that will now be available on the Uniko website after being launched on the How To Craft Network (HTCN) back at the end of January. 

If you missed watching me on the HTCN you can catch up HERE and see the inspiration I shared using the products. 

So let’s have another look at these in action…

I started by practicing my soft ink blending through stencils with the Bokeh Layering Hearts. The first layer of solid hearts is really soft. I used Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper ink and I hardly inked my brush. I then layered the stencil with the patterned and detailed hearts over the top and lightly inked with Honeysuckle.

I finished off by stamping the Falling Hearts Serenade with Dove, a beautiful light grey ink before adding the Love You heart from Always & Forever.

Next are all cards I made for the HTCN show, but I don’t think I have shared here on the blogs.

This first CAS card uses just one of the Bokeh Layering Hearts stencils and I selectively placed and inked the hearts in a cascade down the front. I finished off with one of the Everyday Love Sentiments.

For my third card today I used the solid hearts layer of the stencil two times, flipping for each of the colours.

I then added a stamped and fussy cut heart from BIG & BOLD Love along with the two smaller hearts from Falling Hearts Serenade and a sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments.

You’ll notice that the shape of the stamped hearts are the same as the stencil, so there are lots of layering options with the two clear stamp sets mentioned above and Background Builders Hearts.

Lastly for today I decided to pair a selection of stamped and heat embossed sentiments from Everyday Love Sentiments with the previously released Stencil – Scattered Polka Hearts.

I’ve used white texture paste through the stencil for a little added dimension with it being white on white and I adorned the sentiments with this fun little accent heart from Falling Hearts Serenade.

So that’s it, that wraps up all the introductions for this release. It might be small, but it packs a creative punch and we are excited to reveal them all tomorrow at 9am GMT with our usual Blog Hop and Giveaway.Ā 


Hope to see you then.
Crafty HugsĀ 

June 2022 Release Day, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY

Happy FriYAY!

The day is finally here šŸŽ‰ Myself and the Brand Ambassadors get to introduce you to the NEW products you’ve been getting a look at all week and they will shortly be availableĀ HEREĀ to purchase at 9pm BST.

Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE, you’ll want to hop and comment along all the stops for your chance to win an Ā£20 eGift Code (Open Worldwide inc. EU) all details can be found at the start of the hop.

Let’s get to seeing some more inspiration using all of the release as I couldn’t leave anything out and I have had a lot of fun creating!

First up is Organically Zesty. I wanted another quick colouring option, so this time I reached for Background Builders: Classics. I used my stamping platform to stamp the ombre yellow stripes across my card on a slight diagonal. I think this adds to the interest and draws your eye to the main image.

I added the sentiment and some yellow gloss Nuvo Drops for added interest and adhered the panel to my base card using foam adhesive.

Next I created a lime card using the Layering Stencil – Zesty.

I used all 4 layers for this card, but I chose to only selectively ink the juice splats. I used Altenew Tropical Forest ink collection for the layers, starting with the lightest. I kept the layout really simple and used one of the Organically Zesty sentiments stamped and heat embossed in white.

For my Background Builders Hearts card I looked for inspiration from a card I made a very long time ago, when Background Builders Round In Circles was released! I loved the layout, so recreated THIS card using the hearts instead.

I started by stamping the light pink open heart strip 3 times along the righthand side of the white panel. I then stamped the crosshatch heart in a slightly darker shade of ink.

To recreate the balloon from the original card I used the larger heart with the lined segments. Again stamping in a darker shade of pink and colouring the segments with markers. I added some fine glitter to the heart and the congratulations sentiment from Everyday Sentiments. The panel was then adhered to a light pink base card.

Lastly for today and by no means least I used Sunshine & Rainbows and the Stencil – Raindrops. I was inspired by Jane’s cards yesterday HERE where she stamped the rainbow arches in black and the background was coloured.

I started with the stencilled background. I used a piece of medium aqua card stock from my stash and some Gina K Texture Paste through the stencil. Once the paste was dry I repositioned the stencil back in place and then used detail stencil brushes to apply a rainbow of colours to each of the drops.

The rainbow arches were stamped in shades of black and grey. I used Altenew’s Gentleman’s Grey Collection. I then fussy cut the arches adhered them using foam adhesive finishing with one cloud and a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II.

That is all from me today. I will be back tomorrow on the Uniko Blogspot Blog with some more post release inspiration!

I’d love to know what has been your favourite from this release & thank you for all your support & comments this week across social media. It is all very much appreciated.

Crafty Hugs

Introducing… Background Builders Hearts

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome back to day 3 of the June 2022 Release product introductions. There is no mid week hump day as today we are bringing you all the love with the next addition to the Background Builders series, Background Builders Hearts ā™„ļø 

Like the previously released geometric background builders, this set contains both single image stamps and building strip stamps. This is perfect for all those love occasions from Valentine’s to anniversaries, to weddings and those times when you just want to tell someone you are sending them love.Ā 

And how appropriate to release this stamp set during Pride month, which inspired my cards today…

I couldn’t resist stamping a rainbow of texture hearts along the edge of my card. The size of these hearts is the same as the ones in the previously released BIG & BOLD Love, which I have used to stamp the smaller solid and outline hearts.

For the LOVE U heart I used sentiments from Festive Sentiments Outlined stamped inside another of the hearts from this new background building set. I finished the card off with some glossy Nuvo Drops and some enamel hearts from my stash.

For my second card to day I went super CAS. This time pairing another of the individual hearts with the LVE from Alphabet Outlined. As you can see I used a fine liner to fill in the outlined letters and alcohol markers to colour the heart.

That’s all from me today. I do hope you will stop back tomorrow for the last of the product introductions.

Crafty HugsĀ 

January 2020 Release in Review Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy Thursday!

Welcome to the January 2020 Release in Review Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE, where I have explained why another blog hop so soon!

Anyway, how about some more inspiration. I couldn’t resist using the Hello Lovely clear stamp set again and this time I broke out my watercolours.

You might know this already, but I am not the best at colouring. I used to have a lot of patience to sit and colour, but these days I get fidgety and want to get onto my next project!

I don’t know about you, but when I put myself ‘out there’ with my creativity and creations, there is always this thought in the back of my mind that worries about the judgement and comparison of my cards to others. This can sometimes stop me from just going with the flow and ‘playing’.

When I started this card I decided I was going to play, not worry about if my colouring was perfect and just be messy! I have to say I really like the results and apart from using my Altenew water colours, a basic water colour brush and Catherine Pooler Midnight ink, I didn’t use any specialist paper or supplies.

Catherine Pooler Midnight ink works wonderfully with alcohol markers, so I knew it would work with watercolour too. I opted to use my normal Whisper White smooth card over watercolour card, but with doing this I knew my colouring wouldn’t blend or be as moveable on the paper.

I had a piece of scrap card next to my project to blot and test the colours as I went and just stared from light to dark. I then just kept the idea of ‘messy’ colouring as my end result.

Once I had finished this more time consuming card I went on to make this super quick one layer CAS card.

I used some low tack masking tape to mask the sentiment section and then stamped the Peony spray twice top and bottom. The ‘Love You’ sentiment is from Festive Sentiments Outlined and simply coloured with a red Copic marker.

Lastly for today I wanted to create a card I had in my head combing Background Blocks Scattered Hearts & Pure Florals Cosmos.

I stamped and masked the Cosmos flowers and then stamped the heart background over the top. As I already had my water colours out I did more ‘messy’ colouring for the flowers.

I added some clear Wink of Stella to the hearts and a simple ‘Love’ sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

That’s all the inspiration I have to share with you today, but I know my awesome Brand Ambassadors have more stunning projects to share with you.

Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win. You have until Midnight Thursday 6th February 2020 to leave a comment and the random winner will be announced Friday 7th February 2020.

Carol 

Hannelie

Izzy

Jane 

Julie

Linda

Sarah

Wiebke

Thank you for hopping along with us.

Crafty Hugs

Love You, Always & Forever

Happy Weekend!

I thought I’d pop by and share a quick Valentine’s card I made the other night using Always & Forever and Background Blocks Scattered Hearts.

Yep, I’m still on that rainbow kick! But don’t these scattered hearts down the edge of the card look so pretty in a rainbow colours?

Currently I am using Catherine Pooler Midnight ink to stamp images that I know I am going to colour with Copic Markers, so this is what I did with the hearts. The Always & Forever sentiment is stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink as this is my go to for sentiments, especially fine lined ones like this.

No major plans here this weekend, just downtime with The Beans and hopefully a little time in the studio to create šŸ˜‰

Have a wonderful day.

Crafty Hugs

Rainbow Hearts

Happy Hump Day!

How’s your week going? Mine didn’t start well with no hot water Monday morning and the house alarm going off at 5am for no reason. To then having the plumbers round and taking off all the radiators in the house. It was chaos!

I am so glad I did essential work like packing orders (thank you šŸ™‚ )before they arrived as I had to move one side of my studio to the other (it’s not a big room either) so they could get to the radiator. It took me all evening when they had gone to get the house straight and sort The Beans out too!

Things have improved slightly but I’ve been hitting minor problems each day and it’s frustrating. So today after I had finished my essential jobs, I set to making a card to cheer myself up.

This week at school The Beans are reading a book called ‘Rainbow Fish’, so it inspired me to make a rainbow card. All these colourful hearts make me happy šŸ™‚

I’ve used some of my favourite Altenew colours to stamp the striped heart from BIG & BOLD Love from the NEW Uniko release. Instead of making a Valentine’s card I decided to add a congratulations sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. This way the card can be used for a Wedding, Anniversary or engagement card to name a few occasions.

In the photo above you can see how I have used my favourite 1mm thick foam adhesive to adhere all the hearts and sentiment.

I hope this card has added some cheer to your day like it has mine šŸ™‚ Thanks so much for popping by today & I hope to be back tomorrow with another card to share.

Crafty Hugs

January 2020 Reveal, Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the first release of 2020. Hopefully you have hopped over from HERE, where I have formally introduced the 4 brand new clear stamp sets and re-introduce one returning from retirement.

New releases are an exciting time, but I always get a little nervous when it comes to putting a bit of myself ‘out there’. Every product I design is a part of me and they are all designed with love.

Anyway, enough of the mushy talk, how about some ‘loved up’ mushy inspiration using these new stamps!

For this first card I was totally inspired by THIS card that Brand Ambassador Hannelie shared on her blog the other week. As soon as I saw it I knew the Hello Lovely peony spray would work beautifully with the ‘Love You’ heart from Always & Forever.

This card then set the tone & colour scheme of all of my cards today! I couldn’t resist using Hello Lovely again for my next card.

This time the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below was perfect.

For the stripes down the edge of the base card I used Background Blocks Nautical Stripes. I absolutely love how this turned out.

Lastly I combined Background Blocks Scattered Hearts, BIG & BOLD Love and You Are… Sentiments Outlined all on one card.

Again another sketch challenge inspired my card. This time I used the current CAS(E) this Sketch! layout seen HERE and below.

I used Altenew Grey Denim to stamp the scattered hearts background as I wanted the ‘Happy Heart Day’ sentiment stamped in black to stand out when partially stamped over it. The striped heart from BIG & BOLD Love is stamped in my favourite Ruby Red and adhered using foam adhesive.

That’s all I have to share with you today using the new products, but I know my awesome Brand Ambassadors have stunning inspiration to share with you too. Be sure to hop on by and comment on all the Brand Ambassador posts to be in the chance of winning the ENTRIE release.

Carol 

Hannelie

Izzy 

Jane 

Julie

Linda

Rahmat

Sarah P

Wiebke 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs

Introducing… Background Blocks Scattered Hearts & Re-introducing Always & Forever

Hey!

I’m back today with one new product introduction and one re-introduction of a previously retired clear stamp set. It’s always nice when older stamp sets can make a return as trends change & they fit in nicely with new products.

I have a trio of cards to share with you today using these stamp sets and I’ve also combined another popular stamp set which coordinates beautifully with Always & Forever.

First up I have used Background Blocks Scattered Hearts combined with the ‘Happy Heart Day’ sentiment from You Are… Sentiments Outlined, which I introduced yesterday HERE.

For this card I have stamped the block as a focal image and overlaid the sentiment stamped on a simple panel raised with foam adhesive. I use 1mm thick foam adhesive as it still gives dimension, but is still mail friendly!

The layout of my card is from this weeks CAS Colours & Sketches challenge seen HERE and below, such a fun sketch to join in on šŸ™‚

I used Catherine Pooler Midnight ink to stamp both the heart background and the sentiment, as this ink is alcohol marker friendly & I knew I wanted to try out some of my new Altenew Artist Markers.

I used all four markers from the Rose Petal collection to randomly colour the hearts and then I used the darkest shade Cosmic Berry to colour the ‘heart’ in the sentiment. The ‘happy’ and ‘day’ are coloured with a black fine liner. I also added some clear Wink of Stella to some of the uncoloured for some subtle sparkle.

Next I decided to combine both Background Blocks Scattered Hearts with Always & Forever.

This card layout was inspired by the new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week seen HERE and below.

When stamping the Background Blocks Scattered Hearts, it is possible to stamp it so that you can fill a larger area, like I have on this card.

I’ve used a stitched border die (MFT, I think) to die cut the curved panel and I have stamped the ‘Always & Forever’ sentiment in black ink. The ‘Love You’ heart is stamped, fussy cut and adhered using 1mm thick foam adhesive.

Lastly for today I wanted to create a card using Always & Forever and a stamp set it coordinates with, Beautiful Blooms I.

As you can see the floral heart from Always & Forever features the Beautiful Blooms I flower.

From the very beginning of Uniko, I have always tried to design Uniko stamps so that they can be used together for more creative options.

On this card I have stamped the largest Beautiful Bloom onto my base card with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder. I’ve then ink blended a pink over the top. The red Beautiful Bloom heart is stamped, fussy cut & adhered with foam adhesive. I’ve added a small line of glitter around the edge of the heart using a quickie glue pen and fine glitter.

That is all the cards I have to share with you today, I will be back tomorrow with one more product introduction. All of the new stamps will be available on Saturday 18th January at 9am GMT.

Thank you so much for stopping by today & I do hope you will come back tomorrow.

Crafty Hugs

Introducing… BIG & BOLD Love & You Are… Sentiments Outlined

Hey & Happy Hump Day!

I’m here to brighten your Wednesday with the first of the January 2020 Release introductions – yay! Today I have two mini clear stamp sets to introduce, BIG & BOLD Love and You Are… Sentiments Outlined. Both these sets are new additions to the popular BIG & BOLD series and the Sentiments Outlined series.

How about some inspiration using these new stamps. First up I got all rainbow inky with BIG & BOLD Love…

Like all of the BIG & BOLD stamp sets, the set features a beautiful bold word, smaller accompanying sentiments and accent image stamps. For this first card I wanted to go for a rainbow theme to really show off the fun striped heart image.

I’ve used a variety of Altenew inks to stamp the hearts before fussy cutting them out and adhering them to the card. I used two depths of foam adhesive to adhere the orange heart and just one to add the lime green heart.

Next I went for a one layer card with a more muted colour palette…

This time I used the graffiti style heart image and used three new Altenew colours Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie and Nimbus. I used all 3 sizes of the smaller hearts, colouring in the largest small heart once stamped with a fine liner. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II.

The second stamp set I am introducing today is You Are… Sentiments Outlined. I love this style of focal sentiment and having had requests for one of the sentiments contained in the set it was a no brainer to release another set šŸ˜‰

As you can see from the photo, there are three sentiments in the set. For this first card I have used ‘Happy Heart Day’. This is such a good sentiment for Valentine’s Day to make loved themed cards for friends & family without it being a ‘traditional’ Valentine’s card.

On this design I have stamped the sentiment in black ink and then coloured it in with a black fine liner. In hindsight I wished I had coloured the word heart in red ink. I’ve used the striped heart and the two small solid hearts from BIG & BOLD Love to accent the sentiment to create a super CAS design.

Lastly for today I had to make my ‘signature’ card for this style of sentiment. AND yes, I am a Grey’s Anatomy fan and I have been watching them far to much again and from season one – LOL!

As you can see I have repeat stamped the sentiment to create a fun background. I have coloured all but the top centre sentiment in black fine liner and used an Altenew alcohol marker in Emerald to colour the focal sentiment.

My thinking behind it all is that the coloured sentiment represents the person you are sending the card to, highlighting them from all the ‘people’ around them represented by the black coloured sentiments! That’s just where my creativity comes from sometimes – ha!

With the shape of the sentiment layout, the repeated design left some gaps which I have filled with some stamped accent hearts from BIG & BOLD Love. I also added some clear Nuvo Drops to the coloured sentiment to make it stand out a little more.

That is all the cards I have to share with you today, I will be back tomorrow with more product introductions. All of the new stamps will be available on Saturday 18th January at 9am GMT.

Thank you so much for stopping by today & I do hope you will come back tomorrow.

Crafty Hugs