Posts tagged “Background Blocks”

2023 July/August Reveal, Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hello, Happy Sunday AND Happy New Release Day!

I’m super excited to share these new products with you and they are now officially available to purchase over HERE on the website. For the formal introductions and all the Brand Ambassador blog links, head on over HERE.

Be sure to leave some comment love either on their blogs or social media. I will be randomly selecting a winner to win the entire release and will announce the winner Saturday 26th August 2023.

Let’s have a look at these products in action a bit more…

I’m starting with Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder and I wanted to show how these clear stamps have more than a festive use to them. The wreath as you can see can be used for more than just Christmas, I also see sunshine rays!

And I was inspired to pair it with our Stencil – Cloud 9 and a sentiment from Sunshine & Rainbows.

This lead me onto my next card.

Still thinking of sunshine, it reminded me of flowers and sunshine, so I had to pair it with Mid Century Modern Florals.

And I think they pair pretty nicely, even if I do say so myself. As you can see I added some glitter to the inside of the outline wreath.

Keeping with the non festive theme and wreaths on the brain, I turned the Mid Century Modern Christmas triangle geometric into a rainbow wreath for this fun birthday card.

It’s not very often I make a slimline card, but I had so much fun making these wreaths I made two! The centre is decorated with the bow from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder which are stamped in black and hear embossed with stardust embossing powder.

My sentiment is from Floral Vines paired with the NEW Everyday Family.

For my second card I wanted to recreate this card HERE, paring the same stamp as above with the Bauhaus Blocks.

I overhung the triangles off the edge of my card, keeping them the same size on the left, but altering the size on the right. I then left space at the bottom for one of the blocks and a sentiment.

Lastly for today I had to get festive with my cards. First using Mid Century Modern Baubles, firstly creating a monochrome one layer card.

A simple bit of masking and Copic colouring finished with some clear Wink of Stella.

My next bauble card was inspired by Vinita’s second card HERE, to combine the Stencil – MOD Background Builder.

I started by lightly stencilling the design in the background using Pebble ink. I then stamped and coloured 3 baubles using the reverse masking technique again.

Finally I embellished the baubles with some more elements from the set and mixed and matched a sentiment using the Happy from Mid Century Modern Frames.

One last card as I couldn’t not use the new Ink & Flip Stencil or the Background Block Arts Décoratifs Christmas, so combined them on one card. This was inspired by one of Steph’s cards today HERE.

I started by inking the stencil just the once on my standard size card 10.5 x 14 cm in Poppy ink. But I wanted it slightly darker so went over softly with Cranberry ink.

I then inked and stamped the background block twice so I could colour and fussy cut the main focal Christmas tree out. Which after selectively colouring some of the second stamped background block red, I adhered the Christmas tree with foam tape. And lastly added the fussy cut bow from MCM Wreath Builder, coloured in red.

My aim was to create a card that looked like a gift with a gift tag & bow.

Phew! What a mammoth post. I hope you have enjoyed this release?

Happy shopping and hope to see you over on Facebook at 7pm this evening. I will be taking a look at the new products, along with making a card or two in the live. Don’t worry if you can’t make it or you don’t do Facebook, I will be saving and uploading the video to YouTube.
Crafty Hugs 

Introducing… Background Blocks Rays

Hello & Happy Tuesday!

Hopefully, you have hopped on over from Anita’s blog or HERE the Uniko Blogspot blog where I have introduced the first of the mini July Release products.

You might already know that Background Blocks are one of my favourites. I love pattern and I love products to create quick, interesting and fun focal points on cards and creations.

I think you will agree that Background Blocks Rays is a fabulous addition to the series. I’ve made a couple of cards to share with you today as to how it could be used.

I love an angle, rainbow colours and how this turned out! I used my trusted stamping platform & lots of low tack masking tape to separately ink and stamp each ray. It was quite a lengthy process, but I think the results are striking.

Especially adorned with two bold Mid Century Modern Florals flowers. I adhered the one on the right direct to my card using glue and the one on the left has a little dimension. The sentiment is from Everyday Sentiments and of course I embellished with some Nuvo Drops.

When I was designing this block I was intending it to be used with the recently released Sunshine & Rainbows clear stamp set. So it was only right that I paired the rays with that set today too!

Like with most larger solid stamps, I use a stamping platform. Ease of use and repeat stamp to get a fresh crisp image.

I love this cheerful yellow I’ve used to stamp the rays, Buttercup from Concord & 9th. I’ve then stamped a small rainbow in Marmalade, Ocean Waves & Honeysuckle, fussy cutting each of the arches. I know, I need to release some matching dies 😉

I let the rainbow and clouds overhang my mat layer slightly, this helps draw interest to the focal image and sentiment.

I hope these two cards have added some creative cheer to your day. It’s a little drizzly and overcast here. Hopefully the sunshine will make an appearance.

That’s all from me today. Be sure to check out all the stops on the hop and leave a comment for your chance to win a £20 eGift Certificate. I will be randomly selecting one lucky from all that are left during the week to win a £20 eGift Certificate to use in the Uniko store.


All of the products being introduced this week will be available at 9am BST Friday 29th July 2022 over HERE on the website.
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 😉

Have a wonderful day.

Crafty Hugs

Uniko Challenge #57 Anything Goes & Optional Twist Cool Winter Colours

Hey!

Welcome to the January/February 2020 Uniko Challenge.

We’re kicking off 2020 with an Anything Goes theme and have added in the optional twist of Cool Winter Colours for those of you that like to challenge yourselves even more.


We’ve the amazingly awesome Trina P joining us as our Guest Designer and I know you’ll adore her awesome card.

How fabulous is that! Do pop over to her blog and let her know how clever she is – HERE

In January & February I have a few male birthdays & so I thought with the cool winter colours twist of the challenge I would make a masculine birthday card.

For my blues I chose the Altenew Sweet Dreams colour collection of inks and blended them onto my card base using my Taylored Expressions blender brushes. I do love how handy the blender brushes are and seem to be able to control them a little better than the standard foam pad tool!

I kept my design simple by using the Background Block Graffiti Texture and stamping it in Teal Cave ink and the sentiment from Simply Said Blocks stamped in the darkest shade Galactic Stream. The sentiment is adhered to the card using foam adhesive.

Be sure to check out all the inspiration from the Brand Ambassadors HERE on the challenge post & you will also find the link up to the challenge there too.

Need a little more incentive to join in? How about some prizes!

THE PRIZES

  • Main Winner Chosen By the DT – £25 eGift Certificate
  • Random Twist Winner – £5 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Random Uniko Stamps Winner – £5 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Top 3 Chosen By DT – 150 Loyalty Reward Points

You’ve got plenty of time to play along with this challenge. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 21st February 2020.

Crafty Hugs,

October 2019 Post Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the October 2019 Post Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE, where I have introduced todays blog hop and given you a little refresh of the October Release  which went live on the website HERE a couple of weeks ago.

Today I have a few more cards to share with you using some of the new products. I was hoping to have more to share, but the ideas in my head will have to wait until I have some more creative time 😉

First up I couldn’t resist using Season Of Beauty, this large clear stamp set has so many creative possibilities and one idea I had when designing it was to build my own Poinsettia flowers using the leaves in the set.

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I used two shades of pink/red Altenew inks to stamp each flower, starting with a light shade for four leaves opposite each other and then a dark shade to fill in the gaps. The largest flower is fussy cut and adhered to the card using foam adhesive.

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My apologies for my terrible photos of this card, I need more practise (still) with my light set up and my iPhone always struggles with these bright pinks!

Next I wanted to use the Background Blocks Scandinavian Christmas to execute a white on kraft idea I have had in my head for some time now.

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For this card I used my MISTI to stamp the background block purposefully off centre in Unicorn White Pigment Ink and then heat embossed with WOW! Opaque White EP.

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Then onto some small strips of kraft card I have stamped the peace, love, joy sentiments from Festive Sentiments Outlined with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then I have coloured the sentiments with a white gel pen. I love the result and the sentiments look fab adhered over the edge of the stamped background using foam adhesive.

Next was time for a shaker card as I haven’t made one for ages and the new stand alone Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake was calling to be used!

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I love making shaker cards, though they are quite time consuming! The results however out weigh the time taken to add all the foam adhesive around a fussy design 😉 Plus, the sparkly sequins are such a happy sight too!

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One thing I must try harder on is thinking about sentiments and sentiment placement prior to assembling cards. Especially cards that take as much time as this! I could have left it sentiment free, but I felt it needed one when complete. I’ve added the ‘Let it Snow’ from Festive Sentiments Outlined, which is stamped onto a light scrap of Pool Party card and again adhered using foam adhesive.

Lastly for today I have used Festive Sentiments Outlined to create a reasonably quick CAS card…

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Again, my iPhone really doesn’t like photographing red with lots of white, so it seems to have a pink shade to the white card 🙁 Anyway, the current sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below was perfect.

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I used my larger MISTI to stamp the sentiments and then simply coloured them in with marker pens and adhered the panel with foam adhesive to a red card base.

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That’s all I had time to create this week for the hop, but I have so many more ideas and cards I want to make and share using these new products, that you’ll see more in the coming days and lead up to Christmas!

Now it’s time for some inspiration and a fabulous blog hop with my awesome Brand Ambassadors. Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release! You have until Midnight GMT 2nd November 2019 to leave a comment and a winner will be announced shortly after.

Sarah P

That was one fabulous and inspirational hop! I hope you all enjoyed it too and don’t forget to comment along the way to be in the chance to win all the NEW goodies!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs

Festive Friday!

Happy Friday!

Here at Uniko HQ I am finally caught up with the fun and chaos of Happy Stampers Festival! I absolutely LOVE doing the show, but it does bring a lot of extra work pre and post show. Especially when I am prepping for the release of NEW products too 😉

Those lucky enough to be able to come to Happy Stampers got the chance to buy the new products (bar one) and if you caught my Instagram stories on Saturday you will have seen a BIG peek at the products!

If you missed both, fear not, I have a whole bunch of festive cards to share with you today using the New Release, which will be available on the website tomorrow – yay! I’m working my little socks off to have it ready to go for 8 or 9pm BST.

In this release there is three new clear stamp sets, two coordinating designer die collections, a stand alone die which does coordinate with a previously released clear stamp set AND there is one new stencil design.

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On this first card I have used Season Of Beauty clear stamp set combined with a sentiment from Festive Sentiments Outlined.

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Season Of Beauty is a large £16 clear stamp set which features this beautiful modern layering poinsettia styled flower, along with wintery foliage and accents, plus a trio of festive sentiments.

Even though I have ‘themed’ the stamp set to be festive, the style of this flower and the foliage can easily be used all year round in all seasons, by changing up the colours. You will see this in more of the samples I have to share tomorrow.

The next clear stamp set being released is Festive Sentiments Outlined. With the popularity of Sentiments Outlined released in July, it was a no brainer to bring out a festive version!

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Unlike Sentiments Outlined, I have designed this stamp set to be a little more flexible in building your own sentiments. Plus, some can be used all year round and not just for your holiday cards. Though some, like the ‘Let it Snow’ I have used on this card come as one sentiment.

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I couldn’t resist doing this all over design again like I did HERE with Sentiments Outlined. It is fairly time consuming, especially the colouring in of the sentiments in black, but I love the look! I used some blue tones to colour the focal ‘Let it Snow’ sentiment and I also added some clear gloss Nuvo Drops to that sentiment. This time I decided to add a little embellishment of some sparkly stamped and die cut snowflakes from BIG & BOLD Snow.

The last of the clear stamps for this release is an addition to the Background Blocks series. I love this series of single stamps as they are great for creating a quick cards for all sorts of occasions.

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Here I introduce you to Background Blocks Scandinavian Christmas. As you can see it is a very similar design to the previously released Stencil Scandinavian Christmas.

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This card was so quick and easily mass producible, if needed! I simply stamped the block in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed it with my favourite ‘go to’ embossing powder for festive makes, Stardust! I’ve then adhered the stamped panel to my card base using foam adhesive and added a simple sentiment from Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

Okay, that’s all the stamps for this release, but how about a look at the Designer Dies and Stencil design!

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First up is Designer Dies Winter Foliage Collection to match the previously released and ever popular Winter Foliage clear stamp set. To say I am excited about these dies is an understatement! They have been a long awaited addition and I can’t wait to really sit down and play with them!

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Here I have used all but one of the coordinating dies and just look at this background. This photo really doesn’t show how sparkly this stencil design is. I’ve used the new Stencil Winter Foliage and the last of my Nuvo Moonstone embossing paste. You will recognise quite a few of the images in this stencil design, taken from a mixture of Uniko clear stamp sets, such as Background Builders Vines Winter Additions.

Next I have another set of coordinating designer dies, this time to match another of the BIG & BOLD clear stamps, BIG & BOLD Snow, which leads me onto my next card!

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Here I have reached for some lovely Pool Party card stock and stamped & embossed the Large Scattered Polka Dot Background with WOW! Clear Sparkle embossing powder. I then die cut the Snow and Snow shadow and added lots of glittery loveliness to the die cut snow *huge heart eyes*.

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AND lastly, but by no means least I introduce the last of the designer dies and a beautiful stand alone one at that, Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake.

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Just look at this beauty! Do you recognise the design of the snowflake? Yep, that’s right, it’s my favourite design from the previously released and much loved Stunning Snowflakes. You can see the stamped snowflakes behind this sparkly snowflake and again the sentiment from Festive Sentiments Outlined.

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So that concludes the October Release! What do you think? I’d love to know and which is your favourite, I think mine has to be the Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake, I am a sucker for snowflakes after all 😉

Okay, now I am off to finish adding all these lovely products to the website and now that I have an unexpected Bean free night AND the football is on to keep hubby occupied, they might be up early!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs


2019 National Coffee Day Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

*Editied to Add the Uniko Giveaway Winner….

Cindy Marshall

Oh I love all the cards. Everyone did an amazing job! I love coffee and I love fall. Thank you for being a sponsor and Happy National Coffee Day!

Congratulations Cindy!

 

Welcome to the 2019 National Coffee Day Blog Hop!

I am delighted to know such wonderful and inviting friends in the industry and to be a part of so many fun events that take place. Amy Tsuruta is one of the co-founders of the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog and organises many fun blog hops throughout the year and invited Uniko to be part of this fun event.

If you’ve followed or been part of the previous Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hops, todays hop is a little different and will run as a traditional hop rather than a linkup.

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So be sure to head on over HERE to the beginning of the hop 🙂

Today some of the Uniko Brand Ambassadors have joined me in sharing some coffee themed makes and so we have a mini Uniko hop contained inside this larger hop – FUN right? And as always I have a little prize for ONE lucky commenter who leaves a comment on any of the participating Uniko Brand Ambassador blog posts links and more details at the end!

First I have a card to share with you…

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Autumn is in full swing now here in the UK and the colours totally inspired my card today. I chose 5 Altenew ink colour, Espresso, Mocha, Autumn Blaze, Orange and Sun Kissed to ink up the Background Blocks Nautical Stripes stamp. To me this stamp represents a warm cozy sweater!

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I then stamped some of the images from Uniko’s I LOVE Coffee clear stamp set and arranged them on the card. Having the stamped background block makes for a really quick card 😉

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And here’s some inspiration from some of the Uniko Brand Ambassadors, be sure to hop over to their blogs and comment for your chance to win the Uniko prize…

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Sarah P

So much Coffee themed inspiration, sure to warm you up!

Okay, so how about the PRIZE…

Simply leave a comment on all of the Uniko Brand Ambassador blogs above by Midnight (BST, the UK clocks haven’t changed yet) Sunday 6th October 2019 to be in the chance of winning a £25 eGift Code to spend in the Uniko store.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the National Coffee  Day Blog Hop!

Hugs


Decorative Doilies & a HUGE Restock!

Hey & Happy Hump Day!

I’m here today to share a card with you and also let you all know about a HUGE restock that is expected in the studio next week, including Decorative Doilies The Hands of Time, of which I have used on my card today…

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I thought it was time for some ‘old’ favourite restocks, that have been out of stock for some time and it’s been ages since Decorative Doilies lined the shelves. Its a space struggle to keep everything in stock at once along with releasing new designs, hence the time in-between restocks.

As you know restocks always inspire me to dust them off and give them some fresh inky love. And when I saw the new sketch this week over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below, it was perfect to use for my card layout. I love it when that happens too!

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I’ve had a few new inky supplies arrive in the studio recently, including these The Stamp Market inks. I admit it, I’m a sucker for ink pads! So I thought I would give a trio of them a whirl on my card. They are similar ink format to the Catherine Pooler inks and so far I am happy with my purchase and they stamp beautifully.

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For this card I started by stamping the large Leafy green doily. I then made a mask from a Post-it to stamp the small Melon doily. The Party pink doily is stamped, fussy cut and adhered to the card using foam adhesive. As is the Happy Birthday sentiment from Simply Said Blocks. To finish the card I used some of my favourite Glossy White Nuvo Drops.

Before I go today, I thought I’d let you know the clear stamp sets being restocked and that are now available on backorder. Any backorders placed will begin to ship on 2nd October and any orders placed between 4th-6th October will be shipped on the 7th as I will be at Happy Stampers Festival. I look forward to seeing you at the Uniko stand if you’re attending 🙂

Okay, the restocks are…


What I’ve used on my card today…

That’s all from me today! Thanks so much for stopping by & have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Words of Encouragement

Hello & Happy Weekend.

It’s been a pretty gloomy, rainy and windy day here. With a hint of Autumn in the air, I wanted to create something with some bright colours and use some simple words of encouragement.

I had a good look through my stash and I decided to use Background Blocks Doodle Flower. This is such a fun stamp to add pops of bright colours.

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I kept my card design really simple, allowing the block of pattern to take centre stage. I stamped the block in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink and coloured with some bright Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Blends.

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The three small sentiments are from Simply Said Blocks and I stamped them onto some small scraps of coloured card to tie in all the colours and to make the sentiments pop a little more against the background.

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A pretty quick card to make, I didn’t time myself, but it must have taken me less than 20 minutes. So I thought I would join in on the fun over at AAA Cards with their current challenge HERE, Made in Minutes.

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Before I go today, I thought I would share another quick card using *some* of the crafty stash I have purchased this year! Even though I design my own products, I like to support other small business and I simply can’t resist adding other awesome companies products to my stash and they often include stamps!

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Like these fabulous Chubby Unicorns from Funky Fossil Designs!

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I don’t normally go for cute stuff, but these were just the right amount 😉 I have paired the stamped unicorn with the Rainbow & Clouds Dies from ‘Lil Inker. The sentiment is a Uniko one, from Simply Said Blocks II.

That’s all from me today, I hope I have added a little cheer to your day.

Thank you for stopping by 🙂

Hugs


Aqua Stripes & Orange Blooms

Hey!

Today I have a quick card I made yesterday in between entertaining The Beans! I seem to have to create while the inspiration hits at the moment and when a few minutes pop up here and there. We are half way through the Summer holidays here and I am already feeling exhausted, just another 3 weeks to go!

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I decided to combine Background Blocks Nautical Stripes with some more flowers, this time Beautiful Blooms II. I already had the Background Blocks Nautical Stripes positioned in my small MISTI from a previous project, so it made stamping pretty quick.

I already had my colours planned out, thanks to the current “Less is More” challenge seen HERE. I’d never have chosen orange to pair with aqua.

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I decided an ombre aqua would look more pleasing than just one flat colour, so I used a trio of Altenew aqua colours. I started with the lightest, stamping repeatedly with each colour until I achieved a look I was pleased with.

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I used two shades of orange to stamp the flower from Beautiful Blooms II and used my white gel pen to enhance the small dots on the flower. The leaves are also from Beautiful Blooms II and the sentiment from Simply Said. The flower and stamped panel are adhered using 1mm thick foam adhesive for subtle dimension.

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That’s all I have to share with you for today, I am hoping creativity strikes today and I get some more cards made to share with you 🙂

Until next time, thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs