Posts tagged “Handmade”

Winter Foliage Inspiration

Happy Sunday!

Last night was daylight savings here in the UK, so I decided to put it to good use once The Beans were settled in bed last night and made a whole bunch of Christmas cards!

Did you see yesterday’s post HERE? The October 2019 Post Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY is in full swing. And just by commenting along the hop you have the chance of winning the ENTIRE release 😉

I was a little sad that I didn’t get time to make all the cards before my post went live, so last night I set to making a couple of those I intended to make. First up a card using the new Stencil – Winter Foliage

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I had an idea to do a lot of masking and ink up the stencil with a couple of shades of brown, green and red to create this beautiful background. The layout of my card was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches layout seen HERE and below.

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To finish the card I added one of the Festive Sentiments Outlined sentiments and added some Nuvo Drops in Autumn Red to the single berries in the design. The card was pretty time consuming, but I really like the results.

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Lastly for today I have a card using the Designer Die Winter Foliage Collection. This card was a little quicker to make, but again I’m loving the end result.

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I decided to use the same sentiment and this time coloured it with a black fine liner instead of red. I then die cut the berries and holly leaves from my panel. To stamp the coordinating images from Winter Foliage clear stamp set, I temporarily adhered the panel to my base card and placed this inside my MISTI.

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I was then able to position the stamps to stamp perfectly inside the die cuts. Once stamped I then adhered the panel permanently with foam adhesive.

That’s all I have to share for today, but I will be back during the week with more! Until then, thank you for stopping by today.

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

Rainbow Snowflakes

Hey!

Where did Monday go?! I had all good intentions to pop in yesterday with the card I am sharing today, but the day got away from me!

Anyway, how about some rainbow snowflakes…

 

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I never tire of colour and part of card making and paper crafts is being creative and adding your own spin on things. So rainbow snowflakes, why not?!

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Also, never underestimate the power of a small stamp either 😉 This snowflake from BIG & BOLD Snow is just 2cm in diameter, but look at the fun I’ve had with it and the coordinating Designer Dies BIG & BOLD Snow Collection.

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I used 1mm thick foam adhesive to adhere the snowflakes to my card. This thickness means you get some dimension, but it isn’t too bulky and still fits through the mail as a normal letter 😉 The sentiment I have used is from the popular Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

Okay, that’s all from me today, I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of Christmas inspiration. Until next time, thanks so much for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs


Stamp Focus… Season Of Beauty Part 1

Happy Friday!

I thought I’d pop in today with a trio of cards I have made using the NEW Season Of Beauty clear stamp set and show you a little more of how the foliage stamps in the set can be used. This set is so fun and has so many possibilities all year round.

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First up I was inspired to use some non-traditional foliage colours and really wanted to join in on the current colour challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below my card.

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I love a bit of colour blocking and foliage silhouettes, the result is a simple one layer card. I paired the large foliage silhouette with one of my favourite sentiments from Originally Organic clear stamp set.

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Next I decided to go for something more ‘foliage traditional’ with a trio of Altenew greens…

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This card was inspired by another challenge, this time the current sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below.

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I felt the foliage silhouettes suited the movement of the elements of the sketch. Some simple stamping and fussy cutting with sentiment stripe adhered with foam adhesive. Plus my favourite Nuvo Drops accents to finish the card.

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Lastly for today, a rainbow…

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Who doesn’t love a rainbow and how cute do the small foliage silhouettes look in a rainbow of colour? I used a selection of Catherine Pooler inks for this card and I just love how the colours look together. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II.

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I hope my cards have shown you how this clear stamp set isn’t just for Christmas and can be used all year round. If not, I have some more cards to share in part 2 coming in the next few days!

Until then, thank you for stopping by & have a wonderful Friday.

Crafty Hugs


Stamp & Designer Die Focus – BIG & BOLD Snow

Hey & Happy Hump Day!

I’m still here dreaming of a white Christmas and I don’t think this feeling is going to pass any time soon! And as it doesn’t look like snow is expected any time soon I thought I would get my snow fix by inking up BIG & BOLD Snow and giving the NEW Designer Dies another outing.

Often these mini clear stamp sets can be overlooked as to how much you can do with them. But add in some coordinating designer dies and it can breathe a whole new life into the stamps and opens so many more possibilities.

Today I have a trio of cards to share with you using both the stamps and the dies…

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As you know I am a huge fan of aqua shades and when paired with snow or snowflakes, it’s no surprise it has to make an appearance!

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I started with this card as I wanted to try out the stamp / die spotlight technique with the largest of the snowflakes in BIG & BOLD Snow, paired with the large snow stamp & matching die.

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I started by stamping & die cutting the word snow, to see where I would place it on my card & where to place the snowflakes around it. I then did cut the snowflakes and temporarily adhered the layer to my base card to stamp the snowflakes. I finished the design off with some small accent snowflakes and some White Blizzard Nuvo Drops.

Next I wanted to create a one layer ombre card…

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Thank goodness for stamping tools and the ease of creating a staggered ombre look and also for adding sparkle to a stamped layer. This is what I have done with the last darkest stamped snow.

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To finish the design I used the positive snowflake die cuts from the first card, adding the stamped image inside the die cuts in Aqualicious ink and once I had adhered them to the card I finished the design off with some of the smaller stamped snowflakes and again White Blizzard Nuvo Drops.

Lastly for today I was inspired by this weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch seen HERE and below my card. I decided to keep with the same aqua colour scheme, using my blender brushes to create the perfect base colour card.

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And here is the sketch I followed…

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I love how you find the perfect sketch to fit with the products you are currently using and this one came together pretty quick too. This time I used the smaller of the snow sentiments and added just one stamped and die cut snowflake.

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That’s all I have to share with you today using these products, but I will back with some more new release product inspiration tomorrow. Heads up, if you’re on Instagram, be sure to check out my feed HERE later today as I have a Win it Wednesday coming!

Okay, best get some more work done before the daylight has gone!

Crafty Hugs


Peace, Love, Joy, New & Old

Hey!

I’m finally back with the card I had planned to share yesterday, but time and energy just simply slipped away. And before I call it a day I thought I’d pop by quick today!

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I love to stretch my supplies. Even more so when much loved older clear stamp sets get a new lease of fresh inky love when combined with the NEW.

This card design of combining the mirror image doves from the previously released Peace on Earth clear stamp set with Festive Sentiments Outlined, was one that came to mind when I was putting the sentiment set together and deciding on the sentiments.

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Replicating what I saw in my head onto my card came out just as I saw and I am in love with the clean and simple results.

Okay, a super CAS card for today, but hopefully an inspiring one! Thanks for stopping by & I hope to back tomorrow with more to share.

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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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

Uniko Challenge #55 – Anything Goes with Optional Twist Autumn

Hey!

 Welcome to the September/October 2019 Uniko Challenge.

We have that all time favourite theme of Anything Goes for this new challenge, but if you’d like to challenge yourself a bit more then go with our twist of Autumn.

We’re really delighted to have Myra as our Guest Designer for this challenge. I think this must be a first for Uniko a Guest Designer who is only 8 years old! She is following in her mum, Anushree’s footsteps and sharing her blog to showcase her wonderful talent.

Such a gorgeous card and an assured future in crafting for sure!
I don’t know about you? But I can’t choose a favourite season. There is something I love about all of them and I love seeing the change from season to season too, especially the colours. Right now in the UK the mornings are crisp and fresh, the afternoons (recently) filled with warm sunshine and then, simply delightful evening sunsets.
Anyway, how about some inspiration! Shockingly Uniko doesn’t have any Autumn specific products, but there are a few which lend themselves to all seasons, like the Large Background Sketched Foliage, which I reached for to create my first card.
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As you can see from the photo, I have been treating myself to new inky goodies. Seriously, I just can’t resist ink pads. I have a real addiction to them and colour – haha!
These are from The Stamp Market and I have used 3 of the colours from their first Colour Crush Collection, Melon, Leafy & Mossy. They stamp beautifully and I also gave them a spin with my Tailored Expressions Blender Brushes. They are the same style / format of ink as the Catherine Pooler inks and like those, then blend really nice and smooth. I’ve used my usual Stampin’ Up! Whisper White CS.

Once my ink blended panel was dry I placed it in my MISTI and stamped the Large Background Sketched Foliage in the darker shade of green, Mossy.

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Not wanting to draw too much focus from the background, I finished the card off with a simple sentiment from You Are, Yes You.

This leads me nicely onto my second card…

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Having used the sentiment from You Are, Yes You, I saw the little quirky leaves in the set and thought they would make for a lovely tumbling Autumnal leaf background. I selected a trio of Autumnal colours from my (ever growing) Altenew ink collection and set to stamping a random background.

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I used a sentiment from Birthday Wishes stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink onto a favourite Papertrey Ink (Ink to Paper) die I have in my stash.

I hope I have inspired you to join in on the challenge & look at your stash to see what could be used for an Autumnal twist. If you need some more inspiration, be sure to check out what my awesome Brand Ambassadors have created…

Carol

And, in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the 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 25th October 2019.

Hugs,